CHURCHLESS ONCE AGAIN

It is with sadness that I am writing this post to share with you that I have now left the church that I had been attending for over five years.

I remember the first day that I attended that church and how deeply I appreciated the pastor’s expository preaching! So much so, that tears welled up within my eyes as I heard God’s Word finally being preached the way God intends His Word to be preached: in truth, verse by verse, in context, and without the text being manipulated to say something other than what God intends for it to say to us! I even went up to the pastor after the service and told him how much I appreciated his preaching, and eventually told him how I had recently left a church (HBCRM) after attending there for over 14 1/2 years because God’s Word was being twisted and taken out of context by the pastor in order to manipulate our thinking and to try to make it say something that the pastor was trying to get us to accept in some way, and I also told him that I left because of many compromises that my former pastor had made.

I met so many wonderful people at my now former church, and made some friends, as well. I will miss them all, especially M who I recently met at the women’s luncheon, and J who sat in front of me during the services.

Some of you may be wondering what happened that caused me to leave, so briefly, and respectfully, I will tell you:

Last year my pastor came up to me and asked me how I was doing, which is something he does with everyone quite frequently because of the kind and caring person that he is. He also asked me if I was still writing poems on my blog, and I proceeded to tell him how the direction had somewhat changed concerning what I am writing, and that presently I was writing a series out of my desire to reach Catholics with the Biblical gospel. I also told him that next year (Lord willing) I am going to be writing about Calvinism to warn those who read my blog of the importance of knowing God’s Word because of how the teachings of Reformed Theology/Calvinism distort the character and nature of God and even the gospel itself! I then asked him if he could recommend something for me to read to help me as I prepare to write about it. I was almost certain that he would agree with me regarding the valid concerns that I have about Calvinism/Reformed Theology, but I was stunned by his reply as he proceeded to tell me that “salvation is a mystery” and how “God’s ways are past finding out.” He then had me open my Bible to Romans 11:33, which he also did, and then he read it out loud as I followed along in my Bible:

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

I was speechless and devastated by what he had just said to me, and quickly became aware of the fact that my jaw began to drop out of shock and I had to make a conscious effort to pull it back up in order to close my mouth! There were simply no words that came to mind to say to him at that moment –I was stunned, and filled with concern, as well!

He also shared with me how the church that he had grown up in split because of Calvinism, and that many people were hateful in the way they treated one another. He told me near the end of our conversation that he would send me some information on Calvinism, (but I never received anything).

I came away from our conversation with the impression that he was afraid of a split taking place at ‘our’ church, and that it may possibly be the reason why he seems reluctant to speak out against it. It seemed to me like he was trying to push Calvinism to the very back of his mind so that he would never had to deal with it at all. At least that’s what I initially thought.

The next major thing that happened to raise the level of my concern was something that my friend discovered when she took part in the women’s Bible study last year:

My friend, who  attended my former church for the past two years (she left two months ago), told me that John MacArthur’s study guides were being used in the women’s Bible study classes that she was attending. Knowing that John MacArthur is one of the most prominent preachers/teachers of Reformed Theology, and to hear that his books were now in our church was a very troubling truth to discover! She expressed her concerns about that to ‘our pastor’ and was told basically the same thing that I was told, and he tried to assure her that Calvinism was not being taught and that no seeds were being planted as she had suggested to him out of her valid concerns.

Then, just a few weeks ago, I received a call from ‘my pastor’ in which he stated that he was calling to let me know that my friend was no longer going to be attending ‘our church.’ I could be wrong, but I had the feeling that this call was more about finding out what I already knew about my friend leaving, and if she had influenced me to also leave in any way, and maybe he also wanted to find out how much I really knew about Calvinism. The statements that he made to me during our conversation seemed to confirm that, and I proceeded to tell him that I was considering leaving too, but that as I listened carefully as he preached through the book of Romans I did not hear him say anything that would indicate that he was trying to present the teachings of Calvinism to us. He told me to trust him and that he was not trying to bring Calvinism into the church. He tried to assure me by telling me that he has never been to any of John MacArthur’s Shepherd’s Conferences, and that he is not part of the Gospel Coalition. However, the one thing that I have learned from all that I have already been through with pastors, my former husband, and with a few friends, is the fact that the only one we are to put our trust in is the Lord, and no one else! That thought remained unspoken, and I soon learned that I was right in not trusting him, as nice of a person as he may seem to be.

At one point in our conversation that lasted for more than an hour and twenty minutes, I posed this question to him:

“Since you are now preaching through the book of Colossians, may I humbly ask you to prayerfully consider addressing Calvinism when you get  to Colossians 2:8? Then I would feel more assured.”(Assured that he was not trying to bring Calvinism into the church).

I then proceeded to read the verse to him…

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ,”

…and then waited for his response. At first he seemed to consider it, but then quickly changed his mind saying that in all of the years that he has been a pastor at the church he has not had a problem with it. He also pointed out the fact that there were some Calvinists who were presently attending out church, which was something that I was already aware of.

At one point he mentioned that “there are no seeds being planted,” obviously referring to what my friend had previously said to him. At that point I cautiously and humbly  brought to his attention what I credit God for putting in my mind at that very moment, which was this:

“But if John MacArthur’s  books are being used as study guides, some people may think that you are  in agreement with all that John MacArthur teaches, and they may get involved in Calvinism as a result.”

He seemed to give pause at what I said at that point. He also said that he would try to keep a closer watch on the books that were being used, but that he tries to give freedom to the teachers in what they choose for the Bible studies. I gently tried to remind him of how Scripture warns about false teachings in the last days and how Satan comes to destroy.

At around this point I also brought up how after receiving an email about the upcoming women’s Bible studies I did a search on the authors of the books that were going to be used as the study guides and found information that indicated that both authors may very well be Calvinists, since one was a part of John MacArthur’s church at one point. Since I was sitting at my computer when he called I was able to access the quick captures that I had taken of the information and read some of it to him.

Here is what I discovered. Consider this information as a warning, dear reader, so that you can beware of these authors: Jen Wilkin and Elizabeth George.

From the beliefs of Jen Wilkin that you will find stated below, note how she emphasizes “His children” when she says the following:

“For His glory and because of His love for His children, God initiated a plan of redemption, which He fully accomplished on their behalf. God the Father sent Jesus the Son, fully God and fully man, to die on the cross as a substitutionary  sacrifice for the sins of His children. Jesus lived a sinless life on earth, suffered death on the cross, was buried, and then rose again from the dead, demonstrating His victory over sin and death. Jesus fully paid for the redemption of God’s children, and by God’s grace, we respond with repentance and faith.”

Now, I may be wrong, but to me it was a clear indication that she was presenting the teaching of Limited Atonement which says that Jesus Christ did not die for the sins of the whole world, but only for those whom God chose to save before the foundations of the world, referred to as “the elect” by those who teach Calvinism. (More on that when, Lord willing, I do an extensive review of John Calvin’s teachings compared to Scripture, as soon as I finish the series that I am presently doing concerning the topic of Catholicism.).

Concerning Elizabeth George, as you can see from the information below…

“She was also a Logos Bible Institute instructor and a Bible study lecturer and curriculum development team member at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California.” 

That happens to be the church that John MacArthur is the pastor of. Enough said, IMHO.

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At one point in our conversation I told him that I had some videos that I wanted to share with him concerning how Calvinism distorts the character and nature of God and the gospel itself, if he would be willing to listen to them, when time allowed. He told me that he would listen to the clips if I would send them to him, which I was thankful to hear him say.

Much more was said, but that is all that is necessary to allow you to see pretty much what was said during our conversation. Emails were exchanged in the days ahead, and I did send the video teachings to him by Pastor Tom Stegall. They were the same ones that I previously shared with all of you in my previous post, which is the series entitled, ‘Confronting Calvinism.’  [Note: I truly regret sending him those teachings, because I found out some time later that Tom Stegall wrongly teaches that Jesus died spiritually, as well as physically. Please read this post so that you are aware of this heretical teaching, as well as some who teach it: HOW DISCERNING ARE YOU? REFUTING THE HERETICAL TEACHING THAT JESUS DIED SPIRITUALLY]

The deciding factor that caused me to finally leave without hesitation came about as I did research on the association of churches that my former church belongs to. Upon coming across the information that I believe God led me to find, and some information that another friend had shared with me, I not only discovered the association’s clear involvement with Calvinism, but also I came across two articles that were written by the person who leads worship at what is now my former church. In the articles he spoke highly of John Piper and other prominent pastors and teachers of Reformed Theology. I then wrote what will probably be my last email to my former pastor to let him know that as much as I appreciated his expository preaching, and how kind and caring of a person that he is to all who attend there, and as much as I love all of the people that I met during the five years that I attended there, I would not be returning. I then proceeded to tell him about some of the information that I had discovered, and ended my email by saying the following:

“I have made my decision after much prayer and research, so there is really no need to discuss this any further. I am taking a stand for Biblical truth by leaving because I completely reject and oppose the teachings of Calvinism because they are unbiblical and damaging to the character of the God whom I serve and the very gospel itself. I just pray that one day you will come to realize the serious problems with Reformed Theology/Calvinism and see the need to warn those whom God has entrusted to your care, and trust God with the results. Since there are people who attend (name of church) who are Calvinists, as wonderful as they may be, it is only a matter of time before problems arise.”

You will continue to be in my prayers, (name of pastor). I am very sorry that it had to come to this.”

So, dear reader of this blog from time to time, now maybe you can understand that even though I started out with an urgency to write about Catholicism in order to reach Catholics with Biblical truth, why I found myself equally concerned about the teachings of Calvinism; its teachings are just as damaging to the gospel as Catholicism is, and it was God’s way of preparing me for this time in my life. I may have started out with the desire to warn you of the importance of testing its teachings against Scripture, but because of all of the videos that I have listened to on the subject, and because of testing its teachings against God’s Word myself, all of my studying  has served to help me stand firm on the Rock of my salvation, never realizing that one day Calvinism would affect me in such a deep and personal way!

In hindsight, I now can see why God kept bringing Calvinism to my attention in many small ways, even before I knew what it was! The first incident happened back in around the year 2010. A friend from my previously former church of 14 1/2 years came to me and tearfully said, “What if I’m not one of the elect?” I had no idea what she meant, but that pleading, tear-stained question stayed with me even after I tried to help assure her of her salvation by sharing Scriptures with her and asking her some questions.

The second thing that occurred  was finding the teachings of Reformed Theology that was presented on a website by using the acrostic, TULIP. It didn’t take long for me to  realize that these teachings did not line up with Scripture!  (Please consider watching the videos that I added below).

Then, after writing about leaving my previous church in January of 2012, someone contacted me through my blog and asked me if I was “reformed.” Once again, I was puzzled by another question, not knowing what she meant because I had never been asked that question before. I assumed that she was referring to the Reformation, so I answered her email by saying, “Yes, I believe we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.” Even though I had a strong feeling that I didn’t give her the answer she was expecting, I answered honestly and proceeded to hit the ‘send’ button as I slightly cringed.

Now I realize that God used those puzzling moments in my life in order to motivate me to begin researching Calvinism so that I would be prepared for this time in my life when I would need to know what Reformed Theology actually teaches, and how it distorts the character and nature of God, the Word of God, and the gospel itself!

I pray that God will somehow open the eyes of my former pastor so that he finally comes to see the damaging effects that Calvinism has on the gospel and the extreme importance of warning the people that he will one day stand before God and give an account for how he taught them according to God’s Word.

That makes four churches that I have now left because of errors (the Catholic church) or because of pastors drifting away from Biblical truth, or making compromises with Biblical truth in some way.

So maybe now you can understand one of the reasons why I have not been writing as much lately, and that is because I have been dealing with this issue and seeking God concerning what I should do about it, and hoping  and praying that God would somehow use me to warn my former pastor of the dangers of Reformed Theology/Calvinism. But who am I to tell a pastor what he should do, and what God’s Word clearly says? I am just someone who seeks to follow Jesus Christ, and earnestly contend for the faith, someone who does not follow any man’s teachings.

I am not a divisive person either. I am someone who simply refuses to compromise or to remain silent. Why? Because I have learned from others who have become very dear to me,  how destructive  the teachings of Calvinism can be to the beliefs and convictions of those Christians who once lovingly reached out to others with the good news of the Biblical gospel which clearly states that Jesus Christ died for ALL who will CHOOSE to place their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ’s ‘once for all’ sacrifice.

Salvation is available to ALL who are willing to come to Him and to believe the true Biblical gospel that declares Jesus Christ, who was and is God in the flesh, willingly came to this earth to live the perfect sinless life that we are incapable of living, to die in our place as our substitute for all of our sins – no matter how horrendous they may be – and that He was buried and gloriously arose from the dead on the third day to show that His sacrifice was accepted by God the Father to satisfy the wrath that He has towards all mankind because of our sin and rebellion, and I will continue to earnestly contend for the faith by defending that truth in a respectful, but firm manner –no matter what!

