Volume IX/Issue 4/August 2024

Johns Hopkins Ordered to Pay Another $2 Million to Students not Given Refunds for COVID Lockdown

BALTIMORE (LifeSiteNews) – The prestigious Johns Hopkins University must pay an additional $2 million into a settlement fund for students who never saw tuition refunds after the school canceled in-person classes in the name of containing COVID-19 during the first semester of 2020 for a total of $10 million.

The Epoch Times reported that the settlement stems from a class-action lawsuit by students who argued they were cheated out of the education they paid for when Johns Hopkins locked down in March 2020, halfway through the spring semester, and attempted to argue that online instruction sufficed to fulfill its end of the bargain.

Tuition averaged for more than $26,000 per semester at the time. A total of 10,851 students had already received or been slated for refunds previously settled. U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ordered an additional $2 million be added to the fund this week to account for an additional 2,607 qualifying students having since been identified. The school must also pay $2.2 million in attorney fees.

“Defendant is attempting to replace the irreplaceable – on-campus life at an elite university – with ‘virtual learning’ via online classes and is attempting to pass off this substitute educational experience as the same as or just as good as fully (sic) participation in the university’s academic life,” argued the original May 2020 lawsuit led by former student Elena Botts.

As late as February 2024, Johns Hopkins still required COVID-19 vaccination for anyone studying or working on site. Later, it ended the general mandate for students while continuing to require the shots for individuals in healthcare settings.

A large body of evidence has found that mass restrictions on personal and economic activity undertaken in 2020 and part of 2021 caused far more harm than good in terms of personal freedom and economics as well as public health, and that lives could have been saved through far less burdensome methods, such as the promotion of established therapeutic drugs, narrower protections focused on those most at risk (such as the elderly and infirm), and increasing vitamin D intake.

In Florida, a grand jury impaneled by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently investigating the manufacture and rollout of the COVID vaccines. In February, it released its first interim report on the underlying justification for Operation Warp Speed, which determined that lockdowns did more harm than good, that masks were ineffective at stopping COVID transmission, that COVID was “statistically almost harmless” to children and most adults, and that it is “highly likely” that COVID hospitalization numbers were inflated. The grand jury’s report on the vaccines themselves is highly anticipated.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has called America’s COVID response one of “the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country,” against which Congress, state legislatures, and courts alike were largely negligent to protect constitutional rights, personal liberty, and the rule of law.

JD Vance’s vision for a new foreign policy is a major paradigm shift for America

(LifeSiteNews) — A little-reported speech given by J.D. Vance in May has been largely overlooked by the mainstream media. It has provoked panic and outrage in the neoconservative faction.

Why? Not only has Vance described the last forty years of U.S. foreign policy as “a disaster” – he said it had resulted in the extermination of Christians.

“Why don’t we stop genociding historical Christian communities?” he asked, explaining how “traditional neoconservative foreign policy keeps on leading to the genocide of Christians.”

“What a Foreign Policy For the Middle Class Looks Like: Realism and Restraint Amid Global Conflict” was the title of a remarkable case against 40 years of Zionist-backed regime change wars of “liberal intervention,” which Vance says have not spread democracy, but have come at enormous cost to the American people and resulted in the mass extermination of Christians.

“Maybe because we’re careless, maybe it’s purely accidental, but we keep on leading to the death of old Christian communities all over the world,” he told the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, in an event sponsored by the diplomatic realists at The American Conservative.

Speaking of the war in Iraq, which has “handed regional dominance to Iran,” he said, “we also precipitated the genocide of one of the oldest Christian communities in the entire world.”

Echoing the remarks of Donald Trump, who said the reason given to the American people for the war in Iraq was “a lie.” Vance stated that given the results, “We need to look at our foreign policy decisions.”

He explained, “If George W. Bush had stood before the American people in 2003 and said, hey guys, we’re going to go to war not to eradicate weapons of mass destruction or to spread democracy, we’re going to go to war to create a regional proxy for Iran and to slaughter over a million historical Christians. Not that they will be slaughtered at our hands, but our actions will lead to the genocide of the historical Christian community.”

“I don’t think Americans would have supported it,” he continued

It is astonishing to see a leading U.S. politician invoke Christianity to Americans in its defense, and not in support of another war which extinguishes it.

Vance’s remarks have shocked the neoconservative faction into “meltdown.” The neoconservative dominance of U.S. foreign policy has for decades led the United States into consecutive foreign wars.

None of these have delivered a victory, whether militarily or for the liberal democratic values they were launched to export. Instead, they have immiserated millions, changing their regimes – and ours in the West – into a permanent state of emergency.

With the mass migration these wars have driven from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and through a devastated Libya, regimes in the West are changing too – and not for the better.

Deeply repressive laws of censorship and digital mass surveillance are being undertaken in Britain and across Europe to contain rising public anger at the criminal chaos resulting from uncontrolled immigration. The E.U. chief commissioner has announced a “European Democracy Shield” to defend Europeans from the dangers of free speech.

A rising tide of threats, murder, child sexual exploitation, terrorism, and accusations of “two-tier policing” are seeing formerly liberal democracies like Britain resort to increasingly illiberal measures to crack down on public outrage.

Matt Taibbi has warned of a “censorship-industrial complex” which sees Big Tech partner with the Deep State to silence critics across the U.S. and the West. The recent disappearance by algorithm of the failed assassination of President Trump by Google and Meta is a case in point for Americans.

We have been managed into chaos by a rules-based order who sold us these wars on the promise of spreading liberal democratic values and has delivered debt, destruction, and draconian moves toward digital tyranny.

The effects of this effort to export liberalism globally – which is what “globalism” is – has been to destroy law and order nationally and internationally. It is replacing homelands with homelessness, and the Christian way of life with death.

Regime change has come home, and it has imported the state of emergency into the West, that decades of “liberal intervention” has exported abroad. Liberal democracy under this regime is committing suicide. Vance provides a practical and realistic vision for a moral rebalancing of the international and domestic order.

Vance’s astonishing break with the orthodoxy of “boomer conservatism,” as his speech was introduced, includes a revision of the meaning of the U.S.-Israel alliance: “We have to sort of ask ourselves, what do we want out of our Israeli allies?”

No one in this position has asked that question of Israel in living memory. The fact that this obvious question is shocking shows the fact that obvious questions are shockingly absent from the national conversation.

Vance is very likely aware of another shockingly obvious question. Israel – whose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been a driving force behind all the preemptive wars of regime change – is itself no friend to Christianity in its birthplace.

What is the alliance with Israel delivering for Christianity in its most historic site of all?

For years, Church leaders in the Holy Land have warned that “Israel is persecuting Christianity to extinction.” In a systematic and state-sanctioned process of escalating hostility to Christianity, attacks on priests and the desecration of graves and holy sites have increased following the Israeli parliament’s 2018 passing of a nation-state law that insisted “Israel is a Jewish state.”

This removes legal privilege from all non-Jews – Muslims, Christians, and Druze alike. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem called on Catholics and all Christians to protest the new legislation.

Given the enormous power of the neoconservative lobby and that of its allies, it is exceptional for anyone at the top of the U.S. political establishment to speak in defense of Christianity and against the doctrine of “forever wars” which extinguishes it.

It is extremely hopeful for the world, in a time of crisis almost entirely precipitated by the recklessness of the liberal-global order, that its unquestioned alliance with an increasingly unstable Israel faces a realistic reappraisal. The doctrine of permanent war which partners this is set to be abandoned at last.

This is not simply the rebalancing argument of diplomatic realism. Vance says the destruction of Christianity is “a moral scandal.”

“And I think,” he continues, “most Americans, given they’re part of the Christian majority, would actually agree with that.”

With the word “weird” now being weaponized against Vance, Trump, and their plan for a moral and realistic foreign policy, his remarks about the legacy of the old Republican guard are striking: “It’s sort of weird to me that no one, even though Republicans are theoretically the Christian conservative party, that no one makes this argument that traditional neoconservative foreign policy keeps on leading to the genocide of Christians.”

As Vance says, “Neoconservative foreign policy is strategically and morally stupid.”

It is also extremely expensive, with the Wall Street Journal reporting in 2021 that “the U.S. military spent $14 trillion during two decades of war” – only to lose those wars.

Who won? “Military contractors,” the WSJ said. The American people and the world have paid the price. The cost of this industry of death, counted in human life and universal degradation, continues to rise today, as the U.S. national debt surpasses $35 trillion.

Where is this foreign policy leading Americans?

The U.S. national debt is set to rise by $1 trillion more every 100 days, as America is poised to enter another war in the Middle East.

Vance’s vision for a new foreign policy is a paradigm shift for the U.S. He is the first person of his rank to count the human, financial, moral, and spiritual cost of forty years of mass destruction by design.

In 2021, Vance wrote of the “civilizational crisis” in America, as he pledged to rescue the American Dream from the nightmare its past politics have delivered.

If this is the new American conservatism then we should thank God for it. It is the deliverance from evil for which a world in strife is crying out.

Last Supper mockery at the Olympics was an expression of the new progressive religion

(LifeSiteNews) — After lecturing on Plato’s Symposium at my august university in the early 2000s (that is, when student safe zones, trigger warnings, and cancel culture were still in their infancy), I received an email from the English Department’s Assistant Chairman who hired me to answer an accusation from a student that I was “homophobic.” My first reply, intentionally sarcastic, was that I suffered from no irrational fear of homosexuals or homosexuality.  

I say “intentionally” because at the beginning of the year, the incumbent Chair—I use the gender-neutral language here only because as a lecturer he was regularly described by his students as “wooden”—had the patronizing temerity to warn us new hires that students (and we’re talking about English majors here!) “wouldn’t get irony.” Thus, I felt impelled to see if one of their professors could himself detect it. He didn’t. My second, non-ironic response was that I ventured no moral judgment on the subject except to read the passages in Plato in which he condemned it, thereby, apparently, “triggering” my accuser.   

As a parenthesis to the above, I might add that the first course on Plato I took as an undergraduate fifty-odd years ago at the same institution was taught by Allan Bloom. As it happens, Bloom himself had been “denounced” for the very same heresy. Students in his class were aghast to discover that Plato vehemently disapproved of homosexuality, and doubly aghast to discover that Bloom (known for his sexual adventurism) wholeheartedly agreed with him. (Bloom went on to become, in fact, an active opponent of gay “marriage.”) Such, of course, is the tribalist assumption—in this case, that a homosexual must be an advocate of homosexuality—that remains an article of faith in today’s identity politics.    

Unlike many others, I was absolved (on the aforementioned technicality) and released, and only once again called to defend myself before the progressive heresy tribunals that have ended the careers of so many academics and non-academics since. But that was probably only because homosexuality and transgenderism had not yet become one of the highest sacraments (along with abortion) of progressive orthodoxy. Even at the time, however, I recognized that the progressive elites who are now the political masters of the universe were the priests and apostles of a fanatical new religion.  Indeed, the Church of Progress has become the established religion of the West, notwithstanding that one of the founding principles of post-Enlightenment democratic pluralism was religious disestablishmentarianism. 

As Joe Sobran has observed in his Subtracting Christianity, the underlying animus of the progressive war on the norms and traditions of Western civilization is a barely disguised anti-Christian bigotry. The hatred of Christianity is especially rabid amongst the alphabet people, since their risible argument that homosexuality is innate, as opposed to what they would call a “social construct”—heterosexual marriage and gender are “social constructs” but homosexuality is immutably inborn, which is an irony they certainly don’t “get”—depends upon the premise that gays have abounded in every age and culture but been abominated exclusively by narrow-minded Christians. Just look at the Greeks, who practiced it routinely and celebrated it with pride! 

Except that they didn’t. Pausanias’ speech in the Symposium makes it clear that Plato regarded carnal relations between men and young boys as disgraceful, and in the dénouement of the dialogue, Socrates’ ruthless rebuff of the romantic fixation upon him by the world-renowned hedonist Alcibiades appends the most dramatic exclamation point to Plato’s disgust. Indeed, it would be difficult to overestimate the contempt exhibited by all the schools of Greek philosophy, including Epicureanism, for the life enslaved to sensual passions and pleasures.   

Unfortunately for progressives, the only kind of earthly love of which Socrates and Plato approved was that which occurred in marriage, whose purpose, besides, was the nurturing of children in virtue and wisdom and the eternization of beauty through procreation (from which homosexuals are biologically disqualified).  Needless to say, even these “lower mysteries of love” (as Socrates’ teacher, the priestess Diotima of Mantinea, called them) had nothing to do with the sexual licentiousness that is celebrated by homosexuals, but roundly condemned by the Greeks in general as an irrational vice that reduces men morally to the rank of beasts. The “higher mysteries of love,” towards which the philosopher always aspired, was the spiritual, supra-sensual love of the rational intellect for the Divine, and the invisibilia dei that reside in the Divine Mind.   

