The
Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven
What Are They and Who Holds Them
Now?
Originally published in April 2007
PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to assist the Faithful in understanding
what is the Kingdom of Heaven and what are the much talked about Keys
to said Kingdom.
BACKGROUND
and INTRODUCTION
It IS the Will of God that miguel de Portugal (1) address this issue now,
although the seed to this document was dropped into fertile ground
through the Sunday Bulletin of St. Bernadette Catholic Church in
Houston, Texas, back in August 20th, 2006. In said bulletin (2), on page 6, we found an
article titled "Non-Catholic Communion" by Paul Turner (3).
As we were finally considering addressing this issue, He caused three
of our readers - in rapid succession - to write letters with concerns which are directly related
to the central theme of this document. Key quotes follow.
Letter No. 1 (4)
The following announcement was made
before the Holy Thursday service at Saint Mary's Church, Dubai by Mr.
Tellis the Spiritual Director of our church. I shall try to quote
verbatim from memory:
"...Please understand that Holy Communion can be received only by
Catholics who are in a state of grace. However, during Holy Week, non
Catholic Christians who are in a state of grace may also receive Holy
Communion provided that they believe in the Presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist."
I thought that the Sacrament of Reconciliation was a pre-requisite to
receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Am I mistaken?
Letter No. 2 (5)
I encouraged my family to participate
in Divine Mercy Sunday. My oldest daughter called yesterday to
tell me that the Catholic Church will not forgive her sins.
She told me that during confession she noted that she had not been to
confession since before she was married. When she told the priest
that she had been married by a Navy Chaplain and to a Methodist, he
asked if the Chaplain was Catholic. No he was not. Because
of this, the priest told my daughter that she would first have to get
her marriage blessed by the Church, otherwise he could not forgive her
sins.
I explained to her that this is a classic example of why there will be
little faith left when Jesus returns. I assured her that Jesus
has forgiven her sins and that the priest along with all the others
will have to answer for this. She is not sure that she wants to
continue with the Catholic Church. No problem. Stay close
to God and all will be fine. J. C.
Letter No. 3 (6) (addressed to
Mr. J.C., the sender of Letter No. 2 above)
Mr. JC, as her father, did you not tell
your daughter about the importance of having her marriage blessed?
I am sure that your prayers gave her the desire to go to confession.
She herself must have felt the need to go to confession. But how could
the priest forgive her sins if she has no firm purpose of amendment -
continuing living outside of the Church?
The "Gem" Published in St.
Bernadette's Sunday Bulletin (3) (Underscoring by
The M+G+R foundation)
The Catholic Church asks its members
not to share communion in other Christian churches. The legislation
builds on our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
and that our communion at Mass symbolizes our union as a church. Even in danger of death or other
serious need, a Catholic may celebrate communion, reconciliation
and anointing of the sick “only from a minister in whose church these
sacraments are valid or from one who is known to be validly ordained
according to the Catholic teaching on ordination” (Directory for the
Application of Principles and Norms of Ecumenism [1993], #132).
DETAILS
First of all, we have clearly shown (7a,b,c) that, although the
Catholic Faith contains the greatest number of truths of any other
faith, it is not the only pathway to Salvation. The only Path to
Salvation is Jesus Christ; no religious institution can with legitimacy
claim to take the place of Jesus Christ and no man can with legitimacy
claim to be the fundament of Christianity (8) nor claim blanket
infallibility (9).
The fundamental Rock of Christianity is Jesus Christ.
We have also shown that when asked What
time is it? (10)
in regards to the End of These Times, we have answered that It's about that time (11) . That is to say that
whatever may have been the normal (12) course to follow in
decades past is no longer the logical course to follow. This also
applies to insisting that our brethren, whom we have positively
impacted with the reality of the Catholic Faith, "fill every form
and requirement" necessary to be "officially enrolled" in the Faith
which contains the most revealed Truths about God. As we recall, what
Jesus responded to the thief crucified with Him was:
... Amen
I say to thee, this day
thou shalt be with me in paradise. [Luke 23:43]
Jesus said that without handing him some forms to fill out so that he
could "join the Church" before being with Him in paradise.
What Paul Turner is promoting is nothing more that what Jesus
denounced, to wit:
But
woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the
kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and
those that are going in, you suffer not to enter. [Matthew
23:13]
In addition, what Mary may have revealed and requested in centuries
past (13), in
very rare instances, like praying for the intentions of the Pope,
should not be followed now for obvious reasons (14).
At this point in the History of mankind we would offer the Body of
Christ - the Eucharist - to anyone who understands its reality and
seeks such nourishment to strengthen his/her soul in an effort to
abandon any disorderly behavior that he/she recognizes as, what
monotheist call, "sin". Informed Catholics should know that the
Eucharist consumed by a duplicitous soul is tantamount to consuming
one's condemnation. We are confident that God can properly handle
the situation without our interference beyond what would be a
reasonable effort to discourage those who should not consume the
Eucharist.
At this point we wish to quote a few other key clear statements made by
Jesus Christ which do not require "a body of Roman Catholic
Theologians" for their interpretation since they are crystal clear and
apply today just the same they did within the social environment of
2000 years ago.
