The presiding
pastor-for-life of the Catholic church had to make an announcement regarding
concerns about their
half-million-dollar
process for determining “sainthood.” He
has assured everyone that the process will now be “overseen.”
Where to begin?
Let’s start with what “sainthood” actually is,
according to the Bible, which most ostensibly “Christian” organizations claim
as the Authority for beliefs and doctrines.
“Saint” is a 17th century word, found in the King James translation, which is usually rendered as “holy one”
in modern revisions. It’s root is the
same as the words “sanctify” and “sanctification,” words which relate to a process of making something, or someone, “holy,” a term most scholars understand to mean “set apart for God.”
The Word indicates that it
is He, alone, who sanctifies.
God is the Authority for holiness, not man, the corrupted creature. (Ex. 31:13)
The first instance of this
recorded is in Genesis, when He sanctified the seventh day—set it apart as a holy day, different
from the rest. (A “Pope” actually decided to change this appointed time, a sin Martin Luther and other “reformers” neglected to address. Yeah, I can hear the knees jerking.)
The Old (or first) Testament uses
the term “saint” (holy one) often to refer to God’s
angels--often enough, in fact, to lead many to interpret the term in every OT
reference as meaning only the heavenly beings who remained obedient. This breaks down when we come to the Psalms,
where David (“a man after God’s own heart”) repeatedly uses it to refer to God’s people—the chosen
nation, as well as obedient believers. (Ps. 16:3, Ps. 31:23, Ps. 34:9, Ps. 37:28, Ps.
50:5, Ps. 79:2, and
Ps. 97:10.)
When we come to the New
Testament (and Covenant) we find the term commonly applied to followers
(obedient believers) of the Messiah. Paul explains,
in detail, exactly
how one is sanctified. (1 Cor. 1:2, 30,
6:12, 1 Thess. 4:10, Eph. 5:26, Heb. 2:11, 10:10, 14, 13:12) Jesus made it pretty clear, also. (Jn. 10:36, 17:17, 19)
At no point in the Scriptures is there even a hint that a committee is convened to determine
who may be considered
sanctified, or holy.
When an early church decided there was a dividing line between
“ministers” and “laity”—that some had authority to preach, teach, baptize, and
marry, while others did not, Jesus, in His letters to the seven churches, referred to this doctrine TWICE as one He hates. (Rev. 2:6, 15) Want to be found following that policy?
Since the Holy Spirit had not been seen manifesting many miracles since
the deaths of the first disciples, the folks who invented “organized” religion
decided that miracles must be the indicator of true holiness.
Since Scripture requires more than one witness to establish truth, more
than one miracle must be required, and, since all unholy men are liars, there
must be a rigorous investigation to assure the report of any miracle is
true. This is the same spirit which “inspired” the
Inquisition.
So, a system was devised whereby admittedly non-saints (unholy ones) formed into committees to determine who was deserving of the title. Not surprisingly, we now hear reports that this has been
developed into a small
industry, which the organization’s CEO has had to assure us will at last be supervised. By saints?
Oh, my, we
hope so.
When we believers are exhorted to “pray always for all the saints,” we are not supposed to be praying for those few on whom some committee has bestowed the
“title.” That injunction applies to all those made holy by the blood of Jesus on behalf of all the others.
Don’t neglect to do it. All of us
saints need it.
