Posted in john ratzenberger, what if...?

Christian Movie Review: "What If…?"

Posted on by elizabethprata

I am in the middle of a long weekend. At our school, they call it “Winter Break.” This means Friday and Monday off, around the time of President’s Day. So Thursday night was especially sweet, knowing I did not have to get up the next day, or the next, or the next, or the next.

Before I was saved, I was a movie buff. I loved movies. Foreign films, obscure films, blockbusters, you name it, I enjoyed them.

After salvation, the work of the Spirit kicks in and sanctification matures a person. Sanctification is defined “To sanctify means to be set apart for a holy use. God has set us apart for the purpose of sanctification not impurity (1 Thess. 4:7),”

This means that I no longer enjoy the things I used to enjoy because of the sin that is inherent in them. If is not holy, forget it.

The movie thing is a hard sin to let go. I love to sit absorbed for an hour and a half or two hours, cerebrally involved in a good movie that has good writing and good acting. I love to be mentally challenged. Documentaries were especially wonderful, because I love to learn. I cannot stand documentaries now because they are full of lies. Science documentaries that say dinosaurs roamed “millions of years ago” or canyons that were formed by river “erosion over millions of eons” or man “evolved from monkeys” are simply not true. So I don’t even waste my time.

Movies tend to be chock full of sin. (Same with books). What to watch that would be time well spent in holy pursuits, not be offensive to God, not put terrible thoughts into my brain, or weigh my heart down with dissipation? That one’s tougher.

Even harder is to tread the balance between resting too deeply (complacently) in Jesus and the comfort of His Gospel, and not swinging too far the other way and getting legalistic on myself. Downton Abbey is one my conscience pricks me with. The Christian Pundit wrote “Why I Won’t Watch Downton Abbey” and I agreed with each one of her points, completely. Yet I still watch! As a matter of fact I am looking forward to it. When will Anna call her husband “John”? Will Daisy leave the Abbey and work the farm? Will Lady Violet and Isobel ever be friends? O, the drama. I am a weak, weak woman, in love with pretty castles and nice gowns. I admit my superficiality…

So there’s Netflix. I can pick and choose after thoroughly vetting a show or a movie. To find an uplifting movie free from sin is asking almost too much. To find one meeting those qualifications that also has correct doctrine is like finding a needle in a haystack.

But I found one.

It is called “What If…?” The Internet Movie Database synopsizes the movie thus: “15 years ago, Ben Walker left his girlfriend and his ministry calling for a business opportunity. Now with a high-paying career and a trophy fiancé, he is visited by an angel, who gives him a glimpse into what his life would look like had he followed his calling.”

It is a combination It’s a Wonderful Life and Family Man. It is a time warping, parallel universe kind of peek into a life that has the other answers to choices you did not make in this universe. I loved Sliding Doors and Me, Myself, I (the one with Rachel Griffiths, not Me, Myself and I with JoBeth Williams and definitely not Me, Myself, & Irene with Jim Carrey!) And who doesn’t love Back to the Future and Groundhog Day? Talk about cerebral, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was also a great movie.

I saw all of those pre-salvation, mind you. I have not seen them lately with a more sanctified eye so I do not know if they stand the test of purity or not.

“What If…?” came out in 2010 and stars Kevin Sorbo, Kristy Swanson, and John Ratzenberger as the angel. The director is Dallas Jenkins, son of Jerry B. Jenkins of Left Behind fame.

Now, John Ratzenberger is just a sweet, peach of a charming man whenever he is in one of these films. I mentioned his work in the last movie review I’d written, WWJD II/The Woodcarver. He is a confident, wonderful actor. Kevin Sorbo is likable and I thought Kristy Swanson played the perplexed wife very well. And the kids were good too.

The one beef I’ve read from other reviewers is that God works all things for the good for those who love Him, and the movie makes it seem that our path in life hinges on only one right choice. That if you make one wrong choice, that’s it for you, no second chances. That view leaves God powerless to our choices rather than the architect of our faith and the sovereign of the world and the universe.

If the story was played that way, I’d agree with the negative comment. But the end shows that this is not what really happens. I won’t give it away, but it isn’t really an issue … you’ll see why.

I thought the modesty issue was well handled (only one shirt the wife wore was a bit low cut) but the replacement husband from the alternate universe slept on the couch. No profanity, and I didn’t catch any obvious sins aside from the obvious ones the movie people wanted to show us as a starting point for the journey of transformation in the main character (money loving, selfish, insider trading).

It is a funny movie, too. The protagonist’s first sermon on what turned out to be the first day at his new church was hilarious. He fell back to the only thing he knew: “Make more money so you can be happy.” LOL!

The touching moment were well done without being preachy. As much as I like preaching, movies are movies, not sermons. This is one place where well-meaning Christian movies often go awry, but not “What If…?”

For example, the display of deep humility Ben Walker showed when he overheard his wife praying for him, the embarrassment at recognizing how badly he’d bungled his daughter’s dating situation, the generosity of the smallest daughter’s offering of the piggy bank, even the length of time it took him to let go the things he’d thought were so precious, like his fancy car.

I enjoyed the scene at a hospital deathbed where he preached the Gospel in a solid way (parable of the laborers in the vineyard, Matthew 20:1–16). And I enjoyed the end very much.

I’d say that “What If…?” is an entertaining, well-done, safe movie for Christians and families. I hope you enjoy it too!

Posted in asteroid, signs in the sky

Signs in the sky- FOUR astronomical events stun the world: Asteroid flyby, meteors in Russia, Cuba and SF, all on same day

Posted on by elizabethprata

Yesterday an enormous meteor entered earth’s atmosphere, swung low, and for 32 seconds streaked across parts of Russia, astounding many. The sound boom and resulting shockwave injured over 1,200 people, and blew out 100,000 square meters of windows during the most frigid time in a Russian winter.

Other facts that came to light after the shock wore off and scientists zoomed to the place where it landed. Sorting through data, Russia Today reports that

“nearly 3,000 buildings were damaged to varying extents by the meteor shower in the city, including 34 medical facilities and 361 schools and kindergartens. … Buildings were left without gas because facilities in the city had also been damaged, an Emergency Ministry spokesperson said, according to Russia 24 news channel. The Emergency Ministry reported that 20,000 rescue workers are operating in the region. Three aircraft were deployed to survey the area and locate other possible impact locations.”

