Papal Prophecy!

This week my attention has been taken by a blog by two of my Facebook friends.  I just can't stop thinking about it.  It is an article about something that the Pope said.  Normally I wouldn't take much interest in what the head of the Roman church has to say but this was unexpected and reflects what many modern day prophets have been saying for some time.  You can find the full transcription of what he says on http://lifeondoverbeach.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/benedict-xvi-the-church-will-become-small/.

Here is an extract of some of what he said, talking about the church:

She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity.

But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church.

And so it seems certain to me that the Church is facing very hard times. The real crisis has scarcely begun. We will have to count on terrific upheavals. But I am equally certain about what will remain at the end: not the Church of the political cult, which is dead already, but the Church of faith. She may well no longer be the dominant social power to the extent that she was until recently; but she will enjoy a fresh blossoming and be seen as man’s home, where he will find life and hope beyond death.

Two books that I have helpful over the past few years are Revolution by George Barna where he talks about how millions of Christians have opted to leave the organised form of church and have stopped meeting in buildings .  For them it has become more of a way of living than an attendance at 'Sunday Worship'.  The other book is Jesus has left the building where Paul Vieira tells his own story of how he came to leave the ministry he had within the organised church and leave the congregation altogether in order to do what God was asking of him.

There are many others who have done the same, not because they are turning their backs on God but just the opposite.  They have questioned what the church as people understand it, is actually doing to change the world and make a difference to the problems of hunger, poverty and justice.  In the New Testament the followers of Jesus were known as People of The Way.  Jesus called himself the Way.  Each one of us must follow what we feel God is saying to us as an individual.  But one thing seems clear - God is reclaiming His church and making it what He meant it to be without all the ties of politics, social acceptance and hierarchy within the organisation.  He wants us to follow Him and be loyal to Him rather than to a religious system.

 One final point that struck me about this article is that I didn't expect to hear that the Pope had said that.  As an evangelical Christian it would be more usual to hear such words from a great evangelist or the latest senational speaker that graces the platforms of some free churches.  But God uses whom He chooses and we can hear His voice in unexpected places and from people we would least expect.