Some people think that the reason I am a Christian is because, darn-tootin', I'll just believe anything I hear.
Yes, that's why I reject: atheism, deism, paganism, heathenism, taoism, satanism, druidism, atavism, naturalism, wicca, occultism, gnosticism, esotericism, zoroastrianism, (modern) judaism, hinduism, islam, buddhism, norse mythology, and new age. It's because I'll believe "anything" I hear.
No, I'm a Christian because I'm aware of God's work in this world. Christianity is the only logical belief. I also see that the world literally could not operate in the way it does if supernatural forces were not at work. There are too many coincidences, too many unexplained phenomena, too many similar cases, too many subtle nudges that can't be explained as fleeting thoughts... Also the simple fact that something can't come from nothing. That "something" and those "supernatural forces" being, of course, explained by Christianity.
God bless you all, according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
A Note to the Secular Black Metal Scene
Nicki Minaj Bamboobles Her Butt Critics! People took the time to examine Nicki Minaj's butt so well that they decided to criticize it or something, so Nicki Minaj wore a shirt that accentuated her chest. They, I, we all, have been successfully bamboobled.
Alright, now that we've gotten that out of our systems, let's get right down to things.
A huge complaint I noticed in the secular black metal scene was always the "Christians" who are supposedly taking over our world today. Inflicting technology, pollution, and mundane articles like ones about Nicki Minaj's "bamboobling" abilities. The complaint was that while the bold pagans and atheists were making atmospheric black metal albums, standing against society's meaningless banter, we Christians were supposedly embracing it and capitalizing off of it. Let me be very clear about something here: that is not true.
Nobody who is interested in serving God will embrace the society we have now. They'll easily be as against it as, almost definitely more than, the secular scene. Society today contradicts the rules set forth by Jesus so much, it's insane.
Society today is about violence, about hedonistic sloth and greed and gluttony and lust (and using psychological warfare to make people want those things!), about impatience and wrath, about seeking immediate comfort, about modernizing, about submitting to corrupt authority that works for its own agendas, about corporations taking advantage of their workers, about fighting your own way to the top of a nonsense ladder of deceitful societal lies fabricated as "reality", all things that God never wants from us ever for any reason.
Here are some of the things which God wants us to ponder, rather than society:
Luke 21:1-4 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
Also, God calls His natural creations "good" (Genesis 1), Jesus overturned tables when people were misusing a temple (Matthew 21:12-17), Jesus also openly called out the corrupt authorities of that day (Matthew 23), Christianity is actually very much in line with many of your views, and interestingly enough, God is against many of the same things that you are. If any of you are reading this, really, the more I read the Bible, the more I realized that God was actually "on our side" too. God is against the corruption, against the anger, against the - if you will - "stupidity" in our world, against the pointless meandering of the media, against wasting our natural resources for personal gain, all of it. The biggest mistake someone in the secular scene's position can make is to lump God in with those practices, which is a very common misconception. The idea is that the elites claim to be Christians, so you assume they are, when they are actually "ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15) and are nothing like the example Jesus set forth.
In fact, one main reason I listened to your music for as long as I did (before I could discern positivity and negativity) was how much I, a Christian, agreed with parts of your message: the rebellion against society, the longing for beauty in our world, the shameless self-expression... That's what God wants from His followers! Why do you think there are so many unblack, Christian bands? It's not just because we all want to evangelize to you! If you're into "true" black metal and are truly against society, if you really support rebellion and creativity like black metal talks about, God may well be calling you to Him.
It's not black metal but this song came to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgpoeTj_Qns
Alright, now that we've gotten that out of our systems, let's get right down to things.
A huge complaint I noticed in the secular black metal scene was always the "Christians" who are supposedly taking over our world today. Inflicting technology, pollution, and mundane articles like ones about Nicki Minaj's "bamboobling" abilities. The complaint was that while the bold pagans and atheists were making atmospheric black metal albums, standing against society's meaningless banter, we Christians were supposedly embracing it and capitalizing off of it. Let me be very clear about something here: that is not true.
Nobody who is interested in serving God will embrace the society we have now. They'll easily be as against it as, almost definitely more than, the secular scene. Society today contradicts the rules set forth by Jesus so much, it's insane.
Society today is about violence, about hedonistic sloth and greed and gluttony and lust (and using psychological warfare to make people want those things!), about impatience and wrath, about seeking immediate comfort, about modernizing, about submitting to corrupt authority that works for its own agendas, about corporations taking advantage of their workers, about fighting your own way to the top of a nonsense ladder of deceitful societal lies fabricated as "reality", all things that God never wants from us ever for any reason.
Here are some of the things which God wants us to ponder, rather than society:
Luke 21:1-4 As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."
Also, God calls His natural creations "good" (Genesis 1), Jesus overturned tables when people were misusing a temple (Matthew 21:12-17), Jesus also openly called out the corrupt authorities of that day (Matthew 23), Christianity is actually very much in line with many of your views, and interestingly enough, God is against many of the same things that you are. If any of you are reading this, really, the more I read the Bible, the more I realized that God was actually "on our side" too. God is against the corruption, against the anger, against the - if you will - "stupidity" in our world, against the pointless meandering of the media, against wasting our natural resources for personal gain, all of it. The biggest mistake someone in the secular scene's position can make is to lump God in with those practices, which is a very common misconception. The idea is that the elites claim to be Christians, so you assume they are, when they are actually "ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15) and are nothing like the example Jesus set forth.
