The Pope's Apology
 

[Treatise]

Part II

What Does God’s Word
Say Regarding the Subject?

Let’s step back a moment to review some scriptures.

Genesis 4:8– "And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. And the Lord said unto Cain, ’Where is Abel thy brother?’ and Cain said, ‘I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And He said, ‘What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood cries unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand."

The earth drinking in the blood of innocent Abel is like a ledger. The blood is like the ink. This is a method the Lord relates to us of His exact record of justice.

It is recorded that an innocent one was murdered, and there would have to be an expiation for justice to be satisfied.. There was a certain amount of wilfulness. The Adamic weakness was atoned for by the ransom of Christ, but not the part that sinned against the light of conscience. Cain knew it was wrong.

How do we know that Cain knew it was wrong? When he said, "Am I my brother’s keeper?" he knew he was in trouble. It was passion–he could have resisted. "Sin lieth at the door." He had an earlier warning. To that extent, God has kept a record.

Genesis 15:16– A little later on, we read another point of God’s justice. "In the fourth generation, they shall come hither again. The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

The Amorites were a pagan, idolatrous people. They were wicked. But the Lord didn’t visit the punishment on them immediately. He was allowing their wickedness to come to full fruition. Part of the logic behind this is that, if the Lord visited the exact punishment at that time, it would have wiped out everyone, and it would have interfered with the filling of the earth which He desired.

But there’s another aspect. That is: it is actually merciful in a sense, even though this is justice that we’re talking about, to visit the tribulation on one generation rather than each along the way. Nonetheless, whether we fully grasp the details of how the Lord keeps perfect records, these scriptures are clear: it is His methodology.

Exodus 34:6– "And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, seeking mercy for thousands, forgetting iniquity and transgression and sin, yet will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children unto the third and fourth generation." The Father of Mercy indeed, but justice will have its recompense.

Matthew 23:35– Jesus gives us the summation of the matter. At the close of the last day of his public ministry, he said, "Upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation."

This is speaking of retributive justice for the shedding of innocent, righteous blood. All the way from Abel down unto the generation of Jesus’ day, undoubtedly culminating at 70-135 A.D. That tribulation was the retributive judgment due, the exaction of tribulation due for the satisfaction for shedding innocent blood throughout man’s history up to that time–4000 years. Jesus’ words tell of accumulative guilt and then a recompense which satisfies justice for this long period of time.

II Chronicles 33:1– Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out for the children of Israel. We get a long laundry list of the evil deeds of Manasseh. In particular, in verse 6 we read, "He caused his children to pass through the fire in the Valley of the son of Hinnom." He shed much innocent blood.

But a little later in the chapter, verse 10, "The Lord spake to Manasseh and his people, but they would not hearken wherefore the Lord brought on them the captain of the hosts of the king of Assyria, who bound Manasseh with thorns and carried him to Babylon. When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord, and humbled himself greatly and prayed before the God of his fathers. He prayed unto Him and was entreated of Him. He heard his supplication and brought him again unto his kingdom."

Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God. After this, Manasseh built a wall above the City of David. Verse 15–He took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars he had built. He cast them out. He offered the Lord his sacrifices. He served the Lord God of Israel. He repaired the altar of the God, and sacrificed to God in the high places–yet unto the Lord their God only. The rest of the acts of Manasseh and his prayer to the God of Israel, behold they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. God was entreated of him and all his sins and all his trespasses, and the places wherein he built the high places.

Verse 20 -- Manasseh slept with his fathers. Here we have evil Manasseh, who did all this iniquity, shedding the innocent blood of his own children, in idol worship. Yet, when the Lord punished him, Manasseh repented. The Lord hearkened unto Manasseh’s repentance and actually restored him back to his kingdom! And Manasseh did a cleansing work! Nevertheless, the people did not convert. The Lord knew they wouldn’t. What does that tell us?

We read the rest of the story in II Kings 24:1– In his day, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim became his servant three years, but then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him bands of the Assyrians, bands of the Moabites, and sent them against Judah, according to the Lord which He spake by his servants the prophets.

At the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he did, and also for the innocent blood that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood which the Lord did not pardon.

Manasseh was restored to the Lord’s favor, but God’s justice still had to be satisfied for the innocent blood which Manasseh had shed. He didn’t see it in his lifetime, but it came, nonetheless.

We suggest that this principle is what will transpire upon Papacy. Their spokesman in this pope has apologized for past wrongs of Christians whom he says committed these acts. He has made this apology. But the Word of God still stands. The judgment against Papacy still stands. No amount of apology by any pope living today can make satisfaction for innocent blood that was shed by those, especially in the name of Christ.

We don’t have to debate about the sincerity of John Paul II. The point is that it is the system of Papacy that bears the guilt. The Lord God’s judgment still stands.