Theology By Dummies

There is a popular series of books known as the "For Dummies" titles. The books are written on a plethora of topics, from the mundane to the esoteric, and their purpose is to educate people as simply as possible in the basics of said topic. For example, Bookkeeping For Dummies is written very simply by one or more experts on bookkeeping, so that a person completely uneducated in the field can understand the fundamentals. Notice that the books are to be written for dummies, not by them. This past week I had the misfortune of watching an approximately 14 minute long video produced by a Vatican II sect "theologian" and apologist named David L.Gray. I wrote a post regarding the very poor argumentation of Mr. Gray, which he displayed in his article entitled The Four Fatal Errors of Sedevacantism. (See http://introiboadaltaredei2.blogspot.com/2017/11/distorting-sedevacantism.html).

On his website, Gray presents his CV as follows:

Born in 1972, David L. Gray is an American Catholic Theologian and Historian, and the President and Publisher of Saint Dominic’s Media. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central State University (Ohio) and a Masters of Arts in Catholic Theology from Ohio Dominican University. His published work, ‘Inside Prince Hall (Freemasonry)’ predates his conversion to Catholicism. He currently resides in the Greater Saint Louis area with his wife Felicia. They are active in Queen of Peace Catholic community on Scott Air Force Base. (See http://www.davidlgray.info/aboutme/). It's interesting to see what the Vatican II sect considers a "theologian." Pre-V2, only clerics with a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from an approved Catholic institution of higher learning could be considered true theologians, and only clerics with a Doctorate in Canon Law (also from an approved Catholic institution of higher learning) could be canonists (aka canon lawyers). Now a married layman with a Masters degree can apparently claim that once lofty title.

In his ridiculous article on the alleged "Four Fatal Errors" I critiqued above, I demonstrated how Gray purposely distorts sedevacantist arguments to tear them down. In logic this is known as "straw man arguments," i.e., "when an arguer distorts an opponent’s argument for the purpose of more easily attacking it, demolishes the distorted argument, and then concludes that the opponent’s real argument has been demolished. By so doing, the arguer is said to have set up a straw man and knocked it down, only to conclude that the real man (opposing argument) has been knocked down as well." (See Hurley, Patrick J. "Informal Fallacies." A Concise Introduction to Logic. 9th ed. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth, [2006], pg. 121).

Mr. Gray never attempted to answer me. Someone sent him my post via Twitter to which he replied, What a BRILLIANT exercise in making strawman and never responding to the crux of the issue. Sedes lean on their own understanding. They don't trust the Holy Spirit. They are like Martin Luther really, by setting up an outside sect. 

I tweeted back:

I responded to each of the alleged "Fatal Errors." You are either culpably ignorant or lying about our positions regarding the Mass, etc. I demonstrated how each allegation was false. The only one attacking stawmen is you. I would LOVE to see you reply point by point to me! Needless to say, he never did. Moreover, when someone linked to my post in the comment section of his "Fatal Errors" post, all he had to say was: Sedevacantism is Protestantism. I[t] really doesn't really deserve a thoughtful reply. It's just a lie from the pits of Hell.  My post didn't merit a "thoughtful reply" because in order to do so you must first be capable of logical thinking.

Now, on February 26th, Gray puts up a video on his site (also linked to YouTube) entitled How to Destroy Every Sedevacantist Argument, in which he demonstrates that his reason-challenged arguments sink even lower than I had originally believed. The caption to this video reads:

Are you tired of Sedevacantist bull? Want a quick way to destroy all of their arguments and expose them as being the Protestants they are? Then take a listen to this video (YouTube Link) and I’ll explain to you how to destroy every Sedevacantist argument with just Four Words. (See http://www.davidlgray.info/2020/02/26/sedevacantism/). 

A man who purposely distorts what sedevacantism is about and can't make a sound, valid argument, now thinks he can "destroy all sedevacantist arguments" with only four words. I don't know if this guy is hubris on steroids or just plain delusional. In the first part of his video he clings tenaciously to the distorted and debunked Four Fatal Errors. I guess he believes if you ignore the actual position of your opponents and the laws of logic they will disappear. Then he reveals his "four (magic?) words" that can supposedly "destroy sedevacantism." Are you ready? Here they are: "Based on your authority." In other words, David Gray believes that sedevacantists lack authority to make any pronouncement about heresy, Vatican II, the post-V2 "popes," and anything else. This absurd proposition, and the equally absurd consequences which flow from it, will be the subject of this post.

No Black and White in the World of Gray

Gray's video is puerile to say the least; and that's actually a charitable characterization. After he references and reasserts his Four Fatal Errors (without the slightest change in their mis-characterizations and inaccuracies), he then announces his Four Words which, he assures us, will defeat every sedevacantist argument and "shut them down," i.e.,---"Based on your authority." He then attempts to demonstrate how his "magic words" work. The video cuts to Gray dressed in a tuxedo and top hat (looking somewhat like a cheesy African-American version of Fred Astaire minus the talent) and he speaks in a deep voice. This is supposed to represent a sedevacantist for some strange reason.

