There is a contradiction here, or a contrast. You see, John did not know who he was. He said he was not Elijah, but Christ, later, said that he was indeed the Elijah to come: when he was asked this by the Pharisees he said this was not the case.

In this you can see two points, and a third. Firstly, we don’t know what our role is and what the significance of what we do is. Yesterday I linked to a letter on RoK. The letter was mainly negative, but it contained one important thing: a young woman was trying to tell other young women that they are not alone in seeking righteousness in a society that preaches perversions that destroy these very young women (and effeminate, gamma, men). That letter is now on a high traffic site and is influencing many.

Secondly, the Pharisees had a map of who should appear before the Messiah and a checklist that had to be met. They did not think that Elijah to come would, like Elijah of old, concentrate on his mission and now who he is.

And the final point is the same as the Evangelist made yesterday. He points to Christ, as did John. Our theology is a theology of Christ, no more, no less.

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

(John 1:19-28 ESV)

As we point to Christ, we point away from the Antichrist and the minions of the pit, but I have to note this: the minions of the pit are trying to infest public schools, and you can judge them by the results of their influence.

What is less obvious is when those who are supposed to be of the faith preach justice and reconciliation, forgetting that Christ caused division.

Let’s just accept that this Pope virtue signals. He preaches a social gospel, and not Christ. The most merciful thing he could do is get the Dominicans and Franciscans to preach the gospel to the Muslims who have visited with some permanence Europe, including when they decide to pray publicly.

Of course, this may be at the cost of broken bones.

God, said Francis in his final homily of the pilgrimage, “demands of us real courage, the courage to be more powerful than evil, by loving everyone, even our enemies.”

“People may judge you to be dreamers, because you believe in a new humanity, one that rejects hatred between Peoples, one that refuses to see borders as barriers and can cherish its own traditions without being self-centered or small-minded,” Francis told his flock.

Earlier in his pilgrimage, Francis had expressed dismay that many people and places aren’t welcoming enough to refugees or those fleeing poverty in their homelands.

After more than 1 million people arrived on Europe’s southern shores last year, some nations on the continent, notably in central and eastern Europe, hastily built fences to keep the refugees out. Poland has been among the EU countries that have refused to take in many Muslim refugees, saying it has already welcomed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian immigrants.

Attending Francis’ closing Mass on Sunday were some of Poland’s top leaders, including President Andrzej Duda and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the conservative ruling Law and Justice party.

Since the Paris extremist attacks in early 2015, concerns have heightened that the Vatican, and the pope in particular, could be targeted because of his role as the most influential Christian leader. When the pope travels, a corps of Vatican bodyguards travels with him, running alongside his popemobile or scrutinizing crowds along the route.

At Sunday’s Mass, several Polish police vans followed the pope’s open-sided popemobile as he rode through the wide flat meadow in the middle of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. Motorcycle police rode close to metal barriers keeping the crowd away.

The security people at the Vatican are not idiots. They know the pope and the Vatican are targeted. They have security around the pontiff. Francis is preaching form a place of safety that his congregation should let in the enemy.

When he should be pointing to Christ and arguing that we convert the enemy. If they don’t like living in a militant Catholic country — and as a Prod, I don’t mind being in such places at all == then they can go back to the Arab world.

Where we should follow, so the gospel is preached.

John made the crooked path straight. Pointing at Christ. So should we.