Sure we can say we support the Pope but what does that mean? That depends on the context of the statement! But regardless of any context we must all remember even devout Catholics that the Pope is still only a man and a sinner, his works, deeds and religiousness will not get him through the gates of heaven. “None are righteous, no, not even one!”
As we know many do not whether outside of the Catholic Church or even inside it lately; Vatican II stirred the pot for sure! The case in point may be presently that there is some serious interference, and actual division is growing not subsiding from that point when I began to see a problem in the Vatican a few years ago when I sent the Pope a very urgent letter regarding severe political corruption taking place in my locale that could only be on a diabolical scale of reference. Time will tell won’t it, in regard to his not responding not even a thank you for asking for his advice! In the least my bringing this up may serve as a footnote “to us all that we should be very careful to take care” in these times of upheaval and division. Division in the church has been there since the beginning and has only grown worse over the years, we see that clearly by the multitude of variations of Christianity out there don’t we. Men have taken God’s word and rules and bent them to fit their own devices or even purpose!
Perhaps I was seeking to accomplish this with the political; “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-17
“Every biblical leader stood up against evil and many even lost their lives for speaking against it. There is a reason Jesus says true believers will be hated and persecuted. If you desire to live a godly life you will be persecuted and there is no way around it. Stop being part of the world, expose it instead and save lives. The person who truly loves Christ is the one who’s going to stand up for Christ no matter if they lose friends, family, or if the world hates us. The people who hate Christ are going to read this and say, “stop judging.” biblereasons
“You adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility with God? So whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God.” James 4:4
“Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father’s love is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John 4: 1
I say now, because we who call ourselves Christians or true children of God must with our whole heart discern all these many things before us in our daily lives; we must remember at all times this Holy Scripture as we make our way along our paths!
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:21-23
It’s not about all warm and fuzzy and doing what so many so called Christians that accept the ways of the world pronounce as their mantra; “don’t judge others.” Even when the Pope has said this we must be careful to not think he is giving license to whatever! And, those that stating in such a way are obviously inviting all manner of sin and regression from God’s word! They forget perhaps just how critical things really are or they prefer to satisfy the world and its ways for recognition from other men and not from God who is the JUDGE!
Again, I ask that we emphasize with Holy Scripture to keep in the front of our minds and deep within our hearts what is most vital for our immortal souls, and forget our bodies and material life here! To God these are all gone in the twinkling of an eye! It is all about our SOULS!
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” John 4: 1
“Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father’s love is not in him.” 1 John 2:15
“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:20-21
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20
My purpose right here and right now sisters and brothers is that my thoughts and words on this post make a difference in saving even one soul out there in the tumultuous man driven world of sin! That is my only reason for bringing this to the table in a manner of speaking, not for recognition, praise, friendship or getting hugs and kisses from anyone! My heart sees a troubled and horrifyingly sinful world and truly hopes in all earnest to see many saved by God through Jesus Christ; as many are being deceived outright, and if I am His instrument at any given moment of my life even if doing so takes my life, so be it; I’m honored. I of course hope in doing such that I only do His will because that is all that matters and is all that will save me! Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Savior and Redeemer, Amen!
Brother in Christ,
Lawrence Morra
Zero Lift-Off 
Good post, Lawrence. Division in the body of Christ is always disturbing. It is, however, predictable, since our frail human nature is fickle.
A fellow blogger shared this story, and it made me laugh :
A man was shipwrecked, and found refuge on an island. Years later, the man , who had lived alone , was rescued, and his rescuers found that he had built three huts.
When asked why he had built three huts, the man replied : “One is my house, one is where I go to church, and the other is where I used to go to church “. 🤗
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Good Humor Sally, because I almost peed in my pants!!! I love humor; I always was one to kid around and liven things up! And on the serious side I’ve been aware of human nature and its fickleness since back in High School when that girl that I took to the school dance who thought I was a sweet adorable boy was hanging around with a jock the following week! I guess she liked all the extra attention she got being with him over me, the nice guy! I found that some girls like wild guys and boisterous types!
Now on a much more serious note I was alluding to the fact that potential for diabolical influence in the Vatican does appear to be rearing its ugly head with the new Pope, which it has in the past centuries too; but now in this high tech age it could be all the more detrimental for the entire planet not just Catholics! And we must recall the Beast; which is Political centered is probably near at hand! I need only look at our Democrat party in Congress to see the writing on the wall and in my face! It might be time to TRUST NO ONE!