In fact, one main reason I listened to your music for as long as I did (before I could discern positivity and negativity) was how much I, a Christian, agreed with parts of your message: the rebellion against society, the longing for beauty in our world, the shameless self-expression... That's what God wants from His followers! Why do you think there are so many unblack, Christian bands? It's not just because we all want to evangelize to you! If you're into "true" black metal and are truly against society, if you really support rebellion and creativity like black metal talks about, God may well be calling you to Him.
It's not black metal but this song came to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgpoeTj_Qns
Useful Information on the Forces at Work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5vZ14Ozqzw
^ This is a video of a man who was heavily into satanism and turned Christian. He exposes many of the things that go on behind the scenes, and how these things work.
It's in things from Pokemon to horror movies. The Illuminati are real, and the "Star of David" is a symbol used when practicing black magic.
The most interesting part, for me, is he tells of a time when a Christian woman was threatening to expose his group, a group thinking their side had all the power, and they summoned a demon and they told him to go put a hex on this lady. The demon returned a few minutes later angry at all of them and said, "Don't you ever send me after a Christian again!" That's how "powerful" demonic forces are compared to the power of Jesus Christ.
God bless and protect you all according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
^ This is a video of a man who was heavily into satanism and turned Christian. He exposes many of the things that go on behind the scenes, and how these things work.
It's in things from Pokemon to horror movies. The Illuminati are real, and the "Star of David" is a symbol used when practicing black magic.
The most interesting part, for me, is he tells of a time when a Christian woman was threatening to expose his group, a group thinking their side had all the power, and they summoned a demon and they told him to go put a hex on this lady. The demon returned a few minutes later angry at all of them and said, "Don't you ever send me after a Christian again!" That's how "powerful" demonic forces are compared to the power of Jesus Christ.
God bless and protect you all according to His perfect will. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Rant About the Local Church Conference and Our Role as Christians
For many reasons, I'm going to be vague about this, but let me explain the situation. I belong to a church. This church is part of a group of churches in the local area. The "group" (as a whole, so not just my church) owned a local property that they often used for (spiritual) getaways. For example, when I was younger, my church took us to this property over the weekend a couple of times and much to my spiritual benefit! Some might assume the worst about such situations, but this was actually, sincerely, a wonderful place for me - nothing bad happened there, we genuinely learned about God and about Jesus there. It was at this place that I sent my prayer about the fighting, about the hate-filled life I was leading. That prayer to God is what set in motion everything that led me to as good of a place as I am right now. I still have a ways to go, we all always will, but I have improved so much through God's grace in that situation, I can hardly describe it.
So I was upset to hear that they didn't have the money to keep the property and might have to sell it.
They ended up having to sell it. Surely there were a number of people interested in this property, it was a beautiful building with plenty of woods and stuff.
Apparently, according to this paper, the property was originally purchased years and years ago for the purpose of training for church leadership. For a long time now, this property has been used to welcome people of various backgrounds to help people develop awareness in the world, or something.
And so they sold the quote "holy" property to Buddhists.
They did so hoping to remain faithful to the original intent of the people there. Buddhism doesn't sound very much like training for Christian church leadership, but what do I know?
Look, the fact is, this is highly non-Christian behavior of them. People today like to think that Buddhism isn't that bad in Christian terms since, hey, at least it promotes peace, right? Nothing can be bad if it promotes peace! But it can be. Jesus didn't come to Earth to bring peace, but a sword. Also, at the end of the day, though Buddhism may teach some nice-sounding values, the belief still denies Jesus Christ, and the Father. It still teaches things contrary to the Holy Bible, and that's dressed-up blasphemy. Blasphemy sounds like a harsh word, but let's be honest with ourselves here, it still is. You don't have to run around and burn churches and make band logos with inverted crosses in them to be blasphemous. It's all wrong in the eyes of the Father, and now this property that was originally used to bring people to God is now being used to lead people away from Him.
I can hardly believe that information about a Buddhist center looking to "chant" "Buddha's name" was located anywhere on a paper given to me at my church. I do not hate Buddhists, I don't hate anyone, but I cannot respect the belief itself. I can't accept that the place that helped rekindle my relationship with the true and living God is now owned by people seeking to worship lies. Then the "group" of churches, the one which released the statement, have the nerve to gleefully write that a Buddhist center will be established on quote "holy" ground.
They call this, and I quote, "exciting and extraordinary", claiming that the spiritual quest of Buddhism mirrors our own. IT DOES NOT!!! I mean no disrespect to Buddhist people here, even though I know how this will sound, but Buddhism as a belief is blasphemous lies set forth by the adversary, deceptive, denying the truth that he's always trying to hide. The only difference is, Buddhism doesn't look as bad to unfocused eyes because it teaches some nice values.
