Nancy Pelosi's Slide into Hell

All Christians need to fast and pray for Ms. Pelosi. She either has demonic oppression or she is mentally ill. Her soul is in great jeopardy. 

She has multiplied her sins by associating the murder of children with Catholicism and even calling a woman's reproductive choices sacred. 

I shudder for her. She is the Catholic Jezebel and rather than hate her, instead we must pray for our enemies, for she had made herself an enemy of God. Our fervent prayers can do miracles!! We CAN win her back to the faith.

Fast and pray for her and our bishops that they will know how to courageously deal with politicians who align themselves with evil and call themselves Catholic. This has become a scandal that has wounded the heart of God and His children. 


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How Christians Become Catholic

There are at least two routes from Protestantism to Catholicism.

1. Through Truth
2. Through the Church

These two routes are best explained by asking the following questions:

Does Your Church Look Like the Early Church?


Since there is as many different nuances of scriptural interpretation as there are Christians, a seeker for truth would at some point have to ask, "What did Christ mean when He said such-and-such?" Because it doesn't really matter if we have the words correct if we have the meaning wrong. Being able to memorize scripture without comprehension doesn't give a person the truth about God. That's like a four-year-old memorizing Billy's Joel's Piano Man, its very cute, but....

When Christ taught, the meaning isn't up for grabs. He had something He was clearly trying to tell His followers and it needed to be understood as He meant it.

So, how do we know what Christ meant when He said, "Blessed are the poor" and "Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect" and "You are rock" and "This is my body." Christian scholars disagree. The Holy Spirit isn't teaching us different things about what Christ taught. There is an answer and we can know it.

It would make sense that the early followers of Jesus who heard Him teach and walked with Him as His Apostles would know best what He meant. Or those first and second century Christian leaders who learned it from the Apostles--like Clement or Ignatius or Polycarp or Justin Martyr or Tertullian or Ireneaus. Maybe the early documents like the Didache can tell us as they are almost twenty centuries closer to having heard the Apostles as we are. Just what did the earliest church believe Jesus meant? I would trust the teachings of a first and second century apostle-ordained leader more than a post-enlightenment American scholar whose worldview is culturally two millennia and a few continents from Christ.

Once you start studying the early church you will either become Jew, agnostic or Catholic, because Protestantism is nothing remotely like the early church. If you remain Christian after you know what the early church taught.... You'll have to be Catholic.


Did Christ Establish a Church?

Another route is more direct. Did Christ establish a church? Read the gospels, then read St. Paul. As you are reading ask yourself, "Did God start an actual church body? Did He bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth when He came by means of an organized religion? Is there such thing as a one, true church as the Body of Christ?"

(I am not at this point arguing that He did. I am asking the hypothetical "if?")

If you discover that Christ established a church, then you have to be in that church. It doesn't matter if it is perfect. (Christ warned us that is wasn't going to be. Look at Israel.) It doesn't matter if you agree or understand the doctrines. It doesn't matter if you don't like the leaders or the music or the people or the way they worship. It simply doesn't matter.

If God did establish a church, then we must be obedient and submit to that true Church because every other church wasn't established by God. Other Christian denominations and groups are loved by God and may even be saved. They may be wonderful people, serving God. But they are in a man-made tradition and they are playing church like little girls play at tea parties.

If God established a church, then the church is about what He wants and not about what we like, what we want or what we think. We don't get a vote. God doesn't ask us our opinion about who He puts in charge, if we want to sing with our hands in the air or with drums. He didn't include us in the worship committee or doctrinal committee. The Church is about what God wants.

In the end, it is about obedience.

If God established a church, we have the obligation to find out what that is and join it.

So, if the Bible convinces you that God did establish a church, you will end up at a church with apostolic succession.... a Catholic (or Orthodox).

For He promised His Church, "I will be with you to the end of the age." God doesn't break His promises.

Faith Alone?

PRAY AND FAST!

When Our Fathers Fail Us

"You're bad. I hate you. I don't have to obey you!" The nine-year-old screamed at her father when he told her she couldn't wear lipstick. Her reaction wasn't really about the lipstick. A few days earlier she accidentally overheard her parents speak of his infidelity. She was crushed; her life, her illusions of a happy family were gone. Her father was supposed to be perfect. 

All heaven wept for the little girl. While mother forgave him, the nine-year-old didn't and rejected her father. She decided God had been mistaken at giving her a father that was so wicked and unfaithful to what she had wanted and needed. It wasn't fair. Daddies were supposed to be good and love mommies. So she looked for a new one. A better father.

As the girl grew older she began looking around for other "father" figures to work out her pain. And she went from boy to boy and later, man to man. Her choices for a father figure never quite turned out the way she had wanted. Her choice for a good man was just as flawed as God's. 

