Can Protestants Unite with the Pope?

 

No (Ga 1:6-8, Mt 15:9).

 

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

 

Can Protestants Unite with the Pope?