The UK Telegraph reports on the aftermath of the Russia meteor,

“The 55-foot rock, said by Nasa to have a mass of 10,000 tonnes, plunged to Earth in the Urals region on Friday morning, causing shockwaves that injured 1,200 people and damaged thousands of homes in an event unprecedented in modern times. Nasa estimated that the energy released by the meteor’s impact with the atmosphere was 500 kilotonnes, around 30 times the force of the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. It entered the atmosphere and broke up at an altitude of around 32 miles, causing a shockwave that blew out windows and set of car alarms in Chelyabinsk two and a half minutes later. Divers were this morning searching the Chelyabinsk region’s frozen Lake Chebarkul for a fragment of the meteorite. No fragments have been found in the region so far – despite some 20,000 rescuers and recovery workers being dispatched to help the hundreds of people injured. An army of glaziers were also being transported to Chelyabinsk to urgently repair the thousands of broken windows in homes as night time temperatures fall below -15C.”

This is a RT compilation of the sound wave blast. In looking at this you will understand why an “army of glaziers” is headed to the region.

Russia meteor sound blast:

But did you know that yesterday there were three other ‘signs in the sky’ as well? One other cosmic visitation was from the already-expected closest-ever flyby of an asteroid to earth. This also occurred yesterday. Asteroid 2012 DA14 skimmed by closer to our planet than any other known asteroid, ever. It flew low in Geo-synchronous orbit and could be seen with binoculars.

The Guardian reported,

“According to Don Yeomans of Nasa’s Near-Earth Object Observation Programme, an asteroid like 2012 DA14 flies this close on average only once every 40 years. This time around, however, the next one is due sooner than that. On 13 April 2029, Apophis will pass Earth closer than the ring of geostationary satellites. But, at an estimated distance of 19,400 miles, it will not break the record set tonight by 2012 DA14”.

It seems that there may also have been a meteor in Cuba as well. The UK Mirror calls it a “cosmic coincidence” (we know better don’t we?).

“The fireball – reportedly followed by a loud explosion some minutes later – was spotted above Cuba at 1am GMT yesterday. That’s 6,000 miles away from Chelyabinsk where a meteor left a 20ft crater and caused a devastating sonic boom at 3.20am GMT. China’s Xinhua news agency reported the bright spot in the sky was spotted in the Cienfuegos area, in central Cuba. One eyewitness said his house shook slightly in the blast and officials are scouring for any remnants of the object.”

Cuba meteor:

So, asteroid fly-by, meteor in Russia, one in Cuba, and … one reported in San Francisco.

Another Meteor Flashes Across Bay Area Skies

On the heels of a close fly-by of an asteroid 17,000 miles from Earth on Friday morning and a devastating meteor that landed in Russia, Bay Area stargazers caught a glimpse of another meteor Friday night. Social media users reported seeing the blue flash of the meteor flying west around 8 p.m. Friday night, and sightings were reported throughout the Bay Area, from Santa Clara to Fairfield, and even in the Central Valley cities of Fresno and Stockton. Jonathan Braidman, an astronomer with the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, said that it appears that the three astronomical events seen Friday are unrelated.”

They mean four astronomical events. They didn’t report on the Cuba meteor.

Here is a report on the San Francisco meteor

Peter preached that God will show signs of His coming. “And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; (Acts 2:19)

Peter preached that at Pentecost about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord will be the time when God personally intervenes on earth to deal with sin and sinners through His wrath. That “Day” has not begun, but with signs like these meteors and asteroids all occurring on the same day, it certainly seems near.

Since time is short, how should you live? Peter told us in 2 Peter.

Peter tells us that when we believe the end will come, and knowing about this fact, it changes a Christian’s thinking and his actions. In 2 Peter 3, Peter begins by explaining about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is the 7 year out-pouring of God’s wrath upon the world. You believe that whether we are on earth at that time is not important. Here are several things Peter warns us about that should give us pause.

In verse 3 Peter warns that scoffers and mockers will come. These are not people scoffing at the notion of Jesus nor about Christianity in general. They scoff specifically at end time things!

“knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3)

If it wasn’t important to know about end time things, then first, the doctrines would not be in the bible. But since they are, they are profitable. (2 Timothy 3:16). Second, if they were not important, satan would not spend so much time mocking and scoffing and diverting us away from them! These things are of high importance. Every book except Philemon mentions the end of days.

Peter then sums up with an important question:

“Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,” (2 Peter 3:11)

He’s saying that our behavior changes depending on what our attitude is about these end time things. As Gill’s Exposition says, “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness? not as the scoffers and profane sinners, who put away this evil day far from them, but as men, who have their loins girt, and their lights burning, waiting for their Lord’s coming; being continually in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of their religious duties, watching, praying, hearing, reading; living soberly, righteously, and godly; guarding against intemperance and worldly mindedness, and every worldly and hurtful lust.”

Let us discharge our religious duties while we wait for our Blessed Hope!

Posted in antinomianism, discernment, joel osteen, legalism, truth

Discernment: How two seemingly opposite doctrines can actually be the same

Posted on by elizabethprata

I think it’s interesting that Legalism and Gnosticism are really one and the same. A great lesson for me last year was learning how all the false religions and the false doctrines are drawing closer to one another. Those which seem like polar opposites are really the exact same thing, just a different flavor. Here is another example of how two opposing doctrines are really one and the same: Antinomianism and Legalism.

In the wonderful series, “Drive By Discernment“, short lectures on the topic of discernment edited by Todd Friel, Pastor RW Glenn is speaking of this exact thing. He is talking about how Antinomianism and Legalism are the same, and clearly shows how.

First, CARM.org defines Antinomianism:
“The word antinomianism comes from the Greek anti, against, and nomos, law. It is the unbiblical practice of living without regard to the righteousness of God, using God’s grace as a license to sin, and trusting grace to cleanse of sin.”

And CARM.org defines Legalism:
“In Christianity, legalism is the excessive and improper use of the law (10 commandments, holiness laws, etc). This legalism can take different forms. The first is where a person attempts to keep the Law in order to attain salvation. The second is where a person keeps the law in order to maintain his salvation. The third is when a Christian judges other Christians for not keeping certain codes of conduct that he thinks need to be observed.”

So how can living in excessive license and living in excessive restriction…be the same? Here is Pastor RW Glenn: [excerpts]

There are people who embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior and people who avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior. And what’s interesting is that you can avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior either by being bad, OR by being good. Religious moralists avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior by developing a system of moral righteousness to put God in their debt. In other words, my obedience and religious devotion is going to beef up my spiritual resume such that I don’t need Jesus to rescue me anymore. And where there are gaps in my resume I use Jesus to fill them in. By and large I don’t need rescue, all I need is a boost. They avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior by relying on their own righteousness. They avoid him by being “good”. … [Thus] Rule keepers and rule breakers are all identical because they avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior and are on the broad road to destruction.

