Politics

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“The Devil is at work inside the Vatican.”

An insider finally admits what we’ve known all along.

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that “the Devil is at work inside the Vatican”, according to the Holy See’s chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican’s chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as “cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon”.

Check out the news piece from The Times Online.

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DefCon is now on FaceBook.

Defending Contending has finally joined the world of social networking. We are now on Facebook and you can ‘friend’ us here.

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Sermon of the week: “What Every Catholic Should Know” by Mike Gendron.

Your sermon of the week is What Every Catholic Should Know by Mike Gendron. This is a good message on the soul-damning errors of the Romish system.

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Also download John MacArthur’s sermons Unmasking the Pope and the Catholic System from this previous post and Exposing the Idolatry of Mary Worship from this previous post.

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Quotes (701)

The doctrine of Salvation by Sacraments is a deadly delusion, the overthrow of the gospel, the destruction of souls and the path to perdition.
–John Campbell


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10 reasons to return to an oppressive, dead religion that preaches a gospel that cannot save.

It appears that the Catholic church is continuing to resort to marketing schemes to draw people back to the oppressive, dead religion of Rome.

It was only a few weeks ago that I posted a video highlighting this new trend and–if you thought it was only an isolated incident–I submit for your consideration another example of this Roman Catholic pragmatic approach to church growth found over at A Little Leaven where Chris Rosebrough aptly introduces the video by saying

If you know your Bible this video will give you several more reasons to not return to Rome.

Personally, I think for their number one reason they should have cited Proverbs 26:11

Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

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Scott Hodge and his hodge-podge of Roman Catholic meditative monastic heresy.

Chris Rosebrough is tackling an unbelievable issue that has crept into the church: The continued march backward into Romanism by supposed Evangelicals (some of which are the golden calves of Americanized Christianity) through the use of monastic meditation practices. He addresses this in his post Purpose-Driven Roman Catholic Monastic Mysticism (which is where I obtained the quotes below).

Roman Catholic Monastic Mysticism is becoming all the rage among innovative post-modern purpose-driven pastors. Practices developed by Roman Catholic Monks such as the Lectio Divina, The Practice of the Presence of God and the Prayer Examen which was created by on [sic] of the arch enemies of the Protestant Reformation, Ignatius Loyola are openly being promoted by an alarming number of seeker-driven / Purpose-Driven pastors. These so-called ’spiritual disciplines’ are being featured at Willow Creek, Saddleback, and Mars Hill to name just a few.

Rosebrough examines an absolutely astonishing sermon from seeker-sensitive pastor Scott Hodge who teaches his whole congregation that practicing the mystical Lecito Divina (like eating at a five-star restaurant) is somehow better than reading the Scriptures for yourself without the magical formula (like eating McDonalds). This is unbelievable when you consider Hodge is considered an evangelical protestant. What in the world did Luther break from Romanism for if this guy is directing his people to place the yoke back upon their necks and return to the bondage of Rome’s dead religion?

Let me be clear here, Pastor Scot Hodge is not promoting meditative practices similar to Lecito Divina, he’s promoting Lecito Divina itself. He spends the overwhelming majority of his sermon singing its praises and he even walks his whole congregation through a Lecito Divina session that will make your hair stand on end (for those familiar with Eastern mysticism and New Age practices).

To hear this unbelievable “sermon” and Rosebrough’s commentary with it, you can download it by right clicking here. It starts at 1:08:08 into the podcast.

While listening to this sermon, keep in mind that this Roman Catholic mystical practice was developed by men who did not believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone by Christ’s work alone. These monks were trying to earn their salvation through their monkery. These practices are not taught in the scriptures. Neither Jesus, his disciples, the prophets nor the patriarchs practiced Lectio Divina. This Roman Catholic practice is pure monastic mythology and spiritual fantasy and rather than helping you experience God, it is more likely that you will experience self deception or demonic spirits.