🤗 🤣
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I’m glad you enjoyed the little story. From our human perspective, things seem confusing and complex, but let’s cling to the simple, comprehensive truth of Christianity, as we were taught as children : ” Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so ” 🤗
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He sure does or why else would He become one of us in perfect form and character and allow all of the sin and death that humans have produced and will, and then take that upon his self to feel every bit of the suffering that we all deserve! But there is an obligation and huge responsibility on our part to not be caught up in the ways of the world and by its conventions allowing sin to have its day in the sun or even a place in the arena of society at large! Times of childhood are fine but then we all must move beyond the time of not being fully responsible for our actions to being totally responsible and accountable! Then it becomes more obvious that there are forces all around us trying to twist and pervert God’s message to mean different things to different people. Sin is Sin, and dressing it up fancy or saying its fine if certain persons behave sinfully its still according to God’s word only because we want to be diverse or some other such nonsense, which is only a cop-out! And doing God’s will isn’t so difficult or always painful if we continue to build our faith; it can have lighter joyful moments too!
Your humorous story showed that clearly!
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Yes, Lawrence, sin is very serious business indeed, and Catholicism reminds us of this. I shudder a bit at the notion that once we are “saved”, we are always saved, no matter how we carry on. Jesus is our Saviour and friend, and he is also a King who deserves our greatest reverence and praise. 🤗
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There you go Friend onward and upward, I buy that! Sally that is all I’ve been really trying to say here and elsewhere is that I think too many people of faith give lip service so eloquently to what it means to be faithful to our Lord and yet we mere humans are yoked to sin pulling that burden around with us our whole lives, not free from its influence until we leave these flesh bodies! Like the old saying goes its not over till the fat lady sings and I thank that lady so much, she is buying us time by not belting out her tune too soon; but the clock is TICKING! And her not singing our personal song yet, it is a double edged sword and when she belts out that tune I hope it isn’t a condemnation when its my turn to stand before my maker and instead a reprise and celebration of my life where the Lord says “well done my faithful servant, come into your eternal home with your Father and family.” I just think it’s easy to become pious and feel like we are home-free when we are actually so far from that it isn’t even funny! Sure Jesus is walking with us in our faith and is willing to even carry us when the true need is there as only He knows what is truly in any heart, but He doesn’t say anywhere that I’m aware of that once you’ve been anointed faithful while still in the flesh that it comes with an absolute guarantee of Paradise. Quite to the contrary it is the opposite and we have to be extremely weary of sins grip on this world and indeed our lives as we live in a sinful man-made world. Thank God for His grace and “ever-present power of redemption through His Son Jesus Christ!” I for one really mean this when I say, I hope and pray we all make it there to His Kingdom, It saddens me too that anyone should not make it and lose their soul!
Jesus is always searching for His lost lambs!
Brother in Christ Jesus, 🤗
Lawrence
✝
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Our fallen nature always is there like dead weight tugging and pulling and we never rise completely above it or defeat it nor escape it until we are separated from it! Sad but TRUE! The only real Hope is Jesus Christ on that Cross and our Faith in Him!
Jesus tells his disciples: “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41
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Yes, Lawrence, absolutely true. We are fallen, but beloved. Our human nature is always there. I did an experiment yesterday, to see how my spiritual fruit of self-control was developing. ( Galatians 5:22). I bought a delicious chocolate bar, made in France , with the plan of eating just a small piece a day. However, lacking in self-control, I managed, by the end of the day, to eat the whole delicious chocolate bar. I will need to pray for more of the spiritual fruit of self-control.
Nevertheless, God loves us, and knows how frail we are. To assist myself in developing the fruit of self-control, I will avoid bringing tasty chocolate bars into the house.🤗 God did not lead me into temptation, I led myself into temptation.