See, Pastor Glenn explains that there is a demand of the Gospel, and there is a comfort of the Gospel. Legalism over-emphasizes its demand, while Antinomianism over-emphasizes its comfort. Over-emphasizing one or the other dilutes the Gospel. Paul said He had not hesitated to preach the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:27). Of that important balance in keeping the Gospel whole, Barnes’ Notes says:

“I have not shunned – I have not kept back; I have not been deterred by fear, by the desire of popularity, by the fact that the doctrines of the gospel are unpalatable to people, from declaring them fully. The proper meaning of the word translated here, “I have not shunned”, is “to disguise any important truth; to withdraw it from public view; to decline publishing it from fear, or an apprehension of the consequences.” Paul means that he had not disguised any truth; he had not withdrawn or kept it from open view, by any apprehension of the effect which it might have on their minds. Truth may be disguised or kept back:

(1) By avoiding the subject altogether from timidity, or from an apprehension of giving offence if it is openly proclaimed; or,

(2) By giving it too little prominency, so that it shall be lost in the multitude of other truths; or,

(3) By presenting it amidst a web of metaphysical speculations, and entangling it with other subjects; or,

(4) By making use of other terms than the Bible does, for the purpose of involving it in a mist, so that it cannot be understood.”

How does one keep back one part of the Gospel at the expense of the other? Pastor Glenn finishes:

Legalism over-emphasizes the demand of the Gospel. Matthew 5:48 – Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. That is a gospel demand that legalism overemphasizes. Antinomianism overemphasizes the very real comfort of the Gospel. Matthew 6:26- You are more valuable than many sparrows. The challenge of the Gospel is that there needs to be an equal emphasis on both the demand of the Gospel and the comfort of the Gospel. As Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Equal emphasis. I do not condemn you, go and sin no more. If you don’t eventually emphasize both of those you lose the Gospel.

Glenn said that there are three tests to determine if a teacher is false. The character and conduct of the teacher (Colossians 1:28, Titus 2:2, Matthew 5:1-12) the complexion of their followers (Luke 6:40, 2 Timothy 4:3), and the content of their teaching (Matthew 12:33, 2 Timothy 4:2-3).

With this information in mind, now think of pastors who preach one at the expense of another. Or perhaps, do you preach or teach one at the expense of the other?

Remember two things. First, all other doctrines except the Gospel are false, and thus are the same, no matter how different they look on the outside. And second, satan is the most subtle creature in the Garden (Genesis 3:1). It is not hard for him to come up with different flavors of the Gospel and lots of false doctrines. I mean, if Baskin Robbins can come up with 31 flavors of ice cream… the most crafty creature in all the garden can certainly come up with enough false doctrines!

This week the Christian Post (which increasingly should be called the Post-Christian) reported on Joel Osteen’s Night of Hope in Las Vegas. It is reported,

“Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, who along with wife, Victoria Osteen, will be leading “A Night of Hope” in Las Vegas, Friday night, has said that he avoids speaking on controversial issues because he doesn’t want anyone to feel excluded from his messages.”

However, Osteen’s definition of ‘controversial issue’ is really code for “sin.” Sin is always controversial. Preaching the whole counsel includes passages such as 1 Timothy 1:10. Yet Osteen declares that he avoids it. Avoid 1 Corinthians 6:9. Revelation 21:8? Avoid. Titus 1:16, Galatians 6:20, 2 Peter 2:6…the list is endless of ‘things to avoid’ so that ‘all will feel included.’ But we’re all sinners. If Osteen wants to preach so that all will feel comfortable, he either needs to preach to no one, because the flavors of sin are endless and odds are someone will feel ‘excluded’ (i.e. convicted), or Osteen needs to preach only the comfort of the Gospel, which is not the whole counsel. You see how devastating the imbalance is?

Osteen maintains that his style of preaching is consistent with the bible. Christian Post says, “His messages of hope and encouragement, as well as his trademark smile, also draw criticism among Christians who feel he fails to address sin and suffering, but Osteen shakes off such criticism. “I believe there needs to be more joy in the world…” But it is not true that this style is consistent with the bible.

Jesus spoke hard sayings. Not everyone felt included! On the contrary. However, Jesus did not alter the Father’s message in order to make it easier for fleshly ears to hear. In John 6:60-62, 66 we read,

“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?” … After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”

So we see that false teachers are not true ambassadors (Ephesians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:20). In both those verses, the word ambassador means one who is authorized to speak as God’s emissary, representing His kingdom. Osteen takes it upon himself to alter the message of God. He cannot be a true ambassador, because he brings an unauthorized message. This is what all false teachers do. Jesus knew the hearts of men and He still preached a message that fell on hard hearts, in obedience to the Father. Osteen, and all false teachers, dare to disobey delivering the Father’s message and the example of Jesus in preaching it. This ‘daring’ will have terrible consequences:

Tim Challies dealt with this issue in his essay “Smilingly leading you to hell.”

In Drive By Discernment, Pastor Glenn did a good job of explaining how false teachers subvert the Gospel by preaching only half. As always, the most important thing is to check ourselves, first.

Do we preach all demand and no comfort? “Do more, be better, try harder”? Or maybe our Gospel is all comfort and no demand. “My sin isn’t a big deal…I’m forgiven anyway.” Or is your Gospel, “neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more?!” If you want to be an expert on false teachers, you need to be an expert in the Gospel. The more familiarity you have in the Gospel, the more familiarity you will have with the genuine article. When those counterfeits come your way – and they will – you will be able to say, ‘counterfeit!’ Why? because you’re resting in the Christ who says “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” (John 8:11).

The Lord is Great, isn’t He?!?!

——————–
More on Osteen:

A true knowledge of the true God
Apostasy in the church: Angels of light
Can Christians live their best life now?

And here is an essay on the opposite problem,

 Legalism, Cults, and abuse of authority

Posted in bolide, meteor, peru temple, rock art, russia, signs

(UPDATED) Meteor in Russia astounds. Incredible video!

Posted on by elizabethprata

You might be interested in knowing of all FOUR astronomical events that occurred yesterday. Turns out, the Russia meteor was not the only one. I wrote about them here, and posted video too.

