Volume IX/Issue 5/September 2024

Catholic college students in Michigan should avoid Jesuit priest mixing yoga and Ignatian spirituality

(LifeSiteNews) — Young people headed back to college in the southeastern part of Michigan may be in danger of opening themselves up to demonic possession if they visit St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor.

Jesuit priest Bobby Karle serves as the associate pastor at St. Mary’s, which is located two blocks west from central campus at the University of Michigan. It is also an eight-mile drive from Eastern Michigan University in neighboring Ypsilanti.

Students who attend Karle’s classes engage in what his website calls an “asana” or physical posture as well as a “yoga nerdi” or breathing practice, while also spending time in prayer and meditation.

“We strive to proceed with deep respect, sensitivity, humility, and appreciation in engaging the Christian and yoga traditions,” his website reads.

Karle, a native of Michigan who was ordained in 2021, first started practicing yoga “out of curiosity” in 2009 after school at the Jesuit-run University of Detroit Prep in Detroit. In 2010, he entered the order to become a priest.

In a 2015 article for the left-wing website The Jesuit Post, Karle explained how engaging in the non-Catholic practice affects his daily life.

“I practice yoga (on the mat), most simply, because it makes me feel good. I feel calmer, healthier, happier, and most of all, it draws me closer to God. I also practice yoga (off the mat) in my everyday life by living out the teachings of the Yoga tradition,” he said.

Karle’s article included a video of him leading students in a yoga session inside a Catholic chapel, seemingly at Fordham University in New York where he pursued graduate studies.

Karle has since obtained Master of Philosophy and Master of Divinity degrees and has become a RYT 500 level yoga instructor. He has also completed “Isha Yoga” programs such as Inner Engineering, Surya Kriya, Bhava Spandana, Shoonya, and Bhuta Shuddhi, all of which are deeply rooted in Yogi “spirituality.”

While seemingly good-intentioned, Karle’s efforts are sorely misguided and dangerous, as many spiritual experts within the Catholic Church have warned about the demonic influence found in yoga.

During a 2022 interview with author and podcaster Taylor Marshall, Fr. Chad Ripperger warned that yoga is a “portal” for the devil.

“The yoga masters, the people that are at the top of the heap, every single one of them will say that the positions and stretching that is done in yoga, each one of them is a representation of a specific Eastern deity, which is a.k.a. a demon. Because all the gods of the Gentiles are demons,” he said, referencing Psalm 95:5.

“People can become diabolically influenced,” he added. “I do know two women who became possessed from practicing yoga. I know people who were possessed, and then by practicing yoga, they ended up with more demons. And so I just tell people you want to completely stay away from it altogether.”

Catholic college allows female Anglican ‘priests’ to celebrate ‘Eucharist’ inside basilica

(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic college in Pennsylvania allowed a group of Anglicans, including women “priests,” to celebrate an “Anglican Eucharist” inside a historic basilica.

Back in June, St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, permitted the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to hold on campus its 2024 Provincial Assembly, which included “Eucharistic” services inside St. Vincent Basilica.

Hundreds of Anglican clergy and laity from across the globe, including female “priests” and “deacons,” gathered at the school that is home to the oldest Benedictine monastery in the United States. The event was held from June 25-28 and included liturgy, prayer, talks, and the election of their new “archbishop,” according to the assembly’s schedule of events.

Throughout the assembly, “Anglican Eucharists” were celebrated inside the student chapel, campus gymnasium, and, most glaringly, in St. Vincent Basilica. Impressively clear photos from the June 26 “Eucharist” held in the basilica – which can be viewed by clicking here – show female Anglican “priests” processing into the church, carrying the Gospel, and celebrating the liturgy with their male counterparts.

The Catholic Church teaches that Anglicans and other “ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation” do not have valid holy orders because of broken apostolic succession, and therefore they do not confect a valid Eucharist.

While the ACNA extensively advertised the assembly, St. Vincent College and the Diocese of Greensburg did not mention it on their websites. A spokesman for the Diocese of Greensburg told LifeSiteNews that Bishop Larry Kulick had nothing to do with the event. LifeSiteNews also reached out to St. Vincent College for comment by phone and email, but they have not responded as of publication.

‘They are sending us missionaries of evil’: Clerics lament Western homosexual push in Africa

(LifeSiteNews) — African Catholic archbishops are sounding the alarm over Western efforts to indoctrinate Africans into homosexual lifestyles in what one prelate describes as a new kind of proselytism – one of “evil.”

Leading clerics from all across sub-Saharan Africa decried in exclusive interviews with the National Catholic Register the subversive attempts by Western NGOs, aid workers, and even tourists to promote LGBT ideology and lure Africans into homosexual activity for money. 

“It’s just like the missionaries who went all over to evangelize,” said Archbishop Renatus Leonard Nkwande of Mwanza, Tanzania. Except now, he lamented, the West is “sending us missionaries of evil.”

The efforts are pervasive enough that archbishops from Kenya to Cameroon and Ghana to Tanzania are all testifying to similar problems, which reportedly include LGBTQ classroom indoctrination and gay sex parties.

Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Cape Coast, Ghana described to the Register how tourists will entice boys with money to pull them into homosexual activity.

“They’ve come to enjoy themselves, and they are messing with our little boys on the beach, sexually abusing them for a little money,” the archbishop said. “They themselves are already warped. And they are warping these (young people). It’s like, sorry to say, the devil trying to get more disciples.”

Archbishop Palmer-Buckle alluded to a growing phenomenon in Africa in which boys are paid money, which is little by American standards but astronomical by African standards, to be in homosexual pornography films. These boys are then sent to recruit others, for which they are paid even more.

St. Teresa of Avila found to be still incorrupt after more than 400 years

ALBA DE TORMES, Spain (LifeSiteNews) — The more than 400-year-old body of St. Teresa of Avila has been discovered to still be incorrupt after being exhumed for the first time since 1914.   

On August 28, researchers opened St. Teresa of Avila’s coffin for the first time in 110 years, to find that her body remains incorrupt, according to Marco Chiesa, the general postulator of the Order of Discalced Carmelites.  

“Today the tomb of Saint Teresa was opened, and we have verified that it is in the same condition as when it was last opened in 1914,” Chiesa stated.   

“The uncovered parts, which are the face and foot, are the same as they were in 1914,” he continued. “There is no color, no skin color, because the skin is mummified, but you can see it, especially in the middle of the face. It looks good. The medical experts, they can almost see Teresa’s face clearly.” 

The purpose of exhuming her body was to confirm that it had remained incorrupt since 1914, when her tomb was last opened. The Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church was first discovered to be incorrupt in 1585, after her death in 1582.  

Since then, her body has remained at the Basilica of the Annunciation in Alba de Tormes in northwestern Spain, except for certain relics that have been sent to other churches for veneration.   

Gate Keepers

( Sermon given on the 14^th Sunday of Pentecost 2024)

In todays introit we read from Psalms 84:10:

“For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Before digging into this introit verse, I would like to explain, for those who do not know, what exactly an introit is.

The introit is a song or chant that is sung or played at the beginning of the Mass. It is also known as the entrance hymn or gathering song. The word "introit" comes from the Latin word introitus, which means "entrance". It is part of the liturgy's proper, which is the part that changes throughout the liturgical year. A specific introit text is provided for every Sunday and holy day.

As has already been said, our introit comes from Psalms 84:10.  Lets read it again: “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

The main thrust of Psalms 84 is that there is nothing better than being in the presence of God. The picture being given is about being in the temple where the glory of God dwells.

But in Psalms 84 verse 10, the Psalmist gets more specific. He focuses on an particular area of the temple. He says, “I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God.”

What is a doorkeeper?

The gatekeepers were Levites stationed at the gates of God's house. It was their task to open the temple gates in the morning and to close them again at night. They stood ready to receive the tithes and gifts that the Israelites brought. They stood watch over the storerooms and treasuries to make sure that nothing was stolen. They stood on guard to make sure that no unclean person would enter God's house. They stood – for hours on end, day and night. Not a glamorous job, but as psalmist tells us, there's no place he'd rather be.

If the goal of Old Testament studies, and of our lives as Christians, is to know God better, to be close to him, what better place to go than to the threshold of the temple where the doorkeeper stood on guard, at the very entrance into God's presence? So let's consider the office of God's doorkeepers. We'll trace their history through the Old Testament, and we'll outline their significance for us as Christians in the New Testament age.