But since any attempt to epitomize Plato’s doctrine of love in a few words must be reduced to the grossest of simplifications, let me merely quote what he says about homosexuality in his Laws: 

…similar institutions [the gymnasia in certain Greek cities in which carnal relations between men and boys have sometimes been tolerated] seem always to have had a tendency to degrade natural love in man below the level of the beasts….Whether such matters are to be regarded jestingly or seriously, I think that the pleasure is deemed natural which arises out of the intercourse of men and women; but the intercourse of men with men, or of women with women, is contrary to nature, and that the bold attempt was originally due to unbridled lust. 

Laws, I, 636      

Lest you think that the free spirits of the Renaissance were any less disparaging of homosexuality (given that epoch’s supposed reawakening from a dark medieval night of Christian sexual repression and contemptus mundi, and its revival of a  pre-Christian “neo-pagan” validation of sensual beauty and erotic passion), consider the commonplace attitude of Marsilio Ficino, the celebrated humanist and first scholarch of the Platonic Academy re-inaugurated by Cosimo de Medici in 15th century Florence.  

In his influential De Amore, Ficino remarks that “it often happens that those who associate with males succumb to vulgar lust.” But “it should have been noticed that the purpose of…the genital part is not the useless act of ejaculation, but the function of fertilizing and procreating.” To this he adds that “it is by the same error” that another “wicked crime” was sometimes committed in pagan antiquity, the killing of the unborn, that Plato “roundly curses as a form of murder.” 

Well, as Saturday Night’s “Emily Litella” used to say, “Never mind.” Notwithstanding that both the ancient Greeks and the “neo-pagans” of the Renaissance found homosexuality repellent, for progressives, Christianity remains the principal enemy.  Anyone who doubts this should have been reminded of it by the Olympics’ opening ceremonies in Paris, whose centerpiece was a deliberately blasphemous mockery of the Last Supper, all, according to an IOC spokeswoman, in the name of “tolerance” (where “tolerance,” as it is used in progressive Newspeak, is always a one-way street).   

Christians, as we all know, are the only “identity group” that it is permissible to hate or subject to ridicule. If the designer of the opening ceremonies in Paris had blasphemed against Mohammed, he would now either be in hiding or dead; and if he had burlesqued some of the lunatic delusions and sexual deviancies of the LGBT community itself, he would be facing a criminal charge of inciting violence against one of the ever-proliferating victim groups now protected under international non-discrimination law. 

The ceremony began with the entrance of what looked like either an AI or Lego version of the “pale horse” of Rev. 6:8, described therein as carrying Death and leading Hell in its train. Presumably, given the tableau of the Last Supper that followed, the horse came as a harbinger of the end of Christian civilization, from whose ashes would rise the new LGBT revolutionary Utopia (gender dysphorics of the world, unite; you have nothing to lose but your anatomical chains).   

Vaguely modelled on Da Vinci’s famous painting, presiding at the center of the table was a grossly obese self-described lesbian, as proud of her corpulence as the obese (the latest official victim group) have recently been encouraged to be of theirs, exposing her breasts to her navel.  She wore a glittering tiara (Jesus’ halo? His crown of thorns?) and was flanked on both sides by twelve figures in various degrees of flamboyantly fay drag-queen undress, involving a number of deliberate “wardrobe malfunctions” including that of one man (?) whose member (whether real or surgically appended is unclear) was exposed beyond the hem of his Speedo.  At this point, another naked, blue-tinged nature sprite reclined upon the platter in front of the lesbian “Jesus,” symbolic, one must deduce, of the sacramental bread (but reminding the sane that the myth of gender fungibility is more miraculous, in the sense of being far less credible, than the Christian dogma of Transubstantiation). 

Besides deliberately offending the billions of Christians around the world who would inevitably regard it as sacrilegious, the point of the tableau’s designer was at the same time to borrow the sanctity of a genuine religious mystery (cultural appropriation, anyone?).  In a social media post, the lesbian “Jesus” proclaimed the parody as “a new gay testament.”  As the means of liberation from the sins of an oppressive Christian civilization (patriarchy, heterosexual marriage, colonialism, homophobia, sexual repression, et al.), homosexuality and transgenderism have indeed been proselytized as a new religion that promises moral and psychological redemption from Christian evil.  

The faddish explosion of the number of prepubescents “self-identifying” as their non-biological sex of late marks it as either a psychic contagion or an enormously successful campaign of indoctrination (especially amongst captive children in the schools, a practice regarded as scandalous when undertaken by the Christian missionaries to the New World or in Canada’s residential schools).  The forms transgenderism takes are almost always mock-religious, and as a kind of anti-Christianity, progressivism in general has mimicked all of those episodes in the history of the West for which their enemies never fail to rebuke Christians. The State-established religion of wokeness has its heresy hunters, its inquisitions, and censors to ensure that no one in the remnant of the normal dissents from its orthodoxies without risk of being arrested, charged with a hate crime, or dismissed from their jobs.    

For the fanatical apostles of transgenderism, heteronormativity—like whiteness for leftist race baiters—is an inherited evil propagated in a way that parodies the Christian idea of original sin, just as putting off one’s original biological sex parodies the Pauline idea of dying to and “putting off” the original mortal and carnal man, in order to put on the new heavenly man of the spirit. It is a reeking Orwellism that failing to “affirm” a gender-dysphoric child’s aberrant (and usually transient) desires is legally forbidden and denominated as “conversion therapy” (for which a Swiss parent has recently had his sixteen-year-old daughter removed from his custody and placed in a State facility), whereas the word “conversion” is precisely apposite to the transmutation of one’s natal gender to its opposite.   

Of course, “conversion” is a religious term, and while “conversion therapy” is intended to conjure up such dark historical junctures as the coerced confession of Christianity by Jews and Muslims in Torquemada’s Spain, the gruesome genital mutilation involved in the surgical conversion of children to their “self-identified” gender is preached as a rite of salvation. In innumerable examples similar to the recent case in Switzerland, the State invariably comes to the aid of the transgender heresiologists, and foments a perverse species of hatred in gender-dysphoric children for their mothers and fathers that suggests a demonic parody of Jesus’ injunction to his disciples in Luke 14:26. 

As Jung has observed, with the waning of an authentic and living Christian religious culture, the most murderous revolutionary mass movements of the twentieth century appropriated all the idioms and energies of a State theocracy of the most debased and primitive form. Thus, I don’t consider it merely adventitious to note that today’s State-established Church of Progress, like Milton’s Satan, Sin, and Death, also has its anti-Trinity, worshiped in the form of the abstractions “diversity, equity, and inclusion”; nor do I consider it insignificant that its acronym (DEI) means what it does in Latin, and demands the appropriate posture of idolatrous reverence from its cultists. 

California bill seeks to train emergency room workers to commit abortions

(Live Action) — Just when you think the state of California couldn’t possibly pass more laws hostile to preborn humans, legislators surprise you with three more bills aimed at protecting the direct and intentional killing of preborn children.

AB 2490, “Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program,” would create an incentivized training program for emergency room medical professionals to learn how to commit abortions. Essentially, this bill aims to turn emergency rooms into abortion facilities, and holds a competition to see which emergency department most achieves this goal.

According to the bill’s text, it “shall work to improve and expand access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care in California’s emergency departments, including abortion and full-spectrum miscarriage care in emergency departments choosing to provide these services.” In addition, funds would be given “to increase access to timely, evidence-based treatment of pregnancy loss and miscarriage, contraception, emergency contraception, and medical and surgical abortion.”

Furthermore, grants would be awarded to emergency departments “on a competitive basis.” Departments would create minimum standards for awarding grants that “take into consideration efforts identified to increase access to reproductive and sexual health care in emergency departments.” Grants may be used for “piloting the delivery of” the abortion pill in ERs.

The abortion pill is not the standard of care for miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies and can be very dangerous for a woman with an ectopic pregnancy.

Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn babies — is not medically necessary even to save a woman’s life. If a woman’s life is in danger and her pregnancy must end, induced preterm delivery and emergency C-sections are not considered induced abortions because they do not involve the intentional killing the child before delivery, nor the intent to simply leave the child to die without appropriate medical care.

If ER doctors are to be properly trained on how to save pregnant women in emergency situations, they should be learning how to safely deliver the woman’s baby and save both lives — not how to kill her child.

Making it easier to build more abortion facilities

AB 2085, “Planning and zoning: permitted use: community clinic” makes it more difficult for local California communities to reject the construction of new abortion businesses.

The proposed bill requires local governments to approve applications for the development of community clinics that provide reproductive health services, including abortions, without discretionary review if they meet certain criteria.

Pro-life organizations argue that the bill disregards the wishes of communities like that of Fontana, California, where hundreds of pro-life activists gathered in June 2023 to protest a proposed Planned Parenthood. The Fontana City Council recently voted to extend its ban on construction in the area of the proposed facility for another year.

Greg Burt, Vice President of California Family Council (CFC), said, “AB 2085 is a direct assault on the ability of local communities to govern themselves and uphold their values. It prioritizes the abortion industry over the rights and concerns of local citizens. This is not just about zoning laws; it’s about preserving the integrity and autonomy of our communities.”

Funding abortion misinformation campaign

AB 2670, “Awareness campaign: abortion services,” would use public taxpayer funding to raise awareness for the state’s pro-abortion website, “abortion.ca.gov,” which indirectly targets pregnancy help centers (which offer tangible resources and aid for women and families and do not commit or refer for abortions) as “fake” or “unsafe.”

The funds would pay to ensure the website is publicized to the general public, healthcare providers, healthcare professional associations and societies, healthcare employees, local public health officers, and local health departments. It details how to get an abortion and attempts to describe how different abortion procedures are carried out without informing women what happens to their preborn babies during each procedure. It also advises women on traveling to California for abortion and tells them how to secure abortion funding.

What it fails to do is provide pregnancy and parenting support to women and families who desire resources to help them embrace life for their babies — things that the allegedly “fake” pregnancy centers do.

Faithful Catholics protest Fr. James Martin’s LGBT conference endorsed by Pope Francis

(LifeSiteNews) — The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) on Saturday held a rally of reparation and protest against a recent pro-LGBT conference led by the dissident Father James Martin, S.J., at Georgetown University.

“With rosaries in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder, we opposed Fr. Martin’s conference, designed to normalize unnatural sin within the Catholic Church,” John Ritchie, TFP director of student action, told LifeSiteNews in a statement. “True shepherds never promote sin, never wave pride flags, never bless sinful same-sex pairs, or favor gender ideology for innocent children. Only wolves do that.”

The pro-LGBT annual Outreach conference, held at Georgetown University from August 2 through August 4, received public support from Pope Francis despite speakers who have a record of heterodoxy in the area of Catholic sexual ethics. One of this year’s speakers, professor Amy-Jill Levine, who has described herself as a “Yankee Jewish feminist” and has stated that she is “not a believer in Jesus” as God, has heretically argued that God condones homosexual activity.

“If God declares that it is not good for the human being to be alone, if God says we should have a partner who fulfills us, then surely condemning gay people to lives of singleness and celibacy opposes divine will,” Levine wrote in 2017.

Outreach was founded in 2022 by Martin, who frequently makes scandalous statements regarding homosexuality that violate Catholic teaching on sexual morality. The organization aims to become a global resource center “where church leaders… can encounter the LGBTQ faithful, in their ‘joys and hopes’ and ‘griefs and anxieties’ as well as engage in respectful dialogue.”

Ritchie further noted to LifeSiteNews, “Faithful Catholics have a lot of unanswered questions about Fr. Martin. They want to know why he’s allowed to harm souls with confusion, error, and homoheresy. Why hasn’t he been excommunicated?”

“Those of us who had the privilege of standing at the gates of Georgetown echoed 2,000 years of Church teaching,” he continued. “You can’t be in better company. All the Apostles, every Doctor and Father of the Church, every holy theologian, every saintly Pope in history affirmed the same truth: unnatural vice is a grave sin.”

Ritchie explained that the “top priority” of the TFP protest “was to offer reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is attacked and wounded by the pride movement.”  

“A secondary goal was to alert souls – especially young students – about the harmful errors that Fr. James Martin spreads,” said Ritchie, adding that his “track record is scandalous, blasphemous, and sacrilegious.”

“Faithful Catholics must resist the rainbow revolution inside the Church and boldly uphold Church teaching. Our Lord’s promise should also give us great courage and confidence to face the raging storm now assaulting the Barque of Peter, because ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matt 16:18),” Ritchie concluded.

The Catholic Church teaches, with Sacred Scripture as its foundation, that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and repeats that “(h)omosexual persons are called to chastity.”

The Vatican’s doctrinal office issued its 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons,” in which it noted that while a homosexual inclination is not a sin in itself, it is nevertheless “a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.”

(Editors Notes: homosexual inclination means that the very inclination toward a same sex act indicates that the desire itself is moving in the wrong direction; ordinarily the vast majority of men and women have a natural God given attraction toward physical union with a person of the opposite sex.  This is natural and good because it leads the majority of people into marriage whereas same sex attractions while not sinful, end up in a disordered act if one gives into them. 

It may be objected that a man lusting for a woman is a disordered act, but the inclination to such an act is considered natural but misdirected under ordinary circumstances.  Under the circumstance of marriage however this inclination is good because it leads to strengthening the union between a man and woman and the procreation of a child. 