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Timothy 4:16)

“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1)

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

“This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, (and for this we labor and strive) that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4:10)

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)

“I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teachings you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.” (Romans 16:17,18)

“But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.” (Jude 1:17-19)

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

Mary/Living4HisGlory

RELATED VIDEOS

Although I realize the title of these videos may offend some Calvinists who may see them, that is certainly not my intention. I am sharing them because the truth presented in these videos is powerful because it is based upon the truth of God’s Word. Please prayerfully consider listening to his teachings when time allows, and be sure to test everything that he says against Scripture as we are shown to do in Acts 17:11, as well as the teachings of everyone you listen to who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ and a preacher or teacher of God’s Word.

TEACHING THURSDAY – ROBERT CONGDON ADDRESSING CALVINISM/REFORMED THEOLOGY IN LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE

Welcome to another post in the category of posts entitled, TEACHING THURSDAY.’ Lord willing, every month or so on a Thursday, I will be posting either a video, an article, or some form of teaching  in which a *Biblically sound teacher *(Biblically sound because what they say and teach lines up with the truth of God’s Word,  Acts 17:11) will either expose an unbiblical movement, teaching, or a practice that is leading many Christians astray, or present some type of Biblical teaching to help you grow in a deeper understanding of God’s Word on different topics. Some of these teachings may be essentials of the Christian faith, and others may be things that we can debate but not divide over.

It is my hope and prayer that by presenting these teachings to you, many more Christians will not only come to realize the importance of testing the words of men (and women) against the truth of God Word so they will not be deceived, but also it is my hope and prayer that many Christians will come to know the joy of learning God’s Word.

Now on with today’s TEACHING THURSDAY:

As I had mentioned to you in the very beginning of the year, Lord willing, next year I will be presenting you with an in depth series in which we will be comparing the teachings of Calvinism (also known as Reformed Theology) to Scripture. This series will begin after I complete the Catholicism series that I am presently writing; a series in which we are comparing the teachings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church to Scriptures that can be found in the Catholic Bible. Just as I am trusting that God will open the eyes of many Catholics so that they will begin to question all that they have been taught as they see what God’s Word actually says, I will also be trusting that God will open the eyes of many who have embraced the teachings of Calvinism so that they will come to realize that the teachings of Calvinism do not line up with Scripture, distort the very nature and character of God, and — if I may be so bold as to say — that the teachings of Calvinism even present another Jesus and another gospel. (2 Corinthians 11:2-4, Galatians 1:6-9) Yes, I realize that is a very shocking statement to make, but if you will choose to pray for discernment and examine the teachings of Calvinism through the lens of Scripture instead of accepting the interpretations of what Bible teachers of Reformed Theology/Calvinism say concerning God and a certain passage of Scripture, your eyes will be opened to the truth by the power of the Holy Spirit to see how God’s Word and His very nature are being twisted and changed into something that is clearly not Biblical Christianity.

Since watching some of the presentations by speakers at the Pastor’s Conference that took place at the end of April 2017 at Calvary Chapel Appleton, in Appleton, Wisconsin, in which the the focus was on the book of Galatians, I decided to share these teachings with you today concerning Calvinism as an example of what you can expect next year in my series concerning Calvinism/Reformed Theology: teachings based on Scripture, truth spoken in love, and the words of men being tested against the truth of God’s Word to see if what is being said is true (Acts 17:11), or not.

Please prayerfully consider listening to these teachings by former Calvinist, Robert Congdon, whether you are someone who has no idea what Calvinism/Reformed Theology actually is, whether you are someone who has heard of it and knows a little about it, or even if you are someone who has actually embraced any or all of the five points of  TULIP, which are:

• Total Depravity
  

• Unconditional Election

• Limited Atonement

• Irresistible Grace

• Perseverance of the Saints

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

UPDATE:

Over the past week I have been trying to finish writing Part 2 of May 13th Marks The 100 Year Anniversary Of The Alleged Apparitions Of The Virgin Mary At Fatima – Learn To Discern Do Not Be Deceived and hope to have it finished by Sunday evening.

COMPARING SCRIPTURES IN THE CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE TO TEACHINGS FOUND IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – DEAR CATHOLIC, ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD, OR THE WORD OF MAN? PART 4

SERIES INTRODUCTION

There are two very important reasons why I felt compelled to write this series of posts, and I’d like to briefly share these reasons with you now before I go any further:

1) Since I am a former Catholic who is very aware of the teachings of the Catholic Church because I attended twelve years of Catholic school, attended Catechism classes, made my First Holy Communion, was Confirmed, and faithfully attended Mass not only every Sunday for many years, but also before school began for three years (as required by the school that I attended at the time),  and who came to the knowledge of who Jesus Christ truly is and what He actually accomplished for us by reading a Catholic New Testament Bible exactly like the one pictured above, I decided to write this series with the hope of reaching Catholics so that they can not only come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is as His Word, the Bible, declares Him to be, but also so they can see by reading God’s Word that they can have complete forgiveness, lasting joy, true peace, and the assurance of salvation if they choose to believe God’s Word and place their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Also, since many Catholics do not realize everything that the Catholic church actually teaches (as I once did not realize until after doing research and reading the CCC), I thought that it was extremely important to share this information to make Catholics aware of many things that are quite disturbing, as you will all soon become aware of as this series continues.

2) This series of posts is also being written with the intention of helping those of you who are born-again, Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ who have no idea of what the teachings of Catholicism are so that you can become aware of their teachings and be prepared to offer hope and assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ to Catholics based solely upon the truth that is recorded in God’s Word.

As we continue on in this series together comparing Scriptures in the Catholic New Testament to teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we must keep these important thoughts in mind:

When it comes to our eternal destination — heaven or hell — we must be certain that we place our trust in solid truth and not in speculation or in the traditions of men. The Catholic church claims to be the “one true Church.” Therefore, it stands to reason that their teachings must line up with God’s Word and not contradict it since God does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8), and His Word stands firm forever. (Psalm 119:89, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24,25) If a contradiction is found it must be rejected because God’s Word is our plumb line by which we must measure (or test) the teachings of every religion to see if it lines up or not. If it is off in one point we can be certain that it will lead us further and further away from Biblical truth and lead us into spiritual deception.

This series will cover many different subjects ranging from what does the Catholic Church teach about the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, priests, the pope, sin, forgiveness of sins, salvation, prayer, and what must a Catholic believe in order to receive eternal life. Some of these teachings will shock even many Catholics when they learn what their church actually teaches!

Lord willing, I hope to share at least one post every month with you in this new series until I have covered all the most important teachings that need to be brought to your attention. The main goal that I have in writing this series is to present the Word of God to Catholics — and to every person — in order to point everyone to Jesus Christ, who is our only hope and ‘the only name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)

Dear Catholic, please take a minute now to pray, asking God to open your mind to the Scriptures and to reveal the truth to you –whatever that may be.

Because only God can reveal the truth to you, I will refrain from making any comments unless I find it completely necessary. Since God’s Word is truth I trust that He will not only give you eyes to see the truth, but also I trust that He will give you the courage to respond to His leading. However, each one of you will find yourself having to answer this question when you come to many points that I present to you in these posts after realizing that there are oftentimes extreme differences between what the Word of God says and what Catholicism teaches, and the question that you will have to answer is:

“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”

 Please keep in mind, as you are carefully reading all of the statements made from the following Catholic sources, that every time you see the word “church” spelled with a capital c they are referring to the Catholic church, since they believe that the “Catholic Church” alone is the “one true Church.”All of the information that I will be sharing with you I have obtained from the following sources:

1) CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (pictured above) – Imprimi Potest – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict) – Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2) THE WORD OF GOD – THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR  IN TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION – SACRED HEART LEAGUE EDITION – IMPRIMATUR JOHN FRANCIS WHEALON, ARCHBISHOP OF HARTFORD, APRIL 15, 1971 SIGNED AND SEALED BY BISHOP JOSEPH B. BRUNINI, DIOCESE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

3) Occasionally when I share a Scripture with you from the Sacred Heart League (SHL) Catholic New Testament and notice that it lacks depth and clarity, I will then follow it with the same verse but in the King James Version in order to give you a better understanding of what is being said, and so that you can see what is missing from the SHL translation.

4) Very briefly in this series, I will also be quoting from THE CATHOLIC DOUAY RHEIMS VERSION OF THE BIBLE – in which you will find the following statements:

“EXCERPT FROM ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE LEO XIII ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE:

“The God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated the human race to the participation of the Divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from the universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has in consequence bestowed upon man a splendid gift and safeguard–making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden Mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. For although in Divine revelations there are contained some things which are not beyond the reach of unassisted reason, and which are made the objects of such revelation in order “that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and safety from error, yet not on this account can supernatural Revelation be said to be absolutely necessary; it is only necessary because God has ordained man to a supernatural end.” This supernatural revelation according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition, and in written Books, which are therefore called sacred and canonical because, “being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church.” (Page ix)

“Wherefore it must be recognised that the sacred writings are wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide; God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardour and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart; and, most of all that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their teacher.  St. Irenaeus long since laid down, that where the charismata of God were, there the truth was to be learnt, and that Holy Scripture was safely interpreted by those who had the Apostolic succession.  His teaching, and that of other Holy Fathers, is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which, in the renewing of the decree of Trent, declares its “mind” to be this–that “in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the unanimous agreement  of the Fathers.” (Page xvii)

“Wherefore the first and dearest object of the Catholic commentator  should be to interpret those passages which have received an authentic interpretation either by the sacred writers themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whether by her solemn judgment or her ordinary and universal magisterium –to interpret those passages in that identical sense, and to prove, by all the resources of science that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can by legitimate means be extracted from the former, which shall in any respect be at variance with the latter. Hence it follows that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.” (Page xviii)

“For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should nevertheless, bear well in mind–as the Fathers also teach in numerous passages –that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture and never attain its pith.” (Page xix)

 (To read PART 1 clickHERE).

(For PART 2 clickHERE).

(For PART 3 click HERE).

INTRODUCTION TO PART 4

If one takes the time to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), they will find that oftentimes what’s woven through these teachings are attempts to attribute to the Virgin Mary accomplishments and credit that do not apply to her and should not be given to her. In doing so, they diminish all that Jesus Christ alone has accomplished for us through His sinless life, His substitutionary atoning death on the cross, His burial, and ultimately His glorious resurrection when He arose bodily from the dead.  Please be sure to keep all of these thoughts in mind as you carefully read through this post, and it will become much more evident to you how they do this as we continue going through the teachings of the CCC. The truth of what I am warning you about will be confirmed to you as you read their teachings, and their teachings will be refuted by what should be our ultimate authority –the Word of God. You will see how the focus of one’s attention is frequently made to shift from being on Jesus Christ, and instead, Catholics are directed to Mary or to the apostle Peter, who they claim was appointed as the first pope and the head of the church by Jesus Christ Himself. You will then come to realize why precious Catholics are never able to comprehend the depth of the love that God has for them, and the glorious good news of the gospel –that Jesus Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice was sufficient to pay the debt of our sins in full!

Once again, I will only make comments when I see that it is completely necessary to do so. All I ask for you to do is to please take a minute now to pray in order to ask God to give you discernment before you continue reading. Thank you.

Now let’s begin PART 4:

Mary’s predestination

“God sent forth his Son,” but to prepare a body for him, he wanted the free cooperation of a creature. For this, from all eternity God chose for the mother of his Son a daughter of Israel, a young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, “a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin’s name was Mary”: The Father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life.” CCC (Para 488)

“Through the centuries the Church has become even more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854. The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”  (Para 491)

“The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia) and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioning by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.” By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.” (Para 493)

“Let it be done to me according to your word…”

“At the announcement that she would give birth to “the Son of the Most High” without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that “with God nothing will be impossible” : “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.” Thus giving her consent to God’s word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God’s grace: As St. Irenaeus says, ” Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert…: “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the Mother of the living” and frequently claim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.” (Para 494)

Mary’s divine motherhood

“Called in the Gospels “the mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as “the mother of my Lord.” In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly the “Mother of God.” (Theo-tokos). (Council of Ephesis – 431)

Mary — “ever-virgin”

“The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal  integrity but sanctified it.” And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the “Ever-virgin.” (Para 499)

“Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to the other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, “brothers of Jesus” are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls “the other Mary.” They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.” (Para 500)

Let’s stop for a few minutes and take time to look at the verses in which the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ are mentioned:

“When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place and went back to his home town. He taught in their synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. And what about his miracles? Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t Mary his mother, and aren’t James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? Aren’t all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this? And so they rejected him.” (Matthew 13:55-57a)

“Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him, but were unable to join him because of the crowd. Someone said to Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to see you.” Jesus said to them all, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” (Luke 8:19-21)

“After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee; he did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jewish authorities there were wanting to kill him. The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, so Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples will see the works you are doing. No one hides what he is doing if he wants to be well known. Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you!” (Not even his brothers believed in him.) Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come. Any time is right for you. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I keep telling it that its ways are bad. You go on to the feast. I am not going to this feast, because the right time has not come for me.” He said this, and then stayed on in Galilee. After his brothers went to the feast, Jesus also went; however, he did not go openly, but went secretly.” (John 7:1-10)

“They entered Jerusalem and went up to the room where they were staying: Peter, John, James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Patriot, and Judas the son of James. They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” (Acts 1:13,14)

“It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to get information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks. I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother.” (Galatians 1:19)

Now back to sharing some more rather disturbing information with you from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church: “the Church indeed…by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By preaching and Baptism she brings forth sons, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God, to a new and immortal life. She herself is a virgin, who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse.” (Para 507)

