An improbable feud has recently broken out between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, which only further proves that Trump is not embarrassed to take on anyone who disagrees with him, including the spiritual leader of a billion-and-a half people and someone known as the “Vicar of Christ.” The pope launched the first volley, criticizing Trump for his military actions in Iran. He built his argument around a misinterpretation of Matthew 5, where Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.”
The pope’s understanding of “peacemaker” is someone who would lay down his arms and negotiate peace with his enemy, even if that enemy was determined to vaporize his existence with a nuclear bomb. If Evil wants to decapitate you with a three-foot Zulfiqar blade, should you then offer your other cheek, if you even had one left to offer? Or to put it like the modern-day Philistines, “From the river to the sea,” which is their clever little way of saying they want to herd all the Jews from the Euphrates River and drown them in the Mediterranean Sea. This is not about land; it’s about Ishmael contesting Isaac’s right to exist.
And they’re not in the least embarrassed to say it out loud. It’s an important part of their creed. This is that bothersome little truth many don’t want to talk about for fear of being branded on the wrong side of the cancel culture. This is not bigotry, Islamophobia, prejudice, intolerance, bias, or narrow mindedness. It’s just what jihadists actually do, and they’d feel slighted if you thought any less of them. And don’t get too comfortable, Gentiles: They said that once they finish off the “Saturday people,” they’re coming for the “Sunday people.”
But back to the pope’s beef with Trump. He quoted from Isaiah 1:15, that says, “When you lift up your hands in prayer…I will not listen, for your hands are covered in blood.” First of all, is the pope actually insinuating that Trump prays? I don’t think anyone has ever accused him of that before. Praying to himself, maybe, but not to God. This is not a criticism of what the president is doing in Iran, but as a modern-day Jehu with a bulletproof ego, you can’t expect him to behave with perfect manners.
Unlike the pope, Jesus defined “peacemaker” as someone who’s been reconciled to God, and in turn is involved in helping others make peace with God. Peace with God can only be accomplished by turning to Jesus in repentance and receiving His blood as payment for your sins. But even by the pope’s misinterpretation of this word, Trump would have to be considered a “peacemaker.” In his first fifteen months of his presidency, he has mediated peace between at least five warring nations: Armenia and Azerbaijan, Rwanda and the Congo (though the ceasefire didn’t hold), Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Israel and Hamas, and most recently a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, mediated by his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. And currently, the president is attempting, so far unsuccessfully, to mediate a peace agreement between Russia and the Ukraine, while at the same time trying to negotiate a peace between the Iranian intifada and the civilized world. And if that’s not enough for someone who’s almost eighty-years-old, he’s now off to China in hopes of discouraging Xi Jinping from invading Taiwan.
But it’s not a peace based on a laying down of arms, holding hands, and singing camp songs around a bonfire. Evil only understands one thing: power, a larger power than its own. And that power is crushing a morally depraved, demonic regime and liberating the Persian people from almost five decades of totalitarian brutality. Reagan called it, “Peace with strength.” Theodore Roosevelt called it, “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Trump has his own style: Type loudly in ALL CAPS and carry a 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb. Indeed, he doth text like Jehu.
Leo is either extremely naive or just a garden variety Leftist to believe you can negotiate with Evil. Shades of Neville Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler in Munich, where the prime minister infamously declared, “I believe it is peace for our time.” Six months later, the Nazis steamrolled into Poland. Was Trump calling for regime change at the Vatican when he said he didn’t want a pope who believes it’s okay for a bunch of blood-rabid ayatolliahs to have the ability to vaporize the world? And especially when those “blood-rabid ayatolliahs” already dream of the day where such a catastrophic event will usher in their long-awaited messiah, Ai-Masih, who they believe will then whisk them away to paradise while the rest of us infidels are blasted into a radiated oblivion. Everyone needs a dream, right?
