The Roman Catholic Church & Apostasy 101 (A Personal Experience)

As globalism booms, wars and rumors of wars wage, the New World Order flourishes and spreads across the earth in the name of "freedom" and "democracy," and world domination looms prosperous for those who own and run the world banks, and as the religions are being brought together under a banner of "peace and tolerance" last day Bible prophecy is clearly being fulfilled, some 2000 years after Jesus Christ ascended back to heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father. In the midst of the current headlines something much quieter, yet stealthful, is unfolding, and it is gaining momentum and power.

The recent Roman Catholic Pope John Paul II, perhaps, accomplished more in his death than he did during his papacy. His funeral brought major heads of state and religious leaders together, side by side, all religious differences seemingly set aside in the name of, or perhaps just the hopes of, "peace." We even caught glimpses of Orthodox priests, long excluded from Roman Catholic recognition, sitting in their black funeral garb grimly looking on during the mass. We saw great masses of people partaking of the Eucharist (eating the body of Christ) to "obtain salvation." We saw heads of state and religious representatives of other "faiths" bowing their knee to the Archbishop, a truly befuddling sight, to be sure.

During his papacy John Paul II ecumenized the world's religions to the extent that some are calling him the "chaplain of world religion." For someone who was supposed to have spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the four corners of the earth, he actually left more lost souls in his wake than saved, by declaring that one could follow their own religious choice and beliefs and still "find their way to God, Christ, and to heaven." Fundamental Christians will recognize that this teaching does not even eek close to Biblical doctrine, nor to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ made a point of declaring, "I am the WAY, I am the TRUTH, I am the LIFE. No man can come to God the Father but by me." He also said that He Himself is the "Door of the Sheep," by which people must enter, through repentance for eternal salvation because Christ died ONE TIME, "once for all" who would believe and accept Him. He said these things to explicitly exclude the Catholic religious system and the use of earthly (mortal) priests and popes who have NOT been granted power by Christ to save souls.

Fallen (sinful) men cannot redeem fallen men. Only God Himself who became a man could die in our place because He alone is perfect. He who is perfect can do all things. All earthly priest are fallen men, and in light of the pedophile priest scandals, we don't need to really be reminded of this truth.

The Bible tell us that Jesus Christ is our High Priest who alone atoned for our sins, forever, and that He is also our sole Mediator between us and God. He is the only One we are to go to when we have sinned and He will make "intercessions for us on our behalf with the Heavenly Father" who loves us. It is not biblical to enter a confessional booth to confess your sins to a man who is just as fallen (with a sin nature just like yours) as you are.

The Catholic Church has long taught multiple false doctrines and mislead countless into a false gospel that leads them away from true salvation and eternal life. It starts with the fact that Peter was not the first Pope, nor did Christ's words which generated this teaching mean that He was building His Church upon Peter. One has only to check out the Greek use of the words "petros" and "petra," which our English text is translated from, to see who and what Christ was referring to. Christ, indeed, was declaring that on Himself He would build His Church, His Bride, His Body of believers saved, washed, and atoned by His cleansing blood which was shed freely upon Calvary for "whosoever will may come."

Having been raised on the fundamental truths stated forth in Bible scripture (thank the LORD my mother escaped the faulty catechisms and aberrant doctrines of the Catholic Church when she was eighteen years old), I was once astonished when my Roman Catholic grandfather explained to me that "the priest literally blesses the bread in the Eucharist and we believe that it 'transubstantiates' into, literally becomes, the actual body of our Lord." "Transubstantiate" isn't even a word found in the Bible, and there is really no Greek word found in the Greek renderings and majority texts which it could be called up from. I loved my Grandpa dearly but he was set in his beliefs, holding to "another gospel," having never really read the Bible for himself so he could have seen the contradiction to God's words. The Sunday morning he explained the belief of the Eucharist to me was the day he and my Grandma took my brother and me to Mass with them, and at that moment of explanation he and I were standing near the vestibule where the Eucharist rested upon a tall podium with a window above it that shed a misty, eerie yellowish light down upon the box's garrishly embellished casing. I remember Grandpa telling me the strange words that clashed with the biblical knowledge deep in my heart of hearts, "We believe the body of our Lord is inside that box." In my heart, because the Bible promises we can know, I knew that Jesus my Lord is in Heaven seated at the right hand of the Heavenly Father where He ever makes intercessions for us, and not inside a box nor at the control of men's words and hands. I knew that the body of my Lord was not inside that box and the same Holy Spirit who breathed God's word into the hearts of men long ago confirmed it inside my spirit. Jesus had been crucified, buried, had risen again victoriously, and ascended back to heaven nearly 2000 years ago, and the Bible said he had died once for all sin. Today I understand more fully that the Eucharist does what the Book of Hebrews warns against: "...putting the Lord once again to an open shame..." It is sacrilage to "re-crucify" Him and "put him into a wafer" to be eaten over and over again as a means of salvation every time a Mass is held. It's clearly not found in scripture, but the opposite of it is true. People need to be liberated by God's truth; Jesus said "the truth shall set you free."

