All Protestants want what the wealthy Anglican English families of novels sought in the literature of Protestant delusions: “All this, and Heaven, too”. They want what they want on earth and get into Heaven and have joy forever. “All this, and Heaven, too.” is the double-minded fraud at the very heart of Protestantism. “All this and Heaven too.” Hah!
The fraud is glorified in Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Prosperity Church marketing plans: “You are wealthy because God loves you more. You are ‘the elect’! The “elect” are eager to subsidize the system that supports them, absolves them of guilt, and promises eternal happiness in Heaven. “All this, and Heaven, too.” is what every Protestant wants.
There is this great danger in Protestantism: Today’s Reading, James 4:1-10 includes “Beloved: Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war within your members? You covet but do not possess. You kill and envy but you cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You do not possess because you do not ask. You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Adulterers! Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Intelligent Protestants cannot avoid asking, “If I want ‘all this and heaven too’, I am a lover of the world and, according to The Bible, doesn’t that make me an enemy of God? Surely, my enmity is visible to God. Surely, He does not let his enemies into Heaven?”
This realization leads those able to understand to Catholicism and a “greater grace”.
“But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you of two minds.”
When they see the fate that is promised to those of “two minds”, they understand. “‘All this and Heaven, too.’ makes me of two minds, and The Bible says that I must be purified of that.”
How do we do so? “Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”