The statement suggests that they fully embrace the fact that Buddhists will own the quote "holy" property, and have no intent to do anything about it. This always looks like love to unfocused eyes, because you're "being respectful" by being "tolerant" and not pushing your views which they clearly do not want to hear. This is not love. True love is spreading the word of God, true love is prohibiting other beliefs from spreading whenever possible, because God is truth, Christ is our savior, and Hell as bad as it sounds awaits anyone who doesn't see those truths. Avoiding the truth is lying, a principle which almost anybody recognizes, and by being silent, people are allowing the lost souls to go to Hell. That doesn't sound very much like love to me. Don't be ashamed to spread the word! It's like when your parents took something harmful away from you as a child. You wanted it, but it would have hurt you. Out of love, parents take sharp, harmful things away so that their children will be safe and happy. We are to do likewise with our friends, with others in this world. They want something else, but it WILL hurt them. Our duty is to spread the word so that they can be safe in God's love. This sounds like hatred, but it IS NOT. It's love, it's concern for our neighbors, it's hope that others can have the grace of God in their lives, too. This isn't hatred. It's love.
May God bless you all according to His perfect will. May God help our local group of churches. They are severely misled as it is. Maybe they will see it and repent, just as I did. God's will be done. In Jesus' name. Amen.
The statement ends with a prayer from a reverend from many years ago who wanted the property to bring forth good fruit for the kingdom of God. You can't imagine how sad reading that makes me.
So I was upset to hear that they didn't have the money to keep the property and might have to sell it.
They ended up having to sell it. Surely there were a number of people interested in this property, it was a beautiful building with plenty of woods and stuff.
Apparently, according to this paper, the property was originally purchased years and years ago for the purpose of training for church leadership. For a long time now, this property has been used to welcome people of various backgrounds to help people develop awareness in the world, or something.
And so they sold the quote "holy" property to Buddhists.
They did so hoping to remain faithful to the original intent of the people there. Buddhism doesn't sound very much like training for Christian church leadership, but what do I know?
Look, the fact is, this is highly non-Christian behavior of them. People today like to think that Buddhism isn't that bad in Christian terms since, hey, at least it promotes peace, right? Nothing can be bad if it promotes peace! But it can be. Jesus didn't come to Earth to bring peace, but a sword. Also, at the end of the day, though Buddhism may teach some nice-sounding values, the belief still denies Jesus Christ, and the Father. It still teaches things contrary to the Holy Bible, and that's dressed-up blasphemy. Blasphemy sounds like a harsh word, but let's be honest with ourselves here, it still is. You don't have to run around and burn churches and make band logos with inverted crosses in them to be blasphemous. It's all wrong in the eyes of the Father, and now this property that was originally used to bring people to God is now being used to lead people away from Him.
I can hardly believe that information about a Buddhist center looking to "chant" "Buddha's name" was located anywhere on a paper given to me at my church. I do not hate Buddhists, I don't hate anyone, but I cannot respect the belief itself. I can't accept that the place that helped rekindle my relationship with the true and living God is now owned by people seeking to worship lies. Then the "group" of churches, the one which released the statement, have the nerve to gleefully write that a Buddhist center will be established on quote "holy" ground.
They call this, and I quote, "exciting and extraordinary", claiming that the spiritual quest of Buddhism mirrors our own. IT DOES NOT!!! I mean no disrespect to Buddhist people here, even though I know how this will sound, but Buddhism as a belief is blasphemous lies set forth by the adversary, deceptive, denying the truth that he's always trying to hide. The only difference is, Buddhism doesn't look as bad to unfocused eyes because it teaches some nice values.
The statement suggests that they fully embrace the fact that Buddhists will own the quote "holy" property, and have no intent to do anything about it. This always looks like love to unfocused eyes, because you're "being respectful" by being "tolerant" and not pushing your views which they clearly do not want to hear. This is not love. True love is spreading the word of God, true love is prohibiting other beliefs from spreading whenever possible, because God is truth, Christ is our savior, and Hell as bad as it sounds awaits anyone who doesn't see those truths. Avoiding the truth is lying, a principle which almost anybody recognizes, and by being silent, people are allowing the lost souls to go to Hell. That doesn't sound very much like love to me. Don't be ashamed to spread the word! It's like when your parents took something harmful away from you as a child. You wanted it, but it would have hurt you. Out of love, parents take sharp, harmful things away so that their children will be safe and happy. We are to do likewise with our friends, with others in this world. They want something else, but it WILL hurt them. Our duty is to spread the word so that they can be safe in God's love. This sounds like hatred, but it IS NOT. It's love, it's concern for our neighbors, it's hope that others can have the grace of God in their lives, too. This isn't hatred. It's love.
May God bless you all according to His perfect will. May God help our local group of churches. They are severely misled as it is. Maybe they will see it and repent, just as I did. God's will be done. In Jesus' name. Amen.
The statement ends with a prayer from a reverend from many years ago who wanted the property to bring forth good fruit for the kingdom of God. You can't imagine how sad reading that makes me.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Let's Debunk Things the Pope Says, Part 1
The pope (the human who masquerades as the leader of God's and Jesus' church) is a blasphemous heretic, just like the one(s) before him. I am so outraged by the things I have found that he's said and done, just this current pope, let's take a quick minute to debunk them. I plan to make several posts like this. This will just be one of them.
"God is not a magician, He is the Creator”
LIES. See how it's worded, though: grammatically speaking, this is not a lie -- God is not a "magician", since that's technically occultism. However, the context was pertaining to God's (and the church's) ability to do things beyond human reason, which most people today simply call "magic". And this is a LIE. God can do anything whenever He wants. His power is not "magical", but it has the same level of power as "magic", and in fact exceeds that level, too. This quote from Francis is a lie that undermines the power of the Heavenly Father.