As the sedevacantist, he intones in an ominous voice that Vatican II is heretical. The video cuts back to Gray looking and speaking normally, and he says, "Based on your authority." The film goes back to "sede-David" who says, "No, the heresy is in the documents of Vatican II, it was not in continuity with the Councils before it." "Regular David" says, "Based on your authority." Sede-David says, "No, based on what other popes and councils have said about religious liberty, ecumenism, and salvation." Regular David says, "Based upon your authoritative interpretation of what those documents mean." You get the idea by now. 

Here is the linchpin of his argument: "Only the Church can interpret anything that She decreed. Therefore, no one without Magisterial authority can ever discern what any Church teaching means apart from the pope and the bishops in union with him." This presents several salient problems, both in the area of theology and epistemology (the philosophic discipline that studies how we know what we know).  He twists and misapplies a valid principle (only the Church can authoritatively pronounce what the correct interpretation of the Bible is and what is to be believed concerning Faith and Morals), which is what leads him to call sedevacantists-- a little further on in his video--"Protestants." Traditionalists allegedly do with Church decrees what Protestants do with Scripture; employ private interpretation. 

Why Gray is Wrong:

1. No one could ever know what the Church really teaches.

Sedevacantism rightly acknowledges that the pre- and post-Vatican II teachings are virtually word for word contradictions. Since God is Truth and Truth doesn't change ("Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." [Hebrews 13:8]), both teachings cannot be true. To give but one example:

Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos, para. #3-4 teaches:

But some are more easily deceived by the outward appearance of good when there is question of fostering unity among all Christians...Is it not right, it is often repeated, indeed, even consonant with duty, that all who invoke the name of Christ should abstain from mutual reproaches and at long last be united in mutual charity?...But in reality beneath these enticing words and blandishments lies hid a most grave error, by which the foundations of the Catholic faith are completely destroyed. (Emphasis mine).

Wojtyla ("Pope" "St." John Paul II), Ut Unum Sint, para. #42 teaches:
The "universal brotherhood" of Christians has become a firm ecumenical conviction. Consigning to oblivion the excommunications of the past, Communities which were once rivals are now in many cases helping one another: places of worship are sometimes lent out; ...(Emphasis mine).

The Church, prior to Vatican II, always taught through the constant teachings of Her popes, councils, Roman Congregations, catechisms, and approved theologians, that true ecumenism means converting non-Catholics to the One True Church, outside of which no one can be saved. All false sects lead to Hell and are a means of damnation. Yet Vatican II decreed in Unitatis Reditegratio, para. #3, "For the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them [false sects] as means of salvation..."(Emphasis mine). Which is it?

Now, if what Gray maintains is true, we have no authority to recognize the Law of Non-Contradiction which tells us that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense and at the same time, e. g. the two propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are mutually exclusive. In order for the new teaching of Vatican II not to be heretical, Gray would have to believe that what Catholics were taught by the Magisterium since the Church was founded either (a) evolved into something new or (b) there is no objective meaning to words and ideas; what you thought something meant really means something altogether different.

In either case, objective truth and the ability to have a firm faith in a proposition is utterly destroyed. If truth evolves (as the Modernists teach), what was true today (e.g. abortion is murder) might be false tomorrow (abortion is not murder). If there is no objective meanings to the words and teachings of the past, the Assumption of Mary was true when defined by Pope Pius XII, but it could be interpreted as being not true by "Pope" Francis. Therefore, there is no black or white, right or wrong, true or false. You can never be sure what is objectively true and must always be believed. You are left with a Magisterium that is unable to teach.

2. Every conclusion is a matter of authority; the pope is an oracle.

As a logical corollary of Gray's four magic words, the pope and bishops can interpret anything in any fashion and it must be believed. If Bergoglio were to teach "Thou shalt not kill" means "suicide is wonderful," then you can go and take your life with no fear of damnation. You cannot protest against his teaching because whatever you say to the contrary would be "based on your authority" (of which you are devoid). Then you would be acting like a Protestant. There is no such thing as conclusions based on correct reasoning.

3. Faith is prior to authority.

As Bishop Sanborn so aptly put it:
Faith is metaphysically prior to authority, since authority consists in a relation of the public person to the community, the basis of which is the furtherance of the common good of the community. But it is the Faith which determines the common good, the finality, of the Church. Hence the profession of the true Faith is a condition sine qua non of the assumption of apostolic authority in the Church, and it (the Faith) must be verified before apostolic succession is verified. But Vatican II, the New Mass, and the New Code, contain contradiction to the teaching of the Church. 

This contradiction is therefore an  infallible sign that the material incumbent of the throne of Peter lacks or lacked the necessary qualities to assume apostolic authority, for we must believe by the virtue of divine and catholic faith that it is intrinsically impossible that apostolic authority contradict itself in faith, worship and discipline, whereas it is not impossible, either by faith or reason, that an incumbent pope lose his authority. (See http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=41&catname=10; Emphasis in original).

