Imagine
yourself in a canoe, peacefully floating around on a large lake. It’s a beautiful day and you haven’t a care
in the world. After a while, you begin
to hear a sound, a continuous sound that is slowly getting louder and
louder. In horror, you finally realize
the sound is a very large waterfall – and you’re headed straight toward
it! You franticly paddle, trying to move
back to safety, but no, you realize that you are at the point of no return and
you are sucked into the giant waterfall and perish on the rocks below. If only someone had warned you.
Life is full
of dangerous circumstances, some more serious than others. You get it.
Those situations where you are in deep trouble (physically, financially,
with relationships, etc.) and you are just unable to get out. There is no turning back. This point of no return is cold and ruthless. It doesn’t care about your feelings. It doesn’t care about your excuses or your
careless attitude toward common sense rules, nor does it care about your poor
decisions. You messed up and you’re now
paying the price.
The “point
of no return” concept is bad enough in the physical realm. But it is even more terrifying in the spiritual realm. There, it is eternal. Death may bring relief for some who have
suffered greatly, but for all those who have not surrendered to the Savior
(Jesus Christ), for those who have rejected Him and His doctrine, there is no
relief and there is no turning back.
They will fall paralyzed and speechless (Revelation 1:17) before
Him on that day in utter horror (Revelation 6:16). Once again, it will be too late. But in this case, it will be the ULTIMATE point of no return! You won’t have the time nor the chance to change
your mind. You will have made your
choice.
Do We Really Love the Truth?
But what
brings people to this point in their lives?
Here is a passage telling us exactly how we end up in this situation…
2 Thessalonians 2:8-12:
8 - And then shall
that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 - Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders,
10 - And with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved.
11 - And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 - That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
The context
here is the last days when the antichrist comes on the scene. At this time (and even now), the world will
be so conditioned to believe false teachings that they will easily believe the
antichrist’s lies. They will be fully
convinced through his lying signs and wonders.
These people will have had opportunity after opportunity to cling to the
truth of the gospel, but they willfully continue to reject it. They have loved and embraced false teachings
so long that God is basically saying, “Ok, I won’t force you to come to Me, but if the life you’re living is what you
really want, then stay there and live with your decision!” Notice that in the passage above, they simply
didn’t have a love for the truth, but favored a life of selfish pleasure and
perverted doctrine, rather than godliness.
Especially for Catholics
Alright,
many readers of this blog know that this blog is dedicated to articles about
Catholicism. One might ask what all this
has to do with the Catholic Church.
Well, a lot, actually. I strongly
believe, and have firmly held to, the idea that the Catholic Church has always
had a false gospel, one that has deceived millions and millions of its followers. Furthermore, the Catholic Church not only has
a false gospel, but it has multiple
false doctrines.
If all that
I am saying is true, what will be the fate of these Catholics? I believe that after being presented the
truth of Scripture, if they continue to embrace unbiblical Catholic doctrines,
their “canoe” will perish in the “waterfall,” metaphorically speaking. To put it bluntly, they will perish in the
Lake of Fire… eternally. And they, too,
will be saying, “If only someone had
warned me!” Well, I am just one of
the many voices warning you now.
Common Ground
But one
might ask, “But what if what the Catholic Church teaches is true?”
Well, if they really are teaching truth, then they don’t have anything
to worry about. But a little study will
show that it is very obvious that they contradict many of the Scriptures, and
they even contradict some of their own
traditions! See here:
https://www.equip.org/articles/what-are-some-arguments-against-apostolic-tradition/
The question
is, for Protestants and Catholics, who (if either of them) is right? Catholics and Protestants have been
debating for centuries, and of course both sides believe they are right. Obviously, they can’t both be right, since both
sides contradict each other in many areas.
The one thing both sides have in common is the fact that the Bible is
God’s Word. So I think we can use this
common ground to get to the truth. Jesus
tells us that God’s Word is truth (John
17:17).
Conclusion
But the key issue is the gospel, which is the power
of God for salvation (Romans 1:16). And I believe that the Catholic Church has
rejected that gospel.
But how many
times can you reject the gospel before God says “That’s enough!”? Where is the point of no return, spiritually
speaking? I know that saying that the
Catholic Church does not have the gospel of Jesus Christ may sound cruel and
intolerant, but I’ve pointed out time after time on this blog that the Catholic
Church has a different gospel (2 Corinthians 11:4) which has a works-based salvation, and that is an
anti-biblical teaching (Romans 3:27-28; 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus
3:5).
This blog is
full of warnings about many of the teachings of the Catholic Church. There is something here on almost every major/significant
Catholic doctrine. And there are tons
more in many other places on the internet by authors who are very knowledgeable
in Catholic teachings and/or who were once Catholic themselves.
A Catholic
may say, “But there are also many former Protestants who became Catholic, so
this doesn’t prove anything!” True, but
those Protestants who have heard the gospel, but who now embrace the Catholic
Church will have no excuse. Again, we
must look at the source of truth, i.e., Scripture, and we must take an honest
look at the whole of Scripture, in its context! I believe that if someone does this and is
truly seeking after God, he will be saved.
For that person, the point of no return (i.e., eternity) is something to
look forward to, and not a terror.