Pope Leo claimed that power should be used to protect the innocent victims. The Persian civilians are the most innocent of victims, the very ones Trump is trying to protect. According to reports from inside Iran, the civilian population wants American bombs to continue, as they are more afraid of the regime than they are of the bombs. According to an Iranian-born surgeon, Dr. Sheila Nazarian, the regime has executed tens of thousands of its own people, and that when women are executed they are first gang raped. Just recently, they publicly hung their own 19-year-old Olympic medal wrestler, Saleh Mohammadi, for protesting against the regime.
For forty-seven years, Iran has been the bully of the Middle East, and obtaining a nuclear weapon would only make them that much more bullier. The last five American presidents, going back to George Bush senior, have warned that Iran must never be allowed to go nuclear. Now, Trump is actually doing something about it. While the usual suspects on the Left and in the media chirp away from the sidelines and root for the opposing team, Iranian-Americans are marching in the streets and praying for their family’s liberation back home.
But there is a silver lining: The underground Iranian church is one of the fastest growing in the world. Jesus said that one of the things that would mark the End Times would be “wars and rumors of war,” and so here we are. Warfare on Earth is often a mirror image of what is happening in the spirit world. And any war that involves fighting for the survival and peace of Israel is a battle that is also playing out in the Heavenlies. Moses declared, “The LORD is a man of war,” and so the Peacemaker Himself can take the tragedy of war and use it to do some of His best work.
No blog on Catholicism would be complete without a critique of the pope. And what better time than after one who just passed away? I mean, if I’m going to take flack for my views on Catholicism, why not make it count? I wasn’t planning on this topic, but when a Christian radio presenter recently asked the goofy question, “What can we learn from Lent?” as if he was having a theological discussion with C.S. Lewis, and now with Pope Francis’s death and all the world’s attention focused on it as if Christ Himself has been re-crucified, as a former Catholic and now as a born again Christian, I feel compelled to state my case.
Among die-hard Catholics, I’ve heard it often repeated as if reciting a holy mantra, “I was born a Catholic and I’ll die a Catholic.” I’ve also heard it said that the Catholic Church has changed since I was a young alter boy in the early 1960s while attending Our Lady of Victory Catholic School. But if they’re the “one true church,” as they claim, then why do they feel the need to keep changing? Back in those days, it was open heresy to recite the Mass in anything other than Christ’s original language, which everyone knows was Latin, right? But there has been other more serious changes as well, like shifting to more of a “social justice” and an “environmental justice” gospel and advocating for open borders. On this latter issue, note the Vatican has some of the most serious walls on the planet, and anyone who would dare to intrude would be swiftly dealt with.
Throughout the years, the “Mother Church” has changed its views on other issues as well. One of their more bizarre changes came in reference to Limbo, like purgatory, another fictional place between heaven and hell where one is sent who isn’t good enough for heaven but not bad enough for hell. They used to teach that Limbo was a place where unbaptized babies go when they died, sort of like an infant purgatory. Now, they believe these babies no longer go to Limbo but are allowed to go straight to heaven, although even so they aren’t allowed to have full communion with God, so I’m supposing it’s like being confined to heaven’s nursery with no toys to play with. But all these changes create an insurmountable problem for them: if Catholics believe the pope to be infallible, which they still do, then how can one pope declare certain theologies and practices to be true, and then another come along later and declare something different? You can’t have it both ways.
The central credibility of Catholicism hinges on the office of the pope. According to their theology, the current pope comprises an unbroken succession going all the way back to the Apostle Peter. But the glaring problem with that is that Peter wasn’t a pope. Just because he outran John to the Lord’s tomb on Resurrection Sunday doesn’t make it so. And neither was Linus the second pope. Even Charlie Brown could tell you that. In fact, scholars such as Francis A. Sullivan claim that the Church of Rome was led by a college of presbyters rather than by a single man for at least the first three centuries. If we had to make a case for a leader of the 1st-century church, it would either be the Apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, or James, who was the leader of the Church at Jerusalem.