The same-sex feelings do not lead to strengthening the union between a man and woman nor to the procreation of a child therefore they are considered objectively disordered but not sinful in and of themselves.)

Filling up What is Lacking

Paul says in Col 1:24, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:”

The Greek word for behind is hoos-ter'-ay-mah, meaning  a deficit; specially, poverty:—that which is behind, (that which was) lack(-ing), wanting.

In other words Paul was saying, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,"

What is it that is lacking in Christ's sufferings? Didn't He say on the cross that it was finished? There is a great truth here. We read of some of Jesus' physical sufferings in the gospels. But He suffered in His soul also in ways that are not recorded in Scripture. When He said, "It is finished" on the cross, He had not only finished paying the price for man's sins, He had also finished overcoming the entire range of temptations that any man can ever face. The Author of Hebrews said that  “For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15). He had been tempted in all points as we are and overcame.

In every temptation, we have the option of yielding to the temptation and choosing the way of pleasure, or resisting the temptation and choosing the way of suffering (the opposite of pleasure). Jesus consistently chose the way of suffering and as I Peter 4:1 says, "Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh". Therefore, He became the Forerunner for us. Now we have to follow in His footsteps and become mini-forerunners for others. When we are tempted to sin, the Holy Spirit leads us to choose the same way of suffering in our flesh that Jesus went through. What Paul was saying in Colossians 1:24 was that he, Paul, had not yet completed all the sufferings in his life (in temptation) that Jesus had completed.

Jesus also suffered externally in many ways because He stood for the truth. If you take a glass to represent suffering, then in Jesus' case, all the suffering He chose to go through in His lifetime filled up that glass completely. Finally, on the cross He said, "It is finished." Now we follow in Jesus' footsteps, and we too have a body like He had. The Holy Spirit has to do the same work in us - of filling up that glass. When we are born again, our glass is empty because we have suffered nothing for Christ. Gradually as time goes on, this glass begins to fill up with what we suffer for Christ's sake. The same Christ who suffered on earth dwells in us now and He wants to take us through the same sufferings He went through, but now in our body. Matthew 10:24-25 says that “The disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.”

All of Jesus’ sufferings must be completed now, in OUR body. That is actually a great privilege. Paul said that his glass had not yet been filled up. Many Christians don't understand that when they go through any suffering, they are fellowshipping with Christ in His sufferings. I am not talking about the sufferings we get because we do something foolish or sinful. Peter talks about this in I Peter 2:20, “For what glory is it, if committing sin, and being buffeted for it, you endure? But if doing well you suffer patiently?”. Jesus never did anything sinful or foolish. He suffered because His way of life was totally contrary to this world. His entire ministry was in constant conflict with the Bible scholars and theologians of His day. They hated Him and finally killed Him.

It is the same today. If we are true disciples of Christ, we will find ourselves in conflict with the entire religious system of this world as well as with a lot of so-called Christian theology and religion. We will find ourselves in conflict just like Jesus did - with people who don't know God, but who are very religious. Who were the ones who called Jesus 'Beelzebul', in Matthew 12:24? They were not the Greeks or the Romans. They were people who had a Bible (the Old Testament at that time). Who were the ones who persecuted Jesus the most and killed Him? They were religious people with a Bible. So, if we are going to fill up the afflictions of Christ, we will find religious people with a Bible afflicting us too, because they don't know God. Jesus said they hated and persecuted Him because they “hated His Father.” (John 15:23). They will do the same thing to us.

Paul says, He was rejoicing in his sufferings, because he was doing his share. Each of us have a share for the sake of this Body of Christ, the Church. First, Jesus suffered in His physical body. Now He has to suffer in His spiritual body, which is the Church. You have your share and I have mine in these sufferings. I cannot fulfil your share and you cannot fulfil mine.  When you go through some suffering, I can't be faithful for you. You have to be faithful yourself, when you suffer because of your relatives or neighbors, or when you are persecuted or, as in some countries, thrown out of your house because you want to follow Jesus. These are a part of the sufferings of Christ. Rejoice at that time and say, "Lord, thank You for giving me the privilege of filling up a little bit of Your afflictions for the sake of the Church which is Your body." That is how we will have a ministry to others and that is how we can build the Church. That is why this is called a part of "the fellowship of Christ's sufferings". Christ gained nothing for Himself through His sufferings. But we gained a lot. When we are in fellowship with Christ's sufferings, we ourselves gain nothing from it. It is for the sake of the Church. Others will gain through our sufferings. Are you willing for that? I hope we will say, "Yes, Lord. I am willing. I want to be in fellowship with Your mind and Your spirit and Your attitude. I want to suffer so that others will gain something through my suffering."

Have you seen how sugarcane is crushed in a grinder? They put those sugarcane sticks into the grinder and grind it and the juice comes out. After this is done a few times, one would think that all the juice has come out of those sticks. But, no! They put it back in again - and some more juice comes out. For whose benefit is it being crushed? For somebody else to drink it. That's how God makes us also a blessing to others. We are crushed and squeezed in the circumstances and trials of life, and we humble ourselves and accept them joyfully, and from that crushing, the radiance and beauty and aroma of Christ come forth. That is the only way we can be a blessing to others.

God promises that He will never allow us to be tempted by any temptation that is too strong for us to overcome: "…Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able: but will make also with temptation issue, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. 10:13). Jude 24 also says: "Now to him who is able to preserve you without sin, and to present you spotless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,". With these and many other wonderful promises given us in God's Word, there is no need for us to sin any more.

Peter reminds us in I Peter 4:1-2 that "Christ therefore having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought: for he that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sins: That now he may live the rest of his time in the flesh, not after the desires of men, but according to the will of God.” To "suffer in the flesh" does not mean becoming sick in the body, for no-one has ever stopped sinning thereby. It does not mean being beaten and bruised for Christ's sake either, for no-one has stopped sinning that way either. It refers rather to denying the desires of Self which are in opposition to the will of God. It is to die daily to self, it is to deny our self, and “take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus.”  (Luke 9:23)

Many who call themselves Catholic have rejected the way of the cross. They have opted for the good life with its prosperity, its material gain, its popularity and success, having rejected the suffering and sorrow of the cross. You will have to carry your cross until you learn to deny. Deny what? The one thing that constantly hinders God's work in our lives—self.

Many who call themselves a traditional Catholic boast of their self-denial. They don't smoke, curse or fornicate—they are practicing self-denial, but they have never denied self. In some ways, we are all like that. We experience "spurts" of holiness, accompanied by feelings of purity. Good works usually produce good feelings, but God will not allow us to think our good works and clean habits can save us. That is why we need a cross.

I believe Jesus is actually saying to us, "Before you take up your cross, be ready to face a moment of truth. Be ready to experience suffering by which you will learn to deny your self-will, your self-righteousness, your self-sufficiency, your self-authority. You can rise up and follow me as a true disciple only when you can freely admit you can do nothing in your own strength—you cannot overcome sin through your own willpower—your temptations, cannot be overcome by your self-efforts alone—you cannot work things out by your own intellect. Your love for Jesus can put you on your knees but your cross will put you on your face.

Sin brings a certain pleasure. To suffer is the opposite of enjoying that pleasure. If we are willing to suffer in each and every situation, then we can cease from sin. God will help us if we are willing. In fact, Paul says to the Philippians that God even works to make us willing. “With fear and trembling work out your salvation. For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to his good will.” (Phil.2:12-13). But so often we resist His workings. That is why we remain defeated.

In conclusion, Christ suffered in the flesh, and we are to arm ourselves with the same mind. Jesus walked this way of self-denial all His life. He came to earth in the flesh and never did His own will but always the will of His Father, no matter how much suffering that may have involved (Jn.6:38). In this way He never sinned. Now, we also have the opportunity, as Paul said in 1 Pet. 2:21-22, to "follow in His steps, Who committed no sin". This is the gospel, this is the good news of the grace of God.

Christ The King: Are You Your Own Potentate?

Did you know the United States once had an emperor?

Believe it or not, it’s true – at least, it was in the rather confused mind of Joshua A. Norton.

Norton lived in San Francisco during the gold-rush days of the 1800’s. He was a colorful character, to say the least. When speculation in the rice market brought him to financial ruin, something happened to Norton’s mind. He declared himself “Emperor of These United States.” It might have been a practical joke, or it might have been the result of a clouded mind. Whatever the initial reason, Norton’s pretending soon grew into a delusion. In 1859 he published a proclamation that he was emperor according to an act of the California legislature. He found a sword, stuck a plume in his hat, found a cape, and marched the streets in colorful costume.

The citizens of San Francisco were amused by this ploy and so played the game with him. They gave him recognition with free tickets to special events. He was invited to galas opening nights. In fact, they allowed him to collect a small tax and issue his own currency. It was all done in the spirit of fun. But to Norton it was serious business. In fact, he expanded his authority to "Emperor of These United States and Protector of Mexico.”

The Jews, back in the Prophet Samuels day did the same thing. Let me tell you what happened in todays language:

(I Kings DRV/1 Samuel 8:1-7,18-19)

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.

Then down to verse 18: 

And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,

The Hebrew people wanted to be like other nations and demanded a king be named to rule over them.

Why did they not want God to rule over them?

Why did they want to have an earthly king over them after knowing the wondrous works God has done before them?

This included, but was not limited to God:

• Rescuing them from the slavery of Egypt
• Feeding them manna through the years in the wilderness
• Clearing out their enemies
• Giving them the land of milk and honey.

Sounds like us even today. You see, God has done so much for us. This includes, but is not limited to God:

• Rescuing us from the slavery of sin when we passed through the waters of baptism. (Romans 6:4)
• Providing His flesh and blood to feast upon and to nourish us. (John 6:54)
• He gives us strength in the Lord, and in the might of his power. He provides a amour, so that we may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

• He supplies every need of ours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

And yet in spite of all He has done, we like the children of Israel will reject Him as King of our lives and we will put ourselves on the throne.

The children of Israel demanded a king, even when the prophet Samuel warned them how a king would take the best of their crops and children to serve him.

What has your “King” taken from you? You may say, “Nothing! I am doing just find. I have everything under control! I have a good job, married to a wonderful spouse!, I have two beautiful children! My life can not be any better.”

But most of us will go through at least one great trial in our life that we can not control.

There was a man by the name of Jimmy Schmidt who was a very happy man. But one morning, His pregnant 29-year-old Lindsey Schmidt was taking her 3 children to their Catechism class when she was killed in a crash that also took the life of her 1-year-old son Kaleb. The next day their 4-year-old Weston died. And the day after that his 6-year-old son Owen also died. Eddie Schmidt found him self in a situation where all he loved was lost. And all though in his own words, he was “blessed to have Lindsey in his life. And he was blessed to have the children in his life.” He could not control what had happened to them.

What is it in your life that you are trying to control?

Are you the King of your life or is Jesus? Are you making the decisions in your life or are you allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct you?

Are you King over your time? Are you too busy to fellowship with God? Have you let other things get in the way of your daily prayer life? Do you only call on Jesus when you’re in trouble? Too busy “dealing with life” to deal with God?

It’s dangerous to try to serve both king and God: “No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. ” (Matthew 6:24)

If God ordains the path for your life, if God’s Word sustains and nurtures you, and if your life is centered on God, then why would you put your trust in a king? If you trust in God in all things and for all things, why would you want another ruler over your life? Putting anything first, puts God second.

God was not pleased with the people of Israel. He was angry. He had set the Hebrews apart as His special people. And yet He gave them what they wanted.

And so, God chose Saul to be their king. When he didn’t work out, He replaced him with David. David was a good king despite his immorality with Bathsheba. Many kings followed who did evil in the sight of God. They began to worship other gods. David’s son, Solomon, married many foreign women, who influenced him to set up idols and gods to appease them. It provoked God to anger for each succeeding king. Ahab was said to be worse than all the kings who ruled before him.

Search your heart. Is God the real king of your life or is He in second place? You can only have one king. And only you can choose who your king is going to be.

I began the homily with the story of Joshua A. Norton, the self imposed Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. He died in 1880. More than ten thousand curious people attended Norton’s funeral service – one of the largest funerals ever to take place in California. He lived and died in his own delusion of grandeur. He didn't hurt anyone; in fact, he brought a bit of a smile and a chuckle to people who came across his path. But make no mistake about it. Joshua A. Norton was never really the emperor. Had he really insisted on a confrontation with the United States government, he would have been disposed of rather quickly. More than likely, he would have been confined to an insane asylum for the rest of his life.

Imagine the poor soul who dies and enters eternity convinced that life was all about him or her, that he or she was the focus of their own little universe. What a shock to find that the Bible’s title for Jesus is accurate. He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and no pretend emperor will ever take his place.

The Sin of Unbelief

Matthew 8:23-27

And when he entered into the boat, his disciples followed him: And behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep. And they came to him, and awaked him, saying: Lord, save us, we perish. And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm. But the men wondered, saying: What manner of man is this, for the winds and the sea obey him?

