Theodore's World

Are Catholic beliefs and practices biblical?
Question: “Are Catholic beliefs and practices biblical?”
Answer: The issue concerning any church and its practices should be “Is this biblical?” If a teaching is Biblical (taken in context), it should be embraced. If it is not, it should be rejected. God is more interested in whether a church is doing His will and obeying His Word than whether it can trace a line of succession back to Jesus’ apostles. Jesus was very concerned about abandoning the Word of God to follow the traditions of men (Mark 7:7). Traditions are not inherently invalid…there are some good and valuable traditions. Again, the issue must be whether a doctrine, practice, or tradition is Biblical. How then does the Roman Catholic Church compare with the teachings of the Word of God?
Salvation: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that salvation is by baptismal regeneration and is maintained through the Catholic sacraments unless a willful act of sin is committed that breaks the state of sanctifying grace. The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace which is received through simple faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), and that good works are the result of a change of the heart wrought in salvation (Ephesians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and the fruit of that new life in Christ (John 15).
Assurance of salvation: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that salvation cannot be guaranteed or assured. 1 John 5:13 states that the letter of 1 John was written for the purpose of assuring believers of the CERTAINTY of their salvation.
Good Works: The Roman Catholic Church states that Christians are saved by meritorious works (beginning with baptism) and that salvation is maintained by good works (receiving the sacraments, confession of sin to a priest, etc.) The Bible states that Christians are saved by grace through faith, totally apart from works (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 3:10-11; Romans 3:19-24).
Baptism:In the New Testament baptism is ALWAYS practiced AFTER saving faith in Christ. Baptism is not the means of salvation; it is faith in the Gospel that saves (1 Corinthians 1:14-18; Romans 10:13-17). The Roman Catholic Church teaches baptismal regeneration of infants, a practice never found in Scripture. The only possible hint of infant baptism in the Bible that the Roman Catholic Church can point to is that the whole household of the Philippian jailer was baptized in Acts 16:33. However, the context nowhere mentions infants. Acts 16:31 declares that salvation is by faith. Paul spoke to all of the household in verse 32, and the whole household believed (verse 34). This passage only supports the baptism of those who have already believed, not of infants.
Prayer: The Roman Catholic Church teaches Catholics to not only pray to God, but also to petition Mary and the saints for their prayers. Contrary to this, we are taught in Scripture to only pray to God (Matthew 6:9; Luke 18:1-7).
Priesthood: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there is a distinction between the clergy and the “lay people,” whereas the New Testament teaches the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9).
Sacraments: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that a believer is infused with grace upon reception of the sacraments. Such teaching is nowhere found in Scripture.
Confession: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that unless a believer is hindered, the only way to receive the forgiveness of sins is by confessing them to a priest. Contrary to this, Scripture teaches that confession of sins is to be made to God (1 John 1:9).
Mary: The Roman Catholic Church teaches, among other things, that Mary is the Queen of Heaven, a perpetual virgin, and the co-redemptress who ascended into heaven. In Scripture, she is portrayed as an obedient, believing servant of God, who became the mother of Jesus. None of the other attributes mentioned by the Roman Catholic Church have any basis in the Bible. The idea of Mary being the co-redemptress and another mediator between God and man is not only extra-biblical (found only outside of Scripture), but is also unbiblical (contrary to Scripture). Acts 4:12 declares that Jesus is the only redeemer. 1 Timothy 2:5 proclaims that Jesus is the only mediator between God and men.
Many other examples could be given. These issues alone clearly identify the Catholic Church as being unbiblical. Every Christian denomination has traditions and practices that are not explicitly based on Scripture. That is why Scripture must be the standard of Christian faith and practice. The Word of God is always true and reliable. The same cannot be said of church tradition. Our guideline is to be: “What does Scripture say?” (Romans 4:3; Galatians 4:30; Acts 17:11). 2 Timothy 3:16-17 declares, “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.”

President Trump orders declassification of intel related to campaign spying

President Trump Delivers Remarks on Supporting America’s Farmers and Ranchers

President Trump and First Lady Melania pay respects at Arlington this afternoon

Detective Fired After Catching Predator….Blowback for exposing a popular priest
SAGINAW, Mich.
Saginaw county’s most highly decorated police officer, with more than 35 years of experience and 50 letters of commendation in his file, was abruptly fired in the wake of his investigation that put Saginaw’s popular priest Fr. Robert DeLand in jail.
Cradle Catholic Detective Brian Berg, who spearheaded the four-month covert operation leading to DeLand’s arrest and conviction, is now unemployed ever since he was unexpectedly fired last October by Saginaw’s police chief, Dennis Green.
Berg sat down with Church Militant to explain what happened the morning of Oct. 17.
“I was called in out of the blue. … The chief said, ‘I want to see you,'” recounts Berg. The chief, according to Berg, then curtly told him, “You’re done. You’re fired.”
“I asked why,” recalls Berg, and the chief’s response was simply, “We’re told we don’t have to give you a reason.”
While investigating DeLand, Berg was getting pressured by his superiors to drop the case. But Berg told Church Militant he never let DeLand’s popularity or internal resistance from within his department derail his investigation.
Asked about the pressure that arises from having members inside the police force being friends with the popular priests like DeLand, Berg said, “That’s very prevalent in a small community. But in my 35 years, I’ve tried to never let that influence me. Because at the end of the day, I look in the mirror and [ask] did I do the right thing.”
The conspiracy of silence among members inside and outside the Church is even more prevalent within small communities, Berg noted.
“There is a mindset especially in smaller communities where, uh, ‘keep it quiet; let’s just make it go away,'” he said.
Getting blackballed is common when some won’t look the other way. He then recounted what happened when he tried to get a job with another law enforcement department.
“I interviewed recently for a police chief job and I didn’t get it when I revealed what happened,” he said.
Speaking of his recent firing following the DeLand case, Berg said, “But I told them exactly what happened. If you want to hire a police chief that’s going to look the other way, I’m not your guy.”

