Curse of the course

When Pope Francis, who is possibly ready to retire according to news reports, was first elected pope in 2013, becoming the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, the New York Times revealed:

"Church leaders were particularly alarmed when he told a prominent Italian atheist in an interview published in October, and translated into English, that 'everyone has his own idea of good and evil' and that everyone should 'follow the good and fight the evil as he conceives them.' "

Francis went on to say in this same interview that "the most serious evils" today are "youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old." He called proselytizing "solemn nonsense."

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Ephesians 2:2: [2] Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

“Think of a course like a current of the river. It’s flowing through the world. The world is the culture in which you live, and through that culture there’s flowing a force; a life. The course of this world is to eliminate God from every aspect of life," explains Richard Jordan.

"It's like this river current running through the world system that manifests itself in expressing the philosophy of the world. The channel through which the world works and is developed is the Lie Program. It says, ‘Get rid of God.’

“The course of this world starts back in Genesis 4. In fact, it starts in Genesis 1:28: [28] And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

"When God set man in the earth he set man with a course: Here’s the way the world is to operate. Here’s the way your life and your development is to come. Here’s the course that you’re to follow.

“The ideal is to find a spouse and be fruitful and multiply. That doesn’t mean to have more kids. You have a family and they’re to multiply a new family.

“Now when families multiply, one of the things they do as a family is pass on tradition, faith, understanding. One of the ways you civilize these little savages that are born every year is the institutions God has designed to civilize them. One of the most basic ones is the family, where you pass on values.

“Then after they multiply, they replenish the earth. They go out and fill up the earth with a culture. You see how He’s developing this? And then He says, ‘And you subdue the earth.’

“You have families that multiply into communities that develop into cultures that go out and harness the resources of the planet, the earth God has given them, and then He says, ‘And have dominion over the fish in the sea and the fowl…’

“The way man is to have dominion in the earth is by marrying, being fruitful, multiplying, replenishing the earth and subduing it. There’s a process here. That’s the way God designed the course of the world to function.

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Galatians 1: [3] Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

[4] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

“There are basic ravaging forces that hold lost people in a state of spiritual death. Not only are they in this condition of being spiritually separated from God, but then they have these enemies (these great forces) designed to hold them in that state of lostness.

“First is the world. Verse 4 calls it ‘this present evil world.’ In fact, in that passage he says it’s 'the will of the Father that you be delivered from this present evil world.' God’s will is we be taken out of this world system because it’s the present EVIL world.

“Paul’s talking about how we live in the age, the present dispensation, of the official rejection of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The whole of the godhead has been rejected by the world, by everyone in the world, and He’s concluded them all in unbelief that He might have mercy on all.

“Satan has this plan; he calls it a wise plan and he’s out trying to merchandise it--trying to propagate it. He has this world system that’s the vehicle he uses to carry on that program and to advance his purpose of rejecting Christ and believing the lie.

"Then Paul talks in Ephesians 2:3 about the flesh: [3] Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

“Your flesh is telling you to go out and satisfy the appetites of your heart, and what you want to do, and you know where your flesh is? You know what sin is? ‘We’ve turned everyone into his own way.’ We want to do our own thing.

“We want our desires, and when we begin to behave according to our own appetites, then we make ourselves captive more and more to and are bound by the world system.

“Because that world system carrying on Satan’s philosophy has your appetites, that desire that says, ‘I want that!’ and it makes it harder for you to get free from it.

“So what these things are designed to do is hold you in a state of spiritual death.  Paul talks about how the prince ‘now worketh in the children of disobedience.’ That’s the devil. He’s the one who’s behind all this. He’s the one who’s behind sabotaging God’s program and plan.

"You have the world, the flesh, and the devil holding lost people in the state of spiritual death so they can’t get to the light ‘lest the glory of the light gospel should shine into them.’

“Now that’s a desperate situation. People’s desire is going to put them in line with and in tune with this program Satan has to advance his philosophy. So when you’re facing a world, and you’re facing Satan, and your own fleshly desires to be a part of it (your own personal interests want to participate in it) there’s a bondage there.

“The course of this world captivates and holds the world. It’s the goal of Satan’s working. It’s a description of how he achieves his plan and his purpose. It’s how he gets away with what he gets away with.”