In Matthews Gospel we read, that Jesus was traveling in a boat across the lake with His disciples, there were fierce gales from the storm and the waves were breaking into the boat. The boat was filling up and they were going to sink. While the disciples were scared and panicking, Jesus was peaceably asleep. At some point the disciple woke Him up and Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm. They were afraid that they would perish. In Marks Gospel we read that they asked Him, “Master, doth it not concern thee that we perish?" (Mark. 4:38-40)

Whenever we look at Jesus rebuking His disciples, we find Him reserving His strongest rebukes for one specific sin and that was the sin of unbelief.

There were certain sins that Jesus hated the most; Hypocrisy, pride, impurity, indifference to human needs, and to the list we can add unbelief. Now unbelief is definitely not considered a sin by anybody in the world. The sad thing is, I think, is that the majority of those who call themselves Christians, also do not consider unbelief as a sin. They think of it as a weakness. To say, 'I don't have enough faith.' To them is like saying, 'Well, I am too weak to be able to lift a 50 pound box. I just don't have the strength to lift that. Now if it were a weakness, it is not serious. But it is serious because it is a sin, and Jesus rebuked it as a sin. In fact, it is such a serious sin that in the book of Hebrews we are given a warning: "Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God." (Hebrews 3:12). It is clear that the reference is to believers in Christ, not unbelievers.

How is an unbelieving heart described? It is described as EVIL! Now for an adulteress heart, we can understand, it being called an evil adulteress heart. Jesus spoke about an evil and adulteress generation in Matthew 16. We can understand how a murderer's heart would be called an EVIL murderer's heart. Even a selfish heart, could be said to be an EVIL heart or a proud heart is an EVIL heart. We could also say a hypocritical heart is also an EVIL heart. A heart full of hatred can also be said to be an EVIL heart. But how many people, who have light on all these sins, would also say that an unbelieving heart is an EVIL heart? But that is exactly what it says in Hebrews 3:12. In fact, it can make you fall away from the living God altogether. ""Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God."" That is how serious it is. An unbelieving heart can make you depart from the living God. And so, we see this is another sin that we need to take seriously. Seven times Jesus rebuked His disciples for unbelief, including even after His resurrection. He was rebuking them only for unbelief.

Now unbelief is a sin, because it is an insult to God. When God has said something and you don't believe it, it is an insult to God. Supposing you are a student in a college and your father sent you a letter saying, 'Son, I have deposited some money in your bank account for you to pay your fees.' But you say, 'Well, I am not so sure whether dad really has put it in my account. He may be just joking with me.' Don't you think that is an insult to your father? How much more then when God has said something, and you don't believe it? Supposing you are one of those people who believe that that there is no book in the world which contains the word of God. They don't believe the Bible is the word of God, and that the Bible is written by certain people who were just expressing their ideas. Such people are not insulting God because they don't have any understanding of what God has said. But you, who are a Christian, will say on one hand the Bible is the word of God and on the other hand, you don't believe what God has written there. You are the one who has an evil heart of unbelief, that is insulting God by saying, 'God said it, but I don't believe it.'

Do you believe when God says, in Hebrews 13:5-6, " I will not leave thee, neither will I forsake thee.", that He really means it, that he never will fail you, never forsake you? Do you believe when it says in Romans 8:28, that every single thing that happens in your life; every single thing, big or small, God makes it all work together for your good? All the evil other people do to you; God will make it work together for your good. Do you believe that? If you believed it, it would change your whole attitude towards your life. You wouldn't hate that man for doing something evil to you because that evil works for your good. Everything depends on faith in God. If you have faith, you find that you can overcome many other sins.

I John 5:4 says, "This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith."

Understand that faith and fear are opposite of each other. You cannot have faith and fear living in the same heart. You can only have one of the two. When faith comes in, fear goes out. It is like light. When you put on the light, the darkness goes out of the room. How can you have darkness and light co-existing anywhere? It is impossible. If you switch off the light, then the darkness takes over the room. In the same way, for fear to come in, faith must go out. Why did the disciples get scared? They thought, 'Hey, we are dying, the boat is sinking now.' You may find yourself in situations where it looks as if you are really going to sink, and it looks as if Jesus is asleep. And you wonder, 'Lord, don't you care?' It is a question that can often come from the heart of many people. 'Lord, don't you care for us? Don't you understand what we are going through?'

I am here today to tell you that He certainly does.

In the book of Job, we read,  But he knoweth my way” (Job 23:10). He knows the way that I take.  God knows the way it is with me. He knows every detail of what is happening to me. Do you believe that? Do you believe that all the minute details of the problems you are facing in your life, God knows it?

Jesus was trying to stir up faith in His own disciples when He said several times in Matthew 10, "Don't be afraid...fear not ...fear ye not" He further said, "better are you than two sparrows for a farthing (one quarter of a penny)., and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father [knowing about it]" (Matthew 10:29-31). He also said that your heavenly Father knows the exact number of the hairs on your head.

When you don't trust Him, He is insulted. That is why unbelief is such a terrible sin. When you think that God will harm you instead of caring for you and protecting you, that is an insult to God. Supposing a father went to his little 4-year old son's room in the middle of the night, to see if he was sleeping soundly. But he is sitting up in the bed scared and his father asked him, 'Son what is wrong with you?' And he replies, 'Daddy, I was afraid that in the middle of the night you would come and kill me or something like that,' how would you feel as a father if your son thinks you will harm him when he is asleep? How does God feel, as a Father, when you think that He will harm you? That He won't protect you?

Unbelief is an insult to God. Faith honors God. The Bible says, "without faith it is impossible to please God." Unbelief is a sin. Jesus came to save us from sin. Let us remember that unbelief in what God says is a sin., and from this sin come many other sins, Go to Jesus with the same desire that the father of the demon possessed son had when he, “Cried out, and said, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Joni Eareckson Tada (born October 15, 1949) is an American Christian author, radio host, artist, and founder of Joni and Friends, an organization "accelerating Christian ministry in the disability community".

On July 30, 1967, when she was 17 years old, she dove into the Chesapeake Bay after misjudging the shallowness of the water. She had a fracture between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae and became a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down.

However, during occupational therapy, she learned to paint with a brush between her teeth and began selling her artwork. She also writes this way, although for most writing tasks she relies on voice recognition software. To date, she has written over forty books, recorded several musical albums, and starred in an autobiographical movie of her life, and is an advocate for people with disabilities.

In 2010, Tada announced that she had been diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer. She underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. Her treatment proved successful, and she was declared cancer-free in 2015. In November 2018, Tada was diagnosed with a malignant nodule on her chest wall near the site of her original cancer. Radiation treatments for the nodule proved successful, and, in July 2019, she announced that she had once again been declared cancer-free

If there is anyone today who had a right to struggle with unbelief in God and trusting in God it would be her. Let me read to you in her words what she has to say about the struggles she has gone through:

“Whenever I feel the crunch of my quadriplegia, the crunch of chronic pain which I deal daily with, I think back to those darker days when I was in the hospital, so depressed, so discouraged.  I said, ‘I wanted desperately to be healed.’ When friends would come into the hospital to visit me and they asked, ‘Should we read anything to you from the Bible?’  I would always, always ask for John chapter 5, ‘Please read to me from there.’ 

‘For there is in Jerusalem near the sheep gate a pool which is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades, here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.  One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition or a long time,’ If he thinks 38 years is a long time, I wonder what he thinks of 46?

He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’  Jesus said to him, ‘Get up and walk.’  I cannot tell you how many times I would lie in that bed, straining to make my muscles move, and I would sing a hymn that I had learned as a child, ‘Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry.  While on others Thou art calling, Jesus do not pass me by.’  But I never got up out of that bed and walked.  And it seemed back then that Jesus had passed me by.

I was released from the hospital.  My sister J.K. invited me to come and live with her on our Maryland farm. And one morning while she was doing my get-up routine, bed bath, toileting, exercising, we flipped on the bedside television and there was an advertisement, ‘Kathryn Kuhlman was coming to Washington D.C.’

How many here remember her, Kathryn Kuhlman?  Well for those of you who might not, she was like a Benny Hinn of the day.  Well, my sister and I got into the station wagon, and we got to the Washington Fulton Ballroom early.  We wanted to have a good seat.  We were escorted, however, over to the wheel-chair section where I was sitting with a number of people, crate, crutches, canes, walkers, wheel chairs. We all waited in anticipation.  The lights dimmed.  A spotlight came on the stage and there comes Miss Kuhlman, sweeping out onto the stage in her long white gown and with a crescendo of organ music, there are songs and hymns and before you know it, after some time, the spotlight moves to the far corner of the ballroom and we can tell something’s going on over there, like people getting healed.  Are they getting healed?  Are they getting healed?  And so we’re just waiting for the spotlight to come on the wheel-chair section, like, ‘Hey, come over here where all the hard cases are.’

Before the service ended, ushers came to escort us all out of the wheel-chair section and to the elevators so as to not clog the hallways.  And I could hear the organ music on the other side of the wall still playing as I sat, number 15 in a line of 35 disabled people at the elevator.  We were all very quiet.  And I looked up and down that line and I thought to myself, ‘Something is wrong with this picture. What kind of Savior? What kind of rescuer, what kind of healer, what kind of deliverer would refuse the prayer of a paralytic?’ 

When I got homes that night in bed, I thought, ‘Okay then, if I can’t be healed, I’m just not going to do this, I’m not going to live this way.’ And soon a bitter spirit, a mean a real complaining spirit began to take hold.  Nobody did anything that was good enough.  Every hurdle became an excuse to feel sorry for myself. If something didn’t go my way, it was off with their heads, Queen Joni I was.

Most of all, in that bitterness, Jesus the healer seemed so far and so distant. And if I could not be healed, I said to my sister, ‘Just leave me in my bedroom draw all the drapes, turn out the light, shut the door and just leave me alone.’ 

But even in that dark bedroom, hymns would come back up to the surface of my heart and I would comfort myself in the loneliness that I was experiencing and just, (singing) ‘Abide with me, fast falls the even tide, when darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.  When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, I’m so helpless, O abide with me.’

And somewhere in that dark bedroom days later, I cried out to God, ‘If …If I can’t live this way, then somebody else is going to have to.  Jesus, You’re going to have to do it for me.  I can’t do this thing called quadriplegia.  Please show me how to live.’ 

Those were days when it was my first plea for help.  My sister would come into the bedroom then from that time out and she’d open up the drapes, let in the sunshine, get me dressed, sit me in my wheel chair, wheel me to the living room and pull my wheel chair up to a music stand much like this one, plop a large Bible on it, put a mouth stick in my mouth and there I would sit day after day, flipping through the pages of the Bible, this way and that, trying to make sense of it all.

Of course I was still interested in healing.  I still wanted to know what God’s Word had to say about it.  And I found out in the first chapter of the gospel of Mark.  You know the story.  There Jesus is healing a great deal of diseased and disabled people all throughout the day and long past sunset.  Next morning the crowds return, Simon and his companions go rushing looking for Jesus, but He’s nowhere to be found. That’s because Jesus had gotten up early and gone off to a solitary place to pray. And when they finally find Him, they tell Him about this crowd of disabled and diseased people at the bottom of the hill all looking for healing.  And I thought what Jesus responded to them was so curious because it says in the 38^th verse, ‘Jesus said, “Let’s go somewhere else, to the nearby villages in towns where I can preach there because this is why I have come.’  And that’s when it hit me, O did it hit me.  It’s not that Jesus did not care about all those sick and diseased people, it’s just their problems weren’t His main focus.  The gospel was.  The gospel that says sin kills, hell is real, but God is merciful and His Kingdom can change you and Jesus is the way.  And whenever people miss this, whenever they just started coming to Jesus to get their pain and problems fixed, the Savior would always back away.  No wonder I had been so depressed.  O my goodness. I was in to Jesus just to get my problems and my paralysis fixed.  Yes, Jesus cares about suffering people.  He cares when you’ve been paralyzed for 38 years, or 46 years.

I realized that yes, Jesus cares about suffering and He spent most of His time when He was on this earth relieving it. But the gospel of Mark showed me His priorities because the same man that healed blind eyes and withered hands is the same one who said, ‘Gouge out that eye, cut off that hand if it leads you into sin.’

I got the picture.  To me, physical healing had always been the big deal, but to God, my soul was a much bigger deal. And that’s when I began searching for a deeper healing, not just a physical healing, although I was still praying for such.  I asked for a deeper healing, a Psalm 139, ‘Search me, O God, try my heart, test me and see if there be some wicked way in me.  Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.’

And I tell you what, for the last 46 years that’s been my prayer. And God has been answering it, exposing things in my heart from which I need to be healed and I tell you what, I am so far from being finished, so far.  Remember that bitter spirit that I told you about, well nobody…anything that nobody did was good enough?  Well, it was early on in my marriage to Ken, maybe about three or four years, and he was really starting to struggle with the 27…24/7 non-stop day-to-day routine of my disability.  Now sure I had help.  I had girlfriends assisting, but a lot of it fell on Ken’s shoulder.  And one night before we went to bed, he sat on the end of the mattress and slumped-shouldered confessed, ‘I can’t do this. I feel so trapped. Joni, I just feel trapped.’

Out of nowhere I spat out, ‘Well where was your head when we got married?  Didn’t you know it was going to be like this?  Didn’t you understand I was a quadriplegic?  Didn’t you realize it was going to be this hard?’

