typical Christian – a guy who wants to hang on to every penny he earns – that the scriptures demand equal sharing of the wealth among those who work, even though anyone who can read can understand that that is precisely what the scriptures teach. So, once again, as is usually the case, people have to learn the hard way not the easy way. Continuing on with the problems facing the Protestant sects under the sign of the cross, the Church founded by Christ and the apostles excommunicated people. If a brother or sister was not living the way a good Christians was supposed to live, the faithful gave a polite warning to him / her, and if he / she continued to sin then the faithful gave the silent treatment to the sinner. A problem here is that if Sinner A excommunicates sinner B then A is a worthless hypocrite. But, nevertheless, in the early Church, the Christians excommunicated people who needed to be excommunicated. What do you do with pro-choice Christians, with covetous Christians? With Christians who work on the Sabbath day? If you don’t excommunicate them you fall away from the True Faith. More problems with Protestants under the sign of the cross: selling religious book for money – that’s simony – Christ and the apostles didn’t sell religious info for profit. The Protestant sects are money-making operations. They would lose their tax-exempt status in the USA if they were to excommunicate various people, e.g., pro-choicers. The New Testament teaches that there is equal sharing of the wealth among those who work in the True Church. But the traditions of men – the traditions of Protestant Pharisees masquerading as Christians! - teach something else. Protestants, dispersed in their myriad of little sects, are generally Protestants because their parents were Protestants. But what is the essential reason for being a Protestant? If the Church of Rome is God’s True Church, the Church which Christ founded on a rock – Matthew 16. 13-19 – then there is no reason to be a Protestant! If the Church of Rome is the Church which Christ founded on a rock then everyone should be Roman Catholic, and no one should be a Protestant. But if Rome has fallen away, if Rome is not God’s True Church, if Rome leads souls to perdition, because it has fallen away, then, perhaps, Eastern Orthodoxy leads souls to heaven, and perhaps Eastern Orthodoxy is the Church which Christ founded on a rock. If it is then everyone should convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. But if both Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy have fallen away, if both of these churches have been corrupted, if both lead souls to perdition because neither one is the Church which Christ founded on a rock, because both have fallen away – recall the term ‘the falling away in 2 Thess 2 - then, perhaps, there exists a Protestant sect, or sects, under the sign of the cross, which has not fallen away. It’s idiotic to think the Protestants obey the Gospel. They don’t excommunicate anyone…’
Old Protestant Lady - ‘Don’t imply I’m an idiot, you ass-%@#&!’
Catholic Man - ‘As I was saying, the Early Church excommunicated people. It’s insane to think Peter and Paul would share communion with someone who is pro-choice, or pro-gay marriage, or someone who is an adulterer. It’s OK to have communion with an ex-adulterer or an ex-pro-choice person. If the Protestant churches excommunicated sinners their cash flow would suffer, and that’s why the Protestant churches don’t excommunicate anyone.’
Old Protestant Lady - ‘Your moralizing makes you an insufferable bore.’
Catholic Man - ‘If a church doesn’t excommunicate people who need to be excommunicated then it eats the bread and drinks the wine in an unworthy manner – and St. Paul said it is a very serious sin to partake of the Eucharist in an unworthy manner, recall 1 Corinthians 11.27.’
Protestant Fundamentalist Mom - ‘I recall it perfectly.’
Jew Girl - ‘A big problem in Christianity is there is so much disagreement about what the Gospel is. To the Roman Catholic the Gospel is the same as Roman Catholic doctrine. To the Eastern Orthodox it is Eastern Orthodox doctrine. Revelation 14. 6-7 saw,
‘I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people - saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has arrived; and worship the Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”’
But what is this Gospel? What is the True Faith? And what is the True Church? An angel can explain these things to you, but if he tells you something that you disagree with then you’ll assume he is an angel from hell and not an angel from heaven. Suppose an angel from heaven tells the Catholics that Rome is not the True Church and that Rome has been shipping souls to perdition for many centuries now, then even though an angel from heaven is relating this info, the Catholics will assume he is an angel from hell, because they don’t like what he’s saying. Or say an angel from heaven says only Rome is God’s True Church, then the Protestants and the Eastern Orthodox will insist that the angel from heaven is an angel from hell. So, unless you already know what the True Faith and what the True Church are, how can you recognize that the angel from heaven is not an angel from hell?’
