Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Has the Pope Taken His First Steps into Last Days Apostasy?
American Prophet ^ | September 24, 2013 | Rev. Michael Bresciani

Posted on 09/25/2013 8:27:57 PM PDT by WXRGina

Reuters and other news agencies are reporting that the Pope has capitulated on several issues such as homosexuality, abortion and contraception.

The Pope’s remarks were taken from a 12,000 word interview with the Jesuit periodical, Civilta Cattolica, (Catholic Civilization) the most prominent statement reaching news agencies is his declaration that the church needs to shake off its obsession with abortion and homosexuality.

The Pope has pleased the liberal factions of the Catholic Church and sickened and worried the conservative members of the church.

Few have reported on the prophetic implications of the Pope’s remarks and with some exceptions, such as those made by Evangelist Bill Keller, most protestant news outlets remain free of op-eds or theological treatment of the Pope’s interview, at the moment.

Biblical Theology and Catholic Teachings – Always at Odds

Hundreds of traditional or patristic teachings of Catholicism are either in direct conflict with the bible or do not exist in the scriptures at all.

The list of theological discrepancies has been addressed repeatedly for centuries and there would be little room to cover them all in one short article.

What we must point out is that on two very important levels, those who stand on scripture can’t ever recognize the authority of the Pope – it has never been a matter of whether they like him or not, nor is it a matter of personal choosing.

First, Because of the Greek rendering of Matthew 16: 18, “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Protestants believe that Christ was referring to himself as the Rock, not Peter. This is supported by other scriptural passages, to wit:

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (Mt 16: 18b)

Secondly, not one word in the bible speaks of ‘apostolic succession.’ It is a concoction of the Roman church, not a biblical teaching. It is very difficult even to support the teaching in view of the fact that there was no Catholic church for over 300 years after Christ came into the world. Most Catholics are totally unaware of this fact. They have been told they are the ‘first church,’ but true history betrays them.

​ Simply because these facts cannot keep the childlike faith of any Catholic from reaching the Savior does not justify or verify the truth of Catholicism’s origins. It is simply a matter of Catholics being saved or redeemed not because of their religion – but in spite of it!

The Real and Present Danger in the Discrepancies between the Papacy and the Bible

Gentle, but firm, is the only way to approach addressing the errors of Catholicism at the same time knowing that millions of Catholics are of the family of faith simply because Jesus said “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” (Jn 6: 37)

Yet, it is more than an item of curiosity or some minor theological difference; it is a dire sense of urgency and concern, especially in the last days, that causes anyone who knows scripture to make fair warning.

I have repeated this warning so often that I think my publishers may think I’ve run out of new things to say. I’ll take that chance, as opposed to risking a confrontation with my Savior for not making it as abundantly clear as possible, while there is still time.

What warning you ask!

Any religion, Catholic or other, that derives its ultimate authority from a man is subject to heresy, apostasy and error depending on the personality, the current state of mind or the evolvement of personal ideologies in that man.

Faith based solely on the scriptures, the written accounts of Christ’s teaching and his Apostles and biblical prophets cannot be altered, changed or disputed until the very last day of time. God intended this; it is his way of grounding us on a rock instead of the sinking sands of a changing and unstable world, to wit:

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Mt 7: 24, 25)

Christ relegated his authority to his Apostles and their teachings too are on the same level as his. They were not mere scribes or interpreters of his will they were Holy Spirit inspired and authorized to speak as final authorities.

He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” (Lk 10: 16)

Finally, since we will not be judged by what other men say – why would we waste time or risk being found in total error. Why not go to the source of truth and take Christ’s warning seriously?

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” (Jn 12: 48)

So what did the Apostles really say about abortion, homosexuality and issues of the day?

The prophetic part of the bible contradicts the Pope’s assertion that believers are obsessed with homosexuality and abortion. In fact it warns that in the last days it is possession (demonic) that will fuel the slide into apostasy the world over.

Political correctness, floundering Pontiff’s and general acceptance of everything the bible condemns, is proof immutable, that the NWO, apostasy and the emergence of the Antichrist are well on track for the very near future. ‘Just don’t talk about it’ is the advice of fools. If the only choices are between obsession and possession it’s pretty much a no brainer.

Not only is homosexuality referred to as an abomination, to be noted, rebuked and refused as part of the church, but immoral behaviors were cause for people to be put out of the church and not allowed back in until they had fully repented. (1Co 5: 1-7) Should the perversion of same sex acts and marriage be an exception?