And
he said to them: The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
sabbath. [Mark 2: 27]
Master, we saw one casting out devils
in thy name, who followeth not us, and we forbade him. But Jesus said:
Do not forbid him. For there is no man that doth a miracle in my name,
and can soon speak ill of me. For he that is not against you, is for
you. For whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in my name,
because you belong to Christ: amen I say to you, he shall not lose his
reward. [Mark 9: 36-39]
Have you not read so much as this,
what David did, when himself was hungry, and they that were with
him: How he went into the house of God, and took and ate the
bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with him, which is not
lawful to eat but only for the priests? [Luke 6:3-4]
CONCLUSION
As we have stated in our latest document highlighting the Biblical
Prophecies regarding the Second Coming (15):
Christ has sent the Holy Spirit to all believers, to act as
a Counselor and Comforter.
This was prophesied in the Old
Testament (Proverbs 1:23; Isaiah 44:3; Joel 3:1-3),
promised by Jesus to His Apostles during His ministry (Luke
24:49; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:7-15; John 20:21-23) and
experienced by the Apostles from Pentecost onward (Acts 2:1-4;
Acts 2:16-21; Acts 10:44-48; 1 Corinthians 2:12-14).
... and anyone who is prone to interfere with the Salvation of a soul
should remember that...
... he
that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it
were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck,
and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. [Matthew
18:6]
Definition of "little ones" = But
Jesus, calling them together, said: Suffer children to come to me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. [Luke
18:16]
Definition of "scandal/scandalize" = But judge this rather, that you put not a
stumbling block or a scandal in your brother's way. [Romans
14:13]
EPILOGUE
By now, brethren, you are probably wondering why we titled this
document: "The Keys of the Kingdom
of Heaven - What Are They and Who Holds Them?" No, it was not a
mistake. The entire document leads precisely to it. However, before we
worry about those much talked about and artistically represented
"Keys", let us find out what the Kingdom of Heaven is.
The best description is using our Lord's Own Words: The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven,
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole
was leavened. [Matthew 13:33]
Said "leaven" is the essence of the Eight Beatitudes He taught in the
Sermon of the Mount and its corollary teachings [Matthew 5].
Once said teachings start becoming part of a human being (as what
happened when... a woman took and
hid in three measures of meal), that individual begins his/her
journey in the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom of Heaven does not start when an
individual dies and "goes to Heaven"; the Eternal life in the Kingdom of
Heaven starts right here on Earth, once the soul has been
properly "leavened" with the
Eight Beatitudes and corollary teachings.
Thus, the fabled "Keys of the Kingdom" were given to the original
Shepherds who, by their very actions, were in effect founding a new
religion - which was called Christianity for the first time in Antioch.
They were in essence, with their preaching and instructing, "leavening" the souls with the
Eight Beatitudes and corollary teachings, thus, opening the gates of
the Kingdom of Heaven.
Therefore, having the knowledge given by Jesus through the Eight
Beatitudes and corollary teachings and, in turn, passing on that
knowledge to others symbolically was represented by those fabled "Keys
of the Kingdom". It logically follows that those originally in charge
of the Evangelization held said Keys.
Unfortunately, shortly after Christianity was sold to the highest
bidder (16) -
Emperor Constantine - the ability of said Shepherds to "leaven" began
to diminish until mankind reached a critical state. H.H. John
XXIII realized the gravity of the situation after becoming
knowledgeable of the real - albeit incomplete (17) - Third Part of the
Secret of Fatima, and tried to salvage what he could by calling Vatican
Council II (18).
He had come to realize that by that time the "leaven" being used had
also been described by Jesus when He warned His followers:
Take
heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of
Herod. [Mark 8:15]
Which he clearly defined through Luke 12:1
Beware
ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
Brethren, we are reaching the last of the warnings and I pray to God
that the words we utter in His Name are heeded - for your own sake, and
certainly not ours. (By making the warnings known to one and all, we
have fulfilled our (19)
responsibility.
NOTES
(1) Who
is miguel de Portugal
(2) Page
6 of St.
Bernadette's Bulletin
(3) Paul
Turner's full diatribe
(4) Public
Forum - April 12th, 2007
(5) Public
Forum - April 10th, 2007
(6) Public
Forum - April 12th, 2007
(7a) Our
position about the Catholic Faith and Our
position about the
Catholic
Church Administrators
(7b) Our
position about the proposed changes to Catholic Faith
(7c) Our
position about the importance of the Sacraments
(8) The
fundamental Rock of Christianity
(9) About
blanket Infallibility
(10) What
time is it?
(11) It's
about that time!
(12) The
Warnings From St. Paul
(13) Response
Summary to Marian Apparitions
(14) About
the
current "Pope"
(15) The
Return of Christ - Biblical Prophecies
(16) The
Catholic Church
starts to transform itself into
the Imperial and Pharaonic Church
(17) A Fresh Look at the
Secret of Fatima, as it Was Revealed Decades Ago
(18) The
real reason behind calling the Council of Vatican II
(19) The
Charter of The M+G+R Foundation
En Español: Las Llaves del Reino de los Cielos -
Qué son y quién las tiene ahora
Published on week of April 8th
- 15th, 2007 - Easter and Mercy Sundays
© Copyright 2007 - 2021 by The M+G+R Foundation.
All rights reserved. However, you may
freely reproduce and distribute this document as long as: (1)
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