4. Laymen can and should discover heresy on their own.

Theologian Sarda y Salvany clearly teaches this in his theological work entitled Liberalism is a Sin. The book was published in 1886. It was endorsed and praised by the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation of the Index under Pope Leo XIII. Here's what Chapter 32, "Liberalism and Authority in Particular Cases" has to say:

Yes, human reason, to speak after the manner of theologians, has a theological place in matters of religion. Faith dominates reason, which ought to be subordinated to faith in everything. But it is altogether false to pretend that reason can do nothing, that it has no function at all in matters of faith; it is false to pretend that the inferior light, illumined by God in the human understanding, cannot shine at all because it does not shine as powerfully or as clearly as the superior light. Yes, the faithful are permitted and even commanded to give a reason for their faith, to draw out its consequences, to make applications of it, to deduce parallels and analogies from it. It is thus by use of their reason that the faithful are enabled to suspect and measure the orthodoxy of any new doctrine presented to them, by comparing it with a doctrine already defined. If it be not in accord, they can combat it as bad, and justly stigmatize as bad the book or journal which sustains it. They cannot of course define it ex cathedra, but they can lawfully hold it as perverse and declare it such, warn others against it, raise the cry of alarm and strike the first blow against it. The faithful layman can do all this, and has done it at all times with the applause of the Church. Nor in so doing does he make himself the pastor of the flock, nor even its humblest attendant; he simply serves it as a watchdog who gives the alarm. Opportet allatrare canes "It behooves watchdogs to bark," very opportunely said a great Spanish Bishop in reference to such occasions. (See http://www.sedevacantist.com/liberalism.htm for the book online; Emphasis mine).

 Ad hominem attack at the end of the video. 

I would be remiss if I didn't make note of the fact that Gray has announced in advance that he will not engage any sedevacantists in debate. The reason he gives is because sedevacantists are "having a temper tantrum"(!) and "should not be treated as adults." The video shows Sede-David crying and saying, "He called me a Protestant mom!" (OK, and sedevacantists should not be treated as adults?). Why is sound reasoning based on Church teaching "having a temper tantrum"? What makes us "not adults" and Gray "mature"?

The real reason is apparent. I can't believe a man at his age and educational level could really be that obtuse. Rather, he knows he can't reason well and cannot even attempt a syllogistically sound argument against sedevacantism, so he merely calls names and pretends that his four magic words are really defeaters for all Traditionalist arguments. This gives him an out from having to defend his position in rational discourse without looking incompetent or being accused of cowardice.

Conclusion

David Gray has proven, once more, how pathetic the Vatican II sect apologists are in their feeble attempt to defend a false religion pretending to be Catholic. He calls himself a "theologian," and I wonder if that title is self-imposed. If he is officially recognized as such, it would show the Vatican II sect is not merely devoid of Faith, but even bereft of reasoning skills. Should you ever meet David Gray, and he tries to give you an argument against sedevacantism, use these four words: "Based on your stupidity."  

When Strangers Come Knocking---Part 7

This is the next installment of my series to be published the first Monday of each month.

There are members of false sects, like Jehovah's Witnesses, that come knocking door-to-door hoping to convert you. Instead of ignoring them, it is we who should try and convert them. In 1 Peter 3:16, our first Pope writes, "But in thy hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks thee to give the reason for the hope that thou hast. But do this with gentleness and respect,..." Before the Great Apostasy, the Church would send missionaries to the ends of the Earth to make as many converts as possible.

Those in false religions don't always come (literally) knocking at your door. It may be a Hindu at work who wants you to try yoga. It could be a "Christian Scientist" who lives next door and invites you to come to their reading room. Each month, I will present a false sect. Unlike the Vatican II sect, I do not see them as a "means of salvation" or possessing "elements of truth" that lead to salvation. That is heresy. They lead to damnation, and the adherents of the various sects must be converted so they may be saved.

In each month's post, I will present one false sect and give an overview of: 

• The sect's history
• Their theology
• Tips on how to share the True Faith with them

Christian Science

In contradistinction to the name of this sect, "Christian Science" is neither Christian nor scientific.  The founder and leader of the "church," Mary Baker Eddy, taught that disease (and death itself) was unreal because the human body and the entire material world were mere illusions of the deceived who were outside Christian Science (hereinafter "CS"). Those who awoke and knew the "Truth" could be instantaneously healed and never have to die. At this point you might be thinking, "Wait a minute. I've been to many funerals, and I unfortunately know many people who have died. Most died from some sickness. How can sickness and death be illusory?" 

Mary Baker Eddy, in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (considered superior to the Bible by CS) gives the answer: 

"If you or I should appear to die, we should not be dead. The seeming decease, caused by a majority of human beliefs that man must die, or produced by mental assassins, does not in the least disprove Christian Science; rather does it evidence the truth of its basic proposition that mortal thoughts in belief rule the materiality miscalled life in the body or in matter. But the forever fact remains paramount that Life, Truth, and Love save from sin, disease, and death." (pg. 164). That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? 

While sickness and death are inevitable facts we would like to avoid, only a fool would deny their reality. As Christians we follow in the footsteps of a Suffering Savior, who died the real and ignominious death of the cross. The initial appeal of CS was the reports of "miraculous healing," and the possibility of "escaping death" itself. I write "initial appeal" because, ironically, CS is in a major decline and may ultimately "die" as a sect. Nevertheless, there remain over 1,000 CS churches and "reading rooms" actively trying to make converts and "heal" the bleeding membership of the sect. This makes understanding their false beliefs, and how to proselytize them, all the more important.

Mary Baker Eddy: The False "Physician" of a False "Christianity"

Christian Science was founded by Mary Baker Eddy (b. Mary Ann Morse Baker), who came into the world on July 16, 1821 in Bow, New Hampshire. She was raised a strict member of the Congregationalist Protestant sect by her parents, Mark and Abigail Baker. As a young child, Eddy endured much physical and emotional illness, including a nervous condition that left her a semi-invalid for years. She also endured seizures and emotional outbursts. She has been considered by some as mentally unstable due to many of her strange behaviors and ideas.

