The paralysis of Catholic bishops in the face of a tyrannical pope is not shared by non-Catholics like Franklin Graham. Pope Francis cannot fire or cancel an evangelical, like he did Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas.
Graham, son of the late, world-famous Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, posted on Facebook the following missive, regarding the blessing of homosexual relationships, released by the pope under the Latin title Fiducia supplicans:
“So-called ‘blessings’ from religious leaders won’t save you from the judgment of God! Pope Francis has now approved Catholic priests ‘blessing’ same-sex couples. But none of us, including the Pope, has the right to ‘bless’ what God calls sin. ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…’ (Isaiah 5:20). The Good News is that right now God will forgive sin, but we have to come to Him His way, on His terms – by repenting of our sins and placing our faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is interesting that an evangelical like Franklin Graham knows better than the pope. “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever” is something Graham understands
Graham enjoys a lot of Catholic company right now, including the recently cancelled Strickland, but also other cancelled appointees like Italian Bishop Carlo Vigano, America’s Cardinal Raymond Burke, and German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller. Strickland is the American equivalent to the historic Cardinal John Fisher of England, standing alone and speaking truth to power. Like the FBI, Pope Francis is doing all he can to demonize the most faithful clerics and laity in the U.S., using insulting language unworthy of the Vicar of Christ on earth.
The pope has called devout American Catholics, rigid, backward, political and that favorite Marxist term, “reactionary,” for opposing his confusion. But, like all dictators, the pope’s own rigidity cannot tolerate correction. Instead, Francis encourages and promotes endless contradiction and double-talk.
So, who was Cardinal Fisher? He was the only English bishop to speak out against the divorce-and-remarriage of King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn in the 1530s. Like Sir Thomas More, Fisher paid for his loyal opposition with his head. The other allegedly “Catholic” British bishops did not lose their heads, but they arguably lost their souls.
It is a comment on the American Catholic bishops that they are afraid, not of Henry VIII, but of their own pope, who treats the timeless truths of Christ like he made them up himself. He abuses his duty to defend and explain religious truths, using them like a toy over which he enjoys utter authority. He views the hierarchical Church as a corporation and himself as the CEO, whose lieutenants are duty-bound to obey his every word.
It is interesting that an evangelical like Franklin Graham knows better than the pope. “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever” is something Graham understands. But why should Franklin Graham even care?
Other Christian denominations, as well as Catholics themselves, need to understand that the pope is not the Roman Catholic Church.
Perhaps Graham subliminally knows that the authority of the Roman Church still exercises influence with some 25,000 different Christian denominations. After all, Graham has experienced the recent heroic and beleaguered papacies of Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict, who despite whining from the left, proclaimed timeless Christian truths.
Graham’s dart against the pope indicates that he knows that it was Catholicism, and not the “born again” Christians of his father’s legacy, which held the bridge against divorce-and-remarriage, abortion and contraception. A growing number of evangelicals are beginning to wake up that these issues actually united all Christians until 90 years ago.
Now we have homosexuality, transgenderism, and a host of other whacked-out ideas about God and Christianity. Franklin Graham knows, instinctively, that without the Catholic Church as a back-stop, Christian morality will end up in a sewer.
Other Christian denominations, as well as Catholics themselves, need to understand that the pope is not the Roman Catholic Church. His mission is to guard, explain and defend the timeless truths of Christ, not to change or invent new ones. If Catholics owe obedience to their hierarchy, it is not a one-way street. The hierarchy, from their deacons, priests, bishops, cardinals and pope, owe obedience to the “Deposit of Faith,” – the received and unchanging truths from God.
Through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, a new hope may well find that Christians will stand courageously together against a world filled with lies, confusion, contradictions and immorality.
So, what is a blessing? It is a conveyance of God’s grace, granted by a priest who does so as the stand-in of Christ. Any person can receive a blessing from a priest, whether they are in a sinful state or in what Catholics call “sanctifying grace.”
And thousands of non-Catholics ask priests for a blessing every day, in a train depot, airport or sidewalk. If they attend Mass, they cannot receive Holy Communion (another place where Francis has created confusion), but they are eager for the priest’s blessing when they attend as a visitor.
When bestowing a blessing anywhere, a priest never asks, “Are you sinless?” or “Are you Catholic?” The grace that the priest imparts through his blessing may, through the unbounded love and mercy of the one Triune God, bring them forward to a closer relationship with the one who told Pontius Pilate that he was the incarnation of Truth, a Truth that can never change.
Clearly, Fiducia supplicans was not needed, unless the true purpose was not religious – but political – the very accusation that the pope levels at traditional American Catholics.
