SCOTUS rules for anti-Christian law

We may have hoped against hope reason would prevail but really we knew it was coming and it came: the Supreme Court made gay marriage the law of the land today. This could be the watershed. From now on Christians are officially criminals.

There's No Keeping Up With Papal Lies: latest on the Waldensians

So the Pope Asks Forgiveness for the persecution of "a small evangelical church in Italy:"

TURIN, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis asked forgiveness Monday for the Catholic Church's persecution of members of a small evangelical church in Italy whose leader was excommunicated and followers branded as heretics during the Middle Ages.

And of course, as Popes before him have done on such occasions, he blamed the persecution on unnamed "Christians" and implicitly denied the truth, that it was the Popes themselves who persecuted dissident Christians down the centuries,

During a speech to a few hundred people in the Waldensian temple of Turin, Francis decried how Christians over history committed atrocious acts of violence in the name of their faith.

"On the part of the Catholic Church, I ask your forgiveness, I ask it for the non-Christian and even inhuman attitudes and behavior that we have showed you," Francis said somberly from the altar. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us!"

The article includes a typical bogus history of the Waldensians:

The Waldensian church was founded in the 12th century by a wealthy merchant from Lyon, France, Pierre Valdo, who gave up his belongings to preach a Gospel of simplicity and poverty that condemned papal excesses. He was excommunicated and his followers persecuted as heretics by Rome.

 This is a misrepresentation of the history of the  Waldenses, who lived in the Valleys  of the  Alps  for centuries before Peter Valdo came along.  In fact he  probably took his name from the people,  which was originally just  a term for People of  the  Valleys.   They had a Protestant Christian theology that went back to at least the sixth century including  different groups under different names, all actively opposing the theology of the  Roman Church.  The various groups shared a basic Protestant theology though  they were not completely in agreement with one  another.

Three of the following links go to copies of the best source on this subject, History of the Ancient Christians Inhabiting the Valley of the Alps: Waldenses, Albigenses and Vaudois (1847) by Jean Paul Perrin.   The Recommendatory Letter near  the  front of the book sketches out the relevant history:

Perrin

Perrin

Downloadable from Puritan Downloads:
Perrin

article on Waldensians

Unfortunately, today's Waldensians are largely apostate from the true faith, which no doubt accounts for their applauding the Pope.

Oh The Blatant Hypocrisy of the Pope!

First he presents himself as a world authority with the right to tell nations what to do about climate change, of course proposing solutions that would punish the US in particular, that dastardly once-Protestant nation that the Antichrist papal system has been waiting forever to bring down. Well, he'll get to give his devil-wolf speech in Congress in September even and today's Americans haven't a clue.

Now he's telling us how the "great powers" did nothing to stop the Holocaust, conveniently forgetting that the Pope at the time actively encouraged it, that Hitler modeled the Final Solution on the Inquisition, and that the Pope was responsible for the "ratlines" that gave Nazi criminals a way to escape justice after the war. 

Sorry I've  been neglecting  my blogs recently,  I don't  know if  or  when I'll  get back to  them. There  is  some  source  material on this  subject at my Catholicism blog.  One book that covers it  all is Dave Hunt's A Woman Rides  the Beast. 

The Vatican RatLines are well known, see Wikipedia article.

Antichrist rising

Parts of the evangelical world (such as Rapture Ready) are anticipating the Antichrist soon, regarding him as an unknown who will emerge into public view as a political power when the time comes. Since I've been convinced for some time of the Protestant Reformers' understanding of the papacy as the Antichrist system, I figure he's always among us, and this latest Pope is incredibly popular, as well as a fine example of the "man of sin," considering the support he's given to ungodly and antiChristian causes.

Of course he may not be THE Antichrist of the final days, but the way things have been going the time is right and all that needs to happen is a move into a position of power.

As the Rapture Ready article I linked concludes, "Watch."