She despised the Congregationalists who taught heretical predestination (i.e., the teaching that God positively Wills--in an arbitrary and capricious manner--some people to go to Heaven, and some to Hell). Eddy was married three times: in 1843 to George W Glover, who died seven months after the wedding from yellow fever; in 1853 to Dr. Daniel Patterson, a dentist who abandoned her, and she obtained a divorce on those grounds; in 1877 to Asa G. Eddy, a sewing machine salesman, who died five years later from a heart attack. Eddy declared her last husband's death was not from a coronary, but from "arsenic poison" that had been "mentally administered" by her enemies. Since CS denies the reality of death, her husband was "made to think he was dead" by a "mental assassin."

As a result of spinal weakness, Eddy committed herself to the care of Phineas Parkhurst Quimby in October 1862. Quimby was a "mental healer" who believed that illness and disease could be cured through positive thoughts and healthy attitudes. She believed herself to have been healed by him on November 7, 1862. The beginning of Christian Science, however, did not occur until February 1866, when Mrs. Eddy claimed to have had a near fatal fall on an icy pavement. She said she was instantly healed when "the healing Truth dawned upon my senses." Dr. Alvin Cushing, the doctor who treated Eddy for her fall, claimed that the fall was not "near fatal" or critical, as Eddy maintained. He denied any knowledge of a "miraculous" or "instantaneous" healing. (See Georgine Milmine, The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science, [1909]).

In 1875, Eddy published Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, much of which was taken from Quimby's works, and passed off as a "new revelation." On August 23, 1879, Eddy founded "The Church of Christ, Scientist" (informally called CS) "to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." (See CS Church Manual, pg. 17). Her sect, with its book and message that sickness and death don't exist, began with approximately fifty people and grew to about one million worldwide when she died in 1910.

Unhealthy Theology

In the following exposition, all citations to Eddy's book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, will be referenced simply as "S&H." 

• Christian Science begins with a pantheistic view of the nature of God. God is “All-in-All,” anything that is not God does not exist. “Nothing possesses reality nor existence except the divine Mind and His ideas.” (S&H pg. 331)

• If God is Life and God is all, then non-Life [death] does not exist. “If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies . . . Life is real, and death is the illusion.” (S&H pgs.427-8)

• If God is healthy and God is all, then non-health (sickness) does not exist. "Man is never sick, for mind is not sick and matter cannot be. (S&H pg. 393)

• If God is Good and God is all, then non-Good (evil) does not exist. Since God must exist, non-existence (death) does not exist. Everyone must exist forever in this universe

• God did not create the universe. Genesis 1 is simply referring to "the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities" in the mind of God. (S&H pg. 503)

• Jesus Christ is not God. "The Christian who believes in the First Commandment is a monotheist . . . [he] recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God as Jesus Himself declared, but is the Son of God." (S&H pg. 361). Jesus is the human man, and Christ is the divine idea; hence the duality of Jesus the Christ." (S&H pg. 473)

• Jesus cast out devils, mediating between what is and is not until a perfect consciousness is obtained. He healed disease as He healed sin; He treated them both, not as in or of matter, but as mortal beliefs to be exterminated..." Christ's death was not real, only apparent. "Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Science in his victory over death and the grave . . . Jesus’ students, not sufficiently advanced to understand fully their Master’s triumph, did not perform many wonderful works until they saw Him after His crucifixion and learned that He did not die." (S&H pgs. 45, 350-351)
• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the "first book" which has been "uncontaminated by human hypothesis." (S&H pgs. 99, 139, 456-457). Christian Scientists feel that her book offers the complete spiritual meaning of the Bible. They believe that this full meaning could not have been available to them without Mrs. Eddy’s "revelation"

• Mrs. Eddy was a spiritualistic medium for about 25 years. There is an openness to certain psychic abilities in S&H, although misinterpreted in divine terms. "Christian Science healing" may be considered a form of psychic healing. It's origin therefore, is occultic. 

"Christian Science Practitioners" and More Strange Teachings

"Christian Scientists and others in need of healing often rely on Christian Science practitioners, professionals who are committed to the ministry of healing. This ministry involves consultation with the sick, discussion of Christian Science principles and prayer."

Use of medical professionals is discouraged (at best) and they are to be shunned (at worst). Hence, "Christian Science teaches, however, that while both medicine and Christian Science seek the healing of the patient, they rest on very different bases and are therefore incompatible with each other in practical situations. It makes little sense, [Christian] Scientists believe, to administer medical treatment to a patient while at the same time denying the ultimate reality of matter and the reality of material cause and effect, which is the basis of medical treatment."

They deny diseases are genetic. Eddy wrote, "The [Christian] Scientist knows that there can be no hereditary disease, since matter is not intelligent."

Insanity should be treated by prayer and psychotropic medication avoided. "The supposition that we can correct insanity by the use of purgatives and narcotics is in itself a mild species of insanity."

(All quotes directly above in this section are taken from The Christian Science Tradition. See www.trinity-health.org/documents/Ethics/4%20Religious%20Traditions/Christian%20Scientists/Christian%20Science.pdf). 

