Copyright © 2006 By Doug Lawrence. All Rights Reserved.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church Reprinted With Permission.
- 64 -
Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of
Christ. For I give you to understand, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached by me is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man: nor
did I learn it but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul understood the reality of spiritual beings like good angels and fallen
angels (devils). He knew what they are capable of, because he studied scripture,
was personally “recruited” by the risen and ascended Jesus and was empowered
by the Holy Spirit. In the above passage, he reminds us (twice) that Satan can
easily masquerade as a good angel and tell very convincing lies. St. Paul strongly
cautions us to beware of anyone, even an angel from heaven preaching a
gospel that is different from the true gospel. He said all this for a very good
reason. His boss (God) could see the future!
Five hundred years after St. Paul’s warning, Mohammed would claim to receive a
revelation from the angel Gabriel that denied Jesus is the Son of God, denied
Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, and denied Jesus rose again
from the dead. This “revelation” to “Allah’s Iast prophet” also flagrantly denied
numerous other parts of inspired scripture from both the Old and New
Testaments, changing important details and even denying the historical reality
of events that had already occurred.
Obviously, Mohammed never read the warning contained in Galatians 1:8.
He couldn’t read. Perhaps he was deceived by a supernatural being
masquerading as someone he was not?
I have a similar problem with the Mormon patriarch, Joseph Smith, who claimed to
receive his “revelation” (another “gospel” obviously describing some other “christ”,
who has Satan for a brother) from yet another “angel”.
Then, we have Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny Jesus is God, claiming that
Jesus is none other than Michael the Archangel, and mistranslating their own
version of the Bible to prove it. Who is “Jehovah” anyway? Are they referring to
our Father, Yahweh? Do you like it when someone misspells your name?
St. John had something very important to say about this kind of thing, when He
wrote of Antichrist. Read 1st John 4: 1 - 3:
Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world. By this is the spirit of
God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is of God: And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is not of God. And this is
Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh: and he is now already in the
world.
Going back to the 14th century illustration again, why is God pictured there as
Jesus? Several possibilities exist. Look at John 14:7 - 9:
If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and
from henceforth you shall know him. And you have seen him.
Philip saith to him: Lord, show us the Father; and it is enough for us.
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