:lol:

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Zeke Oosthuis

Rookie (Jeff), Do you believe in free will? From your post it seems like you are saying that God causes all things to happen and that we are not much more than objects being moved around.

Angyl and Krispy, Do you pray the Lord's prayer? "Thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." Why bother if you are going to be raptured before everything and most everyone is to be destroyed in the apocalypse? Apparently, from what I can understand of your beliefs, no matter what we do to make the world a better place and no matter how much we turn the other cheek and love our enemies, the vast majority of humans are doomed to everlasting hell.

God is a God of Love and if the Holy Spirit is involved in the selection of the Pope, I'm sure Catholics and all of the world will be blessed.

Bubbaguy

Brs. Rahman and Bubbaguy,

I do believe in free will. The Scriptures teach that God places men in positions. It is the men who err and walk away from God.

Job 34:

21 “For His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
22 There is no darkness nor shadow of death
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For He need not further consider a man,
That he should go before God in judgment.
24 He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry,
And sets others in their place.
25 Therefore He knows their works;
He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
26 He strikes them as wicked men
In the open sight of others,
27 Because they turned back from Him,
And would not consider any of His ways,

I believe as the Scripture teach that God gives witness to all men. In verse 27 we learn that it is man who walks away, "Because they turned back from Him, and would not consider any of His ways."

In terms of the pope and the catholic church, I believe God uses them to declare Jesus Christ to the world. Do all listen to Him, no. Do all Protestant's listen to Him, no. I just don't see the catholic church as the whore of Babylon.

I believe the whore represents men's love of money. The financial institutions that man has created are the creations of men. All kinds of evil comes from the love of money.

Matt. 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

The whore of Babylon lived long before the church age.

In Christ
Jeff

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Jeff Marshalek

Psa 75:4-7 "I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.
For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another."

Dan 2:20-21 "Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings:"

Dan 4:17 "This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."

I think I follow what 'rookie' is saying. These are the scriptures that kept popping into my head as I read through this thread.

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Josh

Brother Jeff you wrote;
"In terms of the pope and the catholic church, I believe God uses them to declare Jesus Christ to the world ... I just don't see the catholic church as the whore of Babylon ...The whore of Babylon lived long before the church age"


Hmmmmm ... interesting ...

i'll not launch a long campaign trying to convince you otherwise as your own salvation as a non RC certainly doesn't depend on your view on RC and the pope, altho i'm not so sure for an actual RC ...

If you feel led you might want to check out my following post ...

To any who are interested in a comprehensive and startling history and discovery of satans Babylonish world religious system from Nimrod's Babel, to it's culmination as the harlot Babylon the Great spoken of in the book of Revelation, then listening to this 12
part series "Scarlet Threads, History of Mystery Babylon - by Bob Faulkner" is a must! ...

By the time you get thru Part 3 (The Church's First 300 Years) it'll begin to rip the covers off of satans influence into Christ own Church via the Roman church then, and on through 12 expose it in the Protestant church now ... Sinister!

Easter and Christmas will never be the same to you again, even if you already know they're paganly tainted!


Scarlet Threads, History of Mystery Babylon 1 - 12
Bob Faulkner
http://www.sermonaudio.com/search.asp?keyword=scarlet