Fr. Campbell- Our God, Living and True
In
today’s Epistle St. Paul commends the Thessalonians because they
“turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God…”
(1Thess.1:9). Otherwise they would have never found faith in Jesus
Christ, who would deliver them “from the wrath to come” (1Thess.1:10).
Like
the Thessalonians, we all need to be delivered from the wrath to come,
which is being enkindled by the unbelief and sinfulness of the times. We
must understand how great a sin is the worship of idols, and what a
tragedy it is when our religion is weakened and contaminated by the
idolatrous world. Our modern idols are no golden calf, but our worldly
ambitions that enslave us and turn us away from God. Idolatry is
forbidden by the First Commandment:
“I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt not have strange gods before me.”
Recently Francis Bergoglio came to the United States where he championed the idea of Religious Freedom as a gift of God:
“I
would like to reflect with you on the right of religious freedom. It is
a fundamental right that shapes the way we interact socially and
personally with our neighbors whose religious views differ from our own…
And may you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for
it has been given to you by God himself.”
The
idea of Religious Freedom must be understood in a particular way. The
understanding of Freedom of Religion that is current today found its
origin in the United States of America. Whatever may have been the
temporary advantages of such an arrangement for the Catholic Church in
the United States, Pope Leo XIII made it clear that it was not to be
considered suitable for the whole Church (Encyclical Longinqua,
Jan. 6, 1895). However, it was eventually enshrined in the documents of
Vatican II. But God cannot condone freedom of religion in that sense,
even though it is understood that way by virtually everyone today. That
would contradict God’s very nature, which is Absolute Truth. God must be
true to Himself, and He could not possibly approve of a system that
condoned false worship, as practiced by the false religions. That kind
of Religious Freedom is no gift of God, as Francis blasphemously
pretends. Otherwise, why would God have revealed how we are to worship
Him? Our worship of God must be true, as Jesus told the woman of
Samaria:
“The
hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship
the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeks such to
worship him. God is spirit, and they who worship him must worship in
spirit and in truth” (Jn.4:23,24).
The
ancient Hebrews were frequently warned against idolatry by the
prophets, and God did not allow them to “dialogue” with the pagans from
the surrounding nations because their religion would be contaminated,
and they would turn to idolatry. The punishment for idolatry was severe.
At the command of God the prophet Elijah put to death the four hundred
and fifty false prophets who worshipped the idol, Baal.
But
today, idolatry and false worship are not only tolerated, but
respected. On his recent visit to America Francis prayed together with
Jewish and Muslim worshippers. Novus Ordo Bishop Denis J. Madden,
speaking of the U.S. Bishops’ document, Declaration on the Way,” says that Francis
“in his recent visit to the United States emphasized again and again
the need for and importance of dialogue.” Most disturbing was the
document’s statement that “the
expansion of opportunities for Catholics and Lutherans to receive Holy
Communion together would be a sign of the agreements already reached and
the distance traveled.”
How
could Catholics, who worship Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and
Divinity, in the Sacred Host consecrated at the Holy Sacrifice of the
Mass by the ordained priest, share Holy Communion with those who do not
even believe in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and the Mass itself? And
how could Catholics receive unconsecrated bread at the hands of an
unordained person, male or female, in a Lutheran communion service, and
pretend at the same time to be receiving the Holy Sacrament of the
Eucharist?
Freedom
of Religion has come to mean the right to turn away from the truth, to
turn your back on the True God, and the True Religion which Jesus Christ
himself delivered into our hands at the cost of His life. Freedom of
Religion cannot mean the right to worship any “god” you want, or to
believe anything you choose. True Religious Freedom means that we must
be free to choose what God Himself has revealed though His Divine Son,
Jesus Christ.
Francis
expects all Catholics to “dialogue”. The true purpose of dialogue is to
break down barriers. The different religions take part in the dialogue
on an equal basis, the false together with the true. You give a little
here, take a little there – talk, talk, talk – take a little, give a
little. But you don’t end up with the same religion you started with. We
do NOT have the right to endanger our religion by taking part in such
dialogue. The seeds of doubt are easily planted by the enemy. Dialogue
opens the door to strange gods.
And
what could be stranger than the “Greater Church of Lucifer,” which
opened in Spring, Texas, this October 30 (Just over forty miles from St.
Jude Shrine). Pictured on the internet in front of the “church”
illuminated by a blood red floodlight, its “pastor” claims it is not a
place of satanic worship. But the True Church knows that Lucifer and
Satan are one and the same. Such is the eventual poisonous fruit of a
false understanding of Freedom of Religion.
Be
true to your Holy Catholic Religion, founded by the Son of God Himself,
Jesus Christ. May it be said of you as of the Thessalonians:
“…how
you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to
await from heaven Jesus, his Son, whom he raised from the dead, who has
delivered us from the wrath to come” (1Thess.1:9,10).
