Catholicism AND END TIMES DECEPTION – part II
Feb 26“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; or kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” I Timothy 2:1-6 …continued from Catholicism and End Times Deception – part I My sister, who was helping with the inaugural “Ex-Catholics For Christ Conference”, met a friend while shopping. The conversation got around to what my sister was doing, and her friend, an evangelical, was dismayed that there would be such a conference. "After all," she explained, "my sister-in-law is a Catholic and she's saved. She has no intention of leaving the Catholic Church because that's where she's comfortable." It seems that this lady and her sister-in-law are uninformed concerning what the Bible teaches, or the Catholic faith, or perhaps both. They have a great deal of company among evangelicals who are asking: "Does it really matter?" and "Isn't TBC (The Berean Call) engaged at times in nothing more than veiled Catholic bashing?" One of the most frustrating aspects of addressing the “Roman Catholic gospel” is the prevailing ignorance regarding what Catholicism actually teaches. Most evangelicals are clueless regarding Catholicism. And many practicing Catholics (including a surprisingly high number of priests and nuns) simply do not know the actual extent of the salvation requirements of their Church. Surveys of Catholics reveal the common understanding about attaining heaven: that it centers around doing works which are pleasing to God (i.e., living one's life as a basically good person), performing a preponderance of good deeds to outweigh the bad, and living up to most of what the Church teaches. Nearly all Catholics believe this affords them the best chance for getting to heaven. However, this hope falls far short of what their Church officially requires.
A divine controversy
Feb 25
"Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel" (Micah 6:2). It might not occur to average Christians that God is interested in presenting them with His arguments. They might not think it possible that they are in a state of controversy with God. Certainly the Jewish nation at the time of the prophets needed to be alerted to this fact. God challenged them further: "O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me" (v.3). God wanted to have a candid debate with his people.
The pragmatic life in Christ demands daily living…
Feb 25
"And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come." (Luke 19:13) This "parable of the pounds" indicated to His disciples that they should not wait idly for the second coming of Christ, thinking "that the kingdom of God should immediately appear" (Luke 19:11), but that they should stay busy, using whatever abilities and opportunities they had in the Lord's service until His return. The word "occupy" is an unusual word, the Greek pragmatenomai, from which we derive our modern word "pragmatic," meaning "practical," and it only occurs this one time in the New Testament. There is another related word, however, also occurring only one time, in 2 Timothy 2:4. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." Here the word "affairs" is the Greek pragmateia, and Paul is cautioning those who would be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ" against becoming involved in the pragmatic affairs of civilian or business life, if they would really be pleasing to their commanding officer.
When rivers run dry
Feb 25
"He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth." (Nahum 1:4) The short three-chapter prophecy of Nahum is directed especially at the wicked city of Ninevah, capital of the grossly cruel empire of Assyria, predicting its imminent destruction. It was fulfilled in the period 612-609 B.C., when Assyria and Ninevah were finally vanquished by a coalition of forces from Babylonia, Media, and Scythia. However, the prophecy of verse 4 (our text) was not fulfilled at that time, indicating that Nahum's prophecy would have both a near and far fulfillment. Indeed there will be a terrible worldwide drought in the last days, according to other Scriptures as well. The prophet Joel, many years before Nahum, had prophesied that such a calamity would accompany the coming judgments of the "day of the LORD" when "the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness" (Joel 1:15-20).
perverted father goes to jail
Feb 25
SAN FRANCISCO — A former San Francisco radio talk show host and Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Thursday for distributing child pornography. Bernie Ward, 57, pleaded guilty in May to one count of distributing child pornography. Prosecutors said investigators found dozens of pornographic images of children as young as 3 on Ward's home computer, including masochistic images of children bound and gagged. "He traded in the currency of children's suffering," federal prosecutor Steve Grocki said.
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