It is also not biblical to elevate and glorify Mary as if she is supreme and on par with the Godhead as the Roman Catholic Church does. This makes her a goddess, which breaks the Ten Commandments. Pope John Paul II gave hMary the title "Queen of Heaven" which she clearly is not, as backed up by God's word. Praying to Mary is a form of idol worship, according to God. Mary, although this is taught erroneously by the Roman Catholic Church, was not immaculately conceived. She was born with the same sin nature that all humans are born with, and she was in need of her Savior just as we are. In the Magnificat, found in Luke 1:46-55, Mary both humbles (lowers) herself deeply and glorifies and elevates God whom she personally calls "my savior." She was recognizing that in her lowliness she was chosen of God to be the human by which His Son would be conceived of the Holy Spirit into her womb. That through her God would take on human flesh (without sin) so He could walk among us and die in our place for our sins. The Catholic Church, in great sad error, has taken this wonderful song of Mary's praise to God and perverted it by using it to esteem Mary up on a high level where she and no other human being belongs. Mary was aware that she was lowly and humble, and never intended herself, no did God, to be lifted up by anyone. Just read the words of this scripture for yourself and you will be amazed as you see it through the eyes of God's word. One way the Roman Catholic Church gets away with causing so many to misunderstand the truth about Mary, the many other false doctrines taught, and what the scripture really says is because so many members of the Catholic Church do not know the Bible scriptures.

My mother's side of the family is very Roman Catholic (cloistered nuns and all) and most of them have never read two words out of the Holy Bible in their entire lives, leading them into much misunderstanding about the most important information in all the universe given to all human beings: God's pure truth which He wants us all to know, but we have to seek it because He isn't going to force it on anyone. If they don't read the Bible then they cannot know God's only plan and way of eternal life. They will not know that the Roman Catholic church has changed the way to heaven while God's ways can never be changed by anyone. A Catholic aunt of mine (one of several) has never read the Bible and has thought in error for most of her life that God would never send anyone to hell and that people can "get to God" (whoever "God" is to them) through their own religious walk. You see, we have a great Adversary called the Devil who does his best work on people when they lack the most important knowledge that God wants us to know. If we fail to read God's word given to us then we won't know what His true message is, and we will stumble and fall onto other paths that do not really lead to eternal life and God's unchanging truth. God has said there is only one way to Him and to heaven, and that is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is the second person of the trinune godhead. We get deceived and cannot see the clear picture when we stop looking directly into His great Book for His answers. God's word is liberating, and it truly sets people free if they seek God and His absolute truth through it. He promises to bless those who read His word and seek Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. He promises that His word does not return void (empty). One cannot help but gain truth and understanding about God by reading His word; it is His handbook on all of life and how He reveals to all of us who He really is. Start reading it and be blessed! Start with the book of John and Romans in the New testament.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ was the gospel that St. Paul took all over the Roman Empire and parts of Europe before he was martyred for his unquenchable faith and dedication to the Savior whom he fully recognized had given all for him. Paul did not once attempt to ecumenize the gospel for any reason, nor for any gain, but instead remained true to God's pure Word and wrote the famous declaration found in Galatians 1:7-9 for anyone who attempts to change the true gospel of Jesus Christ into "another gospel," a very serious offense to God.

Paul's words of warning, which are really God's words of warning since His Spirit inspired scripture, are being ignored today by the mainstream evangelical Church, and have been ignored by the Catholic Church for nearly 1900 years.

What we are seeing being fulfilled more strongly now than in times past is the "falling away" foretold in II Thessalonians 2:3, as the once fundamental Bible-believing evangelicals of the Protestant Christian Church unite themselves with the Church of Rome, as if there are no glaring scriptural and doctrinal differences in truth and faith.

For many years I, and many others I've known, have been pretty sure that the "MOTHER OF HARLOTS" spoken of in Revelation 17 is the Catholic Church. She is also named the ABOMINATION OF THE EARTH, and all those who join in religious fornication with her (adultery against the One True God) will suffer punishment with her under God's foretold wrath to come. I now amend it by adding to Her the growing apostate American Evangelical Church. The two are merging, joining into a union clearly forbidden by the Word of God (total doctrinal fornication), and together they are uniting as a great religious whore that, as shown in scripture, will bring together all religions into one global religion that will be the religion of the foretold kingdom of Anti-Christ when he rises to power during the Great Tribulation period. The Great Whore receives Her power from the Beast, the Anti-Christ and his glorious New World Order system.

