The Main Stream Media Continues to Show Its Ignorance When It Comes To God, the Bible & The Catholic Church

So, what else is new?

After its fiasco on Biblical exigesis about homosexuality 2 weeks ago in Newsweek you would think the Main Stream Media (MSM) would step back & rethink how it covers Christianity to try & get it right. But no! Their arrogant attitude that they know better that God's annointed leaders what God wants as well as God Himself about what God should want & do have struck again. So, I guess in their minds the Newsweek article wasn't a fiasco, we just again showed our ignorance in listening to God rather than to them.

This time it is both Time & Newsweek have stuck their feet in their mouths.

So, let's start with Newsweek. In this week's issue they have an article called The Story of Power. After giving their secular humanistic definition of power they give their "list of the most powerful people who will figure in the era over which Obama will preside." While at least the admit it is arbitrary, by the fact that they place Papa Benedetto at #37 they have shown that they miss the spiritual aspects of his power. (Sarcastic aside, amazingly they had the Pope being more powerful than Oprah who came in at #47.)

Maybe they better remember Stalin's question: “How many divisions does the Pope have?” in which he dismissed showing any concern about the Catholic Church. A few decades later a Polish Pope, John Paul II, was elected. & in 10 years the Iron Curtain Stalin erected, came down. But it didn't come down by any Earthly power, rather it was all those Rosaries & other prayers that did it. & don't forget the battle of Lepanto (1571). It was prayer that actually won that one.

When you ignore or deny the existance of angels, the power of prayer & above all an omnipotent God you will undervalue the power that His vicar here on Earth has.

But, even if they only measured the human influence the Pope has, his power ranks a lot higher than they want to admit. Or maybe realize since they hang out with the only Catholics they know are the "catholics in Name Only" that aren't influenced by the Pope.

Then there is Time's trying to discern the will of God. The title of the article says it all: Will the Catholic Church Ever Have a Black Pope? & the article goes on to confirm how they are proving what God says in Isaiah 55:8. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord."

The article talks about the retirement of Cardinal Arinze & how he was considered by many to be elected the 1st Black Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II. (The fact that a couple of early Popes may have been black is completely ignored.)

The article says: "Earlier this month Arinze, 76, retired from his top Vatican post, which for all intents and purposes ended any likelihood that he will ever be pontiff." & it goes on to say: "Once a "Prince of the Church" gives up his day-to-day assignments, he is typically thought to be out of the running for the top job."

Not that I want anything to happen to Papa Benedetto, but saying that he is out of the running is using man's satndards, not Gods. They forget that no one expected a Polish Pope either.

But what the article really is about is a (not so) subtle accusition of racism against the catholic Church. "But Arinze's retirement raises the question of if and when the Catholic Church will be ready to follow the United States in choosing a man with roots in Africa — or anywhere outside of Europe — to lead its ever more diverse flock."

1st of all, there is the assumption that the Catholic Church is supposed to follow the lead of a country rather than that of the Holy Spirit. 2nd, there is the assumption that God plays no part in the election of the Pope. & from that they leap to the accusation that those who do elect the Pope are mostly a bunch of bigotted old white guys who want to keep the control of the Catholic Church in the hands of a European white guy.

"The College of Cardinals — once dominated by Italians — has become a much more diverse group. Still, Europeans continue to have a virtual lock in overall numbers: exactly half of the current 116 Cardinal electors (those under age 80) are from Europe, with Italy still counting 20." This again reminds me of what the media said before Pope John PaulII's election. They were saying the Italian cardinals had a lock on being elected Pope.

They did get 1 thing mostly right though: "Any Cardinal (any baptized male Catholic, in theory) can emerge from a conclave as Pope." They left out the fact that the Pope has to be single., I am amazed they came that close to being accurate.

They finally admit: "Still, the Vatican parlor game of trying to envision future papal candidates is slippery business." So, why this whole guessing game article? Like I said, for the MSM to tell the Catholic Church how it thinks the Church should operate.

I don't know much about the African "up & coming" papabili are. I don't want to assume that they names mentioned have an agenda behind them, but knowing the MSM, there probably is.

& another line that they would say is only pointing out a fact, when read in the context of the paragraph, hints agian at this "white guy control" theme. "The current German Pope has focused much of his attention on efforts to reinvigorate traditional Catholicism in Europe, the historical headquarters of the Church." This comes right after the line" "Latin American Catholics, who had high hopes back in 2005 that one of their Cardinals would fill John Paul II's papal slippers, are battling to hold onto their faithful, who have been moving to evangelical Protestant churches in droves over the past two decades."

Where do I start. Are they suggesting that the Pope shouldn't reinvigorate traditional Catholicism? I'd say yes given that traditional Catholicism opposes much of what the MSM stands for these days.

& while Europe has been the traditional HQ of the Church is true as far as it goes, the question they ask but fail to rightly answer is why? Again they are implying white guy control, forgetting the fact that a huge number of the early Popes were olive skinned being Jewish, Greek, Italiano or Spanish in their origin. Not exactly a bunch of white guys. In the end, the reality is that God lead Peter to Rome & established the Papacy there, not man. It also just dawned on me that they may be subtly hinting that the Catholic Church ought to move its HQ elsewhere, something the MSM's EU buddies who want to wipe out all record of Christianity's benificent influence in making Europe would love as it would make their job all the easier.

Then there is the Latin American comment. The very reason that the number of people leaving the Catholic Church for evangelical Protestant churches is the very reason a Latin American Cardinal wasn't elected. Can you say "Liberation theology"? Can you say "not teaching orthodox (aka traditional) Catholic teachings"? Except for the most important thing, the Sacraments esp the Eucharist, these evangelical churches offer what has been kicked out in much of Latin America (& elsewhere), the real Jesus who died for our sins.

The paragraph also points out how the Church is growing in Africa & sending priests elsewhere to deal with shortages. Again it fails to say why? Because orthodox (traditional) Catholicism is taught there. Notice a pattern?

The article concludes by saying: "After trips to Germany, Spain and France, as well as the United States and Brazil, Benedict is slated to make his first visit to Africa in March, with stops in Cameroon and Angola." Rather than say everything I could, I will simply conclude this post by saying that their conclusion again shows that the MSM knows better than the Holy Spirit how to run the Catholic Church.

Someday, they will find out how wrong they are. Let's pray that it is before they are standing in front of God & facing their final judgment at the end of their lives.