Pope Francis has ordered a group of theologians and lawyers to open up methods for Catholics to obtain divorces more easily.
What does our Lord and savior Jesus Christ say about that?
Matthew 19: 3-9
Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
The pontiff also asked people to reflect on how they interact with their guardian angel. He inquired if people not only listen to their inner voice, but actually acknowledge its presence. Are individuals asking their guardian angels for advice, protection, or communicating with that inner voice on a daily basis?
The pope encourages people to speak to "guardian angels".
Can you think of any beings pertaining to angels, who are not God, but are still always trying to get us to follow some way through an inner voice? If you said "the adversary", you're right! The Bible does not tell us to do this, though angels have of course been known to intercede in our lives sometimes at the command of God. This may seem like an innocent statement from the pope, but I can tell you from experience this will 99% almost definitely lead to bad things instead of good ones and open demonic forces into your life. Most people will not be able to differentiate angelic and demonic forces in their minds - I know I couldn't!! And if that weren't bad enough, this is basically a distraction from the power of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in our lives anyway. We shouldn't need other beings to watch over us, and if they do, it's at the command of God anyway. The Holy Trinity is sufficient for us.
Oh yeah, and while I'm finding things, here's one more. Please note: pope Francis did not say this, but pope John Paul II did:
The Church knows that the issue of morality is one which deeply touches every person; it involves all people, even those who do not know Christ and his Gospel or God himself. She [the Catholic church] knows that it is precisely on the path of the moral life that the way of salvation is open to all.
A moral life, eh? Even for unbelievers? Let's see what Jesus says about that:
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
Salvation most definitely is available to everyone, but they must accept that Jesus is their savior.
By the way, if God is real, then a moral life would automatically include believing in Him and spreading His word, because otherwise would be lying, which is wrong. And please do not try to twist around the pope's words to suggest that that's what he was saying all along. He clearly was not.
These are the words from people who "take the place of Jesus Christ on Earth." (the New York chatechism.) Is that what they are doing? Are the words I quoted from these popes "Christian" statements? No.
God bless you all. May you all see God's perfect truth according to His will, in Jesus' name, amen. And may He help the vatican before it's too late, according to His will, amen... They are in desperate need of spiritual help from the Lord.
"God is not a magician, He is the Creator”
LIES. See how it's worded, though: grammatically speaking, this is not a lie -- God is not a "magician", since that's technically occultism. However, the context was pertaining to God's (and the church's) ability to do things beyond human reason, which most people today simply call "magic". And this is a LIE. God can do anything whenever He wants. His power is not "magical", but it has the same level of power as "magic", and in fact exceeds that level, too. This quote from Francis is a lie that undermines the power of the Heavenly Father.
Pope Francis has ordered a group of theologians and lawyers to open up methods for Catholics to obtain divorces more easily.
What does our Lord and savior Jesus Christ say about that?
Matthew 19: 3-9
Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
The pontiff also asked people to reflect on how they interact with their guardian angel. He inquired if people not only listen to their inner voice, but actually acknowledge its presence. Are individuals asking their guardian angels for advice, protection, or communicating with that inner voice on a daily basis?
The pope encourages people to speak to "guardian angels".
Can you think of any beings pertaining to angels, who are not God, but are still always trying to get us to follow some way through an inner voice? If you said "the adversary", you're right! The Bible does not tell us to do this, though angels have of course been known to intercede in our lives sometimes at the command of God. This may seem like an innocent statement from the pope, but I can tell you from experience this will 99% almost definitely lead to bad things instead of good ones and open demonic forces into your life. Most people will not be able to differentiate angelic and demonic forces in their minds - I know I couldn't!! And if that weren't bad enough, this is basically a distraction from the power of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in our lives anyway. We shouldn't need other beings to watch over us, and if they do, it's at the command of God anyway. The Holy Trinity is sufficient for us.
Oh yeah, and while I'm finding things, here's one more. Please note: pope Francis did not say this, but pope John Paul II did:
The Church knows that the issue of morality is one which deeply touches every person; it involves all people, even those who do not know Christ and his Gospel or God himself. She [the Catholic church] knows that it is precisely on the path of the moral life that the way of salvation is open to all.
A moral life, eh? Even for unbelievers? Let's see what Jesus says about that:
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
Salvation most definitely is available to everyone, but they must accept that Jesus is their savior.
By the way, if God is real, then a moral life would automatically include believing in Him and spreading His word, because otherwise would be lying, which is wrong. And please do not try to twist around the pope's words to suggest that that's what he was saying all along. He clearly was not.
These are the words from people who "take the place of Jesus Christ on Earth." (the New York chatechism.) Is that what they are doing? Are the words I quoted from these popes "Christian" statements? No.
God bless you all. May you all see God's perfect truth according to His will, in Jesus' name, amen. And may He help the vatican before it's too late, according to His will, amen... They are in desperate need of spiritual help from the Lord.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Catholicism: As Usual, the devil is in the Details
Catholicism is a form of "Christianity" that follows the basic principles of the faith, but then twists around other things. See, what Catholicism does is formulate its own ideas, and then uses the bare minimum of Biblical sources required to make the idea "not totally impossible", and then makes those ideas into core principles of the religion.
