If someone in the Catholic church becomes born again, the Holy Spirit within them would make them desperately uncomfortable with the goings on in the church and they would leave.
Those that claim to be born again but stay in the church, are merely adding some Christian terminology to their Catholicism. Their heart is with the tradition rather than Christ. and they cannot be born again. The Catholic church has been doing this from the very beginning, incorporating the practices of other religions and pagansim into their services to entice the culture around them to like them enough to give them a try. It is an age old tactic.
Now we see some Catholics calling themselves "evangelical Catholics." They say they are saved by grace, the same terminology we would use, but the meaning of the same word is a different meaning.
When we say we are saved by grace and grace alone, we mean that no one can earn their way to heaven, it is all a work of God. However, when a Catholic says they are saved by grace, they mean they earn their graces by each good deed that they do. In other words they are earning their graces in an attempt to pile up good works with a better chance of attaining heaven by their own efforts.
When we speak with people of other religions it is best to define the terminology before we witness to them. Many believers are becoming confused now as to the salvation status of the Catholic because the terminology sounds the same but in fact it is designed to confuse and deceive.
God said this: Ephesians 2:1-10
"2:1" And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them"
There is nothing we can do, should do or have done, that will bring us salvation, it is all a work of Christ. We choose to seek Him confessing our sinful nature, and He does all the rest of the work in us.
Do not allow any "religion" convince you that you must do something to earn heaven. When we have become born again there will be fruits and works, but not as the means to our salvation, as a RESULT of our salvation.
Any attempt to be righteous in our own effort, is destined to fail. It is only the Holy Spirit working in us that makes us strong, if we obey Him as He speaks, then we will grow in grace strengthening our walk and resolve.
When we depend on ourselves, we weaken our walk, becoming vulnerable to the forces around us. The more we depend on Christ, the greater our ability to obey.
Luke 11:22-28
22 But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
An Unclean Spirit Returns
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. 26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
Lying, comes in many forms. Some of those forms are simple embellishments that make the story more exciting but in fact also lead one to believe something that is not truth at all.
Those who are masters of lying tweek their story just a little, by the time they have finished, their audience thinks everything they said was absolutely true, when none of it was true. I have seen this in the media more times than I can count.
Talk shows of every sort engage in this lying, just to get ratings. We must be careful not to judge a matter before the defense is in. When the media tries a matter before the court hearing they are engaging in "gossip."Never trust the ramblings of media hype and gossip mongering, allow all the evidence to be in first before making any judgments.
Proverbs 18:13
"He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.
Satan has a tactic that is very cleaver and frustrating, he accuses those of the very thing he is doing and those he accuse, are not. Unfortunately too many people believe his lies and the tactics work with most.
Thankfully we as believer do not have to engage with the master liars. We can refuse to believe a matter without proper evidence.
Individually and Nationally!
"It is about time we stop going into debt, spending money we don't have on things we don't need to impress people we don't like." Adrian Rogers
Philippians 4:5-7 King James Version (KJV)
5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Verse 6 strikes me in this passage. "be careful for nothing." The reason it does is because, we are not to "be careful" to figure things out with our own minds, but rather to trust Christ and let Him speak through us. When we are "careful" we are operating in the flesh.
God has commanded us to warn the unbeliever and even the believer who is not walking as they should. Those who say that we should just let the Holy Spirit convict of sin, do not know their Bibles. We are responsible before God when we do not warn others when the Holy Spirit leads us to do so.
The Holy Spirit lives in us and gives us direction as to when to warn, no other person can tell us when or when not to do it. The results are in God's hands. The response of the person being warned is not a measure of whether or not we did the right thing.
Many will not listen, many will even hate what the Holy Spirit gave us to say or do, but that is between the hearer and God, our responsibility is to obey God no matter what the response.
Titus 3:10 "A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;"
Ezekiel 3: 18-21
"18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
19 Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.
20 Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.
21 However, if you have warned [a]the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”
Ezekiel 3:19-27
"19 If you warn them and they keep on sinning and refuse to repent, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved your life because you did what you were told to do. 20 If good people turn bad and don't listen to my warning, they will die. If you did not warn them of the consequences, then they will die in their sins. Their previous good deeds won't help them, and I will hold you responsible, demanding your blood for theirs. 21 But if you warn them and they repent, they will live, and you will have saved your own life, too." 22 Then the LORD took hold of me, and he said to me, "Go out into the valley, and I will talk to you there." 23 So I got up and went, and there I saw the glory of the LORD, just as I had seen it in my first vision by the Kebar River. And I fell face down in the dust. 24 Then the Spirit came into me and set me on my feet. He talked to me and said, "Go, shut yourself up in your house. 25 There you will be bound with ropes so you cannot go out among the people. 26 And I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so you won't be able to pray for them, for they are rebellious. 27 But whenever I give you a message, I will loosen your tongue and let you speak. Then you will say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are rebels."
Notice God tells us to warn, and then says "whenever I give you a message, I will loosen your tongue and let you speak."
Next time someone says we are to let the Holy Spirit tell or convict them, share this passage with them. God gives us what to say and we are to say it, ultimately it is the Holy Spirit Who speaks we are only the messengers.
