There goes pope "Heil"

[someguy85]

Just in case anyone hasn't heard, Joseph Ratzinger (AKA former pope Benedict, and yes he was also in the Hitler youth brigade), has dropped off his perch...and found out how wrong he was. While the office of the pope wields a lot of worldly power and an obscene amount of wealth, and despite the fact Benedict was put in charge of the new office of inquisition, I'd say it's also worth keeping an eye on a guy named Arturo Sosa, or the current Jesuit General. Keep in mind, the types that run these organisations, I mean the ones that REALLY run them are not going to be in the spotlight for obvious reasons (and yes I'm pretty certain the Jesuit General also fits into this category of also being a puppet), but whenever one figurehead dies in an organisation like this, the new one that pops up is quite possibly going to be an excuse for things to change, and often time it's for the worse.

Just keep in mind things getting worse in this world was promised in the bible, disease, earthquakes, wars, rumours of wars, famine, false prophets...it's no surprise to anyone who is paying attention to scripture, after all in Romans 3:4 "...let God be true, but every man a liar;...".

I think there's two things we need to keep in mind from this, life is short, eternity is forever...and also if you have friends or family who are unsaved, roman catholic or not, please try finding a chance to talk to them about the law, so it can be the school master that leads them to repentance and to Christ. If you don't see an opportunity to talk to them about it in a one on one conversation any time soon, pray that you might be given the opportunity or another born again believe might get the chance, and even if it might be at the cost of friendships or even peace, someone should tell them.

John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

The Vatican has no love for it's subordinates, they try to create an unbelievably complicated pipe dream of salvation when the gospel is so much simpler.


Just a bit of a thought rant...I know that after today Joseph Ratzinger is going to be eulogized greatly as "Mother" Theresa, Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr, pope John Paul II, Walter Martin and so many other wolves were when they died, but the amount of damage they did and souls they led to a Christ-less eternity in hell makes me as angry as it makes me heartbroken. 

[creationliberty]

I have inevitable run-ins with Catholics every so often on social media. In every instance I can remember, just over the past year, I have gotten nothing but arrogance and hatred from them, while they accuse me of arrogance and hatred, even though I am the only one quoting Scripture that contradicts their statements in every encounter. That's not exaggeration. EVERY encounter.

Know your Scripture, especially the ones about works doctrine. Remember that they believe they have to work to get into heaven. Remember that there is nothing more loving than the truth, even if they get upset because of it.

[someguy85]

Well, as you said in your teaching as well as a lot of other testimonials I've heard from those who have been to catholic seminaries, they aren't encouraged to read the bible (and in a lot of cases actively prohibited from it), even in the more "liberal" catholic church buildings.

Seems to be almost written into the contract with cults though is projection, they'll accuse you of everything either the members or leaders are guilty of.

I try to remember though, their entire faith system is a house of cards that they'll try and keep from collapsing with their lives and even their souls. I remember one cult member who came out of the group describing cult members who discovered that everything they believed was a lie felt like they were spiritually raped...and I think for so many that's quite accurate, and just like no one really wants to admit they're a sinner or even that they've told a lie, no one wants to admit that they were tricked or deceived because they want to hold onto some form of pride, which is also where it started to first click for me: The standout sin in the bible is pride for obvious reasons, and hence one of the first things so many have to overcome to have a hope of taking that first step of repentance is to discard their pride. As was mentioned in the book of Luke, The Prodigal Son, which sums up my story...

Luke {15:20} And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. {15:21} And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. {15:22} But the father said to his
 servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put [it] on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on [his] feet: {15:23} And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill [it;] and let us eat, and be merry: {15:24} For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

[Rowan M.]

I've recently been going through 1 and 2 Peter, and of course the Catholic Church tries to claim him as their first Pope. (In reality, I think Constantine might have been the first Pope - at any rate, it certainly wasn't Peter!) It is striking, however, how Peter refers to himself in his epistles. For example, he opens the first one with Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Just "an apostle". Not "the Chief Apostle", or "the Apostle of Apostles", or some other grandiose title, but very simply "an apostle".

Then in the first verse of 1 Peter 5, he does something similar:

The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

He says he is "also an elder", almost as an afterthought. Again, he's not referring to himself as "the Chief Elder" or "the most senior elder", and certainly not as "your pope" or "the vicar or Christ", but regarding himself as just one elder among many.

In the opening verse of 2 Peter, he says:

Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Notice here how he calls himself a servant first, and THEN an apostle. So he's almost downplaying being an apostle, and putting greater emphasis on being a servant of Christ. This is completely the opposite to the way the popes have viewed themselves or behaved. So even if Peter had been the first Pope, the rest of them have failed quite miserably to follow his example. Especially this command:

Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:3)

But "being lords over God's heritage" is exactly the way the popes have acted. Of course, those who submit to them are not God's heritage at all, but as we know, they have tried to force truly born-again Christians to submit to them as well. Nowadays, they use subtlety more than force, but their goals haven't changed. They still want to exercise lordship over the whole world. I guess it all ultimately comes back to pride. The popes have it as much as their followers.

[someguy85]

Also mentioned in Matthew as far as the hierarchical structure of pretty much every cult goes.