Origins

Gatekeepers were not unique to Israel. Other nations too had temples for their gods, complete with temple personnel. It stands to reason that they also had temple guards to restrict access and to protect treasures. But there is no evidence in Scripture, however, that Israel's gatekeeping institution derived from the surrounding cultures. Rather it is rooted in the redemptive history of God's people.

Standing guard at the entrance to God's house, the doorkeeper was a reminder that communion with God is a privilege not to be taken lightly in a sinful world. The Garden of Eden did not need gatekeepers, until Adam and Eve became unrighteous and unholy; then God " drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." (Genesis 3:24). Yet in his grace God continued to call people into fellowship with him. Any such fellowship, however, had to respect his holiness. Moses could come only so close to the burning bush, because he was standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5). Though God spoke face to face with Moses as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:7; Deuteronomy 34:10), even Moses could not see God's face and live (Exodus 33:20). At Sinai God told Moses to put limits around the mountain. Whoever would even touch it would be put to death (Exodus 19:12).

For God to dwell with his people in a tabernacle was a miracle of grace, only possible with a myriad of regulations that included a covenant framework, ongoing sacrifices to atone for sins, detailed instructions for building the tabernacle, an orderly arrangement of the tribes around it, and a detailed division of duties within it, all spelled out by God himself. After the glory of the Lord had entered the tabernacle at the end of Exodus, we read in Numbers 3 that the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to help the priests. One of their duties was to keep watch over the temple furnishings. The books of Moses do not mention gatekeepers per se. But in 1 Chronicles 9, we read that Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, was in charge of the gatekeepers, so there must have been gatekeepers at that time already. Verse 19 says that they guarded the entrance to the dwelling of the Lord. In the Hebrew it says that they were "over the camp of the Lord, guarding the entrance."

In that context we can understand the actions of Phinehas in Numbers 25. In Numbers 25, we are told that the Israelites sinned at Beth Peor and an Israelite man took a Midianite woman into the camp. The people stood weeping at the entrance, but Phinehas took a spear, went into the tent, and thrust it into the two of them, and so he turned away God's wrath.

Some explainers suggest that the tent where Phinehas stabbed them to death was actually the tabernacle, that this was an act of cultic prostitution committed in the house of the Lord.⁴But the word that's used for tent there is unique, not otherwise used of the Tent of Meeting. It is enough to know that Phinehas, as priest in charge of the gatekeepers, protected the holiness of the camp of the Lord. As Numbers 25:13 puts it, "He was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the people of Israel." So his work as chief gatekeeper had atoning value.

Samuel and David

After God's people conquered the Promised Land, the Levites settled in their towns. Then came a period of apostasy. We know very little about the gatekeepers during that time, but again 1 Chronicles 9 gives a clue. It says in verse 22 that Samuel the Prophet assigned gatekeepers to their position of trust. Samuel himself had done the work of a gatekeeper as a little boy. In 1 Samuel 3 we read that he opened the doors of the house of the Lord in the morning (v.15; cf. 1 Chronicles 9:27). Samuel grew up in the days of Eli. He would have known how the temple doors became a place of sin: Hophni and Phinehas slept with the women who were serving there (1 Samuel 2:22). Samuel would have seen how those wicked priests were responsible for losing the ark. It's understandable then that Samuel later appointed gatekeepers to protect the holiness of the tabernacle.

The ark never came back to the tabernacle again. David brought it from the house of Obed-Edom to Jerusalem. He put it in a new tent which he had pitched for it. In 1 Chronicles 15 we read that he appointed two gatekeepers for the ark, Berekiah and Elkanah (v. 23). But that was a temporary measure. David wanted to build a house for God's name. He spent much of his reign not only gathering building materials but also organizing the Levites so that they would be ready to serve once the temple was built. Four thousand Levites were to become gatekeepers, and another four thousand were to praise the Lord with musical instruments (1 Chronicles 23:5). This was temple service on a grand scale!

Sons of Korah

There was especially one family that David appointed to become gatekeepers as well as musicians, namely the sons of Korah. That brings us full circle to Psalm 84. The title of this Psalm tells us that it was a Psalm of the sons of Korah. It was they who sang, "I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God." Now the Hebrew there does not have a noun, "doorkeeper," but a verb. It says, "I'd rather be stationed at the threshold in the house of my God."  Psalm 84, then, is sung by sons of Korah, stationed at the doors of the temple, and there's no place they'd rather be.

There's an irony in this Psalm. Who are the sons of Korah? Who are they in the Bible? They're descendants of that Korah, the one who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in Numbers 16. Korah argued that the priests should not be the only ones allowed to offer incense. The whole congregation is holy, he said, so anyone should be able to offer incense before the Lord, anyone should be able to be a priest. You know what happened. The earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 26:10), and fire from the Lord destroyed the 250 men who followed them. But Korah's children survived (Numbers 26:11), and here is the irony: Korah wanted to open up the tabernacle service so that anyone could enter and offer incense, but God appoints Korah's sons to be gatekeepers, to guard the entrance to make sure that not just anyone could enter. They have to make it their life's work to prevent the sin of their father from happening again. Korah says, anyone can enter, but the sons of Korah learn to sing, "I'd rather be a doorkeeper than dwell in the tents of the wicked."

I'm not sure why David chose this family to become gatekeepers, but here is an interesting detail: Samuel was also a descendant of Korah – we know that from his genealogy in 1 Chronicles 6 – so it may well have been Samuel who singled out this family for the task (1 Chronicles 9:22). Another descendant of Korah was Obed­-Edom, the man who had the ark in his house before David took it to Jerusalem. The Lord had blessed the house of Obed-Edom richly for the three months that the ark was there. In contrast to Uzzah, who had touched the ark, Obed-Edom had shown himself to be a trustworthy man. Perhaps that was another reason for choosing this family of Levites for the task.

The King's Gate

When Solomon finished building the temple, he assigned the gatekeepers to their posts (2 Chronicles 8:14). They were stationed on all four sides, east, west, north, and south. Lots were cast to decide who went where, so this too was the Lord's decision (1 Chronicles 26:13; Proverbs 16:33). The most important gate was the east gate; that was the king's gate. The gatekeepers worked in shifts of seven days each (1 Chronicles 9:25); both they and the musicians worked day and night. As we sing with Psalm 134,

Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.

Did they do their work faithfully? Sometimes they did, especially when the kings were also faithful to the Lord. During the reign of Joash, the high priest Jehoiada "And he set the porters (gatekeepers) at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.” (2 Chronicles 23:19). During the reign of Hezekiah, too, the gatekeepers were busy. The people faithfully brought their tithes and first fruits to the storerooms of the temple, and 2 Chronicles 31 tells us that the keeper of the East Gate, together with six helpers, went out to the towns of the priests to distribute the gifts to them (2 Chronicles 31:11-15). In the time of Josiah, the gatekeepers collected money from the people to repair the temple (2 Chronicles 34:9). Those were good times.

Often, however, the kings were unfaithful, and then things went wrong at the king's gate. Uzziah became proud and entered the temple to offer incense there. Eighty-one priests confronted him, but he raged against them and stopped only after the Lord struck him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-20). Ahaz packed away the temple furnishings and replaced the altar of the Lord with a Syrian altar. He took away the royal entrance to the temple out of deference to the king of Assyria, and finally he shut the doors of the temple all together (2 Kings 16; 2 Chronicles 28). Manasseh filled the temple with foreign idols. Mere gatekeepers were powerless against these royal shenanigans.

In Ezekiel 8 we read that the prophet was transported in a vision to the temple in Jerusalem, and what did he see? At the entrance to the north gate there stood an idol that provokes to jealousy; unclean animals and idols were pictured on the walls, and seventy elders were burning incense to them. At the same gate women were worshiping the Babylonian fertility god Tammuz. At the entrance to the inner court Ezekiel saw about twenty-five men who had turned their backs toward the temple and were bowing toward the sun in the east. No wonder, that two chapters later Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord leaving the temple, through the east gate, the king's gate. When the city was finally destroyed we read in Jeremiah 52:24 that the Babylonian commander captured the high priest, the second priest, and also the three doorkeepers.

The Exile and Beyond

Fourteen years later, Ezekiel saw visions of a new temple (Ezekiel 40:1). He had to describe it in full detail to the exiles so that they might be ashamed of what they had done (Ezekiel 43:11). Especially the Levites were put in their place: they were still allowed to serve at the gates, but because they had burned incense in the midst of idols, they would not be allowed to do priest's work ever again (Ezekiel 44:10-13). Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord come back through the east gate (Ezekiel 43:5), but then the gate was shut.

