Dealing with the Synagogue of Satan.

Firstly, a disclaimer. Some of my favourite bloggers are cross-grained, crunchy Catholic contrarians. The ones that embarrass the current cardinals, for they talk of sin, damnation, salvation and the Virgin Mary.

But then, my favourite Prod bloggers are abrasive Calvinists, Theodore Beale included.

These people are bleeding. And in this, there is a risk.

By God’s grace, we have been led – by birth; by marriage; or by the events of life – to link our destiny to the one of the Only Church. We hold this bond as sacred, and this allegiance as unbreakable. We are linked to the Catholic Church, forever.

We know that the Heavenly Jerusalem – the Church in Her supernatural dimension – is the place where we belong. We also know that the Earthly Jerusalem – the way the heavenly Church operates here on earth – is all but human, and might at times shows awful signs of fallen humanity. We know – because we have educated ourselves – that this Only Church has gone on many occasions through difficult times, but she has always emerged victorious in the end. We know that these victories were not due to causality, but were rather due to the efforts of the people whom God inspired to fight the good fight. We also know that these “recoveries” were seldom fast, and rather caused a climate of “uncertainty” to go on for several years of decades.

But you see, in the end this is only a matter for historians. For a properly educated Catholic there can be, in fact, no uncertainty, no matter what Francis does. Conversely, if Francis makes you uncertain the only thing to do is to become a properly educated Catholic.

By God’s grace, I have been baptised a Catholic.

The deal I got was Catholicism, not a strange Papolatry bordering on Satanism.

I have pulled out an old Reformed term here: the Synagogue of Satan. It refers back to Paul leaving the synagugoge when it rejects the gospel and going elsewhere. Now, here there are issues, and here church history can teach us.

The first issue is that at times we have to leave for our soul’s sake. The church no longer preaches a gospel. We are not looking for a perfect church — not only is that heresy, but such churches have always failed because we are fallen and ruin what we do by our own works. Leaving is a serious issue. By God’s grace I was baptized and confirmed Presbyterian and I remain there, for they have not become so enamoured with the inclusion to fall into the clutches of the enemy. But they have come very close.

The second issue is that we need a church. This led to my comments in the last post on this. We cannot be a solo Christian. We need to meet. The internet is no substitution. At times the only thing that keeps us walking with God is the Holy Spirit working through other people.

So I fear for my Papist friends, particularly those I will never meet. Mundy here is correct, the Vatican has, yet again, fallen into the trap of thinking the seat you sit on is more important than your soul. The Romans have been there before.

But that was in times of an imperfect supervision. When humans dealt with such things, and the inquisitors would look and Mundy and tell him to do an act of contrition. They would expel or burn me. In this age of total transparency, we are being far less merciful.

So, if you will listen to the blackest and most poor Prod, please understand this: you need to find a fellowship that is alive. You need to meet. You may have to refrain from the table, for your conscience: I have to do that in Europe where the only Church available on a Sunday is Catholic.

But we are commanded to meet.