For those unfamiliar with Scott Hodge, DefCon dealt with him back in 2007 when his video mocking the sacred ordinance of baptism was making its rounds on the internet. You can check out our previous post on Scott Hodge in the post Narcissism Gone Wild.

The fact that seeker-driven and Purpose-Driven pastors are adopting Roman Catholic Monastic practices in droves proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that chasing after relevance has caused them to abandon Biblical truth and they are now being blown about by every wind of false doctrine. (Eph. 4:7-19) Sadly, this is what happens when you try to marry the church to the ’spirit of the age’.

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The peddler of false assurance.

Recently my grandfather was in the hospital for a week (it was looking pretty serious). On one of my visits to the hospital with my grandmother present, a nice white-haired man in a dress shirt and a tie entered the room. He introduced himself as a Eucharist Minister (I saw where this was going).

He was “doing his rounds” throughout the hospital visiting those who listed themselves as Roman Catholics on their intake papers and wanted to know if my grandfather wished to take (the heretically distorted version of Rome’s) holy communion. Of course both my grandparents were anxious to do so and stopped their profanities, taking of God’s name in vain, and all their other pet sins long enough to be good Catholics for a moment in the presence of such a holy man.

This man asked if we were all Roman Catholics and after my grandparents said yes, I said, “No, I’m a Christian.” Immediately realizing that his response was inevitably going to be “we’re all Christians,” I cut him off before he had a chance to tell that lie and I added, “Protestant,” for clarification.

My grandfather jokingly replied, “We won’t hold that against you.” And of course this stranger representing Rome agreed, confirming they don’t hold anything against anyone. (How kind of him.)

Because challenging this man in front of my grandparents would do more harm than good, I bit my tongue. He then wasted no time as he leapt into ecumenical action requesting that since we were all Christians “let us pray to God together.”

I stood and watched as this man who knows nothing about my grandparents, their lives, their sins, their struggles, or even their current relationship with God, blasphemously stood in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ as their mediator and prayed for them to be forgiven of their sins.

And what sin of my grandparents did this stranger clairvoyantly hone in on as their biggest sin, requiring special emphasis and forgiveness from? Why, none other than their needing to be forgiven of their sin of not realizing how close God is to them and that God is near to them at all times.

After this feel-good prayer of pseudo-repentance while avoiding the real issues of their sin nature in all its abhorrent wretchedness and hostility toward God, we were now ready for communion! (If only the hospital was this quick with their formalities before moving on to administer care and medicine.)

The man then reached into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out a round object. It was very similar to an Altoid tin. This man then opened the lid to reveal a bunch of white squares resembling Chiclets gum. He removed one of the squares, and holding it between his two fingers, held it in front of him so that my grandparents could see it. He then presumptuously announced, “This is the Lamb of God.” I could endure no more and removed myself from the room with an exhale that I’m certain he heard.

This false teacher peddling his false assurance had the audacity to call a little piece of food the very Lamb of God; what utter blasphemy. Yet my grandparents clung to every word of this fork-tongued tool of Satan, and now had clean consciences to continue about their normal lifestyles of rampant and impenitent sin.

Sadly, late at night while I sat alone by my grandfather’s bedside trying desperately to convey the gospel of Jesus Christ to him (Law first), he remained completely averse to it. After all, the nice priestly mediator already prayed for him and he took communion, so what need does he have of a propitiation for his sins?

Not even his brush with death that put him in the hospital could rouse him from his spiritual slumber. My grandfather opined that God understands that he’s just a human, and with a nice condescending pat on my arm he assured me that all will be well . . . all will be well.


“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.” – Jeremiah 16:14


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Roman Catholics copying Evangelicals?

A sad trend as of late is that many supposed professing Christians are unifying with and even returning to Rome (like a dog to its vomit) and taking many of the undiscerning with them.

But what I find ironic is that while an exodus out of Biblical Christianity and into Roman Catholicism is taking place (i.e. A great falling away), simultaneously the church of Rome appears to be borrowing from evangelicalism the very pragmatic methodologies that’s killing evangelicalism.

