“If we are not servants of the King, we are slaves of the prince of this world” ~Clem Howard.
The above quote is from the video I am recommending in this blog. As soon as I had first heard this quote, I knew it must stand out – it must be emphasized.
Why?
Because most, if not all, of the division in the world right now can be summarized in that quote. We all well know that we live in a climate of “serving two masters” – despites Jesus’ warning us not to do so. This warning started at the dawn of humanity, when we fell from God’s grace and chose to be gods, instead of forming a healthy, conscientious, interpersonal connection with the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
But the problem certainly doesn’t stop there. We as Christians have the antidote to the problem – salvation through Jesus Christ – we have sadly, shamefully squandered a magnificent Gospel built entirely on love and having a deeply powerful relationship with God.
When comparing this to the natural world, imagine this: Let’s say someone had found a cure for cancer, and then entrusted it to a group of people to communicate the cure and lead cancer sufferers to it. This same group documents what they have learned and then spends the next several centuries passing down this critical information from one authorized spokesperson to the next. However, over time, some people resist the appointed spokesperson / authority, or they look for holes in the cure, or they decide to split into other groups and offer a new spin on the cure while rejecting the original institution that founded and then offered the cure. Then, today, we have thousands of groups all claiming to have the true path to the cure, or have created numerous reasons why all groups should not be unified under the original institution. And sadly, let’s say many of those claims are bizarrely embellished or flat-out false altogether.
Such is the case with the Catholic Church: This Church – which Christ himself founded — has been under fire for ages now, and most prominently within the past 500 years. Note: I have separate blogs on the unity of the Church and why past apostacies haven been rooted in conspiracy theories; therefore, I won’t rehash all info covered there. But here is the main point: Part of the problem is not just that we now have thousands of Christians sects throughout the world; it’s also that we Catholics – and, really, all Christian denominations – have continually mucked up sharing a Gospel that we know is wonderful and crucially necessary for humanity, yet we can’t seem to get a bulk of the secular world to connect with it.
And while there are a host of reasons why societies have become increasingly secular, we as Christians still must own what we are and what we’re not doing to lead people to Christ.
One major observation is that not many people (considering there are ~7 billion on this planet) are sharing the Gospel and helping lead seekers to a unified belief in Christ as our savior and the Church he bestowed upon Peter and to all popes since.
Clem Harold, an apologist with St. Paul Center, summarizes it this way in the recommended video featured in this blog: After having recently though about how post-enlightenment / post-modernist doctrines have influenced the world, he wondered what exactly does the Church mean to him? (And to us too!) Harold astutely points out post-modernist influences have helped created a culture – especially in Western society – of “religion should be a private affair.” Or that morality should not be legislated.
Harold then refers to the following Scripture passages, which blatantly show that the “religion should be a private affair” troupe blatantly contradicts Scripture. And even more importantly, one of our primary roles here on Earth is to lead other people to Christ and live in the divine kingdom that God has created for us.
Matthew 16:13 — While in Caesarea Philippi and standing near a big temple built in honor of the Caesar Peter proclaims that Jesus is the “Christ”, “the son of the living God.” In the video, Harold gives historical background on why Peter said this – namely, although the people at the time were to revere Caesar as a god, Peter is saying that Caesar is a secular god, and that Christ is from the true God, who reigns over all eternity and is above all.
Matthew 22 – This contains the often-quoted verse (even in the secular world!), “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” A common way to understand this is that God separate from government, church is separate from state, etc. However, Howard argues this is not the full context of the text. Rather, we must also pay attention to the verse above that, “Show me the money for the tax. And they brought him the coin.” That particular coin showed the Caesar’s head on one side, and the other side proclaims Caesar’s divinity. Then, Jesus instructing to “Render to Caesar…”, and as Harold points out, Jesus is actually saying that we should continue to owe our allegiance to Earthly authorities, but we owe our ultimate allegiance to God. In other words,” You pay your money to Caesar, but you owe yourself to God.”
John 18 and 19 – This is where Jesus appears before Pilate, and we see contrasting views about what it means to be king. Harold points out that Pilate correlates kingship with worldly power – though he ironically feels powerless and subsequently hands Jesus over to the Jews. The Jews, who should know better, resent Jesus instead of recognizing his Divine authority. Harold explains it this way: “They are so envious of him, that they declare that they have no King but Caesar. Jesus is what Pilate fears, what the Jews condemn.” Which then leads to Harold quoting QNT Wright: “We must not confuse the origins of the kingdom with the destination of the kingdom.” In other words, Jesus came to us our eternal king – our king of “everything”.
Meaning that the kingdom that God created includes the world in which we live. Which also means, as Harold puts it, “Christianity is a religion IN and FOR the world, not just ‘of’ the world.”
Yes, we are all a part of God’s kingdom – right here, right now. And considering this kingdom was built on love, forgiveness, and an eternal relationship – why are ALL not helping lead each other to Christ?
I know it’s tough – I know it’s usually awkward to talk about a relationship with Christ with people who just don’t share that view. Even in this year, 2021, some subjects, while generating a lot of noise on social media, are still taboo to talk about in the public square, with friends, families, and co-workers.
For instance, this year, I have become more involved with St. Paul Street Evangelization (I have a video about SPSE on my YouTube channel, The Reconverted Catholic): This past weekend, I and a fellow Catholic Christian spent a couple of hours handing out Rosaries and talking with passersby at a popular downtown area and right near a major university: I lost count of the many people who looked visibly uncomfortable or avoided noticing me waving or saying hi to them. And of the people who did stop and talked with me, so many of those folks were former Christians who have fallen away to atheism, agnosticism, spiritual-but-not-religious ideas, or because they never had a solid formation in their faith.
Yet as sadly distant as the secular world has become, we as Christians still have the means to lead people to the truth of our faith. However, a crucially necessary part of that is our unifying among each other; that we all not only share in Christ being our savior, but we also align under the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church – which Christ gave to us to be in communion with God’s kingdom.
“Should the Catholic Church ‘Impose’ Itself on the World?”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbwWTxUHqcI