True Church, False Church

For many among us, the title would  seem a little embarrassing. We have been  with the  one and only true Church of which Jesus Christ is the head.  Though our  Church had to face a number of  schisms, heresies, splits, and erroneous teachings from  the least expected corners in the course of her history, we had never in the past   thought of something like a false Church acting against  the true Church founded on the rock called Peter. 

Four and a half decades ago,  a little known cardinal  spoke about the final confrontation   between the Church and the anti-Church. Providence has  it that  he later became the Supreme Pontiff of the universal Church.  During the  Eucharistic Congress which ran from August 1-8 in Philadelphia, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla  delivered a speech which many in the audience  and outside couldn’t understand in its fullness.  Many scholars attributed  his words  to the   battle between atheistic communism and  the Church. But it was not so. What did Cardinal  Karol Wojtyla said?

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church, and the Polish Church in particular, must take up. It is a trial of not only our nation and the Church, but, in a sense, a test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.”

Anti-Church was not a euphemism used to describe an atheistic philosophy. Had it been so, he would have stopped there. But he went on to  say about  a final confrontation  of  the  Gospel versus the  anti-Gospel. The crux of his statement lies here.  The  battle  is fuelled by an anti-Gospel which is  the antithesis of the  true Gospel.

So, what is  an anti-Church or false Church? In simple terms it is the religion of the anti-Gospel or false-Gospel. True Church upholds the gospel teachings whereas anti-Church  denigrates it.  Christ’s words are the lifeblood of the true Church while the  anti-Church draws its  power from worldly philosophies.  The true Church knows what is right and what is wrong, what is virtue and what is vice.  She always sides with what is  right according to the  words of  her Bridegroom, Christ. For the false Church, the line demarcating   good and bad, right and wrong  or virtue and vice is  non existent to such an extent that  they  never mind calling  grave sins as expressions of  human dignity. They march with  pride in   things that God abhors. True  Church is led by true pastors, whereas for the false  Church, there are innumerable  false prophets who  mix doctrine with  the lusts of their own perverted minds and market the resultant  concoction  with  the label of  true  doctrine. Finally true Church is  a barque on the pilgrimage to eternal joy and  peace, but the anti-Church is  one  drifting away from the port of peace.

Love and grace  are the  pillars of the true Church while  the anti-Church thrives on  deception.  No wonder, the Catechism of the Catholic Church  mentions that ‘the  persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh’ ( CCC 675).

The Catholic Church  believes  that  the persecution of the Church, the  mystery  of iniquity and  religious deception are interconnected. The Church warns us that  religious  deception  takes the  form of  offering a solution  to the problems of mankind. But it  comes at a price. It is called apostasy and  is too  heavy a price to pay for any christian. The Church further warns us that the supreme  deception is that of Antichrist,  which glorifies man in place of  God and of his Messiah who came in the flesh.

Join  together the  dots and we will get the true picture of a false  Church.  It is human-centric, not God-centric. It is concerned about  bread and butter  and any  mention about the true bread of life is absent there. The true Church  places  the family  as its basic unit whereas its ape, the false Church  lays emphasis on the  individual and  his/her freedom of choice.

Let us remember the  words of the Fatima seer Sister Lucia where she warned that “there will come a time when the decisive confrontation between the Kingdom of God and Satan will take place over marriage and the family”.  Today the true Church is battling to save the institution of family, whereas her opponents who are numerous, try to somehow  destroy the very institution of  marriage.  Church always stands for life right from the moment of conception till  the moment  God calls back the  soul.  Her opponents support every action  against life starting from  attacks against the unborn. Church sees  a divine purpose  behind every sexual act, while the  world permits every  kind of promiscuity.  Church adheres to the natural  law that  man and woman are complementary. Anti-church in its pride declares that man is match for man and  woman for woman.