————————————————
Hundreds injured by meteor explosion in Russia
“MOSCOW — A meteor streaked over the city of Chelyabinsk in Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, producing a blast that injured hundreds, caused minor damage to buildings and temporarily disrupted Internet communication, officials said. Yelena Smirnykh, deputy information chief of the Emergency Situations Ministry said 474 people sought medical assistance after the explosion. “Five of them were hospitalized, most of the injuries being cuts by shattered window glass,” she said. Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, said it had not launched any objects on Thursday or Friday, Smirnykh said. “At this point we are confident that we are dealing with a meteor rain resulting from the explosion of a large meteor causing flashes and sound shock waves in the Chelyabinsk region and observed in three other regions of Russia too.”

Nature reports some interesting facts:
“A meteor that exploded over Russia this morning was the largest recorded object to strike the Earth in more than a century, scientists say. Infrasound data collected by a network designed to watch for nuclear weapons testing suggests that today’s blast released hundreds of kilotonnes of energy. That would make it far more powerful than the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea just days ago and the largest rock crashing on the planet since a meteor broke up over Siberia’s Tunguska river in 1908. “It was a very, very powerful event,” says Margaret Campbell-Brown, an astronomer at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada…”

UPDATE: the injuries reported in the area affected have risen to 1,200. There are thousands of windows blown out, which is a serious thing in Russian severe winter frigidity. Some of the impact sites have been discovered. One of them formed a crater almost 20 feet in diameter. Chelyabinsk administration’s website said nearly 3,000 buildings were damaged to varying extents by the meteor shower in the city, including 34 medical facilities and 361 schools and kindergartens. The total amount of window glass shattered amounts to 100,000 square meters, the site said, citing city administration head Sergey Davydov.  Russia Today has much more

The following video is a composite of amateur and police video of the meteor posted on the newspaper Russia Today. It is incredible. The lowness of the meteor and the brightness, it is really, truly amazing, and one of he most astounding videos of a meteor I’ve seen. No wonder it produced panic among the people of the Urals!

“And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; (Acts 2:19)

Peter preached that at Pentecost about the Day of the Lord. That will be the time when God personally intervenes on earth to deal with sin and sinners through His wrath. That “Day” has not begun, but with signs like this meteor, it certainly seems near.

The meteor was not caused by the near fly-by of the coming asteroid, either, in case you were wondering, said NASA. The incoming asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly a record-setting close encounter of 17,200 miles of Earth when it passes safely by our planet today, had nothing to do with the meteor.

In archaeology news, The Scotsman reports that a retired silversmith has ­uncovered the largest collection of ancient rock art ever found in the Highlands on a remote hill overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The carved rocks – some ­almost 10ft across – have been discovered scattered across a hillside near Evanton, in ­Ross-shire. Douglas Scott, the amateur archaeologist who has recorded the remarkable find, believes the “cup-marked” rocks – dating from up to 5,000 years ago to the Neolithic or Bronze Age – form part of a “ritual centre of some significance” where ancient people worshipped the sun and performed rites connected to the ­underworld.

Here is another story about it too. Fascinating!

Still covering archaeological news, in Peru an ancient temple was discovered.
“Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered what they believe is a temple, estimated to be up to 5,000 years old, at the site of El Paraiso, north of Lima. Inside the ruins of the ancient room, which measures about 23 feet by 26 feet, there’s evidence of a ceremonial hearth, where offerings may have been burned, archaeologists say. The temple also had a narrow entrance and stone walls covered with yellow clay, on which traces of red paint were found, according to a statement from Peru’s Ministry of Culture.”

Isn’t it interesting that for 5,000 years, almost the length of time that the bible says man has been upon the earth, we find in the secular and archaeological record that humans have worshiped? They worship false gods, but the inclination to worship has always been within us.

I often used to wonder about that as I mused about God and faith, before I was saved by the grace of Jesus. I’d wonder that there had to be a God, because there is evidence that the urge to worship is inside every man, in every culture, across epochs. It stood to reason that if worship was a cultural thing, some cultures would be absent evidence that worship took place. Yet all cultures worship and always have. I concluded that if men worshiped in all cultures across all times, the source had to be external to man, not internal to men or inherent in a changeable culture. Worship was the one constant. I decided there had to be a God, but it took many years to sort out which God. Fortunately God took care of showing me the right way because I would never have found Him in my depravity. The right way is Jesus, Who is the only way: Jesus.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

That meteor sure was incredible. Imagine when the people who dwell on the earth see Jesus at the rapture! (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Imagine when sinners in the Tribulation see Him return to earth! (Matthew 24:27). It will be amazing!!!!!

Posted in Carnival cruise ship, hope, tribulation, triumph ship

Cruise Ship Carnival Triumph disaster: think of it as a metaphor for the Tribulation

Posted on by elizabethprata

There was a Carnival Cruise ship that was disabled by a fire and floated powerless and helpless for five days, stranding over 4,200 passengers and crew before it was finally towed into port.

I was always leery of embarking on a cruise. If anything happened, and increasingly things do, you have nowhere to go and are at the mercy of the limits and boundaries of the ship. There is no escape.

I feel for the passengers, who really did undergo a terrible situation for days on end. Illness, unsanitary conditions, lack of water, stench, and hunger were the order of the day. Here are some of the snippets from one news story about the passengers’ eventual safe disembarkation–

Passengers cheer escape from horrible cruise
“The vacation ship carrying some 4,200 people docked late Thursday in Mobile after a painfully slow approach that took most of the day. Passengers raucously cheered after days of what they described as overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors. Many were tired and didn’t want to talk. There were long lines to check into rooms. Some got emotional as they described the deplorable conditions of the ship. “It was horrible, just horrible” said Maria Hernandez, 28, of Angleton, Texas, tears welling in her eyes as she talked about waking up to smoke in her lower-level room Sunday and the days of heat and stench to follow. She was on a “girls trip” with friends. She said the group hauled mattresses to upper-level decks to escape the heat. As she pulled her luggage into the hotel, a flashlight around her neck, she managed a smile and even a giggle when asked to show her red “poo-poo bag” – distributed by the cruise line for collecting human waste.”

“The lower floors had it the worst, the floors ‘squish’ when you walk and lots of the lower rooms have flooding from above floors,” Hill wrote. “Half the bachelorette party was on two; the smell down there literally chokes you and hurts your eyes.” She said “there’s poop and urine all along the floor. The floor is flooded with sewer water … and we had to poop in bags.” The company disputed the accounts of passengers who described the ship as filthy…

I well know the desperation of saving for years to go on a big vacation, the desperate hope that the weather will cooperate, the jealous countdown of the few days on the vacation compared to the towering number of days at work. (350 vs 15). I cannot imagine the heartbreak of honeymooners, anniversary couples, and families that were impacted by conditions that were described. But I want to take a moment’s pause to explore two thoughts.

