The NY Post’s story of the Francis X Cabrini Church, closed in Massachusetts over a court settlement in a sex abuse scandal, would be a good read for most Christians. After losing an appeal to the Supreme Court, they performed their last service. One 86-year-old member said, “We fought the good fight. We did everything we could.” When it comes to their religious congregations, that’s more than most Americans can say. “
The Catholic Church spent $ 2 million on New York’s top lobbying firms to block reform of the child sex law. (NY Daily News 5-30-16) The word “catholic” means universal. That is a broad category that can suit everyone. The problem is that God loves everyone and we are all sinners, but He hates the sin (selfishness and abuse) that defines His Word. In his Sermon on the Mount, Christ said that the wide road leads to destruction. We must be willing to repent. God gives victory to those who seek his help. Paying the priest weekly is a weakness.
Most Americans fit the image of a church in Revelation 3 that is lukewarm on materialism. He believes himself rich in many things and in need of nothing while Christ is outside, asking to enter. The fact that it also represents “truth” suggests that something important is missing.
# 1. “Church” is translated from the Greek word eklesia, which means “called”. Members who give their lives to Christ are called to be like salt and light: in the world but not in the world. If our focus is on what we can accumulate, we have lost our identity with Christ, who gave those things to do. of others of His. priority.
# 2. The court action reflects the opinion of a judge. A judgment is announced in Revelation 14, where the Greek word is krisis. The whole world is entering a crisis. We sing, “God bless America,” but he cannot bless what he has cursed. We say: “In God we trust.” But events to come will test who we trust. If we don’t align ourselves with clear statements from His Word, it’s just talking and it doesn’t matter if a “high” court says it’s okay, what’s next will show that society’s confused systems are down, Revelation 18.
# 3. The good news is that God can save people who turn to Him despite the surrounding destruction. This is seen in the fall of Jericho, a type of the fall of Babylon in Revelation 17, 18. Rahab was a harlot living in Jericho, but she risked her life to protect two Israelites and was rewarded for switching sides by forgiving her. family and we find it in the genealogy of Christ, spelled Rajab in Matthew.
The Bible calls us out of Babylon, a metaphor for the confused systems of society. Include
** Medical care. This is falsely called ‘healthcare’; but the relationship is inverse. The more we take drugs, the worse our health becomes because drugs do not address the true cause, which in most cases is something we put in our mouths, perhaps for years. The drug adds the risk of an adverse reaction to the drug, which is also a leading cause of illness and death. The Greek word is pharmakeia in Revelation 18 which deceives “all nations”. A simple plant-based diet, clean air (no tobacco), and water instead of alcohol, tea, or coffee, with rest, exercise, and prayer will help most people reverse their illness.
** Education. The higher the education, the higher the cost and the college education is mostly useless with many subjects that are not needed for life. All the math that most people need can be learned in elementary school, and we could learn the balance of reading, writing, and speaking in high school along with a good general science course. Why bother most young people with college courses in music, art, math, science, civics, or English literature? It would be better to focus on learning a practical trade by which one can earn a living. The Bible is loaded with lessons about life. One of my classmates became impoverished due to tuition and spent most of his life driving a taxi; another went to work at his father’s gas station.
** Government. The Bible depicts the nations of this world as ferocious beasts of prey in Daniel 7, largely due to abuse by leaders. This author visited the US Senate offices with medical literature to show prescription drugs as a leading cause of illness and death until a senator said: They’re wasting their time, they own us, talking about donations of drugs for his re-election campaign. They act in their own selfish interest while refusing to retire on the same basis as us.
God gave Israel a law that was based on self-government and the Constitution of the United States was excellent for the same reason that it minimized the need for Washington. The citizen was sovereign with part of his power given to the state and part of the state power ceded to the federal government, but now that process has been reversed by thugs who do not care about the Constitution despite their oath.
** Religion. Martin Luther would be in agony if he knew that the movement he started is ending as church leaders are eager to embrace Rome, not seeing her as the whore of Revelation 17 and fornication with the kings is the church’s participation in the governments. The church wants laws like Laudato Si ‘and Dies Domini (Sunday) with Parochiaid to help its institutions.
Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “When a religion is good, I conceive that it will sustain itself; and when it does not sustain itself, and God does not care to sustain it, so its teachers are forced to ask for it. help from civil society. power, it’s a sign, I learn, that it’s bad. “
Revelation 17 shows a harlot riding on the New World Order beast – the image of the beast from Revelation 13, an Old World Order (papacy) image or likeness and will involve false worship that brings the wrath of God, chapter 14.