While some of  the published tenets of the sect sound orthodox, they have a different meaning from the usual definition in Christianity. To give some examples:

God: Impersonal-personal; “spiritually pantheistic” (someone who believed God is everything and that matter is an illusion)

Jesus: A highly enlightened Christian Scientist.

The Christ: The divine manifestation of God/Christian Science.

The Holy Spirit: Christian Science.

The Trinity: Interpreted as "Life, Truth and Love"

Salvation: By awareness, divine realization.

Sin: Ignorance; the false beliefs of  "mortal mind."

Satan: A Christian myth.

The Bible: An inferior revelation properly interpreted only by Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Death: Non-existent.

Proselytizing "Christian Scientists"

Do not attack Mary Baker Eddy. 

Any attack on their founder will be rejected as "persecution."

Ask them to read the entire passage in the Bible whenever an ellipsis [ . . . ] is used in a quote from the Bible in any Christian Science literature.

"Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved." (S&H pg. 23). Have them read Acts 16:31.

"These signs shall follow them that believe . . . they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." (S&H pg. 38). Have them read St. Mark 16:17-18. 

Help them to see the intrinsic contradictions of the sect's teaching.

According to CS, we can't trust our properly basic beliefs. Our senses and mind deceive us into thinking that sickness and death are real (along with the rest of the material world). Therefore, if our most basic beliefs and our physical senses can't be trusted, then how can we trust our eyes when we read S&H, or hear the "truths" of Christian Science with our ears?

If God is Good and God is all, as CS teaches, where did the idea (or illusion) that there is such a thing as evil (the opposite of Good or God) originate, since all is part of the essence of God (and must therefore be exclusively Good)?

Either evil really exists outside the mind (ontological reality), or it is merely illusory, without any existence outside the mind. If the illusion of evil is ontologically real, then CS affirms the reality of evil (i.e., the evil of the illusion). There then would be no difference between having your tooth pulled in reality or the illusion of one being pulled. If the illusion has no existence outside the mind, why send out "practitioners" to "cure" an illusion? 

If death isn't real, then we just imagine our loved ones are dead? Where are they that we can't see them? Did the "evil illusion" take them to a better place (in which case the illusion isn't really bad), or did they cease to exist, which CS teaches is impossible?

Conclusion

The wacky world of the Christian Science sect is getting smaller. False claims of "miraculous cures" are getting debunked, and the idea that "death is an illusion" is being seen as counter-intuitive to our most properly basic beliefs. Many members of the sect have left when family members suffered and died needlessly for refusing medical treatment in response to curable ailments, and opted for a CS "practitioner" to pray and read from Eddy's occult inspired book instead. We should feel sorry for the poor souls in the sect, who think everything around them is an illusion, and do all we can to bring them into the light and truth that is Christ and His One True Church.

In writing this post, I was reminded of one of my beloved philosophy professors when I was an undergrad. He was discussing solipsism, the belief that the self is all that can be known to exist. It is not too far removed from CS, except that the sect does acknowledge other minds or persons. My professor remarked, "I've never met a solipsist, when I challenged him, who was willing to step in front of an oncoming truck." 

Deceptive Decalogues

This week we will observe Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of the Lenten Season. Many Traditionalist priests preach on the Ten Commandments and their observance, to the edification of the laity. In addition, many Lenten meditations (from good pre-Vatican II devotional books) also have inspirational  messages concerning the Ten Commandments and how they are to be obeyed. Holy Mother Church realizes the importance of Her children knowing that they must "do good and avoid evil" to escape Hell and achieve Heaven.When you understand what you must do, and why you must do it, the keeping of the Commandments becomes easier, bringing us closer to God.

In the days before the Great Apostasy, brought about at the Robber Council Vatican II, catechisms stressed the Ten Commandments. In order to receive First Holy Communion, priests and nuns would make sure the children understood the basics of the Commandments (the knowledge and practice of which was reinforced at home by the good Catholic parents). For the Sacrament of Confirmation, a more in-depth understanding of the Decalogue was required to make young ladies and gentlemen "soldiers of Christ."  With the advent of Modernism creating the Vatican II sect (and infecting the Protestant sects as well) most people in our society are woefully ignorant of the Ten Commandments.

As a result, we have a society that is clueless regarding our duties to God and our neighbor. In 2007, a professional survey was conducted regarding the Ten Commandments which produced frightening results:

How many of The Ten Commandments can you name? Put to the test, Americans recalled the seven ingredients of a McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger and members of TV’s "The Brady Bunch" more easily than the Bible’s Ten Commandments.

A survey by Kelton Research found 80 percent of 1,000 respondents could name the burger’s primary ingredient — two all-beef patties — but less than six in 10 knew the commandment "thou shalt not kill."

Less than half of respondents — 45 percent — could recall the commandment "honor thy father and mother" but 62 percent knew the Big Mac has pickle.

Bobby and Peter, the least recalled-names from the fictional Brady Bunch family, were remembered by 43 percent of respondents — topping the 34 percent who knew "remember the Sabbath" and 29 percent recalling "do not make false idols." (See https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bible-commandments/americans-know-big-macs-better-than-ten-commandments-idUSN1223894020071012). Since sin is "negative theology," and is no longer taught in the Vatican II sect, why bother knowing the Ten Commandments when you can watch reruns of The Brady Bunch and examine your hamburger?