“The Virgin Mary “cooperated through free faith and obedience in human salvation” (LG 56). She uttered her yes “in the name of all human nature” (St. Thomas Aquinas, (STh III, 30, 1). By her obedience she became the new Eve, mother of the living. “(Para 511)

At this point I’d like to stop for a few minutes to share a few Scriptures with you in order to show you how, once again, some of the teachings of the Catholic church — such as the one above — elevates Mary to a position of far more honor than is due to her, because it attributes to Mary, things that only Jesus Christ accomplished for us. When it comes to our salvation, the truth of God’s Word puts the focus on Jesus Christ where it should always be. All glory and honor belongs to Him alone; from His perfect obedience, to His choice to willingly lay down His life for us, He alone did everything necessary to provide for our salvation! God’s Word has nothing to say about Mary being the “new Eve.” It does, however, show us that Jesus Christ was the “last Adam.” Dear Catholic, and others of you who have not yet come to understand the truly good news of the gospel, please ask God to open your eyes to the truth, and then read these Scriptures:

“Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death spread to the whole human race, because all men sinned. There was sin in the world before the Law was given; but where there is no law, no account is kept of sins. But from the time of Adam to the time of Moses death ruled over all men, even over those who did not sin as Adam did  by disobeying God’s commands. Adam was a figure of the one who was to come. But the two are not the same, because God’s free gift is not like Adam’s sin. It is true that many men died because of  the sin of that one man. But God’s grace is much greater, and so is his free gift to so many men through the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And there is a difference between God’s gift and the sin of one man.  After the one sin came the judgment of “Guilty” ; but after so many sins comes the undeserved gift of “Not guilty!” It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule, because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God’s abundant grace and the free gift of his righteousness will rule in life through Christ. So then, as the one sin condemned all men, in the same way the one righteous act sets all men free and gives them life. And just as many men were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way many will be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man. Law was introduced in order to increase wrongdoing, but where sin increased, God’s grace increased much more. So then, just as sin ruled by means of death, so also God’s grace rules by means of righteousness, leading us to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:12-21)

“And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins. It would also mean that the believers in Christ who have died are lost. If our hope in Christ is good for this life only, and no more, then we deserve  more pity than anyone else in all the world. But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised. For just as death came by means of a man, in the same way the rising from death comes by means of a man. For just as all men die because of their union to Adam, in the same way all will be raised to  life because of their union to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)

“For the scripture says, “The first man, Adam, was created a living being” ; but the last Adam is the life-giving Spirit. It is not the spiritual that comes first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first Adam was made of the dust of the earth; the second Adam came from heaven. Those who belong to the earth are like the one who was made of the earth; those who are of heaven are like the one who came from heaven. Just as we wear the likeness of the man made of earth, so we will wear the likeness of the Man from heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49)

The Christmas mystery

“To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little. Even more: to become children of God we must be “born from above” or “born of God.” Only when Christ is formed in us will the mystery of Christmas be fulfilled in us. Christmas  is the mystery of this “marvelous exchange” : “O marvelous exchange!  Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers of the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.” (Para 526)

At this point I must pause in order to share some concerns with you related to the above statement. First I want to remind you of what I shared with you in PART 3 of this series concerning what Para 460 says:

“For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”

Now, again, take a look at the final portion of Para 526 that I posted for you below, and you will see that the focus, once more, goes back to this mystical concept that they previously presented about sharing in the “divinity of Christ.”

“O marvelous exchange! Man’s Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers of the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.”

Now to address an even more important concern in regards to Para 526:

While it is true that “in order to become children of God we must be “born from above” or “born of God,” (John 1:10-13, John 3:1-8, 1 Peter 1:23) and as amazing and as miraculous as it was that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, clothed Himself in human flesh and came to this earth being born of the Virgin Mary, this “marvelous exchange” that they see as taking place at Christmas, in all actuality truly took place at the cross:

“He was given over to die because of our sins, and was raised to life to put us right with God.” (Romans 4:25)

“It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule, because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God’s abundant grace and the free gift of his righteousness will rule in life through Christ. So then, as the one sin condemned all men, in the same way, the one righteous act sets all men free and gives them life. And just as many men were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way many will be put right  with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.” (Romans  5:17-19)

“Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that we, in union with him, might share the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Please keep in mind that even though many Bible translations say in 2 Corin. 5:21 that Jesus Christ became sin, if this was true He would not have been the spotless, sinless Lamb of God that could have been the perfect sacrifice for our sins by giving His life in our place. He truly bore our sins, as it says in Isaiah 53:6, “And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” but He did not become sin. This is a heresy that is taught in the Word of Faith movement by preachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, and many others too numerous to mention.

“He committed no sin; no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous Judge. Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:22-24)

This song also expresses Biblical truth about the great exchange taking place at the cross:

Let’s continue once again going through the CCC:

“Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own Baptism anticipates his own death and resurrection. The Christian must enter into this mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father’s beloved son in the Son and “walk in newness of life.” :

“Let us be buried with Christ in Baptism to rise with him; let us go down with him to be raised with him; and let us rise with him to be glorified with him. Everything that happened to Christ lets us know that, after the bath of water, the Holy Spirit swoops down upon us from high heaven and that, adopted by the Father’s voice, we become sons of God.” (Para 537)

Much more will be shared with you in an upcoming post in this series concerning the teachings of baptism according to the Catholic church when we get to the section on the Sacraments. However, let’s stop for a few moments and carefully read what God’s Word has to say about baptism. As you are reading, please ask yourself what these Scriptures  focus on. Is the main focus on baptism? Or is it on something else? Clearly put, is it the act of baptism that saves? Or is it our choice to believe that saves us?

“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)

“An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, “Get yourself ready and go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This road is no longer used.) So Philip got ready and went. Now an Ethiopian eunuch was on his way home. This man was an important official in charge of the treasury of the Queen, or Candace, of Ethiopia. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God, and was going back in his carriage. As he rode along he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and stay close to that carriage.” Philip ran over and heard him reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah; so he asked him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” “How can I understand,” the official replied, “unless someone explains it to me?” And he invited Philip to climb up and sit in the carriage with him. The passage of scripture which he was reading was this, “He was like a sheep that is taken to be slaughtered; he was like a lamb that makes no sound when its wool is cut off; he did not say a word. He was humiliated, and justice was denied him. No one will be able to tell about his descendants, because his life on earth has come to an end.” The official said to Philip, “Tell me, of whom is the prophet saying this?  Of himself, or of someone else?” Philip began to speak; starting from this very passage of scripture, he told him the Good News about Jesus. As they traveled down the road they came to a place where there was some water, and the official said, “Here is some water. What is to keep me from being baptized?” Philip said to him, “You may be baptized if you believe with all your heart.” “I do,” he answered; “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” The official ordered the carriage to stop; and both of them, Philip and the official, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away. The official did not see him again, but continued on his way, full of joy.” (Acts 8:26-39)

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake, which shook the prison to its foundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell of all the prisoners. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open he thought that all the prisoners had escaped; so he pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for a light, rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. Then he led them out and asked, “What must I do, sirs, to be saved?” “Believe in the Lord Jesus,” they said, “and you will be saved–you and your family.” Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that very hour of the night the jailer took them and washed off their wounds; and he and all his family were baptized at once.” (Acts 16:25-33)

And lastly, consider this passage of Scripture, especially what Jesus Christ says in reply to what the thief on the cross says, and keep in mind that the thief on the cross was not baptized before he died:

“When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they nailed Jesus to the cross there, and the two criminals, one on his right, and one on his left.  Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.” They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. The people stood there watching, while the Jewish leaders made fun of him, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!” The soldiers also made fun of him; they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, and said, “Save yourself, if you are the king of the Jews!” These words were written above him: “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him, “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God? We are all under the same sentence. Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done nothing wrong.” And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!” Jesus said to him, “I tell you this:  today you will be in Paradise with me.” (Luke 23:33-43)

NOTE: Many of you may already be aware of the fact that punctuation marks were added to Biblical manuscripts hundreds of years later. (See video and article below by GotQuestions?). There are many Catholic theologians who place a comma in Luke 23:43 after the word “today” thus changing the meaning entirely, especially concerning the timing of when the thief would be in Paradise with Jesus. It is interesting to note, however, that, as you can see from the above passage of Scripture in the final verse (verse 43), this Sacred Heart League Catholic version of the New Testament that I am quoting from in this series does not put the comma after the word “today,” thus agreeing with all of the main Bible translations in their understanding of the text to say that Jesus was proclaiming to the repentant thief on the cross that he would indeed be in Paradise with Jesus on that very day! The website, GotQuestions, oftentimes has some very good Biblical information on various subjects, as you will see by the video below. However, I do not endorse them because they, at times, recommend pastors and teachers who promote mysticism, such as Charles Swindoll, (You will see this at the very end of their article that I quick captured for you  below this video, followed by another quick capture of an article on Lighthouse Trails to show clear evidence that C S does indeed promote mysticism) in spite of the fact that they actually expose mysticism in many of their articles on their website. Now do you see how important it is for us to pray for discernment, to test things against Scripture, and to place our trust in Jesus Christ alone?

(SOURCE)

(SOURCE) http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=16270

Now let’s continue going through the CCC:

“Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Our Lord then declared to him: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Christ, the “living stone,” thus assures his Church, built on Peter of victory over the powers of death. Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it.” (Para 552)

“Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The “power of the keys” designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: “Feed my sheep.” The power to “bind and loose” connotes the authority to absolve sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgments, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the apostles and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.”       (Para 553)

Please consider referring back to Part 3 in this series in which I already addressed this teaching concerning Peter being the Rock. You can do so by clicking on the link a little further below. In this post, however, I just want to share some Scriptures with you to point you to what God’s Word has to say concerning who the church is built upon:

“Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, “The stone that you builders despised turned out to be the most important stone. Salvation is to be found through him alone; for there is no one else in all the world, whose name God has given to men, by whom we can be saved.” (Acts 4:11,12)

“What shall we say, then? This: that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; while the chosen people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. And why not? Because what they did was not based on faith but on works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone” that the scripture speaks of: “Look, I place in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”(Romans 9:30-33)

“By his death on the cross Christ destroyed the enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God. So Christ came and preached the Good News of peace to all–to you Gentiles who were far away from God, and to the Jews who were near to him. It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father. So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now fellow citizens with God’s people, and members of the family of God. You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple in the Lord. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a house where God lives through his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:14-22)

“Come to the Lord, the living stone rejected as worthless by men, but chosen as valuable by God. Come as living stones, and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple, where you will serve as holy priests to offer spiritual and acceptable sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. For the scripture says, “I chose a valuable stone, which now I place for the cornerstone in Zion; and whoever believes in him will never be disappointed.” (1 Peter 2:4-6)

COMPARING SCRIPTURES IN THE CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE TO THE TEACHINGS FOUND IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – DEAR CATHOLIC, ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD, OR THE WORD OF MAN? (PART 3)

On to the next portion which raises some concern that I’d like to bring to your attention:

“No one, whether shepherd or wise man, can approach God here below except by kneeling before the manger at Bethlehem and adoring him hidden in the weakness of a new-born child.” (Para 563)

Some thoughts for you to ponder concerning the above quote:

This could possibly be why Catholicism places much more emphasis on Christmas  than it does on Easter/Resurrection Sunday, and why Jesus is almost always portrayed as a baby when seen in the arms of the Virgin Mary in statues and in pictures; instead of presenting Him as the Victor over sin and death, they keep who He truly is “hidden in the weakness of a new-born child.”       

 

A FEW CLOSING THOUGHTS

Dear Catholic, I hope that you are now beginning to see even more how some of the teachings of the Catholic Church elevates Mary to a position that cannot be verified by Scripture, and how some of their teachings actually contradict Scripture. Mary would never willingly take glory away from Jesus Christ by claiming to have played a part in God’s plan of  salvation. (Refer back to Para 494 and Para 511)Yes, she willingly submitted to God’s call to become the mother of Jesus Christ, but it was Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, who in every detail provided for our salvation by taking God’s full wrath upon Himself that was meant for me and for you. He willingly suffered the brutal torture of crucifixion in our place, and cried out, “It is finished” when God’s anger and wrath towards sin was satisfied. He offers complete forgiveness of sins to whosoever will come to Him and choose to place their full trust in His substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross.

Please don’t allow some of Catholicism’s teachings concerning Mary, or any other of their teachings that contradict Scripture lead you away from Jesus Christ who is the only one who did everything necessary to save you. Place your trust in Him alone to save you!

