THE KINGDOM, THE POPE, AND JESUS

It seems that the Pope is a modern-day religious pluralist, who believes that there are many routes to heaven. Responding to a list of published questions, Francis wrote:

·       “You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience.

·       “Sin, even for those who have no faith, exists when people disobey their conscience.” http://www.truthandaction.org/pope-says-dont-believe-god-go-heaven/2/

However, the Pope’s words are at great variance to those of the One he is supposed to represent. Jesus’ teachings fail to extend the Pope’s glad tidings. Instead, Jesus insisted that salvation could only come through Him. When asked what deeds had to be performed in order to have eternal salvation, He answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29), and not merely in their conscience. Even more to the point, He informed the leadership:

• I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." (John 8:24)

Not very politically correct, but consistent with everything Jesus had taught! He also informed His slow-to-learn disciples that salvation could only come through Him:

• "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

And how did Jesus regard those of other religions?

·       Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (John 10:7-9)

In contrast, the Pope claims that salvation is on our own terms, according to our own heart: “God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart.” How reassuring but also misleading!

WHAT A BETRAYAL: Pope Francis and Terror

Why are thousands of faithful Muslims sacrificing all to join ISIS? Why does the Muslim world even speak glowingly of ISIS? Why are other Islamic terrorist groups endorsing ISIS? Perhaps they see in ISIS  the true Islam.

In their propaganda magazine Dabiq, the Islamic State described its vision for humanity:

·       “This is a divinely-warranted war between the Muslim nation and the nations of disbelief… Indeed, waging jihad — spreading the rule of Allah by the sword — is an obligation found in the Quran, the word of our Lord… The blood of the disbelievers is obligatory to spill by default. The command is clear. Kill the disbelievers, as Allah said, ‘Then kill the polytheists wherever you find them.’” https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/did-francis-really-say-catholics-are-as-violent-as-islamic-terrorists

ISIS is correct. This is what the Koran teaches, and the Islamic world knows it. The history of Islam testifies to it, but the West continues to deny it, even the leadership who have been entrusted to protect their people.

Pope Francis was just asked: “What concrete initiatives can you advise or suggest in order to counteract Islamic violence? Thank you, Holiness.”

Francis indirectly admitted that he didn’t have any initiative. Even worse, he argued that such an initiative would be misguided:

·       I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy … this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law … and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence ... and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything. There are violent persons of this religion … this is true: I believe that in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them. When fundamentalism comes to kill, it can kill with the language… I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence…How many young people, how many young people of our Europe, whom we have left empty of ideals, who do not have work … they take drugs, alcohol, or go there to enlist in fundamentalist groups… But this is a fundamentalist group which is called ISIS … but you cannot say, I do not believe, that it is true or right that Islam is terrorist.

Why does Francis deny the obvious – Brussels, Nice, Orlando, San Bernardino, 9/11, sex-attacks all across Europe, and the teachings of the Koran? Certainly the Bible doesn’t teach violent jihad for world conquest. Jesus didn’t behead His enemies. Instead, He died for them. In contrast, Mohammad beheaded whole tribes, taking their wives and daughter as sex-slaves, and Muslims appreciate this fact. Consequently, when the Christian sins, he cannot claim that Jesus led him to do it. Christians do not cry “God is great,” as they slaughter the infidels. While Christ civilizes, Mohammad has provided inspiration for the worst crimes imaginable.

The interviewer again tried to bring the Pope back to his original question, “Your concrete initiatives to counteract terrorism, violence?” Francis again made it clear that he wasn’t going to address Islamic terror and the destruction of his own flock in the Middle East and in North Africa:

·       Terrorism is everywhere. You think of the tribal terrorism of some African countries… Terrorism grows when there are no other options, and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person — men and women — this is already the first terrorism! You have cast out the wonder of creation — man and woman — and you have put money in its place. This is a basic terrorism against all of humanity! Think about it!

I guess we haven’t thought about it long enough as the Pope has. We’re just ignorant.

However, never once would Francis admit what Muslims have been consistently saying about their motivation. According to them, it is all about Islam. Why not listen to them? They know the reasons for their actions, and they are very plain about them. Instead, Francis has blindly and stubbornly invoked his own anti-capitalistic analysis as an explanation for Islamic behaviors. Poor oppressed Muslims, according to him. However, no Muslim has ever stated that he became a terrorist because he needed a job or because of the “oppressive” capitalistic system.

What would Francis say about Nazi terrorism and genocide? Would he also say that pious Catholics do the same thing? I doubt it. Why then the difference. Why is he unwilling to name the problem?