In 2014, two atheists decided to have a contest to come up with "Ten Non-Commandments" which people feel they should do in the absence of God. Here are the winning "Secular Imperatives," as I call them:

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

4. Every person has the right to control of (sic) their body.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.

9. There is no one right way to live.

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.
(See https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/19/living/atheist-10-commandments/index.html).

I could go on and on about the absurdity of this bastardized Decalogue, but I'll just point out two glaring problems. First, they are called "non-Commandments" yet they carry a moral "ought." Namely, you ought to believe that every person has a "right to control" their body (read: "murder by abortion and euthanasia").  If you don't believe this "non-Commandment," then you are wrong. Second, how does #9 square with the others? How can we be told to leave the world a better place and think of others if there really is "no one right way to live"? Which one is it: Do as we say, or Do as you please? It can't be both.

This post will focus on false substitutes for the Commandments and the teaching of the Church regarding the basic truths and importance of the authentic Ten Commandments.

New Age--New Commandments

Besides the secular humanist "non-Commandments," there exists the "Georgia Guidestones" put together by what I can only imagine are New Agers. The story is as fascinating and bizarre as it is disturbing. The Guidestones are comprised of four upright slabs, one center stone resembling a squared pillar (called the Gnomen stone), a flat capstone, and five base pieces. Each of the four upright stones weighs 42,437 lbs., and the combined weight of all the stones is approximately 119 tons. Inscribed within the stone are ten new "commandments" for humanity—a vision of earth servitude and New Age philosophy. Chiseled within the edges of the upper capstone is a message in four languages—Sanskrit, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Babylonian Cuneiform, and Classical Greek— which reads, "Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason." Upon the eight sides of the four monolithic upright stones, eight languages—English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Swahili—are etched within the granite. Each upright contains the same message in a different language.

No one knows who paid for their construction. As the story goes, an elegant, well-spoken, well-dressed, and grey-haired man who identified himself only as "R. C. Christian" appeared at a granite company in nearby Elberton, GA one day requesting a quote on the project. Figuring he was some "nut," the granite specialist purposely claimed a ridiculous price, figuring Mr. "Christian" would balk. Instead, Mr. Christian agreed to the price. The project’s builders’ had to sign a legal agreement never to reveal the identity of the financiers. They also swore to destroy all legal papers regarding the Guidestones’ construction once the project was finished. It was completed in 1980, and still stands. (See https://thoughtcatalog.com/jeremy-london/2018/08/27-bizarre-facts-about-the-georgia-guidestones/). 

These ten New Age commandments (with my comments next to each) read:

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. (Massive reduction in the human population through birth control, abortion, euthanasia and infanticide).

2. Guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity. (Social Darwinistic claptrap regarding "survival of the fittest Master Race").

3. Unite humanity with a living new language. (Not Latin, a dead language that cannot be twisted, but an Orwellian "Newspeak").

4. Rule Passion—Faith—Tradition—and all things with tempered reason. ("Tolerance" over truth).

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. (International Law of a One World Government).

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.(Sovereignty no longer exists; all must submit to a New World Order).

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials. (You must do whatever the powers that be tell you is law and obey only their servants).

8. Balance personal rights with social duties. (Humanity will be subject to the group concept of social responsibility--whatever that may be).

9. Prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite. (We are to see God alive in all things—plants, rocks, animals, space, water, fire, air, and people. The idea is simple: God is in all because God is all. Pantheistic conception of the universe; in a real sense each person "becomes god").

10. Be not a cancer on the earth—Leave room for nature—Leave room for nature. (Nature, embodied as a "god," comes first; even over the "god" that is humanity).

We've heard from atheists and pagans, now let's turn to the real God, His Decalogue, and the teaching of His One True Church.

Ten Truths Regarding the Ten Commandments

1. The Ten Commandments encompass the Natural Law. The Natural Law is so-called for the following reasons: (a) it is received by people, not through special promulgation, but along with his rational nature. Hence, St. Paul says that the Gentiles, who had not received the laws specially promulgated, were a law unto themselves, that is, through their rational nature (Romans 2:14); (b) it includes only such precepts as can be known or deduced from the very nature of Man, and thus some pagans fulfilled the Law of Moses naturally, i.e., as regards its natural precepts (Romans 2:14); (c) it can be known from the natural light of reason without instruction, being a law written on the heart of every human (Romans 2:15).

2. The Decalogue expresses the duty of humanity: (a) towards God by loyalty (First Commandment), reverence (Second Commandment), and service (Third Commandment). These are called the Laws of the First Table; (b) towards our fellow human beings we must honor parents and authority (Fourth), ensure that no injustice be done to anyone by sins of deed (Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh), by sins of mouth (Eighth), and by sins of the heart (Ninth and Tenth). These are Laws of the Second Table. 

3. The further moral precepts that were given after the Ten Commandments may all be reduced to one or the other of them. Examples: Fortune telling is prohibited by the First; perjury is prohibited by the Second; prohibition against detraction to the Eighth.

4. Unlike the moral laws which had existed before Moses as the Natural Law, and which continue in perpetuity, ceremonial laws were temporary. After the coming of Christ, distinctions of food, new moons, and other Mosaic laws were abrogated and are not enjoined by the Ten Commandments.

