Quote:
Are You Being Deceived?
If I were to insult you, you'd feel the sting immediately.
If I were to embarrass you, you'd be the first to know. But if I were
to deceive you...you might never know it!
As painful as being insulted or embarrassed can be, at least you're
aware of what's taking place. But deception can be deadly because you
don't realize you are being betrayed, misled, seduced or ensnared. It's
much more than a clever slight of hand.
Deceived people are not even aware they are being misled unless they
are confronted with the truth. Tragically, many go to their graves
deceived about their relationship with God.
The Importance of Your Source for Truth
What is your source for truth? Is it trustworthy? Will it protect you from the schemes and lies of the master deceiver, Satan?
The biblical prophet Jeremiah gave wise counsel for choosing who to
trust. He said if you put your trust in man you will be cursed like a
withered bush in a barren desert. However, if your ultimate trust is in
God, Jeremiah said you will flourish like a tree planted by the water (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
Still many people today disregard Jeremiah's advice and in their
search for truth put their trust in man--religious leaders--instead of
God.
|
Well, here
we go again. notice firstly that Mr. Gendron fails to connect his own
teachings to the cited passage, even though I have pointed out many
times over that he regularly teaches things that depart from the
straight reading of the Word of God. Could this actually be a form of
self-deception?
Quote:
Who Will You Trust?
Catholics, for example, believe that the pope and the Roman Catholic
Church teach exactly what Jesus and the Bible teach. But how do we know
if the popes' teachings or the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church are
true?
The only way we can be 100% sure is to do what the church of Berea did
in New Testament times. They examined the Scriptures to see if what
the Apostle Paul taught them was true (Acts 17:11).
We must use the same scriptural standard for the teachings of all religious leaders. Disregarding the objective truth of God's Word in favor of the subjective teachings of men can be a tragic mistake.
|
(Bold emphasis is mine) Didn't I just point out that I've shown this man to be doing exactly that in previous articles of mine?
I have been
comparing Catholic teaching to the Word of God for many years now and it
was just such comparisons, sparked by a-C remarks, (See My Testimony)
that both led me home and maintains me in the Catholic faith. My
examinations of Mike Gendron's a-C propaganda has also shown that he is
not a reliable source for correct teaching.
Furthermore, we
know that the Bereans did not set the example that he seeks to make of
them. Catholic Answers has a number of articles on this.
Quote:
The Danger of Deception Would it surprise you to learn that
many religious teachings go against the Bible? Shouldn't that concern
you, since your eternal destiny may depend on such teachings?
Here is how Catholic doctrine misleads people about God's plan of salvation:
- All graces needed to attain eternal life can be merited (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2027).
|
Now here,
(again) we see that Gendron cherry picks his citations of source for
catholic teaching in order to mislead his readers and followers. her
cites CCC 2027, but fails to cite the actual section of the catechism
that that 'IN BRIEF" statement actually refers to Section III, paragraphs 2006-2011, which read.
III. MERIT
You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning their merits you are crowning your own gifts.59 2006 The term "merit" refers in general to the recompense owed
by a community or a society for the action of one of its members,
experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or
punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity
with the principle of equality which governs it.
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict
right to any merit on the part of man. Between God and us there is an
immeasurable inequality, for we have received everything from him, our
Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace.
The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then
follows man's free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit
of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of
God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God,
for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and
assistance given by the Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by
grace in the divine nature, can bestow true merit on us as a result of
God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full right of
love, making us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the
promised inheritance of eternal life."60 The merits of our good works
are gifts of the divine goodness.61 "Grace has gone before us; now we
are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God's gifts."62
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit
for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our sanctification,
for the increase of grace and charity, and for the attainment of
eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be
merited in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the
object of Christian prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for
meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits
before God. Grace, by uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the
supernatural quality of our acts and consequently their merit before
God and before men. The saints have always had a lively awareness that
their merits were pure grace.
After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the
fatherland, but I do not want to lay up merits for heaven. I want to
work for your love alone. . . . In the evening of this life, I
shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord,
to count my works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish,
then, to be clothed in your own justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.63
Now,
does his citation accurately reflect authentic Catholic teaching in its
context and does it disagree with or contradict the New Testament? No,
it does not. So who is being deceived here?