Dear Catholic, after all that I have shared with you in this post, I must now ask you to search your heart before God and to once again answer this question:

“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the gospel reveals how God puts men right with himself: it is through faith, from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “He who is put right with God through faith shall live.” (Romans 1:17)

“He was given over to die because of our sins, and was raised to life to put us right with God.” (Romans 4:25)

“There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit, which brings us life in union with Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own son, who came with a nature like man’s sinful nature to do away with sin. God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, not according to human nature.” (Romans 8:3)

“WHO hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And he shall grow up as a tender plant before him, and as a root out of a thirsty ground: there is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was as it were hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. He was taken away from distress, and from judgment: who shall declare his generation? because he is cut oh out of the land of the living: for the wickedness of my people have I struck him. And he shall give the ungodly for his burial, and the rich for his death: because he hath done no iniquity, neither was there deceit in his mouth. And the Lord was pleased to bruise him in infirmity: if he shall lay down his life for sin, he shall see a long-lived seed, and the will of the Lord shall be prosperous in his hand. Because his soul hath laboured, he shall see and be filled: by his knowledge shall this my just servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I distribute to him very many, and he shall divide the spoils of the strong, because he hath delivered his soul unto death, and was reputed with the wicked: and he hath borne the sins of many, and hath prayed for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53)

Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible Version

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COMPARING SCRIPTURES IN THE CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE TO TEACHINGS FOUND IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – DEAR CATHOLIC, ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD, OR THE WORD OF MAN? PART 2

SERIES INTRODUCTION

There are two very important reasons why I felt compelled to write this series of posts, and I’d like to briefly share these reasons with you now before I go any further:

1) Since I am a former Catholic who is very aware of the teachings of the Catholic Church because I attended twelve years of Catholic school, attended Catechism classes, made my First Holy Communion, was Confirmed, and faithfully attended Mass not only every Sunday for many years, but also before school began for three years (as required by the school that I attended at the time),  and who came to the knowledge of who Jesus Christ truly is and what He actually accomplished for us by reading a Catholic New Testament Bible exactly like the one pictured above, I decided to write this series with the hope of reaching Catholics so that they can not only come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is as His Word, the Bible, declares Him to be, but also so they can see by reading God’s Word that they can have complete forgiveness, lasting joy, true peace, and the assurance of salvation if they choose to believe God’s Word and place their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Also, since many Catholics do not realize everything that the Catholic church actually teaches (as I once did not realize until after doing research and reading the CCC), I thought that it was extremely important to share this information to make Catholics aware of many things that are quite disturbing, as you will all soon become aware of as this series continues.

2) This series of posts is also being written with the intention of helping those of you who are born-again, Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ who have no idea of what the teachings of Catholicism are so that you can become aware of their teachings and be prepared to offer hope and assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ to Catholics based solely upon the truth that is recorded in God’s Word.

As we continue on in this series together comparing Scriptures in the Catholic New Testament to teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we must keep these important thoughts in mind:

When it comes to our eternal destination — heaven or hell — we must be certain that we place our trust in solid truth and not in speculation or in the traditions of men. The Catholic church claims to be the “one true Church.” Therefore, it stands to reason that their teachings must line up with God’s Word and not contradict it since God does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8), and His Word stands firm forever. (Psalm 119:89, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24,25) If a contradiction is found it must be rejected because God’s Word is our plumb line by which we must measure (or test) the teachings of every religion to see if it lines up or not. If it is off in one point we can be certain that it will lead us further and further away from Biblical truth and lead us into spiritual deception.

This series will cover many different subjects ranging from what does the Catholic Church teach about the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, priests, the pope, sin, forgiveness of sins, salvation, prayer, and what must a Catholic believe in order to receive eternal life. Some of these teachings will shock even many Catholics when they learn what their church actually teaches!

Lord willing, I hope to share at least one post every month with you in this new series until I have covered all the most important teachings that need to be brought to your attention. The main goal that I have in writing this series is to present the Word of God to Catholics — and to every person — in order to point everyone to Jesus Christ, who is our only hope and ‘the only name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)

Dear Catholic, please take a minute now to pray, asking God to open your mind to the Scriptures and to reveal the truth to you –whatever that may be.

Because only God can reveal the truth to you, I will refrain from making any comments unless I find it completely necessary. Since God’s Word is truth I trust that He will not only give you eyes to see the truth, but also I trust that He will give you the courage to respond to His leading. However, each one of you will find yourself having to answer this question when you come to each point that I present to you in these posts after realizing that there are oftentimes extreme differences between what the Word of God says and what Catholicism teaches, and the question that you will have to answer is:

“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”

 Please keep in mind, as you are carefully reading all of the statements made from the following Catholic sources, that every time you see the word “church” spelled with a capital c they are referring to the Catholic church, since they believe that the “Catholic Church” alone is the “one true Church.”All of the information that I will be sharing with you I have obtained from the following sources:

1) CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (pictured above) – Imprimi Potest – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict) – Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church

2) THE WORD OF GOD – THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR  IN TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION – SACRED HEART LEAGUE EDITION – IMPRIMATUR JOHN FRANCIS WHEALON, ARCHBISHOP OF HARTFORD, APRIL 15, 1971 SIGNED AND SEALED BY BISHOP JOSEPH B. BRUNINI, DIOCESE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

3) Occasionally when I share a Scripture with you from the Sacred Heart League (SHL) Catholic New Testament and notice that it lacks depth and clarity, I will then follow it with the same verse but in the King James Version in order to give you a better understanding of what is being said, and so that you can see what is missing from the SHL translation.

4) Very briefly in this series, I will also be quoting from THE CATHOLIC DOUAY RHEIMS VERSION OF THE BIBLE – in which you will find the following statements:

“EXCERPT FROM ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE LEO XIII ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE:

“The God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated the human race to the participation of the Divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from the universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has in consequence bestowed upon man a splendid gift and safeguard–making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden Mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. For although in Divine revelations there are contained some things which are not beyond the reach of unassisted reason, and which are made the objects of such revelation in order “that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and safety from error, yet not on this account can supernatural Revelation be said to be absolutely necessary; it is only necessary because God has ordained man to a supernatural end.” This supernatural revelation according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition, and in written Books, which are therefore called sacred and canonical because, “being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church.” (Page ix)

“Wherefore it must be recognised that the sacred writings are wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide; God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardour and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart; and, most of all that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their teacher.  St. Irenaeus long since laid down, that where the charismata of God were, there the truth was to be learnt, and that Holy Scripture was safely interpreted by those who had the Apostolic succession.  His teaching, and that of other Holy Fathers, is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which, in the renewing of the decree of Trent, declares its “mind” to be this–that “in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the unanimous agreement  of the Fathers.” (Page xvii)

“Wherefore the first and dearest object of the Catholic commentator  should be to interpret those passages which have received an authentic interpretation either by the sacred writers themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whether by her solemn judgment or her ordinary and universal magisterium –to interpret those passages in that identical sense, and to prove, by all the resources of science that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can by legitimate means be extracted from the former, which shall in any respect be at variance with the latter. Hence it follows that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.” (Page xviii)

“For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should nevertheless, bear well in mind–as the Fathers also teach in numerous passages –that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture and never attain its pith.” (Page xix)

(If you’d like to read PART 1 first, click HERE).

In PART 1 of this new series I shared the most concerning information with you that can be found in the first fifty five pages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). To those of you who are Catholic, you were also presented with the question of making the decision to choose between believing what God’s Word has to say, or what Catholicism teaches in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The format in this particular post will be a little different due to the fact that the information in this next section of the CCC I will be sharing with you in this particular post requires me to address some serious concerns

Now, please take a minute to pray for discernment again, and then we will continue on in this series comparing the teachings from the CCC to the Scriptures in the Sacred Heart League Catholic New Testament.

In this installment you will begin to see a few glimpses of how some of the teachings presented in Catholicism are rooted in mysticism which is what made me realize that I needed to change my original plans concerning how I was going to present these posts to you. When I first began writing this series I just wanted the content of each post to simply be the teachings that can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and on  God’s Word as presented in the Catholic New Testament Bible, and I was going to address any concerns that came up in these teachings in separate posts after I was finished going  through the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church. However, realizing that not everyone who reads one post in this series is going to read every post in this series, I prayerfully came to the decision to begin sharing important information with you when these issues pertaining to mysticism come up to keep things as orderly as possible in this series. That means that I will be going back to PART 1 in this series in order to add something that I intentionally left out concerning mysticism which I was going to address at a later time.

As this series progresses, I will be presenting you with at least two posts devoted to showing you just how steeped in mysticism some of the teachings of Catholicism truly are, which will shock many of you –especially some of you who are Catholic. Once again I will be refraining from making any additional comments at this time, except for adding a few  ‘notes’ and some important information in order to point some things out to you in order to help you learn to discern. It is my prayer that God, by His Holy Spirit, will open your eyes to see the serious problems in some of these teachings. With all of that in mind, let’s begin:

CHAPTER 1 – PART 2

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH (CONT).

SECTION TWO – THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH – THE CREEDS

“Our presentation of the faith will follow the Apostles’ Creed, which constitutes, as it were, “the oldest Roman catechism.” The presentation will be completed however by constant references to the Nicene Creed which is often more explicit and more detailed.” (Para 196)

“As on the day  of our Baptism, when our whole life was entrusted to the “standard of teaching,” let us embrace the Creed of our life-giving faith. To say the Credo with faith is to enter into communion with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and also with the whole Church which transmits the faith to us and whose midst we believe: This Creed is the spiritual seal, our heart’s meditation and an ever-present guardian; it is unquestionably, the treasure of our soul.” (Para 197)

“Before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of “another Paraclete” (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work since creation, having previously “spoken through the prophets,” the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them “into all the truth.” The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father.” (Para 243) (NOTE: I will be referring back to some of these statements concerning the Holy Spirit when we get to another related topic further along in this series, so please keep the above thoughts in the back of your mind. I will share those certain statements above with you again later, as well).

Now please carefully read the following Canticle of the Creatures which was written by St. Francis, and ask yourself if the terminology used lines up with Biblical Christianity, or if it more closely resembles New Age mysticism/paganism:

“There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory:

“May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High…”

“May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste… “May you be praised, my Lord, for sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses…Praise and bless my Lord, give thanks and serve him in all humility…” (Para 344) (St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures)

Thoughts for you to consider:

Is the sun our brother? Is water our sister? Is the earth really to be considered as our sister, and our mother? Is the earth responsible for bearing and feeding us? Or is it God who created us and who provides for us? Yes, Francis clearly gives praise to God in his Canticle of the Creatures, but by presenting his readers with imagery that attempts to establish some sort of a relationship or a unity/oneness that we have with creation, he seems to be painting a pagan or pantheistic world view instead of a Biblical world view in the minds of those who read his Canticle.

Here is a Scripture that came to mind as I was reading the Canticle of the Creatures:

“God’s wrath is revealed coming down from heaven upon all the sin and evil of men whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known. God punishes them, because what men can know about God is plain to them. Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen. Men can perceive them in the things that God has made. So they have no excuse at all! They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense and their empty minds are filled with darkness. They say they are wise but they are fools; instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. Because men are such fools, God has given them over to do the filthy things their hearts desire and they do shameful things with each other. They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator Himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:18-25) Sacred Heart League Catholic New Testament (SHLCNT)

At this point I now find it necessary to share some further information with you concerning St. Francis of Assisi:

The only thing that I remember learning about St. Francis as I attended Catholic school as a child is that he was a kind and gentle Roman Catholic friar. Due to the fact that he is considered to be the patron saint of Italy and of animals and the environment, he was and is often pictured in the scenic outdoors with little animals:

However, after doing research for this post, I discovered that he was a mystic as well as “the first recorded *stigmatic *(a person who claims to manifest the wounds of the crucified Christ in their hands, and sometimes in their feet and side,  from which blood oftentimes flows from these wounds) in Christian history,” according to the following information on Wikipedia:

(SOURCE)

For those of you who have never heard about those who have claimed to have borne the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ, below you will find some information to test in light of Scripture. I would like to draw your attention to the following paragraph that you will find in the second quick capture below to point out the unbiblical nature of these manifestations:

Facts concerning the wounds of the stigmata

The purpose of the wounds is to draw and unite the chosen individual into a special union with Jesus in his passion for the conversion of sinners and to make reparation for sins. Thus, individuals who are given the grace of the stigmata are always considered “victim souls” because they suffer in union with Jesus for the conversion of sinners.

To claim that those who suffer with the wounds of Christ have “a special union with Jesus in His passion” in order “to make reparation for sins” is clearly denying the sufficiency of Jesus’ “once for all” sacrifice for our sins when He willingly died in our place on the cross, and it is also adding to Scripture. Yet many Catholics will choose to believe this because it is accepted and taught by the Catholic Church as part of Tradition which is  put on the same level of importance and authenticity as the Bible, but, once again, one must make the choice to believe God’s Word over the words of men when they come in conflict with one another, and especially when a teaching somehow clearly denies the sufficiency of Jesus Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice.

“For those of you who are Catholic, here is a quick capture of a portion of a similar article from a Catholic source that you might prefer:

(SOURCE)

As you can see from the quick capture below of some rather revealing information, mediums and Buddhists have also been stigmatics which should add to one’s concern about the source of these manifestations:

(SOURCE)

 

 ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD? OR THE WORD OF MAN?

So, dear Catholic, are you going to believe the Word of God and place your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross in your place as full payment for your sins? Or will you instead choose to believe that more suffering needs to be added to the sufferings of Jesus Christ in order for you to receive God’s forgiveness?

Rejoice in what Jesus Christ has already done for you and place your trust in Him alone! In John 6:28,29 we see a crowd of people asking Jesus a question that is in the hearts of many people even today, because accepting the free gift of salvation that was paid with the high price of the blood of Jesus seems to be too simple and too good to be true:

“So they asked him, “What can we do in order to do God’s works?” Jesus answered, “This is the work God wants you to do: believe in the one he sent.”