The idea of the Pope suggesting that we are over-talking the subject of abortions reaches to the heights of apostasy. The only voices the over two hundred million aborted babies worldwide have - is ours. Telling us to be silent is the moral equivalent of blasphemy.

After the Sandy Hook massacre of innocent children the liberals went after guns with a vengeance. Doesn’t it seem hypocritical that after 60,000,000 abortions in the U.S. and 160,000,000 abortions worldwide that telling us to pipe down is the only thing the Pope can think of to say? We will never be silent, or to borrow a phrase, you can pry my anti-abortion argument from my cold dead lips, but no other way.

The Folly of Following the Fallen

Has the Pope taken his first steps into the last day’s (apostasy) falling away? We can only hope he has not, but if this is the beginning of it, it is also the end of everything as we have known it.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (2 Th 2: 3)


TOPICS: General Discusssion
KEYWORDS: apostasy; christians; lastdays; popefrancis; prophecy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 241-260261-280281-300 ... 341-347 next last
To: jodyel
Religion in Kenya

Protestant 47.7%, Roman Catholic 23.5%, other Christian 11.9%, Muslim 11.2%, no religion 2.4%, indigenous beliefs 1.7%,[19] Bahá'í Faith about 1%,[20][21] Buddhism 0.3%, other 2%

References


261 posted on 09/27/2013 9:47:04 AM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 246 | View Replies]

To: sitetest
That issue concerned accusations of criminal behavior. It was rooted in a post years ago that accused all Catholics of child abuse for the Church's handling of pederast priests.

The posters were seeking to apply the same to similar accusations made against Catholics priests as a group.

I pulled the earlier post because it was a criminal accusation of a class to which individual Freepers are members. Applying the same standard to the latter case, I said if any Freeper who is a priest took offense, I would pull the second one as well.

Indignation ensued. And, as I recall, I pulled the second one a day or so later to remove the distraction.

262 posted on 09/27/2013 10:34:46 AM PDT by Religion Moderator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 259 | View Replies]

To: WXRGina

Yuck!

I’ll take corn on the cob any day!


263 posted on 09/27/2013 10:38:53 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 192 | View Replies]

To: Salvation

HA! You’re a corn purist! :-)

Well, corn is delicious. I’ll take it every way and love it.


264 posted on 09/27/2013 11:53:00 AM PDT by WXRGina (The Founding Fathers would be shooting by now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 263 | View Replies]

To: terycarl; Syncro
>>without the work of God THROUGH the Catholic church, you wouldn't even know what a bible was.....they wrote it, they copied it and they saved it for posterity, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.<<

And without Judas betraying Jesus we wouldn’t have salvation through His shed blood. That’s the logic of the Catholic statement about how they gave us scripture. God uses many evil people to fulfill His purposes. Catholics would do well to remember that. Just because God used them doesn’t get them saved.

265 posted on 09/27/2013 1:01:10 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 200 | View Replies]

To: Salvation; jodyel; SumProVita
>>Strange......I always thought Jesus told us to “Love our enemies, for even the pagans love their friends, so what good is that?”<<

I don’t suppose you corrected your children when they believed something wrong? How about a friend who thinks that Buddha is the way to go? It would not be very loving to just allow someone in error to suffer the judgment because they took the wrong path. Strange that Catholics think because they are shown the errors of the RCC from scripture that it’s somehow not loving.

266 posted on 09/27/2013 1:07:06 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 201 | View Replies]

To: jodyel
Loving one’s enemy and leaving him in spiritual bondage is not love at all.

THAT IS A GREAT POINT, ONE THAT i'D NEVER CONSIDERED...I'll have to evangalize to more of my protestant friends,maybe I can convinve them to join the true church which Christ founded....!!!!

267 posted on 09/27/2013 1:26:57 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 212 | View Replies]

To: CynicalBear; terycarl

Jesus read from the Bible in synagogues on the Sabbath many many times.

Thanks goodness the Catholics supplied it for Him!

How foolish that with out the Catholics we “wouldn’t even know what a (B)ible was”

How’s that for squishing God into a tiny little box, the Holy Spirit gave us the Bible, and there were no Catholics for several hundred years.

God used His followers (known as Christians, not Catholics) to bring us the Bible.

Maybe the Catholics c/p’ed the Bible, big deal.

That’s like me writing out one of Mark Twain’s books and saying I brought it to you.


