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Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
Hi Colbe and WarminIndy, I can't fully address all that you both have written but I thank you both for your contributions in this discussion.
Colbe, your comment about the pedophile priests and about Satan wanting to mess up a good thing, I do believe that. I have seen how that entity messes with people. In my posting history on ATS it's no secret I've alluded to and sought help for some paranormal problems that are basically spiritual attacks in my home. These events reached a peak just as I was setting up in the most preliminary way, preparations to have my daughter at least take Baptism classes and figure out where I was going to enroll in RCIA. I wasn't necessarily going to convert but I did at least want to understand better the beliefs of the family I married into.
To recount everything that happened would be a lot to go into, but the end result is my sponsor suddenly took very ill and almost died, my daughter and I got terrified out of her wits by something I'm not going to discuss now, and I had to stop everything. In addition to all that we both kept getting sick. A catholic friend of mine, also a former Protestant, told me she suspected we were under spiritual attack and has been praying for us. She said she has gone through one but not as overt as what we went through.
That is one of the things I do value about Catholicism, they take evil in all of its manifestations very seriously and provide resources for even lay people to understand what they are dealing with. I am descended from a line of pagan female shamans in my Asian line. My mother's mother was the last shaman but current generations still have lingering problems with ticked off entities that hang around wondering why we don't serve them anymore. I've had to bring some problems to my pastors in my youth and they were so far removed from this level of spiritual existence and battle they could only think I was complaining my house was haunted, to which of course they gave the sensible but useless reply of don't worry, there's no such thing as ghosts.
Some Protestant churches have preserved the ancient beliefs of the true nature of evil and how to fight it, but mine did not. I do therefore believe too much got thrown out in the Reformation. I do believe though that basic rebellious ideas in the Reformation were necessary to force the Catholic Church into examining its sins and excesses. Not all of the rebellion was a heresy. Heresy was a buzzword Satan threw around to protect some beliefs and practices he sneaked into the Church to corrupt it from within. And history does bear witness to the fact that at one time for a very long multi generational period, the Church did more harm than good for people.
That does not mean the Church is invalid but it serves to show us at any given moment evil can hold sway over the best intentioned institution or individuals we are to take no mere man's word or authority above that of the Holy Spirit's. Jesus himself told us to question everything and test it to discern for ourselves if it is of God or not.
For all the good that any church or any human can contain within at any moment, there are jealous, deceiving hate filled forces working constantly to destroy this good by any means possible.edit on 1-1-2012 by SheeplFlavoredAgain because: Fixing typos and sentences.
Originally posted by colbe
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
[
WarmnIndy, LuanaK, autowrench and the rest of the regulars I talk with,
I love you all. It's that I wish you to become Roman Catholic. I have
faith, the events prophesied are going to happen. The "cup" is full and
running over, God is going to bring a change. And no one disagrees,
Jesus said it in a prayer to the Father, that we might all be one in belief.
Originally posted by WarminIndy
Originally posted by colbe
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
[
WarmnIndy, LuanaK, autowrench and the rest of the regulars I talk with,
I love you all. It's that I wish you to become Roman Catholic. I have
faith, the events prophesied are going to happen. The "cup" is full and
running over, God is going to bring a change. And no one disagrees,
Jesus said it in a prayer to the Father, that we might all be one in belief.
Colbe, I think by now you should understand that I do not wish to be Catholic, and LunaKat and autowrench do not wish to be Christian. LunaKat and autowrench have the right of their conscience to worship whatever they want, and that choice is theirs alone because they are responsible for their own salvation that they have to work out. I will leave them to their goddess, and if they believe their goddess will help them, then we can't force them to be anything else.
I do not believe that you can light a candle to get me to believe and I do not believe your rosary prayers can make me be Catholic.
Now about SheeplFA, she needs spiritual help because that is indeed an attack against her family and she needs prayer to end it. So I will say a prayer for SheeplFA, and I know and trust that my prayers are heard because time and time again they have been answered. The only answer I have seen from you, Colbe, is that God does not answer people if they are not Catholic, but that is not true. God lives in our hearts and seeks those that worship in Spirit and in truth.
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
...I similarly got a revelation about the Eucharist. I was sitting with my in-law's at Mass, feeling as usual, rather resentful I couldn't take part in communion despite the fact I am a declared baptized Christian. I actually mumbled in my head "What's the big furry deal?".