The Lord said unto him, “This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the Lord; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.” Ezekiel 44:2-3

The doorkeeper families did not die out in exile. 1 Chronicles 9 tells us that among the first to return were 212 gatekeepers (v. 22). Ezra gives a smaller number, 139 (2:42), Nehemiah says 138 (7:45), and according to Josephus only 110 doorkeepers returned with Zerubbabel. ⁸Whatever the exact number, it was a far cry from the 4000 that David had appointed. More gatekeepers came back with the second return under Ezra (Ezra 7:7), how many exactly, we do not know. We do know that they were restored to service. In Nehemiah 10 we read that the people promised to bring their firstfruits and their tithes into the temple storerooms where the gatekeepers and the singers were staying (v. 39). But there was trouble too. The book of Ezra ends with a list of men found guilty of marrying foreign women. Three of them were gatekeepers (Ezra 10:24). Before Nehemiah went back to the king of Persia, all the Israelites gave daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers (Nehemiah 12:47), but while he was gone, the priest Eliashib emptied out one of the storerooms of the temple and gave it to Nehemiah's nemesis Tobiah. The people stopped giving, and the Levites went home to their fields (Nehemiah 13:4-10). When he returned, Nehemiah was very upset; he threw Tobiah's goods out of the temple and called the Levites back to their posts.

Fulfilled in Christ

So ends the Old Testament history of the gatekeepers. Psalm 24 describes their task well:

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

 It was the task of the gatekeeper to ensure that only such people entered the temple, and all too often they failed. Yet their task was not without hope. They were waiting for the true king of Israel to come to the temple. Psalm 24 speaks of that too: " Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." This psalm was fulfilled in the New Testament when the Lord Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, sitting on a donkey while the crowds spread clothes and palm branches on the road (Matthew 21). When he had entered the city, Jesus went to the temple, and he drove out the merchants and the moneychangers. Filled with zeal for the Lord, he fulfilled the office of the gatekeeper by cleansing the temple.

It was not for lack of gatekeepers that Christ did so. Several times in the gospels we read of a temple guard, so they were there! But how were they used? In John 7, the Pharisees sent them to arrest Jesus while he preached in the temple courts, but they came back empty-handed, saying, " Never man spake like this man." (John 7:46). In Luke 22 Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and to the officers of the temple guard to discuss how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. The officers of the temple guard were among the crowd that arrested our Saviour in Gethsemane (Luke 22:4, 5, 52). Temple guards sat with Peter at the fire while Jesus was on trial (John 18:18), accused of endangering the temple – he, the one man who withstood the wicked's lure, whose hands were clean, whose heart was pure.

The King of Glory who had come to his temple had to suffer outside the gate, excluded from the camp of the Lord (Hebrews 13:12, 13). But in doing so he showed himself to be a better priest than Phinehas. Phinehas, the first chief of the gatekeepers, made atonement by killing the Israelite man and his Midianite partner, but that was not enough. The Lord Jesus saved his people by offering his own life and bearing the wrath of God in their place. And it is here that we begin to see the significance of the gatekeeper for our lives as Christians today. Let me offer up one area of significance.

Significance

In the New Testament age, believers are called temples of the Holy Spirit, and as such they need to be gatekeepers of their hearts and lives, fighting against the sins that threaten them, keeping unholy influences away, and giving the Spirit room to do his work, and from that perspective the whole congregation can sing Psalm 84: I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. In the Old Testament the gatekeepers and the singers worked together, day and night. Gatekeeping and singing still go together for Christians who live by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, 19; Colossians 3:16).

Which Gospel Was Written First?

At first glance, the question of which Gospel was written first might seem unimportant. It matters because it is intertwined with the issue of who wrote the Gospels and which Gospels are canonical. In the second century, there were more spurious Gospels afloat than authentic ones. It is the early Christians who decided that only four Gospels were genuine. They also recorded who wrote those Gospels and in what order. None of the Gospel writers identify themselves in the text of their Gospels. It was the early Christians who placed their names as the titles to their works. Those same early Christians uniformly testify that Matthew was the first Gospel written. However, in the nineteenth century, liberal theologians came up with the proposition that Mark wrote his Gospel first and that the person we know as “Matthew” copied Mark. This was intended as an express challenge to the reliability of the early Christian witness. Those theologians were not only questioning the order of the Gospels, but who the real authors were.

So let us briefly examine the historical record. Irenaeus (c. 170) writes,

“Matthew issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also handed down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, published a Gospel himself during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.”

Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian do not give the entire order of all four Gospels, but they both verify that Matthew was written before Mark. Tertullian also testifies that Mark obtained his information from Peter. A few decades after Tertullian, Origen wrote, 

“Concerning the four Gospels that alone are uncontroverted in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned through Tradition that the Gospel according to Matthew was written first. Matthew was at one time a tax collector and afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ. He composed it in the Hebrew language and published it for the converts from Judaism. The second Gospel written was that according to Mark, who wrote it in accordance with the instruction of Peter, who, in his General Epistle, acknowledged him as a son, saying, ‘The church that is in Babylon, elect together with you, salutes you; and so does Mark my son’ [1Pet. 5:13]. And third, was that according to Luke, the Gospel commended by Paul, which he composed for the converts from the Gentiles. Last of all was the one according to John.”

When Origen speaks of “tradition,” he does not mean hearsay or conjecture. Rather, he means this was the established teaching of the churches of Christ. A century later, the church historian Eusebius wrote,

 “Of all of the disciples of the Lord, only Matthew and John have left us written memorials. Tradition says they were led to write only under the pressure of necessity. Matthew, who originally had preached to the Hebrews, when he was about to go to other peoples, committed his Gospel to writing in his native language, and thus compensated those whom he was obliged to leave for the loss of his presence. And when Mark and Luke had already published their Gospels, they say that John, who had employed all his time in proclaiming the Gospel orally, finally proceeded to write his.” 

Added to the weight of this testimony is the witness of the ancient New Testament manuscripts. Whether they reflect the Alexandrian textual tradition or the Majority Text, all ancient New Testament manuscripts place the Gospels in the order of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This uniformity is especially significant because the order of the epistles sometimes varies between ancient manuscripts.

The Origin of the Marcan Hypothesis

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, virtually no one questioned the established order of the Gospels. The historical testimony was too strong. However, in the German Lutheran seminaries, liberal theologians scoffed at the notion that the four Gospels were written by the persons to whom the early Christians attributed them. They also openly questioned the historicity of the Gospels. So it is no wonder that these same theologians began to question the order in which the Gospels were written.

In 1838, a German theologian named Christian Gottlob Wilke argued that Mark was the first Gospel written. He said that Matthew and Luke used Mark for their source material. His argument is known today as the Marcan Hypothesis. In itself, it does not matter in which order the four Gospels were written. However, if the writer of the Gospel of Matthew used Mark as the source of his material, it would indicate that it was not really written by the apostle Matthew. After all, Matthew was an eyewitness to the events described, and Mark was not. An eyewitness would not turn to somebody who was not an eyewitness for his source of information. So the Marcan Hypothesis casts doubt on the authorship and reliability of the Gospels. Therefore, it is not surprising that liberal theologians quickly adopted Wilke’s hypothesis. It was not because his arguments were particularly sound or logical. It was because his hypothesis helped to undermine the reliability of Scripture. In fact, a major weakness in Wilke’s hypothesis is obvious to anyone who compares Matthew and Mark. About half of the material in Matthew is not even found in Mark. So how could Mark have been the source of Matthew’s material? Because of this obvious weakness, later theologians invented the existence of an unknown written source that Matthew supposedly used in addition to Mark. This unknown source (or sources) is known today as Q. This designation came from the German word quelle, which means “source.” Before 1900, German theologians were the primary ones promoting the Marcan Hypothesis. However, in the early 1900s, the British theologian, B. H. Streeter introduced this hypothesis to the English-speaking world. 

The “Proofs” of the Marcan Hypothesis

1. H. Streeter set forth five basic arguments that supposedly prove the priority of Mark. It is worth examining his arguments, for the same “proofs” are commonly presented today. The arguments below are quoted directly from Streeter. 

Streeter’s Proof No. 1: “Matthew reproduces 90% of the subject matter of Mark in nearly identical language with that of Mark; Luke does the same for rather more than half of Mark.”