268 posted on 09/27/2013 1:30:39 PM PDT by Syncro ("So?" - -Andrew Breitbart --The King of All Media RIP Feb 1, 1969 – Mar 1, 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 265 | View Replies]

To: Salvation
>>Nevertheless, the word “RAPTURE” is not in the Bible.<<

Neither is the word Pope, Transubstantiation, vicar, Catholic, and many other words Christians use today. I surely hope you didn’t think that reply was going to increase my impression of your knowledge of scripture or adherence to it.

269 posted on 09/27/2013 1:37:10 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 211 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
The Catholic Church did not exist. The followers of Jesus wrote the Bible. The Bible explains how to be saved, it does not involve a Priest or a church

sure it does...the followers of Jesus were, or became known as CATHOLICS....the same people, the same Apostles, the same Deciples....they were Catholic and you know it....just don't want to admit the obvious...there was no one else around....

270 posted on 09/27/2013 1:46:46 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 233 | View Replies]

To: roamer_1
The greatest minds of Judaism (purporting to have the same promises), were all wrong... and for longer than all y'all.

well, let's see, we can either go back to follow the Jewish teachings or we might observe that they missed the coming of Christ as the messiah that they had been waiting for...The Jews were adequately forewarned of the coming of the Messiah, and through the pride and arrogance of the Jewish rulers, they missed the boat....too bad, so sad.

271 posted on 09/27/2013 1:53:11 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 234 | View Replies]

To: terycarl

the followers became known as Christians, a part of them fell in love with beads and idols and paganistic rituals and became Catholics


272 posted on 09/27/2013 1:59:13 PM PDT by GeronL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 270 | View Replies]

To: sitetest
It is true that someone may be speaking broadly, generally, not meaning “without exception,” but rather, “in most cases,” and use the word “you” to communicate that broad-brush. Even more generally, people may use the word “you” without even an intended general target. “You” may be as broad as “all humanity.”

get over it...this is an informal discussion among cHRISTIANS, AND A FEW NON-CHRISTIANS( CONCERNING THEIR BELIEFS...no one goes to hell because he/she doesn't follow the suggestians on F/R....(why do I always hit the caps lock key????????)

273 posted on 09/27/2013 2:06:51 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 243 | View Replies]

To: jodyel
Hunt, Dave May 1 1990

DAVE HUNT????? Oh please!!!

274 posted on 09/27/2013 2:10:44 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 239 | View Replies]

To: ravenwolf
God is the one who made the Gospel possible for all to read and i think it is true that the Catholic Church had a lot to do with it but it would have been done with or with out them.

of course God could have done it another way....but He didn't, He chose the Catholic Church to preserve, protect, Copy (by hand) the scriptures. As I said, without the Catholic church you wouldn't even know who Jesus was....God acted through the Catholic church....is that so repugnant to you that you can't grasp reality?????

275 posted on 09/27/2013 2:18:40 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 245 | View Replies]

To: jodyel
Can you see one willing to actually die for Christ? No, that would be PERSONAL!! And we can have that now, can we?

do you think that more Catholics, or non Catholics have died for Christ????

276 posted on 09/27/2013 2:31:02 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 248 | View Replies]

To: WXRGina
No. Those who "went out" were not protesting the apostles. They were masquerading as part of the church, but they were perverting the Gospel of Christ while pretending to spread it.

thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church....and there were those who went out......I'll stick with Peter, you go with those who "went out" protestantism's beginnings perhaps????

277 posted on 09/27/2013 2:40:46 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 251 | View Replies]

To: WXRGina
They were masquerading as part of the church, but they were perverting the Gospel of Christ while pretending to spread it.

the Apostles were the only ones in possession of the scriptures and whatever written documents that there were....how does one "go out" from that????

278 posted on 09/27/2013 2:43:42 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 251 | View Replies]

To: Salvation
That would be like me saying ALL men are wimps, and ALL women have nothing in their brain.

and the problem arises where????

279 posted on 09/27/2013 2:47:09 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 256 | View Replies]

To: Syncro
If the Catholic Church is Christain in nature, it would be classified as a denomination also. So it looks like there are 35,001 denominations if your figures are correct. Is that number a Papal Decree or was it pulled out of the air, ie made up of whole cloth (that means false, kinda like a straw man?)

nope, doesn't work that way...I have no idea of what the true numbers are but it is irrelevant....the fact that Catholicism is the ONLY, TRUE, COMPLETE Christian curch is correct. All others, Luthersns, Methodists, Baptists, etc. are denominations ( they need a name) of Christianity. Catholicism was here and doing just fine for 1,600 years before denominations were even necessary...

280 posted on 09/27/2013 2:53:41 PM PDT by terycarl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 258 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 241-260261-280281-300 ... 341-347 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson