Luke 9:57-58 (NASB) 57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
I am afraid that if the new Pope Francis continues in the way he has chosen, he will soon have “no place to lay his head.” This man will make a difference for the Church of the Only Begotten – so long as someone does not make sure he has “no place to lay his head,” literally.
On the morrow, I will preach a sermon on John the Baptist whose voice crying in the desert began a time of great change for the world. John inaugurated the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ with a message requiring change, a genuine change as evidence that then opened the door of forgiveness for sins:
Matthew 3:1-10 (NASB) 1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT!'” 4 Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. … 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 10 “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Cardinal Donald Wuerl Calls for Prayer
Pope Francis’ approach sounds very much like that of the Baptist in the day of our Lord. If you think about it, Francis’ garments are much like John’s — not of camel’s hair along with that leather belt — but quite the same actually: none of John’s contemporaries dressed like he did; and neither do Francis’. As article after article has shown, he is cutting a new path, one that is absent of the religious pomp and show so frequent within Catholic hierarchy. Consider the most recent description:
Instead of wearing a gold cross, he has one of steel. And he lives in a sparsely furnished apartment in the Santa Marta guest house rather than in the Apostolic Palace. Instead of taking his seat in the Vatican concert hall to listen to classical music, he recently remained at his desk working on the final version of his decree for the church-state’s own Institute for Religious Works (IOR) bank. Read more of the article here.
For a previous article by Jack Smith read here.
Perhaps, Pope Francis’ message will soon reach the modern-day “scribes and Pharisees” (Matthew 3:7-9 NASB). Perhaps, the “ax that is laid at the root of the trees” when swing so sharply and cut so deeply that real revival will take place in the hearts of Christians all over the world, Catholic and Protestant, and not just the leadership. Perhaps, we will return to to the Word of God as the definition of right and wrong, of truth and untruth.
Jesus come quickly; and may He come in response to the people of God who have repented and turned His way.
Blessings.
Jack
I’m amazed that you are mesmerized by this new pope. do you intend to become catholic?