Can you think of any other belief systems that have some similarities to Christianity but then change things to fit a specific interpretation?
Anyway, as with the "Negativity in the Media" post, I plan to start this one now, publish it, and then add things as time goes on.
Claim #1: Praying to saints and Mary. I recommend you read this, even though I didn't write it. Anyway, Catholics claim they do not pray to the saints for help - rather, they "pray"/ask the saints to pray for them, on their behalf sort of. This is absolutely true most of the time. The problem is, this is not Scripturally sound. Catholics use verses about Christians praying in general, to refer to the saints and Mary praying for us. That's misleading, because even though they are Christians, that's nothing more than distracting from the main point: the saints and Mary cannot hear us to begin with. There are verses in Revelation that mention saints, and that mention prayers; nowhere does it directly state that the saints hear our specific prayers and that these prayers are the ones that we try to send them. Their point isn't even suggested by this verse unless you're specifically looking for it. This is all over Catholic apology.
Catholics also believe that contacting dead saints is different from "contacting the dead" as occult people do ("contacting the dead" being STRICTLY forbidden by Scripture). The saints and Mary cannot hear our prayers, so who does? As someone who was a victim of occult forces, I can tell you with 100% certainty who hears our prayers (the ones which do not go to God in Three Persons the Blessed Trinity) - familiar spirits, aka demons. They will hear your prayers, they may even try to answer a couple to make themselves look legit. This is not the work of saints! The adversary and his forces do this a lot: they may do some things that look good on the surface, but are ultimately evil. If they answer you, you might get the thing you want, but it's only to trick you into praying to the dead more often, which is spiritually poisonous and outweighs any benefits from your prayer. Back when I used to communicate with spirits that were not part of the Holy Trinity, I often got answers, too, and they were always ultimately misleading, usually giving me what I asked, but in a way that led me further from the truth of God's word, further from my relationship with God. If you don't have a relationship with God, I cannot stress enough how much you *need* one. Not with other spirits, not with demons, with God. I didn't think I needed one this close, either, but I most certainly do. Please seriously consider it, God will truly hear your prayers. Saints will not, and Mary will not. Contacting them is the same as contacting "the dead", because you are contacting the same beings. Even if you do not intend to.
As the link above also explains, the Bible never tells us to pray to people in Heaven anyway, and there is no need for this anyway since Jesus is already our sole mediator. There is very, very minimal evidence for this practice in the Bible, and even what's provided is a major stretch. Clearly, even if this were true (which it isn't!!) it's not very important to God, and certainly not intended to be a widespread practice for all Christians or a main facet of a church.
Claim #2: Confession to a priest. Nowhere mentioned in Scripture, but it's one of the main points of Catholicism. Catholics look at priests in a very high regard, even though they're human beings like the rest of us. The Bible does mention confession, and does not state in plain words outright that this is forbidden, but I point again to the fact that Christ is our only mediator now, and therefore priests are not needed for our forgiveness. We are to confess our sins directly to God, and through salvation through Jesus Christ, we will be forgiven our trespasses against God, by God. Not by a human priest. This whole idea wouldn't be here unless someone came up with it and then specifically went looking for Bible verses to defend it. Just confess to God! What can a priest who did not commit your (specific) sins do, that you can't do yourself in God's presence? By this logic, I could take... let's do a random verse. Psalm 148:9 - "Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars", and use this to defend an idea that cedars must have some kind of divine significance, they're even mentioned somewhere in the Bible! That's not true of course, but seriously, it has as much Scriptural basis.
Claim #3: Purgatory. I like hearing myself talk, so let's look at what I just said above: "This whole idea wouldn't be here unless someone came up with it and then specifically went looking for Bible verses to defend it." There are a few sections (like three in the whole Bible) that could be construed in some sense to suggest the basic concept of Purgatory, but again, NONE of them state it outright, none of them even strongly suggest it! It's all dependent on interpretation, and even that relies on interpretation from like three brief side-suggestions in the entire Bible. If, by some stretch of the imagination, Purgatory really does exist, God must really want to hide it from us, considering the only basis for it is loose suggestions mostly taken out of context. God must also not think of it as very important to our faith journey, since He never even said the name of it, or even actually stated directly that it existed. I think we can safely say that Purgatory does not exist.
Besides that, Jesus died for all of our sins already, so Purgatory is unnecessary anyway. See 1 John 2:2 "He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins--and not only our sins but the sins of all the world."
Claim #4: Hail Mary. Please refer to Claim #1 above. Also, read this. This isn't even slightly suggested by Scripture, it's actually contradictory to it, and if you do it, you should stop right now. I don't say this, or anything in this post, out of hostility towards Catholics, I say it out of hostility towards, if anything, the teachings and practices themselves. I say it out of LOVE towards Catholics, fellow believers who seek to follow the word of our Heavenly Father, but have been gravely misled. This one, the Hail Mary, is particularly bad because it does not just rely on loose interpretations, it literally contradicts the Bible.
