The Living And True God

LIVING AND TRUE GOD

As we begin to reflect on the Christian vision of man and the decrees of God that sustain the existence of mankind, we are undoubtedly in the midst of a disturbed world.

We are living times of vertiginous changes. Less than twenty years after a war that was supposed to have been in defense of democracy, this democracy is almost everywhere in a precarious state and freedom is rapidly heading towards total disappearance.

Who would have thought, twenty years ago, that after such a short period of time freedom of expression and freedom of the press would be completely exterminated in large sections of Western Europe? Who would have thought that Europe was going to sink so soon in a wilderness worse than the medieval ones?

North America has not been an exception in terms of such decline. Freedom is threatened, and the specter of the hopeless maelstrom of a collectivist state hangs over us in the near future.

There is no doubt that if we consider the world as a whole, we are forced to recognize that the foundations of freedom and honesty are suffering a progressive deterioration and that the slow achievements of centuries are recklessly rash.

In an age like this of kaleidoscopic changes, is there anything that remains immutable? When so many things have shown that we do not deserve our trust, is there something we can trust?

Is there at least one clear point ??? We can not trust the Church. The visible Church, the Church as it exists today on earth, has too often fallen into error and sin.

No, we can not accept the Church in our disappointment with the world.

• But then, is there anything we can welcome? 
• Is there something that remains unchanged when so many things change?

For this question I have a very specific answer. It is contained in a verse taken from the prophecy of Isaiah: "The grass withers, the flower withers, but the word of our God stands forever."

There are many things that change, but there is one that does not change. It is the Word of the living and true God. The world suffers decay, the visible Church has apostatized considerably; but when God speaks we can trust Him, and His Word endures forever with absolute guarantee.