Manmade Religions in the News
To be succinct, Jesus established His church in the first century, but men have been establishing their own churches in the last few hundred years. The oldest false religion claiming to be “Christian” is the Roman Catholic Church. The church that Jesus established, over a period of 500 years, departed from the teaching in the New Testament and became a corrupt institution, which it remains. True Christians remained few and sometimes were in hiding. The Latter Day Saints came into existence in 1830 when Joseph Smith published his Book of Mormon. Scientology arose from L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, in 1953. In the last three decades Megachurches have arisen that are unaffiliated with any of the various denominations in name (but they are in doctrine). All four of these have been receiving attention of late.
In the Orlando area, Northland is the “feel good” place to go for elaborate musical programs and morality plays without being bothered much by such complicated things as doctrine (cf. Acts 2:42). Northland also has some satellite churches in the area, and the son of the chief “pastor” was heading up one of those. About a year ago the son resigned from his work after admitting “an affair” with the church secretary. His wife accused him of being abusive and having drug and alcohol problems as well, according to the Orlando Sentinel (12-12-13). Their children are ages 12, 10, and 6 (B1). He filed for a divorce from his wife, but it was not yet final when he committed suicide on December 10th.
His father, the “pastor” of the megachurch, received a condolence Twitter from the wife of Rick Warren (author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life) because their son had shot himself to death, also. Even though we do not sympathize with their doctrine, we all lament this situation and regret it when such things occur. Obviously, though, it is clearly a news item which has been reported factually and impartially, nevertheless it reflects poorly on all religious people in the area.
Scientology
The Church of Scientology, since 1976, has purchased and remodeled dozens of buildings in the Clearwater, Florida area, according to the November 17, 2013 Orlando Sentinel. But now they are opening a 300,000 square foot facility that stands seven stories high. Oh, and there is great news for members: L. Ron Hubbard’s “Super Power” program will be available for the first time to them (B5). The ground floor contains kitchen and dining areas. The first floor contains a “grand lobby” with a three-story atrium; it contains exhibits as a museum would. The 2nd-3rd floors are offices. The 6th floor contains a circular running track with a radius of 74 feet. Apparently the 4th and 7th floors contain more than 300 rooms for “auditing,” which is Scientology’s “core counseling practice.” It lasts an hour and can cost as much as $1,000.
Floor five is where the Super Power program will be conducted. “Participants will be spun on a gyroscope-like wheel, spend time in a sound chamber, sniff vials emitting fragrances and experience gravitational pull.” Who knows what that will cost? Obviously, none of these things have anything to do with the Scriptures, but it is a “religion,” no matter how goofy it sounds.
Mormons
While the Scientologists have been busy buying up Clearwater, the Mormons have outdone them. Americans have been concerned about Arabs and the Chinese buying up American property, but the Mormon church is the group “completing a deal to buy most of the real estate from the St. Joe Co. for more than a half-billion dollars,” which will leave them owning 2% of Florida (110), according to the Orlando Sentinel of November 8, 2013. This new acquisition is spread out throughout nine Florida counties. They already own 295,000 acres of land called Deseret Ranches in Central Florida; so the additional land would boost their property to 678,000 acres. It is interesting to note that the church in the first century did not own any land.
The Catholic Church
Old superstitions die hard. Here it is 2013, and Catholics are still swooning over relics. According to the Orlando Sentinel (November 16, 2013):
One by one, hundreds of students waited for the chance to view, to touch, to kiss a precious relic of Pope John Paul II—a vial of blood drawn just days before his death in April 2005 (B2).
To non-Catholics, this practice sounds grotesque, but they take it seriously. One of the “sisters” told the Catholic high school students, “You are privileged. Not everyone will get a chance to venerate the relic of John Paul.” The relic is considered sacred, and it is “encased in a golden Book of Gospels.” It is traveling all over the world. Most people probably don’t know that different “classes of relics” exist. A 1st-class relic is the blood—or something that was a part of a “saint’s” body. (Yes, they misdefine what a saint is.) A 2nd-class relic is something the person used, and a 3rd-class one is something he touched. One mother brought her 9-year-old daughter in hopes that her diabetes might be healed. How sad is such ignorance.
But then rational thought is not part of much of Catholicism. Some at the school were moved to tears by the thought that the departed pope was “in the room, blessing everyone. ‘It’s not something you can rationalize…. You can only feel it with your heart.’” Proverbs 28:26 states: “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” Peter and the apostles did not sell pieces of Jesus’ cross to Christians in the first century. John did not send on tour 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class relics of the other apostles after they died. No one “venerated” stones with Stephen’s blood on them from when the Jews killed him. The Bible never authorizes such things.
Catholicism and Capitalism
Although the title of the November 27, 2013 article is, “Pope Slams ‘Idolatry of Money,’” the article is really against capitalism. When reading the title alone, religious people might conclude, “That sounds like a Scriptural point.” It would be, if that were the intent. Money is associated with idolatry many times in the Scriptures (Matt. 6:19-24; Luke 12:15-21). Truly covetousness, the love of money, is a root of all kinds of evils (1 Tim. 6:9-10). If the complaint had been against idolizing money (like some idolize the blood of a relic), we could all have agreed with that, but the attack was against Capitalism. The pope known as Francis said:
Some people defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about a greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.
This is not really a Biblical topic because the Scriptures do not advocate a particular form of government. The important thing is not who has wealth but that everyone has the opportunity to be a Christian, a right which most Muslim countries deny. God did set up an economic system in the Old Testament, but it cannot now be duplicated. The United States has always had the best system in the world because it was set up on the principle of hard work. Those who refuse to work do not eat (2 Thess. 3:10).
As to Francis’ statement, no one ever said that our economic system would bring about greater justice and inclusiveness. Its goal is to give everyone an opportunity to succeed. Furthermore, we do not necessarily have confidence in the wealthy—they can and do misuse their riches. But when people earn money, it is theirs. And no government should attempt to take it away from them to give it to someone else. Socialist and Marxist governments do so, and the facts bear out that in doing so they destroy incentive. The pope should look at the countries where Catholicism dominates and see how many of them are poor nations. Mexico comes to mind. Their people come here illegally in order to be capitalists.
Americans are some of the most generous people in the world. One reason is that we have money to give, and the second reason is that Christian principles teach us to be generous with people who are in need and cannot help themselves. If the pope wants to be critical of an economic system, he should try picking on countries ruled by corrupt government officials who confiscate wealth from those who earned it. It is hard for people to be charitable when they are just trying to survive. Although some give in to greed, wealth itself is not a sin, provided we are good stewards over what we have.