Solo81 said:

Aye, but us RC's aren't restricted to Scripture only. We have Tradition also. No need to apply Protestant standards to RC's.

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There is no tradition of blessing same sex unions, but the Pope is all for it anyway.

Absolutely. And receiving is not the only or even the most important issue.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

You MUST believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. If you never receive anything... your faith and confession must remain true to His word.

The primary issue is pleasing God.

By His Stripes, We WERE Healed. (Notice the tense change. Isaiah had "are" where Peter has "were." - past tense)

Psalms 103:2-3 KJV
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

Who healeth ALL your diseases just like He forgives ALL your iniquities.
This is your default faith setting. God heals and has healed. That is your default confession of your faith.

This is a hard concept for many people: you can be in the bed of affliction and yet still believe in your heart and confess from the heart that you are healed. This is primarily to stay in agreement with the Word of God and please Him. If you review the rest of the "faith chapter" (Heb:11), you will find that many of the faith heroes stayed true to the Word of God and Confessed the word of God to be true, yet they died NEVER having received the thing they believed. It did not matter. Their faith was counted as righteousness for them because they believed in God and His Word despite having never actually received the object of their faith. Same is true for all faith matters. Believe and confess (from the heart) that you have received.

Hebrews 11:13 KJV
13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Hebrews 11:39 KJV
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

The principle is explained by Jesus:

Mark 11:23-24 RV
23 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it.
24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them.

Yes, that word is received!

Robertson's Word Pictures:
Mark 11:24
Believe that ye have received them (pisteuete hoti elabete).
That is the test of faith, the kind that sees the fulfilment before it happens.

Vincent's Word Studies
Receive (ἐλάβετε)
More lit., received. Rev., have received.

To answer the OP's request for help, I will venture forth some ideas based upon lived experience as a fellow Catholic.

What I can intuit based on your post, I see the following struggles:

1) Trapped by the habit of being led by emotions, in particular, the habituation of the negative.

-Being led by the passions is quite common of a trap, but can indeed be overcome by very extremely difficult and hard work.

-To counter acting on emotions instead of acting on principle, one must overcome emotional attachments

2) The first step is to acknowledge that you are powerless over your attachment to emotion, followed by complete surrender to the Church for spiritual direction, mostly through very thorough examination of conscious.

To begin on working through your habits and harms, I very highly recommend obtaining a notebook and pen, and slowly and pray-fully working through this very intense examination of conscious, with a priest, in private, scheduled sessions:

https://sensustraditionis.org/ExaminationConscienceLong.pdf

3) Wounds are what feeds the negative behavior and has you coming back for more. These wounds do not give you the very deep satisfaction of filling that God shaped hole in your soul. There is some very great guidance on wounds and healing here:

Wounds and Healing -

Good.

Pommer said:

It kinda leaves it rather ambiguous though, no?
Is it “right” or “Russia Today”, see?

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I wouldnt really say ambiguus . My comment was implying that I agree with you and that you were correct.I did not intend for it to have a double meaning .Political preference had nothing to do with it .

Lukaris said:

Whoever is able to, give to reliable relief agencies, pray for the storm victims, and trust in the Lord. See Matthew 6:1-13 and John 16:33.

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Amen.

May God grant the victims eternal rest and peace.

Tropical Wilds said:

So I guess every infertile person, post-menopausal woman, is unworthy of rights given their inability to have kids.

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Literally, no one said that.

It takes a man and woman to make a child.

Two men and two women is biologically impossible.

I believe since the Gospels were written to reveal what was necessary for salvation for the Lord’s Second Coming. The emphasis on the Lord’s divinity was preached more than stated in the synoptic Gospels (although they express it also). For ex. Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 9:4-7, Matthew 10:32-33, Matthew 11:25-27 etc.). I also believe St.Paul shows the influence of St. John in Colossians in ( around 65 AD) See Colossians 1:15-20 and John 1:1-18.

Since we never know when the 2nd Coming will be, the Apostles were passing away, and heretics were corrupting the faith ( 1 John 4:1-3 etc.). The final fullness of the Lord’s revelation had to be preserved in the written word and that being the Gospel of John ( Revelation & the letters of John also).

Michie said:

Fr. Dwight Longenecker


Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age, by Rod Dreher (288 pages, Zondervan, 2024)



Rod Dreher prefaces the final chapter of his new book Living in Wonder with a quotation from Karl Rahner, “The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’ —one who has experienced ‘something’ or he will cease to be anything at all.”

As it stands, Rahner seems to be saying that personal religious experience is vital—that supernatural revelation will be necessary to the faith of future Christians. In other words, cultural Christianity won’t do. “I’m a Catholic because my grandfather was Polish” won’t wash.

But is that what Rahner is really saying? Does the final phrase hold a more troubling meaning? He predicts that the Christian who is not a mystic will “cease to be anything at all.” Does he mean the non-mystic will cease to be a Christian, or that he really will “cease to be anything at all”? If the latter, the cost of being a non-visionary would seem to be rather severe: Being devoid of mysticism would mean annihilation—being nothing at all. To extend the thought from the individual to the corporate, for us to fail as a race of mystics means the abolition of man.

Continued below.

Modern Mysticism: Rod Dreher’s "Living in Wonder"

Rod Dreher wants us to see into the life of things—to see the Creator hidden in the creation, to see the grandeur of God and sense the “deep down things.” But the trouble with the appeal of mysticism is the perennial danger of gnosticism. (essay by Dwight Longenecker)

theimaginativeconservative.org

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"The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’ —one who has experienced ‘something’ or he will cease to be anything at all." It has been reported that many "devout Christians" enter the Dark Night of the Senses, but few persevere in faith in the darkness and emerge into the light. The potentially fatal alternative to perseverance in faith and then advancing to Illumination, is to attempt to return to earlier days in asceticism, and a life of "where they used to be" before the Lord drew them into the purifying darkness. That is impossible, according to an ancient truism: Those who do not advance in spiritual life cannot simply "remain where they were": they will regress, and indeed fall away from the path of ascent entirely into lifelessness, and become a stunted soul.

Perhaps that is what Rahner refers to. There is a non-fatal alternative: profound remorse and repentance and a cry to the Lord for mercy, and holy grace to once again trust God in the darkness.

I do pray for harmony and peace in your home with forgiveness.

I do feel impelled to mention that the one we are praying to sets out his rules in the Bible for how we are to live our lives. We are all imperfect in than that.

But just saying… the concept of having a partner, as opposed to a spouse, is not what he wants.

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The Lord sees and knows our hearts. Amen

Joseph G said:

Thank you for pulling many disparate, observable prophetic elements in America into a linear narrative. I've noticed many of these things, too.

America truly has it all. I figure the only sexual sin left from the warnings in Leviticus is beastiality, which has already been around but last to rise to the fore publicly.

In another aspect, America has got to be the most gluttiness in idol worship since ancient times. Unfortunately it began almost from inception when the worship of "liberty" and "freedom" was raised above the Living God Who grants both. Look what the citizens have done with that freedom - lifted the personal motto of "Do what thou will" to Satanic heights.

I have personal doubts that America isn't too far gone already. Whether she is indeed prophetic Babylon or not, I'm convinced she won't be around one way or another (as she exists) to support Israel at the ultimate war of all nations.

Thoughts?

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I posted a couple of topics this morning, "Sin in the Land: They have set them up Idols," and, "Ezekiel 38 & Today", which cover more of this.

As for beastiality, someone in 1979 showed me a magazine that depicted it grafficly, so it's definitely been going on. It was an American publication - probably underground, but still American.

I cannot concretely 100% sat US is Babylon, but in Biblical typology it agrees. Psalm 9:17 is a more simple straitforward truth: " The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

Tyrus & Tyre in Ezekiel 27 also appears to be a type that fits . Look at verses 25-26
"The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.

o_mlly said:

Self-checkout is a relatively new technology. As with all new technologies, it will take time to work the bugs out ... but once, so to say, that ship has set sail, those bugs will be worked out.

Yes, I have never worked the business side of a self-checkout. Nor have I taken a rickshaw or ridden a horse to work. I can't remember the last time I sent a roll of 35mm film out to be developed. I toted my first cell phone, the size of a shoe box, in the trunk of my car and more often than not had to drive farther down the road and yell, "Can you hear me now?"

