Certainly, many will object asking "how can this be since Jesus' Church with so many sinners in it?" And yet, when we understand that salvation from sin, each of our salvation, depends on our Freewill, then we can begin to realize how this makes sense. We each have the freewill to accept or reject the Truth, the only Truth, established by Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, that Truth is One, whole and complete. It is not dependent on the people who have been given stewardship of the Catholic Church. How do we know that? Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman once said, "To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant." In other words, when you look at the history of the Church, and every Catholic should, then we should see quite clearly that their have always been scandals, sinners, and Saints all wrapped up in Holy Mother Church. And yet, in spite of it all, Official Church teaching has never changed. It has never faltered on matters of belief and morals. Certainly, there have been some imprudent and sometimes scandalous policies enacted by Church leaders, and even the Popes. Nevertheless, the official body of teaching has never changed or been added to from what was understood and lived even in the earliest centuries.
Some of our unbelieving contemporaries would perhaps put this up to coincidence or iron-fisted popes or whatever. For us as believing Catholics, we must understand that this is through the promise of what Jesus himself noted when He Sent the Holy Spirit, with the Father, upon the Apostles in order to establish His Holy Church.
Last week at Mass we had a very shocking reading, in which Jesus taught us:
"See that you not be deceived,for many will come in my name, saying,'I am he,’ and 'The time has come.’ Do not follow them! "Jesus understood well our human nature, after all he created it! Nevertheless, there are various people, even today, who continue to make the claim that they have become or are, the "Lord Jesus Christ" who has returned. Take for example this guy (its a half hour video, so you might keep reading then come back):
Sadly, this is not the only pretender out there. Consider this dude:
And finally, there is another dude who is now claiming "Jesus status", though it seems he has been doing so since "aliens" apparently came to visit him (back when he was known as "Rael?"). This man is named "Lord Rayel", and he is claiming the ability "judge the nations" and, of course, he must have an outrageous "british like accent". I won't give you a link beyond the one to his Youtube channel, as I find his claims too ridiculous. (Remember, we are told already in the bible that a Demon can appear as an Angel of light (see 2Cor 11:14)."
The point here is that many people have and are still making claims to have the power of God, and to even be our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, when he returns, the world of this age will close. Life will not be the same as we are living now, with its struggle with sin - AND YES THERE IS STILL SIN, JUST AS MUCH AS THERE IS STILL HELL! We must consider where do we put our personal faith. Can we believe, in spite of humanity's sinfulness, that Jesus would be faithful to never allow the "the gates of hell (Mt. 16:19)" to prevail against his Holy Catholic Church which he established and promised to be with until the end of time (see Mt 28:19-20). Or is any human's claim a reason to believe in his own claim. Even if his teaching "tickles one's ears," does that mean that man bears the Truth? Even St. Paul warned against this: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach [to you] a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed!"
As we come to the end of the Liturgical Year this week, remember that we celebrate the Solemn Feast of Christ the King. Why? Because God is not God of the dead, but of the Living. Jesus Christ, our King, reigns even now. We must allow him, by our spiritual choice and service, to undo what our first parents Adam & Eve did by disobeying God. Nevertheless, He will not force us in his Mercy & Love. Many will likely still come before the end of this world to claim by their humanity the divinity which they will not be able to stand before when the Just Judge finally reveals himself. As servants of Jesus Christ, the Only and True King not just of Israel, or the Church, but of the Universe, let each of us not lose hope, but stand firm, for our salvation is coming - whether in our lives or in the life of the world. May we wait joyfully and in hope for the True Return of Jesus Christ.