A detective should not be expected to look the other way.

In a written statement issued shortly after his firing last October, Berg clarified that he wouldn’t be complicit in covering up any crime, including clerical sex abuse:

As a proud Christian and dedicated police officer of 35 years, with 50 Letters of Commendation during my career, I will never be deterred from doing the right thing, regardless of the costs associated with doing what is right.

A detective should not be expected to look the other way, be labeled too effective, or be told the township does not like media attention. The recent high-profile cases Tittabawassee Township has experienced is not something I personally sought out. However, when presented with such crimes I will always investigate the cases thoroughly and bring the criminals to justice.

I laud the Saginaw County Prosecutor’s Office for their hard work and courage to handle such a high-profile case as the Father DeLand case. Many other prosecutor’s offices would simply have covered it up.

Berg is not alone. Retired police officers from Buffalo, New York recently confirmed to media that they were directed by superiors to not arrest Catholic priests involved in sexual misconduct. They were told instead to hand such priests over to the Buffalo diocese for special treatment.
Former vice squad detective Martin Harrington revealed, “The department’s unwritten policy was that Catholic priests did not get arrested.”
“I never had any experience with priests who molested children,” he continued. “I never heard of any priests molesting children. But we had priests we caught with pornography or masturbating in the city parks, and our orders were to turn them over to the Buffalo diocese.”
“The diocese would deal with them,” he said, “but they would not be arrested.”
Church Militant reported on the tragic case of Buffalo’s priest Fr. Joseph Moreno, who was murdered in 2012 while trying to blow the whistle on the conspiracy of silence between Church officials, law enforcement, corrupt judges and even politicians.
Moreno’s sister, Susan Moreno, told Church Militant that a few days before her brother’s death, he was going to unveil the homosexual corruption in Bp. Richard Malone’s Buffalo diocese.
Susan Moreno related, “My brother told me Tuesday, after the meeting with Bp. Malone, that he was going to blow the whistle on the abuse, the homosexuality activity that was happening in the diocese of Buffalo, as well as other corruption that he saw at St. Lawrence and at St. Jude.”​
The details of Moreno’s faked suicide indicate a cover-up involving local law enforcement.
Pennsylvania was another area showing collusion between local law enforcement and corrupt Church officials in covering up clerical sex abuse. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro noted this collusion when introducing his now-famous Pennsylvania grand jury report.
The report showed a “failure of law enforcement,” said Shapiro.
Former Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said part of the problem involved Catholic policemen.
“It was a different time,” she said. “You didn’t remonstrate with the guy who’s giving you absolution.”

Homosexual Predator Catholic Priest in Action
Fr. Robert DeLand: “To discover that you have some gay tendencies is a fine thing, because then you don’t have to be so confused.”
A predator priest in action.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “I love you so much. I mean what I say, I love you so much.”
The voice of Father Robert DeLand, now in prison, caught on tape grooming a victim for sex abuse.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “We’re gonna get you drunk and you’re gonna cry. Does that sound good?”
The victim, a 17-year-old male, secretly capturing audio of his encounters with the high-ranking Saginaw Michigan priest, who targeted the boy when he was grieving the death of his friend to suicide.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “What do we call each other? Well, I mean, it’s more than a friendship. Something so deep, so good.”
It was these secret audio recordings that led DeLand to plead no contest in March of this year to multiple counts of sexual assault.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “I plead no contest, your honor.”
Going to trial would’ve meant making the audio public — something he did not want. But Church Militant filed a FOIA request, obtaining the recordings.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “And so if you’re gay, you’re gay. Bring home a boyfriend, I’m gonna love him just like I love you.”
They’re a damning indictment, showing the grooming tactics of a homosexual predator.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “If you’re gay, I don’t care. And I have a feeling that there’s some gayness in there.”
The undercover sting was spearheaded by Detective Brian Berg of Tittabawassee Township. Audio shows the priest offering the boy cigarettes, alcohol and the drug ecstasy.The boy pretended to be confused about his sexuality, and from then on DeLand’s conversations revolved non-stop around gay sex …
Fr. Robert DeLand: “Would you see yourself doing anal sex or would you see yourself sucking? I think we’ve arrived at the moment when it’s time to find that out.”
… even telling the boy to watch gay porn, touch himself and then call the priest the next day.
Fr. Robert DeLand: “Do it again and see what it feels like again. And then I’m going to talk to you later, so I’m gonna ask you how that felt.”
The four-month covert operation culminating in his attempt to sexually assault the victim, who fled the priest’s condo …
Victim (after escaping the condo): “So weird. I’m starting to shake. … Yeah, he kept rubbing my a** and my hand. … He started rubbing my hand on top of my crotch.”
… leading to the priest’s immediate arrest in February 2018.
Since then the local prosecutor has launched a criminal investigation into the diocese of Saginaw, after he was flooded with tips on other predator priests.
DeLand, now serving 2–15 years in a Michigan prison, may be just the first among multiple clergy in Saginaw to be found guilty of abuse.

