Posted on 01/22/2014 5:49:08 PM PST by HarleyD
Indeed! I am most aware I was dead in sins and trespasses. It’s a wonderful thing that Christ came to seek and save that which was lost. (see Luke 19:10).
Really?????? Do you really mean that? Do you mean that everything that is said and done is nearly the same?? Really??
Perhaps the rote rituals. I don't know enough, nor really care to in order to agree with or refute that point. But I do know that Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that now that He has come, we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
This did NOT happen at a packed Christmas Eve mass (SRO) in an inner city church that I attended just last month. The priest has been around for many years. He began his homily on where his hope lies. (ok, that is a good start for Christmas Eve).
But he went on to say that it is with the pope and he went on and on, often mentioning some of the most bizarre things this pope has said recently. Next, was his hope in the dioceses and the bishop. But his biggest hope? Ok, I thought - NOW he will speak of our blessed Lord. Oh, no. The biggest hope of this priest was all the people there that night. I quit counting after the guy mentioned the pope and the bishop at least 30 times. He also mentioned how he was glad to embrace homosexuals and they were also his hope. He mentioned the name of Jesus ONE time. Just one. And that was to end his homily "in Jesus's name".
The early Christians "might" have recognized the smells and bells but they would have been appalled at the words as much I was. There was no worshipping the advent of Christ Jesus in Spirit and in Truth. None. The early Christians would have thought they were in a pagan temple. I did.
The saddest thing of all was that the mass of people seemed to just be fine with all of it. :(
You experienced a bad homily by a confused priest. How does that diminish the essence of the Mass?
The saddest thing of all was that the mass of people seemed to just be fine with all of it. :(
How do you know?
“Iain Murray again writes, “When churches have recovered from apostasy, historically, such as at the time of the Reformation and the eighteenth century evangelical revival…it has always been…by a return to such discriminating preaching and practice.” What he means is when there’s ever a recovery from a time of apostasy, it has come when preaching has become discriminating.
What does it mean to discriminate? If you say you discriminate, what does it mean? If you say…you hear people say, be a discriminating buyer, what does that mean? It means that you can choose the best out of the lot, right? You know how to discriminate. It means to discern. The only hope for the church is discriminating, discerning preaching. I don’t think there’s any organizational answer. I don’t think we need more meetings, more seminars. We need preachers who will stand up and preach discriminating messages.
And Murray says, “Given the great decline in the English-speaking churches of the twentieth century, the chief need again was the reassertion of the meaning of being a Christian.” Wow! The chief hope for the church is discriminating preaching primarily directed at the issue of who is a Christian.”
Exactly. Today’s “church” is full of undiscernment and indiscriminate thought and belief. That’s why Western culture is in the mess it’s in today.
How do I know? Very easy - I was watching people’s faces and body language. I was sitting where I could see most of the people.
As for the rest of your post - well, it pretty much validates what I said, and very much validates the content of the original article.
The Book does no such thing.
The 15 promises of the Rosary:
1. To all those who shall pray my Rosary devoutly, I promise my special protection and great graces.
2. Those who shall persevere in the recitation of my Rosary will receive some special grace.
3. The Rosary will be a very powerful armor against hell; it will destroy vice, deliver from sin and dispel heresy.
4. The rosary will make virtue and good works flourish, and will obtain for souls the most abundant divine mercies. It will draw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
This is a contradiction of the Bible...The Bible teaches in John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." It is the Word of God that sanctifies us (sets us apart from the world and to God). Catholicism elevates the rosary above the Word of God. The rosary cannot sanctify you. How can you be sanctified by repeating a bunch of vain repetitions?
The term "hail Mary" is NOT even mentioned once in the Bible! Not once! Think about it.
5. Those who trust themselves to me through the Rosary will not perish.
This is one of the most blasphemous statements in here. Your Catholic religion teaches that those who trust MARY through the ROSARY will not perish. That's a dirty lie of the devil. The Bible proclaims:
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
6. Whoever recites my Rosary devoutly reflecting on the mysteries, shall never be overwhelmed by misfortune. He will not experience the anger of God nor will he perish by an unprovided death. The sinner will be converted; the just will persevere in grace and merit eternal life.
A Catholic will never be overwhelmed with misfortune??? Tell my you know this is a lie...
This is extreme Catholic blasphemy against a Holy God. No sinner will ever be converted by reciting the rosary! The ONLY hope of salvation is through Jesus Christ ALONE...
Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
7. Those truly devoted to my Rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
8. Those who are faithful to recite my Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces and will share in the merits of the blessed.
9. I will deliver promptly from purgatory souls devoted to my Rosary.
10. True children of my Rosary will enjoy great glory in heaven.
11. What you shall ask through my Rosary you shall obtain.
12. To those who propagate my Rosary I promise aid in all their necessities.
13. I have obtained from my Son that all the members of the Rosary Confraternity shall have as their intercessors, in life and in death, the entire celestial court.
14. Those who recite my Rosary faithfully are my beloved children, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion to my Rosary is a special sign of predestination.
I just picked on a couple of the lies in your Rosary...The bible is rife with the condemnation of your religion...
If you could lose eternal life, it's not eternal is it?