The so-called “voices of moderation” that seek to minimize the import of the pope’s directive, should not be heeded. They claim that “Both the left and the right have got it wrong.”
No, they don’t.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
By specifically permitting the blessing of homosexual couples, the pope has raised the anchor in a virtual hurricane, and is allowing the “Barque of Peter” to drift towards the rocks. It says that what was sinful yesterday can now be sanctified. And if that is so, then Truth is fluid, changing and non-existent.
And therefore, Christ was either deluded or a liar.
But since the pope is not the Catholic Church, the Church and her Truth will survive, through its persecuted bishops and priests, and her faithful laity. After 500 years, the Reformation has brought us 25,000 different interpretations of the Bible. A Catholic civil war might be God’s way of bringing sincere Christians back together. The Baptist Franklin Graham’s correction of the pope indicates this possibility.
God the Father welcomes devotion to His son, the Word made Flesh, who is the unchanging Truth. Through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, a new hope may well find that Christians will stand courageously together against a world filled with lies, confusion, contradictions and immorality.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
23 Comments
Amen to that 🙂
Supressing the Truth is like trying to hold an air Ballon under water!
lt will ALWAYS COME OUT ON TOP
Fortunately most people do not need to be bribed by Heaven or frightened by the fires of Hell into conducting themselves with decency and humility, and that includes law-abiding, taxpaying Gay couples.
God would NEVER bribe anyone, He is offering you and me to partake in His Beauty and Life…He Loves us and wants the best for us., but often we are like stubborn children and want to try our own way, and God waits patiently with open arms for us to come to Him.
Amen, Eva. Chuck, you are calling good evil and evil good when you are saying homosexuality is decent and humble. God calls it abominable. So who’s right God or Chuck? Hell is where we deserve to go for breaking God’s perfect and holy law. Breaking His rules is like driving though the guardrail and ending up over a cliff. The guardrail or rules is for your protection. Heaven is God’s mercy on us that we do not deserve. Read the Bible and see how beautiful and perfect God is and see how wretched and evil mankind is.
Great article!
CD you make a good case against Christianity. Also against individual freedom. And against science. No wonder people are leaving your church.
Bob, many of the Catholics I know are fine with divorce, homosexuality and even abortion! It is only the true Christians, across the denominational spectrum, who hold true to the teachings of the Bible that compose the opposition. Apostates exist in all branches of Christianity because they do not hold onto the Bible as the rule of faith. Without the Bible, Christianity has nothing.
Your current pope was installed in a rather unusual manner, much like Biden, and for the same reasons: destruction of that which is traditional in order to bring on globalism. For all I know Pope Frankie is the antiChrist.
Franklin Graham has his problems, such as supporting the jab, but at least he holds onto the Word of God.
How dare you, Bob? “ Frank’s mission is to guard, explain and defend the timeless truths of Christ, not to change or invent new ones.” When was the last time you were the POPE, Bob? Do you have your own Magesterium? Methinks “nay.” Last time I checked, Frank has his own Magesterium, and if you oppose it, you’re excommunicated. So, risk your own soul to eternal fire for rejecting this Pope’s declaration. His new interpretation simply clarifies what others have previously gotten wrong including St. Paul. It’s never been prohibited for an open, unrepentant, mortal sinner to take communion… the whole entire Church has simply THOUGHT SO incorrectly, since the dawn of Christianity. Might makes right, my friend! Cannon 2023, of the Frankensterium, sayeth thus!
Homosexuality is immoral and a sin. It always was in every religion on earth. Every culture that decided to accept it rapidly self destructs. It is still illegal in 90 countries. Homosexual adoption of children is child abuse. The fact that the homosexuals of today are hell bent on indoctrinating children into sexual perversion displays clearly just how sick they are.
Drop your bible and homosexuality and a bunch of other personal freedoms are no longer immoral or sin. See how easy that is? How freeing? Without the Bible you can live free of mind-forged manacles, enjoy and love and be active here on earth and respectfully die and never have to think about the golf course of heaven.
Thank You for your thoughts Bob. As a non Catholic I always thought the pope dictated religious policy. I remember my father talking about his concerns when John F. Kennedy was running for president. We were just children then. I heard my dad discussing his concerns (with adult friends). “As President, Kennedy would follow the dictates of the pope.”My father did not vote for Kennedy for that reason. I believe President Kennedy was the greatest president of our lifetime. A Baptist supporting a Catholic. Today, I support another Catholic for president, Bobby Kennedy Jr.
You’re NOT supporting Donald Trump?
chuck, isn’t it time for another booster?