What would have happened if the Western allies thought that Nazism was just a product of oppressive capitalism? Would it have made any difference to offer them jobs? In essence, this is what Neville Chamberlain had done, and this allowed the Nazis to solidify their war machine.

Meanwhile, Christians and other non-Muslims are being raped, kidnapped, forced to convert, and slaughtered by the tens of thousands. Who is guilty? Of course, ISIS and the many other Islamic terroristic associations, but also the Pope and the Western leaders who have been allowing this cancer to metastasize.

Not only that, they have provided a protective shield for Islam. They have under-reported and disguised Islamic terror, and they have either criminalized or marginalized any real reporting about Islam. They have even placed Islamic advisors in top positions to determine policy. They have tied the arms of the FBI and law-enforcement, minimizing their ability to protect those they are being paid to protect. WHAT A BETRAYAL!

INTER-FAITH PRAYER: SHOULD WE PARTICIPATE?

The inter-faith prayer movement is a tsunami covering the landscape of the Church. Many want to bring the various faiths together to “discover common ground and feel connected.”

• What happens when people of different faiths pray together? According to Gandhi, prayer is a ‘longing of the soul.’ And when individual souls come together to pray—even when their languages or cultures or religions are different—they are longing for their God while also demonstrating peace, love, and unity with all of God’s children. New research has found that interfaith prayer can be a powerful, binding force that helps a diverse group of people discover common ground and feel connected. 

Those who resist this movement are regarded as narrow, divisive, and lacking in any concern for people of other religions. Consequently, world religious leaders are trying to form connections through prayer:

• In an effort to encourage peace in the Middle East, Pope Francis hosted the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian worlds at the Vatican on Sunday, presenting an ecumenical gathering that joined professing Christians and Catholics together with Muslims, Jews and Druze.

About this, Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News wrote:

• “When leaders of different religions come together and pray for a common cause, they are not only appealing to God, they also are showing the world they believe that followers of different religions are still brothers and sisters before the one who created them,”.

Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen gave his blessings:

• “I love the fact that [the Pope has] made the Church more inclusive, not trying to make it smaller, but to try to make it larger—to take everybody in. So, that just resonates with me.” 

Certainly, it is important that Christians join hands with others. I would be glad to join with Muslim and Hindu neighbors to get potholes filled or to press for better subways.

There are many ways to bond across religious lines, but, for the Christian, inter-faith prayer is not one of them. While I would be glad to bond with my Muslim neighbor by shoveling his snow, I would not want to bond by sharing my wife or children. Besides, as Paul warned, there are also other ways that we must not bind ourselves to others:

• Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

What does it mean to “not be yoked together with unbelievers?” Would this include interfaith worship and prayer? Evidently! The Bible gives us so many examples of God’s people justifiably refusing similar yoking.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also wanted to unify his diverse kingdom. He had therefore commanded that all had to bow down before his statue and worship, warning:

• Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace." (Daniel 3:6)

However, three Hebrew young men refused to be grateful  neighbors and to be yoked together through worship (Daniel 3:18) but were miraculously rescued from the furnace.

King Darius of the Persians and Medes had been coaxed into passing a law requiring all to pray to him. Perhaps he too conceived of this as a good way to unify his kingdom. However, Daniel would not submit and was found praying to the God of the Hebrews. Although he was thrown to the lions for his violation, he too was miraculously delivered (Daniel 6), thereby demonstrating God’s approval for his single-minded devotion.

With the Jewish Mordechai, the stakes were even higher. He refused to merely knell down before Haman, who subsequently decided to destroy the entire Jewish nation because of Mordechai refusal to honor him. Once again, God miraculously saved His people (Esther 3--).

Does this apply to interfaith prayer – a kneeling in endorsement of other religions? The Apostle Paul had warned:

• Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:14-16)

While we must “flee from idolatry,” does this include any participation in or any positive acknowledgement of non-Christian prayer or worship? Evidently! Paul explained that whenever we participate in any form pagan worship, we participate with demons:

• No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)

Clearly, we are not allowed to acknowledge any other gods. When we participate in interfaith prayer, we acknowledge the worthiness of other gods and the prayers to them. This is a participation in something that arouses the “Lord’s jealousy.” To be a friend of the world is surely to be an enemy of God (James 4:4)

Those who participate in interfaith prayer might argue that this is okay with Christ, because they had their mind on Jesus the whole time. But would it be okay? Instead, it would be as if your wife caught you with a prostitute, and you responded, “I was thinking of you the entire time I was with her.” Surely, this would not satisfy your wife. Why should this thinking satisfy God!

