Many Pastor Bobs use The Old Testament passage in Nm 11:25-29 to show that they don’t need to be Catholics to be saved.
“The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied. Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp. (When complaints about unauthorized prophesying reached Moses), he did not stop them, but said “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow His Spirit on them all!”
One of the Pastor Bobs’ biggest mistakes is to use that passage to justify being “outside The Tent” or, in our age, to be “outside The Only Church Jesus Founded”. A closer reading gives the greater truth: Eldad and Medad had been called by God. They were not self-appointed seers. They were approved because Moses knew God, the men, and what they had prophesied. Moses knew that they were in complete agreement with God. If they’d been raving on their own, would Moses have approved of them?
Those who incorrectly assume the Numbers passage is an Old Testament justification of Protestantism are making one of Pastor Bobs’ biggest mistakes. That error is often compounded by reinforcing it with what they turn into a “New Testament Pro-Protestant passage”:
Mk 9:38-40, also part of the Weekly Reading, includes “At that time, John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.’ Jesus replied, ‘Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.'”
“See!” hundreds of thousands of Pastor Bobs in 43,000 schisms revel in saying, “Jesus is for me because I am for Jesus!” They never notice the circularity nor that it is the theological version of “circling the drain”.
One of the Pastor Bobs’ biggest mistakes is being “against us” (“us’ being Jesus, The Apostles, and The Only Church Jesus Founded) when they fail to honor and encourage Jesus by encouraging their congregations to do what’s necessary to “have life in you” by striving to join The Only Church Jesus Founded? The Pastor Bobs are also what Jesus called “against us” when they ask people to give them money instead of supporting The Only Church Jesus Founded.
They are also “against us” (Jesus, Disciples, and Church) when they lead others to ignore: “Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
We must pray for our Protestant friends, family members and neighbors. We want all of them, including their Pastor Bobs, to understand Pastor Bobs’ biggest mistakes. “Please, God, help them to see more of the entire truth. Give them broader vision than the self-serving parts that are improperly used to serve the purposes of those who do not want people to have the life in them about which You said “If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood you do not have life in you.”