We know that such things did happen in the world  during the past also. And the  world has not been the best  friend of the Church.  In spite of this, the Church could  cope with the world  all through history. Then why should we worry about  it at this time more than  the past. The reason lies in the fact that in the past  we could  distinguish friend from foe. Enemies were identified by what they say or act.  In our times, the  enemy is not from outside but within the Church itself!

St Pope Paul VI warned us about a  non-catholic philosophy infiltrating the  Church. He went on to say that  this  non-catholic line of  thought  might become more and more powerful in the  coming days. Nonetheless, it  will never be  a true reflection of the philosophy of the Holy Church. He  concluded by saying that  it is essential for a  ‘small  flock’ , however small it be,  to persevere till the very end.

The false Church is  not a separate entity. It is within  the true Church. It consists of catholics from laymen to those occupying higher  places in the hierarchy, who have deviated from true faith.  It is like wheat and weed growing together. It is  granted in  divine providence. This is exactly what Cardinal Korol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II)  intended to convey when he said in  1976:  “This confrontation lies within the plans of divine Providence”. In the parable of Weeds  among the Wheat, what the  master of the field sowed was  good  seed. But  by the time  plants came up and bore grain, the weeds appeared as well.  Listen to what the  master told his  servants when they  suggested to  go and gather the weeds. “No; for in gathering  the weeds you would uproot the  wheat along with them. Let both of them  grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds at first and  bind them in  bundles to be  burned, but gather the wheat  into my barn”( Mat.13: 29-30).

Yes, it is in divine providence that the false Church too grows with the true Church. It  will continue to grow  along with the true Church. Harvest time is the time to separate them. And for those who have ears to hear, we are nearing the  harvest time. 

The prophetic words of  St Pope John Paul II  not only reverberate in the Church  even after  four and a half decades but they seem  more and  more  relevant  in these days.   True to his words, we are facing the  greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. Yet wide circles of the secular  society or wide circles of the Christian community  fail to realize it fully. He warned that it is going to be a  test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations. Now  what we see  is that the  world with all its power  pitted against the  Church. It is for the sole reason that the true  Church  defends the true faith founded by the true pastor on  the true rock of Peter. The enemy, who has  been  outside the  Church in yesteryears is now very much inside the Church. Those worldly people  who infiltrated the Church is trying their best to  take the Church along with them. This is  evident in every discussion, debate or discourse about catholic doctrine. 

They  think that they will triumph. But we  know that the ultimate victory will be ours through  Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.  We know this too that the gates of Hades will not  prevail against the  true Church  founded by  Jesus Christ (Mat. 16:18). Let the weeds grow along with the wheat. They are reserved for  burning in the end. As for us, we are to be gathered in the barns of  our  Father.

Having said this, we should be very careful not to fall prey to the  false gospel propagated by the apostles of the  false Church, who disguise themselves as angels of light. Know them  by their fruits.  Know the lies they spread. Know the falsities they profess.  When  we hear some ‘Catholic’ say that Jesus is only a prophet like many others, thereby  denying his  Divinity, remember the  words of John; ‘Who is the liar but the one who denies that  Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22).  When somebody adds something to  or subtract something from the  teachings of  Jesus, remember the words of John; ‘Everyone  who does not abide in the teachings of  Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God'(2 John 9). When the false prophets  say that  killing an innocent baby in the womb is  justifiable, again remember the words of John; ‘All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that  murderers do not have eternal life  abiding in them’ (1 John 3:15).

If any person – however higher in hierarchy he or she be – fails to confess the faith in  Christ for fear of the world or for pleasing the world,  again remember  the words of John; ‘And every  spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God'( 1 John 4:3). If somebody equates the Holy Eucharist with a simple ceremony of breaking the bread, denying its sacrificial and penitential value, John has written these words for them; ‘So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the  Son of Man and  drink  his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). 

When worshipping the celestial bodies or Mother  Earth are  presented as  acceptable through the backdoor and churches are desecrated with all kinds of abominations,  open your Bible and read from the book of Ezekiel; ‘Have you seen this, O mortal? You will see still greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the  house of the Lord; there at the  entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east, prostrating themselves  to the sun toward the east’ (Eze.8:15-16).