After watching the following video it seems that Rome is trying to model the same seeker-sensitive, feely-touchy, charismatic, man-made methodology that has left so many evangelicals disenfranchised with Christianity and is the impetus behind why so many are running into the arms of the Romish organization.

Here’s the Roman Catholic Life Teen promo video chalk full of images explicitly Romish along with images indistinguishable from modern Churchianity, devotion to a dead woman, and typical Romish heresy.

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The Fall of the United States of Rome.

Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) offers a sobering warning from the grave:

If the West goes down and is defeated, it will be for one reason only: internal rot . . . If we continue to spend our lives in jollification, doing less and less work, demanding more and more money, more and more pleasure and so-called happiness, more and more indulgence of the lusts of the flesh, with a refusal to accept our responsibilities, there is but one inevitable result—complete and abject failure. Why did the Goths and Vandals and other barbarians conquer the ancient Roman Empire? Was it by superior military power? Of course not! Historians know that there is only one answer: the fall of Rome came because of the spirit of indulgence that had invaded the Roman world—the games, the pleasures, the baths. The moral rot that had entered into the heart of the Roman Empire was the cause of Rome’s “decline and fall.” It was not superior power from the outside, but internal rot that was Rome’s ruination. And the really alarming fact today is that we are witnessing a similar declension in this and most other Western countries. This slackness, this indiscipline, the whole outlook and spirit is characteristic of a period of decadence. The pleasure mania, the sports mania, the drink and drug mania have gripped the masses.

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Welcome to the gospel in America in the 21st century.

The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining.  – Neil Postman

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Coexist.

The following great piece comes from Jake Hunt at WiserTime:

You’ve seen these, right? They make me mad. Why? Because they don’t really mean what they say.

Let’s break it down. We’ll call each worldview by the letter it’s supposed to represent. So:

  • C = Islam
  • O = Pacifism
  • E = “Gender equality” (=the LGBT agenda)
  • X = Judaism
  • I = Wicca / Pagan / Bah’ai
  • S =Taoism / Confucianism
  • T = Christianity

And let’s assume a very broad definition of “coexist”: living together without calling for the destruction of each other. Here are the problems with that:

  • C wants to kill E, X, T, and (by implication) O. If they achieved the world they wanted, I and S would also no longer exist.
  • O doesn’t allow for effective resistance or defeat of C.
  • E stands in direct opposition to C, X, and T, and accuses those who speak against them of hate speech. Also, they’re trying to edge X and T out of public schools in favor of their own agenda. (They’re afraid C will be offended, so they get less trouble.) E is actually very, very intolerant.
  • X’s existence is threatened not only by C but also by O, who invariably supports C over X.
  • I and S are statistically insignificant and are mainly on there to complete the bumper sticker.
  • T is who the bumper sticker is really arguing against, but poses no physical threat to any of the others.

Historically, T has brought about more tolerance– “coexistence” if you will– than any other movement. But the kind of “coexistence” the people who make this sticker envision is one where at least X and T are completely marginalized.

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Sarcasm at its finest: Happy spots and Hollywood.

Sometimes you can just use a good laugh.

The following video is a great follow-up of the post Woe Unto You.

And this video is a great follow-up to The Idolatry of Celebrity Worship.


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A Brave New World

The world in which we live today is indeed a brave new world.  One in which the majority of the masses have been lulled into sleep by the many “narcotics” lavished upon them in the form of endless entertainment, constant distraction, material excess and trivial pursuits.  Because of this the people, including sadly the majority of Christians, are totally ignorant to the growing evil in our day.  Instead, they “buy” whatever their favorite TV or news media sells them (usually Fox or Faux News) thinking they possess the high moral ground as they look down their noses on the dark side (i.e. CNN).  This being witnessed to as Christians will constantly decry the evil of one party, i.e. the Democrats, yet cover their ears and eyes and ignore the same evils in the Republican ranks. (No different really than how many will decry the sin of the world – think Manhattan Declaration, yet fail to address it within their church). 

