Pope Francis Warns That a Personal Relationship with Christ is "Dangerous"

Nothing from the Vatican really surprises me these days especially that I was a former Roman Catholic, now a born again Christian. What I overlooked was that last June 5, 2014, Pope Francis had declared that having any personal relationship with Jesus Christ is dangerous. One of the biggest false teachings of Roman Catholicism is when they teach that you cannot be sure of salvation, you cannot have that personal relationship with Christ and to say is to be guilty of the sin of presumption. But what does the Bible say?

Although the term "personal Savior" does not appear but one thing is certain, Christians do have a personal relationship with Christ in a positive way. The Christian is the servant, Jesus is Lord and Master. Jesus as the Lord of EVERY Christian, He has a personal relationship with them. John 5:40, Jesus warned that they will not come, not that they cannot come. Jesus offers love and forgiveness, remember He had a personal relationship with His disciples. In the case of Judas Iscariot, he was an impostor whose relationship with Jesus was a bad one. But the rest of the disciples had that warm and intimate personal relationship with Christ. John 17:12 says that all of the disciples were saved, save Judas Iscariot the son of perdition.

John 8:47 says, "He that is OF God heareth God's words... ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." Jesus was pointing out that those who have that positive personal relationship with Him will hear His words. In John 10:26-28 says, "My sheep hear My voice and I KNOW THEM and they follow Me." Jesus described His followers as sheep, they hear His voice, they follow Him and the keywords are "I know them". In short, Jesus has a personal relationship with His sheep, He knows them and they follow Him. It's not a one sided authority. Jesus is received never in portions but in whole- Lord, Master and Savior. As Lord, the Christian serves Him and as Savior, He keeps the Christian safe. The relationship of Christ to the believer is that of the Lord and His servant as well as the Savior and the saved.

John 15 talks more about the personal relationship with Christ. As Jesus said in verses 1-8 about His relationship to the Christian. He is the vine, they are the branches. Doesn't abiding in Christ mean having that intimate personal relationship with Him? It does. And this relationship is very strict. I mean, if the Father didn't have a personal relationship with them, He would have just cast them out as worthless branches rather than purge it. A worthy branch receives pruning but a worthless one is thrown out. He described this relationship with the Father for the Christian with continuous love and that keeping of His commandments is proof of it. Verse 15 has it that, "Henceforce I called you not servants for the servant KNOWETH NOT what his lord doeth but I have called you friends; for all things that I ahve heard of my Father, I have made know unto you." We also read in verse 16 saying, "Ye have not chosen me but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU, and ORDAINED YOU that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name (remember only out of the new nature), He may give to you."

To say that Calvinism's doctrine of eternal security (better known as the perseverance of the saints) and predestination is teaching Antinomianism would also be a total outrage. I mean, if you believe you were predestined and chosen of God (some saved were probably chosen but not all are chosen), wouldn't being chosen by God mean that a person is an OVERCOMER OF SIN? For one, Christians as said cannot totally fall away. If God picked you, you cannot choose yourself out of it because God does not only save, He also regenerates the believer. He does not only save, He saves from sin. Being chosen and ordained by Jesus means that a Christian will be sent forth to BEAR FRUIT and that the FRUIT SHOULD REMAIN, God trims away bad desires and Christians will only ask for what is for God's greater glory. In short, being ordained by God is to be ordained to a life of good works not to keep salvation or to earn it but as THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF IT.

So the Christian while he or she is that slave (Doulous) for Christ but this Master/slave relationship is personal and loving. In the Book of Philemon, Paul writes to Philemon to receive Onesimus saying in verses 16-16, "For perhaps he departed for as eason that thou shouldest receive him forever, NOT NOW AS A SERVANT BUT ABOVE A SERVANT, A BROTHER BELOVED, specially to me but how much more unto thee, BOTH IN THE FLESH AND IN THE LORD?" So is it dangerous to have a personal relationship with Christ? Absolutely not. In fact, in Christ we are secure. To be honest, I do good works not to be saved or to stay saved but because I am saved. A truly saved man is manifest in doing good works as proof of salvation (Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-14), unlike the unsaved man whose "good" works are not good works but dead works. The personal relationship with Christ is one of master and student. If I sin, God will not cast me out but instead He will chastise me (Hebrews 12:5-6) and because I am His, it's impossible for me to live wayward any longer.

Sad to say but Roman Catholics tend to become overly dependent on the Pope. While they claim that Papal Infallibility doesn't meant that the Pope can do no wrong but actions speak louder than words. Pope Leo XXIII said, ""The supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds therefore requires together with a perfect accord in the one faith,complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff as God Himself." Nowhere in the Bible it is taught to submit to human authority in times of error. Sadly, the most faithful of Roman Catholics would rather obey their manmade traditions, misquote the Scriptures, claim the Pope is the successor of Peter than check the truth out themselves.