These are First World problems. So a few bachelorettes had to poop in a bag for a few days. Some of women on a “girls’ trip” went without access to clean water for a few days. (A girls’ trip is an extra in life, ladies.) They were a little bit hungry for a few days, and a little bit cold. They lived with a few days’ uncertainty as to when their horrific situation will ever end.

There are billions of people all over the world who live that way for a lifetime.

Ghetto in Porto Alegro, Brazil

Foraging in a Tijuana dump for recyclables to sell, and for lunch

Children playing in their neighborhood, Cairo

Greeks fighting for free tomatoes and leeks thrown from a truck

Darlene Rosas, 66, lives alone in a condemned FEMA trailer 40 miles outside of Eagle Butte, S.D. (Source)

No, those are First World problems, the frustration of a person’s thousands of dollars lost on a one-week vacation turned icky. Let’s put this into perspective.

Secondly, think of the cruise ship as a microcosm of the earth. Look at the time of their misery as the time of the Tribulation. What happens when the infrastructure we depend on and take for granted suddenly breaks down? How do we react? Toilets, sewer treatment plants, trash pickup, roads for smooth transportation, government subsidized public transport, regular deliveries of groceries to stores … all infrastructure and all privileges we take as our due. Somehow we think that access to food, water, sanitary conditions, and proper functioning of everything will always be so. If anything, the successive weather events of late have shown us how easily all that can and is disrupted. Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the Joplin tornadoes in 2011, the Super-blizzard of 2013 show that large swathes of the nation can suddenly be floating powerless and helpless, with millions of people bemoaning their (hopefully) temporary situation.

What would a regular person in the US do when sanitary conditions, food, and freedom of movement are suddenly gone? There were two responses on the Carnival Triumph ship. One was that many turned to sin. It didn’t take long, just a few days, before they resorted to savagery and fighting to get food.

“Conditions on board a cruise ship stranded in the Gulf of Mexico have deteriorated dramatically, reportedly leaving passengers fighting over food and the vessel caked in urine and raw sewage. Passengers on board the US cruise ship Carnival Triumph, which has been stranded since Sunday after an engine fire, are using mobile phones to convey tales of carpets soaked in urine and passengers sleeping in tents on deck. Food supplies are said to be running low, with passengers forced to queue for hours for cold onion and cucumber sandwiches, and there are also reports of fights breaking out as groups of “savages” fight over the dwindling supplies.”

Other reports indicated that the people complained, slept for escape, fought, and were “crying and freaking out.”

Others did the opposite. They formed a Bible study group.

Joseph and Cecilia Alvarez of San Antonio said some passengers passed the time by forming a Bible study group. “It was awesome,” he said. “It lifted up our souls and gave us hope that we would get back.” (source)

Still envisioning the cruise ship as earth, and the total breakdown of everything on that ship as the coming Tribulation, some cruise ship passengers decided to think of others and of Jesus rather than their temporary earthly conditions. This is the second response. While some were moaning and crying and sleeping and fighting, others during the Tribulation delved into their faith in Jesus and patiently endured the trials that were set before them. Their faith lifted up their souls and give then hope that they will get back home. (Revelation 14:12).

Below is a Lyle Ratliff/Reuters photo, and the caption says “Passengers cheer after disembarking from the Carnival Triumph cruise ship after reaching the port of Mobile, Alabama, February 14, 2013.” Taking a moment to stretch the metaphor of the stranded cruise ship being a crippled earth during the Tribulation, these two ladies, covered in robes of righteousness, praise the Lord for their release from sinful and deteriorating conditions. OK, not really. But it’s nice to imagine.

If you are alive and unsaved during the time of the rapture, you will enter a time where conditions such as described on the cruise ship will erupt, and in fact be a million times worse. You will have two responses: retreat further into your sin, or turn to Jesus for release from bondage to that sin. You will not escape the conditions, unless you die, which is a severe likelihood. But you will have hope and your soul will be uplifted. You will see that grace abounds, that He is eternal and your conditions are temporary.

However, you can escape all these things in the first place by turning to Jesus now. Once you repent of your sins and He becomes the Lord of your life, He sends the Holy Spirit to indwell you. You gain a perspective that whatever conditions you are enduring now are merely inconveniences that will end at the rapture. At that time you will receive your glorified body and live in eternal grace and perfection with Jesus.

The earth is like the Carnival Triumph, a floating petri dish of putrefaction and decay, people stuck there with no hope of getting away from the worsening conditions. Except in real life, there is hope: Jesus. That’s why we need to tell the passengers on this ship of earth that the savior is coming and the ship will be saved. There is a way off, away from polluted hallways and hopeless people. He is coming to deal with sin and sinners, and to renew the earth. (2 Peter 3:10), Revelation 21:1). The way is to repent of sins and look to Jesus for all things. He is coming soon. Though the passengers on the Triumph ship took four hours to get off, the rapture will be a moment, a blink and we are gone, changed forever.

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)

Christians, in troublous times, turn to the bible. Turn to where there is hope and comfort. Start a bible study. Discuss the hope and joy of Jesus with like-minded people. You will feel better. Non-Christians, and I mean all other people including atheists, Catholics, pagans, Buddhists, Mormons…, turn to Jesus as your hope. The fear and darkness you feel inside is the lack of HIM in you. Salvation does not guarantee a resolution to your uncomfortable or unwanted conditions. If you are paralyzed, you will still be paralyzed. If you have MS, you will still have MS. If you are poor in Cairo, you will likely still be poor in Cairo. What salvation affords you, in addition to grace and rescue from the coming wrath, (Romans 5:9), is an eternal perspective that helps you cope with current conditions. You receive comfort from God as to His love and watchful notice of you, His little sparrow. You gain an understanding that a few years or decades of discomfort in this life does to equate to the billions and billions and billions of ages in eternity with the Perfect. (1 Corinthians 13:10).

Today is the day of your salvation. Now is the eternal hope come to dwell in you! To the unsaved the Spirit says:

For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

But I pray to you, O LORD, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation. (Psalm 69:13)

To the saved the Spirit says:

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

Posted in doctrine

Adorning His doctrine

Posted on by elizabethprata

We read in the “Pastoral Epistles”, Titus and Timothy, what to do that is consistent with sound doctrine. The pastoral epistles are: “those letters written by Paul to Timothy and Titus in the New Testament. So, they are 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. They are called pastoral because they are letters with instructions for pastors, congregations, and general functions within the church.”

