listen to Traffic Light Parable

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10: 9)

The Lord knows of my sadness I hold in my heart regarding many of my close relatives still serving the pope’s Catholic church, in ignoring the true Church given to us through the Word of God. After praying one night specifically for a gift to share the gospel to people in parables, I woke up with the Traffic Light Parable, which was perfect timing from God because that was the day I was able to visit my mum in Victoria. She was the first to hear it.

I started by saying: Mum, I will prove to you by sharing a parable that I believe the Lord God gave me, to give to you and many others after you, that your catholic salvation is based on good or bad luck.

Mum replied, rubbish, Peter my boy. I said, Mum, I love you. Please just hear me out. I am confident that after you hear this parable, you will confess with your own mouth the salvation taught to you by the Catholic church is only that, good luck or bad luck. Mum said, alright Peter, I am willing to listen.

Mum, say you are driving along in your car in the city one day. You have not been to confessions with the priest for about a month. Being a typical good catholic, you believe you have venial sins (small ones) and mortal sins (big ones) on your soul and need to confess your sins to the catholic priest to receive absolution and forgiveness of your sins before you can ever think of entering heaven.

That’s correct, replied my Mum. And Mum, if you died in that state of sin before receiving absolution and forgiveness from the catholic priest in the confession box, where do you believe you would go? To hell, of course, she said. I said well that’s what the catholic church says, not what God’s Word says. Anyway, Mum, back to the parable.

You are driving along in the city, with sin unconfessed to the catholic priest. You come to traffic lights which are green, as you proceed through the intersection, a semi-trailer runs a red light and smashes into your car pushing it thirty meters down the road, stopping outside a resident’s driveway, who you know from attending mass together. The resident woman being disturbed by the noise, comes running out along with other neighbours to investigate.

The woman noticed it was you Mum, her friend from the catholic church. She immediately runs to the phone and rings Fr. O’Sullivan the local catholic priest saying: Quick Father, Mrs. B has had an accident outside my place, hurry, I think she is dying. Father O’Sullivan jumps in his speedy Morris Minor, heading to the crash site.

Only that?!  Good luck?  or  Bad luck?

I said: Mum, at this stage you are still alive, but laying in the gutter, definitely bleeding to death, and only about five or ten minutes of life left in your veins. In this stage of fear, you start saying the Hail Mary to pray for you in your last hour of your death, as the Prayer states. If you die before Father O’Sullivan hears your last confession, where do you go, Heaven or Hell?

To Hell, Peter, my Mum answered. Well, that’s what the pope’s doctrine and law says, but not what God’s doctrine and law says. Now Mum, Father O’Sullivan is racing across the city, breaking every speed limit in his Morris Minor, but catches every red light. He is tempted to run a red light but reminds himself that’s what the truck did in the first place to cause this accident.

He again catches the last red light, looking up the road, he can see your car about thirty metres away. As he waits for the green light, he noticed blood and water running down the drain beside him, and fears the worst. As the lights turn green Mum, your life turns off, you’re dead, you kick the bucket, so to speak, even before Father O’Sullivan pulls up in his Morris Minor.

Where do you go after your death then Mum? Obviously to Hell, Peter, my Mum said. Well that’s what the priest would tell you and all other Catholics, I said, Mum, Father O’Sullivan was not very lucky with the traffic lights and neither were you in this case, don’t you agree? Yes, Peter, I agree, said my Mum.

Where do you go?  Heaven or Hell?

Now Mum, lets turn the picture around and we will go back prior to the accident scene. Alright Peter, I am listening, answered my Mum. Remember Mum, you haven’t been to confession yet to receive absolution from the priest for your sins. The semi-trailer runs a red light, and smashes your car and yourself to pieces.  Your catholic friend calls for Father O’Sullivan. He races across the city in his Morris Minor, and got every green light, and pulls up at the accident scene in time to still catch you alive and breathing. He had better luck this time, Mum, with traffic lights being green rather than red, wouldn’t you say, dear Mum? Yes, Peter, answered my Mum.

Still breathing, the priest hears your last confession, gives you absolution for your sins, tells you to say 6 Hail Mary’s, the Lord’s Prayer 4 times, and one act of contrition for your penance. Just as you finished your last recited prayer, your body turned off, you kicked the bucket, so to speak. You died. Where do you go then, Mum? Well, go to Heaven of course, Peter, answered my Mum.

There you are, Mum, you have just confessed from your own mouth that your Catholic taught version of salvation was based on luck, good or bad as the case may be.

The A section of the parable, you went to Hell, because Father O’Sullivan was unlucky with the traffic lights, and could not get to you in time to hear your confession.

The B section of the parable, you went to Heaven, because Father O’Sullivan was lucky with the traffic lights, and could get to hear your confession.

In Conclusion:

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”    (1 Timothy  2: 5)

I concluded this parable to my beautiful mother by saying: Mum, the Catholic version (doctrine) of salvation, is no salvation at all when compared against God’s word. It only offers terrible fear, right up to the hour of death. By your own mouth you trusted the word of man, and the false doctrine of the pope for your salvation, before you trusted God’s word on this very matter. I shared Roman 10:9 and explained the word Lord in this Scripture means, all trust, all faith not shared with any other name, in only one Lord as mediator.

I can not be the judge of my mum or anyone else. But I know since that day my Mum has a new view on Christianity. She wrote me a letter some six months later saying: Peter, since listening to the Traffic Light Parable, I only go to the catholic confession box half to what I used to go, and the other half I confess to God through Jesus name. I still pray to Mary, but now I also pray through Jesus.

I rang my Mum shortly after receiving this letter, saying: Mum, I love you and I am so thankful to my Lord God for at least opening your eyes and ears to the things I have shared with you. But it’s not until you trust God through Jesus completely alone, on His own for confessions and prayer, that He will mark you as a true Christian, sealed by the Holy Spirit, into the Kingdom of God.

I see a slight change in my Mum each time I see her. I can only say that God’s hand is already at work.

By Peter (the non-Catholic priest)

Taken from “The Key To Heaven”   with permission from Soldiers of Christ Ministry

Photo by Clifton Franks

Acknowledgment:   Click-on link

Gospel Web Page, Eddie Wong

http://www3.telus.net/eddie_w/index2.html