Here Streeter commits the common fallacy known as begging the question. That is, his “evidence” is merely a restatement of his hypothesis. His hypothesis is that Matthew reproduced his material from Mark. But Streeter’s first argument in no way proves this. Stated objectively, the facts are that 90% of the subject matter of Mark can be found in Matthew. This might suggest that Matthew copied his material from Mark. But it could equally suggest that Mark copied his material from Matthew. For example, let’s suppose that two students both write essays on the life of a famous person. Their teacher finds that 90% of the material in student A’s essay is also included in student B’s essay. This might suggest that student B copied his material from student A. Yet, it would equally suggest that student A might have copied his material from student B. And, of course, there could be other explanations for the situation. In the case of Matthew and Mark, there is further evidence that must be taken into account. Nearly half of the subject matter of Matthew is not found in Mark. So if there were any copying, it would appear to be virtually certain that it was Mark who copied Matthew and not the other way around. Nevertheless, there are still further facts to weigh. It may be that 90% of the subject matter of Mark can be found in Matthew. However, when describing each event in Jesus’ life, Mark provides additional details not found in Matthew. So even if Mark used Matthew as one of his sources, he evidently had an additional source for his information. In the end, the facts perfectly fit the historical testimony of the early Christians. Matthew wrote his Gospel first. He was an eyewitness to most of the events about which he wrote. He needed no other human source. Mark was not an eyewitness, so he had to depend upon others. He may have had access to Matthew’s gospel when he wrote. However, he obviously had another eyewitness source, whom the early Christians identify as Peter.

Streeter’s Proof No. 2: “In any average section which occurs in all three Gospels, the majority of the actual words used by Mark are reproduced by Matthew and Luke, either alternately or both together.”

Streeter’s second argument is almost identical to his first, except that he talks about “words” instead of “subject matter.” And once again he commits the fallacy of begging the question. He asserts that Matthew and Luke “reproduce” the words of Mark, but he offers no evidence that they have done so. His evidence is merely that the three synoptic evangelists use most of the same words when they describe the same events.

That might suggest there was borrowing among them, but it in no way indicates who borrowed from whom. It certainly does not disprove that Matthew wrote his Gospel first. Furthermore, the usage of the same words by the three evangelists is not as unusual as it may seem at first glance. That is because the entire New Testament uses less than 5450 different Greek words. So when the Gospel writers narrate the same events, we would expect them to largely use the same words. 

Streeter’s Proof No. 3: “In general, the relative order of incidents and sections in Mark is supported by both Matthew and Luke. Where either of them deserts Mark, the other is usually found supporting him. This conjunction and alternation of Matthew and Luke in their agreement with Mark as regards to (a) content, (b) wording, and (c) order is only explicable if they are incorporating a source identical, or all but identical, with Mark.”

Once again, Streeter “begs the question” by assuming his conclusion within his argument. If his underlying information is accurate, all he is stating is that “the relative order of incidents” in Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the same. This merely suggests that these three evangelists roughly followed a chronological order in their narrations of events. Streeter’s facts could just as easily be used to argue the priority of Matthew. Streeter also asserts that when Matthew and Luke do not agree on the order of events, one or the other usually agree with Mark. Another way to state the same phenomenon is that Mark’s order of events usually agrees with either Matthew or Luke. None of this contradicts the historical position. It suggests that Mark followed Matthew’s sequence most of the time. However, at times Mark chose to relate events in a different order, probably based on information from Peter. When Mark chose not to follow Matthew’s sequence, Luke usually followed Mark’s sequence rather than Matthew’s.

Streeter’s Proof No. 4: “The primitive character of Mark is further shown by (a) the use of phrases likely to cause offense, which are omitted or toned down in the other Gospels and the (b) roughness of style and grammar and the preservation of Aramaic words.”

Here, Streeter takes a different tack. However, this argument is as weak as his others because it is highly subjective. Streeter picks and chooses what he calls “phrases likely to cause offense.” For example, he compares Mark 3:10 and Matthew 12:15. Mark writes, “He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.” Matthew describes the same episode in these words: “He withdrew from there, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.” According to supporters of the Marcan Hypothesis, Matthew was copying Mark, but he tried to make Jesus look better by changing “he healed many” to “he healed them all.” However, to describe Mark’s account as one “likely to cause offense,” is highly imaginative. In fact, it is unlikely that any Christian has ever found it offensive. Both evangelists say the same thing, but use a different choice of words. This is actually a strong argument that neither copied from the other. In reality, Mark is being more precise than Matthew. Not everyone needed physical healing. So technically, Jesus healed “many,” not “all.” When Matthew says that Jesus healed “them all,” he obviously meant Jesus healed all who were sick. Jesus did not heal healthy people. Other supposed examples of Mark using “offensive language” are the following verses: “He looked upon them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts” (Mk. 3:5). “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him, for they said, ‘He is beside himself’” (Mk. 3:21). “But when Jesus saw it, he was very displeased [with his disciples]” (Mk. 10:14). None of those statements appear in Matthew or Luke. Supposedly, Matthew and Luke took them out of their Gospels in order not to cause offense. But that is pure conjecture. In fact, examples of “offensive passages” can be found in Matthew and Luke that are omitted in Mark. For example, Matthew alone includes the extended denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees found in Matthew 23. If the number and length of “offensive passages” indicate which Gospel was written first, a strong argument could be made for the priority of Matthew on that basis alone. Of course, in reality the matter of “offensive language” is a subjective, conjectural argument that proves nothing. 

The same can be said of Streeter’s argument that Mark uses more Aramaic words than Matthew. Somehow, this is supposed to make Mark’s Gospel more “primitive” and therefore earlier in time. However, the truth of the matter is that Mark uses eight Aramaic words, and Matthew uses five. Neither evangelist uses many Aramaic words, and the difference between the two is insignificant.

Streeter’s Proof No. 5: “The way in which Marcan and non-Marcan material is distributed in Matthew and Luke respectively looks as if each had before him the Marcan material in a single document, and he was faced with the problem of combining this with material from other sources.”

This is the weakest of Streeter’s shaky arguments, for it is nothing more than a restatement of his hypothesis in different words. Streeter began with the conclusion that Matthew and Luke used Mark and Q as the sources of their Gospels. So, to Streeter it looks as though Matthew and Luke each had Marcan material and Q material in front of them in compiling their Gospels. However, the same facts look quite different to someone who holds to the historical model.

In summary, all of Streeter’s arguments are either fallacious or highly subjective. His arguments can hardly overturn the consistent testimony of the early Christians that Matthew was the first Gospel written. The Marcan Hypothesis epitomizes Paul’s words about unbelievers: “Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom. 1:21-22).

Conservative Theologians and Commentators

Surprisingly, many conservative theologians and commentators have embraced the Marcan Hypothesis. The reason for this is obviously not the weight of the arguments put forth to support that hypothesis. Indeed, those arguments are flimsy. Rather, conservative scholars have adopted the Marcan Hypothesis because of the herd mentality among scholars. Although scholars like to think of themselves as independently minded, most of them uncritically follow whatever is currently in vogue in academic circles. They do not want to be labeled as unscholarly or “behind the times.” However, they are unwittingly falling into the trap of dismissing the historic testimony of the early church. If we cannot trust the early Christians’ testimony on the order of the Gospels, why should we trust their testimony as to who wrote the Gospels?

The Pope Speaks

The Election Law Of His Holiness Pope Michael II  

Advice You Can Bank On

A Catholic Perspective On Finances 

How Do I Help My Teenager Find a Job?

I cannot overemphasize the importance of encouraging and helping teens find a job in a healthy environment. Study after study shows that learning to work outside of the home earlier than later will benefit them for their entire life. 

Benefits Gained by Working as Teens

• Develop a variety of hard skills and soft skills 
• Learn how to earn and manage money wisely
• Exposure to possible career options
• Learn to focus, organize, and manage time
• Grow in self-esteem and confidence

The Downside of Working as Teens

• May interfere with family or social activities
• Can increase time pressure and the need for sleep
• Exposure to difficult situations

Types of Work

• Volunteer
• Seasonal
• Part-time
• Contract
• Internship or shadowing
• Entrepreneurship

Set Some Motivating Goals 

Certainly, for a teenager, getting good grades in school should not be compromised as a result of taking on an outside job. Explain the joy of earning money to save toward a car, college, or costly hobby. It can be a way for them to purchase clothes and gifts, build their own business, or cover gas and car insurance.