5. The judicial laws which were observed under Moses and prior to Christ regulated the civil life of the Jews and ceased to have binding force after the establishment of the Church by Christ.

6. Christ did not abolish the moral precepts of the Ten Commandments. Rather He promulgated them anew and perfected them. (St. Matthew 5:17). The Ten Commandments are not good because God decreed them, but He decreed them because they are good, even as He is the Highest Good.

7. In the New Law of Christ there are no new moral precepts except such as follow from the truths of faith which Our Lord made known to us, and from the institution of the Sacraments.

8. If Christ called His precept of love "new," He did not mean that the Great Commandment did not bind under the Old Law, but only that He (a) urged it anew, (b) gave us new motives to practice it, (c) and gave it special emphasis by His Divine example and express command.

9. The evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience) were proposed by Christ as a means of perfection in the life of Christians, but He did not command all to follow under pain of sin.

10. The Ten Commandments, as perfected under the Law of Christ and His One True Church, are not meant for a particular nation, race, or group of people--it is for all human beings to embrace and follow until the end of time.

This section was composed from theologian Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology, [1925], pgs. 74-75; and theologians McHugh and Callan, Moral Theology, [1929], 1:95-117.

Conclusion

It has been said that humans are incurably God-centered. The First Commandment does not say, "Thou shalt not be an atheist." Rather, "Thou shalt not have false gods before Me." Whatever comes first in our life is our "god." Having divorced themselves from objective moral values, that can only exist by virtue of God, atheists seek to fashion their own "non-Commandments" for guidance. All they got was a mass of contradictory statements that amount to no more than empty feelings of what is "right." New Age pagans want the earth decimated so that "Mother Earth" can take the place of  the head "god" in a kind of pantheistic universe where we are all "gods" to one degree or another. These are the "Deceptive Decalogues" of the world.

The real Ten Commandments of Our Lord God must be studied and meditated upon this Lent. Get to know, love, and keep the Laws of God. As Christ Himself told us, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (St. John 14:15). 

Angels And Demons

 In our increasingly secular world, brought about by the evil of Vatican II, people seek to fill the void that only Christ and His One True Church can fill. Unfortunately, many seek refuge in various false religions and pagan beliefs. In the mid-1990s, there was a surge of interest in angels, which seems to be enjoying some renewed popularity. Driving through New York City, I saw a car with a bumper sticker that read "Protected by Angels." You might be wondering, "What's wrong with that?" The answer, depending on the circumstances, could be "nothing," or "everything." There was a bumper sticker to either side of the one about angels I saw on that same car. One read, "Magic Happens," and the other read, "Visualize World Peace." The driver was not Christian, but a New Ager, whose ideas about angels (and demons) are decidedly at odds with Church teaching.

This post will focus on the false teachings about both angels and demons, and will give the true teaching of the Church.

A Survey of The Angel and Occult Connection

Are there "counterfeit angels"? The Bible reminds us that  "For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11: 14-15; Emphasis mine). Angels are friends of God who would never do (or induced anyone to do) that which is contrary to the Will of God. In Deuteronomy 18:10-12, we read, "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you." (Emphasis mine). 

The teaching of the Church echos these prohibitions listed in Deuteronomy. According to theologian Jone, "Spiritism claims to be able to communicate with the spirit world and endeavors to establish such commerce with it. Although spiritism is for the most part fraud, still the intention alone to enter into communication with spirits is gravely sinful. Therefore, it is mortally sinful to conduct a spiritistic seance or to act as a medium." (See Moral Theology, pg. 100; Emphasis mine). 

With this in mind, let's see what some people are claiming is being performed by "angels:"

•  In Angel Wisdom,by Terry Lynn Taylor and Mary Beth Crain (HarperCollins, 1994), people are encouraged to use mantras, shamanistic "vision quests," contact one’s power animal (a "spirit guide" who appears in the form of an animal), manipulate chakras, and get involved with psychic healing

• Angelic Messenger Cards, ask people to learn and accept contacting the dead (See Angelic Messenger Cards: A Divination System for Spiritual Discovery [Walpole, NH: Stillpoint, 1993])

•  In Creating with the Angels, people are told, "Dream time is spirit time and offers a great opportunity to play with the angels…. Allow the angels to help you interpret your dreams." (See Terry Lynn Taylor, Creating With the Angels: An Angel-Guided Journey into Creativity [1993], pp. 39, 41)

•  In The Angels Within Us, angels are said to take people deep into altered states of consciousness in order to establish contact with them (See John Randolph Price, The Angels Within Us: A Spiritual Guide to the Twenty-two Angels that Govern Our Lives  [1993], p. 16)

• Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of Angels of Mercy and many books on the occult and mysticism, such as The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, recalls that her life has been directed by unseen presences, which she interprets as angels, who have guided her into her career (See Angels of Mercy, pg. 91)

It is obvious that these "angels" are demons. However, one of the leading "experts on angels"  mentioned above, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, a member of the Vatican II sect, seeks to counter this objection immediately to ensnare souls in evil practices. On page 217 of her book she writes,

 If we start mistrusting the agents of light, fearing that they are demons in disguise, then we paralyze ourselves—which is precisely what the dark side wants. They would like us to trust nothing and encase ourselves trembling in fear. Fear is the best weapon the darkness has. Fear is the fertile breeding ground for all evil…. The engines of darkness have terrible power, but nonetheless, they cannot stand up to the greater, more awesome power of light and love. (Emphasis mine). 