We read what people are supposed to do in order to display the highest qualifications for behavior and character.

I want to note the first sentence of Titus 2:1-10,

But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

Paul is telling Titus to teach according to sound doctrine. Paul does not particularly outline what the sound doctrine is, at this point because the point of the letter is to encourage Titus to display and hence his flock to display certain behavioral attributes. In displaying these attributes in life, they will be acting consistently with sound doctrine.

In an interesting parallel, Paul gives Timothy a list of behavioral attributes, too. The difference is, Paul’s list to Timothy includes behaviors that are contrary to sound doctrine. Here is the list:

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. (1 Timothy 1:8-11)

Anyone displaying these negative attributes in their behavior are acting against sound doctrine.

The second thing to focus on is the reason we are to behave consistent with the good doctrine we have been taught. It is so that the name of Jesus will not come under reproach. If we behave against sound doctrine, the adversary (satan, that old dragon) will be able to use us to bring reproach upon Jesus’ name.

In the unbelieving world, it is very easy to avoid Christians. Their mind is darkened, so they do not see us.

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” (Ephesians 4:17-18)

Two kingdoms are co-existing side by side, locked in a war. The opponents are- satan’s army and his unbelievers whom he influences, and Jesus’s army and His saved believers. The unbelievers do not really see us but they are aware of our presence. What I mean is, unbelievers as a whole do not think about Christians in their daily lives. It is very easy to have no contact with Christians, be unaware and uncaring about Christian life, and go for long periods of time not hearing or seeing Christian language or behavior. It is like oil and water. As we know, oil and water may occupy the same space in a glass, but they do not mix.

And also as we know, the kingdom of Jesus is not of this earth. (John 18:36). It is in heaven. So how will the unbeliever see the kingdom of God?

When we behave in the sterling way as Paul outlined to Titus, the veil parts. The unbeliever sees the Kingdom. He sees it because the Light is so bright! He cannot avoid seeing the Kingdom that dwells among them because the Light is so bright!

“for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:21b)

We ARE the kingdom, the veil parts, they see us when we act according to kingdom attributes. How will the unbeliever see the King, unless they see the Kingdom? Jesus is in heaven on His throne, but the kingdom He created is within us for this present age. The unbeliever will see it if we act according to sound doctrine, as Paul urges Titus.

Never let anyone tell you that ‘doctrine doesn’t matter.’ It does. It is not just head knowledge but it expresses itself through behavior that brings the Kingdom forward and lets the blind to see the unreproached name of Jesus.

Paul ended that paragraph by saying that we may adorn the doctrine of Christ the Savior. The word adorn id defined – “properly, to beautify; to adorn, make compellingly attractive, very appealing (inviting, awesomely gorgeous).

We are not gorgeous but Jesus in us is gorgeous! Let us pray for the strength and wisdom to go forward each day so that we may adorn Him, and be compellingly attractive in the eyes of those who are living in such darkness. We have been told how to act, and how not to act.

In 1415, Henry V was severely outnumbered as they prepared for battle at Agincourt. This battle was dramatised by William Shakespeare in the play Henry V featuring the St. Crispin’s Day Speech in which Henry inspired his much outnumbered English forces to fight the French. It was a stirring moment in the film adaptation when actor Kenneth Branagh gave the speech. It was the speech when the King said, once more into the breach, dear friends. I was inspired to jump up and fight against the opposing forces! It was unusual for a king to call his army men ‘friends.’

Our King has given us a stirring speech, too. It is the bible. His doctrine is the inspiration for us to leap up and go into battle. But our battle is not in flesh and blood nor with swords. Our battle is through our behavior and our words, and the love we carry for our King, a remarkable eternal king who calls US His friends. Would you fight for Him in kindness and gentleness so that we may adorn Him?

Posted in husband, romantically challenged, the skit guys, valentine's day

Happy Valentine’s Day, a Romantically Challenged video for the guys, a funny take on a biblical topic

Posted on by elizabethprata

My Pastor friend posted this clip on Facebook. He wrote: “Sometimes, humor serves as a vehicle that powerfully drives home a point. The “Skitguys” is such a vehicle that addresses many issues with a biblical perspective. Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I thought my friends might appreciate this clip. Enjoy. ;-)”

I DO appreciate it, Pastor!

The Skit Guys: “Romantically Challenged”, description, 7 minutes
A group of men gather to discuss their lack of romantic inclinations, when a more evolved member of the group reveals that the secret to romance is simply being there for your wife

http://skitguys.com/videos/embed/949/

Posted in earthquake, nevada

Magnitude 5.1 quake at Nevada (Updated)

Posted on by elizabethprata

A fairly large quake for Nevada occurred, with some aftershocks. I am updating this with adding more quakes at the same spot since last night. It seems that the swarm began at around 7p, EST. I’ve added the new quakes to the list below. The list goes from most recent at the top, to earliest one at the bottom.

2.5 NEVADA
4.0 NEVADA
3.6 NEVADA
2.6 NEVADA
3.2 NEVADA
3.5 NEVADA
3.7 NEVADA
2.6 NEVADA
2.5 NEVADA
3.7 NEVADA
3.3 NEVADA
3.1 NEVADA
5.1 NEVADA

10-degree map showing recent earthquakes

Sierra Wave reports,
“A 5.2 earthquake centered 44 miles west of Tonopah, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, was felt throughout the Eastern Sierra at ten minutes after 4pm Tuesday. Bishop residents who contacted USGS said they were told the quake was centered 69 miles northwest of Bishop. At the Sierra Wave studios the quake seemed long and rolling. Nothing fell off the shelves. We talked to the Mammoth Police Department and others in Mammoth and Bishop. Everyone felt the quake but, again, no damage of any kind reported. We also talked to someone at the Station Casino in Tonopah. She said the staff there felt nothing. At Northern Inyo Hospital in Bishop, where 200, 50-foot long foundation pylons brace the new hospital, they did not feel the earthquake at all. USGS reported several after shocks of lesser magnitude.”

Posted in grace, pope, rcc, works religion

Why works-based faiths like the Catholic religion will not save you

Posted on by elizabethprata

My posts on the resignation of the Pope and the resulting discussion that the Roman Catholic Church is a false church has received more views than any post I’ve ever done, by at least double. Not only is it huge news that the Pope resigned, but it is news to many when someone declares flatly that the RCC is a false church and it promotes doctrines of demons.