Pope Francis: Church Must Learn to Abandon Old ‘Traditions’
It is a mistake for the Church to try to hold onto old traditions or to have clear answers for everything, Pope Francis said Thursday.
Jesus intentionally omitted telling his disciples many things so that the Church would learn to renounce the desire for clarity and order, the pope told participants in the 21st general assembly of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable outreach.
When pagans first embraced the Christian faith, the question arose as to if they would have to abide by all the precepts of the Jewish law, something Jesus never spoke of, the pope noted.
By not always giving “clear rules” that would quickly resolve issues, Jesus was protecting the Church from the temptation of “efficientism,” Francis said, which is the desire for the Church to have everything under control, avoiding surprises, with its agenda always in order.
This is not the way the Lord acts, he continued. He does not send answers from heaven. “He sends the Holy Spirit.”
“Jesus does not want the church to be a perfect model, satisfied with its own organization and able to defend its good name,” he said. “Jesus did not live like this, but on a journey, without fearing the upheavals of life.”
Francis famously refused to answer four cardinals who presented him with five questions or “dubia” to clarify certain purportedly unclear teachings in his 2016 teaching letter, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love).
In 2017, the former doctrinal chief of the U.S. Bishops Conference (USCCB) wrote a powerful letter to the pope, criticizing his “intentionally ambiguous” teaching, derision of conservatives, and resistance to constructive criticism.
The Capuchin priest, Father Thomas Weinandy, whom Pope Francis himself named to the Vatican’s International Theological Commission in 2014, listed five points that illustrate the “chronic confusion” that seems to characterize the Francis pontificate, namely, intentional ambiguity, disdain for doctrine, the naming of heterodox bishops, sowing division in the Church, and vindictiveness in the face of criticism.
The Pope’s guidance “at times seems intentionally ambiguous,” the theologian stated, leaving the faithful confused and spiritually adrift. “To teach with such a seemingly intentional lack of clarity inevitably risks sinning against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth,” the priest said.
While the pope accuses his critics of making doctrine into an ideology, “it is precisely Christian doctrine that frees people from worldly ideologies and assures that they are actually preaching and teaching the authentic, life-giving Gospel,” Weinandy said.
Other observers have attributed the Pope’s habitual vagueness to his training in the Jesuit order.
“For those unfamiliar with Jesuits,” wrote Dominic Lynch in The Federalist, “vague and porous doctrine is almost their raison d’être. Indeed, it is so baked into the order that finding a conservative Jesuit is more difficult than finding a liberal in West Texas.”

Wild Thing’s comment.…….
This Pope is such a phony Christian and this pope is a babbling idiot.
God is not the author of confusion. God is one of reason and a sound mind.
“…so that the Church would learn to renounce the desire for clarity and order…” from the idiot Pope.
EXCUSE ME?

Let all things be done decently and in order. from the Bible…1 Corinthians 14:40

God is not the author of confusion”—1 Corinthians 14:33

Counselor to President Trump Kellyanne Conway reacts to Pelosi snapping at her after Trump meeting…
the president will work with Democrats on infrastructure once Democrats are done ‘playing games.

President Trump Participates in the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Presentation Ceremony

President Trump called press into the Rose Garden …regarding Congress and House Democrats for their investigations into the Mueller report.
President Trump on Wednesday demanded Democrats end what he called their “phony investigations” before he’ll negotiate with them on issues like infrastructure, as he delivered a fiery statement from the Rose Garden after a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was cut short.
The president railed against the various congressional probes during his solo appearance, and rejected Pelosi’s allegations moments earlier of a “cover-up.” “So I just wanted to let you know that I walked into the room and I told Sen. Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, I want to do infrastructure,” Trump told reporters. “I want to do it more than you want to do it. I would be really good at that. That’s what I do. But you know what? You can’t do it under these circumstances. So get these phony investigations over with.” Earlier in the day, Pelosi told reporters “we believe that the president of the United States is engaged in a cover-up—a cover-up.”
“Instead of walking in happily into a meeting, I walk in to look at people that have just said that I was doing a cover up,” Trump said. “I don’t do cover-ups.” Trump, who stood at a podium displaying a sign that said “no collusion, no obstruction,” also lashed out at media for their coverage of the Russia probe.
“This whole thing was a takedown attempt at the president of the United States, and honestly you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for the way you reported so dishonestly,” he said.