Today's LifeSiteNews features an article written by Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist. He read the article in La Civita Catolica (linked here, at the bottom of the page) in which the two authors are trash-talking the alliances between faithful Catholics and Evangelicals who share common concerns for western culture. He brings his professional training and experience to bear as he detects issues of anger and control-seeking in the writings of the authors.
Might these issues be factors in some of the pope's own words? Antonio Spadaro, one of the two La Civita authors, is close to the pope. It isn't unreasonable to believe that the pope at least indirectly influenced the writing of that article. Moreover, in yesterday's homily, the pope lobbed yet another insult against "Catholics who think they are perfect and scorn others". Notice how once again the pope is fashioning a "straw man" out of Catholics who are trying to adhere to the Church's traditions, painting them as hypocrites who despise others. In doing so, he attempts to hold us up to ridicule and scorn. This is just the latest; in that first link to my article I link to other sources where the pope's slanderings of faithful Catholics are chronicled.
Yesterday a group of these evangelicals who were belittled by La Civita wrote an open letter to the pope, asking him for an audience so they could discuss these issues. Now the pope is supposed to be game for ecumenism and dialogue, is he not? Will he agree to an audience? It would be grand if he did, but I'm not holding my breath.
Showing posts with label Evangelicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evangelicals. Show all posts
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Monday, July 7, 2014
Seeking Unity With Evangelicals - But On What Basis?
Today Charismanews published a piece detailing a meeting that Pope Francis had with some evangelical leaders - among them Kenneth Copeland. If I understand properly, the Holy Father recorded a greeting, telecast to several of the leaders' congregations, in which he expressed a "desire that Christians would become family and not be divided". Ladies and gentlemen, let's "cut to the chase", shall we? There is only one way that can happen, and that is if these congregations, from the pastors on down, convert to the Roman Catholic Faith - the One True Church. Only in the Roman Catholic Church can they find the fullness of Christ's teachings and the Sacraments that He instituted. I realize that most of them were born into their respective denominations and have little culpability for schism, but they still must "cross the Tiber" as it were.
According to James Robison (one of the evangelical leaders in attendance), the Holy Father "challenged Catholics never try to control the Holy Spirit but yield to Him". We Catholics understand what that means, but do the evangelical leaders have that same understanding - particularly Kenneth Copeland and John Arnott?
Copeland is a huge promoter of a vary dangerous spiritual practice known under various names: slain in the spirit, resting in the spirit, drunk in the spirit, Toronto blessing (owing to Arnott's contribution to it), soaking prayer, holy laughter (I'm sure there are others). I've seen this with my own eyes - several times. Before the reform of the Mother of God Community in the mid 1990s, the practice was becoming commonplace there before Cardinal Hickey definitively forbade it. I myself never joined in for I could sense the spiritual danger in submitting to an experience that had basis in neither Holy Scripture nor the Tradition of the Catholic Church.
Below I post a video of one such "holy laughter" session featuring Kenneth Copeland. In the beginning, the late Kenneth Hagin is leading the meeting (when he can stand up without babbling, that is). Toward the middle Copeland can be seen next to him as they're both sprawled on the floor - I believe he's wearing a white jacket and red shirt. Here is the write-up from where I got the video. The author's observations closely correlate to my own from almost 20 years ago. The behaviors of the various people are quite identical to what I saw in MOG before Cardinal Hickey's intervention. I'd like to point out that I later did some research into this phenomenon and discovered some reason for my own instinctive revulsion; the practice is heretical and is steeped in eastern religious and even occultic practices.
Does it sound like I'm digressing from the Pope's meeting to Copeland's heresies? Not really. If we don't understand that without a solid, explicitly-stated basis in the Fullness of truth that can be found in the Roman Catholic Church, practices such as the "slain in the spirit" stuff can seduce the unwary - as it did so many of my friends. Now the video.
According to James Robison (one of the evangelical leaders in attendance), the Holy Father "challenged Catholics never try to control the Holy Spirit but yield to Him". We Catholics understand what that means, but do the evangelical leaders have that same understanding - particularly Kenneth Copeland and John Arnott?
Copeland is a huge promoter of a vary dangerous spiritual practice known under various names: slain in the spirit, resting in the spirit, drunk in the spirit, Toronto blessing (owing to Arnott's contribution to it), soaking prayer, holy laughter (I'm sure there are others). I've seen this with my own eyes - several times. Before the reform of the Mother of God Community in the mid 1990s, the practice was becoming commonplace there before Cardinal Hickey definitively forbade it. I myself never joined in for I could sense the spiritual danger in submitting to an experience that had basis in neither Holy Scripture nor the Tradition of the Catholic Church.
Below I post a video of one such "holy laughter" session featuring Kenneth Copeland. In the beginning, the late Kenneth Hagin is leading the meeting (when he can stand up without babbling, that is). Toward the middle Copeland can be seen next to him as they're both sprawled on the floor - I believe he's wearing a white jacket and red shirt. Here is the write-up from where I got the video. The author's observations closely correlate to my own from almost 20 years ago. The behaviors of the various people are quite identical to what I saw in MOG before Cardinal Hickey's intervention. I'd like to point out that I later did some research into this phenomenon and discovered some reason for my own instinctive revulsion; the practice is heretical and is steeped in eastern religious and even occultic practices.
Does it sound like I'm digressing from the Pope's meeting to Copeland's heresies? Not really. If we don't understand that without a solid, explicitly-stated basis in the Fullness of truth that can be found in the Roman Catholic Church, practices such as the "slain in the spirit" stuff can seduce the unwary - as it did so many of my friends. Now the video.
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