What to Look for in a Job

• The location: is it close to school or home
• Is management trustworthy? 
• Are the other employees a good influence?  
• Does it fit into the school/homework/extra-curricular schedule? 
• What is the work environment: indoors, outside, quiet, loud, busy, slow, etc.?
• Will it help narrow career interests or impact long-term goals? 
• What skills do you want to develop?
• What is the pay? Can you earn tips or raises?
• What is the dress code? Do you have to purchase a uniform?

Suggest that they seek advice from those they respect. Teachers, coaches, neighbors, family friends, and your church community can be reliable resources and provide references. They may also know of job openings. 

Even though a teen may have never held an official job, he/she can create a resume that highlights any prior work and volunteer experience, mission trips, awards, accomplishments, special skills, or interests. A cover letter expands details of the resume and explains why they are interested in working for “XYZ” company. Make it interesting and sincere so they will be remembered. Do not do for them what they can do for themselves. For example, show them a sample resume, but let them write their own by themselves. Then you or a trusted individual can offer tips to improve it. You may also want to help them set appointments or network among your friends to find opportunities. 

Prepare for an Interview

Interviewing is a skill that improves with practice. 

When teens get contacted for an interview, prepare them with a variety of questions. Why are you interested in this particular job? Why do you think you would be a good fit? What do you know about our company? What are your career aspirations? If interviewed, tell them the importance of sending an appreciation message. If they do not hear back after the application is submitted, send a follow-up message expressing interest. 

Encourage Entrepreneurship

If no jobs become available, consider helping them start their own business. While this can be a very challenging way to get experience, if they have the drive and determination, they will make far more money than by being an employee. Jobs like window washing, mowing yards, cleaning up debris and junk, detailing cars, or painting house numbers on curbs can be low-cost and lucrative. 

Learning to Work and Manage Money

Apart from the financial benefits, learning to work with diligence and doing tasks to the best of your ability and in a timely manner is priceless. Diligence encompasses honesty, purpose, energy, excellence, and enthusiasm. All work should be as unto the Lord so that He can be seen through us. Aim to be a positive witness for the Kingdom of God. 

 “Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance. Serve ye the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23–24

Emphasize good stewardship habits with the money they earn. Teach your teenager to give, save, and invest. The habit of tracking spending, creating a budget, and making short and long-term goals will prepare them for life regardless of the job they take or the education they pursue. 

 Family Matters

Gratification or Satisfaction

“And God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them.” (Ge 1:27)

One of the predominate drives that motivates the actions of mankind is the tension of male/female attraction. From youth, we begin to understand there is a longing deep within our core being that proposes to be fulfilled only through significant interchange with a mate, someone with whom we can have social and physical intimacy. For the woman it wears the face of romantic daydreams. For the man it’s presentation is in the form of fantasies and sexual appetite.

At first this consciousness comes in at the fringes of our thinking. As time progresses and incidents form a kaleidoscope of memories, this desire begins to strengthen. Tragically, for some it turns into a raging passion or intoxication. If permitted to develop, this raging passion dominates the thought processes and drives. Whether it wears a normal male/female desire or is some form of deviancy, the slightest prod can unleash a flood of passions. Once his passions are ignited, a person may feel helpless against his raging desires.

The Bible is our handbook for living. It contains straightforward directives concerning man’s responsibility for his life. The area of sexual passions is one of the areas it addresses.

One of the passages helping us understand this huge issue is found in found in 1 Corinthians 6. This text teaches an elementary truth. When this knowledge is coupled with Holy Spirit power it will unlock the richest blessings God designed in the area of intimacy. “Meat for the belly, and the belly for the meats; but God shall destroy both it and them: but the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” (vs 13)

Paul draws a parallel between the body’s appetite for food and the body’s appetite for sexual fulfillment. Then he makes a startling pronouncement about where true satisfaction is found for anyone with passions. Let us explore this more fully. Out of all the material world we live in and see, only a relatively small percentage is edible. While it is true we may eat grains, vegetables, fruits and meats, it is also true we cannot eat grass, sand, trees, rocks, concrete, steel, wood, etc. This fact is so obvious, and we learn it at such an early age, we basically spend no time on it. Meats for the belly and the belly for meats. Of course, food is designed to meet the digestive system’s needs. Cardboard just won’t do, regardless of how long it is pressure cooked. Termites have been designed with a different digestive system, and wood works fine. Cows are created to live on grass and corn. God made them to be satisfied with something different than we are.

It is a marvel how God made food to be so appealing. We enjoy its beauty. We delight in the aromas. We savor the flavors. And finally, we feel the contentment of a belly well fed, and we push back from the table. We have been satisfied.

In this same context and with this fact having been established, Paul informs us “the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”  He is saying that just as cardboard will not satisfy the appetite for food, neither will sexual promiscuity satisfy the body in its desire for fulfillment.

This is a very strong and important lesson, because since our nature has been corrupted by Adam’s sin, it doesn’t seem to be true. It must be accepted and acted upon by faith. It seems like gazing on pornography, indulging in self-abuse, being involved in sensual courtship or flirting with those one is not married to would bring some measure of satisfaction. It seems like gratifying the flesh would somehow quiet that restless, deep innate longing, but it never does.

One acquaintance frequently asserted, “Pursuing the lust of the flesh creates an ever-increasing desire and yields an ever diminishing pleasure.” What this is saying is that concupiscence may bring a physical release, but it unleashes raging floods of un-fulfillment and cravings that empty the soul of all genuine joy.

To the Thessalonians Paul maintains that we do not possess our vessels as the Gentiles do. They possess their vessels in the lust of concupiscence. In other words, they indulge, they gratify their imaginations, they stir up their lusts through movies, internet etc. This may satisfy their passions enough that they do not go out and commit violent conquests. But it doesn’t nourish the soul. It takes the edge off of the desire, but it keeps fueling the lustful fire. This develops into an addiction that the victim battles day after day, even minute after minute.

The Child of God is to find his deep yearning and primal instincts met in a totally different way. He finds fulfillment through finding and limiting himself to what is within the will of God. Through denying gratification, satisfaction begins to build; satisfaction that whispers value and assurance to the soul. Because of a pattern of self-control and overcoming base passions, the Christian knows and feels joined to Christ, linked to a higher power. "Now God hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up also by his power. Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Or know you not, that he who is joined to a harlot, is made one body? For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh."

But one may ask, “How does God answer the needs of human sexuality? How does denial to base desires bring ultimate fulfillment?”

One truth that is established is that the needs of the soul are more important than the needs of the body. The body is made of hormones and glands and there can be a pent-up pressure that comes in youth and good health. But this is not the most intense drive behind sexual passion. The intensity of drive comes from the restlessness of the spirit longing for deeper fulfillment. Anyone can testify that during times of depression, the temptation for self-gratification always rages stronger. Simple giving of thanks does wonders to set a person free of both depression and intense cravings. Brooding over one’s unfair lot in life and intense struggle flings open the door to more struggle.

The Bible teaches when a person is joined to a harlot, there is a very temporary oneness of body that gives a very fleeting fulfillment. But ultimately the whoremonger sins against his own body. He becomes subject to venereal diseases. But more than this is what he does to his spirit. The whoremonger bonds with someone who has already bonded to multitudes more. His intimacy is with one whose intimacy is made shallow by her choices, and he inherits her vanity. He and she both know they are only “things” to each other, cheapened by the fact they have been “things” to so many more. The whoremonger is a hollow shell of emptiness who cannot be trusted because he will only fill his vacuum with more sin. "know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

The child of God reaches his fulfillment in a different way. His fulfillment comes in knowing how much he is loved by God. Granted, he doesn’t always feel so desirable or so loved, but he knows it is so because the Bible says so. Along with this he realizes how much everything he is or has he owes back to God. His life, his health and even his sexuality doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to God. God has given it to him for a reason. He exists for the good pleasure of the Father’s will. Somehow, in some way he will give it all back to God. If he would squander it on his own gratification, he would be taking something that isn’t his.

There is a sanctifying humility that accompanies a person who senses his deep obligation to God in this manner. When we really appreciate our salvation, our relationship, our inheritance, and know we really don’t deserve any of it, we will not act as if God owes us more comfort. We will not feel like we can’t handle life unless we can reward ourselves with little gratifications of the flesh. Maybe it is easier to understand if we use the illustration of two different children. One child grows up without discipline. He feels the world owes him everything, and he is out to take it. We call him spoiled, because he is determined to get what he wants. He is ill behaved and unhappy. Another child the same age has had a parent or parents who have conditioned him to realize he cannot have everything he imagines. He is made responsible for his conduct. He has suffered for his indiscretions in the past. These two children can visit the grandmother’s living room and its dish of candy with totally different results. The one impulsively plunges into the bowl without asking. If it is there, and he wants it, he should have it. The other child sees the same dish and instinctively looks toward his mother. Seeing her eye and the slight shake of her head, he knows the dish is off limits, at least for now. He contents himself with some toys at his feet. He is the happier.