Muslim attack on Charlie Hebdo God's judgment on the anti-Christian West

Feel I should offer at least a brief clarification of my post about the attack on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, where I said that France and in fact all of Europe need to deport their Muslims and get back to Protestant Christianity. I thought I'd eventually have more to say but I don't really have MUCH more to say. I knew when I put up that title that I'd probably not think much of the magazine Charlie Hebdo if I knew more about it, and that calling for a revitalization of Protestantism would not be at all something that magazine would appreciate, so along with saying Muslims should be deported in a way I was also saying the magazine probably also needs to go.

Wikipedia gives enough of a description to support that view: 

Charlie Hebdo, French for Charlie Weekly, is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. Irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone, the publication describes itself as strongly anti-religious, anti-racist[4] and left-wing, publishing articles on the extreme right, religion (Catholicism, Islam, Judaism), politics, culture, etc. According to its former editor Stéphane Charbonnier ("Charb"), the magazine's editorial viewpoint reflects "all components of left wing pluralism, and even abstainers".

Interesting it doesn't mention Protestant Christianity in that list of religions it targets, but just from the general description Protestants wouldn't like the magazine either, only Christians wouldn't murder its staff in protest.

The upshot of all of this is that Muslim attacks in the West as the Muslim population grows in Europe, and is also growing in the US, should be thought of as God's judgment against the West for our abandonment of Christianity. If we don't get back to God there will be more Muslims, more murders, more mayhem in the West as they continue to grow their population to the point that they can claim the West for Allah and subjugate all other religions and cultural beliefs. The fact that this very program is denied by "liberals" is really itself evidence that God's judgment is in operation. Revival is the only thing that could turn back the tide, and I suppose we shouldn't give up on that no matter how unlikely it seems, though in debates online I keep discovering just how adamant the denial is, how entrenched the politically correct view that spells suicide for the West, while the only remedy, Christianity, is hated.

It's hard to face. Maybe harder to take, though, is the Christians who don't recognize it, who just go on as if it's not happening.

"Boy Who Came Back From Heaven" says it isn't true after all

Alex Malarkey, now 16, has just come out and said he made up the story of going to heaven after the accident at age 6 that left him paralyzed. Here's the story from The Washington Post.

I've continued to get comments on my blogs about this and other heaven stories, particularly on this post.

Pray Always, and Do Not Faint

I learned this lesson recently and want to pass it on so maybe it would encourage others.   It's one of those things we may have to learn many times, but this time I think it got through to me in a new way.

Luke 18:1: And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

I faint easily in this sense.  I don't persist in prayer, especially when I'm praying for something that feels "impossible."  I can tell myself many times that God is the God of the impossible and still not act on it as if I believe it.

Recently I had to recognize four "impossible" prayers that God answered, which have certainly improved my prayer stamina and even got me praying for more impossible things than those four. 

I can't go into much detail about these incidents unfortunately because they concern other people, but maybe I can hint at the situations without giving them away.  A financially struggling relative, an out of control teenager, a fatherless child and a rocky marriage.   One of the prayers was the fervent desperate doing of another relative of mine though I added my own to it;  another was shared with this relative and two of them were mine.  Literally within a day of fervent prayer the financially struggling one was backed to start a business that is now starting to take off a few months later;  over a few months of prayer the unruly teenager decided he didn't like being in juvenile detention and found better things to do with his time;  the fatherless child was given a father within weeks of the prayer for him, the rocky marriage was nearly miraculously healed, also over weeks.  I could also mention some other answers but these stand out dramatically enough to be a real encouragement to me. 

I'm SO grateful for these answered prayers and SO encouraged to pray more and not faint.  Want to continue to pray for those same situations too, though, knowing how rapidly things can degenerate if we leave them to fallen human nature.    But now I have an even rockier marriage in mind I've never had the stamina to pray for consistently, and half a dozen other family type problems it would be a huge relief to see resolved.  I even feel encouraged enough to pray for big political issues with more fervency and hope.

This is a praise report, a statement of gratitude and I hope a message to encourage us all to pray and not faint.  God really is listening and really does answer prayer when we pray in His will and for things that further His Kingdom.