The protestors’ (Protestants’) departure from the mother religion, combined with the invention of the printing press, seemed to have solved the Scriptural ignorance problem once and for all.  That which called itself “the Universal Church” could no longer prevent God-seekers from reading His Word in that most people had access to His Truth in their own language. Truth-seekers could now follow the example of the “noble” Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily” to see if what the Apostle Paul was telling them was in fact Bible Truth (Acts 17:11). Note that Paul was teaching and the Bereans were studying THE SCRIPTURES, not someone’s ear-scratching version of it. Note also that the Bereans were studying the Scriptures DAILY, not when they had nothing else to do. Notice that Paul called the Scriptures the TRUTH, as did Jesus Christ when He said that man could only be sanctified by God, and only through His Word, which He called Truth (Jn. 17:17).

For those who had escaped the clutches of Satan, a new world had opened up; light now shined where darkness had reigned. At last God’s Truth was at their fingertips. There was seemingly nothing but spiritual sunshine in their future. But Satan, the master of subtlety, had already prepared a trap for them, one which would seal the fate of the masses who would fall into it, in that it would render them once again spiritually ignorant.

Not long after the Protestants departed from Catholic captivity, the other face of spiritual ignorance raised its ugly head. As he had turned the escaping Israelites back to Egypt in their hearts, Satan persuaded the Protestant escapees to return to him. He did this by providing special men to lead them. By persuading the protesters that these men had a special calling from God, the devil led them to place their future in the hands of his ministers. Just as had the Catholic masses before them, Protestants began to allow his “ministers of righteousness” to study the Scriptures for them, determine truth, then present it to them when they met together. Satan’s “wolves in sheep’s clothing” excelled in telling their followers what they wanted to hear, thereby solidifying their positions of leadership.

Due to this apostasy, the Protestant church system soon returned to her Catholic mother in spirit. As a result, “the church” has never heard God’s Truth. The few who have heard it summarily reject it. Those who have not heard it have no interest in hearing it. This rebellious attitude toward God has resulted in the spiritual death of both heads of professing Christendom. Catholicism/Protestantism denies the Truth of God’s Word as she lives in open idolatry. To be continued. L.J.