"Claim" #5 Oh yeah, a quick side-note, Catholics like to use the term "Father". Jesus expressly forbade anyone from calling people "Father" in Matthew 23:9. They point out that we call our dads "father". Jesus himself says, "Honor your father and mother." So apparently it's (grammatically) okay in that sense, true. Jesus used it in that sense himself.
Now, does Jesus say that it's okay to call a priest "Father"?
Here, have some more, taken from this site:
No comments. Just think about that for a minute, and decide if the God who sent us Jesus Christ, and spoke the words He did according to the Holy Bible is truly inspiring those responsible for the ideas I just presented above.
Update 2016: I see there's some debate about the New York Catholic Catechism. So here's a quote from something that is undoubtedly approved by the Vatican: For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.
I think that's all for right now. I'll add more later. May God bless all who read this and guide them to the truth according to His perfect will. May they all see the love in this post, and not hateful disagreement. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Can you think of any other belief systems that have some similarities to Christianity but then change things to fit a specific interpretation?
Anyway, as with the "Negativity in the Media" post, I plan to start this one now, publish it, and then add things as time goes on.
Claim #1: Praying to saints and Mary. I recommend you read this, even though I didn't write it. Anyway, Catholics claim they do not pray to the saints for help - rather, they "pray"/ask the saints to pray for them, on their behalf sort of. This is absolutely true most of the time. The problem is, this is not Scripturally sound. Catholics use verses about Christians praying in general, to refer to the saints and Mary praying for us. That's misleading, because even though they are Christians, that's nothing more than distracting from the main point: the saints and Mary cannot hear us to begin with. There are verses in Revelation that mention saints, and that mention prayers; nowhere does it directly state that the saints hear our specific prayers and that these prayers are the ones that we try to send them. Their point isn't even suggested by this verse unless you're specifically looking for it. This is all over Catholic apology.
Catholics also believe that contacting dead saints is different from "contacting the dead" as occult people do ("contacting the dead" being STRICTLY forbidden by Scripture). The saints and Mary cannot hear our prayers, so who does? As someone who was a victim of occult forces, I can tell you with 100% certainty who hears our prayers (the ones which do not go to God in Three Persons the Blessed Trinity) - familiar spirits, aka demons. They will hear your prayers, they may even try to answer a couple to make themselves look legit. This is not the work of saints! The adversary and his forces do this a lot: they may do some things that look good on the surface, but are ultimately evil. If they answer you, you might get the thing you want, but it's only to trick you into praying to the dead more often, which is spiritually poisonous and outweighs any benefits from your prayer. Back when I used to communicate with spirits that were not part of the Holy Trinity, I often got answers, too, and they were always ultimately misleading, usually giving me what I asked, but in a way that led me further from the truth of God's word, further from my relationship with God. If you don't have a relationship with God, I cannot stress enough how much you *need* one. Not with other spirits, not with demons, with God. I didn't think I needed one this close, either, but I most certainly do. Please seriously consider it, God will truly hear your prayers. Saints will not, and Mary will not. Contacting them is the same as contacting "the dead", because you are contacting the same beings. Even if you do not intend to.
As the link above also explains, the Bible never tells us to pray to people in Heaven anyway, and there is no need for this anyway since Jesus is already our sole mediator. There is very, very minimal evidence for this practice in the Bible, and even what's provided is a major stretch. Clearly, even if this were true (which it isn't!!) it's not very important to God, and certainly not intended to be a widespread practice for all Christians or a main facet of a church.
Claim #2: Confession to a priest. Nowhere mentioned in Scripture, but it's one of the main points of Catholicism. Catholics look at priests in a very high regard, even though they're human beings like the rest of us. The Bible does mention confession, and does not state in plain words outright that this is forbidden, but I point again to the fact that Christ is our only mediator now, and therefore priests are not needed for our forgiveness. We are to confess our sins directly to God, and through salvation through Jesus Christ, we will be forgiven our trespasses against God, by God. Not by a human priest. This whole idea wouldn't be here unless someone came up with it and then specifically went looking for Bible verses to defend it. Just confess to God! What can a priest who did not commit your (specific) sins do, that you can't do yourself in God's presence? By this logic, I could take... let's do a random verse. Psalm 148:9 - "Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars", and use this to defend an idea that cedars must have some kind of divine significance, they're even mentioned somewhere in the Bible! That's not true of course, but seriously, it has as much Scriptural basis.
Claim #3: Purgatory. I like hearing myself talk, so let's look at what I just said above: "This whole idea wouldn't be here unless someone came up with it and then specifically went looking for Bible verses to defend it." There are a few sections (like three in the whole Bible) that could be construed in some sense to suggest the basic concept of Purgatory, but again, NONE of them state it outright, none of them even strongly suggest it! It's all dependent on interpretation, and even that relies on interpretation from like three brief side-suggestions in the entire Bible. If, by some stretch of the imagination, Purgatory really does exist, God must really want to hide it from us, considering the only basis for it is loose suggestions mostly taken out of context. God must also not think of it as very important to our faith journey, since He never even said the name of it, or even actually stated directly that it existed. I think we can safely say that Purgatory does not exist.
Besides that, Jesus died for all of our sins already, so Purgatory is unnecessary anyway. See 1 John 2:2 "He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins--and not only our sins but the sins of all the world."