A similar account is recorded in Acts 16 after Paul and Silas had been severely beaten and thrown in jail, and the jailer was given strict orders to lock them up tight:

“Upon receiving this order the jailer threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks of wood. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a violent earthquake which shook the prison to its foundations. At once all the doors opened, and the chains fell off all the prisoners. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open he thought that all the prisoners had escaped; so he pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted at the top of his voice, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” The jailer called for a light, rushed in, and fell trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. Then he led them out and asked, “What must I do, sirs, to be saved?” “Believe in the Lord Jesus,” they said, “and you will be saved–you and your family.” Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.”

One must keep in mind though, that in James 2:19 it says that “the demons also believe [in God]–and tremble with fear.”  And Scripture also records that the demons know exactly who Jesus Christ is (Matthew 8:28-32, Mark 1:23-27, Luke 4:3-35,41, 8:26-29), and yet they will not be saved; their fate was already sealed after they chose to rebel against God.

Here are a few of the above cited Scriptures:

“Jesus came to the territory of the Gadarenes, on the other side of the lake, and was met by two men who came out of the burial caves. These men had demons in them and were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road. At once they screamed, “What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?” (Matthew 8:28-30)

“They came to the town of Capernaum, and on the next Sabbath Day Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people who heard him were amazed at the way he taught. He wasn’t like the teachers of the law; instead he taught with authority. Just then a man with an evil spirit in him came into the synagogue and screamed, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Are you here to destroy us? I know who you are: you are God’s holy messenger!” Jesus commanded the spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of the man!” The evil spirit shook the man hard, gave a loud scream, and came out of him. The people were all so amazed that they started saying to each other, “What is this? Some kind of new teaching? This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!” (Mark 1:21-27)

Hell – Created for the devil and his angels:

“Then he [Jesus] will say to those on his left, “Away from me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:41)(SHLCNT) (Note: I inserted “Jesus” in this verse).

 

True belief unto salvation means that we must rely fully upon and place our complete trust in Jesus Christ’s sinless life, His death in our place upon the cross for our sin and guilt, and in His glorious bodily resurrection from the dead as our only means of forgiveness from sin and guilt and the only way to be able to have a relationship with God; there is only (1) one way to God, (2) one Mediator between God and men, and (3) one name given among men by which we must be saved –Jesus Christ.

(1) “Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) (SHLCNT)

(2) “For there is one God, and there is one who brings God and men together, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself to redeem all men.” (1 Timothy 2:5) (SHLCNT)

(3) “Salvation is to be found through him alone; for there is no one else in all the world, whose name God has given to men, by whom we can be saved.” (Acts 4:12) (SHLCNT)

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES FOR YOU TO REFLECT UPON

“For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked, at the time that God chose. It is a difficult thing for someone to die for a righteous person. It may be that someone might dare to die for a good person. But God has shown us how much he loves us; it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! By his death we are now put right with God; how much more, then, will we be saved by him from God’s wrath. We were God’s enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God’s friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ’s life!” (Romans 5:6-10) SHLCNT

“So then, as the one sin condemned all men, in the same way the one righteous act sets all men free and gives them life. And just as many men were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way many will be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.” (Romans 5:18,19) SHLCNT

“The Jewish High Priest goes into The Holy Place every year with the blood of an animal. But Christ did not go in to offer himself many times; for then he would have had to suffer many times ever since the creation of the world. Instead, he has now appeared once and for all, when all ages of time are nearing the end, to remove sin through the sacrifice of himself. Everyone must die once, and after that be judged by God. In the same manner, Christ also was offered in sacrifice once to take away the sins of many. He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:24-28) SHLCNT

“Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all made clean from sin by the offering that he made of his  own body, once and for all.” (Hebrews 10:10) SHLCNT

“For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life you received from your ancestors. It was not something that loses its value, such as silver or gold; you were set free by the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or spot. He had been chosen by God before the creation of the world, and was revealed in these last days for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from death and gave him glory; and so your faith and hope are fixed on God.”    (1 Peter 1:18-21) SHLCNT

“For Christ himself died for you; once and for all he died for sins, a good  man for bad men in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually.” (1 Peter 3:18) SHLCNT 

^“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18) (KJV)

In the Book of Revelation God’s Word is clear about the fate of those who add to or who take away from what His Word has to say. Although this verse is specifically referring to the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, this should produce fear in the heart of anyone who dares to tamper with God’s Word!

“I, John, solemnly warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to his punishment the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away anything from the prophetic words of this book, God will take away from his share of the fruit of the tree of life, and his share of the Holy City, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18,19) (SHLCNT)

If you choose to listen to the following poem by Saint Francis, please pray for  discernment so that you will not be misled by your emotions, and be sure to test his words against Scripture:

Eckhart Tolle is often seen with Oprah, and he promotes New Age mysticism as you will see in the following video:

When you have someone who is a New Age leader promoting Saint Francis, this should be a clear indication to you that the spirituality of Saint Francis was not quite Christian!

Now back to sharing a few more teachings with you from the CCC before I end this particular post:

“After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a  mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium (“first gospel”): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between a serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. (Para 410)

“The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the “New Adam” who, “because he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,” makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium, as Mary, the mother of Christ, the “new Eve.” Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (Para 411)

At this point I find it necessary to pause once again in order to share some important information with you concerning the Protoevangelium before addressing another concern in the above paragraph:

As you can see from the quick capture below, “…the Protevangelium is God’s statement to the Serpent in the Garden of Eden about how the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.”

(SOURCE)

“I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.” (Genesis 3:15) (Douay-Rheims Version)

If you click HERE, you will discover that the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible version is the only one that translated the second half of Genesis 3:15 as “…she shall crush thy head…”

In a video that I will be sharing with you at a later time in this series, Rob Zins of ‘A Christian Witness to Roman Catholicism,’ (CWRC) says the following concerning Genesis 3:15: 

“Now this “she shall crush thy head” is interpreted by Roman Catholic scholars to be a reference to Mary. This is the beginning. Now we object to this right at the start of it. The Douay Rheims version of the Roman Catholic Bible has a footnote under verse 15 which says, “she shall crush; ipsa; the woman.” The ipsa here is a mistake. The Latin Vulgate translated this with an ipsa –she. It should have been ipse –masculine; he.  Every Protestant Bible and every other version of the Bible written has “he” in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ; He shall crush thy head.” It is not she, it is he. The Latin Vulgate mistranslated this, and as a result it was carried through. The original Hebrew text has masculine pronoun. Even the Greek Septuagint is masculine in this case. Why do the Catholics continue to say, “She, she, she.” The answer is at the Council of Trent the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible was declared to be the one and only translation acceptable to the Roman Catholic religion, so they are stuck with “she” here, even though their own theologians will admit it’s a mistake; it should be he. But the greater mistake, other than the language mistake, is the idea that this she here is in reference to Mary, and they begin with a tiny ice particle at the top of the hill and they say, “Well if it’s a she it must begin with  Mary,” and they begin building a doctrine of Mary right from this point. It’s a little ice particle that rolls down the hill, and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger until at the bottom it’s a giant, thundering, bulldozing boulder of Marian theology, but it begins right here in Genesis 3:15.”

Here is a Commentary by Matthew Henry followed by a portion of Barnes’ Notes on the Bible concerning Genesis 3:14,15 that you might be interested in reading`:

(SOURCE)

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Romans 16:20)

The other concern from Para 411 of the CCC that I would also like to bring to your attention is the following statement:

“Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ’s victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life.” (Para 411)

God’s Word reveals to us that all of us are sinners — and oh so much more — in these passages of Scripture:

“As the Scriptures say: “There is no one who is righteous, no one who understands, or who seeks for God. All men have turned away from God; they have all gone wrong; no one does what is good, not even one.”(Romans 3:10-12)

“Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God’s judgment. Because no man is put right in God’s sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make man know that he has sinned. But now God’s way of putting men right with himself has been revealed, and it has nothing to do with the Law. The Law and the prophets gave their witness to it:  God puts men right through their faith in Jesus Christ. God does this to all who believe in Christ, because there is no difference at all; all men have sinned and are far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace they are all put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free. God offered him so that by his death he should become the means by which men’s sins are forgiven, through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In the past, he was patient and overlooked men’s sins; but now in the present time he deals with men’s sins, to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus.” (Romans 3:19-26)

“So then, as the one sin condemned all men, in the same way the one righteous act sets all men free and gives them life.” (Romans 5:18)

 

END OF CHAPTER 1 OF THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS:

In MY TESTIMONY : FROM FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY TO PEACE AND ASSURANCE – HOW GOD REVEALED THE TRUTH TO ME AS I WAS READING A CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE (PART 2), I shared a lot of disturbing information with you concerning the Virgin Mary in regards to much of what Catholicism teaches about her, as well as the  information that I discovered after doing many hours of research on the Virgin Mary and the many Feast Days set aside to honor her. As this series continues I will be sharing more information with you concerning Mary and what the Catholic Church teaches about her, and I will continue sharing many Scriptures with you, as well.

For those of you who are Catholic, all that I ask you to do is to please pray for God to reveal His truth to you if you decide to read that portion of my testimony and if you choose to read the rest of the posts that I (Lord willing) will be sharing with you in this series.

Lord willing, in the next post in this series (that I am hoping to have completed in August) we will begin going through many of the teachings in Chapter 2 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and continue comparing them to Scripture. In the mean time I hope and pray that many of you — those of you who are Catholic and those of you who have placed your complete trust only in the finished work of Jesus Christ as full payment for your sins — are coming to realize the importance of testing the teachings of every pastor, teacher — and priest — against Scripture, as God’s Word clearly shows us that we are to do:

“As soon as night came, the brothers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue. The people there were more open-minded than the people in Thessalonica. They listened to the message with great eagerness, and every day they studied the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was really true.” (Acts 17:11) (SHLCNT)

“Put all things to the test: keep what is good, and avoid every kind of evil.”                    (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22) (SHLCNT)

 

Dear Catholic, when I was still a Catholic I believed with all of my heart that the Catholic Church was the “one true church” as we were taught. However, after reading God’s Word in that little Catholic New Testament I discovered too much evidence that proved many of their teachings not only contradicted Scripture, but also their teachings did not give Jesus Christ the honor and praise that was due to Him for all that He did for us by paying the debt for our sins and guilt in full!  As hard as it was at first, the moment God opened my eyes to see the truth of the glorious good news of the gospel — that Jesus Christ’s death was enough to satisfy God’s wrath that He has towards us because of our sins — I finally came to realize that I must choose to believe God’s Word over the words of men. When it was Jesus Christ whom I chose to believe and to follow, true joy and peace filled my heart. It then became easy to leave the false teachings of Catholicism behind, and all fear of death and doubt of where I would spend eternity vanished.

The Virgin Mary was a humble, obedient woman who chose to obey God and who willingly gave her consent to God to carry Jesus within her womb, but it is Jesus Christ who willingly came to lay His life down by dying a horrendously painful death in our place on the cross and who paid the price for our sins and therefore deserves all of our praise and attention –not Mary. When it comes to our eternal destination we must be certain about where we should place our trust. Our trust must not be in a church, in creeds, in deeds, or in anything or in anyone else, other than in the truth revealed in God’s Word, and in Jesus Christ alone! 

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your relaxing weekend (at least I hope that it has been) to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

MORE SCRIPTURES FOR YOU TO REFLECT ON:

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7: 13-15)

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men. after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)

 

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN READING:

TO JESUS THROUGH MARY – ANOTHER UNBIBLICAL TEACHING OF CATHOLICISM KEEPING PRECIOUS CATHOLICS FROM THE TRUTH

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COMPARING SCRIPTURES IN THE CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE TO TEACHINGS FOUND IN THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – DEAR CATHOLIC, ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD, OR THE WORD OF MAN? PART 1

There are two very important reasons why I felt compelled to write this series of posts, and I’d like to briefly share these reasons with you now before I go any further:

1) Since I am a former Catholic who is very aware of the teachings of the Catholic Church because I attended twelve years of Catholic school, attended Catechism classes, made my First Holy Communion, was Confirmed, and faithfully attended Mass not only every Sunday, but also before school began for three years (as required by the school that I attended at the time),  and who came to the knowledge of who Jesus Christ truly is and what He actually accomplished for us by reading a Catholic New Testament Bible exactly like the one pictured above, I decided to write this series with the hope of reaching Catholics so that they can not only come to an understanding of who Jesus Christ truly is as His Word, the Bible, declares Him to be, but also so they can see by reading God’s Word that they can have complete forgiveness, lasting joy, true peace, and the assurance of salvation if they choose to believe God’s Word and place their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. Also, since many Catholics do not realize everything that the Catholic church actually teaches (as I once did not realize until after doing research and reading the CCC), I thought that it was extremely important to share this information to make Catholics aware of many things that are quite disturbing, as you will all soon become aware of as this series continues.

2) This series of posts is also being written with the intention of helping those of you who are born-again, Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ who have no idea of what the teachings of Catholicism are so that you can become aware of their teachings and be prepared to offer hope and assurance of salvation through Jesus Christ to Catholics based solely upon the truth that is recorded in God’s Word.