It is an unhappy “Christian” who somehow feels he deserves some of the world’s “candy”, but he is missing out. If he feels this way, he will find some way to gratify his impulses. If he does, he will sacrifice his long-term satisfaction and feel very disgusted with himself.

God has created man with an entirely controllable sex drive. He does not have to live with raging passions that threaten to break out of control. But the fix is at a deeper level. The cure is a change of attitude and a willingness to discipline thought patterns.

We cannot have it both. Gratification cancels out satisfaction. Satisfaction means no immediate gratification. You and I continually make the choice.

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).Tthe 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 the 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 wont 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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Preparation for Death 

by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri (Author), Brother Hermenegild TOSF (Editor)

 $7.95

 

SOME persons asked me to write a book on the Eternal Maxims, for the use of those who desire to establish themselves in virtue and to advance in a spiritual life. Others requested me to prepare a collection of matter for the sermons of the missions and of the spiritual exercises. Not to multiply books, labor, and expense, I resolved to compose the work in the present form, with the hope that it might answer both purposes. To render it useful as a book of meditations for seculars, I have divided the considerations into three points. Each point will serve for one meditation, and therefore I have annexed to each point affections and prayers. I entreat my readers not to grow weary, if, in those prayers, they always find petitions for the grace of perseverance and of divine love. For us, these are the two graces most necessary for the attainment of eternal salvation. The grace of divine love is, according to St. Francis de Sales, the grace which contains in itself all graces: because the virtue of charity toward God brings with it all other virtues. Now all good things come to me together with her (Wisd. VII, II) He who loves God is humble, chaste, obedient, and mortified; in a word, he possesses all virtues. " Love," says St. Augustine, " and do what you wish" (Ama, et fac quod vis). They who love God labor to avoid whatever is offensive to him, and seek to please him in all things. The grace of perseverance is that grace by which we obtain the eternal crown. St. Bernard says that Paradise is promised to those who begin a good life, but is only given to those who persevere. " To beginners a reward is promised, but to him who perseveres it is given;." (De modo bene vivere, s. 6) But this gift of perseverance is, as the Fathers teach, given only to those who ask it. Hence St. Thomas asserts that to enter heaven continual prayer is necessary. And our Redeemer said: We ought always to pray, and not to faint. (Luke XIII, 1) It is because they do not pray for the gift of perseverance that so many miserable sinners, after having obtained pardon, lose again the grace of God. Their sins are forgiven; but because they afterward neglect to ask of God the grace of perseverance, particularly in the time of temptations, they relapse into sin. And although the grace of final perseverance is altogether gratuitous, and cannot be merited by good works; still Suarez teaches that it can be infallibly obtained by prayer: and according to St. Augustine, it may be merited by humble supplication.(De Dono persev. C. 6) This necessity of prayer I have demonstrated at length in another little work, entitled The Great Means of Prayer. This book, though small, has cost me a great deal of labor. I consider it to be of extreme utility to all sorts of persons; and I unhesitatingly assert that, among all spiritual treatises, there is none, and there can be none, more necessary than that which treats on prayer as a means of obtaining eternal salvation. To render these considerations useful to preachers who have but few books or little time for reading, I have furnished these considerations with texts of Scripture and passages from the Fathers, which are short, but strong and animated, as they ought to be in sermons. The three points of each consideration will supply matter for one sermon. I have endeavored to collect from many authors the sentiments which appeared to me best suited to move the will, and have inserted several of them expressed briefly, that the reader may select and extend at pleasure those that please him most. May all tend to the glory of God! I pray my reader to recommend me to Jesus Christ, whether I am living or dead (Now that St. Alphonsus Liguori is a canonized Saint we ask for his intercession); and I promise to do the same for all those who perform this act of charity toward me. Live Jesus, our love, and Mary, our hope! This work is excerpted from a larger work of Saint Alphonsus with the same name.

 

 

Prayers of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde

by St. Gertrude (Author), St. Mechtilde (Author), Brother Hermenegild TOSF (Editor)

$14.95

 

This book is a translation, the only one from the Latin, of the Preces Gertrudianae, a manual of devotions compiled in the seventeenth century from the Suggestions of Divine Piety of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde, nllns of the Order of St. Benedict. Of this work Alban Butler says, in his life of St. Gertrude, that it is perhaps the most useful production, next to the writings of St. Teresa, with which any female saint ever enriched the Church." Care has been taken to preserve, not only the substance, but, as far as might be, the form, of the original prayers; and a few others, well known and much valued, have been added as an Appendix. Let us consider this advice: “When you are distracted in prayer, commend it to the Heart of Jesus, to be perfected by him, as our Lord Himself taught St. Gertrude. One day, when she was nluch distracted in prayer, he appeared to her, and held forth to her his Heart with his own sacred hands, saying: Behold, I set My Heart before the eyes of thy soul, that thou mayest commend to it all thine actions, confidently trusting that all that thou canst not of thyself supply to them will be therein supplied, so that they may appear perfect and spotless in my sight. Remember always to say the Gloria Patri with great devotion. The hermit Honorius relates that a certain monk who had been accustomed to say his office negligently appeared to another after his death and being asked what sufferings he had to undergo in punishment of his carelessness, he said that all had been satisfied for and effaced by the reverent devotion with which he had always said the Gloria Patri.”

 

 

The Scapular 

by Catholic Church (Author), Brother Hermenegild TOSF (Editor)

$5.95

 

This work is basically a history of the Scapular and the Carmelites from the time of the Prophet Elias. This is followed by the many benefits that the Scapular has received. This work commences The ancient and most famous Order of the most blessed Virgin was begun, and founded on this Mountain of Carmel, about nine hundred and thirty years before the coming of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, for which cause the professors of the Order are commonly called Carmelites; taking their denomination (as it hath happened to other Orders) from the place where their institute was first founded. The institutor of it was the great prophet Elias, who three times made fire come down from heaven to punish the Idolaters; who, by his prayers, hindered rain from the space of three years; who was carried away in a fiery chariot, and is to this day preserved alive, to come to preach before the Day of Judgment, the faith of Jesus Christ, against Anti-Christ, and his adherents. The holy prophet praying on Mount Carmel, (as it is related, 4 Kings, 18) saw a little cloud rise from the sea, which he knew from a prophetical notion, to signify the glorious Virgin Mary, who was to spring forth out of the infected and bitter sea of our corrupt nature, without any corruption, and like an auspicious cloud, being resolved from the force of the Holy Ghost's descent on her, she was to water this barren world with the heavenly dew of the expected Messias. Wherefore, by express command of Almighty God, he presently began to institute a religious congregation which was to be dedicated to the honour, service, and imitation of this sacred Virgin, as it is at large related by John the 44th Patriarch of Jerusalem, de ortu Monachorum, cap. 32. And for as much we affirm Elias to have been the author of Monastic Discipline; it is asserted by many holy Fathers, St. Athanasius in vita St. Antonii; St. Hierom Epist. Ad Paulinum; which is, De Institutione Monachi, Cassianus, lib. S. De Origin, &c. Instit. Monach. cap. 2. Isidorus Hispol, lib. 2. De Origine, cap. 15, and others

 

 

Memories of a Guardian Angel 

by Abbe G Chardon (Author), Brother Hermenegild TOSF (Editor)

16.95

 

THESE Memoirs are a gallery of paintings in which is brought into view the Catholic doctrine on the ministry of Guardian Angels. An Angel here tells what were his duties and his impressions from the moment in which a soul was intrusted to him, to that in which she took her place at his side in glory. We see at a glance, what this best of friends has done for us in the past, is doing for us now, and will do for us in the future. May the reading of these pages excite the gratitude of hearts that receive so many benefits, and lead them to correspond with these more faithfully! This is the end which the Author had in view.

 

 

 

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Creation Moments 

Reverse Engineering 

 

The human brain is like a network in which each brain cell is connected to thousands of other brain cells. Scientists have long suspected that this unique design helps give the human brain its intellectual power.

However, the brain is so complex that our most sophisticated mathematics are insufficient to cope with it. As a result, scientists are left with only trial and error as they try to study it in an effort to improve computers.