Quote:
| Catholics are reborn as sons of God and freed from sin through water baptism (1213).
|
As is
taught in the New Testament and was taught by the early church. The
whole teaching on baptism is too long to include here, but I encourage
you all to take the time to carefully enter the Catechism at this paragraph and note for yourselves the accuracy of this Catholic doctrine.
Just because Gendron denies it and argues against it, by no means he is correct.
(See also "I Find No Sacraments In the Bible" he said.)
Quote:
| Purgatory is a cleansing fire that achieves the holiness necessary for heaven (1030-31).
|
He doesn't even cite the whole passage, which reads,
III. THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY
1030 All who die in God's grace and friendship,
but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal
salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve
the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
1031 The Church gives the name Purgatory to
this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from
the punishment of the damned.606 The Church formulated her doctrine
of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and
Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of
Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire:607
As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that,
before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth
says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be
pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence
we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but
certain others in the age to come.608
1032 This teaching is also based on the
practice of prayer for the dead, already mentioned in Sacred
Scripture: "Therefore [Judas Maccabeus] made atonement for the dead,
that they might be delivered from their sin."609 From the beginning
the Church has honored the memory of the dead and offered prayers in
suffrage for them, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, so that, thus
purified, they may attain the beatific vision of God.610 The Church
also commends almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken
on behalf of the dead:
Let us help and commemorate them. If Job's sons were
purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our
offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate
to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them.611
Nor does he touch on the fact that we share this essential belief with the Jews even to this day. See Biblical and Jewish Traditional Beliefs About Purgatory
Quote:
| Jesus is offered daily as a sacrificial victim on Catholic altars (1367).
|
Which,
because of his misleading and specious citation, (In fact, how many
a-Cs are actually going to research this by checking the Catechism for
context?) would not help anyone to understand the facts of our beliefs.
Again, the relevant Catechism portion is too long to post here, but I urge you all to enter the Catechism at this paragraph (More accurately at CCC 1356 and following.)
Quote:
| Venial sins are not deserving of hell (1863).
|
He
really should begin to properly cite catechism topics if he intends to
contend with knowledgeable Catholics about our most holy faith. The
Catechism actually reads...
1862 One commits venial sin when, in a
less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the
moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but
without full knowledge or without complete consent.
1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a
disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul's
progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral
good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial
sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial
sin does not break the covenant with God. With God's grace it is
humanly reparable. "Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of
sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently
eternal happiness."134
While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at
least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call
"light": if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when
you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number
of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is
our hope? Above all, confession.135 1864
"Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men,
but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."136 There
are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses
to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins
and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of
heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
This would rather well summarize the teaching of many n-Cs even though they would not use Catholic terminology. For example:
These two circles represent two kinds of lives:
Self-Directed Life
S-Self is on the throne
-Christ is outside the life
-Interests are directed by self, often
resulting in discord and frustration
Christ-Directed Life
-Christ is in the life and on the throne
S-Self is yielding to Christ,
resulting in harmony with God's plan
-Interests are directed by Christ,
resulting in harmony with God's plan
Quote:
| By performing acts of penance, Catholics can expiate their own sins (1459,1477)
|
Again he likes to "short cite" the catechism, which in context reads:
1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do
what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen
goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation
for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures
and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God
and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the
disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still
recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make
amends for the sin: he must "make satisfaction for" or "expiate" his
sins. This satisfaction is also called "penance."
1460 The penance the confessor imposes must take into
account the penitent's personal situation and must seek his spiritual
good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature
of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of
mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and
above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such
penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once
for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ,
"provided we suffer with him."63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much
ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do
nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the
cooperation of "him who strengthens" us. Thus man has nothing of which
to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make
satisfaction by bringing forth "fruits that befit repentance." These
fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the
Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64
His
other citation, CCC 1477 actually has nothing to do with his point,
though he seeking to attack the merit of the intercession of and the
Communion of Saints.
I answer this in my blog article The Intercession & Communion of Saints.
