Aaron is not elevated here as if he were greater and
holier than Moses. It is not being implied that Aaron is a saint, while Moses
is not. Aaron’s priesthood is being singled out in this instance, for he was
especially set apart to minister sacrifices to God. Those who are even vaguely
familiar with the history of these two men know that Moses, because of the
superior degree of his virtues, far exceeded Aaron in the estimation of God. It
would be odd for anyone to contest this. Probably no one has. Moses was singled
out by God as the meekest man alive. This was done during the event of Aaron’s
rebellion for authority over Moses (Numbers 12.3.) Both Moses and Aaron were
saints of God. It will surprise most Roman Catholics, no doubt, to know that
saints, whole congregations of them, lived in Old Testament times, even a
thousand years and more, before a pope existed to canonize any! “Praise ye the
LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, his praise in the congregation of saints”
(Psalm 149.1.) And then, the New Testament shows that saints are not just
people, here and there, canonized through the word of a pope. Salute ‘every’
saint, says the apostle Paul, before closing his letter to the Philippian
church (Philippians 4.21.) In the next verse, he sends a salutation from the
saints on his end. Many saints, I think, before any pope came into being! And
many more saints than the popes all put together have canonized! If any person
canonized by a pope is a saint, it is not by virtue of the pope’s declaration,
but coincidental with what God has caused. The fact that saints existed before
popes came into being should convince anyone, if anything will, that it takes
no pope to make a saint.
The definition
of a saint is ‘awful thing’: something inspiring awe. Why is that? Because the
person called a saint is something? No, but because God has made something out
of a sinner. A saint is a sinner saved by the power of God. To be transferred
from the kingdom of darkness into that of light is an awful thing. The saint
inspires awe, also, because of the change in his character and views.
Regeneration from God causes him to have a change of heart on moral issues,
like abortion, fornication, and gender roles. Many liberals are awestruck, are
they not, when a fellow liberal suddenly turns against abortion on account of a
turn toward God? This change of thought happens through the knowledge of God’s
Book that the newly minted saint has become eager to learn about. The saints
are people of whom it is said, “that keep the commandments of God” (Revelation
14.12.) Genuine faith in Jesus has this effect. Yes, they still sin, but on
large issues like life, they become quite dogmatic and stubborn, don’t they?
Upon regeneration and because of their active trust in the Redeemer of their
souls, the saints of God are people who search the Scriptures for news of
heritage, direction, and comfort. They soon learn, and become righteously
opinionated about ‘the faith which was once delivered unto the saints’ (Jude
3.) Since that faith respects life, saints become so steadfast on that
important point as to inspire awe. But a pope-made saint (if one could be found
alive) might be just as jealous for his opinion on an issue like that. So let’s
examine sainthood a little more closely.
It is well
known that Roman Catholics, including the priests, are ignorant of the Bible’s
contents. Read about one of the ‘saints’ canonized by a pope and see if you can
find much biblical knowledge in that biography. You will find much confusion,
heresy, and superstition. For instance, how many of the pope’s ‘saints’ would
know enough of the Bible to be able to connect saints and prayer in a biblical
fashion practically? Are saints to be prayed to? What Roman Catholic would say
no to this question that the Bible gives such a simple and clear answer to? Far
from being the ones to be prayed to, saints are to be prayed for! The apostle
Paul would have us ‘watching…with all perseverance and supplication for all
saints’ (Ephesians 6.18.) ‘All’ saints need prayer, even saints who are
apostles, for in the very next breath Paul says, ‘and for me.’ It is the
‘prayers of all saints’ that are offered on the golden altar before the throne,
not ‘prayers to all saints made by the pope’ (Revelation 8.3.) If any of this
conflicts with what the Apocrypha says, then a choice must be made between that
and Revelation. But in truth, what Roman Catholic would even know where to turn
in the Apocrypha to substantiate his beliefs? You see, saints are people who
find out about what they say they believe; and they do research in order to
determine, to their satisfaction, what books ought to be considered canonical.
