WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING

I am Catholic. I have been a Catholic all of my life. I was in the seminary for 4 years and completed my Philosophy workstudies, but being faced with 4 more years of theology, I decided to leave the seminary and pursue a teaching career.

Being in the seminary and learning so much about the Catholic faith changed my religious beliefs. In the seminary, I was enlightened by teaching priest that the image of God, as emphasizing punishment, vengeance, and wrath, was a dimension of the Old Testament, the OT being the original agreement with God.  However, when God came to live among human beings as Jesus Christ, he showed himself not to be the wrathful God of the OT, but a loving and merciful God. Although Catholics are not prone to quote the Bible – here I go. Thus, the New Testament ushered in a new agreement with God with two main commandments:

Mark 12:30-31

New Catholic Bible

^“30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

I also learned that the church continued to stress “imperfect love and contrition.” That defines living a good Catholic life because of fear of God’s punishment. This imperfect way was considered easier for the laity and basically meant that the way to salvation was simply a matter of avoiding sin.

However, I was also taught that the best way to salvation was through “perfect contrition and love.” That defines living a good Catholic life because of a love of God and truly believing in and following the two most important commandments: to love God totally and to love your neighbour as yourself.

THE POPE OF GOD’S LOVE

Saint Pope John 23 was pope for only 4 years – 1958 to 1962. He was the first Pope of the 20^th century who preached perfect contrition and love of God. He taught that the two ultimate commandments were what a Catholic should follow to live a good Christian live. Salvation was not a matter of just avoiding sin, but I believe that he emphasized that God is offended as much when we are not "loving our neighbour as you love ourself" as He is by sin. Pope John 23 asked: Do you help your neighbour? Do you listen to their problems? Do you give alms to those who might be less fortunate than you? Do you try to help people live a happy and Christian life? Do you share God's love with others? 

Or do you keep your talents under a basket for yourself and your family, ignoring the cries for help from your neighbours? And do you waste all of the energy the Holy Spirit gives you to merely avoid sin and save yourself only, ignoring the salvation of others.

Saint Pope John 23 opened the doors of the Catholic Church to all Christians. His ecumenical movement and “God is Love” belief tried to encourage all Christians to recognize that they were a family. As a family, Christian religions should share God’s love with everyone.

Wolves in Sheeps Clothing

Unfortunately, today, many religions, not just Christian religions, paint God as the Vengeful, Wrathful God of the OT. They say that fear of God is the way to salvation. Behave in the way the religious leader says, or you not will achieve heaven.

After the mysterious quick death of Enlightened Pope John Paul the first, 

John Paul the second became Pope.

Pope John Paul 2 was among the worst Wolves. He encouraged fear of God and God’s punishment. He made Catholics feel that they could condemn sinners, shun them, and call them Satanic. In the past, the Catholic Church espoused the hate of Jews and non-Catholic religions as agents of Satan. Pope John Paul 2 empowered Catholics to speak for God in their condemnation; he emphasized hatred of the LGBTQ community for one.

The Bible is clear.  Only God has the right to judgement and the right to define sin for every person.

Yet, the Wolves in sheep’s clothing sit in judgement of the rest of the world. Their teachings lead to condemnation, hatred, discrimination, bigotry, and violence. Preaching a religion of superiority and hatred cannot really be Christian.

The preaching of Fear of God as opposed to Love of God is probably contributed to the loss of believers. Think about it. The Wolves tell us that God created us as humans. He created us in his “own likeness.” However, He looks upon us as evil sinners. He will condemn us to eternal fire for infinity because we sinned in a life span which is not even a grain of sand compared to all the grains of sand on a beach. Does this sound like a loving God? Personally, I do not think so.

I believe the Wolves, though maybe well-intentioned, are doing what Satan would love. Making us fear God so that we turn away from a Vengeful, Wrathful God. When will the Wolves wake up? Or are they agents of Satan?