God made every human mind with the ability to tell lies while insisting “I tell the truth.” We see it in every area of life. Those selling vitamins, “organic” foodstuffs, automobiles, jewelry, antiques, clothing, “clean” power, and every worldly good or service claim their goods and services to be better for astonishingly wide varieties of reasons.
Every purchase we make is accompanied by varying degrees of consideration and contemplation. We analyze the benefits of every good and service along with the credibility of the provider.
Most of us do not apply the same analysis to religious claims that we use to make everyday decisions. We, who can often see through flim-flam men and women in business and politics are often led astray by religious scams.
“Our church is just as good as any.” is effective because it appeals to the mistake most of us are vain enough to make about ourselves: “I am just as good as anyone.” We are easily led from that to “All churches are pretty much the same. We are a small, welcoming community. We believe in Jesus and The Bible. And, we believe in ‘family’! You will like it, here.”
That thinking echoes the liturgical chants written by those who authored the French and Communist Revolutions. They erected and enshrined the Idol of Equality. It was embodied in what was called “Democracy”, and each individual was told “One man, one vote.” Few noticed the underlying reality: The same amount of political power was given to the easily purchased vote of a thieving, drug-addicted liar as to a hard-working, caring parent. Those who did notice that fatal flaw soon discovered that there was nothing they could do about it.
Adulthood is the realization that the enshrinement of Equality produces a tyranny of corrupted and corrupting vote buyers. It is wise to apply that knowledge of corruption to religion. Not only are religions not equal, but those who proclaim them to be are described by St. John as something far worse. 1 John 2:18-21 speaks to us very clearly about how to choose our denomination:
“Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming, so now many antichrists have appeared.” Since he was speaking to the ages, he is telling us, in our time “many antichrists have appeared.”
He continues, relentlessly describing the Protestants of past and present:
“Thus we know this is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of our number;” St. John is warning of the tens and tens of thousands of vain, ambitious men who invented their own denominations to separate the gullible from their money. How do we tell who the “antichrists” are? We may identify these “antichrists” because “they went out from us . The “antichrists” abandoned the Apostles and The Only Church Jesus Founded and went off to set up competing doctrinal structures with some confusing similarities and vastly greater differences.
if they had been of our number, they would have remained with us.”
St. John reinforces his profound point: Those clergy and laity who stay with Jesus and The Apostles whom He ordained with the power to ordain their successors have validity. St. John clearly teaches that those who leave The Only Church Jesus Founded are “antichrists”. St. John, Christ’s most beloved disciple, becomes even harsher, calling them “deserters”. “Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.” The important word? “none”. Of all the Protestants, of all the antichrists who abandoned The Only Church Jesus Founded, “none of them was of our number.”
Those who have not prayed for the guidance to understand are those led astray.
What does the “beloved Disciple” tell us of those who remain faithful Catholic clergy? “But you have the anointing that comes from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” St. John says “Be Catholic!” 3 times and more: those who are anointed in The Only Church Jesus Founded are among “our number”. It is impossible for those who have not “remained with us” to be “of our number”.
Then, St. John pays a great compliment to everyone who reads his words: “I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth.”
So, over the past two thousand years, those who have read and understood St. John’s clear words have been complimented. He tells us that we “know the truth” and that “every lie is alien to the truth.”
Therefore, if we follow one of the hundred thousand antichrists who have invented their profiteering Protestantisms in the last two thousand years, it is our fault.
Each who reads is able to understand. To leave the Holy Orders and The Only Church Jesus Founded for one of the vain Pastor Bob inventions is the biggest mistake we can make. It condemns our poor soul to the eternal pain of everlasting punishment.