As we begin this series together comparing Scriptures in the Catholic New Testament to teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we must keep these important thoughts in mind:

When it comes to our eternal destination — heaven or hell — we must be certain that we place our trust in solid truth and not in speculation or in the traditions of men. The Catholic church claims to be the “one true Church.” Therefore, it stands to reason that their teachings must line up with God’s Word and not contradict it since God does not change (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8), and His Word stands firm forever. (Psalm 119:89, Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:24,25) If a contradiction is found it must be rejected because God’s Word is our plumb line by which we must measure (or test) the teachings of every religion to see if it lines up or not. If it is off in one point we can be certain that it will lead us further and further away from Biblical truth and lead us into spiritual deception.

This series will cover many different subjects ranging from what does the Catholic Church teach about the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, priests, the pope, sin, forgiveness of sins, salvation, prayer, and what must a Catholic believe in order to receive eternal life. Some of these teachings will shock even many Catholics when they learn what their church actually teaches!

Lord willing, I hope to share at least one post every month with you in this new series until I have covered all the most important teachings that need to be brought to your attention. The main goal that I have in writing this series is to present the Word of God to Catholics — and to every person — in order to point everyone to Jesus Christ, who is our only hope and ‘the only name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved.’ (Acts 4:12)

Dear Catholic, please take a minute now to pray, asking God to open your mind to the Scriptures and to reveal the truth to you –whatever that may be.

Because only God can reveal the truth to you I will refrain from making any comments unless I find it completely necessary. Since God’s Word is truth I trust that He will not only give you eyes to see the truth, but also I trust that He will give you the courage to respond to His leading. However, each one of you will find yourself having to answer this question when you come to each point that I present to you in these posts after realizing that there are oftentimes extreme differences between what the Word of God says and what Catholicism teaches, and the question that you will have to answer is:

“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”

Let’s begin:

Please keep in mind, as you are carefully reading all of the statements made from the following Catholic sources, that every time you see the word “church” spelled with a capital c they are referring to the Catholic church, since they believe that the “Catholic Church” alone is the “one true Church.”

All of the information that I will be sharing with you I have obtained from the following sources:

1) CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (pictured above) – Imprimi Potest – Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict) – Interdicasterial Commission for the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Portion of statement made by Pope John Paul II – Page 6 – Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum:

“At the conclusion of this document presenting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, I beseech the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word and Mother of the Church, to support with her powerful intercession the catechetical work of the entire church on every level at this time when she is called to a new effort of evangelization.”

“Given October 11, 1992, the thirteenth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, in the fourteenth year of my Pontificate.” ~Joannes Paulus II(Signature in Latin)

2) THE WORD OF GOD – THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR  IN TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION – SACRED HEART LEAGUE EDITION – IMPRIMATUR JOHN FRANCIS WHEALON, ARCHBISHOP OF HARTFORD, APRIL 15, 1971 SIGNED AND SEALED BY BISHOP JOSEPH B. BRUNINI, DIOCESE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI

3) Occasionally when I share a Scripture with you from the Sacred Heart League (SHL) Catholic New Testament and notice that it lacks depth and clarity, I will then follow it with the same verse but in the King James Version in order to give you a better understanding of what is being said, and so that you can see what is missing from the SHL translation.

4) Very briefly in this series, I will also be quoting from THE CATHOLIC DOUAY RHEIMS VERSION OF THE BIBLE – in which you will find the following statements:

“EXCERPT FROM ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF OUR HOLY FATHER BY DIVINE PROVIDENCE POPE LEO XIII ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE:

“The God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated the human race to the participation of the Divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from the universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has in consequence bestowed upon man a splendid gift and safeguard–making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden Mysteries of His divinity, His wisdom, and His mercy. For although in Divine revelations there are contained some things which are not beyond the reach of unassisted reason, and which are made the objects of such revelation in order “that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and safety from error, yet not on this account can supernatural Revelation be said to be absolutely necessary; it is only necessary because God has ordained man to a supernatural end.” This supernatural revelation according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition, and in written Books, which are therefore called sacred and canonical because, “being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and as such have been delivered to the Church.” (Page ix)

“Wherefore it must be recognised that the sacred writings are wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide; God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardour and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart; and, most of all that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their teacher.  St. Irenaeus long since laid down, that where the charismata of God were, there the truth was to be learnt, and that Holy Scripture was safely interpreted by those who had the Apostolic succession.  His teaching, and that of other Holy Fathers, is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which, in the renewing of the decree of Trent, declares its “mind” to be this–that “in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the unanimous agreement  of the Fathers.” (Page xvii)

“Wherefore the first and dearest object  of the Catholic commentator  should be to interpret those passages which have received an authentic interpretation either by the sacred writers themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whether by her solemn judgment or her ordinary and universal magisterium –to interpret those passages in that identical sense, and to prove, by all the resources of science that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can by legitimate means be extracted from the former, which shall in any respect be at variance with the latter. Hence it follows that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.” (Page xviii)

“For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should nevertheless, bear well in mind–as the Fathers also teach in numerous passages –that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture and never attain its pith.” (Page xix)

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: PART 1 – THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

1) SCRIPTURE OR THE TRADITIONS OF MEN – WHICH WILL YOU BELIEVE?

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

“The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.” (Para 66)

“Throughout the ages, there have been so-called”private” revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such “revelations.” (Para 67)

“Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence.” (Para 82)

“It is clear therefore that, in the supremely wise arrangement of God, sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.”  (Para 95)

“The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope, and to the Bishops in communion with him.” (Para 100)

CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT:

“Jesus answered them,  “How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you!  You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: ‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me.  It is no use for them to worship me because they teach man-made commandments as though they were God’s rules!’  “You put aside the commandment of God and obey the teachings of men.” 

“In this way you disregard the word of God with the teachings you pass on to others.” (Mark 7:6-8,13)

“See to it, then, that no one makes a captive of you with the worthless deceit of human wisdom which comes from the teachings handed down by men, and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

“For you know what was paid to set you free from the worthless manner of life you received from your ancestors.  It was not something that loses its value, such as silver or gold; you were set free by the costly sacrifice of Christ, who was like a lamb without defect or spot.” (1 Peter 1:18,19)

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2) SALVATION THROUGH JESUS OR THE CHURCH? WHICH WILL YOU BELIEVE?

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:

“I believe” (Apostles’ Creed) is the faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. “We believe” (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of believers. “I believe” is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both “I believe” and “We believe.” (Para 167)

“It is the Church that believes first, and so bears, nourishes, and sustains my faith. It is through the Church that we receive faith and new life in Christ by Baptism.” Para 168)

“Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: “We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation.” Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith.” (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4, 519). (Para 169)

“Believing” is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports, and nourishes our faith. The Church is the Mother of all believers. “No one can have God as Father who does not have the Church as Mother.” (Para 181) [NOTE: Ecclesial: Something related to a church or its function and teachings.]

CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT:

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its Judge, but to be its Savior. Whoever believes in the Son is not judged; whoever does not believe has already been judged because he has not believed in God’s only Son.” (John 3:16,17)

KJV says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

“If you declare with your lips, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For we believe in our hearts and are put right with  God; we declare with our lips and are saved.” (Romans 10:9,10)

“So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

KJV says: “So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

“I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ–in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake’s clever lies. For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“I am surprised at you! In no time at all you are deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are going to another gospel. Actually there is no “other gospel,” but I say it because there are some people who are upsetting you and trying to change the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel that is different from the one we preached to you, may he be condemned to hell! We have said it before, and now I say it again:  if anyone preaches to you a gospel that is different from the one you accepted, , may he be condemned to hell!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“We believe  the witness that men give; the witness that God gives is much stronger, and this is the witness that God has given about his Son. So whoever believes in the Son of God has this witness in his heart; but whoever does not believe God has made a liar out of him, because he has not believed what God has said as a witness about his Son. This, then, is the witness: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things so that you may know that you have eternal life–you that believe in the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:9-13)

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IN CONCLUSION:

I truly hope and  pray that many Catholics will take the time to read this first post and continue reading this new series. It is also my prayer that God’s Holy Spirit will begin a work in their hearts, open their minds to the Scriptures, and give them eyes to at least be able to get a glimpse into the truly good news of the Biblical gospel that is there for them to discover if they will only read God’s Word and choose to believe it!

More good news coming soon –Lord willing!

Dear Catholic, your salvation truly does depend on Jesus Christ alone and not on the “Church,” the Sacraments, or upon obeying the ten commandments. For God’s Word says the following:

“I do not reject the grace of God. If a man is put right with God through the law, it means that Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21)

“What was the purpose of the law, then? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and was meant to last until the coming of Abraham’s descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between. But a go-between is not needed when there is only one person; and God is one. Does this mean that the Law is against God’s promises? No, not at all! For if a law had been given that could bring life to men, then man could be put right with God through law. But the Scripture has said that the whole world is under the power of sin, so that the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.” (Galatians 3:19-22)

“Salvation is to be found through him alone; for there is no one else in all the world, whose name God has given to men, by whom we can be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Another post in this new series will be coming next month (Lord willing), and we will look further into what the Catholic Church actually teaches on other important issues. We will also continue to  compare everything against the truth of God’s Word because, when it comes to knowing the truth, the only one we can truly trust to reveal the truth to us is God, and God alone.

This post already has over 3,500 words, so I will end now to prevent my computer from crashing as it has done many times before when my posts began to get quite lengthy.

Thank you very much for stopping by and for taking time out of your relaxing Father’s Day weekend to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

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MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts is to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (I recently posted a very lengthy one concerning Moody Radio which I recently updated, and when time allows I will complete it by adding notes that I took as I listened to many of Moody’s, now cancelled, Midday Connection programs) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages or read these articles, as well as read the upcoming posts that — Lord willing — I will be writing on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you!

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting New Age mystical practices to their people through things such as yoga, as well as  though meditation practices which often times are found in Spiritual Formation classes and are referred to as Contemplative Prayer, silent prayer, Lectio Divina, Taize, etc.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) 

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Yoga and other mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

Today I would like to share some very good information with you concerning Mysticism and the Emergent Church from a ministry that I recently discovered through someone on Facebook who has been posting some of their videos. The name of this ministry is Youth Apologetic Training. Please continue to test everything that you hear and read in light of Scripture, but so far everything that I have seen and heard seems to be very Biblical. Although this series on the Emergent Church was written in 2013, it is still very relevant for us today. This article addresses labyrinths, yoga, Contemplative spirituality, breath prayers, mantras, and more. You can also click on links to listen to many podcasts concerning the Emerging Church, and many other topics, as well.

(SOURCE)<–Click here to continue reading.

Because of how drastically our world has changed, and is continuing to change, especially morally and spiritually, I have a deep concern and burden for the youth of today, and I know that many of you do, as well. I hope and pray that you will find this website to be a good source for helpful information for you to help your children and teens, and that you will be able to share some of this information with them, as well, so that they might learn to discern and realize just how relevant God’s Word is for today. The Bible is not an old book with outdated information, as some sadly seem to think it is. God does not change, and His Word does not change either. It is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), and with 100% accuracy it has already revealed what will happen before it has happened, and it will continue to do so, thus verifying the Bible is indeed the very Word of God!

The Bible is filled with prophecies! It is said that almost one third of Scripture is prophetic. Here is a very good article by Let Us Reason Ministries for those of you who would like to read more on this subject:

THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES

 

If you had a chance to watch the videos from Calvary Chapel Cypress‘ ‘CHANGES WITHIN THE CHURCH ROUND TABLE MEETING‘ with Pastor Chris Quintana, Roger Oakland, Xavier Ries, as well as the videos from Hosanna Christian Fellowship’s Conference,  ‘THE REMAINING AND ONGOING DANGERS OF THE EMERGENT CHURCH MOVEMENT‘ with Roger Oakland, Warren B Smith, Paul Smith, and Xavier Ries, (I also posted these videos further below for you) then I am sure you realize that the Emergent Church Movement is alive and well today! This movement elevates having experiences with God over the Word of God, and, sadly, they do not place very much emphasis on God’s Word at all; they do not acknowledge it as absolute truth, but rather something that can be debated and adjusted in light of how the culture is  today.

Please pray and take time to read and to study God’s Word so that you will not be one of the many who are being deceived and led astray by these movements and mystical practices that are coming into many churches these days!

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“I am the LORD: that is my name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isaiah 42:8,9)

“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”     (2 Peter 1:16-21)

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” (Deuteronomy 4:1,2)

“When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land; Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” (Deuteronomy 12:29-32)

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” (Revelation 22:18-20)

 

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

YOUTH APOLOGETICS TRAINING – EVIDENCE FOR THE DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE – PROPHECIES OF JESUS

 

 

 

RELATED VIDEOS

EMERGING CHURCH ROUND TABLE MEETING – POSTED BY ROGER OAKLAND

 

 

 

Posted by Hosanna Christian Fellowship (Please read the concerns that I addressed in my post about what Xavier Ries said in the first video at the 1:27:56 – 1:28:09 minute mark in this Conference by clicking HERE and reading the 2/6/16 UPDATE, or just pray for discernment before you listen to these videos. Always make sure that you test everything that you listen to and read against Scripture. – Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21).

