Can Protestants Unite with the Pope?
Response to comment [from an atheist]: "Indeed, it appears that Nick gets it: the vast majority of humanity have been, are now, and will remain, outside the Body of Christ."
That's right (Mt
7:14) and your decision will grieve others (Re
7:17). You get the
deer in the headlights for a lifetime award.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not!
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate [Matt.
23:37–38].
"Jerusalem rejected Him in His so-called triumphal entry, and He has rejected
Jerusalem, but now He weeps over this city. Yes, He denounced them, but He does
love them. And knowing the judgment which must come, He weeps.
The statement was made in Dwight L. Moody’s day that he was the only man living
who should preach on hell because he did it with such compassion. And certainly
our Lord pronounced these woes with a heart that was breaking. You remember that
some of the people thought he was Jeremiah because, although Jeremiah gave the
strongest denunciation in the Old Testament, he wept over it. I am of the
opinion that we today should not make denunciations unless we are personally
moved by them." McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed.
Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 4:123
"Who are these alleged "others" that my decision will "grieve"? Name names."
Family,
friends--people who care about you. When they say goodbye to you one day, they
will grieve because of your decision. There is no reason to remain rebellious.
You are knowledgeable but you remain a high-handed sinner.
Do you have family or friends who are Christians? Have they already begun moving
away from you?
Lk 16:26
"Nobody will be saying goodbye to me; I've already made appropriate arrangements."
"You are free to choose. You are not free not to choose. No choice is a choice. You are free to choose but you are not free to choose the consequences of that choice." ~ Adrian Rogers
"I've neither seen nor spoken to a member of my family in almost three decades. I don't even know which of them are alive or dead, and am not particularly interested in finding out."
People care
about you (2
Cor 5:11).
"You know, we're living in a society!"
~ George Costanza, Seinfeld
Response to comment [from a Christian]: "You need Jesus Greald, that's all there is to it."
They think, "I
can't be like those saccharine sweet Christians."
They think they have too much that is "good" to loose (Jn 8:34). In reality,
what we have is sweeter (Ps 34:8). The Bible doesn't say, "taste and see if
the Lord is good". It says, "taste and see that the Lord is good".
Response to comment [from an atheist]: [People care about you (2 Cor 5:11).] "You keep saying that. What response from me are you fishing for?"
You're deceived
(Ga
5:9). You need the expulsive power of a new
affection.
See:
The Expulsive Power of a New Affection by Thomas
Chalmers
Loving God with all of your Heart Pt
1 of 26 by Darrell Ferguson
You said that you are estranged from your family.
Out of curiosity, are they the bad ones or are you?
It's a trick question (Ro
3:12).
"Who is George Costanza..."
Do you know Newman?
"You're a useless pustule." Mt 25:30 ~ Newman, Seinfeld
Response to comment [from an atheist]: "You just say that because I'm always mean to you, and you are convinced that Jesus will make me be nice to you..."
He says we're
nice (Col.
3:12).
Thank you GeraldBug-a-boo
Response to comment [from a Christian]: "...The point is you need to become a new creature for your own sake..."
He should get
in on our rewards (Mt
25:21).
Response to comment [from a Catholic]: "A celibate homosexual is no less praiseworthy to God than a celibate unmarried heterosexual..."
Homosexuality is: forbidden (Lev.
18:22), considered an abomination (1
Kin. 14:24), punishment for (Lev.
20:13), unclean (Rom.
1:24,
26,
27).
"...Celibacy has become an obligatory law of the Roman Church imposed on all
priests and they try to build that on Matthew 19 where Jesus said there are
eunuchs for the Kingdom of God. Remember that? Some men are eunuchs from birth,
some are made eunuchs, and some are eunuchs for the Kingdom of God.
There are people who are unable to procreate physiologically because of some
malformation. There are people who are unable to procreate because they have
been wounded, harmed through some violence. And there are some people who choose
not to marry. In fact, the apostle Paul says that in some ways being single is
better, right?, 1 Corinthians 7 because you don't have to worry about the wife
and a family and you can devote yourself to the Lord. But he also says in 1
Corinthians 7 it's better to marry than...what?...than to burn, better to marry
than to burn with passion. And certainly 1 Corinthians 7 makes it very clear
that singleness is not preferable to marriage.
To make celibacy mandatory is utterly unbiblical..." Full text:
The Scandal of the Catholic Priesthood by John
MacArthur
Response to comment [from a Catholic]: "To all genuinely interested and honest readers..."
Did you mention honesty?
No
you dit-ant.
1 Tim. 6:3–5
"...Let me give you a little bit of background. There's a lot that could be said
about Roman Catholic theology, we could expose its errors which are numerous. We
could talk about its sources of revelation or divine truth that are outside the
pages of Scripture. Or we could talk about the corruption of the Mass. We could
talk about the idea that Mary is the co-redemptrix which, of course, is really a
blasphemous concept. We could talk about the idea that God is a tough guy and if
anybody wants grace out of God, it's only Jesus who could get it from Him, but
you can't expect to go to Jesus because He's pretty tough Himself so you need to
go to Mary because nobody can resist His mother and so she'll talk to Him and
He'll talk to the Father and Mary will get you what you need...or some saint. We
could talk about a lot of those things, concepts of purgatory, concepts of the
sinlessness of Mary, a lot of things about Catholic theology that we would speak
about, most notably their erroneous doctrine of justification which cuts people
off from the Kingdom of God.
But what I want to talk about is the scandal of the priesthood and give you some
sense of what the priesthood really is all about..." Full text:
The Scandal of the Catholic Priesthood by John
MacArthur
Also see:
Have you Ever Been Deceived?
[Mike
Gendron's latest eBlast] "The responses to my messages on discerning truth from
error at Brannon Howse's Worldview Weekend Conferences in Minneapolis and
Branson last month were very encouraging. Many of the attendees said they had
never heard of the Vatican's attempt to reverse the Reformation by uniting all
Christians under the power and influence of the Pope. Others said they realized
for the first time the urgent need to rescue Roman Catholics from their false
religion. We thank God for the privilege of ministering to His people and
proclaiming the eternal truths of His Word in these times of great deception and
apostasy.
...[T]he movement to unite all of Christianity with apostate Roman Catholicism
is growing at a rapid pace. Throughout Scripture we are commanded with the
strongest exhortations to never unite with religious teachers who oppose the
Word of God or teach false doctrine. Today these commands are being ignored by
those who seek the approval of man over God. They are seeking religious unity at
the expense of truth and playing into the hands of Satan who is rebuilding his
tower of Babel.
The Lord Jesus used the truth of His Word to divide believers from unbelievers.
As born-again Christians we must seek spiritual unity only with those who
believe the glorious Gospel of grace. Those who name the name of Christ, while
embracing another gospel, are victims of deception. They are not our brothers
and sisters in Christ and they must be discipled in the truth and exhorted to
obey everything Christ has commanded." Mike Gendron Proclaiming the Gospel
Ministries. 4 May 2012
Also see:
One World Government/Religion
