Sunday, May 30, 2021

'Bait in a trap to catch people'

Here's a message from the Roman Catholic Church to Buddhists, dated May 26, 2021:

1. On behalf of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, I am writing to you on the occasion of the feast of Vesakh to offer my heartfelt greetings. It is my prayer that this annual feast of the birth, enlightenment, and passing away of Gautama Buddha may bring joy, serenity, and hope to the hearts of Buddhists throughout the world.

2. The current world situation, tragically marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges the followers of all religions to collaborate in new ways at the service of the human community. In his Encyclical Fratelli tutti, signed in Assisi on 3 October 2020, Pope Francis reiterated the urgency of a universal solidarity that allows humanity to overcome together the difficult crises that threaten it, because “no one is saved alone” (Pope Francis, Fratelli tutti, 32).

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(I meant to incorporate this passage into yesterday's post. I will have a new post this evening.)

II Peter 2 uses Balaam as a prime example of what goes on with the covetous, false teachers who line up as the personification of the satanic policy of evil.

"They wind up in the last days under the ministry of the Antichrist, who rides to power riding the horn (Revelation 17)--riding the system of religion to power and these people are right in there with him," explains Jordan.

“The passage says: [13] And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
[14] Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
[15] Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
[16] But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

“You see how it says, ‘Spots they are and blemishes’? The other time that’s used is in I Peter 1 when it says the Lord Jesus Christ was ‘without blemish and without spot.’ They’re the exact opposite of Christ.

“James 1:27 says, [27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

“That issue of ‘spots’ has to do with a sore spot, literally, that comes up on their body for having taken ‘the mark of the beast.’ Revelation 16 describes it as a grievous running sore like leprosy. Revelation 3:4 says, [4] Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

“This stuff’s talking about how they're part of this polluted religious system that promotes, through the false prophet, the activity of the Antichrist and they wind up with the judgment of that, and in the midst of that judgment don’t even understand.

“Still deceived, still dead to see it, sporting themselves, reveling. ‘Sporting’ means you’re trying to call attention to yourself. That’s the depths of sin’s dominion. They’re under the total, complete control of sin.

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“You know where the defilement comes from? In Luke 6, he talks about ‘an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.’

“Luke 11 tells us the ‘light of the body is the eye.’ It’s not just the issue of the external; there’s something inside of you and it gets contacted. Luke writes, [34] The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. [35] Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

“That’s II Peter 2:14! He says they have ‘eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.’ These men in II Peter succumb to that; they’re not like Job who said, ‘I’ve not looked upon a maid to sin.’

“They’re like Christ was warning people in Matthew 5 about: ‘If you LOOK you’ve committed adultery in your heart.’ I mean, they literally can’t even look without sinning; without it triggering thoughts inside of self-consuming, self-indulgent sin. Completely captivated by it. It’s a heart problem.

“When it says they’re ‘beguiling unstable souls,’ that word ‘beguile’ is translated from a word that has to do with people who would go out and put out bait in a trap to catch people. The problem is in the soul; hearts not stabilized and fortified with some sound doctrine.

“Balaam made a deliberate choice to go the wrong way when the right way was known to him and he loved the wages of unrighteousness for money’s sake. These folks pose as prophets yet they teach ‘license’; they teach false doctrine for the sake of money.

“Old Man Bob Jones used to say, ‘When it doesn’t make sense, there’s a buck in it somewhere,’ and there will be in this. That’s one of the reasons in the law, God told the leaders of Israel not to take gifts. Notice adultery and money are two things that go together in these passages. You’ll see in Micah 5 that those are two sins people are judged especially for."

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