The following videos from the Remaining and Ongoing Dangers of the Emergent Church Movement Conference were posted by Roger Oakland. For whatever his reason may have been, he chose not to include any of Xavier Ries’ presentations from this Conference, which I am thankful for, because even though Xavier had a lot of good things to say, he did cause a lot of confusion for many as they watched and expressed their concerns during the live streaming of this event.

REMINDER FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED:

Don’t forget about the Calvary Chapel Cypress Defending The Faith Conference coming up this weekend! If they live stream this event or upload it onto YouTube, Lord willing, I will post it here on my blog for you.

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts is to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (I recently posted a very lengthy one concerning Moody Radio which I will continue to update when time allows until completed) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages or read these articles, as well as read the upcoming posts that — Lord willing — I will be writing on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you!

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting New Age mystical practices to their people through things such as yoga, as well as  though meditation practices which often times are found in Spiritual Formation classes and are referred to as Contemplative Prayer, silent prayer, Lectio Divina, Taize, etc.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) 

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Yoga and other mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

 

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

Roger Oakland of UNDERSTAND THE TIMES, and Pastor Chris Quintana of CALVARY CHAPEL CYPRESS discuss End Times from a Biblical perspective. They also address the fact how many Christians are unaware of what is taking place in the name of Christianity and how we all need to wake up. Contemplative Prayer, the Emergent Church, doctrines of demons, and many more things are discussed. Lord willing, I will continue to add any new programs they do in this series to the Playlist that I have added for you below).

“People are following after ideas, after men and their methods, rather than following after God…” ~Roger Oakland

“I can’t tell you how many times, even like he [Roger Oakland] has mentioned kind of the mysticism that really is so entrenched in a lot of the old liturgical, the older denominations, are now making their way into the mainstream  and people who should know better are falling into it incrementally…” ~Pastor Chris Quintana 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:2-4)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”        (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-5)

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts is to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (I recently posted a very lengthy one concerning Moody Radio which I will continue to update when time allows until completed) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages or read these articles, as well as read the upcoming posts that — Lord willing — I will be writing on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you!

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting New Age mystical practices to their people through things such as yoga, as well as  though meditation practices which often times are found in Spiritual Formation classes and are referred to as Contemplative Prayer, silent prayer, Lectio Divina, Taize, etc.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) 

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Yoga and other mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

 

Now for today’s very short, but very important, Mysticism Monday:

Before I begin though, I first want to thank those of you who have already taken the time to participate in my Survey Saturday poll:

SURVEY SATURDAY – GIVING YOU, THE READER, AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE YOUR REQUESTS

For those of you who would still like to vote on your favorite Category of posts that you enjoy reading on this blog, you still have until Saturday evening, February 6th, to place your vote.

If you prefer, you can also send me a message using the ‘If You’d Like To Contact Me’ form at the top of my blog, or you can send me a message using the Contact Form that I added to my Survey Saturday post if you’d like to give me suggestions on what you would like me to prayerfully consider writing about over this coming year.

I would also like to sincerely thank those of you who sent me personal messages concerning what you would like me to write about. In doing so, God used you to  confirm to me what I see the need to write about because of the heavy burden that I have upon my heart to warn Christians about these specific things. Please pray for me as I seek God’s help in writing these posts. Thank you so much!

Today’s Mysticism Monday has to be another short one because of unexpected circumstances that I have to deal with.

And now, finally, here is today’s Mysticism Monday:

The following videos are concerning Rick Joyner, of MorningStar Fellowship Church which is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, in order to demonstrate the power of suggestion, emotional manipulation, and his unbiblical teachings.

These videos will also demonstrate how mysticism and doctrines of demons are being accepted without question by Christians who are lacking discernment not only because they fail to read and study God’s Word, but also because they fail to pray for discernment and do not test what is being said and done in light of Scripture. (Acts 17:11) (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

Watch how the leaders of Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Church first declare what will happen, thus preparing the people to accept this as from God. Listen carefully to what is being said and how the people are acting. Does God’s Word reveal to us an account of anyone acting like this? How many Christians are accepting the words of men (and women) and ignoring the many warnings in Scripture about spiritual deception and doctrines of demons? Sadly, it appears that many do these days. Please do not be one of them!

RICK JOYNER CHURCH OF ALTERED STATES

 

RICK JOYNER INTERVIEWED BY SID ROTH

SID ROTH AT RICK JOYNER’S CHURCH

 

PEOPLE SO MANIPULATED AND SO DEEPLY LACKING IN DISCERNMENT THAT THEY ARE LED TO DO UNBELIEVABLE THINGS, SUCH AS THE HOLY GHOST HOKEY POKEY

TESTIMONY OF MISHEL MCCUMBER OF DECEPTION BYTES, A FORMER MEMBER OF RICK JOYNER’S CHURCH:

MISHEL MCCUMBER – TESTIMONY – ADRIFT IN THE RIVER OF GOD

INTERVIEW WITH MISHEL MCCUMBER – SHE ALSO WARNS ABOUT THE FALSE TEACHINGS OF DOMINIONISM THAT RICK JOYNER IS INVOLVED IN AND IS ALSO PROMOTING

 

RELATED VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

 

UPDATE:

I am sorry that I was unable to update my post on Moody Radio over the weekend, but, Lord willing, I am hoping that I will be able to do it throughout this coming week –if time allows.

If you didn’t see that I updated my

HOW DISCERNING ARE YOU?

post by adding a link to Chris Rosebrough’s sermon review of Levi Lusko’s message in which he clearly makes the shocking and even blasphemous statement that “Jesus had suicidal thoughts in His head,” please be sure to listen to that clip from Levi Lusko’s sermon, as well as what Chris has to say in his short review.

HOW DISCERNING ARE YOU?

UPDATED AND COMPLETED 1/24/16 8:39 P.M.

ADDITIONAL UPDATE ADDED 1/31/16 7:14 P.M. CONCERNING LEVI LUSKO BELOW

How certain are you that you could never be deceived? If you read and study God’s Word and have learned how important it is to test the teachings and actions of every Christian pastor, teacher, and speaker that you listen to against Scripture, then the likelihood of you being led into deception is pretty low. However, if you still have not learned that our trust is to be in God alone and not in any pastor or teacher, and if you only look to men (or women) for the truth of God’s Word instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth, then I am sorry to say that you have a very high chance of being deceived. We must never forget the many warnings in Scripture about spiritual deception, false teachers, doctrines of devils and apostasy in the last days –no matter how many years someone has been teaching or preaching God’s Word!

Here are two examples that I’d like to bring to your attention in order to show you why it is so very important for us as Christians to pray for discernment, and why we must always ‘test all things’ and ‘examine the Scriptures daily to see if what is being said (by those who claim to speak for God) is true.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22, Acts 17:11)

1) In November or December of 2015 as I was listening to a particular Priscilla Shirer message in order to test what she was saying in light of Scripture,  the following video that was in the sidebar on YouTube caught my attention:

Since I have never heard Sarah Jakes (daughter of T D Jakes, a known Modalist) preach before, I decided to listen to her message, as well. She entitled her message “The Displaced Crown,” and the text that she based her message on was Luke 1:45, which says:

“And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told to her from the Lord.”

Sarah Jakes said all of the following within the first five minutes of her message:

  “Just to give you all a little bit of background as to how I came to this message, I was studying in Mark, and there’s this part in Mark where Jesus has healed a leper, and he tells the leper, “Go straight to the priest. Don’t tell anyone what I’ve done, just go straight to the priest, and the leper goes and tells everyone as people do as soon as you tell them don’t, you know…keep a secret.”

“So I’m studying this text why is it that Jesus didn’t want anyone to know about the gift?  Because at this point, I mean, He knows what He’s been called to do, He knows that there will be masses of people who are drawn to Him, and I wonder why He didn’t want anyone to know.  So I’m reading, how did he get this courage to stay focused on the purpose in spite of the people, and to stay focused on what God has called Him to do in spite of the crowd that would eventually surround Him.”

“And so, it’s Mother’s Day, and so I always feel like a lot of good things that reside in us come from our mothers, and so I went back into studying Mary and how He developed this purpose and this focus and this vision. And it really challenged my heart…”

At this point she shared how she became pregnant at the age of thirteen and had her son at the age of fourteen, and then continues her message by saying:

“…So I’m studying this text about Mary, and above all I wanted to know, how did she teach Him to not be ashamed of who He was and who he came from, because I’m sharing my story all across the world now, and I have my own son…”

“And so, but I just wondered like from a practical mothering standpoint, and it actually prompted… I think it’s going to be my third book…I want to write this book called, Dear Mary, where I ask her these questions like, “Dear Mary, How did you teach Him to be courageous? How did you teach Him to trust His purpose? Because…at the end of the day, when I got pregnant at thirteen, I carried a lot of shame and a lot of guilt, but I think it had more to do with what people thought about me, and what I thought about myself, and then I wanted him to be proud that I was his mother. And I didn’t know if he could be proud that I was his mother, with everyone saying negative things about me. (Brief pause) I’ve never talked about it in front of him, so I might cry.”

“But, um…the difficult part about raising a child who you want to stay focused on purpose and to be courageous, is that at the end of the day you  know at one point they’re going to have to withstand hearing the whispers of other people. And how do you share your truth, when you’re afraid of hearing your truth yourself? How can you teach your child to love and accept who they are and where they come from, if you’re still struggling yourself? And so I’m looking at Mary, and I’m like, “How did you do this, how did you teach…how did you let him go into this world where you knew He would be criticized, you knew He would be crucified? But still He managed to stay focused on who He was?” She could have built a lie. She could have told Him Joseph was His father, and He could have gone into the world and never known who He really was.”

Did you discern how a Christian could easily be led astray if they are not grounded in God’s Word and instead become captivated  by her touching story and her sweet and gentle demeanor? As I mentioned earlier, the portion that I shared with you above was only from the first five minutes of her message! So many concerns came to mind as I listened to her entire message. How about you?

Here are just a few of the many questions and concerns that came to mind as I listened to the first five minutes:

–Will her book Dear Mary be similar to Sarah Young’s Devotional,  Jesus Calling?  In other words, will she write Mary’s replies to her questions in first person voice?

–Will she actually give answers to her questions that she presents to Mary as she writes her book? Or will she merely speculate?

–Since Scripture is rather silent concerning Mary, if she does give  clear answers to her questions, will she then claim that she heard from Mary herself?

–If she does receive/provide answers to her questions, then it will be considered new revelations, which will be unbiblical since the canon is closed. Yet, how many Christians will still go out and buy her book? Sadly, since I have been told that many follow Sarah Jakes, there will be many who will probably choose to buy her book.

–Will more Christians be drawn to Mary and be led down the road that is leading Christians to Rome because of her book, and also due to the fact that many pastors and teachers are calling for unity with the Catholic church? (This thought strongly motivates me to finish reading the last 300 or so pages of my Catechism of the Catholic Church book so that I can finally write my post in which, Lord willing, I will be comparing the teachings of the CCC to God’s Word, the Bible, in order to warn Christians of Catholicism’s many unbiblical teachings that are deceiving many precious Catholics –including my family).

–Can Christians hear from listening to her message how she is glorifying Mary by saying it was what she did that kept Jesus focusing on His purpose and what He was called to do? Where can she find any Scriptural basis for saying such a thing?

–Can Christians discern while listening to Sarah Jakes’ message how she completely loses sight of the fact that Mary and Joseph were baffled at the response that Jesus gave them when they found Him in the temple? (Luke 2:41-50 See below under Related Scriptures). That portion of Scripture, (among others such as Matthew 12:47-49)  shows that Mary oftentimes lost sight of Jesus’ mission, and that He was fully aware of who He was and what His purpose was without any help from Mary.

–Will Christians have the ability to discern that Jesus is basically being stripped of His deity by some of the things that she has said?

–How many Christians will be filled with deep concern when they hear her say that if it wasn’t for what Mary said and did, then Jesus could have gone into the world and never known who He really was?

Those are just some of the many serious questions to ponder concerning what Sarah Jakes said in her message!

 

Now on to the second thing that I would like to bring to your attention:

2) Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows had Levi Lusko, pastor of Fresh Life Church in Montana, as their guest pastor on Saturday and Sunday, January 2nd and 3rd of 2016.

(SOURCE)

As heartbreaking and as devastating as it must have been, and still continues to be, that Levi and his wife lost their precious five year old daughter, Lenya, when she died just five days before Christmas in 2012 after having a severe asthma attack, there are a few things that those of you who attend Harvest Bible Chapel — and all of you — need to be aware of concerning Levi Lusko in regards to the conferences that he takes part in, the company that he keeps, and the false teachers that he promotes. Just a little further below you will see how he is endorsing these men, who are also pastors, through his tweets and retweets. Men such as: Ed Young, Mark Batterson, Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, Steven Furtick, and more.

In this post you will also find many videos on these men so as to provide evidence as to why they are false teachers.

Let’s take a look at this first tweet. At first glance it seems like Levi Lusko took  part in a Christian conference and did some good preaching.

 

 

 

 

However, listen to a little of what he said at this conference in the 2 minute and 42 second video below, as well as the next very short video of the highlights of this conference to see if everything was Biblical and glorifying to God:

 

 

As you can see by this next tweet, Levi Lusko preached the first message in the new series of messages on Influence at Ed Young’s church:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the beginning of the video below you will hear Levi Lusko say some of the following:

“It’s an enormous honor and a privilege to be with you. This church has made such an impact in our hearts, in our lives, in our ministry.”