All of this is terribly hypocritical, yet election after election it is the same old story for most “evangelicals” as they cheer for the Republican regardless of their policies, voting record, globalist agenda, personal indiscretions, etc., and lambast their opponent even if said person is more Constitutionally sound.  I witnessed this in the last Presidential election where I tried to point people to the ignominious facts about the Republican candidate, and advocate Chuck Baldwin, but all of this fell on deaf ears as I was hit with the “lesser of two evils” argument.  The persons advocating this position failing to see that the lesser of two evils (which may not really be less but only appear to be so) is still evil. 

But, this is the system we have been raised in and how we have been conditioned to formulate our beliefs.  Beliefs that for the majority have not been forged by independent and analytical thought, but rather by blindly believing what is heard on the radio or viewed on TV.  And once these beliefs are set in the individual’s mind, they become harder than concrete.  It is because of this that most will never take the time to look beyond the mass-media rhetoric of our day and to conduct independent research; something which often will lead to places many simply do not want to go to.  Hence, most will never pull anchor and set sail to venture out into the raging sea of independent thought, but will rather choose to play it safe and harbor in the calm waters of the port city of “ignorance is bliss.”

And then there  is the entertainment that lulls most Christians into a Laodicean and lackadaisical state where all that matters is what new album their CCM artist is going to release, how their sports team is doing, or what movie they will go to see on Friday night.  Here, I can think of no greater admonition than that given by the apostle Paul to the Roman church where he wrote,

And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Rom 13:11-14)

It is indeed high time to awake out of our sleep.  For me, this happened at least in part a few years after 9-11.  Something I cannot attribute to myself but to God for I was in a flag-waving slumber just like the majority of American Christians.  This, as I accepted the party line without thinking and analyzing the facts that were in plain sight.  Facts that led to places that I really did not want to go to, but often this is where the truth will take you. 

This takes me to the point of this post which was precipitated by an article I read today.  It is from a worldly viewpoint, but as is often the case, “…the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” (Luke 16:8)  I believe many will profit if they take the time to read it to get a perspective on things you will not often hear.  Certainly not from the controlled news media, nor sadly from the majority of the 501c-3 shackled pastors. 

The article examines our world today and compares it with Aldous Huxley’s 1931 novel, Brave New World.  A world that we amazingly find ourselves more and more living in.  A world that worse yet more and more Christians are falling in love with and being intoxicated with; in love with the sports, in love with the entertainment, in love with the musicians, in love with science, in love with the art, in love with the commercialism; in short, in love with the world we are commanded to hate.  And it is this sordid love affair that blinds us to the sin around us, keeps us from being diligent in the things of the Lord, and often has us speaking well of evil doers. 

My prayer is that we might heed the admonition of the Holy Spirit and awake from our slumber.  For it is not until one is awaked that they can begin to perceive the reality of the world around them.  This we must do because of all of us time is indeed short.

The article, Brave New World 2009 by James Quinn can be read here.

Also, I encourage folks to read Paul Proctor’s articles that many times focus on issues in the church as we do here at DefCon, but also include articles on our world covering topics such as globalism.  Also recommended are Chuck Baldwin’s articles where you will get a perspective not heard from many pastors.  Finally, thanks to a DefCon poster, I became aware of a pastor (Robert Read) preaching some excellent messages on entertainment, music, and the like.  For the one on entertainment, you can listen here. 

 

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A Roman Catholic with univeralist leanings vs. an Atheist on the topic of Christmas.

I found this short and interesting video debate between a Roman Catholic (who includes Evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons under the umbrella of “Christian”) and an Atheist on the subject of Christmas.

The Roman Catholic is a Foxnews anchor, and the Atheist is from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Yes, the same Freedom From Religion Foundation that honors the bloodthirsty racist Margaret Sanger as a great “Free Thinker.”

All in all, a very entertaining video.


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Second-grader sent home and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation for drawing a crucifix.

