Ichabod Predicts - Third World Pontiff. Pope resigns: Peter Turkson reveals vision for the Church and 'alternative lifestyles' - Telegraph

Pope resigns: Peter Turkson reveals vision for the Church and 'alternative lifestyles' - Telegraph:

Ghanian Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson  Photo: AP

By Malcolm Moore, Rome

8:50PM GMT 12 Feb 2013

Cardinal Peter Turkson, a 64-year-old Ghanaian prelate, is the bookmaker's early favourite to succeed Pope Benedict XVI.

He told The Daily Telegraph Tuesday that his biggest challenge, should he be elected, would be to maintain an orthodox Catholic doctrine while "at the same time knowing how to apply it so that you do not become irrelevant in a world that has continuous changes".

Cardinal Turkson, who holds one of the most important jobs in the Roman Curia and has been repeatedly promoted by Pope Benedict, was quick to take a conservative line on gay marriage and other "alternative lifestyles".

"We need to find ways of dealing with the challenges coming up from society and culture," he said, adding that the Church needed to "evangelise", or convert, those who had embraced "alternative lifestyles, trends or gender issues". He added: "We cannot fail in our task of providing guidance."

Cardinal Turkson has caused controversy in the past both by screening a video claiming that Europe faced being overrun by Muslims and by insisting that condoms were not the solution to preventing HIV.

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The African prelate said he had reflected on the enormous personal burden of becoming the leader of the Catholic Church. "It would certainly mean a lot if I had to be a pope," he said. "If I was elected pope it would signal a lot of [personal] change. Very big change in a lot of regards. I have been an archbishop, which involved a certain amount of leadership and now having to do this on a world level, the dimensions expand almost infinitely.

"It is going to be a life-changing experience and I think that is what it has been for Benedict and those who have gone before us. The challenge will also be with the individual to want to make his mark, not trying to fit into anybody's shoes but finding his own shoes to wear."

Cardinal Turkson also said the Vatican needs to "restore and repair" an image that has been "badly compromised by recent scandals".

Pope Benedict's eight-year papacy saw controversies over paedophile priests, a tense relationship with the Muslim world, and the conviction of his butler for stealing documents that revealed corruption at the top of the Vatican.

"[We need] to relevantly address issues and the credibility of our own ministry and leadership," said Cardinal Turkson. "The Church, if you adopt the imagery of a boat, is going through quite a bit of a storm and it does not appear to be over yet," he said.

"In Europe, churches are getting empty, the population appears not to relate much to the Church and to religion and all of that –that is an issue to deal with. In the new churches, Latin America, Africa and Asia, where the Church appears to be growing there is also the challenge of being able to maintain membership. Whoever succeeds Benedict will not lack challenges and they are an invitation to creativity and innovation."

He acknowledged that he will be in the running when 118 cardinals enter into a conclave in the Sistine Chapel next month to select their next leader.

"It is a possibility [that there will be an African pope]," he said. "Already at the last conclave there was a move to have a candidate from the southern half of the globe," he said. But he pointed out that there is constant speculation over the idea of an African pope.

"Before I got here there was a young African cardinal called Arinze from Nigeria. And at every conclave everybody was talking about him as an emerging candidate. Arinze is now 80 and actually there is no way he can participate in the conclave. So after Arinze another African shows up in the Vatican, now there are actually two of us, there is a cardinal from Guinea. So again there is speculation."

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GJ - I was ready to predict a Third World pope coming out of this conclave, even before I saw this article. I thought so last time, when Benedict was elected, after making a deal to appoint a liberal to replace him in the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition (original title).

They toned it down to Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

Third World Christian congregations are growing fast, but the decadent West is declining. In addition, there is a gulf between the two. The Ethiopians just broke with ELCA over the gay issue, something ELCA cannot understand.

African Episcopalians are incensed over the US Episcopal election of gay  bishops, soon to happen in England. Sure, they had them before, but they are emptying the closets now.

'via Blog this'

Can Any Pope Be a Believing Christian? - No: Impossible

Ichabod, ” Buchholz was UOJ all the way, so I am not going to credit him with any scruples or doctrinal knowledge. He is simply one more example of someone eager to posture for a time, and even more eager to switch sides when convenient.”

Posturing in the Lutheran Synods, some do it with the intent to mislead, others out of respect for their egos and still others out of pure ignorance and apathy. Pastor Spencer published a post yesterday stating that the Roman Catholic office of Pope will contain The Antichrist Scripture speaks of in the last days. The body of the article was accurate as it briefly detailed the reasons the Lutheran Confessions make the same determination regarding the Pope. The problem that I had with it was in the last paragraph where Pastor Spencer writes contrary to the evidence he just presented and which Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions confirm. He equivocates and states that not every Pope is an antichrist and that they may even be Christian believers who will be saved eternally. Scripture teaches that a Christian is someone who has been received into God’s grace as His own dear child and saved eternally. I posted a comment disagreeing with his false statement and initially it was graciously allowed to be posted. That changed this morning when my statement was kilcreased. I post it here so that people may see the horrendous problem with Pastor Spencer’s false teaching.

Pastor Spencer states, "This does not mean that any particular individual Pope is the Antichrist, or even an antichrist in the wider sense of the term, or that these men cannot also be Christian believers and thus saved and in heaven with God for eternity."

