The entire Book of John is a plea in which St. John cries “Be Catholic!” Even a short verse like Jn 10:27 is a call to The Only Church He Founded. Jesus tells the ages who heeds that call.
“My sheep hear My voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow Me.”
Many of us Catholic converts fled to The Only Church Jesus Founded to escape the confusing contradictions of the 43,000 schisms. All of them, and their churches, are led by men or women desperate to maintain a large enough donor base to survive. The desperation drives some to distort, exaggerate, and obfuscate:
“Our church is as just good as any other. We may not stand as firmly as those Catholics on moral issues like divorce, artificial birth control, fornication, and abortion, but we care. We care a lot about people. And, feelings. People do have feelings, you know.”
“There are a lot of ‘good people’ in our church. We mustn’t let them down.”
“The founder of our denomination was a little extreme, but we have moved beyond that. Why, we now accept a lot of Catholic teachings.”
“Yes, the fact that there are 43,000 competing Christian denominations does confuse some people. But, in our church, we believe in Jesus and The Bible. At least, our version of it. It’s a good version. May not have all the original parts, but we like it. We are an “Evangelical Church!” What does that mean? Whatever we want!”
“In our church, we don’t worship statues. I’m not saying that Catholics worship idols, but people like to hear that we do not. We don’t have Saints. We prefer to ‘deal directly’ with God. We don’t bother with His Mother. She brings up all that “human/divine nature” stuff that’s very complicated and awfully confusing. It’s just easier for us to ‘deal direct’.
“We know that our ministers and ministerettes have problems, but we don’t talk about them. We’d rather say ‘Catholics are worse.’ even though we know they really aren’t. Actually, saying ‘Catholics are worse.’ is about the only unifying theme among the 43,000 schisms. Surprised more people don’t notice how, well, ’empty’ we really are.”
“Listen. Everybody has to eat. I’m a Perkmistianist Minister. My mother was, too. I’m divorced. My mother was, too. I’ve got child support payments. Everybody has to eat. Our denomination is dying. It’s tough to make a living. You think I want to get a real job? What can I do, make tents? Of course I don’t want my contributors going off and being Catholics, just because it’s The Only Church Jesus Founded. There’s such a thing as ‘taking Jesus too seriously.'”
Many people see that sad reality of the 43,000 schisms, and become Catholic. What happens to those who don’t? What happens to those who choose to reject The Only Church Jesus Founded, about which He tells the ages “I say that you are 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. What you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. What you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
Obviously, those people cannot be among those of whom He says “My sheep hear My voice.” says the Lord. “I know them and they follow Me.”
You’d think they would be worried sick about what happens to anyone who disregards the clear instructions of He Whom they call “Son of God” and “Fulfillment of the Prophecies.”
Ignoring Him doesn’t seem to bother some people at all. Some are just too stubborn to heed, even as St. John cries “Be Catholic!”