As soon as I said those words, I wish I could have stuffed them back in my mouth.  And I quickly apologized.  ‘O Ken, I don’t know what got into me, that’s just not like me. That’s not like me at all to say that.’

But you know what?  It is like me.  It is just like me.  And so God does not remove the hardships, He allows them, purposes them, plans them, ordains them, permits them and pain and problems and paralysis become the lemon that He kept squeezing in my life, revealing all sorts of things from which I needed to repent…bitterness, spitefulness, selfishness.  I don’t like it when God squeezes that lemon, but I need it.  ‘Search me, O God, and show me the sin of which I am capable of.’  My disability even to this day so many years later is still squeezing me, revealing the not so pretty stuff of which I am made.  And in the last ten years or so of my marriage to Ken, chronic pain has been a big issue.  I remember oh maybe ten years ago it was though, I was in the worst of my pain…I’m talking about mind-bending, jaw-splitting pain and Ken had to get up extra times at night to turn me.  This went on for several weeks. But one night before we turned out the lights, he sat on that bed again and confessed, ‘I feel trapped. I can’t do this.’  But this time my response was, ‘O, sweetheart, I don’t blame you one bit.  If I were in your position, I’d feel exactly the same way. I would feel trapped.  So, I’m not going to fault you or scold you, I just want you to know I’m going to cheer you on and pray for you somehow the Lord Jesus can get us through this. And I just want you to know that I believe that God’s grace is going to help us, sweetheart. We can do this.’

It was a visible weight that lifted off my husband’s shoulders.  I could just see it. Anxiety, fear just seem to dissipate.  It was a huge turning point in our marriage.  God was doing a deeper healing in both of us and I tell you what, we needed it because just years later I was diagnosed with stage three cancer.  And that’s when God began squeezing the lemon even more.  I remember though, one day Ken driving me home from chemo-therapy, I was in the back of the van tied down and I could watch him in the rear-view mirror and as we were traveling down the 101 Freeway, we started talking about how suffering is like little splash-overs of hell. When you suffer, it should be your cue to remember the hell from which you were ultimately rescued because of Christ.  And so we just started discussing this and how amazing it was that God allowed splash-overs of hell in our lives to wake us up out of our spiritual slumber and then when we pulled up in the driveway, he turned off the ignition and looked at me in the rear-view mirror, ‘Well then what do you think splash overs of heaven are?’  And I thought, ‘Well are they easy-breezy bright days where everything is going well?’  We discussed this.  Is it times when all the bills are paid and there are no trials, tests, no chronic pain?  And in the silence we said no…no, those aren’t splash-overs of heaven.  Splash-overs of heaven are finding Jesus in your splash over of hell.  There’s nothing more poignant. There’s nothing sweeter than finding Jesus in your hell.  And Ken and I are so grateful for the affliction.  I know that sounds strange, but all of it helps us stay hungry for the bread of life, it helps us stay thirsty for the living water.  And suffering is this, not just a lemon, it’s a textbook that keeps teaching us about who we really are.  It sandblasts us, strips us of our sinful ways.

So, my question to you today is do you see yourself at the pool of Bethesda?  Maybe number 15 in a long line of 35 people waiting for your problems to get fixed?  Are you wondering why God hasn’t removed the disappointment, why He’s not given healing when you have so desperately asked for it?  Well, you know what?  God may remove your suffering, and that will be great cause for praise.  But if not, He will use it, He will use anything and everything that stands in the way of His fellowship with you. So let God mold you and make you, transform you from glory to glory. That’s the deeper healing.” 

" Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God." (Hebrews 3:12)

“And crying out with tears said, ^‘I believe; help thou mine unbelief.’” (Mark 9:24)

Do public satanic mass rituals work?

 Many people wonder why public events, such as sports or popular culture, have come to resemble satanic rituals. To understand this, it´s important to consider the nature of satanism as an inversion of Catholicism. Catholics seek to act under the auspices of the Church and receive the blessings of God for their personal endeavors as well as societal efforts, such as building infrastructure or community structures like fire departments. In this context, the Church's blessing elevates human efforts by uniting them with Christian spiritual power. This act of submission to the Kingdom of Christ creates a subtle yet essential difference. The effects of these blessings often become apparent only over time, long after those involved have passed. For example, consider the development of a village centered around a Catholic Church versus one built around a shopping mall.

 Satanic rituals are an inverted practice of Catholic worship. Initiators and performers seek to unite with evil spirits and empower the kingdom of darkness on earth. Instead of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthening faith, such rituals aim to glorify the Devil with the intent to spread evil. Rather than uplifting souls to long for unity with God and everlasting life, they celebrate destruction and death.

 Are these satanic mass rituals effective? One might argue that these super expensive events, such as the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, are merely superficial and clownish spectacles, without any profound influence on individuals or society at large. However, considering how evil seems to spread unhindered despite its widely known harms, I would suggest that these rituals are highly effective in shaping preferences and instilling a habitus of darkness. For example, consider how children and youth are exposed to well-documented risks of serious harm, and even death, through “health policies” like human papilloma vaccination, transgender advocacy, or normalization of abortion. Additionally, there are instances where justice inexplicably fails to adequately sentence certain criminals for heinous acts like child torture or even murder. Furthermore, the transformation of early education from fostering self-discipline and Christian morals to promoting victimhood and dependence on state authorities is concerning. Many other examples could be listed, all of which share the commonality of being legitimized by a majority of the population. Therefore, I would suggest that popular mass rituals at least contribute to influencing minds and increasing the acceptability of evil and darkness. When observing the outward expressions of perception and disposition—such as opinions, tastes, and preferences—it becomes evident that many people exhibit an affinity for wickedness in their clothing, artwork at home and on skin, or cultural productions like movies, thereby practicing what popular evil rituals teach.

 How can we break the spell? As discussed in the previous issue of the Olive Tree in “What are we supposed to do about Blasphemy?” (https://www.vaticaninexile.com/july_2024_olive_tree.php), only the Church in union with the Pope can cure the world, and the victory will be Christ´s. The faithful must storm heaven with prayer and sincere penance, appealing to the spiritual power. Instead of uniting with the Church of Christ, many believers are deceived and spend much time and energy on futile activism such as protests. The cancellation of Taylor Swift concerts in Austria shortly after His Holiness´s Pope Michael II. visit may help to illustrate the power of prayer. Some might argue that these cancellations are a negligible victory or that avoiding such celebrations of darkness in Austria has nothing to do with spiritual forces. However, it must be acknowledged that no petition or demonstration, no matter how large, could have achieved that.        

The Pope Speaks

On Synod and Synodality

The Conciliar Church of Anti - Pope Francis is on the path of Synod and Synodality. This is not something new in the conciliar church. In as much as the supreme authority in the Church since Vatican Two is the combination of the Pope and the college of bishops. Hence, ever since the time of Anti- pope John XXIII, Paul VI to Benedict XVI except John Paul I, there's always a synod. 

 
Advice You Can Bank On

A Catholic Perspective On Finances 

Why Getting Out of Debt May Be Overrated

Are you in debt? Do you feel guilty about being in debt?

Most Christians probably know it is best to be debt-free. In fact, it has been so popularized as a goal for Christians that it may be overshadowing other more important Biblical financial principles. 

Having studied the Bible to understand what God says about money and possessions for the past 20 years, along with a steady intake of many other great books on the subject, I have a different conclusion of the emphasis that the Bible makes when it comes to managing money.  While important, I don’t believe getting out of debt should be the primary or ultimate goal.

Here are three areas the Bible teaches us to get out of that I believe are of greater significance than debt. 

Get Out of Claiming Ownership

The Bible makes it very clear that (a) you do not own anything, (b) you are God’s steward, and (c) you came into the world naked and will depart in the same condition. This is not simply good theology, but also a truth that God wants us to put into practice. If we don’t get out of the trap of claiming ownership of our money and possessions, we will become materialistic and vulnerable to placing our identity in what we have. The weight of trying to accumulate, protect, maintain, and grow our things can begin to control our lives.

Here are three ways to get out of the ownership trap:

1. Give it to the Lord. Make a quit claim deed that represents your surrender of it all to Him. Record everything you think you own and declare in your heart that it all belongs to God. 
2. Catch yourself describing stuff as “mine.”
3. Get into learning the joy of being a faithful steward.

Psalm 24:1 proclaims, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…”

Get Out of Temporal Financial Planning

The vast majority of the personal finance industry, financial planning industry, and much of the estate planning industry will have you totally focused on the here and now. They operate ignorant of God’s truth, which commands us to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven and not on Earth. And we fall into the trap.   

In the parable of the foolish farmer, the wealthy entrepreneur had a problem with managing his surplus, so he made a short-term financial plan. Luke 12:17-18 says, “He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.’”

He also stated his purpose for this plan in verse 19: “And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’”

In verse 20, we get the point of the parable loud and clear when God says to him, “‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’”

It is foolish to make plans for our own well-being when we are not rich towards God. Here are three ways to get out of the temporal financial planning trap:

1. Make a plan to “lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.”
2. Repent of placing your security and hope in money.
3. Write your obituary. Make a list of those things you hope will have prepared you for that day that you will stand before the Lord and be evaluated.

It is good to plan for today and tomorrow and to prepare for our lives on Earth, but if we don’t get out of temporal financial planning we will never get into eternal financial planning and be prepared for “that day.”

Get Out of Greed, Coveting and Selfishness

Coveting is wanting what someone else has. 

Greed is wanting more of what you already have. 

Selfishness is using what you have exclusively for your own benefit.

We can justify anything that we want or think that we need. Ahab and Jezebel justified murder because of Ahab’s coveting Naboth’s vineyard (I Kings 21). The foolish farmer in the parable above was greedy and therefore in need of bigger barns (from Luke 12). Nabal’s selfishness made him unwilling to share a morsel of food with David and his starving soldiers although he was wealthy (I Samuel 25). 

I know people with a twin-engine plane that are working to get a turboprop so they can get to their beach house quicker. I know those with a turboprop waiting to get a next level jet, so they never have to fly commercial. I know people with two homes that are looking for a third and are unaware of the millions of homeless in the world. I know people who travel to locations that make jaw-dropping social media picture backdrops but never give thought to how they could serve the people on that island or in that remote mountain village.

Three ways to get out of greed, coveting, and selfishness:

1. Be grateful for what you have now.
2. Be content with your circumstances by living one day at a time.
3. Seek to make giving your highest financial priority.   

If we don’t get out of greed, coveting, and selfishness, we will stay trapped in a life of vanity and insignificance.

Once you have gotten out of claiming ownership, temporal financial planning, and the financial sins that grip our hearts, it would be good to also get out of debt. But remember the rich young ruler. He was out of debt, but not out of Hell.

 Family Matters

Youth With Purpose of Heart

In Daniel 1 we find the story of an exceptional young man. He had been chosen by the king’s own delegate because there was no blemish found in him; he was well favored, skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge. He was chosen out of the very best that Babylon had to offer, and Babylon ruled the world. He was chosen to stand in the palace of the most powerful ruler of the world. Power and prestige were within his grasp. Certainly, to those looking on, Daniel was in an enviable position. What more could his heart wish for?

Only one thing stood in the way. A small thing, as most people would see it. Yet there it was. He was to eat of the king’s meat and drink of the same wine which the king drank. The very best were to be his. Yet Daniel knew he could not partake. Exactly why Daniel refused we do not know, but one thing we do know, Daniel stood for what he knew to be right. He understood that the luxuries of Babylon would never be able to fill his life and meet his needs as the God of Israel could, so Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank. We need young men and women today who purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves, just as Daniel did.

We live in a world that is pursuing pleasure, money, fame, knowledge, etc. Today, as never before, the opportunity lies before you as a youth to indulge in these things. Circumstances look promising. You have a good job. Money is yours to spend as you choose. You have many friends. The road appears to stretch before you, holding out promises of a good life. What more could your heart wish for?

Only one thing stands in the way. A small thing as many would have you believe. Yet it stands before you. What does God think? What does the Bible say?

Certainly, it is no less important for youth today to take a serious look at what God expects and deserves from them than it was for Daniel many years ago.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul tells him to “flee youthful lusts.” What are youthful lusts? Lust is defined as “an intense longing or craving for the forbidden.” So we are faced with the question, do youth have a longing for the forbidden? Lust for forbidden things is a problem that has existed on this earth since soon after Adam and Eve were created and certainly has not diminished in the age in which we live. What are some of these things facing youth today?

The world’s music often has a strong appeal to youth. Is there really anything wrong with listening to the same music the world listens to? We must understand that the music one enjoys expresses what is in the heart. It is no secret that the songs this world enjoys are extremely immoral. Not only are the lyrics filthy, the music appeals to the flesh in a very sensual manner. The music alone can bring upon a person feelings of hatred, rebellion, and lust. How can we take gospel words and sing it to music that still encourages these ungodly feelings? What concord hath Christ with Belial? Certainly God is looking for youth who purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with the world’s music.