Again,
this is a very shallow and lite gospel of salvation. Does Gendron's
scripture citation accurately reflect the many passages of the New
Testament that deal with salvation? No, it does not. For instance,
consider the following 2 articles I wrote. The differences will be
pretty clear I think.
Quote:
| God can never deceive anyone (Titus 1:1-2). But man remains condemned if he continues in deception.
|
Well as we
all know, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, so there is
nothing wrong with this scripture citation, however, as one who has been
proved many times to teach error and misinformation, who would actually
be the deceived and continuing in their deception?
Quote:
| False religious systems hold people in bondage to deception by
perverting God's truth and grace. Any religion that teaches its
followers that salvation is obtained through human effort and merit is
nullifying the grace of God. Yet grace is the only means by which God
saves sinners! The Bible says "if by grace, it is no longer because of
works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace" (Romans 11:6).
|
Of course,
by inference he means the Catholic Church, but so far, have any of you
reading this seen any such perversions of God's truth and grace in
authentic Catholic teaching? I haven't...
Quote:
| Misplaced Faith Some people blindly put their faith in
religious leaders, assuming that their leaders would never seduce
anyone with a false plan of salvation. Yet the Apostle Paul warned that
"from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to
draw the disciples away after them" (Acts 20:30).
|
The complete relevant passage reads:[28]
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he
obtained with the blood of his own Son. [29] I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; [30] and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Now, in our discussion and analysis of Mike Gendron's messages, who is actually better described by these verses?
Quote:
| Other people simply choose not to respond or conform their lives to
truth. Instead they turn away to listen to teachers who say what they
want to hear (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
|
Here again, who has this proved to be true of in our examinations of Gendron's messages?
Quote:
Then there are people who have a zeal for God, but not in line with
the truth. Many people have been indoctrinated with false teaching and
have difficulty believing the truth. They fail because they refuse to
let go of unbiblical beliefs.
It was disobedience to God, a lack of faith in His purpose, plan, and
word that separated Adam and Eve from Him. Instead they chose to put
their faith in the deceiver, which brought spiritual and physical death
to us all.
|
By his own
words he convicts himself I think. God be merciful to him and to all
those who also, for the same reasons he gives here, do not carefully
study to show themselves approved unto God, rightly handling the word of
truth. (2nd Timothy 2:15)
Quote:
| God uses the very instrument that separated us from Him--faith--to
restore us back to Him. By repenting of our dead works and turning to
God in faith, we receive spiritual and eternal life: "For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift
of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
|
Sola Fide anyone? Yet Matthew 25:31-46 refutes this unscriptural gospel of "Christianity Lite".
Quote:
God's Truth Determines Destiny
The Bible makes it clear that:
- We are either children of the devil (John 8:43-45) or children of God (John 1:12),
- We live as slaves to sin or as slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:16-18), and
- We will spend eternity under the wrath of God or in His loving presence.
|
As does the Catholic Church! Anyone remember your Baptismal promises?
V. Do you reject Satan?
R. I do.
V. And all his works?
R. I do.
V. And all his empty promises?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth?
R. I do.
V. Do you believe in Jesus
Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary
was crucified, died, and was buried, rose from the dead, and is
now seated at the right hand of the Father?
R. I do.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness
of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting?
R. I do.
V. God, the all-powerful
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and
the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins. May he also keep us
faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
Quote:
| "Whoever believes in Him [Jesus Christ] will not be condemned, but
whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not
believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18).
|
Check...that's Catholic.
Quote:
| God has revealed that trusting in anything other than Christ and His
Word is evidence of deception. Those who choose to follow the
traditions, opinions, and philosophies of men will be condemned. Jesus
said "Whoever rejects Me and does not accept My words has something to
judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day" (John 12:48).
|
Sadly for
Gendron, he has failed to accept the very scriptural fact of the
inclusion of Sacred Tradition as mentioned in the New Testament and
cited by the apostles themselves. So then this would not qualify as the
"traditions of men" that he wishes to allege against the Catholic faith.
Infallibility & How The Apostles Taught the Study of Sacred Tradition.
Tradition? No way!
