New Testament teachings echo God’s Word in the Old Testament. Today’s Readings warn the disobedient.
Jer 7, 23:28 includes: “This is what I commanded My people: Listen to My voice; then, I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.”
It is clear: God commanded that His people obey His commands. And, He judges His people, saying “Yet they have not obeyed Me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.”
Still, He sent His Son to save those who would obey. His Son meets those whose vanity is similar to earlier Protestants who went astray in the Old Testament. Even when Jesus does great miracles, He finds that the Protestant Nature seeks reasons not to take Him seriously enough to obey.
Luke 11: 14-23 tells us “Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed. Some of them said, ‘By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, He drives out demons.'” We see how the vain desire to deny God’s superior power seeks reasons to justify disobeying Him.
And, we see that in the passage “a demon that was mute” tells us that the demon actually was mute. We may see from that the nature of other disorders. Some disorders are, like mute, destructive demons.
That helps us see that it was demons who prompted, or
were, those thoughts expressed by some in the crowd:
“Others, to test him, asked Him for a sign from heaven.” Endlessly asking for proof is another sign that demons of vanity have taken control of a mind.
“But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.” In our time, 43,000 competing Protestant groups vie for donors.
“And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” And, those competing groups are shrinking. Those “Kingdoms of schisms” do not stand, but are replaced by new ones where those who do not wish to obey the teachings of The Only Church Jesus Founded.
“For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.”
THIS IS SCARY! As “mute” was deafness, the “they” are “the demons” who will will be the judges of the willfully disobedient!
Do those who willfully and knowingly shun The Church He Founded by saying “Verily, verily, I say unto you thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.” look forward to being judged by their own demons?
Jesus says that is their own demons who will judge the immortal souls of the disobedient. What should be even more terrifying to the willfully disobedient is that judges have the power to sentence.
What is stronger than the demons? Jesus tells us: “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.”
Then, Jesus tells us whether to be Catholic, in The Only Church He Founded, or to be in one of the 43,000 competing, confusing groups:
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Today’s Readings warn the disobedient.