(Left, Pope Pius IX, was the longest-reigning elected Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, serving from 16 June 1846 until his death, nearly 32 years. During his pontificate, he convened the First Vatican Council in 1869, which decreed papal infallibility. He also defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, meaning that Mary was conceived without original sin. Previously, those doctrines were not an official part of Catholic dogma.)

Here are the three posts I’ve written about the RCC Pope, and the Prophecy of the Popes:

1. December 2011, Pope Benedict’s health failing, St. Malachy’s prophecy comes up again
2. February 2013, Pope Benedict resigned- will the next pope validate Malachy’s prophecy?
3. February 2013, Catholicism is not a Christian religion

The comments have been respectful for the most part. I have only had to delete a few out of hand for profanity or for not adding anything to the discussion (i.e. ‘You’re all nuts!” kinds of comments get deleted. At least tell us WHY you think we’re nuts…lol). Thank you all for reading and commenting.

In the comment section yesterday, someone had asked about how to witness to Catholics. It was a good question, and I responded. I thought I’d make my response be a post by itself. This is that post.

Any religion besides Christianity, which is to say, every other religion, promotes some form of works toward a person’s salvation. I say again, all other religions in some form or fashion are a works-based religion. How do I know this? Because there is grace, and works. Christianity is a grace based religion. Salvation comes because of the grace bestowed on penitents who believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection. He is the only God who can and who does bestow grace, absolve sins, and resurrect the dead. No other religious figure can do that because no other figure has risen from the dead. Therefore in the false religions, lacking the one thing that can actually save a person, the proponents of these false religions add works to their schema to cover the deficit.

In attempting to attain heaven by his own efforts, man forgets how holy God is and how lowly and polluted with sin we are. Attempting offer works to Jesus as an entry validation is like offering Jesus a filthy rag as your best effort. Isaiah 64:6a says-

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.

Not to get too graphic, but the word for polluted garment is actually Hebrew for used menstrual rag. Believing we can get to heaven on our own works means when you stand before Holy God, and we all will, you will in effect hold out a used and crusty Tampax, and say “Here is a gift for you, Jesus, these are my works. Now I can go into heaven, right?”

Unappealing, right? God hates sin and cannot even look at sin or the sinner. He is angry over sin. He is personally angry with you by name, over your sin. (Exodus 4:14; 15:7; Leviticus 26:27-33; Numbers 11:1; 12:9; 22:22; 25:3; Deuteronomy 3:17; 29:24-29; Joshua 7:1; Judges 2:14; 2 Samuel 24:1; 1 Kings 14:15; 15:30; 16:2; 25:53; 2 Kings 13:3; 17:11; 23:19; 1 Chronicles 13:10; 2 Chronicles 28:25; Psalm 7:11; 11:4-7; Hebrews 10:27). (Right, Monstrance, a vessel used to show the consecrated Eucharistic host; Utrecht Museum, by Johan)

Get the idea? There is only His grace, and our works. His grace is pure and holy, and our works are a used tampon.

Buddhism, though seemingly altruistic in their promotion of good deeds toward others, is really at root a works based religion because one must work on one’s self before one can attain a state of nirvana. A Buddhist must work on their attitude toward worldly attachments, and once releasing all attachment to any self-desires, can then turn around and help others. Buddhism is an inward works based religion. I know I’m generalizing here, but you get the idea in broad strokes. A Buddhist must work on himself before attaining happiness and being able to help others.

Islam is the same but different. Allah’s grace descends upon the believer but the person must perform good works toward others. The entry into paradise for the Muslim is dependent upon a combination of grace and works. If the Muslim has performed more good works than bad, he’s in. However, the believer never quite knows where he stands…so the tension inside their heart is very heavy. To make matters worse, the Koran states that both good and evil come from Allah, and he is capricious. When you get to Allah’s Paradise gate good deeds may indeed outweigh the bad, but Allah may say “begone with you” anyway. The only sure way to please Allah for sure and make it into an Islamic paradise is to be a suicide martyr. And now you know why they line up for the job…

In Catholicism, works also figures in. God’s grace is upon the believer, but that grace is only an enabling function. It enables one to do good works and it is that which they will be judged as worthy or not for heaven.

In Christianity, we receive a free gift when God says, ‘you believe on the Son, therefore I declare you innocent of your sins, justified in My eyes.” (Titus 3:7). In the RCC, justification is denied.

  • If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema” (Council of Trent, Canons on Justification, Canon 9)
  • “If any one saith, that man is truly absolved from his sins and justified, because he assuredly believed himself absolved and justified; or, that no one is truly justified but he who believes himself justified; and that, by this faith alone, absolution and justification are effected; let him be anathema.” (Canon 14).

Anathema means excommunicated from the body of believers or it means cursed, usually both. The RCC does not come right out and say ‘you must work for salvation’ but that is what they teach. You can read here an essay outlining the key differences between Catholic and Christian doctrines.

One of the biggest burdens in all works-related salvation schemes, Catholicism included, is a secret, nagging fear and burden in the person that they may not be ‘doing enough.’ Mormons are particularly burdened with these secret thoughts, which they rarely verbalize, but are there. Catholics have these interior fears as well, because they are taught that they must maintain their salvation. As any sinner knows, even those who are thoroughly saved and rest on Jesus’s grace alone, we stagger with our conscience in knowing how desperately wicked we are. So any person depending on works in any way for their salvation will always fear they are missing the mark. Catholics are always worried. They have to be, they have no assurance of their salvation!

“If you could lose your salvation, you would.”
As John MacArthur replied once when asked about salvation, “if you could lose your salvation, you would.” That simple truth cuts right to the heart of works-based religions. Imagine the fear and burden of a Catholic wondering if they have recovered from their last sin enough. If they said enough hail Marys. If they will go to purgatory or heaven…

In witnessing to a Catholic, I think that focusing on the simplicity and perfection of grace alone will go a long way toward penetrating a Catholic’s mind and heart, because that is where the anxiety is, in my opinion. Humans simply do not have the perseverance to live a sinless life. Humans are not capable of accumulating enough resources to reach heaven. Only Jesus did that. People in works-based religions are always wondering, “Have I done enough?”

photo credit: John Steven Fernandez via photopin cc

In the faith that Jesus delivered to the saints once for all, HE is the one who did enough! We can have assurance of the perfection and completion of His work because God accepted Jesus as the sacrifice, raising Him from the dead. His grace is sufficient for all believers, no more works are needed, because as Jesus said,

“It is finished.”