Quote:
| By contrast, how wonderful are the words, "to those who did accept
Him He gave power to become children of God to those who believe in His
name" (John 1:12).
Are you basing your life and eternal destiny on the eternal truths of
God's Word or on the Catholic traditions added to God's truth? How will
you respond to God's truth?
|
Sorry Mike
but having weighed you message against the Word of God and found them
seriously wanting of the fullness of truth, and having compared the Word
of God and the authentic teachings of the Catholic Church, I have not
found said additions, though I have found you yourself misrepresenting
Catholic doctrine and teachings and teaching contrary to the New
Testament, therefore I base my life and eternal destiny on the eternal
truths of God's Word and on the Catholic traditions documented for the 2,00 years of Christian history.
In conclusion,
Gendron offers the following as a chart showing alleged contradictions
between Catholic teaching and what he says "God teaches". The chart
won't reproduce here so I have broken it down so I can address it in its
particulars.
Quote:
God Teaches Salvation is only through Christ (Acts 4:12).
The pope Teaches Salvation is through the Roman Catholic Church and its sacraments (846, 1129).
|
First
notice the way he seems to intentionally disrespect the Pope by failing
to follow proper English standards and capitalizing His Holiness' title.
If I wanted to be equally petty, I suppose I could just decapitalize
his last name and call him "gendron", but I'm not like that.
Catholics have absolutely no problem at all with what Acts 4:12 says. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
Now Look at his Catechism citations:
846 How are we to understand this affirmation,
often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it
means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church
which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the
Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one
Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in
his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the
necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time
the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a
door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic
Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse
either to enter it or to remain in it.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.
"Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ
and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who
receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the
sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful
partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with
the only Son, the Savior.
Now...do these
citations contradict the verse from the Word of God that Mike Gendron
cited? Why no...they do not. In fact, nowhere in authentic Catholic
teaching will you anywhere find any assertion that salvation is by any means other than Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We never did, do not now, and never will.
Moreover, consider this, if Our Lord didn't want the church to serve the
purpose it does, then why did He specifically found it as he did in
18
And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And
whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in
heaven.
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Quote:
God Teaches You are saved by faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The pope Teaches You are saved by faith plus works (1815,1821,2010,2027).
|
We've all
seen the Ephesian passage so often we can quote it from memory, right? I
know I can. However, notice what is missing here. see any reference to
31 And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty.
32
And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall
separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep
from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.
34
Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come,
ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:
36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.
37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee?
39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee?
40
And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long
as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
41
Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart
from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the
devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink.
43 I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.
44
Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and
did not minister to thee?
45
Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you
did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.
46 And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.
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Quote:
God Teaches All who rely on observing the law--commandments--for salvation are under a curse (Galatians 3:10).
The pope Teaches Obedience to the commandments is necessary for salvation (2068).
|
Really
Mike? Better go back and read your New Testament again because you seems
to have totally missed the following passages, which your statement totally contradicts.
Quote:
God Teaches Salvation occurs at the moment you repent and believe the gospel (Acts 20:21,Ephesians 1:13).
The pope Teaches Salvation is a process from baptism through purgatory (161, 162, 1254, 1255).
|
First, look at what his verse citations actually say.
Now, does that in any way even infer what he says it does? No.
Does this one? Not at all. Neither verse speaks of immediate salvation. In fact,
However, the New Testament does say...
So then, how can
one work out their salvation with fear and trembling if it takes place
in an instant as Gendron has just stated?
St. Paul also tells us...
Not only does it
not speak of instant salvation, but teaches that salvation can be lost
by becoming that "castaway/" Paul refers to. So then...is Mike Gendron scripturally correct in what he has taught here?
But what about the Catechism references? Do they contradict the Word of God? Let's take a look.
161 Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for
our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. "Since
"without faith it is impossible to please [God]" and to attain to the
fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever
attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'But he who
endures to the end.'"
Perseverance in faith
162 Faith is an entirely free gift that God
makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to
St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good
conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made
shipwreck of their faith."44 To live, grow and persevere in the faith
until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the
Lord to increase our faith;45 it must be "working through charity,"
abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.46
1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism.
For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil
the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only
to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in
Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.