{20:25} But Jesus called them [unto him,] and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. {20:26} But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; {20:27} And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: {20:28} Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

Jesus set an example to serve and to minister to others, every cult leader I've ever seen always puts themselves up in a position of a deity or said deity's right hand person. The pope is the pinnacle of this example, despite what a lot of catholics try and deny, he is worshiped as a deity, and previous popes and cannon law have said that the position of pope is basically a god walking on earth. The vatican is wealthy enough to break a dozen recessions single handed with their pocket change, but the attitude by so many is that they believe they are honoured to be in his presence when behind the illusion, he's nothing but some old sorcerer elected or nominated to the position who holds no power of his own. He claims to serve so many but aside from leading so many people into bondage and to hell, what has he done? He is no minister, he does not bring himself low and the word humble doesn't even appear in his dictionary.

I remember hearing a story from Italy I think in the 80s when there was a devastating earthquake in Italy, the pope apparently visited one of the affected cities, walked up to one of the survivors, blessed him, and then left. This was the same incident to which Senator Kennedy asked for tens of millions of dollars in aid money for the same village. I believe this was the media's favourite pontiff, John Paul the second as well, what does that say about a completely lack of compassion or charity when he won't even help out a destroyed town in his own back yard.

[anvilhauler]

Also for those who want to think that Peter is some rock that the church is founded on then they might be best to read in the gospel of John of the name and description that Jesus gave to Peter.

John 1 King James Version
40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

A stone is way smaller than a rock.

[someguy85]

Well not only that, but of all the apostles to try to claim "this was the first pope"...why would you pick someone who is documented as denying Christ with an oath, lost faith when he tried to walk on water, was rebuked by Christ and Paul, was told "Get thee behind me Satan" by Christ when he tried to rebuke the prophecy of the crucifiction? Don't get me wrong, Peter is a brother in Christ, he preached the gospel and paid a price for it when he was crucified upside down, but he had nothing to do with the roman catholic church, (apparently there was no evidence that Peter ever even went to Rome). If they'd thought about it, they would have done better trying to claim John as the first pope, the one who wrote the book of Revelation.

Also something of a problem that the title of nun, monk or pope is never mentioned in the entire bible.

[anvilhauler]

Well not only that, but of all the apostles to try to claim "this was the first pope"...why would you pick someone who is documented as denying Christ with an oath, lost faith when he tried to walk on water, was rebuked by Christ and Paul, was told "Get thee behind me Satan" by Christ when he tried to rebuke the prophecy of the crucifiction? Don't get me wrong, Peter is a brother in Christ, he preached the gospel and paid a price for it when he was crucified upside down, but he had nothing to do with the roman catholic church, (apparently there was no evidence that Peter ever even went to Rome). If they'd thought about it, they would have done better trying to claim John as the first pope, the one who wrote the book of Revelation.

Also something of a problem that the title of nun, monk or pope is never mentioned in the entire bible.

I wouldn't go with the part about Peter being crucified upside down though as the Bible doesn't document that and it is quite probably folklore.

[someguy85]

I don't mean it as any statement of scripture, in fact as far as I remember, the only apostles who we have any certainty on how they died was Judas (technically), Steven and James. I know John Foxe in "Foxes Book on Christian Martyrs" claims only John lived to old age.

This still wouldn't have stopped the roman catholic institution of being able to make this claim based on nothing, after all they claim so many other things are needed for salvation despite NONE of them being mentioned in the bible, such as infant baptism, the confessional, the eucharist, literal necromancy, purgatory, etc, etc, etc.

Speaking of folklore, there's a story that pope pius the 12th (the war criminal) was obsessed with finding the bones of Peter and had many archeological dig sites going under the vatican for years, when one day they cracked through a rock wall and the new area was shrouded in complete darkness, even when one of the workers pitched a torch into the darkness there was no light and the thing didn't even sound like it landed on anything, it was then the pope supposedly said "This is the gate of hell, seal this up, we are going no further."

Could be complete fiction but honestly wouldn't surprise me if there's some truth to it, the vatican is a place of extreme evil. I always found it highly ironic that they have an obelisk right in the middle of St Peter's square, even though rome and the masons were supposedly at odds for centuries. (Yes, I know behind the scenes they're as thick as thieves at the highest levels, both are ecumenical groups after all.)

[OsoWeakbutHeIsStrong]

Joseph Ratzinger (AKA former pope Benedict, and yes he was also in the Hitler youth brigade)

Wow, Chris!  I did not know this little tid bit!  Thank you for the info.

[someguy85]

Ironically he was also the head of the new office of inquisition, I've heard that the SS and other extermination squads of World War 2 were an attempt to bring back the inquisition on a grander scale, and I have a hard time dismissing that notion.

If you've had a chance to listen to Chris' series on "Corruptions of Christianity - Catholicism"...even pope Francis has a lot to answer for, especially being neck deep in the paedophilia cover up mess, but so does virtually every pope before him. The tree isn't just rotten, it's as infectious as you can get. It's not for nothing we believe that catholic tradition and practices are the real Mystery, Babylon The Great, the ideals and religious aim are the same as they were since the Babylonian empire.

[OsoWeakbutHeIsStrong]

Yep.  I agree. Thanks for the recommendation on Christopher's teaching too!  I haven't heard it yet, but now that you mentioned it, I plan on listening.

God bless you