“You guys are making a difference far more than you know around the world through the influence of this house, and the way that Pastor Ed and Lisa have pioneered for twenty six years so faithfully continually pushing the envelope with consistency,   trusting God, stepping out in new ways, investing in young leaders…” (Emphasis is mine).

(Yes. In spite of the fact that it is unscriptural for a woman to be a pastor according to 1 Timothy 2:12-14, Pastor Ed Young’s wife is also the pastor of their church).

In case some of you are not aware of who Ed Young is, these videos will give you a pretty good idea:

 

 

You can also read these articles about Ed Young which were written by the late Pastor Ken Silva who earnestly contended for the faith until the very end:

http://apprising.org/2012/06/28/southern-baptist-ed-young-jr-advancing-wicked-works-of-word-faith-pastors/

http://apprising.org/2012/12/12/ed-young-jr-with-a-tearful-tribute-the-vision-of-pastors-ed-and-lisa/

 

Levi Lusko will also be one of the speakers at Ed Young’s CREATIVE CHURCH CONFERENCE (C3 Conference) coming up on February 10th and 11th 2016:

Another guest speaker at the C3 Conference will be Bil Cornelius who wrote the following book along with Bill Easum. Both men are pastors, but sadly, the title of their book will demonstrate once again, just how many pastors are losing sight of the fact that they are to simply be faithful to preach the Word of God, and it is God alone who will be the one who will grow the church. (Acts 2:47) Instead they see “…the need for an unhesitant pursuit of excellence in all areas of the church’s ministry, and the requirement that you picture an audacious vision for your church and live into that vision.”

(SOURCE)

As you can see from the following two tweets, Levi Lusko is not only promoting Mark Batterson, who is the Lead Pastor of  National Community Church and author of the highly controversial book, The Circle Maker, but also he is promoting Brian Houston, who is the pastor of Hillsong Church in Australia, home of the worship group, Hillsong United. He is also promoting Carl Lentz who is the focus of Brian Houston’s tweet that Levi Lusko retweeted.  (Please see the many videos that I added concerning all three of these pastors under Related Videos so that you can become aware of  the valid concerns that many have about these pastors).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we see him promoting Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church in North Carolina:

Such fun being w/ our @elevationchurch family this weekend! Jennie & I love @stevenfurtick & @hollyfurtick so much! pic.twitter.com/ST8Ruv8K2i

— levi lusko (@levilusko) October 4, 2015

If there are still some of you who are not aware of who Pastor Steven Furtick is, please watch these videos:

 

 

 

Once again, we see him promoting Carl Lentz:

Too Good To Be True. What an absolute MONSTER of a message by pastor @carllentzNYC https://t.co/IpKQ4HdAKR

— levi lusko (@levilusko) October 5, 2015

By this next tweet we see that Jefferson Bethke gave a message at Levi Lusko’s Fresh Life Church:

We heard from @jeffersonbethke this weekend @freshlife. He gave a great message on IDENTITY. "Being… https://t.co/s8VSK2Z3Ft

— levi lusko (@levilusko) October 20, 2015

If the name Jefferson Bethke doesn’t ring a bell, this may help. His video Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus went viral:

However, if you read the following article by Lighthouse Trails, you will discover his real message, and realize the extreme importance of always praying for discernment:

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH – ANTI-RELIGION JEFF BETHKE HITS THE NEWS AGAIN – NEW BOOK, SAME MESSAGE: “IMAGINE NO RELIGION” (AND MORE ARTICLES)

 

As you can see by the next tweet, he is totally recommending Pastor Craig Groeschel’s book to everyone:

 

 

 

Here’s some information on Pastor Craig Groeschel. In the video below, Chris Rosebrough of  FIGHTING FOR THE FAITH, does a sermon review on Craig Groeschel’s sermon based upon his previous…new book. (Hmm. Sound familiar?).

As you can see from the following tweet, Levi Lusko took part in Passion 2016 where Christian leaders (that many have valid concerns about) such as Ravi Zacharias, Christine Caine, and John Piper, also spoke. Up to 40,000 young adults were said to have gathered for this event:

 

 

 

Below you will find a video Playlist of all of the messages given at Passion 2016 for those of you who are interested in listening to them and testing them in light of Scripture. However, I suggest that you listen a.s.a.p., because normally they only allow them to remain public for a very limited amount of time before they become private:

At the link below starting at the 39 min. and 07 second mark, you can hear Chris Rosebrough give a Biblical analysis of the 6th session of Passion 2016 concerning Louie Giglio’s message. He also gives a Biblical analysis of Christine Caine’s message starting at the 01:08:19 mark. (For those of you who are interested, Chris Rosebrough analyzes a message that Beth Moore gave on TBN at the 50:12 min. mark in the following program, as well).

PIRATE CHRISTIAN – FIGHTING FOR THE FAITH – CHRIS ROSEBROUGH – DIVIDE BY ZERO

In this next tweet we discover that Levi Lusko also preached at the Hillsong Church located in Los Angeles, where Benjamin Houston (son of Brian Houston) and his wife Lucille are the Lead Pastors.

It was such a beautiful blessing to speak at @hillsongla. Jennie and I love @benjaminhouston +… https://t.co/mttgViSx8H

— levi lusko (@levilusko) January 12, 2016

 

The following tweet raised a red flag since I am a former Catholic, and Catholicism refers to Jesus as a “Victim” in the Sacrifice of the Mass. However, God’s Word clearly shows us that Jesus gave His live willingly! (John 10:17,18) (Also read Hebrews 10:5-10)

"The power to go from VICTIM to VICTOR is contained in 3 words: HE IS RISEN." @louiegiglio #passion2016

— levi lusko (@levilusko) January 3, 2016

Levi Lusko preached at Holy Trinity Brompton in England where Nicky Gumbel is one of the leaders. In this video, Levi Lusko briefly makes a comment encouraging people there to get more involved in Alpha,  a course that is unbiblical and strongly promoted at Holy Trinity Brompton (as well as Willow Creek Church in Chicago and many other churches) and leading many Christians into Roman Catholicism. (See videos below under Related Videos to learn more about the Alpha course and Nicky Gumbel).

 

 

Levi Lusko also preached at Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church:

As Steven Furtick introduced Levi Lusko he said something that was quite revealing and very troubling. In part he said the following:

“His new book, Through The Eyes Of  A Lion, is here; it’s available. I want everybody to get one.”

“He shared some of this with our church before, and it was one of the most remarkable weekends we’ve had in the history of our church, and I said, “Bro you gotta come back. You gotta preach this book to our people. I want the message to get out. I want everybody watching on line to get this story in their heart…to get faith in their heart.”

Please don’t think that I am being nit-picky or insensitive, because when you have a man who is a preacher saying to another preacher to preach his book, having a desire for everybody watching online to “get faith in their heart,” when God’s Word says to “Preach the Word,” (2 Timothy 4:1-4) and that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” (Romans 10:17), that is a clear indication of a serious problem!

UPDATE 1/31/16 Chris Rosebrough just did a review this past Friday of one of Levi Lusko’s sermons that truly raises some serious red flags because he says in his message that “Jesus had suicidal thoughts in His head.” You can listen to a portion of Levi Lusko’s message entitled Terror By Night – Paper Tigers, and Chris’ review of his message starting at the 00:38:55 minute mark at the link below. (You may also be interested in listening to his review of Beth Moore’s (unbiblical) message entitled, Make Jesus the Romance of Your Life that starts at the 00:57:34 minute mark which comes right after his review of Levi Lusko’s message).

PIRATE CHRISTIAN – FIGHTING FOR THE FAITH – MAKE JESUS THE ROMANCE OF YOUR LIFE

 

 

IN CLOSING:

Some Important Things For You To Keep In Mind

A very important thing that we as Christians must always remember is  that when we listen to someone who shares something about their lives that begins to deeply touch our hearts, we must never allow ourselves to be moved by our emotions in such a way that we end up becoming  desensitized to the point where we are no longer alert and on guard against anything unbiblical they might say or do. If we allow our emotions to be in control instead of God’s Holy Spirit,  it is then that we could easily  become deceived and led astray.

Take the video of Sarah Jakes, for example. While it is very commendable that she made the choice to give life to her son when she found out that she was pregnant at the tender age of thirteen, and that in time she was able to rise above the shame and the rejection that she felt because of how other Christians treated her due to the wrong choices that she made, if Christians are moved by sympathy for her or admiration of her when they  listened to her speak, then they may have missed some very disturbing things that she said that should have raised some serious red flags if you listened to her message. And if you caught many of the things that she said, and became filled with concern, then, well done; you are very discerning!

Another important thing to remember is:

Never simply accept the fact that your pastor has approved of the pastors and teachers that he is allowing to speak at your church. Do your own research to make sure that they are Biblically sound teachers of God’s Word, or you may end up being deceived by their teachings if you choose to buy their books or listen to their messages or the teachers that they endorse through their tweets on Twitter, or their comments on Facebook.

Here are the most important questions to ask yourself:

Is the pastor who is the guest speaker preaching Jesus Christ? Is his message solely based on a certain Biblical text? Or does his message  focus more on his life or his experiences with just Scriptures added here and there?

Levi Lusko’s message was truly inspiring and deeply moving, but we must always remember the command given in Scripture how it is the Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the good news of the gospel that is supposed to be preached:

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Corinthians 1:17)

“For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)

“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves, your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your relaxing weekend (at least I hope it is) to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.  For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son?  And again, when He bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, He saith, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.” (Hebrews 1:1-6)

“Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared Me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;  then said He, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Hebrews 10:5-10)

“Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.  And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it. But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.” (Luke 2:41-50)

“While He yet talked to the people, behold, His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him. Then one said unto Him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with Thee. But He answered and said unto him that told him, Who is My mother? And who are My brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold my Mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50)

“Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17,18)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:1)

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)

 

RELATED POSTS

PASSION 2013 CONFERENCE – WILL THERE BE MORE MYSTICISM?

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UNCHANGING

 

RELATED READING

HUFFINGTON POST – ED YOUNG CHRISTIAN PASTOR TO STREAM 24 HOUR BED IN FROM CHURCH ROOF TOP

 

 

RELATED VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://vimeo.com/83440952?rel=0

 

 

 

 

 

The following two video Playlists will show you:

1) The unbiblical nature of the Alpha Course which Levi Lusko briefly mentioned, but nonetheless promoted when he spoke at Holy Trinity Brompton in England, which is responsible for leading many Christians into Catholicism.

2) How Catholicism is being promoted through the unity and oneness that is taking place when men of God begin to make compromises, and how many Christians are being lured into Catholicism by experienced based teachings which are being promoted at many churches today.

(POST UPDATED MONDAY 1/18/16 1:51 P.M., 3:27 P.M., AND 9:43 P.M. THEN AGAIN ON THURSDAY 1/21/16 8:27P.M. ).

UPDATED Saturday 1/23/16 8:58 P.M. After working on this post for over 10 hours today by adding a lot of information concerning Levi Lusko’s tweets.

UPDATED 8:46 A.M. Sunday 1/24/16 Added video of Steven Furtick, Hey Haters and two Ed Young videos.

UPDATED 4:34 P.M. Sunday 1/24/16 Added more information concerning Levi Lusko’s tweets and videos of the Passion 2016 Conference.

UPDATED AND COMPLETED 8:35 P.M. SUNDAY 1/24/16

UPDATED SUNDAY 1/24/16 10:29 P.M. ADDED HILLSONG’S VERSION OF SILENT NIGHT

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MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts is to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (I posted a very lengthy one last week which I will continue to update until completed) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages or read these articles, as well as read the upcoming posts that — Lord willing — I will be writing on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

This morning as I was continuing to do research in order to add more information to my PREVIOUS POST concerning Moody Radio and Midday Connection, I came across the following article posted by Amy Spreeman when she was still writing for Stand Up For The Truth. Though it was written in 2013, it continues to serve as a clear warning concerning the spiritually deceptive programs and practices that are still being presented to  Christians in many churches and seminaries today! Even though I had only planned on cleaning all day today, when I came across this excellent article as I was eating my breakfast, I decided to share it with all of you.

Here is a quick capture of a small portion of that article:

(SOURCE) <– Please click here to continue reading this important article which has a lot of important information that you need to be aware of.

When time allows, I hope and pray that you will consider reading the above article in its entirety. As Christians we must not only read and study God’s Word so that we will know it so well we will immediately be able to discern error as soon as we are presented with it, but also we must make ourselves aware of the many spiritually deceptive ways by which the enemy of our soul is trying to lead many Christians astray in these last days! And Spiritual Formation programs, which oftentimes present unbiblical, New Age practices that are rooted in Buddhism and Hinduism, are responsible for leading many Christians astray today! Please pray and learn to discern, so that you will not become one of the many who are being  deceived!

NOTE: Sadly, I discovered that the documents mentioned in the comments section as being a “fantastic resource” are no longer available at the link provided. 😦

Okay. That’s all for today Mysticism Monday. Back to cleaning my condo!

Lord willing, at least one new post coming later this week.

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you very much for taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:3,4)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”          (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-5)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)