One, holy, catholic, and apostolic...

[Balticus]

Dear friends. Being weak... miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum... I allowed Satan to deceive me and ensnare me with the lamentable calvinist heresy. I wasted five years entangled in its deceptive trap. However, God showed mercy to me and I am again a faithul son of the One-and-Only, Holy and Apostolic, Roman Catholic church. Oh, the joy!

I shall pray, friends, that you too will see the light of Truth one day, confess your sins, leave your heresies, and find your way home to the Only True Church.

May Saint Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland but also of Britain and the entire world, bless you and your families.

Pax Christi

 

[alexanderjames]

What is lamentable is that one would turn back to Rome. As far as we can understand, Rome is full of abominations in both theology, that robs Christ of His glory and saints their ground of peace, as well as the atrocities committed in her name (the profile picture I display of John Bradford being one example).

But what advantage is this post?
Is it to help uncover the "lamentable calvinist heresy"? If so, no justification is provided.
Is it to help others see the "light of the Truth" of the "Only True Church"? If so, no basis is given.

There is no argument from the word of God whatsoever.
How then do you expect us to read a post like this? We are disconcerted and rather mourn.

 

[Balticus]

no justification is provided

no basis is given

I didn't start the thread to argue nor to get entangled in a theological debate - Satan is the most skilful of theologians, knows the scripture very well and oh, how he can argue! How convincingly and skillfully he can deceive! How proud he is of all his knowledge! *shivers*

No.

This is to express my joy and hope, and to offer prayers for many of you who are, I believe, genuinely looking for the Truth.

This is also to say goodbye, as I can no longer remain among you for obvious reasons. So, fare-thee-wells and sigh-shrilled adieus, and all that. All best wishes.

 

[jwright82]

I didn't start the thread to argue nor to get entangled in a theological debate - Satan is the most skilful of theologians, knows the scripture very well and oh, how he can argue! How convincingly and skillfully he can deceive! How proud he is of all his knowledge! *shivers*

No.

This is to express my joy and hope, and to offer prayers for many of you who are, I believe, genuinely looking for the Truth.

This is also to say goodbye, as I can no longer remain among you for obvious reasons. So, fare-thee-wells and sigh-shrilled adieus, and all that. All best wishes.

I guess you're right he can deceive. Kinda the way you got on here only to come to a new conclusion and take a jab at the site, I guess the whole dishonesty thing is morally negotiable.
I amend my previous post after being helpfully corrected by a brother. I should not have accused you of outright deception, you have my apologies for that. But I do think you should have gone about it in a different way. You, in my opinion, should have made known your change of opinion to the moderators quietly and awaited their judgment on this.
I merely pointed out the irony of accusing us of dishonesty only to turn around and handle the situation (even if ignorantly) in a less than honest way. I pray that you will come back to the fold and I'm saddened by your new opinions here. May God bless you in your endeavors.

 

[pgwolv]

I want to weep with Paul when he said "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you...?"

 

[Deleted member 14917]

What led you to believe Calvinism is "heresy"? That's a bold assertion that requires evidence.

That said, I will pray for you.

 

[Ploutos]

This thread is a reminder that we need the grace of God to sustain us. Reading over Balticus's previous posts, it seems he was sincere in his desire to follow truth for a time. It's easy to imagine that he may have experienced some isolation and social pressure trying to be Reformed in a part of the world that is overwhelmingly not-Reformed. Ultimately, however, what has happened here is that he has rejected the work of the Holy Spirit in illuminating the truths of Scripture, and he has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. If Satan can appear as an angel of light, he can appear as a maiden holding a baby. It is not Mary watching over his home country with a protective gaze.

It is not easy, in human-effort terms, to be a Christian. We Americans may have it easier than in other parts of the world, but it is not as if true Biblical theology is a thriving mainstream phenomenon here. We all doubtless have ample opportunity in our lives to exchange the truths of Scripture, if not for an outright false gospel, for a weakened and diluted one. May the Lord protect each of us from the sins that live within us on this side of heaven and beckon us away from the one who gave his all for us.

 

[No Other Name]

It's easy to imagine that he may have experienced some isolation and social pressure trying to be Reformed in a part of the world that is overwhelmingly not-Reformed.

There but for the grace of God go I

 

[clawrence9008]

As much as you think you might be following the Lord Jesus in this decision to defect to Rome, this just makes it manifest that "you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God" (Matthew 22:29). You claim that we have been deceived when you are the one who has been ensnared by the devil appearing as an angel of light in this decision. You have traded the glorious gospel of God's free grace in Christ founded upon the powerful testimony of the Scriptures to the mere traditions of men, superstitions, rituals, and idolatry that are all thinly covered with a fake veneer of apostolicity and historicity. I deeply mourn for you as one who by God's grace was able to escape such things myself in my conversion to the truth.

Let this be an admonition to us all to examine our own lives for a genuine love of the truth and an experience of the power of the gospel in our lives. "No man who forsakes the truth ever saw the glory of it, or had experience of its power" -- John Owen.

 

[SolaScriptura]

I suspect the OP was an act of prescribed penance.

 

[John Nyberg]

"Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Galatians 3:3

 

[jwright82]

I didn't start the thread to argue nor to get entangled in a theological debate - Satan is the most skilful of theologians, knows the scripture very well and oh, how he can argue! How convincingly and skillfully he can deceive! How proud he is of all his knowledge! *shivers*

No.