A new step forward was made recently when scientists designed an effective computer neural network chip. The silicon neural network crudely mimics the brain’s neural network. The manmade networks are designed to learn, all by themselves. Scientists wired a number of networks together and gave them a memory of the characteristics of three-dimensional images. They then exposed the neural network to images it had never seen before to see if it could compare the new images with its memory and tell whether the new images were three-dimensional. Scientists report that while it took the network a long time, it eventually learned to judge depth, even if it saw only part of an image.

Scientists admit that they are working from the brain’s design to learn how to make better computers. As one of the scientists working on the project said, they are doing “reverse engineering.” They are starting with the genius of our Creator, Who made the human brain, to learn how thinking and learning take place.

 

Babylon Rent-A-Wagon

Today, people regularly travel a thousand miles in modern airliners. A thousand miles is a long day’s drive, but it can be done. We would never think of walking or riding a horse that far It was out of this questionable sense of superiority that critics of the Bible rejected the accuracy of the Bible’s record of Abram’s travels. According to the Bible, when he lived in Ur, in Chaldea, God instructed him to travel where God would lead him. That trip took Abram from northern Mesopotamia to Haran. After the death of Abram’s father, God finally led him on to Canaan. The total length of Abram’s travels amounted to more than a thousand miles. Clearly, Abram could not have traveled that far so long ago, argued the critics.

Several years ago, a clay tablet was discovered in ancient Babylon that sheds some light on the critics’ challenge. The tablet was a wagon rental contract. The contract forbids the wagon renter from taking the wagon as far as the lands of the Mediterranean coast. One archaeologist observed that this meant that travel over such great distances was so common that Babylon’s rent-a-wagon outlet had to place mileage limitations in rental contracts.

Over the years, hundreds of challenges have been raised against the accuracy of the Bible. Yet, none of the Bible critics’ words have stood the test of truth. The Bible – God’s Word – has!

 

 

An Inside Job

The White-fronted bee-eater is an East African bird that lives in clans of up to fourteen members.

White-fronted bee-eaters have several problems to deal with. Since they nest on the cliffs overlooking riverbanks, youngsters need a great deal of attention until they learn to fly. Once they are on their own, the young birds are often put to work by their parents as helpers. A father may even drive away his sons’ mates in order to keep them as helpers.

Helpers bring food for their mother, brothers and sisters. They also clean the nest area and watch for danger. However, the most important job is guarding the nest at egg-laying time. This is necessary because a female who doesn’t have her own nest will sneak into another bee-eater’s nest and lay her eggs there. If the eggs are laid before the owner of the nest starts laying her eggs, she will simply toss out the foreign egg. If there are eggs already in the nest, she will also care for the foreign eggs. The important job of guarding the nest is usually given to a daughter. However, scientists have observed that sometimes it is the daughter, while on guard duty with the mother absent, who sneaks into the nest and adds a few eggs of her own!

In His goodness, the Creator has given bee-eaters a way of life in which helping each other is part of their nature. This kindness toward each other improves the quality of life. It can serve as an example to us that the world is not designed to favor the survival of the most selfish or aggressive.

 

 

How To Freeze A Turtle

The painted turtle is found farther north than any other turtle in North America. During their first year of life, painted turtles survive temperatures as cold as 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

After mid-June, painted turtles begin to lay their eggs. Each nest holds from seven to nine eggs. Some females will make two nests. The eggs are buried, safely out of sight of predators, and the mother turtle returns to her normal habitat. The young hatch in ten or eleven weeks. However, they remain buried in the ground, and therefore safe from predators, all winter. The problem is that turtles freeze solid at the temperatures found at nest depth in the winter. When living cells freeze, the long, sharp ice crystals that form in them puncture the cell membrane, killing the cell.

As the baby turtles freeze, even the heart and brain eventually freeze. There is no breathing and no heartbeat. Only a tiny bit of electrical activity in the frozen brain reveals that life remains in the body. Why don’t ice crystals rupture the cells? The young turtle’s liver makes special proteins that are circulated to every cell in the body. These proteins ensure the formation of very small ice crystals that cannot become large enough to puncture delicate cell walls.

Only God could have invented such a unique method of protecting tiny painted turtles. Even scientists marvel at this.

  

 

Catechism Catch-Up 

Forgotten Factors: An Aid To A Better Confession

TODAY our society is so sex-obsessed that if it thinks of wrong sexual behavior at all, it seems to think of it only in terms of the illicit sex act itself—the lustfulness of it, the uncleanness of it, the uncontrolled passion of it, the perverted use of it. If that is the main wrong of sexual misbehavior, it is easy for men to make excuses for themselves and to sidestep the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

“Surely,” they say, “it is something merely biological, something quite natural. It is purely arbitrary on the part of society, even of God, to draw a line and say that before a certain dateline the act is wrong, but after that dateline it is right. What is done may be lustful, but it is none the less natural.” If the main sinfulness of such misbehavior is the lustfulness and impurity of the act itself, it is easy for men to argue in this way.

Strange to say, that is the aspect with which the Bible and the Church, is least concerned.

 

Make no mistake, both the Bible and the Church does condemn unequivocally sexual misbehavior because of its lustfulness and uncleanness.

The fact that the Douay Rheims version describes such sins in Elizabethan English has robbed its words of much of their meaning for the modern mind. Fornication, adultery, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, uncleanness, lasciviousness, inordinate affection, evil concu-piscence are the words like them are used.

But what do they mean to the modern English-speaking man? Once we exchange those words for their present-day equivalents—promiscuity, immorality, unfaithfulness, prostitution, homosexuality, masturbation, lesbianism, lustful imaginations, indulgence in pornographic literature, etc.—we all know what the Bible is talking about. And it is surprising how much it does speak about these things. There is not one of Paul’s epistles—addressed, mark you, to Christians—in which he does not speak about them and the people who do them. And when we hear him say, “for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,” and again, “of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” there is no doubt at all that the Bible condemns these things for their lustfulness, impurity, and perversion.

But even so, I say again, that is the aspect with which the Bible and the Church seems to be less concerned. It speaks about the physical aspects of sex, both right and wrong, with a complete absence of squeamishness or shock. Though nothing is hidden in its accounts, it is very difficult for even the most lustful of readers to get a vicarious enjoyment out of the things alluded to—mainly because that is not the purpose for which it is written, which certainly cannot be said of many of the books that are published today, even when they purport to be great literature. All the allusions in Scripture to sex, even to the most degraded forms of sex, are clean; and more, they are penetrating. God is out to get to the bigger wrongs behind these things, where men are utterly culpable and without excuse, where the offense is seen to be against eternal moral principles, which are part of God’s own nature and are written into man’s nature in his conscience. And here, of course, we are in the realm where sexual misbehavior is no different from any other misbehavior. Sin is simple self-centeredness, independence of God, and that is basically always the same. It is only the raw material in which sin operates which changes. One man’s raw material may be sexual desire; another’s may be a desire for the top spot. It is the degree in which a man indulges himself in his particular raw material in defiance of the known will of God that constitutes the degree of his sinfulness. God then insists on judging sexual misbehavior on the same principles as He judges any other misbehavior, and that, rightly understood, is what makes His judgment such an awesome thing for us.

The factors, however, which constitute the real wrong of sexual misbehavior have been largely forgotten today.

When men and women in some crisis of their lives try to repent of their sins along this line, they seldom get beyond confessing the lustfulness and impurity of them. God, however, wants to get to something deeper than that, in which they are far more culpable—such things as the wrong which one person inflicts on another through sexual misbehavior, the multiplied duplicities which are invariably involved in such misadventures, the dishonor a person does to his own body through abuse of its powers, and above all, the wrongs done to a loving God. These are some of the forgotten factors which one so seldom hears confessed. Those who might assert they have repented might find on closer examination that they have never really faced the more culpable aspects of their deeds, and for that reason have not ever really experienced the full answer of the grace of God. Sometimes a man who has come to Christ and accepted Him as his Savior is obviously lacking in his experience of the grace of God. His testimony is somehow not a sinner’s testimony, and he does not seem to possess a sinner’s joy in his all-forgiving Savior. It may be there has not been repentance at the level that God wants it. It may be he has not seen the most culpable factors in his sin, or if he has seen them, he has conveniently forgotten them. So we come to consider in detail the forgotten factors in the various forms of sexual misbehavior—and indeed in all misbehavior.