When we participate in inter-faith prayer, we are likewise violating our relationship with our Savior. In a sense, our behavior is communicating the wrong message – that pagan prayers are just as valid as ours, even though they pray to false gods. It also says that Christ is not the only possible means of salvation. This represents a denial of the Gospel.

At this point, we need to make an important distinction. Praying with a non-Christian who is seeking or who is in need of a healing is entirely different. Such prayer does not represent an endorsement of another religion or a participation with other gods.

Interfaith prayer is an endorsement of other religions! However, prayer is unacceptable to our God if it is directed to other gods. Instead, prayer must be to the God of the Bible alone.

Even when we are praying to the right God our prayers might also be “detestable.” If we are not repentant, our prayers will not be acceptable:

• If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable. (Proverbs 28:9)

Why then should not pagan prayers also be detestable? When we fail to respond repentantly to the One true God, we should not expect our prayers to be answered:

• "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 7:11-13)

When we solicit and honor the prayers of someone who refuses to believe in Jesus, we indicate that Jesus is not necessary. However, Jesus would not even respect the prayers of the Pharisees. Instead, citing Isaiah, He claimed that their worship was worthless:

• You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:  "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" (Matthew 15:7-9)

Would we call an unrepentant adulterer to the podium to pray? No! Why then would we call someone with a different god up to pray?

You might argue that interfaith prayer is okay as long as it is not brought into the church. This, of course, this is an unsustainable distinction. What will you say to your Imam friend who requests that you upon the doors of your church to an interfaith service after you have prayed with him? If you rejected such a request, you would be regarded as hypocritical.

The closest biblical example of  inter-faith prayer is found when Elijah called upon the priests of Baal to pray on Mt. Carmel with him, but this constituted a contest to see whose prayers mattered (1 Kings 18:16--). After the contest, the people concluded that only the God of Israel was worthy of worship and prayer!

Did the Israelites ever host an interfaith prayer session with the Canaanites? This would have been regarded as unthinkable and damnable!

Let’s now put aside the question of whether or not inter-faith prayer is acceptable to Jesus. There exists another problem. Many Christians will damage their faith if they participate in something that they think might be wrong. While Paul had argued that it was okay to eat food offered to idols, even at a pagan temple, he also warned:

• Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:13)

• But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

It is inevitable that if church leaders participate in inter-faith prayer, they will lead others into sin.

Once this compromise is made, the door is opened to many more. Israel had been repeatedly warned to not partake with the surrounding people. However, they did. First, they simply learned their customs, but this only led to more:

• They mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. (Psalm 106:35-40)

Perhaps it started with inter-faith prayer. Once I take the first bite of the brownie, I can hardly stop. Once we begin to share prayer, it is inevitable we will also be invited to participate in ungodly services. How can we then say “no!”

Besides, how can we talk about the need for Christ once we engage in inter-faith prayer, thereby endorsing other religions? We can’t. We have already “preached” a different message. Once we have engaged in interfaith prayer, we have placed ourselves on the proverbial slippery-slope, where the only way to go is down.

Ashamed of the Gospel: The Charge of “Fundamentalism”

Shame is an excellent tool to silence opposition, and Pope Francis knows how to use it, charging “fundamentalism” to silence theological consideration.

On September 16, 2015, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) wrote:

·       Religious fundamentalism keeps God at a distance, and keeps believers from building bridges with others, Pope Francis reflected on Sunday during a radio interview.

That’s odd! I thought that God wanted us to believe certain fundamentals of the faith like:

·       "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

Aren’t we supposed to be assured by the fundamental truth that Christ died for our sins and, on the basis of this, to know that we have peace with God? However, it seems that, according to Francis, this fundamental truth would “divert [our] minds from him”:

·       “Our God is a God who is close, who accompanies. Fundamentalists keep God away from accompanying his people, they divert their minds from him and transform him into an ideology. So in the name of this ideological god, they kill, they attack, destroy, slander. Practically speaking, they transform that God into a Baal, an idol.”

I had no idea that this fundamental truth would “keep God away!” However, it is this truth coupled with the truth of my utter unworthiness that draws me lovingly to those I would ordinarily hate. (Okay, I have much more growing to do in the area of love.)

I am therefore mystified that, according to the CNA:

·       The Pope said that no religion is immune from the possibility of fundamentalism. He said fundamentalism, instead of creating a bridge, creates a wall that blocks encounter with another person. It seeks ways to disagree. With fundamentalism, he said, “you can’t have friendship between peoples.”