I believe that this statement requires more explanation. As it stands it is nonsensical. The very position which the Popes take as the "Vicar of Christ" requires full agreement with the Council of Trent as they continually reconfirm it's teachings. The Council of Trent anathematizes Justification by Faith Alone and by that rejects Christ and the chief and central article of Christ's doctrine. The Council of Trent also places the standing Pope as the mediator between God and man which clearly subverts and perverts Christ and His position as sole Mediator. What this means is that every Pope who is faithful to the Catholic Church's official teachings is an antichrist just as those outside of the Catholic Church who replace Christ's doctrine of one Justification solely by Faith in Christ Alone are also antichrists. Any confession which changes the singular doctrine of Christ removes Christ from it and He is not a part of it. Therefore anyone who perverts the central article of Justification is not a Christian and therefore is not saved. This is most certainly true for antichrists. The only way for someone in an unChristian church body (a church body who's official teaching perverts the central article of one Justification solely by Faith in Christ Alone, given by God's grace alone through the Means of Grace alone) to be a Christian is for them to be hypocrites within their denomination. For instance the only way a member of the Catholic Church could be a Christian and saved eternally would be that he is a hypocrite and truly believes contrary to the official teaching of the Catholic Church and trust in Christ alone, forsaking his own false works righteousness, for the forgiveness of sins and salvation. Same goes for members of all other denominations where the official teaching perverts Christ's doctrine of Justification - they must be hypocrites within their denomination.

Martin Luther in his “The Private Mass and the Consecration of Priests,” states, “For we must believe and be sure of this, that baptism does not belong to us but to Christ, that the gospel does not belong to us but to Christ, that the office of preaching does not belong to us but to Christ, that the sacrament (of the Lord’s Supper) does not belong to us but to Christ, that the keys, or forgiveness and retention of sins, do not belong to us but to Christ. In summary, the offices and sacraments do not belong to us but to Christ, for he has ordained all this and left it behind as a legacy in the church to be exercised and used to the end of the world; and he does not lie or deceive us. Therefore, we cannot make anything else out of it but must act according to his command and hold to it. However, if we alter it or improve on it, then it is invalid and Christ is no longer present, nor is his ordinance.”

Thanks for allowing me to comment. Brett Meyer

http://www.intrepidlutherans.com/2012/10/the-roman-papacy-is-antichrist-spoken.html

Pastor Spencer’s false statement highlights a heinous problem caused by the toleration of the false gospel of Universal Objective Justification (aka: General Justification, Objective Justification, Universal Justification). UOJ teaches that the entire world was imputed Christ’s righteousness for the forgiveness of their sins regardless of the Holy Spirit graciously working Godly contrition and Faith in Christ alone through the Means of Grace. In fact UOJ teaches Christ’s righteousness must have been imputed to the whole world before and without faith otherwise faith would have nothing to cling to. First, this highlights that the false gospel of UOJ replaces Christ as the object of the Holy Spirit’s faith with the Forgiveness of Sins being the object of faith. Certainly this is an Antichristian gospel. Secondly it means that even The Antichrist and all of the minor antichrists have been imputed Christ’s righteousness and by that received the “non-imputation” (forgiveness) of sins. UOJ makes the Antichrist a child of God having been declared by God to have been given the inheritance of Christ. Therefore it is a fruit of UOJ to say that antichrist’s can be believing children of God and saved eternally – regardless of their doctrinal position which is contrary to Christ if they believe they have been declared forgiven by God they are saved eternally since their sins have already been forgiven.

Posturing. It is transparent when faithful Christians subject what is being taught to Scripture and the Christian Book of Concord. No wonder few take an public stand against the Antichrists in the Lutheran Synods who are actively anathematizing Christ’s Church while the laity suffer under clergy induced sleep. The glory of the (W)ELS.

***

GJ - I do not look at the Intrepid blog anymore, unless forced to do so. I am disappointed but not surprised by their weak response, during this Reformation month, to the suspension of Pastor Paul Rydecki for teaching justification by faith.

Anyone who becomes pope has already pledged himself to the infallibility of the office. In fact, ever since Pope Pius IX made papal infallibility a teaching of Rome, the dogma has been extended to more occasions and clergy as the world marched toward the End Times.

Now - any bishop, cardinal or priest who teaches in harmony with the pope is infallible. Therefore, the clergy are godlike when they agree with a man elected by a group of like-minded men. That is the spirit of the Antichrist, to set himself in the temple (St. Peter's) as a god. Spencer should be reading 2 Thessalonians and some Vatican publications, plus my Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, where more documents are listed.

Secondly, every pope teaches justification by works, the opposite of the Gospel - just as UOJ is the opposite of the Gospel. That alone makes him an Antichrist and not a believer.

So any given pope may not be THE Antichrist, but his office is chief and greatest office of all Antichrists. So Benedict may be regarded by all Protestants as only the Antichrist-Elect.

All false teachers, who set themselves up in the same way--like Jon Buchholz--are little Antichrists. They share in the terrible, divisive, soul-murdering work of their Father Below. They may lack in the global reach and political power of the big guy in Rome, but they are no less complicit in his work.

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Can Any Pope Be a Believing Christian? - No: Impos...":

As it stands it is nonsensical.

Amen.

Rev. Spencer's statement is really political because theologically it has no substance.

LPC

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GJ - Let's not be too hard on Holy Father Antichrist - that is the message I get. People are offended that the papacy is the Antichrist, because Aunt Charlotte is a Roman Catholic. So is Uncle Fritz. Are you saying my aunt and uncle, who still give me presents, belong to the Church of the Antichrist?

Where else can one find such beautiful rituals and solemn ceremonies, ancient customs and treasured dogmas - all designed to replace the Gospel with the Law, Christ with Mary, and Satan with God?