This is to express my joy and hope, and to offer prayers for many of you who are, I believe, genuinely looking for the Truth.

This is also to say goodbye, as I can no longer remain among you for obvious reasons. So, fare-thee-wells and sigh-shrilled adieus, and all that. All best wishes.

See my edited post please.

 

[retroGRAD3]

Sadly, it is now that he has truly allowed Satan to deceive him.

 

[Dkshotwell]

Dear friends. Being weak... miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum... I allowed Satan to deceive me and ensnare me with the lamentable calvinist heresy. I wasted five years entangled in its deceptive trap. However, God showed mercy to me and I am again a faithul son of the One-and-Only, Holy and Apostolic, Roman Catholic church. Oh, the joy!

I shall pray, friends, that you too will see the light of Truth one day, confess your sins, leave your heresies, and find your way home to the Only True Church.

May Saint Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland but also of Britain and the entire world, bless you and your families.

Pax Christi

Apostasy is a frightening thing to behold first hand, and I sorrow for you. The most terrifying aspect is all the light that you have been exposed to will make your eternal state one of horror by levels of magnitude. As an aside I must say that Catholics fondness for using a Latin quotes, as if it gives weight to you're arguments, are nothing more than mere incantations. Priestcraft is nothing more than witchcraft. I am being charitable in assuming that you even understood the gospel, or were ever calvinistic. Spidy sense says no.

 

[Ploutos]

I suspect the OP was an act of prescribed penance.

It's eerily similar to the last thread from some months back announcing a completed crossing of the Tiber, to be sure.

Why do things like this happen? What led the OP to make this move? I think in many such situations there is not a clearly definable reason. Likely, after a period of some internal struggle, he just decided he couldn't/didn't want to continue resisting the internal and external pressures to go over to Rome. Who knows what role family/societal pressures may have played, or whether there was a particular doctrinal sticking point.

 

[TheInquirer]

Balticus,

God has not declared Mary queen of anything, the Father has given all power and authority to His Son. You are regurgitating the lies of the Antichrist who seeks to diminish the power and glory of Jesus Christ and set up idols in his place.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me" - Matthew 28:18

"The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." - Psalm 2:7-8

"With the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." - Daniel 7:13-14

"They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of Kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful." - Revelation 17:14

Post automatically merged: Feb 5, 2025

Why do things like this happen? What led the OP to make this move?

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

 

[paranymph]

It's eerily similar to the last thread from some months back announcing a completed crossing of the Tiber, to be sure.

Why do things like this happen? What led the OP to make this move? I think in many such situations there is not a clearly definable reason. Likely, after a period of some internal struggle, he just decided he couldn't/didn't want to continue resisting the internal and external pressures to go over to Rome. Who knows what role family/societal pressures may have played, or whether there was a particular doctrinal sticking point.

One also wonders about the role of the local church in it all. Are these just people online posting things apart from active involvement in local churches? We don't, for obvious reasons, hear about their excommunication from a gospel-believing church.

 

[MW]

Dear friends. Being weak... miserere mei, Domine, quoniam infirmus sum... I allowed Satan to deceive me and ensnare me with the lamentable calvinist heresy. I wasted five years entangled in its deceptive trap. However, God showed mercy to me and I am again a faithul son of the One-and-Only, Holy and Apostolic, Roman Catholic church. Oh, the joy!

Oh the joy of realising the true sons of the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church were Calvinists! and their true heirs continued the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church in separation from the corrupt church in communion with the sectarian bishop of Rome!

 

[Solparvus]

@Balticus

You may not have come to argue. But since you posted, it is only fair and right that you listen as some of us take this head-on.

Even if an angel from heaven--let alone the Pope, let alone Peter--should come and preach another Gospel than what Paul preached, let him be damned!

Paul assumes that you are smart enough to read his letters and come to know what is the Gospel and what isn't. Do not hide behind "the devil knows the Scriptures too." There is a serpent in your own heart that can twist around the Scriptures just as well as he can to suit your own desires and lusts. When Peter went astray no one was supposed to throw up their hands and say, "Well we trust him." Their obligation was to disobey Peter's example. Thus are you too when any church authority gives you a Gospel which is no Gospel, and you may not hide behide any difficulties--whether pretended or real.

Do you so despise the death and obedience of Jesus Christ that now you must somehow make it better by what you do? Was His sacrifice on the cross so impotent that you need continually sacrifice Him at the Mass? If you are going to rely on your own works in any measure--church membership, baptism, charity, penance, sacraments, submission to church authorities, love, doesn't matter what it is--Christ will be of no benefit to you. It will be all on you to bring your own righteousness and atonement before God, based exclusively on your works and death, and none of Christ's. And Paul is clear in Galatians, that has only one result--death. That is as certain as God is holy.

Dress it up in candles, paintings, cathedrals, rituals, masses, images, Latin catch-phrases, it's only the adornments of the house of the spiritually wayward woman, and "in her house are many slain." You are on your way to joining them. Do not spit upon the face of Christ by denying the absolute perfection and sufficiency of His obedience and death. Do not insult Him by trying to add your righteousness to His. If the Lord shakes you awake you'll only find that you've left your father's house with high hopes, only to be struck with a famine, and find yourself a poor man coveting the food of pigs.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Member has been suspended. The admins extended a kindness to him several years ago in allowing him to join because he was in a tough spot to find a reformed church and was not a member anywhere. He did not post much and stopped posting over a year ago till this. I think the board might have been more help to him if he had utilized it. Closing thread.