Boost up.
Paraphrasing here: “I knew John F Kennedy. He was a friend of mine. And you Bobby Kennedy Jr are no JFK.
I’m
Sure your Friends with Satan to Lucifer Lucinda.
Know that, this is the day of salvation. You can choose JESUS as your savior today and kneel before the King of Kings willingly or in the day of judgment. Our merciful GOD allows us to choose now. Either way, it will be according to His Word.
Matthew 5:18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Romans 14: 11 – 12: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Philippians 2: 9 – 11: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Causing to Stumble- Matthew 18:6
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Doug glenn: because I’m an intelligent and educated critical thinker, I can say with certainty that there is no satan or Lucifer or whatever scary monster Christians have invented to control the poorly educated and easily fooled.
Lucinda, do not deny the existence of the one that you work for. Your master is as much of a evil entity as the Creator of All Creation exists. Do not forget that there is still time for you to ask for forgiveness and repent for your sins. The Creator of All Creation would like to see you get saved also.
How do you know any of that? Evidence, even a tiny hint? You are a good representative of the poorly educated and easily fooled.
Catholics have several significant issues with theology. Not the least of which is this mess of a doctrine.
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/papal-infallibility-1084
I applaud the pope for moving the Catholic Church forward.
We are Christians who follow the statutes of the Judeo-Christian church. Even If a person is a nonbeliever, it is good to purchase a Bible and read it as a classic to be studied. My husband’s family lived in Iron Mountain, Michigan which boasted the highest number of mixed marriages between Catholics and Protestants. There is a unity between the Catholics, Protestants and Messianic Jews who know and tell others that God loves us and will forgive us for our sins if we repent. We do not need to work to earn heaven. A former Moslem turned Christian observed that no other religion/worldview has the assurance of unconditional love and forgiveness. Built into this love for human life and our value as individuals is the servants’ heart which allows Christians like Franklin Graham’s BGEA to head for disasters in the world to minister and aid. Likewise, we have admired the essays and leadership of previous Popes, In addition Bishop Vigano, and Father Frank Pavone (Priests for Life) have dedicated their lives to teaching us our values down to conception. We have studied martyrs who were executed for standing up for what is right. We have studied the works of St. Augustine, Sir Thomas More and many others too numerous to list. Recently we heard a Rabbi (Messianic) explain that the secular Jews have not read the Old Testament and therefore do not believe there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned. All of us created by God have a sin nature that we need to acknowledge and repent of asking for forgiveness, for the sake of our salvation and the salvation of generations to follow. God provided Jesus as our model to follow and learn from. We refer you to IMPRIMIS that you can access through facebook if you do not receive it by mail. The Bishop Robert Barron of (“Word on Fire Catholic Ministries”) of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester (Minnesota) gave a speech that says it best: “The Most Important Decision of Life”. .June 2023/Volume 52, Number 6. The Bishop also spoke at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference (ARC) to the Global Community of Christians who advocate for Western Civilization Values and for Family, Faith and Freedom. {you can watch him on utube) Bishop Robert Barron was excellent. Thank you, Bob, for your essays and historical knowledge.
Satan is determined that the knowledge of God, of his creative power, shall be banished from the contemplation and remembrance of men. But he cannot accomplish his purpose while the fourth commandment is kept; for the Sabbath directs the minds of men to the Creator. Therefore Satan has worked through the Papacy to set aside this precept. He inspired the Romish Church to “think to change” the times and laws of God. In setting aside the true Sabbath, which is the sign of God’s power and authority, and substituting the institution which is the sign of Rome’s supremacy, the “man of sin” is indeed “sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself that he is God.” He is turning the minds of men away from God, and directing them to himself, and to the one whose instrument he is,—to the prince of evil. The Sunday sabbath, the child of the Papacy, has been accepted by the Protestant church, who have fostered and cradled it as if of heavenly birth. But their human sanction can never give it acceptance with God. It is a rival, spurious Sabbath, usurping the place of the holy day upon which God rested, which he blessed and sanctified, and gave to man as an everlasting memorial of the Creator’s work. When the facts are brought before them, will Protestants, by their deference to the Sunday, consent to recognize the sacrilegious claims of the man of sin? Will they choose to worship him instead of God?
2 Corinthians 6: 2: now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Joshua 24: 12: And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve…
Know that, this is the day of salvation. You can choose JESUS as your savior today and kneel before the King of Kings willingly or in the day of judgment. Our merciful GOD allows us to choose now. Either way, it will be according to His Word.
Matthew 5:18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Romans 14: 11 – 12: For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Philippians 2: 9 – 11: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.