1 John 5:11-13 ... present tense verbs ...
The Living Word of God is jesus. As for the rest, you are simply being perverse.
They were supposed to throw rocks?
Below is the communion or Lord's Supper in accordance to the Didache (Estimated Range of Dating: 50-120 A.D.) which is the earliest artifact we have of what early early Christians were practicing:
CHAPTER 9 THE THANKSGIVING SACRAMENT 1) Now concerning the Thanksgiving meal, give thanks in this manner. 2) First, concerning the cup: We thank You, our Father, For the Holy Vine of David Your servant, Whom You made known to us through Your Servant; May the glory be Yours forever. 3) Concerning the broken bread: We thank You, our Father, For the life and knowledge Which You made known to us through Your Servant; May the glory be Yours forever. As this broken bread was scattered over the mountains, And was gathered together to become one, So let Your Body of Faithful be gathered together From the ends of the earth into Your kingdom; for the glory and power are Yours forever. 5) But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving, unless they have been baptized; for concerning this is taught, "Do not give what is holy to dogs."
CHAPTER 10 PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION 1) After the meal, give thanks in this manner: 2) We offer thanks, Holy Father, For Your Holy Name which fills our hearts, And for the knowledge, faith and eternal life, You made known to us through Your Servant; Yours is the glory forever. 3) Almighty Master, You created all things for Your own purpose; You gave men food and drink to enjoy, That they might give You thanks; But to us You freely give spiritual food and drink, And eternal life through Your Servant. 4) Foremost, we thank You because You are mighty; Yours is the glory forever. 5) Remember Your Body of Servants, To deliver it from everything evil And perfect it according to Your love, And gather it from the four winds, Sanctified for Your kingdom which You have prepared for it; For the power and glory are Yours forever. 6) Let Your grace come, And let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God of David! May all who are holy, come; Let those who are not, repent. Maranatha. Amen. 7)But permit the prophets to make Thanksgiving as they wish.(http://web.archive.org/web/20101009033540/http://ivanlewis.com/Didache/didache.html)
As the 'old commerical' says "you make the call." I see a simple assembly of God fearing believers who based the document on Scriptures.
We also know during this same timeframe, if the earlier date range the apostles were still around. If the later date range we know someone in Polycarp was still around. In Polycarp's epistle to the Philippians we see a solid use and knowledge of what we call the NT canon today. Polycarp's epistle is in the date range of 110-140 A.D. This is an important period, because we hear a lot about a large time duration happened to figure out the NT canon. However, looking at Polycarp's (served under John the apostle) epistle, we see none of the spurious "gospels" or "books" quoted the later church fathers refuted and dismissed. Which leads to the conclusion, that those who were of the faith knew the true apostolic writings because they heard the Voice of Good Sheperd in the Gospels of John, Luke, Matthew and Mark but not in Thomas and others. Below is a link to a site which lists in detail the NT books Polycarp quotes in his epistle:
thanks for the link. it’s a delightful read. may God bless.
The living Word of God is Jesus...The living word of God is what God spoke to us in the scriptures...
As for the rest, you are simply being perverse.
I posted the 15 promises of your rosary...And then I posted scripture to show that it was full of lies...So how does that make me peverse??? The bible is perverse???
Because their success is most often measured in numbers. Attendance and $$$. As long as the $$$ are there, everything is happy happy happy.
No, you posted lines of scripture that have no direct relevance to those promises. If you examine these, they all relate to the incarnation in which Mary serves as the person who gave birth to the God-Man who is the savior of the world. A rosary properly done is not a mechanical recitation, but a means by which we contemplate the life of the Lord, in which Mary pays an important but very secondary role. What she has, she received from the Lord, who servant she is, and for us, she serves as a model for service to him.
That is a very good question. MacArthur seems to think this can all be figured out. I'm not so sure it can be figured out.
But I would refer back to the very strange case of the lying prophet in 1 Kings 13.
The same slur can and is made about every church congregation. There are so many nondenominational congregations where the “draw” is not the “brand-name but the personality of the pastor. He has certain gifts that attract people and if he attracts enough, he can make a good living from “preaching.” Materially, many churches are just small businesses, which may grow into big ones.
Thanks for the link. I have bookmarked it. :)
I agree 100%.
Love this passage. Your conclusion is right on, IMHO.
I believe the word of the Lord to his saints today is that found in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation - “Let him who has an ear to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches...”
Not what man is saying, not what preachers/teachers/authors are saying. What the Spirit is saying.
We know of times in China when the underground churches became infiltrated with gov. spies, they determined the locations of where to meet - by prayer. Ask God - He will show you. Of course, only the saints who knew how to hear from God knew where to gather. The spies never knew. And could do nothing.
The same may come here.
While I believe it’s possible for born-again Christians and pro-life Catholics to work together somewhat, evangelicals have allowed Catholics to represent them far too often. There are the “conservative Catholics” on the Supreme Court, as well as Rick Santorum, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, etc. It’s not like these politicians have an ability to attact Catholics in general. The only ones who vote for them are Catholics who would vote Republican anyway. So why is Bible-believing Christianity represented by almost noone but Catholics today? It seems to be because even conservative Catholics still don’t hold to the Bible as their highest authority.
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