A second area in which youth may be tempted to compromise is the area of dress. It is amazing how much is conveyed about a person by the clothing they wear. While you may not dress just like the world, how easy is it to choose clothing that is as close to the world’s fads as possible? Do you stop to think what message you will send to the world by the clothing you choose to wear? While clothing alone can never make a person a Christian, it can surely be an indicator which kingdom one is a part of. Many people in the world unashamedly declare that they are a part of the kingdom of darkness by their clothing. Shouldn’t Christians also be willing to bear a clear mark of belonging to God’s kingdom? We need youth who purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with worldly dress.

Thirdly, a youth may be lured by the world’s leisure and hobbies. We live in a fast-paced, ever changing world, and there seems to be no end to the list of new and exciting things to try. Does it really matter how much time and money we spend on these things? We must understand why the world always needs something new. Outside of Christ a person will always be searching for something to fill the void in his life. It will never be found in worldly entertainment.

Let’s consider what Solomon says.
“Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. Remove anger from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh. For youth and pleasure are vain. Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’” (Ecc 11:9-12:1).

If anyone would know if fulfillment can be found through what this world has to offer, Solomon should. Two things are made very clear in these verses. God will bring us into judgment for how we follow our heart’s desires, and remembering our Creator is important in our youth if we don’t want to live with regrets later in life.

While there may be room for leisure activities, even justifiable activities can quickly be overdone. Consider these figures. In 2011, 13.7 million hunters spent $38.3 billion on equipment, licenses, trips, and more. This averages out to $2,800 per hunter. No figure was given of the value of game that each hunter took home. Will these things bring contentment and satisfaction in old age, or will they bring emptiness?

As God’s chosen people we have a purpose to live for. Remember your Creator TODAY in the days of your youth. God is still searching for those who will choose Him above all the things this world has to offer and who will purpose in their hearts not to defile themselves with the vanity of this world.

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.^[a] 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with^[b] every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecc 12:13-14).

Lamp and Light Commentary 

"Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." (Psalms 119:105) 

 

The Book Of Exodus Chapter 4-11

 

(Continued from lesson 1)

The second thing we need to understand as the Lord's servants, is that nothing good dwells in our flesh.

Selfishness and corruption are found everywhere within our flesh. If you think that is not true, just put your hand inside your flesh and see! Ask God to give you light on the leprosy that dwells inside. If you don't learn this important lesson, you will go around condemning people, as though they had a flesh that was worse than yours. Nobody can commit a sin that we are incapable of. If we have not sinned in the same way, it is only because of God's mercy and because we never faced the same intensity of temptation. We are no better than any human being on the face of this earth, I want to tell you that you are totally unfit to be a servant of the Lord.

For the third sign the Lord asked Moses to pour out some water from the Nile and it would turn into blood (4:9). The river Nile was the precious god of the Egyptians and blood is a picture of death.

So the spiritual meaning of this sign is that all the things of this earth that worldly people worship and run after, we must pour out to death. A servant of the Lord must be crucified to the world and the world must be crucified to him. The world is no longer like water to me (essential for life), but like blood that we are not even tempted to drink. We would rather be thirsty than drink blood. That's the way we need to see everything in this world.

These are the three essential qualifications for any servant of God. Now Moses agrees to go to Pharaoh. He is equipped with Divine authority, and he goes forth as a man whom God himself has trained over a period of 80 years. Moses was the one man on the face of the earth at that time who was absolutely essential for God's purposes. Today God has many servants. So even if one man fails him, another can do the job. But at that time, God had only one man. But before that man could meet Pharaoh, he had to learn one more very important lesson.

We read in 4:24 that the Lord tried to kill Moses as Moses was going to Egypt. Now if it was written there that Satan had tried to kill Moses, we could understand that. But why in the world would God Himself want to kill the one man who was most essential for his purposes on earth? Because there was disobedience in Moses' own house. Moses had married a non-Israelite woman; and yielding to his wife's wishes, he had not circumcised his son. Moses' wife must have refused to permit that, and Moses, for the sake of peace at home, must have yielded to her wishes-especially since he was staying in her father's house. Moses' wife was the boss in their home! But God can never permit such misplaced authority in the home of any of His servants. And so God told him, as it were, “Moses, you cannot lead Israel out of Egypt, if you cannot lead your own home first! The Bible says, “If a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?” I have seen men who claim to be servants of God who are scared of their own wives. How can such men serve God?

This was a serious matter that God was telling Moses, “Even if you are the most important man for Me on earth, if you don't obey me, I will kill you. I cannot compromise my principles” Moses wife understood immediately why her husband was dying. So, she took a sharp stone and cut off her son's foreskin and angrily said to Moses, “A bloody spouse art thou to me.” Moses did one wise thing after that. - he sent his wife home and carried on with what God had called him to do! He did not want any more problems with her being around him.

You see how God is strict with His servants? He will permit other people to compromise in many ways. But if you are one of His choice servants, He will require obedience from you in the smallest of matters.

He will look in areas of your life that He will not bother about with others. If you have borrowed 10 dollars or a book from someone and haven't yet returned it, if you are a choice servant of God, He will keep on troubling your conscience until you return it. He doesn't deal like that with everyone, but only with His special servants. Most Christians are compromiser's who live for themselves. God just leaves them alone. If you are a choice servant of God, He won’t allow you to write even one false statement in a report about your work. He will not allow you to be unfaithful with even one dollar. Other believers may be unfaithful with millions, and God will ignore them. But not with you.

Do you want to be a choice servant of God? Do you want God to watch over you with such a jealous care? Then you must be willing to be rebuked by Him for small matters.

Such was the man who finally stood before Pharaoh. When you can stand before God with a clear conscience, you can stand even before the world's most powerful men. For what is Pharaoh in God's eyes, but a pile of dust with breath in his nostrils. God needs men like Moses who live before His face. Elijah told King Ahab, “I live before God's face” (I King 18:15). So, he was not afraid of Ahab.

Do you want to be a servant of God like Moses and Elijah? Don't look at the Priest and Preachers of this world today. Look at the servants of God in the Scriptures. Look at the Saints that lived and died before the face of God. God is looking today for men who don't care for men's approval, who don't want any man's money, who don't seek for backing from earthly authority, but who want to be backed up by God alone. That's how Moses stood before Pharaoh. And God backed up Moses completely.

Listen to today's preachers. Can you say that most preachers of today are being back up by God, who have no anointing in their words but are wishy-washy compromiser's who seek to please men? Paul said, For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

Don't ever seek to please man. Seek to please God. Let men treat you like dirt. The apostles were treated like garbage. Jesus was treated like garbage. But they lived before God's face alone, and God backed them up fully. That's the only way I want to serve God.

Moses stood before Pharaoh and God confirmed Mises word with plagues of blood , frogs, lice, insects, livestock-diseases, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and finally the death of the eldest boy in every house of the Egyptian magicians. But their magic tricks failed after a certain point. (7:11; 8:7, 18)

Religious people, who have a form of godliness without its power, have always opposed godly men in every age, just like Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses (2 Timothy 3:5, 8). The religious false prophets opposed Elijah and Jeremiah in their day. And the religious false prophets opposed John the Baptist and Jeus and Paul in their day.

Throughout church history, the majority of the clergy has always stood against the prophets who God has raised up in different lands.

It has always been the same story: God raises up people like Saint Francis, who was so misunderstood by others of the clergy. Or Saint Nicholas who other Bishops had confiscate his bishop's vestments and placed him in prison, when he stood up against the heretical views propounded by Arius, and so many others. God raised up a man to be His prophet. And many within the Church with their titles and their degrees will oppose him tooth and nail. But their attacks will not make him change his message on bit. Ultimately, after many long years, the prophet will be vindicated by God Himself, like Moses was.

If you want to be a man of God, don't ever seek to please those that have made the priesthood a professional religious establishment. Don't ever try to please those of the who do not know God. The knowledge of God is the most important thing that we need. I will respect a man whose life and words demonstrate that He knows God, that he lives before God's face and that he understands God's ways.

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Books to feed your faith!

 

The Three Days of Darkness
$5.95

Day of wrath and doom impending. David's word with Sibyl's blending, Heaven and earth in ashes ending. We open with the Dies Irae, because it applies to the Three Days of Darkness. Pope Saint Gregory the Great says in his Regula Pastoralis: “Let them be told how the Prophet Sophonias holds out over them the stroke of divine reproof, when he says: 'Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, great and horrible . . . . That day is a day of wrath, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, a day of the trumpet and alarm against all the fenced cities and against all the high corners.'” 1 Note this verse inspired the Dies Irae. The purpose of this book is to provide all of the prophecies that relate to the Three Days of Darkness. These are placed in a chronological order similar to that employed by Father Culleton is his two books, Antichrist and The Prophets and Our Times. They are provided without comment so that you can study the prophecies themselves. Some of the prophecies may appear out of place, but they will make sense as you move forward. It is strongly recommended that you make notes as you proceed forward with this book. In this way you can sort things out for yourself. Padre Pio predicted the Three Days of Darkness. So does Sacred Scripture, which calls it the Day of the Lord. Even Jesus Himself referred to the Three Days of Darkness in the Gospels. This book considers the many Catholic prophecies on the Three Days of Darkness.

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The Seven Last Words of Our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross
$4.00

The original of this little work was written by Cardinal Bellarmine towards the close of his life, when he had retired to the House of his Order at San Andrea. It was intended primarily for religious, but the thoughts it embodies should help many to follow the author in his faithful imitation of Christ Crucified. In the attempt to give the gist of St. Robert's work in a few pages, much condensation and much omission was necessary. This will account, in some measure, for the abrupt transition of thought noticeable in a few places.

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Novena For The Relief Of The Poor Souls In Purgatory
$5.00

We present this small treatise to pious persons, entreating them to peruse it. Long ago the Holy Ghost said: “It is a holy and wholesome thing to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins.” (II Macabees 12:46) Our Lord shed tears in seeing the tomb of Lazarus, and the Church, well acquainted with the feelings of her Divine Founder, is incessently recommending charity for the Souls suffering in Purgatory. One of her eminent doctors, St. Thomas of Aquinas, has said that: “Of all prayers, the most meritorious, the most acceptable to God are prayers for the dead, because they imply all the works of charity, both corporal and spiritual.” But there are many people unconscious of the fact that charity for the “Poor Souls” is profitable to the living as well as to the dead. It is the teaching of the most learned theologians, viz: St. Alphonsus Ligori, Sylvius, Robert Bellarmine, Bonacina, and Suarez. “It is true,” says St. Alphonsus, “they are unable to pray or merit anything for themselves, yet, when they pray for others, they are heard by God.” Let us refer to Bellarmine: “The Souls in Purgatory,” says he, “can pray for those, who address to them their petitions, and obtain from God help, forgiveness, assistance against temptations, and, all favors, both temporal and spiritual, which they may need.” Many Saints have experienced this wonderful assistance. St. Catherine of Bologna assured her Sisters that: “She obtained many favors by the prayers of the holy Souls in Purgatory, which she had asked in vain, through the intercession of the Saints.” St. Theresa affirms that: “She always obtained the favors which she asked from God, through the intercession of the Poor Souls.” We read also in the book of St. Bridget's Revelations that: “Being one day conducted by an Angel into Purgatory, she heard a soul say: “Oh Lord, vouchsafe to reward those who assist us! Return hundredfold blessings to those who help us and introduce us into the light of Heaven.” St. Leonard of Port Maurice emphatically affirms that: “The blessed Souls, delivered by our prayers, will come down from Heaven to assist us in our temporal and spiritual affairs.” The Venerable Cure d' Ars, replying to a priest said: “If one knew what we may obtain from God by the intercession of the Poor Souls, they would not be so much abandoned. Let us pray a great deal for them, they will pray for us.” Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque had a special devotion for the Souls in Purgatory and has often accepted the charge of suffering for them. “Would that you knew,” she said, “how my soul was replenished with joy, when speaking to those Souls, and seeing them immersed in glory as in a deep ocean. As I requested them to pray for you, they replied: “An ungrateful soul is not to be found in Heaven!” No, we cannot be deceived! If we have an ardent charity, a sincere piety, a true devotedness for the Poor Souls, we will be favored with their protection. Let us try it! When we are in trouble, when we long for a favor, let us perform some pious or charitable work for the relief of the “Poor Souls.” They will be grateful, they will plead for us, and present our requests to the Eternal Father, Who loves them. May God bless this humble work! May He deign to enkindle generous hearts with zeal for the “Poor Souls.” "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt., V., 7.)