Saints are those people of God who, out of zeal,
desire to know their roots and offshoots. They desire to know how saints have
fared since the close of God’s canon. Beside Revelation, Church history sits on
their most treasured shelf. Roman Catholicism might be considered, until
diligent inquiry is made, as the number one denomination and the only one holy
enough and good enough to possess or make saints. Most Roman Catholics have
heard of the Reformation and the Roman Catholic inquisitions that prompted it.
But how many pursue the matter in order to find out the extent of, and the
reasons for, these persecutions? The diligent seeker of religious truth will
bore into history and find out. When he does, especially if his ancestry is
Roman Catholic, he will be struck by the fact that the persecution of true
saints was authorized by Roman Catholic hierarchy, and that such cruel edicts
were widespread centuries before the 16th century Reformation came
to be.
“In brief, the various bloody
assaults, to which the united Vallensic and Albigensic Church of the Cottian
Alps was exposed, from an early part of the thirteenth century down to the
latter part of the seventeenth century, comprising a term of nearly five
hundred years, amount in number to about twenty-six, and consequently average
about five in each century, or about one in every twenty years” (George Stanley
Faber, The History of the Ancient
Vallenses and Albigenses, 1836, p. 252.)
The next quote (by the same
author from the same book) shows what the persecuted thought of their
persecutors and their Roman Catholic Church: “WHEREVER they went, the
Albigenses, with no light hand, denounced alike the unscriptural errors and the
personal profligacy of the Popish Clergy: while the Roman Church itself they
pertinaciously stigmatized, as the blood-thirsty Harlot of the Apocalypse, or
as the Synagogue of Satanic Apostacy to which the Papal Man of Sin, Antichrist
ruling over Antichristianism, enacted the part of a head and ringleader” (p.
135.) That the Roman Catholic Church is the ‘blood-thirsty Harlot of the Apocalypse’
was not just the opinion of 16th century Reformers.
You may be a saint (not one
made by the pope, but a real one) and still so new to your studies that you
have not walked away from whatever follies and blasphemies (like prayers to
Mary and Masses for the dead) that the pope authorizes. The Scriptures teach
sainthood to be something other than a distinction declared by the pope. This
fact, all by itself, ought to make a Roman Catholic reconsider whether his
Church is true. If the pope’s word is truth, then the Roman Church is true, and
your chance of becoming a saint hinges on the whim of the pope. But the Bible
shows that sainthood depends not on the pope, and so your chance of becoming a
saint depends on whether God will do a secret regenerative act upon your heart
or not.
Far from a Church that makes
saints, the Roman Catholic Church is, if not ‘the’ woman in this passage, then
at least ‘a woman’ who is ‘drunken with the blood of the saints’ (Revelation
17.6.) Her adherence to unbiblical beliefs instigated her history of bloody
persecution. The saints of God have had to exercise patience for their reward:
the end of persecution, which means ‘rest from her labours’ (Revelation 14.)
Patience is made necessary by persecution; and Roman Catholicism’s persecution
of saints is chief among all persecutions that have been unleashed in Christ’s
name.
Imagine having died in 1680, like the woman in
the article, then having to wait in the grave and purgatory until 1884 for the
process of sainthood to begin, having to wait again until 1943 for the
declaration of ‘venerable’ to happen, and then having to wait yet again until
1980 for ‘beatification’ to occur, which finally leads to your sainthood in
2012! Saints, according to the Bible, go through none of this, but are saints
even before they die! “Salute every saint in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4.21.)
You do not salute the dead, but the living. And far from having to rely on
dubious claims of miracles being wrought by you in order to your being considered
for the honor (“it has been claimed that her scars disappeared upon her
death…sick people who attended her funeral were healed”), you can be a saint
whose scars turn quickly to worse decay upon your death, for miracles are not
required of saints (‘are all workers of miracles,’ 1 Corinthians 12.29.)
Saints, by virtue of faith in the scars of Christ, have the promise of a
resurrected, spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15.44.) Their bodies can retain
scars until that Day comes. Their sainthood does not depend on scars being said
to disappear upon death; much less does it depend upon any pope!
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