He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart

Some Assume It’s Not True

By Mac – January ‘03

PROLOGUE

“He has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his saints, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the LORD”. PSALM 148:14 (NIV)

Who are saints? What does one have to do to become a saint? Are saints ‘special people’?

These questions arose after I was visited by a great friend of over two years. This great ‘pal’ of mine and I have at least one thing in common: we are both followers of Jesus. His faith is through the teachings of the evangelistic “Jehovah’s Witness” movement. Every month or so he comes to our home and we have a great time talking about Christ. However, the last visit, during the holidays, we started talking about ‘sainthood’. And I found that he did not necessarily believe that HE, nor I, nor the majority of “Christians” were actually ‘saints’. So, prior to his departure, I promised to put together a study on the subject, as well as information about ‘being anointed’ and being ‘Ministers’. Hence, the following study. It only focuses on who are ‘saints’---I still have to research and put together some information on the terms ‘anointing’ and ‘ministers’. So, let me start….

Let me first show you an excerpt from a CNN News Report from August 2001:

“The Catholic church believes the lives of saints can set an example for believers, showing them how ordinary people do extraordinary things for their faith.

Pope John Paul II has beatified, the first step on the road to sainthood, more than 1,200 believers -- more than all of his predecessors put together. He has tried to establish new saints in as many lands as possible to bring them closer to believers.

The Pope also streamlined the procedures for making saints. As a consequence, filing cabinets at the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints are overflowing with proposed candidates for sainthood.

"We have seen all different kinds of people from different walks of life, from different professions, from different backgrounds from different histories attaining canonisation -- a kind of assurance to us that no matter who we are or where we find ourselves we can attain holiness," Sarno said.

Catholics believe saints can intercede on the behalf of believers to win favours from heaven, grant them protection or even work miracles.”

This article appeared as the Catholic Pope oversaw an ‘investigation’ as to whether Mother Theresa (born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) should become a ‘saint’. There are millions of people in the world that lack the knowledge and understanding of what a SAINT, really is. IN MY OPINION, the Bible is pretty plain on the subject. Most people believe it takes the Pope, along with some man-made organization to investigate, review and recommend someone, to determine who is (to become) a saint. Let’s take a look at what the Word of God, the true authority, has to say about this.

The quote from Psalms that I included at the Prologue to this study is one of over sixty-five times the word ‘saint’ is mentioned and explained in the Bible. “The people close to His heart”, it says. I tend to have the belief that the writer was talking about any person whom God had ‘chosen’. In the Old Testament, God ‘chose’ the Israelites as ‘His’. The NEW Testament, however, with the help of Paul, Peter and others, expands God’s ‘people’ to all who choose to follow Jesus. It is these people, both Jews and Gentiles, to whom God refers to as saints. In Acts 9:13 Luke recalls Ananias as saying "I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.” He wasn’t talking about someone who had to wait 5 years after they died, or have had at least three ‘miracles’ attributed to them. He was talking about ‘the believers’!! Isn’t that what you and I are today, believers? In Paul’s final address to the church in Philippi, he wrote (Philippians 4:21), “All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.” Again, here Paul is talking about people who believe and have been baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. Everyone who has believed and been baptized, not just a ‘few’ who have gone through some sort of ‘ritual’ selection process.

The bottom line, and the purpose for doing this study, is to convince those who are less informed, that to become a Saint, it does NOT take an act of the Catholic Pope or any of his, or others’, tribunal assemblies. One becomes a saint, with the help of God, by basically doing three things: 1 - believing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that he died for, and because of, the sins that we have; 2 – honestly attempting to repent from those sins; and 3 – being baptized into the name of Jesus Christ. Nothing else, just that.

In my esearch, I found the typical definition of the word saint to be “A person who has died and has been declared a saint by canonization”. This, of course comes from a non-biblical source, the dictionary. It is the first definition for that word in the dictionary, and as most of you may know, the most common definition of a word is shown first. It may be more common, but it is definitely not more accurate. The second dictionary definition, less common, but a little more accurately describing the Biblical term, is “A person of exceptional holiness”. WHO ARE ‘people of exceptional holiness’? I guess it matters to whom you are comparing the ‘people’. If a Disciple of Jesus Christ compares him or herself to Jesus, then I guess he or she could not be considered a ‘saint’. If he/she compares themselves to, let’s say, an atheist, then, more than likely, they WOULD be considered a saint. Do you see how confusing this can be? So, instead of using a ‘dictionary’, let’s concentrate on the ‘source’ of the word, the Bible.