Jew Girl continues on - ‘Daniel 12. 1 mentions the archangel Michael showing up at some time, and when he does show up an unprecedented time of trouble will ensue on earth. Daniel 12. 1 tells us that it’s at this time, when Michael arrives, not when the Messiah arrives, that the Jews are delivered. It’s not conclusive that this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7 is none other than Michael, but it’s more or less natural for Christians to think so. The Book of Revelation gives us some info on the Antichrist – the beast – see for instance Revelation 19. 19,
‘And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him [Jesus] who sat on the horse and against His army.
It’s natural to assume that the son of perdition mentioned in 2 Thess 2, and this beast mentioned in Revelation 19. 19, are one and the same as this Antichrist mentioned in 1 John 2. 18. I mean it is not 100% conclusive that they are all the same person, but it’s more or less natural to make that assumption.
So, if an unprecedented time of trouble hits the earth, you’ll be thinking to yourself that this trouble has resulted because 1) either the archangel Michael has shown up, or because 2) the Antichrist has shown up.
And of course you’ll want to make sure you don’t confuse the archangel Michael with the Antichrist.
We know that there is a scripture which says that Christ’s Second Coming will arrive like a thief in the night – no one knows when it will happen – and yet the Book of Revelation is perfectly clear on a few points. The Second Coming happens after the 3 angels of Revelation 14. 6-11 make their announcements, and it happens after the events described in Revelation 19. 19 transpire – again, Revelation 19. 19 describes the beast and the kings of the earth preparing to lead their evil armies into a war against Christ, who sits atop a horse, as He prepares to lead His army at the Second Coming. This whole war is rather lacking in suspense, though there’s a good deal of drama, as the beast and his followers all get slaughter by the heavenly army and then armies of hell are consigned to hellfire for an eternity of years.’
‘So, if you don’t know what the True Gospel is - the Gospel which this angel in Revelation 14. 6-7 teaches to the world - how are you supposed to learn what the Gospel is? Well, obviously, the angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7 will explain it to you! But you have to be careful with angels, because evil angels will masquerade as good angels. Recall that 2 Corinthians 11. 14 tells us that Satan masquerades as an angel of light.’
‘So you have to be on your guard. On the one hand, you don’t want to be stupid enough to accuse this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7 of being a devil from hell… But then, on the other hand, if Satan and / or the Antichrist are determined to play a nasty trick on you, if a beast from hell tries to pass himself off as this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7, if the Antichrist tries to drag you down to perdition, tries to lead you away from the road to heaven, then you want to sharp enough to see through his evil plot. You don’t want to be so
lost and confused that you think the Antichrist is this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7. What you want to do is this: when this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7, or, for that matter, when Michael shows up, recall Daniel 12. 1, you don’t want to accusing Michael of being the Antichrist, as that sort of slip up will no doubt land a person in perdition, similarly, when the Antichrist of 1 John 2. 18 shows up – and again it is natural to assume that the beast of Revelation 19. 19, is the same person as the son of perdition / man of sin described in 2 Thess 2, and is the same as this Antichrist mentioned in 1 John 2. 18 – when this beast from hell shows up - then you don’t want to be so brainless and confused as to announce that this beast from hell, that this Antichrist, is none other than the archangel Michael or this angel mentioned in Revelation 14. 6-7. That sort of mistake can only lead one to no end of torment and hellfire. Common sense, and the most elementary principles of Christianity, tell us that a person will not profit in the afterlife if he is lost in a