Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “The Seal of God and Mark of the Beast: Part 2”. In this lesson, we go into greater detail to show that the Roman Catholic Church most closely represents that beast. And yet, the true “beast” is not this system. Evil does not lurk solely in a church, in a denomination, or in any system of belief. The dividing-line between good and evil lies in every human heart. It is as if the Roman church was allowed to come into existence to demonstrate what the human heart is capable of doing, IF each had absolute authority… like a pope. IF you were pope, if I were pope, the “beast” would arise in our hearts and the active demonstration of the “beast” would roam the earth in us. The evil we are warned about is not a church or denomination. It is the heart motivation behind that denomination that can be manifested in each one of us… IF we were ever in that position.
We need to be very clear about this. When you or I become the determiner of what constitutes Sabbath worship, we then have created our own day of worship, as surely as if we had made Sunday the day of worship. When you are I judge any other person, you or I have become pope as surely as if we had been formally bestowed the papal pallium. When we base our faith on the personage of any pastor, teacher or televangelist, we have made them our mediator between God and man as surely as any devout catholic who prays to any saint as the mediator between God and man. The Roman church exists to show us our selves. To stop trusting ourselves. And to solely trust our God.
But instead, we are often content to vilify a denomination, while excusing those very traits in ourselves that created and established the Roman Church. Remember, churches and denominations are the creation of mankind. God makes no such distinctions. We are all His children. All are sinners. All need His grace… His protection… His love. He alone knows the heart and He alone knows who have (or will) respond to His love. For this is the distinction God makes. Not a distinction based on loveable-ness. Only a distinction based on a heart response. Not a distinction on good or bad. But only a distinction based on a reciprocal response. Things we cannot know. An have no business knowing. And this distinction is not based on His love. Because He loves all, especially His enemies.
Therefore, let us not point fingers at the Roman Catholic Church nor its members. Because as we point, we are also judging ourselves. “Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things” (Romans 2:1). For that matter, “let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4: 31-32). As Christians, we must follow Christ’s example. We must love as He loved, without prejudice or judgement. And especially without condemnation. For if we do judge, condemn and prescribe worship for another or for ourselves, we are surely establishing ourselves as pope. The most dangerous pope does not reside in Rome. It resides in each human heart, ready to judge, condemn, prescribe… and rule… instead of God.
With brotherly love,
Jim