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Now I laugh Sally!!! I thought your other comments on this post had humor but this one takes the cake or I mean chocolate bar!!! I do this same thing each week in the supermarket trying to avoid the candy isle and sometimes I scurry by it and on to my other needed items but more often than not lately I stop there to yes you guessed it buy chocolate bars! Then, once I have them home I say I’ll be good and make them last at least the week and maybe into the next, but who am I kidding? Just having them in the house like you said is an open invitation for me to breakdown again and give in to my craving! I think perhaps to be isolated on a remote island or at the North Pole I could escape most of my weakness if not all because I might die and that would be all she wrote! This is an excellent illustration of what we both have been talking about here! How do you escape yourself? Can’t be done, oh sure like you said we can pray for more self-control but you and I both know that till we are dead and buried we are going to love that best chocolate bar and won’t be able to resist them at some point as long as we breathe! This last batch I actually ate them all before the week was up this time and that was bad of me, even worse I went to another discount store last night and they had Dark Chocolate Bars imported from Germany and of course I bought one! I know it’s there waiting for me to come open it like its calling saying maybe take a tiny piece but then I will want more immediately and I think the chocolate bar will be gone sooner rather than later today! I also learned about this issue we have as weak in the flesh humans by observing others. My Dad was a devout Catholic and strong man of Faith, in my eyes a Hero and not just because he was my dad but to anyone that knew him he was the best of the best a great human being and person far exceeding me in many ways but I’m more of a communicator than he was were I always talked too much and he was maintaining self-control in the talk department! Except; when it came to his pot of coffee and cigarettes! Habits his whole life that really damaged his body! He wasn’t a drinker like me but he had those cravings or what he told me was his simple pleasure in life just being relaxed and enjoying a few moments peace from all his hard work. But, he always was a CHOCOLATE maniac buying King Size ones and as a kid I would wake during the night and creep down the stairs quiet and see him alone on the couch watching a movie and eating those chocolate bars! Then, he would say softly, “hey you little pip squeak what are you doing out of bed!” Then he would gesture with his finger, “ssshhh,” and gesture to come down from the stairs to him on the couch. Which I would so happily do ever so quietly so as not to wake my siblings or Mom and spoil the fun! Then he would say, “well you’re up so if I give you a piece of chocolate bar then you will go back to bed and sleep, OK?” And I would say, with an ear to ear smile, “sure thanks Dad!” So the moral to this story you and I know is that God isn’t going to dispatch us to hell for any of this; but what is more of concern is falling away from our Faith and aligning with anything that is worldly or even real evil at times that is only interested in distracting us from our faith and mission, to “Love and Serve God.” Those are the things I mean should make us be weary and watch out for at all times! But also we should cut down or maybe have chocolate bars on special occasions spread out so we practice self-control but also have a little innocent pleasure of enjoyment for a bit now and then! And I got your train of thought early on how God is, so loving and merciful. He wants nothing more than to see us succeed and is there with waiting open arms to catch us if we fall on our way to Him! I get it you are right he is so BEAUITFUL, PURE HEART AND LOVE! Sort of a bit like my Dad waiting for me to come the rest of the way to him there in his wonderful peaceful moment on the couch, to have me sit with him and give me a reward for being a good boy and listening to my father!
🤣 😋 🙏
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Excellent insight and wisdom Sally!
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Truth. Amen.
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All for the glory of God! Amen.
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Excellent post, Lawrence, and filled with lots of truth. I was in a Bible study this morning at church and we are studying Bill Johnson’s God is Good series. He commented on the video that the problem with the church today is that it was built on the last generation’s experience rather than the original in the word. He used an illustration of a pallet of 2x4s that needed to be cut to 8′ each. The person cutting was inexperienced, and cut the first piece perfectly, but then used that board to measure the next, then that one to measure the next, and so on. So you know what happened. No 2 boards were the same size, and the last ones were much longer than the first. Each time he didn’t go back to the original, the size was more distorted. So if we build our faith on our parents’ faith and they built their faith on their parents’ faith and so on, how distorted our faith could be unless we go back to the original pattern in the word.
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Hello and thank you Sister in Christ Diane. Very good analogy and illustration of how corruption or breakdown in keeping the truth and appreciation of it intact without any distortion can and does occur; which is akin to an aging process of the original word or a modernization of the original word which must hold perfectly true now as it did when first given to us if it is indeed the word of God! I know that as we age our chromosomes or genetic DNA strands eventually start to end up in this very process you spoke to here with the boards, Each time our cells in our bodies are completely replaced over a seven year period, a tiny bit is lost or snipped off the ends of the DNA strands over the many years of our earthly lives which makes the replacement cells that are replicated not identical to the original and this continues until eventually the latter stages of life we are far removed from the pristine form and condition we started out in. But with God’s word there is no reason for change to occur; and as my father told me to strengthen and build my faith via the living Word of God, once I began seeking to do just that I found that our heavenly Father is clearly instructing us on exactly how to do what my earthy father told me I should do! God’s word is always the same and as Jesus said, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” Amen.
Brother in Christ Jesus,
Lawrence
God Bless You and Yours.
Brother in Christ Jesus,
Lawrence
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That is so true. That is why I love the word and to pray the word. We have to stay grounded in what the Lord has already shown us rather than in what someone else believes. God bless.
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Absolutely truth and wisdom in your words and this is how we do God’s will! God Bless You and Yours. Thank you!
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