  

(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:

Who Has Known The Mind Of The Lord

The omniscience of the Lord is a comforting theme that spans the entire Bible. In the New Testament epistles, the early Church was reminded time and time again that the God of the Bible is the God Who knows all things. His vast knowledge, infinite wisdom, complete understanding, and perfect foreknowledge can give us confidence. That confidence comes to us, His children, whose understanding is limited by our own frailties.

 

Let’s look at a few of the many testimonies to God’s omniscience that we find in the epistles.

 

The Testimony of Paul in Romans 11:33–36

“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36).

 

In the context of this remarkable doxology, Paul had been discussing the marvelous plan of salvation through which the Gentiles were included by grace in the blessings given to the Jews. Paul testified that God’s judgments are “incomprehensible” and His ways are “unsearchable.”

 

If we had been in charge, we would have written the script differently. But our omniscient God, knowing all things, has manifested His power and grace beyond what man could even imagine.

 

Have you ever wished that you were in charge of events? Have you ever desired God to work differently than the way He seems to be working? If so, remember the words of Paul: “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” God’s knowledge is greater than our knowledge, and we should give Him the glory that He so richly deserves.

 

The Testimony of James in James 1:5

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5).

 

Not only does God know all things, but He is willing to give us a measure of the inexhaustible fountain of His wisdom. James wrote later in this same letter that “. . . you have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2).

 

Do you lack wisdom? Are you facing a challenge that is beyond your experience or your own limited store of knowledge? You serve the God Who knows all things! Ask Him for wisdom, and He will graciously bestow it. Sometimes it may come in a form that you don’t like or appreciate, for wisdom often comes packaged as reproof (see Proverbs 1:23). But a man who is humble enough to discern the Lord’s answer to prayer and receive reproof with gratitude is one who has the potential to be a wise man in the days ahead.

 

The Testimony of Peter in II Peter 1:2–3

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Peter 1:2–3).

 

God’s knowledge, imparted to us, enables us to grow in life and godliness. The Apostle Peter recognized that the omniscient God of the Bible is the source of all knowledge, just as He is the source of all grace, peace, power, and virtue. In his epistle, Peter later exhorted us to add to our faith the character quality virtue and to virtue, knowledge.

 

Humanistic education in our modern culture places primary emphasis upon knowledge. Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge by itself “puffeth up.” Knowledge alone can make a man proud and arrogant, and he eventually proves himself to be a fool. Godly knowledge is built upon virtue.

 

Have you recognized with Peter that God is the source of all knowledge? What are your educational goals for yourself or for your children? Have you made virtue a priority? God is graciously willing to pour out His wisdom upon us and help us learn knowledge, but He desires that knowledge be built upon Godly virtue.

 

The Testimony of John in I John 3:20

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (I John 3:20).

 

In the context of this remarkable verse on the omniscience of God, John was discussing matters of conscience—the times when our heart condemns us. We must be very careful when evaluating right and wrong by the standard of our own hearts. According to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

 

A man who relies upon his own heart for guidance is a man who can and will be led astray. The Apostle John reminded his readers that God is greater than our heart. His perfect knowledge is above and beyond our feelings. God has given us His Spirit to bring His Word to correct our hearts when we are wrong and to lead us into all truth by the fixed standard of the Bible.

 

When you face a difficult decision, do you follow your heart? Or do you follow the revealed Word of a God Who is greater than your heart, a God Who “knoweth all things?” There is a liberty and a confidence that comes when we do not rely upon the changing whims of our own feelings but instead rely upon what God Himself has revealed in His Word.

 

The Testimony of Jude in Jude 24–25

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 24–25).

 

Jude used a special title for God: “the only wise God.” The title is found in only two other places in the Bible. In comparison to our God, all human wisdom is folly. God is the only One in the universe Who is truly wise. What a comfort God’s omniscience is to His children! Jude warned about the pernicious dangers of false teachers, teachers who claimed to have human wisdom and special knowledge. But Jude reminded believers that we serve “the only wise God.” He is the One Who is able to keep us from falling! He is the One Who will present us before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy!

 

Are you resting today in the hands of “the only wise God?” Is He your Savior? If not, seek His gracious power to save, to satisfy, and to redeem you from death. If He is indeed your Savior, give Him the glory and majesty of which He alone is worthy!

 

Who Has Known The Mind Of The Lord

 

The omniscience of the Lord is a comforting theme that spans the entire Bible. In the New Testament epistles, the early Church was reminded time and time again that the God of the Bible is the God Who knows all things. His vast knowledge, infinite wisdom, complete understanding, and perfect foreknowledge can give us confidence. That confidence comes to us, His children, whose understanding is limited by our own frailties.

 

Let’s look at a few of the many testimonies to God’s omniscience that we find in the epistles.

 

The Testimony of Paul in Romans 11:33–36

“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36).

 

In the context of this remarkable doxology, Paul had been discussing the marvelous plan of salvation through which the Gentiles were included by grace in the blessings given to the Jews. Paul testified that God’s judgments are “incomprehensible” and His ways are “unsearchable.”

 

If we had been in charge, we would have written the script differently. But our omniscient God, knowing all things, has manifested His power and grace beyond what man could even imagine.

 

Have you ever wished that you were in charge of events? Have you ever desired God to work differently than the way He seems to be working? If so, remember the words of Paul: “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” God’s knowledge is greater than our knowledge, and we should give Him the glory that He so richly deserves.

 

The Testimony of James in James 1:5

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5).

 

Not only does God know all things, but He is willing to give us a measure of the inexhaustible fountain of His wisdom. James wrote later in this same letter that “. . . you have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2).

 

Do you lack wisdom? Are you facing a challenge that is beyond your experience or your own limited store of knowledge? You serve the God Who knows all things! Ask Him for wisdom, and He will graciously bestow it. Sometimes it may come in a form that you don’t like or appreciate, for wisdom often comes packaged as reproof (see Proverbs 1:23). But a man who is humble enough to discern the Lord’s answer to prayer and receive reproof with gratitude is one who has the potential to be a wise man in the days ahead.

 

The Testimony of Peter in II Peter 1:2–3

“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (II Peter 1:2–3).

 

God’s knowledge, imparted to us, enables us to grow in life and godliness. The Apostle Peter recognized that the omniscient God of the Bible is the source of all knowledge, just as He is the source of all grace, peace, power, and virtue. In his epistle, Peter later exhorted us to add to our faith the character quality virtue and to virtue, knowledge.

 

Humanistic education in our modern culture places primary emphasis upon knowledge. Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge by itself “puffeth up.” Knowledge alone can make a man proud and arrogant, and he eventually proves himself to be a fool. Godly knowledge is built upon virtue.

 

Have you recognized with Peter that God is the source of all knowledge? What are your educational goals for yourself or for your children? Have you made virtue a priority? God is graciously willing to pour out His wisdom upon us and help us learn knowledge, but He desires that knowledge be built upon Godly virtue.

 

The Testimony of John in I John 3:20

“For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things” (I John 3:20).

 

In the context of this remarkable verse on the omniscience of God, John was discussing matters of conscience—the times when our heart condemns us. We must be very careful when evaluating right and wrong by the standard of our own hearts. According to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

 

A man who relies upon his own heart for guidance is a man who can and will be led astray. The Apostle John reminded his readers that God is greater than our heart. His perfect knowledge is above and beyond our feelings. God has given us His Spirit to bring His Word to correct our hearts when we are wrong and to lead us into all truth by the fixed standard of the Bible.

 

When you face a difficult decision, do you follow your heart? Or do you follow the revealed Word of a God Who is greater than your heart, a God Who “knoweth all things?” There is a liberty and a confidence that comes when we do not rely upon the changing whims of our own feelings but instead rely upon what God Himself has revealed in His Word.

 

The Testimony of Jude in Jude 24–25

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen” (Jude 24–25).

 

Jude used a special title for God: “the only wise God.” The title is found in only two other places in the Bible. In comparison to our God, all human wisdom is folly. God is the only One in the universe Who is truly wise. What a comfort God’s omniscience is to His children! Jude warned about the pernicious dangers of false teachers, teachers who claimed to have human wisdom and special knowledge. But Jude reminded believers that we serve “the only wise God.” He is the One Who is able to keep us from falling! He is the One Who will present us before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy!

 

Are you resting today in the hands of “the only wise God?” Is He your Savior? If not, seek His gracious power to save, to satisfy, and to redeem you from death. If He is indeed your Savior, give Him the glory and majesty of which He alone is worthy!

 

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.
• Please pray for the health of Deacon Stephen and his dear wife.
• 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!
• Please continue to pray for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father, Pope Michael I.
• 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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