Universal Salvation

Pope Francis has, at times, come under fire for many reasons from all quarters, including the Catholic clergy. Some of this heat may be merited, but I've noticed that much of the perceived scandal surrounding this pope emanates from the misinformed nature of his would- be detractors. Much of Christendom is so egregiously misinformed as to make the state of the altogether uninformed enviable by contrast.

For instance, there's a spirit of error in the scriptures which Christendom professes belief in. This spirit of error is clearly seen in Genesis 22, when Abe agrees to barbeque the child of the promises-- Isaac-- as a whole burnt offering: presumably to the God who made the promises; though it was, of course, Baal he was willing to readily so serve. This spirit of error culminates in the cold- blooded murder of Jesus. This same spirit of error then compels the writer of Hebrews to say it was necessary to murder "the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" for mankind to be saved; and for God's temple in the heaven of heavents to be finally, truly clean. (Hebrews 9:23)

"Nothing but the blood of Jesus," the Protestants proudly sing, but if Jesus Christ truly is, as the writer of Hebrews says and his own resurrection attests, "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," (Hebrews 13:8) then murdering him didn't change anything but God's esteem of Jews and all others who subscribe to their errors. Two wrongs don't make a right. Murder is not atonement. Murder is wickedness; especially when the one being murdered lives to save all but devils.

This spirit of error inhabiting Abraham and all his 'children in the faith' compels many Protestant preachers-- and, perhaps, Catholic priests as well-- to proclaim with the deepest conviction the markedly erroneous belief that "We are all God's children." I guess believing in Jesus is not the same as believing Jesus. It was, after all, none other than Jesus who pointedly put the kibosh on this belief in particular.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells "the parable of the tares of the field," in which he says there are two types of inhabitants in the world: "the children of the kingdom," which he likens to a crop of wheat; and "the children of the wicked one," which he likens to tares, or weeds, among the wheat. (verse 38) In verse 39, Jesus says of the tares, "The enemy that sowed them is the devil;" and this reverberates with the declaration he makes concerning his Jewish contemporaries, in John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning..." So, either we are not all God's children, or Jesus Christ told a number of lies. I'll take brother Jesus over your pastor at any odds you want to name, and go all in, all the time.

Now, the latest controversy surrounding pope Francis concerns his purported belief in "universal salvation;" and this again betrays the blinded condition of the eyes of the minds of so much of professing Christendom. This is, after all, a doctrinal fact as the pope's "learned" would- be detractors count doctrinal fact, inasmuch as it's certainly espoused as fact in the scriptures.

No meaner witness than the apostle Paul writes, in verse 10 of chapter 4 of his first pastoral epistle to Timothy, "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." Some "educated" idiots will, no doubt, find some tricky ways of misrepresenting the final declaration of this verse as a caveat which lessens the scope and thoroughness of the foregoing "all," and not-- as it in fact is-- a special condition of salvation. So be it. Devils is as devils does. And devils are not human, no matter what they appear to be.

It's queer, isn't it, how the reasoning of the greater part of the "theologians" has waxed progressively more clouded concerning the doctrine in the thousands of years since the final canonical word was scribed? "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:13 & 14)

Think about it: The only reason anyone would begin, as so many do, to believe God would damn any of his own children (the wheat in the field) and/or save tares (the devils in the world): is because they're one of those tares in the field; and they're hoping to gain preference over the wheat by working harder "for" the farmer (God, that is) than the wheat does. Of course they do so in negligence of this simple fact: The only seed they can sow is seed of tares. "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;" (Matthew 13:37) and "The sower soweth the word;" (Mark 4:14) but the word the devils sow is, like them, perverted and therefore perverse. The harder they work "for" the farmer, the more of a nuisance they become to the farmer.

The false prophets have always outnumbered the true, and unlike the true prophets, are rarely-- if ever-- recognized as false. Jesus said, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26) To be sure, false prophets are nonetheless prophets, and as all prophets do: they have their peeping- Tom ways of wizardry. Generally speaking, however, they're more likely to observe the caution of prudence than true prophets are allowed to.

The imprudent prophet Amos, in a time much like our own, wrote, "Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time." (Amos 5:13) But the "wizards that peep, and that mutter" (Isaiah 8:19) sure do raise a din whenever they deem it prudent to castigate a prophet as false or promote themselves as true. It may be the most poignant meme of our time is that of the snakes in D.C. castigating the Donald as guilty of all their own unseemly wickedness. All devils everywhere do the same at all times, these days. Perhaps it's imprudent of yours truly to so say, but I applaud the truthful imprudence of his Holiness. Godspeed all children of love; "for God is love." (1 John 4:8b)