I agree with you, Bobbie

Inspired by Bobbie Ann Taylor’s, “Christian Unity? Yes! …”

I agree with you, Bobbie. There’s no magic to the word, Catholic. If any Catholic thinks they can do whatever they want and still be saved, they have another thing coming. Just as the verse which Bobbie recalled says:

Revelation 3:15 “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

I agree with you, Bobbie, 100%. I hope that you will also agree with me. Sit down, take a load off,

let me tell you a story.

Several years ago, I was layed off. But my company has this deal where you can bump people with less seniority. I bumped into a work group of people that I knew. And I knew that most of them, Protestant, Catholic or whatever, were foul mouthed and I didn’t want to be around them during or after work.

Don’t get me wrong. They are nice people who don’t realize that their manners are offensive. We get along. But I don’t hang out with them.

There was one guy there, whom I also knew. A Protestant anti-Catholic. I knew that going in. I asked him to be my roommate. Why? Because I’d rather argue about what the Bible means than to be subjected to all the vulgar and offensive things that the rest of the guys talk about.

He loves God.

That is why I chose him as my roommate. The other Christians there, Protestant and Catholic, were and probably still are living in the world. Every word out of their mouth is preceded by a curse or an obscenity. At least with him, I can have decent conversations. We prayed together and I could see that it comforted him, as much as me, to have another zealot with whom to pray.

The good thing is that he was as used to debates as I am. Apparently he’d been a prison minister for years. So he didn't get upset easily.

Unfortunately,

he believes that God has spoken to him and sent him to correct everyone else’s beliefs. He believes that he and some other unnamed people are the true spokespeople for God.

I bluntly told him, (as you may know, I have no trouble being blunt), "I don't believe you. The Apostles were given the last revelation and yours doesn't supercede theirs and yours contradicts theirs." He was visibly upset, but he got over it and we're still friends.

I guess I’m saying this because a lot of people, Protestant and Catholic, get the impression that I’m anti-Protestant. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’m just another beggar, pointing the rest of the beggars, to the bread.

Having said that,

let me tell you something else. The Catholic Church doesn’t guarantee anyone’s salvation. It’s going to be hard to be saved. Even for Catholics. The chances of being saved are much harder from there. The Catholic Church admits that Protestants might be saved. But listen carefully:

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

 

The Catholic Church is the House of God.

Judgement will begin with us and has begun with us, every time we attend or do not attend the Mass. Yeah, all of you who think the Super Bowl is more important than the Sacrifice of the Lord, unless you repent, you have, already, received your reward.

Every time we attend a Sacrament without faith. Every time we neglect to do good for our neighbor. Every time we say something thoughtless or vulgar. Judgement is there.

Judgement has begun in the House of God. But, non-Catholics, including Protestants, must await their judgement in the end times.

I don’t care if you’re nice non-Catholics, or nice Protestants or if you’re anti-Catholics of any flavor. It’s not going to be easy for you to be saved. I hope it’s easier for the ones I consider to be nice. And I’ll be praying for you. But I’m not the judge. And you might sit there and say, “I am saved by my faith alone”. But you aren’t the Judge, either. And the Judge says:

John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

And again:

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And again:

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

And again:

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

And you reject all those Teachings. Even the “nice” Protestants reject some or all those teachings. And many others, to boot.

To conclude

All you lukewarm Catholics, you need to light a fire or catch a cold. But don’t sit on the fence any longer. Come back to the Church!

And all you others, Jews, Protestants, or whatever, the only hope for your salvation is Jesus Christ. And He is in the Catholic Church, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. Come on home!

Yeah, Bobbie, I agree with you. I hope you agree with me.