Read the words of John as he writes what he was shown by the angel in his prophetic vision:

Revelation 17: (Written by the prophet John, exiled on the Island of Patmos when he was given the great visions that would foretell future generations [and us] of the second coming of Jesus Christ)

1: And there came of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters (she is international, in every country of the world and the largest and wealthiest church in Church history):

2: With whom the kings of the earth (rulers, kings, and heads of state) have committed fornication (spiritually and politically and religiously), and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication (deceived by Her false teachings and false doctrines).

3: So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy (false doctrines and sacraments and denying God's word of truth), having seven heads and ten horns.

4: And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

5: And upon her forehead was a name written: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6: And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (the many who were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church throughout its nearly 2000 year history for not converting over to Catholicism and bending their knee to the Pope): and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7: And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

9: ...The seven heads are seven mountains (hills), on which the woman sitteth (Rome).

15: And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes (of people), and nations, and tongues (different languages of the people of the earth).

18: And the woman which thou sawest is that great city (Rome), which reigneth over the kings of the earth (especially in these last days and recent times, just like we saw the "kings of the earth" assembling together in Rome for the funeral mass of Pope John Paul II).

In the very near future we will see this fulfillment come to pass much more clearly and more defined. It will be fascinating to see who the next Pope will be and what he will accomplish in order to keep the forward momentum of the previous Pope moving along in a way that further unites the New World Order with global religion, and which continues to make the Bible's end days prophecies more defined.

Catholic Mary Worship Turns Mary Into a Goddess

This is an excerpt from an article written by a former nun who left the Catholic church after checking its many extrabiblical sacraments and teachings against the irrefutable, unchanging Word of God. Her entire fascinating and educational article can be read at: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Roman%20Catholicism/mary_worship_a_study.htm where she talks at length about Catholic Mary worship (Mariology), its origins, and how it is linked with Wiccan goddess traditions, and other ecumentical ideals.

Goddess worship has infiltrated main-line Christian denominations. In November 1993, a Re‑Imagining Conference was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Most of the 2,000 participants were women. This ecumenical church conference was sponsored by and attended by members of over a dozen denominations, including Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists. They prayed to Sophia, the goddess of Wisdom, calling her their Creator. They did rituals for this goddess, including a communion service where bread and wine were replaced by milk and honey. They openly rejected the doctrines of the incarnation and the atonement. This conference was repeated in 1996, 1998 and 2000. [18] An on‑line report (with photographs) is available at

http://www.layman.org/layman/news/reimagining‑revival.htm

There are Wiccan web sites with web pages devoted to individual goddesses. The Virgin Mary is included among the goddesses of the following web sites: The Spiral Goddess Grove, The White Moon, and Goddess 2000. They consider Mary to be the Divine Feminine and say that for centuries, many people have blended their ancient goddesses with Mary. [19]

Is Cardinal Ratzinger Possible Pick for Next Pope?

Swing to Ratzinger boosts chance of becoming Pope
By Bruce Johnston in Rome
(Filed: 13/04/2005)

From www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main



A late upsurge in support for Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger days before next week's conclave has boosted the chances of the Vatican's doctrinal chief becoming the next Pope.

The German-born cardinal, feared by liberal Catholics as a dour enforcer of orthodoxy, won over many sceptics with the touching, human tone of his sermon at the funeral of Pope John Paul II, often described as his alter ego.

His supporters even pointed out that he looked the part of a Pope during last Friday's service.
The momentum in favour of the Bavarian is so marked that Spanish cardinals have reportedly voiced concern that at 78 he may be too old a Pope for their public at home to accept.
His supporters argued that Cardinal Ratzinger was the best candidate "to pick up the broom" and sweep away the mess of a church in such disarray that an American cardinal disgraced by the paedophilia scandals said Mass for the Pope in St Peter's on Monday.

Cardinal Ratzinger, the dean of the college of cardinals, made his uncompromising views on the state of the church clear in comments made only days before the last Pope's death.

In a Good Friday homily, he wrote: "Lord, often your Church seems to be about to sink, and to be a boat full of holes... The face and clothing of your Church shock us. But it is we who are sullying it."

Such forthright opinions have impressed the Ratzinger lobby, but his rivals will use them as more evidence of his grimly ideological stance.

The conventional wisdom that "he who enters a conclave as a Pope comes out as a cardinal" will also work against him.

But the biggest barrier to his election as Pope is still his divisive record as the arch-conservative guardian of Vatican orthodoxy.

"He has too many enemies due to his heavy-handed, centralised and arrogant approach to theology," said one Vatican insider, while admitting that otherwise he had "all the requisites for the job".

