Anyone paying attention to the Catholic church knows that they have been going through a lot of internal turmoil recently. Between the numerous homosexual priests abusing thousands of children for decades, to the coverup by what conservative Catholics term the “lavender mafia”, to the recent Amazon Synod which has conservative Catholics fuming. The Synod appeared to elevate an indigenous goddess alongside Christ, suggested breaking longstanding Catholic tradition of celibate priests and generally conducted itself in a manner that has many Catholic laities very concerned. As a non-Catholic, I could view all this as a complete non-starter. It has no effect on me. However, having grown up in a heavily Catholic area, and having numerous friends and family members who are Catholic, I keep apprised of what is going on in the Catholic church. This article is for those who are still stuck in the Catholic dogma.
Many Catholics are insistent that, even though Pope Francis is a terrible pope, and that he should never have been appointed pope, the church itself can be redeemed. Even leaving out the dozens of doctrinal problems in the Catholic church, such as purgatory, transubstantiation, indulgences, salvation by works and so on, the recent actions of the Catholic hierarchy reveal that it is long gone. Any Catholics reading this will know about the Pachamammas statues that were featured on the Catholic altars during the Amazon Synod, both in the Amazon and in Rome. In Rome, they also spent some time in the Tiber River after an enterprising young conservative Catholic did the Catholic version of cleansing the Temple took them from the altar and tossed them in the River. I’m not usually a fan of vandalism, but I’ll overlook my scruples in this instance. For those who don’t know, the Pachamamma statues are of naked pregnant women, which the Catholic church claimed was a statue of the “Blessed Virgin”. Those familiar with indigenous religions in the Amazon claim that it is instead a depiction of the Amazonian fertility God and that the Vatican is embracing a mixing of their version of Christianity with the native religions of the Amazon. Given that, to my limited knowledge, the “Blessed Virgin” has never been portrayed in such a way, the case made by the conservative Catholics seems strong.
However, worse by far is the recent addition to the Colesseum. The Vatican owns the Colesseum and controls all activity that takes place there. A recent exhibit on Carthage has sparked some serious concern given the Vatican allowed a depiction of the Carthaginian God Molech to “welcome visitors to the exhibit”. There are a couple of issues here that give me pause. One, there is some confusion over the title of the Carthaginian god. Depending on who you read, the Carthaginians referred to their diety as either Baal or Molech. Now, either way, the appearance of Molech in a historical exhibit would not really give me cause for concern. The Carthaginians undoubtedly worshiped this demonic god and it would be impossible to portray them accurately without referring to their deities. However, given that Molech was the god to whom the Carthaginians (and other ancient cultures including, at times, the Israelites) sacrificed infants, it seems odd for the Catholic church to promote an exhibit featuring him.
Further, it seems even odder given the location. The Catholic church regards the Colesseum as a place where people were martyred for the Catholic faith and has previously encouraged people to collect “sacred dust” from the arena. While this practice is absurd, it seems very strange that a Catholic church dedicated to its traditional dogma would be placing Molech in what they regard as a holy site.
However, in the context of the recent moves by the Catholic church, it makes sense. One of the Pope’s most frequent interviewers claims he does not believe Jesus was God. Taking that claim at face value, all of this makes sense. The pope is making small moves to elevate other religions, ancient and modern, indigenous and extinct, to the same level as Christianity. This fits into an eventual formation of a one-world religion which is predicted in the Bible.
Now my Protestant and Baptist readers may be wondering why I’ve spent so much time on a Catholic issue. There are two reasons. One, many of the mainline Protestant denominations are very friendly with Rome and are doing similar things. If it is happening in the Catholic church, it is happening in Protestant denominations. If it’s happening in yours, there is a simple answer. Leave. You will not be able to persuade a convinced leftist to give this up. Second, for my Catholic readers, which I know I have some, consider this a wake up call. Maybe it’s time you consider that the Protestants and Baptists have it right about their doctrines. I mean no offense by that, I have Catholic friends and they are deeply disturbed by the happenings in the Vatican. So, Catholic readers, let me ask, can you defend the Pope on this? If you can’t, then the Pope is not inerrant and his pronouncements cannot be trusted exclusively. However, the Bible is inerrant. I would urge you to turn to the Scriptures and, ignoring the pronouncement of the church, read it for yourself. I think you’ll find that much of what the church has told you is not true, particularly about salvation. If you want to know what the true Gospel is, I encourage you to check out this article or listen to this podcast to learn more.
https://pulpitandpen.org/2019/11/08/the-vatican-places-giant-statue-of-molech-at-colosseum-entrance/
In His Image 