Instead, it is these Christian fundamentals that shoot down my arrogance, belief in my entitlement, and humble me to follow Jesus. It is these truths that have motivated me to reach out in friendship and to forgive those who hurt me. Why? Because of another fundamental – I must forgive as I have been forgiven.

Instead, it matters what fundamentals are embraced. If “world conquest” is the fundamental, this will have a stifling effect upon friendship. Also, if “violent socialistic revolution” is the fundamental or ideal, then chaos and destruction is guaranteed.

However, if love and justice are our fundamentals, we can expect better fruit and the blessings of God.

It is worthy of note that Francis has his own fundamentals. Here are some of his sayings:

·       "You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. There is a limit. Every religion has its dignity."

·       "A Christian who does not protect creation, who does not let it grow, is a Christian who does not care about the work of God; that work that was born from the love of God for us. And this is the first response to the first creation: protect creation, make it grow."

·       "God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life. Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve."

·       "The 'big bang,' that today is considered to be the origin of the world, does not contradict the creative intervention of God, on the contrary it requires it."

·       "This is playing with life. Beware, because this is a sin against the creator," he said, denouncing euthanasia as a "false sense of compassion" in November. The comments came on the heels of Brittany Maynard's advocacy efforts to die with dignity, but he did not address her death specifically.

·       As bishops ended a two-week conference in October by rejecting landmark wording that would soften the church's stance toward homosexuality and divorce, Pope Francis said: "God is not afraid of new things" and called on the church to adapt to "changing conditions in society."

Clearly, Francis has his own fundamental beliefs, and he is entitled to them. However, it does not seem that he extends this same courtesy to others. This disguised intolerance for the theology or fundamentals of others is also apparent in certain New Age thinkers.

Eckhart Tolle, Oprah Winfrey’s New Age guru, raises Francis’ objection:

• “If you go deep enough in your religion, then you all get to the same place It’s a question of going deeper, so there’s no conflict here. The important thing is that religion doesn’t become an ideology…the moment you say 'only my belief' or 'our belief' is true, and you deny other people’s beliefs, then you’ve adopted an ideology [theology or fundamental]. And then religion becomes a closed door.”

Everyone has their ideology, even Tolle. He too is a fundamentalist! His ideology is mystical and experiential as opposed to rational. His ideology excludes no less than the ideology of the Ayatollah. He even obliquely appeals to his own ideology to defend his fundamentals.

We are all fundamentalists. Instead, the question should be, “Do I have a theology or fundamentals that accords with reality, justice, and love?” Francis has been pushing an anti-capitalistic, pro-socialistic fundamental and castigates the church for not following suit.

However, the church has many reasons to question the implementation of more entitlement programs in the place of biblical interventions.

Charles White, professor of Christian Thought and History at Spring Arbor University, writes about one biblical intervention:

• The Methodists made such an impact on their nation that in 1962 historian Elie Halevy theorized that the Wesleyan revival created England’s middle class and saved England from the kind of bloody revolution that crippled France. Other historians, building on his work, go further to suggest that God used Methodism to show all the oppressed peoples of the world that feeding their souls on the heavenly bread of the lordship of Christ is the path to providing the daily bread their bodies also need. (Mission Frontiers, Sept-Oct 2011, 6)

• Coming to Christ through the Methodist movement changed the loves of a million people in Britain and North American in the eighteenth century….most of these people and their children moved from the desperation of hand-to mouth poverty to the security of middle-class life as they made Christ their Lord and experienced the impact of His power on their economic lives. As these people moved up the social ladder, they began to influence the political life of their nation. They helped to transform Britain from an eighteenth-century kleptocracy – where the powerful fueled their lives of indulgence by exploiting the poor into a nineteenth century democracy – which abolished slavery and used its empire to enrich the lives of every subject of the crown. (9)

Before this glorious movement of the Spirit, England had been in turmoil. White explains:

• The police were also overwhelmed by the fighting and killing of the mob. The law executed people for 169 capital crimes, but the regular march to the gallows did nothing to make the streets safe at night. Sexual immorality was common at all levels of society, and the nation was overwhelmed with illegitimate children. (7)

What made the difference? Wesley formed people into small groups where they would pray, confess their sins, and pledge to follow Christ in all His teachings or fundamentals (Matthew 28:19-20)! No mention was ever made of entitlement programs.

According to God’s revelation to the Prophet Jeremiah, the fundamentals of biblical instruction are essential – the one thing that is worthy of boasting:

• This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

According to the Apostle Peter, the knowledge of the fundamentals is the basis for all forms of blessing:

• Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:2-3)

Let us therefore not be ashamed when others attempt to shame us as “fundamentalists.”