1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother,
who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized -
child or adult on the road of Christian life.55 Their task is a truly
ecclesial function (officium).56 The whole ecclesial community
bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the
grace given at Baptism.
Well? In fact, do these not clearly teach the very same things that the New Testament tells us in passages like
19 Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
20
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the
world.
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We
Catholics have absolutely no problem at all with what both those verses
say. In fact we will say "amen" and Alleluia" to them both because we
believe every word written in the Bible.
However, in checking these passages for context I discovered that a
serious problem for Mike Gendron. Look at the very next verse that he
doesn't bother to cite and which blows his whole instant salvation
concept right out the proverbial window!
[23]
provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not
shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been
preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a
minister.
Purgatory is actually pretty easy to explain. See Biblical and Jewish Traditional Beliefs About Purgatory
Quote:
God Teaches You can know that you have eternal life (John 10:27-30, 1 John 5:13).
The pope Teaches You sin if you presume to be saved without merit (2090-2092).
|
I think
the scripture passages that I have already cited already deal with the
fact that we know we can be saved, but that Gendron misrepresents both
authentic Catholic teaching as well as the Word of God in the things he
has said so far.
Let's look at the Catechism citations anyway though because I think we'll see a very specious misrepresentation of what they say.
* Hope
2090 When God reveals Himself and calls him, man
cannot fully respond to the divine love by his own powers. He must
hope that God will give him the capacity to love Him in return and to
act in conformity with the commandments of charity. Hope is the
confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of
God; it is also the fear of offending God's love and of incurring
punishment.
2091 The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair and presumption:
By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal
salvation from God, for help in attaining it or for the forgiveness of
his sins. Despair is contrary to God's goodness, to his justice - for
the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to his mercy.
2092 There are two kinds of presumption.
Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save
himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty
power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion
and glory without merit).
Quote:
God Teaches The sacrifice of Jesus is finished (John 19:30).
The pope Teaches The sacrifice of Jesus continues in daily Mass (611, 1405).
|
Here he
attempts to attack the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Christ in the
Mass. We know that this is what the Church teaches and those who know
the scriptural teachings on the Eucharist, know full well that we all
say "amen' to the verse in John 19:30 that Gendron cites, but let's look
at his Catechism citations anyway to see what's going on. (See also my article The Eucharist IS Scriptural)
611 The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that
moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. Jesus includes the
apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. By doing so,
the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: "For
their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in
truth."
1405 There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of
this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which
righteousness dwells," than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is
celebrated, "the work of our redemption is carried on" and we "break the
one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for
death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ."
No conflict with
scripture there, but I guess Gendron feels that if he throws a bunch of
numbers at people, they won't check it like I have done and as a result
they'll buy into his propaganda. Notice how he concludes.
Quote:
| As you can see, these teachings directly oppose each other. One is
truth that will set you free. One is deception that will hold you in
bondage.
|
Yeah, Mike, you're absolutely right.
Quote:
| Which teachings will you choose? Choose carefully. In this life you
can be wrong about a lot of things and still survive. But when this
life is over, if you were wrong about God's only provision for your
sins, you will perish in the lake of fire for all eternity.
|
Well Mr.
Gendron, I urge you to take this part of your message to heart and
reconsider for the sake of your eternal soul since it has been shown
that you not only wrongly oppose and misrepresent Catholic teachings,
but actually contradict specific passages of the Word of God in your
messages.
As someone pointed out earlier in this thread, take note of James 3:1, which says. Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.
Within minutes after appearing for the first time to hundreds of thousands of Catholics in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope,
announced that he would be praying to Mary for the protection of Rome.
Not once did he mention the name above all names, the name of Jesus.
The Vatican released this statement about his first official act:
"Francis began his first day as pope with a visit to a Roman basilica
dedicated to the Virgin Mary and prayed before an icon of the Madonna."
No one must have told him that praying to anyone other than God is
forbidden by the Word of God (Ex. 20:4; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Okay...here we go again with this guy. As usual Gendron wants to make
an issue of Catholic Marian devotion, but of course he doesn't even
understand it even though he claims that he was once Catholic.
Well said my friend! 