_________________

The twenty-four-year-old dad kicked his three-year-old son sitting on the floor playing legos. He had never done such a ghastly thing before. 

He had been without work for weeks and bills were closing in on him. He felt like a failure and he was angry with himself. When he walked in and stepped on a lego, he painfully kicked the lego out of the way with frustrated fury and then kicked his son out of the way. He didn't mean to do it so hard. He just meant to push his boy out of his path. But his anger got the best of him. 

His wife saw it. Her heart failed her. This was no longer the husband she married. Her husband's reaction was unforgivable and no kind God would expect her to live with a monster like that. She took the boy and left. 

All heaven wept for this wife and son. The boy grew up without his father. He looked for other father figures but none turned out to fill the need he had for his own father. 

___________________

All heaven weeps for the sins of the fathers. Their sins impact a family like no other. Poverty is rampant where fathers fail. Sexual morality crashes among young people where fathers fail. Where dads fail, a broken home often follows with ripples into the next generations.  And divorce is disastrous on families and on all the little, precious souls that grow up inside what was supposed to be the safe haven of home.

All heaven weeps when fathers fail. 

And yet God doesn't take away the father's roll of priest and head of the home because fathers fail. God's chosen authorities are never perfect. But God doesn't take away their position because wives and children hate them, were betrayed by them, were wounded by them. 

A God who would force a family to stay with a father who fails them seems like an unreasonable, sadistic God, doesn't He? No child should have to remain under such a tyrant father who makes mistakes, right?

I am not sure. I will not write for all circumstances, but I would like women and children to consider this: 

What has our culture come to because our families have not stayed in and fought for marriage and family? What does our culture look like because it has not remained faithful to a failing dad who may want to be better but not sure what a good father looks like or needs our support in becoming a good man? 

In most situations, the father needs redemption, not abandonment. We too quickly give up. (Please don't tell me about your neighbor who was beaten to death or your friend who has a crack-addicted husband, I am not talking about that. I am talking about the Christian man who falls. I am not advocating staying in a dangerous situation.)

Because of sin, we all fall. But when the authority falls, it usually has a catastrophic ripple that takes out the wife and kids like an earthquake. And when the authority falls, there is generally a huge undertaking of clean up and repair. It takes years for wounds to heal and trust to be restored. 

But carefully weigh the results of a fatherless home. In most circumstances, God is calling us to a supernatural gift of forgiveness. It may rip your heart out, but genuine forgiveness contains most of the wound to yourself and minimizes it upon your children. Divorce can cause the wounds to multiply exponentially to all involved and even the next couple generations.

Watching the effects of his failure upon his family is a purgatory for men of God. Leaving a husband and father because of a sin--even a big one--often blinds the man to the extreme hurt he caused and can even create victimhood. The process of forgiveness and reconciliation can bring enormous fruits of maturity to families. It can even break the slavery of addictions in some cases. 

Sticking together through even the most thick of disasters caused by the father, sends families through the fires of holiness and saints can emerge. But only God can do it. Hold fast to Him and all things are possible. 

So now to the point of this:

This same challenge is given for God's spiritual authorities. Jesus told His followers, 

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses seat, so you must obey them and everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." Matt. 23: 1-3

Christians often pass by the first part of this statement ready to condemn Israel's leaders, with Christ, as the hypocrites they are. As tempting as it is to get all worked up in the righteous anger of Christ as He rightly calls them blind fools, we forget that we must obey them. Yes! Jesus knows how rotten they are shutting the kingdom up to those trying to get in and making converts twice the sons of hell the Pharisees are. That is very condemning language.

And yet, we are to obey them. They seriously wounded the family and devastated the hearts of the innocent ones. It makes my blood boil to think of it. Aren't we supposed to overthrow tyrants?! Isn't the greatest cry of earth "freedom!" from these thoroughly corrupted leaders? 

God's Part

Jesus says we are to obey His appointed leaders. He is going to take care of them, that is not up to us. Vengeance is His. He is going to take care of these hypocritical, corrupted priests. He may or may not take them out of their position. He may redeem them.

Our Part

The Bible never tells anyone to break from God's authorities, even if they are not perfect. We don't abandon our dads because they fail us. Sheep do not abandon the flock in search of another shepherd when their God-appointed shepherds fail them. 

A shepherd who fails isn't necessarily a false shepherd. Peter failed. Our earthly fathers fail. 

God's church failed. And we Christians were crushed. Our illusions of a happy spiritually family were gone. We thought the Church was supposed to be perfect. We decided God had been mistaken for giving us priests that were wicked and unfaithful to what we wanted and desired. It wasn't fair. 