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Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory
$5.00

In the writings of St. Margaret Mary we find the following exhortation: “In union with the divine Heart of Jesus make a short pilgrimage to Purgatory at night. Offer Him all your activities of the day and ask Him to apply His merits to the suffering souls. At the same time implore them to obtain for you the grace to live and die in the love and friendship of this divine Heart. May He never find in you any resistance to His holy will, nor any wish to thwart His designs in your regard. Fortunate will you be, if you succeed in obtaining deliverance for some of these imprisoned souls, for you will gain as many friends in heaven.” This pious practice which St. Margaret Mary recommended to her novices for the octave of All Souls, was introduced to the members of the Arch-confraternity of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the year 1885. Since then many of the faithful have made this pilgrimage daily. Our world-wide Arch-confraternity, therefore, would seem to have been chosen by divine Providence to obtain comfort and deliverance for many souls in Purgatory. In a letter of recommendation, given on January 5, 1884, his Eminence, Cardinal Monaco la Valette, Vicar General of His Holiness, sanctioned the propagation of the “Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory”. On October 8 of the following year, his successor, Cardinal Parochi deigned not only to honour us with a letter of approbation, but also delivered a splendid sermon on this practice in the church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Rome, in which it had been introduced. May it please the divine Heart of Jesus to use this booklet as a means of spreading this work of sympathetic love for the Poor Souls everywhere. May this most benevolent of hearts extend to all who in any way assist in its circulation, the fullness of His graces and blessings. It is short ..…. A “Daily Pilgrimage” …… It is requires little more of your time than an ordinary prayer, a religious thought, or a devout ejaculation. It is easy ..…. It can be practised by any one without effort, regardless of age or state of life, at any time, and in any place. It is comforting .….. No more is required than to descend in spirit for a few moments into Purgatory; to petition God to send light, relief and peace to the holy souls: to relieve them of their sufferings, and to hasten the hour of their deliverance. It is holy …... It is in accordance with the wishes of the Sacred Heart; it increases His honour. He is our companion on this pilgrimage. We share in his love, and receive from Him light, relief and peace for the suffering souls. It is generous ……. It offers to the Sacred Heart every meritorious deed performed in the course of a day; prayers, mortifications, good works, alms, suffrages of every kind, and places them at His disposal on behalf of the Poor Souls. It is inexhaustible .….. It implores Our Lord and Saviour to apply to them the infinite merits of His Life. His Passion and Death, and also those of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and all The Saints. It is efficacious.…. If only you knew with what ardent desire these holy souls long for this new “remedy” which has such efficacy to relieve their sufferings. For this is what St Margaret Mary calls the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

 

 

Examinations of Conscience

$9.95

This work contains several examinations of conscience from Catholic classic books. It also contains Saint Alphonsus' instruction on Confession from his Catechism. Further notes are contained on modern sins and on conversion.
One examination of conscience distinguishes between mortal and venial sins.
In preparing for the Sacrament of Confession it is easy to get into a rut, using the same examination of conscience for every Confession. These examinations are from various sources and are provided to help us shake up our spiritual life. By varying our routine, we can more easily identify our sins and bring them to the tribunal of Penance where we can present them before the Divine Physician and His human representative, the duly authorized priest. In this way our confessor can prescribe the remedies for our sins, so that we can heed the advice of Jesus: “Go now and sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to you.” (John 5:14)
Since these come from timeless older works, they have been updated by this author to include the sins that are so easily committed with modern technology, such as radio, television, moves, the computer and the internet.
We hope all will benefit from the sage advice contained in this book.

 

A Catholic Viewpoint on the Four Temperaments                             

$9.98

This is a compilation of information from several older works, which have been brought together to explain this most important consideration in the spiritual life.
We begin with a short consideration from Father Scaramelli, who died in 1752. He wrote a four volume work, Directorium Asceticum, which is an excellent treatise on the spiritual life. He touches on the four temperaments briefly.
We will expand with the thoughts of Father John Henry Schagemann CSSR from his work, Manual of Self-Knowledge and Christian Perfection. This work is in two parts the first on the Four Temperaments and the balance is a excellent summary of the spiritual life. The first part of this 1913 work is reproduced here.
The balance of this work is inspired by Konrad Hock, who wrote The Four Temperaments.
There is a great deal of interest in self-examination in these days and the four temperaments are a great guide to understanding ourselves, our strengths and our weaknesses. Some misuse this information in order to find an excuse for sin, but there is no excuse for sin. Knowing our temperament, we can know where our strengths and weaknesses lie and with the help of God over come our weaknesses and build upon our strengths
The four temperaments are based upon the four humors ancient philosophers believed exist in the human body:
Melancholy, (Melancholic)
Phlem, (Plegmatic)
Blood (Sanguine)
Choler (Choleric or Billious)
We begin with a test to determine our temperament, so we can know where we stand entering into our study

 

Writings of Saint Louis de Montfort 

$8.95

Writings of Saint Louis de Montfort Containing The Secret of Mary, Secret of the Rosary, Friends of the Cross, Love of Eternal Wisdom. Also containing the Total Consecration to Jesus Through Mary excerpted from 'A Treatise On The True Devotion To The Blessed Virgin'. And a prayer of Saint Louis de Montofrt's that begins: "They have transgressed Thy divine law; abandoned Thy gospel; evil floods the earth and sweeps along with it even those who call themselves Thy servants; the world is desolate; impiety reigns; Thy sanctuary is profaned and the abomination of desolation is to be found even in Thy holy places. O just Lord, avenging God, wilt Thou leave all to perish? Are we to see another Sodom and Gomorrah? Wilt Thou ever keep silence? Wilt Thou ever suffer? Must not Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven that Thy kingdom may come? Hast Thou not foretold to some of Thy loved ones that in the future Thy Church should be renewed? Shall not the Jew be converted to Thy truth? Is not this what the Church is waiting for? Do not all the saints in Heaven cry to Thee: 'Justice! Avenge!' Do not all the just upon the earth say: 'Amen, Come, Lord Jesus.' All, even the least sensitive, groan beneath the weight of the innumerable sins of Babylon and long for Thy coming to make all things new. 'All creation groans. Priests free in Thee, detached from all ties according to the flesh, from friends according to the world, from all worldly cares and even from their own will. Slaves of Thy love and Thy will; men after Thy own heart who without that self-will which mars and checks, shall do Thy will and overthrow Thy enemies even as David did, and the Cross shall be their staff and the Rosary their sling. Souls above earthly things upon whom the heavenly dew has fallen and who unhindered pass hither and thither as the Spirit moves them. They are of those whom the Prophets foreknew when they asked: 'Who are these that fly like clouds?' Men ever ready to Thy hand, ever ready to obey Thee and their superiors like Samuel: 'I am ready,' ever ready to hasten and suffer with Thee and for Thee, even as were the Apostles: “Let us go, too, that we may die with Him.”

 

Early Day Documents of the Traditionalist Catholic Church

$14.95

The Traditionalist Movement did not begin in one place or with one event. It actually sprouted in many places and then slowly developed into the movement it is today. In the mid 1960's a group of concerned parents in Oklahoma City came together to teach their children the traditional Baltimore Catechism. In the late 1960's Brother Francis Schuckardt organized the CMRI and traveled throughout the United States exposing the problems with the Novus Ordo and Vatican II. In 1970 a group of seminarians approached Archbishop Lefebvre, asking him to train them for the priesthood and soon the SSPX was born. Meanwhile Father Francis Fenton brought a couple of priests together and founded the Orthodox Roman Catholic Movement (ORCM). Another priest, Father James Dunphy was traveling throughout the United States celebrating the Tridentine Mass in various homes. These groups of people became the foundation of Mass centers throughout the United States. And there were many other people and events that led to the founding of the Traditionalist Movement. This book is not an attempt at a history of the Traditionalist Movement. Such a history should some day be written and would prove helpful to those who are attempting to sort everything out. This book is rather a collection of documents that circulated in the 1970's and 1980's before the internet came into being. Today many things are to be found on the internet, which were unavailable to Catholics in the 1960's and 1970's who were trying to sort everything out. When a document was found, it would immediately be copied and sent to friend and relatives in other cities, who would in turn copy it and send it on to their friends and relatives. Since most of these are readily available elsewhere, they are not included here. This would include Quo Primum, which was circulated in the very early 1970's. Unfortunately, key documents would not be found and circulated until much later. Cum Ex Apostolatus Officio, for instance was not circulated in English until 1982, and then did not become available to many until much later. At the same time, people would write up their own thoughts on matters and present their case to the world. This might be in the form of a letter or of a paper. These would also be copied and circulated far and wide. Unfortunately many of these early day documents have not been published until now. They languish in the dead files in a few people's offices or have been lost. And yet, some of these documents will explain much of why things are the way they are today. True, some are available, but they have not been found by many. These documents are important to understanding the Traditionalist Movement. With a few exceptions, these documents are presented without commentary. If comments are made, they are usually to put the document into context and supply a piece of information that is needed for such understanding. The documents are presented chronologically, so a document from Archbishop Lefebvre might be followed by a letter from some priest who would never have anything to do with Archbishop Lefebvre. We recommend making notes as you go through. Some of the things presented here might surprise you and may even contradict the history given by the various groups today. Take a look at the CMRI website. It gives very little of the history of the CMRI while Francis Schuckardt was in charge. “The truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) It is hoped that these documents will expose some truths that have hitherto been buried, sometimes for decades. It is for you, the reader, to draw the conclusions.

 

 

 

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Creation Moments

 

The Bible’s Tale of Two Women

You remember the story – two women stood before the king. They lived together in one house and had each given birth a few days apart. They had with them one of the little newborns because the other baby had died – and they were each claiming to be the living baby’s real mother! King Solomon called to have a sword brought before him. And when that was done he said, “Now cut the baby in half, and give half to one woman and half to the other.”

As in other places, the Douay-Rheims Bible uses some interesting terminology to describe what happened next. It says about the true mother of the child, that “(for her bowels were moved upon her child,) I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not kill it.” (1 Kings 3:26)

As you can imagine, some strong emotion welled up within the true mother when she saw the sword and heard the words of the king! Gut-level emotion made it clear who the real mother was, and so King Solomon commanded that the baby be given to her.

The Hebrew of 1 Kings 3:26 uses the word “rechem” which means “bowels”, while also used to convey intense affection and compassion. And New Testament Greek preserves this usage of “intestinal” language with the word “splanchna” – in famous phrases such as “bowels of mercies” (Colossians 3:12) or “bowels and mercies” (Philippians 2:1). More recent translations of the Bible have not retained the intestinal meaning of the words, translating them incompletely as metaphors for “affection” or “compassion”. In the modern era, who would have thought that emotional affection could flow from the gut anyway?!

Yet, biomedical science is now realizing that there is an important gut-brain connection. The gut and brain are in communication – via hormones, neurotransmitters, other nerve action and immune system effects.

What we see revealed here from the original languages is another depth of truth contained in the Scripture – where science is finally catching up. When the original Greek or Hebrew says “bowels” or “belly”, we lose some truth if we think about only the metaphorical meaning. The Bible holds scientific clues throughout. Something goes on in the inner cavity of our bodies that is more than what we have been able to rationally understand in all eras, including the modern one.

 

Why Vatican In Exile Backs Homeschooling

Many Christian parents don’t give much thought to the idea of homeschooling their children. I know that homeschooling is difficult or next to impossible for some parents, so I can sympathize with their situation. Still, there is so much at stake.

Why do I believe that homeschooling is so important?  There are many good reasons to do so. But just consider the logic of these two Scriptures. 1) “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child” (Proverbs 22:15).  And 2) “He that walketh with the wise, shall be wise: a friend of fools shall become like to them.” (Proverbs 13:20). Therefore, the simple, consistently applied “age segregation” of the school system ensures that children as they grow and develop will be consistently surrounded by the peer pressures inherent in a bunch of foolishness!

Another important reason is because evolution is taught as fact in public (i.e., government) schools. However, evolution is essentially a pseudo-scientific magic trick performed by those who desire to justify their own foolishness, or who have caved to the peer pressure of it. They will lead students away from the creation truth of  the Bible, and, by extension, many of the other truths of the Bible.

Consider this: If evolution were true, then the second law of thermodynamics is magically reversed. With a wave of the Darwinian magic wand, the downward arrow of entropy – from order to disorder – becomes an upward arrow where simple creatures evolve upwards to ever more complex and glorious creatures! And with each successive generation, man becomes just a little more distant from his ape ancestors. Evolutionary thinking would have us believe that humans are now evolving into beings that can perhaps best be described as super-human.

Many factors in life will cause our children to either be drawn to Christ or steered away from Him. Evolution is undoubtedly one of the worst influences.

 

Why Evolution Is Pseudo-Science

The truth of God and His Word is obscured by many things and ultimately by the lies of Satan. Here at Vatican In Exile we focus on the lie of evolution which denies the truth of His word. And in this grand lie we see all kinds of false narratives, just-so-stories, and logical fallacies with a major incorrect assumption of atheism.

We see in evolution the intimidation of humanistic arrogance coupled with the logical fallacy of circular reasoning (e.g., “all true scientists believe in evolution” and  “unless you believe in evolution, you are not a true scientist”). We see here also the logical fallacy of get on the bandwagon, “all true scientists and scientific associations accept evolution as true”; in other words, “everybody who’s anybody is on board, so you should get on too!” These sentiments are the spirit of the world in the hands of the devil.

Pseudo-science can be thought of as commitment to an agenda instead of commitment to the truth. Pseudo-science is essentially trying to “see through” truth that cannot be seen through – like First Principles that cannot be debunked, or like trying, through surgery and hormones, to become a female when you are actually a male.