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Does anyone else remember the provocative “QualComm” commercial from ~20 years ago, where a young trench-coated man waltzed through a store placing various items into his trench-coat, then sauntering out of the door…and the eagle-eyed security guard stopped him, to hand the customer his receipt?

RileyG said:

There was one nun who saw countless souls falling into hell like snow flakes in winter. I forgot what her name was.

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Around 150,000 people die every day around the world. That's an average of about a hundred a minute.

Christian doctrine states that they'll all end up (eventually) either in heaven or hell, possibly with a temporary stay in purgatory.

Demographers surmise that around 110 to 120 billion people have ever lived, including those alive today.

God must be busy. He's tracking 100 billion or more people on earth, or in heaven, hell and purgatory - judging, hearing and answering prayers, creating new bodies for new saints, keeping fallen spirits locked up, monitoring the universe and communicating with spiritual powers and principalities.

In view of that job description what's an occasional miracle? I've said before that the night my father died he turned up in my room. He seemed to drift sideaways a bit either way and I wondered why. Recently I had the thought that I was being held in place by gravity, but he was pure spirit and gravity would have no effect. Something was keeping him there as I spun through the uiniverse at about 250kms per second, or 900,000 kilometres an hour. What's a couple of feet of sideways drift at those speeds?

No surprise then that John wrote in Revelation 7:9 NIV " ... there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb...."

Nigeria​

Pray for Esther Ibrahim, who lost sons and wider family members in an attack by bandits in 2022. Thank God that she has been helped by the trauma counselling provided by our partner, Stefanos Foundation. (See Voice, R128 pages 6-13.)
YES - I will Pray

Nigeria​

Eighteen Christians were reportedly killed in a late-night attack on Mbacher village, a predominantly Christian community in the central Benue state’s Katsina-Ala County, by armed Fulani militants in July. Please pray for the traumatised survivors.
YES - I will Pray

Nigeria​

Our partner, Stefanos Foundation, was able to give practical support to Gideon and his community in Plateau state, following the attack (see previous days). Thank God for this love in action.
YES - I will Pray

Nigeria​

Thank God that, following a time of doubting as a result of the killing of his family, Rev Gideon’s faith has been renewed and he has been able to forgive those responsible. Pray that the perpetrators would come to repentance and faith.
YES - I will Pray

Nigeria​

Rev Gideon Dawell’s wife and five children were killed in an attack by Fulani militants on Christmas Eve last year (see latest Voice magazine, R128, pages 6-13). Pray that this dear pastor who has been traumatised by their deaths will know God’s peace, comfort and hope.
YES - I will Pray

Mozambique​

Christians in the northern part of Cabo Delgado province, especially pastors, have suffered greatly under an Islamic insurgency that has also affected many nominal Muslims. In smaller attacks on rural villages, extremists often separate out Christians and their children for extremely inhumane treatment. Please pray for all those affected by this violence.
YES - I will Pray

Mozambique​

Militants persecute Christians in the north of Mozambique, while believers face social and community- wide persecution in other Muslim-majority areas. Pray for Christians who have lost everything in recent extremist attacks.
YES - I will Pray

RoBo1988 said:

I thought he was literally Hitler.....

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That was JD Vance saying that.

On the left they were just calling out similarities in propaganda styles.

Christians regularly experience discrimination because they follow Jesus. Men can experience job loss or lack of employment opportunities, women can be harassed in the street, Christian children can be bullied at school and, in rare instances, mobs of Muslim extremists force Christians to flee their communities after an alleged blasphemy accusation. These incidents are most common in the Upper Egypt region, where Islamic hardliners are active, especially in rural communities.
President al-Sisi and his government regularly speak positively about Egypt’s Christian community – which, through the Coptic Church, is long and historic. He purposely includes both Muslims and Christians in Egypt’s identity. However, this stance doesn’t always extend to areas outside of major urban centers – authorities are known to ignore or downplay the concerns of Egyptian believers.
Christians who have converted from Islam experience the most severe persecution. They face enormous pressure from their family and community to return to Islam. And Egyptian security services are known to detain and intimidate converts to keep quiet about their conversion.

Meet Raina​

“I’m a Christian now, but I was born a Muslim. If I showed you my face, it could cost me my life. Fanatics, or even my own family, would kill me if they saw my picture online and read I rejected Islam.”
Raina (name changed), an Egyptian convert from Islam.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors works through local partners in Egypt to support the Church throughout the country with literacy training, education, advocacy, medical outreach, and youth, family and women’s ministries.

