Chapter 7: Heresy is paganism revisited.
The world is wise in its own eyes. It has always chosen to be blinded by its own reason and to shut out God. The world is man’s attempt to build for himself a Garden of Eden. If he can shut out God, he thinks he can be happy; but all that he will become is isolated and deluded – in other words, man’s Eden becomes a living hell.
Man uses his mind to sever himself from God. He concocts words and makes mighty manuscripts to rid himself of God’s penetrating presence. Sadly, he forgets that God is both the Original Spirit and the Progenitor of the Living Word. No matter how excellently man crafts his words and creates his ideas, he can never separate himself from the One, True and Living God, for man’s existence and thought is dependent upon the benevolent sovereignty and favor of God.
Each generation produces its unholy band of heretics. Today’s world is not protected from the foolish prognostications of false prophets and deluded philosophers. As each century passes, the attempts of universalists and atheists to attack the Church become more puerile, belligerent, and bellicose. They attempt to lure the masses away from Church by talking of the death of God, the decline of Christianity, and the irrelevance of Christ. But this is the mere buzzing of flies and biting of gnats. Their personal philosophies will not outlive them by more than a few decades. The Church, however, will grow stronger each day until the promised end of Time.
Rational modern and post-modern men are both the same: existentialists who dream that their own generation is the finest and most able to pull apart the Church. They do not believe that the soul can be eternal and that death extinguishes everything. Were they to admit to the immortality of their souls, they would have to accept that a Higher Being exists. Were they to accept a Higher Being, then they would have to admit that their own reasoning is limited. Thus they opt to believe that the soul dies, but they cannot say how it decays unless the soul is actually the mind, in which case it dies with the brain, but where and when does the soul begin or end, they do not know.
Heretics deal with the same questions that the Church provides answers: why is there evil in the world? Why is it permitted by God? Where did Man originate? What is His purpose? What is the meaning of Life?
Rather than accept the Church’s teaching on these matters, the heretic pursues his own answers. He does not ask for discernment, but expects enlightenment. He does not seek God’s guidance, but believes he is following a godly path. He rejects the wisdom of the Church and the ancient wisdom of God; instead he embraces popular myths, superstitions, and philosophies in order to be embraced by the world in return. In other words, the heretic is no prophet; he is a populist.
Heretics are stimulated by debate and seek to glorify words and phrases, ideas and opinions that enhance their reputations. Modern heretics of prosperity gospel reject humility gospel and squander their talents on gaining gain and making more. Any who confront them are treated as idiots and any who contest their sincerity are vehemently attacked. The Christian who stands up to these enemies of the Church may experience hatred and venom, especially from those heretics who abide within the Church.
Using sweet words and respected research, heretics maintain that their ideas and interpretations of scripture are the ones that current man should adopt. The past is treated as being non-essential and traditional history is meaningless. They seek to find the historical Christ, bleeding Him dry of His words and diminishing His ministry. They reinterpret scripture to fit their own lifestyle choices and brand Christ the Great Universalist, whose toleration and compassion knew no exclusivity. In other words, they reinvent the Gospel by becoming modern day Marcionites and Theological termites.
To the heretic, truth is no longer absolute and Christ’s words have no absolute meaning. Christ’s ministry is localized to those who believe Him in certain areas of the world. Salvation is found all over the earth in the purity of religious fervor. Whoever believes sincerely in what he or she sincerely believes is saved by their sincere desire to believe in their own god. This is not Gospel, for in Gospel Christ says “Believe in me and also in God.”
What is there that separates Christians from heretics? Both believe in truth: for the Christian, truth is found in Christ; for the heretic, truth is found inside himself.
Christianity is too simplistic for the heretic. He wants to rationalize, complicate, and complement his faith and uses his own mind to do so. He does not realize that he is idolizing his own insights, instead of Christ’s teachings.
The Church’s role is to remain true to Christ: all others goals are incidental.
To be possessed by Christ is to know His endearing and eternal love. To be possessed by heresy is to callously reject Christ’s embrace, and instead, to choose to be seduced by spiritual narcissism.
Our faith in Christ should be enough. If it isn’t, then we haven’t faith in Him, only in ourselves.
2 comments:
I accept the teachings of Jesus Christ. The teachings of the church are a different matter.
The Church is the Bride of Christ. her teachings are important to Him, so they should be to you, too.
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