In fact, the Bible warns us, saying “…avoid the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge (or in some translations ‘science’) falsely so called.” (1 Timothy 6:20b). The literal Greek is ‘pseudo (falsely named) knowledge’. This is so-called knowledge that is actual absurdity. And it can be applied to the grand hypothesis of evolution.

 

Plunging Deeper and Deeper into Deception

The science of man-made global warming is completely unproven, and very little can be done about it anyway if it were even true.

Unfortunately, critical thinking has not really been a high priority for public education – taking a back seat to agenda-driven worldly indoctrination, such as with evolution.

As the Bible teaches, you may be smart, but you can still be ignorant and foolish (e.g., Romans 1:22). This is why Vladimir Lenin could coin the phrase “useful idiots” in the programs of government control when he talked about people buying into Marxist theory. The Bible says it well: “There is a way which seemeth just to a man: but the ends thereof lead to death.” (Proverbs 14:12).

This is an important reason why Vatican in Exile is so committed to disseminating the truth about Creation, the Bible and God in Christ! There are indeed very real forces of evil and deception which will make casualties of people in many ways if the truth of God is not proclaimed. We all need to be informed of biblical truth if we are to be enabled to truly think critically and accurately about things.

Day by day, as we get ever closer to the day of our Lord’s return, we see the world plunging deeper and deeper into deception. Even Catholics are not immune from those who are out to deceive us about biblical truth.

 

Catechism Catch-Up

The Virtue of Pennance 

“Penance is a supernatural moral virtue whereby the sinner is disposed to hatred of his sin as an offense against God and to a firm purpose of amendment and satisfaction. The principal act in the exercise of this virtue is the detestation of sin, not of sin in general nor of that which others commit, but of one’s own sin. The motive of this detestation is that sin offends God: to regret evil deeds on account of the mental or physical suffering, the social loss, or the action of human justice which they entail, is natural; but such sorrow does not suffice for penance.” 1

Penance means an about-turn in our lives. 

That is what helps us to turn towards God. God has to see that a man chooses Him before He can forgive his sin. God doesn't force anyone to accept what he does not want. God has given you a free will. If you don't want what He offers, He won't thrust it down your throat. The Bible says that Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks. He waits for you to open the door because He is a gentleman. He will never force you to do anything that you don't want. He wants you to respond to His invitation.

To be united with Christ is something like getting married. Here is a man who says 'Yes, I am willing to marry you' to a girl, but the marriage is not complete until the girl also says, 'I am also willing.' When both express their willingness, then only does the marriage take place. Now a man may have said he wants to marry the girl and he may have to wait five years before the girl says, yes. That is how it is with God. He says to you, 'I want to be united with you. I want to forgive your sins, I want to come and live in your heart and I want to bless you. I want to change your life, and I want to deliver you from your bad habits.' But He won't do it until you say, yes. He is not going to force Himself into a marriage with you if you are not interested. That is why so many people in the world live without God.

Now you see a lot of people in this world living with religion. To live with a religion is not the same as living with God. There is a tremendous difference. There are so many religions including the Christian religion. People usually have a religion because they were born into it. They were born into a particular family and so they go to a particular place of worship. But there is a lot of difference between that and being united to the person of God. Jesus came to bring us into a relationship with God as our Father; into a personal relationship with Him; into a marriage, like I said. He has already said yes when He died on the cross for you, and rose up from the dead. Now He is waiting for you to respond to Him just like the girl had to say yes to the waiting boy. And the moment you say yes, your marriage is over. You are united with Him, forever. But in order to do that (say yes to Him), you have to do what the Bible calls you to - penance.

Penance is a very simple word which just means 'to turn about'. Now you have seen a military parade. You have seen perhaps the leader of the parade saying 'about-turn'. When that command is given, all the soldiers turn 180 degrees to the opposite direction of what they were facing before. That is an about-turn and that is basically what repentance really means. We are born with our backs to God. We are not really interested in God. The Bible says that no one in the world seeks out for God. A lot of people are religious, but to seek for God is something quite different from being religious. We are born seeking our own profit and gain. Even the religious people are seeking their own profit and gain. Think of all the people who go to various places of pilgrimage. What are they going there for? Many will go there to get some benefit for themselves. And there we see that it is really selfishness; they are no different than the non-religious businessman who is also seeking his own interest when he seeks to make money in the marketplace.

So to turn to God means to turn away from seeking just my own way in life; to say, 'Lord, I want to turn around from everything that dishonors you and displeases You. I want to turn around and face You. Till now my back was to You and my face was towards the world, towards sinful pleasures; having my own way, pleasing myself. Now I want to turn around and put my back to all those things and face You, and seek to please You.'

The Bible calls penance in 1 Thessalonians, 1:9 as 'a turning to God from idols.' If we worship anything other than the true God - it could be money, it could be self - that becomes like an idol in our life and that turns me away from God. That thing becomes my God, that thing is uppermost in my mind. Penance is to turn away from all those things and turn to the one true God. A pretty girl whom you love could be your idol; who could be like God in your life to occupy so much time. It could be money, your job, your house, your car; it could be anything. Unless we are willing to turn from the worship of these things and say, 'God, Creator of the Heavens and my Creator, I want You to have the first place in my life' (that is penance, to turn around and make God central in our life), we cannot have a relationship with God.

Now, very often, we find it easy for us to deceive ourselves. We can think that, because we have said these words, we have shown penance. But the Bible also says that we must bring forth fruits that are in keeping with our penance. How do we prove that we have really turned from our old way of life? One way would be, if you have stolen money from someone in the past, or if you have cheated the government of taxes, then you will do penance, you will show fruit worthy of penance, you will return it. You are going to go to that person and say, 'I am sorry, I stole some money from you. Perhaps you didn't know about it. Here is the money with interest that I am returning to you.' If you have cheated the government of taxes, it would mean returning that money to the government. If you have traveled in the subway without buying the ticket, it would mean repaying that money to the subway authorities. Then, it would prove that you are serious about your penance. Otherwise they would be mere words.

Now a lot of people turn to God with mere words. There is a verse in the Bible where God says, these people turn to me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me and their worship is a mere tradition. That is how it is with most religious people in the world; their religion is one which never causes them any inconvenience. Do you know how inconvenient it is to go back and return money which you have taken wrongfully from somebody? It is humiliating, but that is the proof that you really want to give up that way of life. It also means that if you have lost your temper at somebody, and shouted at somebody, or called somebody by a bad name, you should go to that person and say, 'I am sorry for what I did. That was my mistake, please forgive me.' See, those are just a few words. It takes only fifteen seconds for you to say it to somebody. But you will discover it is so difficult for you to do it.

Why is it so difficult for you to say those ten or fifteen words to somebody? - Because of pride, we are so proud. That is the reason why many people cannot turn to God. Christ has died for our sins, but we have to turn towards Him in order to receive that forgiveness. We have to turn away from that sin in our life that we have chosen. And we have to say, 'Lord, I want to receive what you give.' To say that, I have to do penance - there should be a turnabout. Otherwise, if I just say with my words to God that I am sorry and I am not willing to set right with man the things I have done wrong to man; it would only mean that I am not really serious about turning from my sin. It would mean that I want to get forgiveness from God cheaply. Do you know that forgiveness is not cheap? God had to send His son Jesus Christ to earth to die? And he had to go through all that suffering to purchase our forgiveness. If you want it cheaply, if you don't even want to acknowledge your sin before God and show forth fruit worthy of penance, then you cannot get that forgiveness.

So, penance means that I acknowledge the guilt of worshiping things other than God. I need to come to God and say, 'Lord, You alone are worthy to be worshiped. You, whom I cannot see with my eyes - the Invisible Creator of this universe - You are the One worthy to be worshiped. I am sorry that I have spent my life worshiping created things. I want to turn to You.' Penance doesn't mean that you have to give up your job and become a hermit or give up your family or any such thing.

It is not giving up earthly things as much as giving up an attachment to earthly things.

 

There is a lot of difference. God may still allow you to have your home, your job, your family, but don't be attached to them, don't make them your god. In fact, making them your god destroys you. It is not a sin to use the comforts that modern civilization provides us, but it is a sin to love those comforts more than we love God.

See, God has created our bodies in such a way that we can experience the pleasure of food, sleep, and many other things like that. There is nothing wrong in experiencing these pleasures. But if we make these things more important than God, then those things have become idols in our lives. One more thing: if we don't forgive others, then Jesus said that our Heavenly Father will also not forgive us. So that is another thing we need to do. If we are really have a heart of penance, we will forgive every single person who has harmed us, just like God, our Heavenly Father, has forgiven us.

1 Catholic encyclopedia.  You can view this quote online at https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/penance. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed at Catholic answers.com are their own and do not necessarily reflect the teaching of the true Catholic Church.

 

Remember His greatness through their lives.

 

(If you fill you have a calling to the priesthood and would like to contact us about it, please contact us on our contact page or go to our religious vocation page at the VIE Website for direction, guidance, and questions.)

 

 

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Living Catholic:

“God is a Spirit.” Thus, Jesus said to the woman at the well outside the village of Sychar. He went on to tell her “and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). This woman was focusing her attention upon the external forms of worship. Yet, the Lord Jesus was emphasizing to her that God is a Spiritual Being Who delights in spiritual worship.   God’s spiritual nature is emphasized throughout the Bible, from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation.   In the opening verses of the Bible, we are introduced to the spiritual nature of the God of Heaven. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1–3).   We know from Colossians that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, was active in Creation. According to Colossians 1:16, “in him [Jesus] were all things created.” But just as the Son of God is eternal, so also the Spirit of God is eternal—and He was active in the creation of the world. The writer of Hebrews called the Holy Spirit “the eternal Spirit” (9:14).   Alongside the Father and the Son, the Spirit of God was active in Creation. The Hebrew word translated as “spirit” is רוּחַ (ruach). This same Hebrew word is also used to describe breath and wind. Just as the wind blows across the waters and generates wave motion and energy, so the Spirit of God “moves” upon our hearts to make the clay vessel of mankind vibrate with life!   This word for “spirit” is also the same word used to describe the moment when God “breathed” into the nostrils of Adam the breath of life, and man became a living soul. God is a Spiritual Being, and God has created man to respond to His divine Spirit. Unlike the rest of Creation, man has the capacity to worship his Creator “in spirit and in truth.”   God’s essential spiritual nature is the basis for the second commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image” (Exodus 20:4). Because God is a Spiritual Being, He cannot be depicted in any bodily form or physical representation. This fact set the God of the Bible apart from the false gods of antiquity. Dagon, the god of the Philistines, was fashioned in the likeness of a fish. The gods of Egypt took the form of the ibis, the frog, the eagle, the calf, and other beasts, birds, and insects. The Egyptians even worshipped the dung beetle!   In stark contrast to ungodly darkness and humanistic paganism, the God of the Bible is spiritual, and He delights in spiritual worship.

It is impossible to fashion any image of God. If our more capacious souls cannot grasp his nature, our weaker sense cannot frame his image; it is more possible, of the two, to comprehend him in our minds, than to frame him in an image to our sense. He inhabits inaccessible light; as it is impossible for the eye of man to see him, it is impossible for the art of man to paint him upon walls, and carve him out of wood. None knows him but himself, none can describe him but himself.

If God were not spiritual, He could not be invisible; He could not be infinite; He could not be independent; He could not be immutable (unchangeable); and He could certainly not be omnipresent (everywhere at once)!   God’s nature as a Spiritual Being defines our worship as spiritual and gives us a hope beyond the death of the physical body to the hope of a glorious resurrection. God’s spiritual nature also makes the miracle of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ all the more significant. He Who is spiritual took on our bodily substance.   According to Hebrews 2:17, we learn this truth about our Lord Jesus, “Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” The eternal, spiritual Son of God took upon Himself our temporal, physical bodies. As a result of His Incarnation, we too will one day “put on incorruption” (I Corinthians 15:53–54) and share in His glories of His eternal and spiritual life. There are many mysteries here on earth and in Heaven that will one day be fully and gloriously revealed when we see Him face to face.   Until that day, we should be ever thankful that God is a Spirit, and we should be very careful to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Each of us should carefully examine our attitude toward God, worship, church, and toward religion in general. Are we truly worshipping a spiritual God in spirit and in truth? The call to the woman at the well then is still the same to us today: “The Father seeketh such to worship him.”

 

 

To Learn More Principles For Life Go To: Resources: Principles of Life

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• Your prayers and support are asked for the House of Prayer in Topeka Kansas.
• Your prayers and support are asked for in a practical way for our domestic missionary work: for traveling expenses to offer mass in other states as Society of Saints Paul And Silas (SSPS) missionary priest travel. Can you help?
• Your prayers and support are asked to help a priest acquire a reliable vehicle to serve a rural mission.
• Be sure to keep St. Helen Catholic Mission in your prayers. Why not go on over to the site now and see what they have to offer and how you might be able to help!
• We are all praying especially for you, too. May you correspond with every grace of God!
• In what other needs or intentions may we pray for you? Let us know at vaticaninexile@gmail.com
• Let us remember that the Church runs on prayer. Without your prayers, God will not work in hearts and souls to bring them to a knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:4)

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