I got hit with the answer. I felt the presence of Christ and the transubst...ah heck I can't spell it. Well you know what I'm talking about, I felt the whole miracle and mystery play out and I just KNEW everything I'd been taught and believed about the communion celebration (my church didn't even call it Eucharist) was incomplete to say the least. Even my Catholic but scientific minded husband can't quite bring himself to say the change that happens during Eucharist without hemming and hawing about it. He believes, I'm sure, but isn't comfortable declaring it to a non believer. I've got no trouble with it. I believe, so I'll declare it and take the criticisms that may come with it. I know what I experienced that day and it wasn't indigestion!,,,
edit on 2-1-2012 by SheeplFlavoredAgain because: sorry for the underline of the whole post. I have no idea how that happened or how to remove it!
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
Hi Colbe.
...I know you are not judging me because we both know who the real judge is. I know the good intentions in your heart and that you sincerely see souls at peril and want all to be saved, and have the guts to say so.
...Your talk of the prophecies intrigue me. I need to be paying more attention. Are you saying the Eucharist will be abolished in the Roman Catholic church itself by an anti Christ ascended to the papacy or up that high in the ranks? Or did I misunderstand you? It seems unthinkable something as sacred as the Eucharist would ever be removed from the Catholic church.
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
Hi Colbe I've decided to make my post into a private U2U because I was talking about the spiritual battle going on here and I had to discuss a bit about my kid. Since I make it sort of a policy to not talk about my child in too much depth on these forums I moved the response off the forum. I hope you don't mind checking your private messages. Thanks again for your thoughtful posts and generous concern for others' souls. I know it must make your social life challenging but I hope it brings your spiritual life enrichment. You and WarmInIndy have both been very kind here to me and I appreciate it.
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
For what it is worth, Colbe, I have no personal objection if you want to pray for me to convert to Catholicism. I won't be offended. My in-law's already do that. At first I was offended they didn't think my salvation was complete but then I realized they simply love me and want me to follow the path they believe is the best one for me. I figure if it is God's will, it will be done eventually. I don't know what precisely to do so I just keep praying for guidance and revelation. That is how I got switched over from being pro-choice for myself to being the opposite for myself. However I was made to understand my revelation was intended for me personally and how I am to make my choices, not anyone else's. (I'm a believer in encouraging people to take their questions to God and getting their answer directly, if they aren't persuaded one way or the other by the words of man). What that means is I went from being determined if my mid life pregnancy was going to endanger my life, I'd seek a termination, to giving the actual orders that if an emergency happened, the baby's life was to be put first.
I similarly got a revelation about the Eucharist. I was sitting with my in-law's at Mass, feeling as usual, rather resentful I couldn't take part in communion despite the fact I am a declared baptized Christian. I actually mumbled in my head "What's the big furry deal?". I got hit with the answer. I felt the presence of Christ and the transubst...ah heck I can't spell it. Well you know what I'm talking about, I felt the whole miracle and mystery play out and I just KNEW everything I'd been taught and believed about the communion celebration (my church didn't even call it Eucharist) was incomplete to say the least. Even my Catholic but scientific minded husband can't quite bring himself to say the change that happens during Eucharist without hemming and hawing about it. He believes, I'm sure, but isn't comfortable declaring it to a non believer. I've got no trouble with it. I believe, so I'll declare it and take the criticisms that may come with it. I know what I experienced that day and it wasn't indigestion!
So if it's meant to be for me, it will happen. I'm always sincerely and humbly seeking and I have every faith that God will answer as we were promised He would. I do sometimes lean on my own understanding a bit much but I get steered back on the right path eventually. My angry prideful days and ways sometimes come back to me but I know now the pitfalls of giving in to them.edit on 2-1-2012 by SheeplFlavoredAgain because: sorry for the underline of the whole post. I have no idea how that happened or how to remove it!
Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
reply to post by colbe
Hi Colbe, I'll have to get back to you, I'm enthralled by all the stories on that link you posted. yes, what that lady described is very much like the revelation I received. I just knew Christ was present there and that no mere bread was being passed around.
I've been doing a lot of reading of other people's posts and gotten a lot of enlightenment. But I have found that there is an assumption on the part of some that if I run across parts of the Bible that confuse or upset or even anger me, that I'm not a good Christian or I'm not reading it right or not reading with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I had some questions get met with a stern rebuke. As a Catholic don't you find the opposite, that questions are encouraged and that you are also welcome to get help understanding the Bible? My husband told me the priests are used to all kinds of questions and don't think the less of you if you can't make heads or tails out of parts of the Bible on your own sometimes. I'm not the best writer or reader at my age, though I used to be a very good reader and writer when I was a student. But I can't say even at the top of my game that I always understood the Bible cover to cover. But I don't think that makes me a bad Christian, just a baby Christian, maybe.
I'm sorry I've been scarce and not answered your private message yet. It's been hectic around here lately and I've been rather run down.