According to one Italian newspaper, "for many [in the Church] he is not welcome".
It quoted a friend of the cardinal's as saying: "In order to try to push him out of the race, someone has been spreading rumours that he belonged to Nazi organisations.

"Like all German children at the time, he was in the Hitler Youth. He's admitted it himself in a book. But he was hardly more than a child, since he was just 12 years old."

It was also revealed yesterday that the failing health of other cardinals is being used as an argument to sideline certain candidates when voting begins in the conclave on Monday.

"Depression, sudden changes of mood, heart or orthopaedic ailments" are on the list of shortcomings circulating in the Vatican, according to one observer.

He added that one cardinal had been marked down because he was said to "wear a surgical corset and has difficulties walking".

Papal funeral "ushered in globalization of religions"

Papal Funeral Also A Meeting Of Faiths

Religious Leaders Will Attend Funeral

Apr 7, 2005 2:42 pm

US/EasternANKARA, Turkey (AP) He was the first pope to visit a mosque and pray at Judaism’s holiest site, and he returned the relics of revered Orthodox Christian saints. In death, John Paul II continues to set precedents: His funeral is attracting religious and political leaders whose faiths were never represented at such a high level at papal burials.John Paul II ushered in “the globalization of religion,” said John Esposito, founding director of the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington. “He increased exponentially the dialogue with ... people of all faiths.”Friday will mark the first time the leaders of Orthodox Christianity and the Armenian Apostolic Church have attended a pope’s funeral. Iran and Syria are sending their presidents, and Israel is dispatching its foreign minister—top levels of representation never before seen at papal funerals.The funeral is making its mark even in places where the pope has virtually no following. In Turkey, a country with a small number of Roman Catholics, the national police have canceled celebrations of the force’s 160th anniversary.

Turkey’s flag, which features the crescent, a symbol of Islam, will fly at half mast Friday to honor the pope.“Not only was he the leader of the Catholic world, he was also the leader for peace and dialogue between religions,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday before flying to Rome for the funeral. “Even toward the end, at the height of his ill health, he relentlessly worked toward that goal.”Ali Bardakoglu, Turkey’s top Islamic cleric, said he shared “the grief of Catholics worldwide.”The pope’s ability to bridge the divide between religions was aided by his common touch and keen understanding of the power of symbolism, which inspired even those who sharply disagreed with him on issues of faith. Many people seemed to warm to the pope and regard him as genuinely holy even if they did not share his religious beliefs.The note he slipped into a crack in the Western Wall apologizing for the suffering of Jews over the centuries has been preserved in Israel’s national Holocaust museum.

The gesture marked a crucial change from Pope Paul VI’s visit to Israel in 1964, when the Jewish state and the Vatican were so distant the pope traveled only to Christian holy sites and never mentioned Israel by name.The pontiff’s contribution to religious tolerance “will be with us for many years,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said at the start of a Cabinet meeting last week.For many Muslims, a key symbolic moment was when the pope stood in the ancient Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, in 2001 and appealed to Christians and Muslims to seek common ground rather than confrontation.For the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians, the pope’s landmark apology for Roman Catholic wrongs against the Orthodox and his return of the relics of two Orthodox saints were no doubt key to the decision of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I—leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians—to attend the funeral.

“Pope John Paul II envisioned the restoration of the unity of the Christians and he worked for its realization,” said Bartholomew. “His death is a loss not only to his church, but to all of Christianity as well, and to the international community in general, who desires peace and justice.”John Paul’s global reach is due in part to the fact that he was history’s most-traveled pope—logging 723,723 miles, or three times the distance to the moon. His message was reinforced by a modern media that beamed his smiling image to millions of homes.

“Pope John Paul in many ways became a leader and symbol to a degree that no pope in the past could achieve,” Esposito said. “It is a product of the man ... but also the fact that with globalization of travel and communications he could play that role.”Besides Bartholomew, key religious leaders at the funeral will include the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church Catholicos Karekin II, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Lebanon’s Maronite Christian Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni of Indonesia and Shear-Yishuv Cohen, the chief rabbi of the Israeli city of Haifa. Teoctist, the 90-year-old patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church was planning to attend but will not because he has the flu.

There are some who will not be joining in the mourning.“How can the death of a non-Muslim be a loss to the Muslim world?” asked Gamal Sultan, an Egyptian Islamic activist and editor of Al-Manar, a journal that serves as a mouthpiece of Islamic fundamentalists.Although Israel is sending its foreign minister, the country’s two chief rabbis are not attending. And Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest shrines, has not announced it will send anyone.

Left open by the death of the pope is whether his legacy of promoting interfaith dialogue will continue.“A lot depends on the next pope,” Esposito said. “There is a momentum there and part of that momentum cannot be reversed.”
© 2005 The Associated Press.
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