Revelation 19
If the great whore of the earth who shall be destroyed for killing the saints is the Catholic church then it will be a punishment that is likely much more due to her early years than due to her current failings – unless he current failings are much deeper than I am aware of. I’m not suggesting that such a judgement would be unjust to the current church. At its best it helps people come closer to Christ but it is replaceable in the sense that there are other organizations who do so just as well. At its worst it still harbors some who actively use the position and authority of the church to commit great sins and drive a wedge between some people and their savior. (I expect that any institution the size of the Catholic church would have that problem.)
We have been told that the parable of the ten virgins was about the church – that half the church would be prepared as the wise virgins and half would be unprepared as the foolish virgins. Considering the very good people outside the church that I have interacted with – people who strive with full integrity to draw near unto Christ – I had always assumed that the invitation of the Lord would never be limited to the members of the church. I realize now that such thinking might be inaccurate. I can see the possibility that only the members of the church will be invited to the marriage supper where the Savior, as a bridegroom, takes the church as His bride when it is finally prepared for the wedding. The church as a whole might be prepared but that doesn’t mean that all the members of the church will be prepared. When we are invited to the marriage feast half will be without oil in their lamps. Limiting the invitation to members of the restored church wouldn’t be intended as exclusionary. I imagine there were plenty of virgins who were prepared with oil who didn’t know the bridegroom and thus never received an invitation to the wedding supper. When they come to know the bridegroom and His bride they will celebrate the marriage just as much as those who were invited to the original feast and will be just as welcomed by the bridegroom once they come to know Him well enough to recognize His true church.
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