The supposed unblemished papal succession had a few other holes in it as well. For instance, there was a time when two popes reigned at the same time, and so the “Holy See” had dueling popes. And once there was even a woman who cross-dressed as a man, and so there was a female pope, Pope Joan. So, you see the problem with that.
The claim that Peter was the first pope originated from a misinterpretation of a teaching Jesus had with His disciples in Mathew 16. Jesus asked them who they believe He was. Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the living God.” Jesus commended Peter for his response, saying “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.” Then, he continued, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”
Catholics use this Scripture to teach that Jesus was building His church on Peter, a mere man. If so, then we’d have to believe that the Father’s plan for mankind’s redemption was to send his only Son to this earth, and after He was rejected by the same people He came to save, and then after being tortured and killed in the most gruesome possible way imaginable, and then after rising from the dead He left the entire future of His Church on the shoulders of a single, mortal man. Sorry, but no mere man could shoulder that kind of responsibility. What Jesus was actually saying was that He was building His Church on the rock foundation of Peter’s confession that “Jesus was the Christ, the living God.”
How could He build His Church on anything less? I thank God my salvation isn’t dependent on the faithfulness and character of the Apostle Peter, who for all his good, wasn’t very infallible when he once denied before a mere servant girl that he even knew who Jesus was. And not just once, but three times. This same Peter, who when Jesus needed him the most in the Garden of Gethsemane, kept nodding off, and when he welded the sword to defend his Master from the mob, only manage to lop off an ear. And not to embarrass him unnecessarily, but who can forget the fact that on one occasion, after the Lord of the Universe had just declared His eternal purpose of laying down His life for the redemption of the world, Peter openly rebuked him for it. No, I thank God my salvation depends solely on the rock foundation of the shed Blood on Calvary’s cross, a foundation that knows no human weakness or frailty
And speaking of having a problem with the whole pope thing, the late Pope Francis acted more like a woke politician than a biblical spiritual leader. In direct opposition to Scripture, he repeatedly gave his blessing to same-sex couples. It’s contained in a doctrine entitled FiduciaSupplicans, which, by the way, the newly elected pope has also given his blessing to. Francis once posed with a Muslim and a Buddhist leader and declared that there was more than one way to the Father and salvation. He even claimed that unrepentant atheists will also be in heaven, and he didn’t believe in a literal hell.
And if that’s not enough to doubt the pope’s biblical credentials, it gets worse. Francis once brought back a retired cardinal who was a known pedophile to be one of his advisors in the Vatican. And it gets worse yet: You might want to cover little ears for this one, even some big ears. In a well-documented incident, Francis once watched as two cardinals in the Vatican bowed with their faces to the ground in front of two large, nude women statues. The statues represented Mother Earth, and afterwards, Francis walked over and blessed the statues. If Francis had been anyone other than a pope, no one would even consider him to be a Christian at all. But then God is no respecter of persons; whether one is a street-sweeper or a pastor or a janitor or even a pope, these things matter nothing to God.
Now here’s the real problem with all this pope business. A genuine Catholic doesn’t have the option to disagree with the pope on anything having to do with doctrine or practice, because according to Catholic theology, any laws or doctrines the pope declares, even if they directly conflict with Scripture, must stand as infallible. That means according to Catholic dogma, whatever the pope binds on earth is bound in heaven, which would give him more authority even then God and His Word.
Though the pope is recognized as the head of the Catholic Church, he is not the head of the Christian church, nor does he in any way represent it. If the Apostle Peter was never the head of the Church and the pope is also not the head of the Church, then who is? According to the Bible, that would be Jesus. Colossians1:18 says it well: “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” No man, no pope, no angel nor any other created being can usurp the authority and override the truth of the New Testament, and to follow such false leaders would be like the blind leading the blind.
Why is this business about the pope so important? Because if you can prove that Peter wasn’t the first pope, the whole foundation of Catholicism crumbles. And I for one would love to see it crumble so that millions of precious souls bound by this false religion could be set free to know the freedom and forgiveness of the living God.