In Acts 26:10, Paul is explaining about his sinful past. During this explanation he states: “And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.”

And later, in Romans 1:7 he wrote: “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:…” He says “called to be”, meaning that they were not saints at one time, and yet now they are. There is no record of any ‘selection process’, outside the three ‘basics’ I talked about earlier, to become a saint. Belief, Repentance, and Baptism. That’s all.

One of the brothers of Jesus, Jude, wrote a letter that was included in our Bible. He said this about sainthood: “Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” (verse 3) Faith that was entrusted to whom? The saints. The followers of Christ. And John, the great Apostle who wrote the book of Revelation, explained it thusly in 11:18---“….The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great--…” John is not referring to just the “Mother Teresas” of the world! No, but to the Christians, both small and great, worldwide.

Do you yet believe that all “Christians”, all “Disciples”, are saints? If not, I guess maybe I need to describe what Christians and Disciples are. As many of you know, “disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. From this one simple statement, we can make the most logical deduction that a true Christian is a Disciple. I added the word ‘true’ in the previous statement, because there are lots of people who CALL themselves Christians, yet fall far from the mark the Jesus put on the wall. Those who do the will of the Father, can be considered Christians. And most of you know that the ‘rules’ to be a ‘true’ Christian only starts there. There are far too many verses to record in this study that describes what a Christian is. But suffice it to say, the Bible is plain about the fact that a Disciple is a true believer, and follower, of Christ; hence, they can be called “Christians” (little Christ, Christ-like), as well. The LINK to Christians being called Saints abound throughout the New Testament, a very few of the verses I have included above. I will further explain by using a couple more references in the Old Testament.

Daniel 7:18 is an excellent example of the use of the word: “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever--yes, for ever and ever.” Who is Daniel talking about? Who is to receive the kingdom and possess it always? This is explained in the New Testament, by James, another one of Jesus’ brothers, who wrote: “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” (Chapter 2, verse 5). Those who God CHOSE to receive the kingdom are whom both of these great men wrote about. And they are referring to followers of Christ; saints.

“I will listen to what God the LORD will say; he promises peace to his people, his saints-- but let them not return to folly.” The writer of this Psalm (85:8) unmistakably calls God’s PEOPLE, his saints. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?”, Paul ‘yells’ at the disciples in Corinth (Ch 6, vs 2). And he continues in the next verse: “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” How can anyone, Catholic or not, read this and not understand it to mean that Disciples (Christians) are called saints. Mother Teresa is going to the same place as thousands, if not millions, of other ‘saints’. Those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, repented of their sins, and were baptized into His name. The SAME PLACE! Heaven! The Kingdom of God! The holiest of holy places! Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu became a saint a long time ago. And so have many of you reading this. There simply cannot be any other explanation. A Disciple, a Christian, is a SAINT. And Some Assume It’s Not True!!!!!

1 Sam 2:9 Acts 9:13, 32

2 Chr 6:41 Acts 26:10

Psalm 16:3 Rom 1:7

Psalm 30:4 Rom 8:27

Psalm 31:23 Rom 15:25-26, 31

Psalm 34:9 Rom 16:2, 15

Psalm 52:9 1 Cor 6:1-2

Psalm 79:2 1 Cor 14:33

Psalm 85:8 1 Cor 16:15

Psalm 116:15 2 Cor 1:1

Psalm 132:9, 16 2 Cor 8:4

Psalm 145:10 2 Cor 9:1

Psalm 148:14 2 Cor 13:13

Psalm 149:1, 5, 9 Eph 1:1, 15, 18

Dan 7:18, 21-22, 25, 27 Eph 3:18

Dan 8:12 Eph 6:18

Phil 1:1

Phil 4:21-22

Col 1:4, 12, 26

1 Ti 5:10

Philemon 1:5, 7

Jude 1:3

Rev 5:8

Rev 8:3, 4

Rev 11:18

Rev 13:7, 10

Rev 14:12

Rev 16:6

Rev 17:6

Rev 18:20, 24

Rev 19:8