Monday, January 31, 2022

Pope Francis asks believers to take off the armor of God

Yep. In even more Pope Francis news.  Read it here

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pope Francis apparently approves this modification to Scripture. 

I've never seen in my lifetime a prominent religious leader like Pope Francis.  His entire pontificate seems wrapped in the call to do as he says, not as he does.  As one writer said, he loves nothing more than telling us not to apply adjectives to people like those rigid believers over there. And for a pope made famous by his catchphrase 'who am I to judge', he sure spends a monster crap ton of his time judging.  

He judges - but not the sins of the Left.  When he condemns the sins of the Left, he never judges the sinners.  He's made it clear that while abortion might be murdering babies and homosexuality incompatible with marriage, he nonetheless would consider you a faithful Catholic if you advocate and indulge in both.  Not so for those who choose to serve and love Jesus in the context of the Latin Mass.  It's for believers who don't see an easy alliance between leftwing and Marxist politics and the Faith who Pope Francis reserves his fiery judgmentalism. 

Of course the biggest and best thing Pope Francis has taught his flock is to thank God they aren't like those believers over there, clinging to the Truth.  The not-Francis type of Catholics.  

One of the most common responses to Pope Francis's latest rants is Catholics rejoicing that Pope Francis has unloaded yet again on those other Catholics over there.  Take this example. Note well, Mark doesn't seem to stop for even a nanosecond and wonder if Pope Francis is talking about him.  According to the Reuters piece, Pope Francis mentions nobody by name, but like so many Catholics in the Francis era, Mark knows exactly who Pope Francis is challenging, and it ain't him.  Nope.  It's all those rigid Not-Mark Catholics.  The group Pope Francis has taught Catholics, and the world, to condemn and judge with impunity. 

Because it isn't only Catholics who know Pope Francis is always talking about those other Catholics over there.  The press knows it.  Note the Reuters story.  It knows exactly who Pope Francis is condemning.  The press knows it's people serious about their faith who Pope Francis seems to judge and condemn, while it's those who wallow in death, slaughter for sex and drug, hedonism and secularism that he loves.  As long as they align with politics. And the press, as well as modern godless paganism in general, absolutely approve of this Pope Francis message. 

Somewhere Pope Francis seems to have forgotten the punch line of one of liberalism's favorite passages:

Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Note well, they get into the kingdom of God because they believed.  They don't get into heaven because they are tax collectors and sinners.   The Pharisees and scribes miss out because they impose their religion on others, but fail to live the heart of the law themselves.  Like labeling people and then accusing people of labeling people, they have a religion built for their convenience but burdensome for others.  Imagining themselves above it all, they condemned those sinners over there but failed to repent themselves. 

But the sinners don't just get to heaven because they're sinners.  It's because they meet Jesus (or before Him, John the Baptist), and believe.  I'd like to see the numbers for Pope Francis.  How is he doing actually getting people to convert ot the Gospel and believe?   Or does he even think that's important?  That's a question I've asked, and I see no clear answer other than he doesn't, as long as I conform to his politics and align with various leftwing agendas and narratives.  

And that's not a Catholicism worth caring about.  I could get that belonging to the latest leftwing political action committee. Plus, I'd have Sundays off and could sleep in. 

4 comments:

  1. >>>I'd like to see the numbers for Pope Francis. How is he doing actually getting people to convert to the Gospel and believe? Or does he even think that's important?

    It is not the slightest concern to him. To the contrary, he had a loud hissy fit after meeting a convert in South Africa.

    Oh, sure, he baptised an African migrant a couple years ago on the Easter Vigil, but that was emphatically a political statement to the Italian government of the time.

    And if you are familiar with his tenure in Buenos Aires, his seminary emptied by two-thirds during his reign.

    If it smells even slightly like Catholicism before the Great Paradigm Change, he wages war on it. Which is why I have such contempt for the cultists at Where Mottram Is: useful idiots all the way down.

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    1. That's an impression almost impossible to dispute. I notice some big defends of Pope Francis who haven't gone over the edge into the Left have become more quiet in recent months. Insisting that Pope Francis is just an orthodox pope of no political bias is almost impossible at this point.

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  2. DP’s comment is interesting. Has the Church been expanding during this Pope’s pontificate?

    A few years ago, a good priest suggested that perhaps the Holy Spirit has given us Francis because He had given us JPII and Benedict to reach “minds and intellects” and now He wants to reach the “hearts” with Francis; that with JPII/Benedict, the Holy Spirit was “stabilizing” the Church and with Francis, He will lead marginalized Catholics back into the Church. I thought that was an interesting take at the time.

    Unfortunately, I think that well-meaning priest ended up being way off. Obfuscation, ambiguity and diluting the truth will NEVER EVER win hearts, let alone minds. That strategy will only contract, not expand, “the pillar and foundation of truth”

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    1. That's a question I've had. At first, they said his way would open the gates to endless floods of converts coming into the Church. Has it? It reminds me of when the Episcopal Church ordained openly gay bishop Gene Robinson. At the time they said this move of inclusion would see caravans of people coming into the denomination. Since then, it's been on steady death and decline.

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