Since beginning this blog, the Catholic cardinals are busy with their conclave in electing Francis’s replacement. One cardinal expressed his concern about the succession and has called upon the “Virgin Mother of God” to guide them. (Few of us believers realize that God has a mother. Who knew?) Another cardinal named Burke has been openly critical of Francis’s beliefs and has sought the guidance of Our Lady of Guadeloupe in selecting the next “Bishop of Rome.” But how can Cardinal Burke openly disagree with any pope if the pope is supposed to be infallible?
Some are hoping for an African pope, sort of like Americans were excited about having their first black president, so racism is important to some in this selection. Some are saying they hope for a more conservative pope this time, admitting that Francis was very liberal. And that presents another problem. When it comes to the divine truth of the Word of God, there is no liberal or conservative viewpoint, and the color of one’s skin or one’s cultural heritage should be irrelevant. How is this not merely political? All that should matter, if indeed the pope is to represent Jesus Christ and His Word, is whether he is biblical or not?
Now, they’ve just elected the first American pope, Cardinal Robert Prevost, who has taken on the title of Pope Leo XIV. It was known that Francis wanted Leo to replace him, as he has similar views as the former pope. During Francis’s twelve year reign he ordained 108 cardinals, giving them a total of 133, so over 80% of the cardinals who voted for Leo were put in place by Francis himself. So, some might say that Francis stacked the deck. And apparently it worked: white smoke for Leo and on we go.
I was asked if I believe Pope Francis is in heaven? I don’t know, only God knows. I know this: if I believed that there will be unrepentant atheists in heaven and one could attain heaven outside of coming through Jesus Christ, as Francis has said on numerous occasions, I would not expect one day to be with all the saints in Glory, nor would I expect anyone else who possessed such anti-biblical beliefs to be there either. And speaking of saints. I’ve heard there is already a move to canonize Pope Francis, as if any religious organization could make someone a saint. Only Jesus can make someone a saint, and they are made so as soon as they repent of their sins and receive God’s free gift of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
The Roman Catholic Church is front and center in End Times Bible prophecy, but not in a good way. In the Book of Revelations chapter 17, the Apostle John saw a vision of a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads which represents seven mountains. Not coincidentally, Rome is known as “a city that sits on seven hills”. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones, signifying her incredible wealth as being one of the richest organizations in the world. She is holding a golden chalice full of the “filthiness of her fornications.” Fornication is often used in the Bible to represent spiritual adultery, as she is guilty of misrepresenting the Word of God to fit her own beliefs. She represents a religious system that is the counterfeit bride of Christ and is the leader of the End Times apostate church. This is the conglomeration of all the false religions of the world that will remain after the true Church has been raptured and will be instrumental in promoting worldwide worship of the Antichrist.
Now, Pope Leo XIV has performed his first Mass in St. Peter’s Square. Besides Catholics and Christians, it was attended by representatives from the Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and Hindu faiths. Leo’s first homily centered on the theme of unity and harmony in the faith, marking him as an ideal candidate to be the End Times pope, one that would embrace all the religions of the world. The Apostle Paul warned that in the End Times there will be those who declare, “Peace, peace.” But it will be a false peace, because soon afterwords, sudden destruction will come upon this unrepentant world and they will be caught as in a trap. There will be no genuine, lasting peace until the Prince of Peace suddenly intervenes into this wicked, God-defying world and makes all things new.
The purpose of this blog is not to castigate individual Catholics; I believe some are genuine Christians who will one day make heaven their home, not because of their religion, but in spite of it. For most, Catholicism is a stumbling block to salvation. That is why in the Book of Revelations chapter 18 God warns through the Apostle John to “get out of her my people.” He is admonishing believers to separate themselves from the corrupt influences of the world and its false religions to avoid sharing in her sins and soon-coming plagues. I believe we’re living in the end of the End Times where God is on the move to wrap things up before his soon-coming return to take His bride to heaven. I pray that everyone reading this will be included in that Glorious Day.
Changing from glory to glory 