The Perfect Church

Some Christians claimed the real church couldn't fail, so they looked for a new one with a better father. And see the results of this search for our own spiritual authorities? 

We no longer care who is a false shepherd or a true one a long as we like the person and as long as the person doesn't disappoint us. And when they do, as they always will, we either learn to forgive or start the whole process over again of finding the perfect church.

This isn't the family got placed us in. As Christians, we are not at liberty to pick out our own spiritual authorities anymore than our biological fathers. 

Sin has challenged our spiritual family, absolutely. When our priests and bishops fail us, forgiveness and reconciliation puts us through the holy fires of purgatory till we come out as saints. And through our personal sacrifice of forgiveness we minimize the damage to our spiritual children. 

Sounds hard? No, actually sounds impossible. But God calls us to pray for the grace that gives us the courage to faithfully walk through the fires of the miraculous. 

God calls us to the miraculous duty of forgiveness and healing. And often, miraculously our fathers are given supernatural courage to become the men of God the position is calling them to. 

Miracles happen. I've seen them.

A Church Full of Hypocrites

"There is a huge difference in a church that is full of hypocrites and a church that is full of heretics. A church full of hypocrites is one that teaches truth and the believers fail to live up to the truth they believe. A church full of heretics do not teach the truth but lies. 

Although a church full of heretics looks very nice and is full of tolerance, I would rather be among hypocrites that tell me the truth." Teresa Beem

My notes on the exchange between Al Kresta and his guest Scott Hahn:

The “New Testament” found in scripture doesn’t refer to a collection of books. (Late second-century Bishop Ireneaus was the first to use the New Testament as a collection of writings. It wasn’t common until the end of the 4th century.)

Up until that time the “new covenant” or the “new testament” was used by the early Christians for the Eucharist or Lamb’s supper.  The New Testament was the giving of the divine life, through the Son of God offered to us on Calvary in the mass sacrifice.

The books came to be known as the New Testament only because they were used during the mass--they were what was being read from during the sacrifice. So Christians began to call them New Testament readings, which eventually the books took on the name of the sacrifice. The books that told of this New Covenant with God and man, in Christ’s blood, were read in mass and eventually took on the mass’ name.

Never does the New Testament call itself the New Testament. That name is a Christian tradition. Let’s see what the Bible refers to when it records the meaning of the New Testament:

The Cup of Blood at Christ’s Passover 

The only time that Jesus ever used the working “New Testament” was in context of the sacrifice and the cup of the Passover celebration.

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matt. 26:28, See also Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. I Cor. 11:25 (written c. AD 50’s. Earliest reference to “New Testament.”)

New Testament as Will (not as book)

Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. 2 Cor. 3:6

I will perfect, unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah, a new testament: Heb. 8:8

Christ’s Atonement and Shedding of Blood 

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions...Heb. 9:15

And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel. Heb. 12:24

When the Apostles proclaimed the New Covenant/Testament gospel to the world and people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, they didn’t read the New Testament. He didn’t say to write this in remembrance of me. Jesus told them to do the New Covenant in remembrance of me.

This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. I Cor. 11:25

The Bible, on its own terms, refers to the New Testament as a sacrament long before it became a document. The New Testament Bible really points to the Lord’s Supper.

IS CHRISTIAN AUTHORITY REALLY BASED ON ANY SOLA?

Catholic: Is the Word of the Father authoritative to the Christian?

Protestant: Of course.

Catholic:  Is the Word of the Jesus authoritative to the Christian?

Protestant: Yes. Both the Father and the Son are God. They are both authoritative.

Catholic: Is the Word of the Holy Spirit authoritative to the Christian?

Protestant: Yes, Christians believe in the Trinity, three persons in one God. They are all authoritative.

Catholic: What if I were to say to you, “My authority is Pater Solus or a Father alone. I don’t go to Jesus or the Spirit. I go straight to the Father. He is my final authority and I check out all that Jesus says or the Spirit says through the Father.” What would you say?

Protestant: I don’t understand the point. Jesus and the Father are one so they are not going to disagree. 

Catholic: But if they do disagree. I’m not going to Jesus, I am going to the Father. 

Protestant: What are you saying? That the Father and Son might disagree?

Catholic: No.The Trinity is our authority. There is no conflicts between them. Even though there are three final authorities, no Christian would see a problem with this.

Protestant: So?

Catholic: So, like the Trinity itself being our final authority, Christians also have three voices or sources of the Word of God that are authoritative: The Bible, Tradition and the Magisterium. All three of these are the Word of God revealed to us. The Bible is the written word, the Tradition is the oral word and the Magisterium is the living word. So, the earthly authority reflects the heavenly authority. It is three working in unison rather than any one or “sola” authority.