Please pray​

• Pray that Egyptian Christians who follow Jesus out of Islam would be safe.
• Ask God to help Christians who have converted from Islam find fellowship.
• Pray for Christians’ legal rights so that they would not be discriminated against.

Apple Sky said:

I know, China is notorious for being Anti-Christian.

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I did not notice any difference in the Church in Hong Kong at all. Looked the same to me. I did notice more police under the chinese compared to the British. I use to have an attitude toward the Chinese government. But then I met the council general stationed in NYC and he seemed like a good guy to me.

Heb 7 and 9 show us the Levitical priesthood and therefore their ministry of sacrificial and purification laws are done away with in and through Christ's priesthood and those of us who are part of it through Him. For the Levitical sacrificial system could never take away sin. The priesthood being transferred to Jesus and us, there is made of necessity a transferal of the law from parchment and stone to the fleshly tables of our hearts Heb 7 and 8 say. Hence no need for the Levitical priesthood now because by it the people received the Law Heb 7 states. This is why John in 1John 2 wrote, ye have an unction from the Holy One... the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Us in Him, He in us that the world might believe John 17. But alas we are still people of a Letter because the lack of Faith and sin in the Church and world. So we have the NT and Old and a need for teachers until we all come into the unity of the faith and the fullness of Christ.




Hebrews 9 and 10 go on to say, If the blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who offered Himself without spot, purge our conscience, who we are from dead works, sin; to serve the living God. For all vessels of the ministry, the heavenly things, the Temple of the Living God, us are purged with better things, Christ Jesus. For it was not possible for those sacrifices they offered year by year to take away sin, purge us. For if they had, would they not have ceased to be offered. But in those sacrifices there was a remembrance of sin year after year. But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, Jesus Christ our Lord. He taketh away the first that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified, purged through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. Who being the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And this perfection the Holy Ghost is also a witness to us. For He saith before. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.

What I have found in many Catholic or Christian circles is that we have become respecters of persons, rather than welcome sound doctrine from someone we feel is beneath us.
This is part of American rugged individualism and the tribal mentality of society. “Oh he is a good guy, why do you talk to him like that?” “She is a nice lady, why are you so mean?”

Doctrine is hard in that it crushes the person. Our Lord said that to follow Him, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross. A grain of wheat is nothing unless it dies, but it it dies it brings forth fruit 30, 60, 100 fold.

The worst thing a Christian can say to someone is don’t you know who I am? No I don’t, it’s irrelevant. If we argue of point of faith, I stick to the message and act as if your person does not exist. If you want to flame me? Fine, my person is dead and cannot be harmed. I may even help you flame myself, my person has not been too good over the years and could use a good flaming

We have to die to ourselves. Why is that good? It’s sets us free to do the will of God. South Park is a goofy show and often irreverent, but anything can be used by God. There was one of the greatest lines in that show, when they talked about World of Warcraft. This one player became so powerful and wreaked havoc in the game. They said in order to reach this level of power, he must be playing all the time and have absolutely no life, and how can you kill that which has no life? Funny but poignant.

As Christians, when our person is dead, we cannot be harmed. We are free to love our enemies and walk in the shadow of death and fear no evil. People will try to hurt us and fail, and we will be hated by all men for Jesus’ name sake.
Even other Christians want their ears tickled and personalities recognized. We get offended. Did you hear what he said to me? Brothers and sisters this is not right. We love our Lord, not ourselves, however we are to love each other

Loving each other does not mean flattery and tickling each others ears. It means following our Lord with our whole heart. People that do not have theirs persons respected will hate us because it does not make them feel good. We as humans all want recognition and forget that they all spoke well of the false prophets

I love my enemies because they keep me honest. Flattery will get us to believe our own press and then we can be deceived

Jesus says whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His name’s sake the same shall find it

Those who love not their life unto death will be given a crown of life

Peace be with you

Whyayeman said:

My suggestion. Look harder.

And take precautions when reading Breitbart news.

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Make it easier, and never click a link that takes you to Breitbart News. Why allow such a site be posted in these here forums?