After a class was instructed to sketch something that reminded them of the Christmas holiday, one student drew a crucifix. Apparently, however, according to the godless government-run public school, not only did Christ’s birth have nothing to do with His birth (like they know anything about theology anyway), but it also warranted this child’s removal from school and necessitated a psychological evaluation. Read more about this shocking story from Massachusetts.

Welcome to a brave new world.

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A stark contrast between two worldviews.

In the news: The Duggar’s welcome child number 19 and a feminist who wants the planet to adopt China’s limited child policy (video).


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Book review: “The Marketing of Evil” by David Kupelian.

The Marketing of EvilI just completed a page-turner that I highly recommend to the readers of DefCon. David Kupelian’s provocative missive The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, And Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised As Freedom, takes you behind the scenes of how the media, entertainment, and politicians drive the culture and how they not only shape how the masses think, but also what to think.

If you ever wanted to know how sodomy went from a commonly shunned taboo (i.e. a sin) to now not only being accepted as normal, but those who dare to speak against it considered the new outcasts of society, you have to read this book.

If you ever wanted to know how our society can decry the atrocities of the Nazi Holocaust while simultaneously accepting and condoning the barbaric dismemberment of their own children under the guise of “freedom of choice,” you have to read this book.

Recommended to me by a friend, I found this book to be shocking, riveting, compelling, and impossible to put down.

Although I can’t recommend this book enough, I do caution some readers that the material dealt with can be disturbing at times and even profanity is present in the section dealing with the hip-hop culture’s grasp on our youth.

Well over 200 reader reviews have been done on this book on Amazon.com with an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Click here to read the reviews on Amazon.



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Former abortion providers speak.

Mexico Abortion

I am currently reading a riveting book by WordNetDaily managing editor, David Kupelian, entitled The Marketing of Evil. I am reading the chapter on abortion in which many former abortion providers (who have turned from their barbaric torture and dismemberment of innocent children) have revealed what the abominable abortion movement actually does to our most innocent and defenseless class of citizens. Here are a few very disturbing quotes from the book:

“Saline abortions have to be done in the hospital because of complications that can arise,” says ob-gyn staffer Debra Henry. . . . “The saline, a salt solution, is injected into the woman’s sac and the baby swallows it. The baby starts dying a slow, violent death. The mother feels everything, and many times it is at this point when she realizes that she really has a live baby inside of her, because the baby starts fighting violently for his or her life. He’s just fighting inside because he’s burning.”

“One night a lady delivered, and I was called in to see her because she was uncontrollable,” said David Brewer, M.D., of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. . . . “I went into the room, and she was going to pieces; she was having a nervous breakdown, screaming and thrashing. . . . I walked in, and here was her little saline abortion baby kicking. It had been born alive, and was kicking and moving for a little while before it finally died of those terrible burns, because the salt solution gets into the lungs and burns the lungs too.”

“I’ll tell you one thing about D&E abortions,” lamented Anthony Levantino. “You never have to worry about a baby’s [sic] being born alive. I won’t describe D&E other than to say, as a doctor, you are sitting there tearing, and I mean tearing–you need a lot of strength to do it–arms and legs off babies and putting them in a stack on top of a table.”

“Psychologically,” noted [Carol] Everett, “the doctors always sized the baby at ‘twenty-four weeks.’ However, we did an abortion on one baby I feel was almost full-term. The baby’s muscle structure was so strong that it would not come apart. The baby died when the doctor pulled the head off the body.”

“There are no words to describe how bad it really is,” added Carol Everett. “I’ve seen sonograms of the baby pulling away from the instruments as they are introduced into the vagina.”

If you know anyone who’s considering an abortion, please, forward them the link to this post and/or buy them the book The Marketing of Evil and have them read chapter 9 on abortion. It very well may save the life of that child.

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A change of heart.

Abortion Death Penalty

The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a “change of heart” after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility.

And we wonder why the pro-abortion zealots go absolutely out of their minds when pictures of murdered babies are displayed by pro-life activists. Actually seeing what happens to the most innocent and defenseless class of our society when a woman enacts her “right” to murder her child tends to change people.

See the Fox news piece here.