John 19:30 records the last words of Jesus in His earthly ministry. It is finished means “As if he had said: “I have executed the great designs of the Almighty – I have satisfied the demands of his justice – I have accomplished all that was written in the prophets, and suffered the utmost malice of my enemies; and now the way to the holy of holies is made manifest through my blood.” An awful, yet a glorious finish. Through this tragical death God is reconciled to man, and the kingdom of heaven opened to every believing soul.” (Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible)

It is awful, as Clarke said, but it is simple. We only need to believe on the work of Jesus through the cross to be saved. It sounds so uncomplicated, doesn’t it? It is. The layers of works and tradition that the RCC has overlaid on this simple and awful-beautiful truth is the monstrous thing. Laying our works on His work is grotesque. Believe on the Son and be saved, beloved. How can one be saved? I will say again, using the words of the Holy Spirit,

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

cross photo credit: Christopher JL via photopin cc
rosary photo credit: Lawrence OP via photopin cc

Posted in catholicism, catholics, false religion, pope resigns, rcc

Catholicism is not a Christian religion

Posted on by elizabethprata

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that all popes that have ever pontificated are in hell now.

I do not say this with any sense of glee or happiness. The real fact of hell and people there who had the chance to accept Jesus, but didn’t, and are now in eternal torment, saddens me to the point of tears.

But I said what I said bluntly because I want to cut through the “political correctness” to penetrate the mind of those who give sway to any kind of notion that Catholicism is a true faith. It is not.

I can say without fear and with absolute certainty that Roman Catholic Church is a false religion. Why is it false, I was asked. Here are just a few examples:

  • Catholics worship Mary as a Queen of Heaven. They believe she intercedes for us in heaven. She does not. Jesus Christ is our intercessor. (Romans 8:34)
  • Rosary, a meaningless repetition of prayers which are worthless to God. (Matthew 6:7).
  • Selling forgiveness for money (indulgences)
  • Additions to and subtractions from the bible
  • Purgatory, a completely made-up notion. in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.
  • Pope’s “infallibility”, earthly substitution for Jesus (‘vicar’ of Christ)
  • Priests forgiving men of sins. Shortly before His ascension, Jesus said to his apostles: “whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). The Roman Catholic Church teaches that Christ was actually granting to the apostles the authority to forgive sins, and that the apostles passed on to their successors (supposedly the Roman priesthood) the same license to pardon sin. This position is false.
  • Different classification of sins (mortal, venial). FMI on the falsity of mortal and venial sins, read here
  • Deletion of second commandment. It says “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I The Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My Commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6 RSV)’ Obviously this presents a problem for the RCC, which indeed makes graven images and bows down to them. So they deleted that commandment.
  • Transubstantiation, the is the doctrine that, in the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and the wine used in the sacrament is changed into the substance of the Body and the Blood of Jesus. Not true.
  • Works & tradition related salvation, not faith alone

The Pope is the one who is in charge of protecting and promoting all these false doctrines. When Pope John Paul II died, John MacArthur said, “And the question came up, is the Pope in heaven? And you hear all these people say, “Yes, yes, yes.” People have asked me, “Is the Pope in heaven?” And my answer is, “Is the Pope Catholic?” Isn’t that the answer? I think he is, I think the Pope is Catholic. Does he believe Catholic theology? Yes. He is the guardian of Catholic theology. Do you get to heaven by works, by Mary, by Penance, by Baptism, by confession, by Rosary? No. This is another gospel. This is not the true gospel.”

You can read a more thorough explanation of The Pope and the Papacy and why these are false.

More here about the Catholic religion here at Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry

GotQuestions also has more about the Catholic religion

More here on why a Christian should not partner in ecumenical fashion with the RCC

When the new pope is installed in a few weeks, think on this. It is a comment from John MacArthur at the last pope’s coronation:

“At the consecration of Roman Catholic bishops there is an oath of allegiance to the Pope. Whenever a bishop is consecrated, an allegiance oath is given. Here’s what it says, “With all my power I will persecute and make war on all heretics, schismatics and those who rebel against our Lord the Pope, and all his successors, so help me, God, and these holy gospels of God.” So you swear to make war on anybody who rebels against the Pope. Where is humility in this? Romanism is a gigantic system of Church worship, sacrament worship, Mary worship, saint worship, image worship, relic worship, priest worship and Pope worship. J.C. Ryle was right when he said, “It’s a huge organized idolatry. A man wearing a gold crown, triple decked with jewels worth millions? A cardinal’s garb that costs tens of thousands of dollars?” Peter said, “Silver and gold have I not.” Paul said, “I coveted no man’s gold, no man’s silver, no man’s clothing.” The Pope is surrounded by a dazzling display of arrogant over-indulgence, it is theater, it is nothing more than theater to give the illusion of God, the illusion of transcendence, the illusion of spirituality. It is a pompous display of wealth. It is a lavish indulgence in ridiculous buildings, ridiculous robes, crowns, thrones to cover and mask a sinful system like the whitewashed tombs that Jesus referred to. There was never such a thing as a papal coronation before the tenth century. And now the world has gone berserk over this as it if was true religion.”

I entreat you, please read more to learn why the simple Gospel is the truth. God said, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2). He repeated the warning in Revelation 22:18-19.

Jesus came to seek and save sinners. A a sinner is someone who sins, which means everyone on earth who was ever born is a sinner (Romans 3:23)- EXCEPT Jesus, who is God. Jesus lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15) in obedience to His Father, who is God, and died as a sacrifice to atone for the world’s sin. (Romans 3:25). He shed His blood and took upon His person the wrath of God for sins, which was poured out upon Him on the cross. When the wrath was poured out, Jesus died, saying, “It is finished.” (John 19:30). He was buried, and three days later, by the power of God, He resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:4) and walked on the earth for 40 days, teaching and preaching to His believers. (1 Cor 15:6). On the 40th day He ascended to heaven on a cloud, and this same Jesus will return in like matter (Acts 1:10-11) at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:5).

The time we live in now is called the Age of Grace, when all one must to to be saved is be born again- repent of your sins, believe on the Son. He is not only your Savior but your Lord, Lord of all the earth and heaven. He is coming soon, but this second time to deal with sin and bring wrath then justice upon sinners. If you die before you repent and believe on the Son, you will go to a place that is separate from God and is a place of eternal torment.

Belief in Jesus is ALL that one needs to be saved. He paid the entire price, He did the work, He is in control. Man has no part to play in our own salvation. You can’t work at it like the RCC says, you can’t pay for forgiveness through indulgences, you can’t pray your way into it, you can’t appeal to Mary. It is a simple Gospel: Jesus oriented and pure. Please, if you are reading this, heed the words:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)