Claim #4: Hail Mary. Please refer to Claim #1 above. Also, read this. This isn't even slightly suggested by Scripture, it's actually contradictory to it, and if you do it, you should stop right now. I don't say this, or anything in this post, out of hostility towards Catholics, I say it out of hostility towards, if anything, the teachings and practices themselves. I say it out of LOVE towards Catholics, fellow believers who seek to follow the word of our Heavenly Father, but have been gravely misled. This one, the Hail Mary, is particularly bad because it does not just rely on loose interpretations, it literally contradicts the Bible.
"Claim" #5 Oh yeah, a quick side-note, Catholics like to use the term "Father". Jesus expressly forbade anyone from calling people "Father" in Matthew 23:9. They point out that we call our dads "father". Jesus himself says, "Honor your father and mother." So apparently it's (grammatically) okay in that sense, true. Jesus used it in that sense himself.
Now, does Jesus say that it's okay to call a priest "Father"?
Here, have some more, taken from this site:
- The New York Catholic Catechism, under: Pope, says, "The Pope takes the place of Jesus Christ on earth...by divine right the pope has supreme and full power in faith and morals over each and every pastor and his flock. He is the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the entire church, the father and teacher of all Christians He is the infallible ruler, the founder of dogmas, the author of and the judge of councils; the universal ruler of truth, the arbiter of the world, the supreme judge of heaven and earth, the judge of all, being judged by one, God himself on earth."
- In his encyclical, "The Reunion of Christendom" (1885), Pope Leo XIII stated that the pope holds "upon this earth the place of God Almighty."
- The Council of Trent declared: "Sitting in that chair in which Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, sat to the close of life, the Catholic Church recognizes in his person the most exalted degree of dignity, and the full jurisdiction not based on constitutions, but emanating from no less authority than from God Himself. As the Successor of St. Peter and the true and legitimate Vicar of Jesus Christ, he therefore, presides over the Universal Church, the Father and Governor of all the faithful, of Bishops, also and of all other prelates, be their station, rant, or power, what they may be."
- The Catholic book, "My Catholic Faith" which is based on the Baltimore Catechism, on page 251, says, "The Pope can make and unmake laws for the entire Church; his authority is supreme and unquestioned. Every bishop, every priest, every member of the Church is subject to him."
No comments. Just think about that for a minute, and decide if the God who sent us Jesus Christ, and spoke the words He did according to the Holy Bible is truly inspiring those responsible for the ideas I just presented above.
Update 2016: I see there's some debate about the New York Catholic Catechism. So here's a quote from something that is undoubtedly approved by the Vatican: For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.
I think that's all for right now. I'll add more later. May God bless all who read this and guide them to the truth according to His perfect will. May they all see the love in this post, and not hateful disagreement. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Be Dedicated to God: Several Points in One Post. (I know it's long but please read it!)
People think of Christianity as blind following of rules set by the institution. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The central figure of Christianity is Jesus Christ, the son of God. Salvation through him separates Christianity from religions of similar origin which don't accept him as the Messiah. Jesus the Messiah was easily one of the biggest rebels of that time. He turned over tables when people were "turning God's house into a marketplace", which was clearly generally accepted, since you didn't see anyone else turning the tables over. He openly taught things against which the leaders of that day adamantly stood.
The pharisees, well-respected people who had the best seats at events, taught that people don't need to honor their father or mother if they gave that honor to God. Jesus said, right to them, that they were wrong and that you do still need to honor your father and mother. Jesus, throughout his ministry, proceeded to go on a large rant about what hypocrites they were, and called them a brood of vipers. He also (indirectly, I think) called them children of Hell.
Of course, the point here isn't that Jesus ran around and insulted people and yelled at people, the point is that Jesus didn't adhere to earthly authority, but rather to the rules that the Heavenly Father wanted him (and wants us) to follow. In becoming Christ-like, we are also not to submit to authority which teaches things contrary to God's word. Can you imagine going up to leaders in the Vatican today and calling them out directly on their hypocrisy? Can you imagine going to a church like Lakewood "church" today, and calling out the wrongdoings that are taught there -- "turning over the tables", if you will?
A common misconception amongst human beings is that Christianity is the most popular faith in the world. It is not. Christianity is the most popular religion, but it is not the most popular faith.
The Christian religion, at least of today, isn't that hard to follow. Go out and get a Bible. You don't really have to read it or anything, just make sure it's in your house somewhere. If you have a facebook account, change your Religious Views to "Christian", and if you're really feeling it, go put John 3:16 in your Favorite Quotes. Go out and buy a cross necklace. Make sure it's a really expensive one. The Bible teaches not to waste money on things like that, but it's okay, that was written a long time ago! It's the 21st century, people, times are changing! The Bible tells us not to change with the times or conform to the world, but again, that was written a long time ago. Smile really big, and congratulations! You're following the Christian religion of the 21st century.
The Christian faith is different from that. Christian faith involves regular prayer to our Heavenly Father, spreading the true Gospel, being patient and understanding to those to whom we teach of course, but not to the point of compromising the message, regardless of how unappealing it is to the world. Christian faith involves reading the Bible and understanding its message, learning about what God wants from us and allowing it in our lives, regardless of how unfamiliar and unappealing it may seem to us when we're used to "the world". You can learn more about God's will for your specific life, also, through prayer. Christian faith involves not only calling yourself a servant of Christ, but living like it, too. Christian faith involves, above all, faith and trust in Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God, and repentance from sin. Christian faith involves realizing that God's messages to the people from Biblical times do still apply to us today, and learning to apply that in our lives. The lies the leaders of today tell shouldn't be met with a "whatever" stance from us. As people who call ourselves servants of Christ, people who love God, we are to stand up against this stuff, to defend our Father and our friend, Jesus.
