Church Must Not Interfere in the Lives of Sinners
[Church Must
Not Interfere in the Lives of
Sinners Proclaiming the Gospel
Ministries
]:
"...Pope Francis said the church is
not to "interfere spiritually" in
the lives of gays and lesbians. In
the interview, he brushed off
critics who say he should be more
vocal about fighting abortion and
gay marriage. Moreover, if the
church fails to find a "new balance"
between its spiritual and political
missions, the pope warned that its
moral foundation will "fall like a
house of cards." The interview,
released by Jesuit magazines, offers
an expansive view of Francis' vision
for the Roman Catholic Church. When
asked if he approves of
homosexuality, he replied, "Tell me,
when God looks at a gay person, does
he endorse the existence of this
person with love, or reject and
condemn this person?"
Clearly, this pope is not thinking
biblically when he makes these
statements because all sinners are
condemned by God until they repent
and believe His Gospel. Only then is
their legal status before the holy
Judge changed from condemnation to
justification. Listen to Mike's 20
minute interview on the
Janet Mefferd Show.
Read more of Mike's comments from
his interview with
Christian News Network.
Read Jerome Corsi's article for WND
Faith, "Is
the Pope Catholic?"
Response to comment [from a "Christian"]: [Ro 14:22]
See:
Should Christians Judge?
By Bob Enyart
As a reminder,
Squeaky is number 9 on
Satan, Inc.
in the "The 'Jesus is not God'
people (Non-trinitarians) category.
Ro 14:22
"...[V]erse 22 gives us the second
great principle of Christian
conduct."
Hast
thou faith? Have it to thyself
before God. Happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth [Rom.
14:22].
"Let me give you my translation of
this verse; The faith which thou
hast, have thou thyself in the sight
of God. Happy is the man who
condemneth not himself in the things
which he approves—that which he
does.
This is the second principle of
conduct for Christians. He has
already dealt with the aspect of
conviction. As we look toward doing
something for God, we ask ourselves
the questions: Will it be right for
me to do this? Can I do it with
excitement and anticipation and joy?
Now this second exhortation looks
back at what has been done. Happy is
the man who does not condemn himself
in what he has done. The believer
should be able to look back upon his
conduct without any qualms of
conscience.
Let me use an illustration, and I
trust you will not misunderstand it.
I have been asked the question: "Can
a Christian get drunk?" The answer
is yes. The prodigal son in Luke 15
was a son out in the far country. I
am confident that he got drunk in
addition to a few other things, but
he was always a son. Then what was
the difference between him and the
pigs? The difference was that none
of those pigs said, "I will arise
and go to my father." You see, as
the prodigal son was there with the
pigs, he said to himself, I hate it
here, and I’m going to get out of
this. I am going back to my father
and confess what a sinner I am.
What, then, is the difference
between the Christian who gets drunk
and the non–Christian who gets
drunk? The difference is simply
this: the next morning the man of
the world will get up with a
headache, put an ice pack on it, and
say, "Boy, I sure had a big time!
I’m going to get a bigger bucket of
paint and a bigger paint brush, and
I am really going to paint the town
red the next time!" But what will
the child of God do? When he wakes
up the next morning with a head as
big as a barrel, he drops down by
the side of his bed and cries, "Oh,
God, I hate myself! I don’t want to
do that again." He confesses his
sins to God. And the interesting
thing is there is no record that the
prodigal son went back to the pig
pen. He didn’t like it there. That
is the difference between a believer
and an unbeliever. "Happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth."
My Christian friend, do you look
back and hate yourself for what you
have done? That is your conscience
condemning you. Regardless of what
it was and regardless of how many
other people do the same thing, for
you it was wrong. You might have
been in a church (and a church can
be a very dangerous place because
Satan is there—he goes to church
every Sunday morning, and he goes to
the best churches). Do you come home
from church and say, "I could bite
my tongue off. I wish I hadn’t said
what I did." Well, you should not
have said it. "Happy is he that
condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth." McGee, J. V.
(1997). Thru the Bible commentary
(electronic ed., Vol. 4, pp.
744–745). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Ro 14:22,
23
"The strongest Christian can bring
harm to himself in the area of
Christian liberty by denouncing or
belittling the freedom God has given
him (Gal.
5:1),
or by carelessly flaunting his
liberty without regard for how that
might affect others (cf.
1 Cor.
10:23–32)."
MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997).
The MacArthur Study Bible
(electronic ed., p. 1721).
Nashville, TN: Word Pub.
