My thoughts on the Pope. « A Call To The Remnant

I discover myself more and more dismayed by the widespread lack of discernment regarding not solely the papacy however the Catholic Church as a complete. Talking as a former Catholic, one who departed from the Church upon experiencing a real conversion, a born-again encounter with Christ. I’m significantly troubled by the rising acceptance of Catholicism amongst Protestant and Evangelical circles that, only some a long time in the past, would have maintained a transparent separation. The shift over the previous 25 to 30 years is each vital and regarding.

Analysis signifies that there are not less than 20 million former Catholics in the USA alone. Of those, research counsel that roughly 80–90% departed after present process a born-again expertise. If we lengthen these figures to South America, the quantity practically doubles, approaching 50 million people throughout the Americas who’ve left Catholicism for comparable causes. When extrapolated globally, the determine could possibly be nearer to 100 million. There may be, subsequently, a profound and deliberate cause why so many now determine as “ex-Catholics,” myself included, and I don’t hesitate to affirm that designation.

The widespread failure to acknowledge these realities, for my part, correlates intently with the phenomenon generally known as the “Nice Falling Away” a time marked by diminishing religious discernment, widespread biblical illiteracy, and the dilution of Protestant witness, which has develop into however a shadow of its former vitality. This erosion continues largely unabated.

The concept that the top of the Catholic Church, the Pope, could possibly be thought to be a born-again believer is, in my estimation, theologically untenable and traditionally absurd. That is to say nothing of the longstanding doctrinal errors promulgated by the Catholic Church, foremost amongst them the dogma of transubstantiation. The declare {that a} priest has the authority to remodel a chunk of bread into the literal physique of Christ not solely defies plain scriptural instructing but in addition strains credulity to the utmost. Such a declare, divorced from biblical foundations, highlights the extent of the doctrinal chasm.

Given these issues, I’ve intentionally kept away from engagement with latest papal funerals, elections, and public commentary surrounding the hold forth. I’m personally persuaded that the determine of the Pope, whether or not the current or a soon-coming successor, will fulfill the prophetic function of the False Prophet, one who will direct the world to the Antichrist, declaring him to be the true Christ. In a world that more and more regards the Pope because the de facto figurehead of Christianity, reverently referring to him because the “Holy Father” and the “Vicar of Christ,” such developments appear to me to be falling into place with alarming predictability.