Weeds are cleverer than  wheat. They resemble wheat in all respect. That is  why the master told his  servants not to  remove them then and there. Because  of the similarity, even an experienced  servant might take  the  weed for wheat. Total removal of the weeds and their consignment to  fire is  to happen only at the  time of harvest. Till then  our solace is  the  words of our Lord who warned us about the great apostasy  due to happen in the end times when brother will fight against brother, children will fight against parents and  the whole world will hate us because we uphold the  true faith under the banner of the true Church. 

Catechism of the Catholic Church summarises this in two sentences: ‘Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers’ (CCC 675). We are passing through this  final trial and we are going to be betrayed by our own people. If Jesus was betrayed by his own disciple, the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ, will also be betrayed by her children.   

Scripture hints at the appearance of a false  Church at the end times. ‘Then I saw another beast that rose out of  the earth; it  had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon’ ( Rev.`13:11). Two horns are understood to be the symbol of priesthood especially when the beast is likened to  a lamb, which is definitely  a pointer towards our Paschal Lamb, Jesus Christ.  In the messages given to Fr Stefano Gobbi the Blessed Virgin explains    more about the  beast  in the guise of  a lamb.  She says that they are  in continuation to her  prophecy in Fatima that  Satan will occupy  the top positions of  the Church. It is the work of  freemasons who infiltrated the  Church with the ulterior motive of capturing  her control. The Blessed  Virgin says that the modus operandi of the  mason group within the  Church is to make  Christians worship  false Gods.  Once this is achieved, they will create  a false Christ and a false Church and install a new idol. Simultaneously these masons at the  higher echelons of the Church will accomplish their task of annihilating the true Christ and true Church.  Many saints  have predicted the fall of  angels  from grace in the end times.  While introducing the  second  beast with two horns like a lamb, the book of Revelation   has warned that this  beast speaks like a  dragon.  Some of those who are supposed to speak for and speak about the lamb will  speak  for the dragon in the end days!

Venerable Bishop Fulton J Sheen’s prophetic words  are worth remembering here.  During a radio programme in 1947, he described the state of affairs   in the end times. Antichrist, as Satan’s agent will  invoke religion  to destroy religion. He will  equate tolerance with  indifference to  right and wrong. He will explain  guilt away psychologically as repressed sexual urge. He  will speak  about humanism, peace, prosperity and plenty not as  a means to  reach  God but as an end in itself. He will proclaim the brotherhood of all humans, but without the fatherhood of God. His logic is simple. The humankind should make  this world a  paradise. Then there is no need of another heaven. If there is no heaven, there is no hell; if there is no hell, there is no sin; if there is no sin, there is no judgement; if there is no judgement then evil is good and good is evil. He will set up  a Counter Church which will be the ape of  the true Church because he himself is the ape of God.

Fulton J Sheen  has drawn the picture of the future conflict for our benefit as ‘one between an  absolute who is the God-man and an absolute which is the  man-god, between the God who became man and the  man who  makes himself god and between brothers in Christ and  comrades in  Antichrist!

Not one word is to be  missed from the  prophecies of Fulton J Sheen. Everything is  happening before our own eyes. The grand talks about universal brotherhood,  the concern for the planet,  the efforts to  ensure  common minimum wages, the  push to  embrace everybody to the detriment of national interests, the  calculated moves to water down  the doctrine of the Church,  over-importance given to  the words  of the authorities   neglecting  the gospel truth,  surreptitious moves to  present wrong as right,  open  attack against those who  stick to the true magisterium are all indicative of the  invisible false Church  living a parasitical life drawing water and nutrients from the Church even while destroying the true Church from within.

Be on our guard. Because our  Lord has warned; ‘For false  messiahs and false prophets will appear and  produce great  signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect’ (Mat. 24:24). To heed the warning of the Lord or not  is up to each one of us. May the merciful God help us all with the gift of perseverance  so as to withstand till the  end.