And in that way, we are called to be major rebels against the system. In a world where a billion people follow a heretical cult led by human men under the guise of a church (yes, "Catholicism"), where secularism is on the rise in the name of superficial half-truths and lies, where materialism and lust and gluttony and wrath and manipulation and propaganda and overall self-serving compassionlessness and misguided, sinful reactionism are the law of the land, how can a believer in Christ possibly be subservient to the system? How can we be blind slaves to anything, when in fact if we were, we would be like the other however-many billions of people and faiths who are all unanimously against us and our way of life? Look: if a pagan spreads a message of norse mythology, don't the secularists go, "Cool! Vikings!"? If an atheist speaks out against Christianity specifically, don't the pagans all come and agree? Why, then, are there so few secularists on our side? Why do all faiths come together against us, and not against each other more often? It's because Christians, true Christians of the faith, are the "rebels" in this world. We love when the world tells us to hate. We worship when the world tells us not to. We spread the word when the world tells us to shut up. We follow the Bible when the world wants to live according to their own rules. Not out of spite for the world, but out of dedication to God. Be entirely dedicated to God.
I pray that all readers get something out of this, and that God will help you to accept it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
The pharisees, well-respected people who had the best seats at events, taught that people don't need to honor their father or mother if they gave that honor to God. Jesus said, right to them, that they were wrong and that you do still need to honor your father and mother. Jesus, throughout his ministry, proceeded to go on a large rant about what hypocrites they were, and called them a brood of vipers. He also (indirectly, I think) called them children of Hell.
Of course, the point here isn't that Jesus ran around and insulted people and yelled at people, the point is that Jesus didn't adhere to earthly authority, but rather to the rules that the Heavenly Father wanted him (and wants us) to follow. In becoming Christ-like, we are also not to submit to authority which teaches things contrary to God's word. Can you imagine going up to leaders in the Vatican today and calling them out directly on their hypocrisy? Can you imagine going to a church like Lakewood "church" today, and calling out the wrongdoings that are taught there -- "turning over the tables", if you will?
A common misconception amongst human beings is that Christianity is the most popular faith in the world. It is not. Christianity is the most popular religion, but it is not the most popular faith.
The Christian religion, at least of today, isn't that hard to follow. Go out and get a Bible. You don't really have to read it or anything, just make sure it's in your house somewhere. If you have a facebook account, change your Religious Views to "Christian", and if you're really feeling it, go put John 3:16 in your Favorite Quotes. Go out and buy a cross necklace. Make sure it's a really expensive one. The Bible teaches not to waste money on things like that, but it's okay, that was written a long time ago! It's the 21st century, people, times are changing! The Bible tells us not to change with the times or conform to the world, but again, that was written a long time ago. Smile really big, and congratulations! You're following the Christian religion of the 21st century.
The Christian faith is different from that. Christian faith involves regular prayer to our Heavenly Father, spreading the true Gospel, being patient and understanding to those to whom we teach of course, but not to the point of compromising the message, regardless of how unappealing it is to the world. Christian faith involves reading the Bible and understanding its message, learning about what God wants from us and allowing it in our lives, regardless of how unfamiliar and unappealing it may seem to us when we're used to "the world". You can learn more about God's will for your specific life, also, through prayer. Christian faith involves not only calling yourself a servant of Christ, but living like it, too. Christian faith involves, above all, faith and trust in Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God, and repentance from sin. Christian faith involves realizing that God's messages to the people from Biblical times do still apply to us today, and learning to apply that in our lives. The lies the leaders of today tell shouldn't be met with a "whatever" stance from us. As people who call ourselves servants of Christ, people who love God, we are to stand up against this stuff, to defend our Father and our friend, Jesus.
And in that way, we are called to be major rebels against the system. In a world where a billion people follow a heretical cult led by human men under the guise of a church (yes, "Catholicism"), where secularism is on the rise in the name of superficial half-truths and lies, where materialism and lust and gluttony and wrath and manipulation and propaganda and overall self-serving compassionlessness and misguided, sinful reactionism are the law of the land, how can a believer in Christ possibly be subservient to the system? How can we be blind slaves to anything, when in fact if we were, we would be like the other however-many billions of people and faiths who are all unanimously against us and our way of life? Look: if a pagan spreads a message of norse mythology, don't the secularists go, "Cool! Vikings!"? If an atheist speaks out against Christianity specifically, don't the pagans all come and agree? Why, then, are there so few secularists on our side? Why do all faiths come together against us, and not against each other more often? It's because Christians, true Christians of the faith, are the "rebels" in this world. We love when the world tells us to hate. We worship when the world tells us not to. We spread the word when the world tells us to shut up. We follow the Bible when the world wants to live according to their own rules. Not out of spite for the world, but out of dedication to God. Be entirely dedicated to God.
I pray that all readers get something out of this, and that God will help you to accept it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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