Delusions About Demons

On the flip side, there are also many incorrect ideas about demons that I've read in both books and online sources. In order to effectively battle an enemy, you must first "know thy enemy." Here are three incorrect beliefs about demons:

• Spirits of a Pre-Adamic Race

This theory claims a pre-Adamic race existed on Earth before it became "dark and void" (See Genesis 1:2). These human-like creatures lived under the government of God and were presided over by Lucifer, "the anointed cherub that  covereth" (See Ezekiel 28:14). When these pre-Adamites joined Lucifer in revolt against God, a disaster fell upon the Earth, killing all inhabitants prior to Adam and Eve. The souls of these creatures roam the Earth seeking to possess people because they were meant to be united to flesh.

Errors: Despite what New Age literature would like you to believe, there is not even a hint in the Bible or Church teaching that would justify belief in any intelligent creatures upon Earth prior to our First Parents. It is also heretical in that it denies Hell, and has God leaving rational souls "wandering about the Earth" to possess human bodies. The original thesis was adopted by racists who claimed whites (or Gentiles) came from pre-Adamites, and non-whites (or Jews) came from Adam and Eve.This was to justify ideas that some had of "racial superiority." The New Age version puts a twist on it to explain the origin of demons.
(For more details of this erroneous opinion, See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12370a.htm)

• Aliens

This theory comes from a book written over 50 years ago. In 1968, Eric Von Daniken wrote a runaway bestseller entitled Chariots of the Gods. It sold more than seven million copies worldwide and was made into a movie of the same name in 1970. The thesis of the book is that extraterrestrials came to Earth and are the basis of religion. For example, the angels of the Bible were really aliens in spacesuits, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was by an alien nuclear weapon. These aliens also allegedly explain the pyramids of Egypt and Stonehenge which were built by them. Hence, demons are "evil aliens" that come to Earth to wreak havoc.

Errors: It denies the existence of God. It also fails to explain why "evil aliens" would not just take over. Scientifically and historically, there is so much wrong with it, I would need another post to explain it all. For a great and thorough refutation of Von Daniken's nutty theory, See Crash Go The Chariots by Clifford Wilson.

• Spirits of the Deceased Wicked

This theory is purely pagan. It teaches that good people who die will have their souls assume a "god-like" state in Heaven, while the evil who die will roam the Earth to incite the living humans to do evil. This pagan conception (with its roots in ancient Greek myths), has been used by Hollywood in movies. In the horror movie franchise Nightmare on Elm Street, the main character of Freddy Krueger is the maniacal killer and indestructible soul of a deceased child murderer.  In Child's Play, a doll is possessed by the soul of a dead voodoo strangler.

Errors: The souls of the Blessed in Heaven do not become "god-like," or "demi-gods," rather they enjoy the Beatific Vision of God for all eternity. Likewise, the souls of the damned suffer the pains of Hell forever; they do not "roam the Earth."

The Teaching of the Church

The following section is taken in large part from the eminent theologians Tanquerey, A Manual of Dogmatic Theology, (1959), 1:371-393 and from theologian Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, [1955], pgs. 114-122. Theologian Pohle is cited on one point, as is theologian Delaporte, and are given due attribution. 

1. In the beginning of time God created spiritual essences out of nothing. It is a dogma declared by the Fourth Lateran Council and the First Vatican Council that "simultaneously at the beginning of time He created from nothing both spiritual and corporeal creation, angelic and mundane." The creation of the angels is directly attested to in Colossians 1:16, "For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and in him." (Four of the angelic choirs are mentioned; Emphasis mine).

2. The number and hierarchy of the angels. There is no definitive teaching on how many angels exist, although it is certain they are very numerous. Apocalypse 5: 11, "I heard the voice of many angels...and the number of them was thousands of thousands." The so-called "orders" or "choirs" of angels are not an article of faith, but the theologians hold it to be a theologically certain truth. The theological schools have put them into three hierarchies with three choirs in each hierarchy. The supreme hierarchy has the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The intermediate hierarchy is composed of the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers. The lowest hierarchy is made of the Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. It is speculated that the difference in rank is due to the supreme hierarchy assisting at the Throne of God and getting their orders directly from Almighty God Himself. They then hand these orders down to the intermediate hierarchy which, in turn, hands them down to the lowest hierarchy, and the angels bring messages (when necessary) to men. The name angel means "messenger."

3.  The angels have an intellect superior to men and are endowed with free will. The angels were given a test, like humans, to earn the Beatific Vision. They were subjected to a probation which a number failed and became demons in Hell. The angels are vastly superior to humans, but cannot produce a true miracle which is something only God can do. The leader of the rebellious angels became known as "Satan" or "adversary" and it is conjectured that approximately one third of the angels followed his rebellion against God, Who created and condemned them to Hell. What was the test? We don't know for certain. Most theologians agree it was a sin of pride. Some theologians speculate that they did not want to serve God. Other theologians, most notably the great Suarez, teach that the sin of pride was in refusing to obey and worship God the Son when it was made known He would take on a human nature (Hypostatic Union).

4. Every human being has a Guardian Angel who should be venerated and invoked. There are four points on this:

• Angels have a general guardianship over the human race. It is good and salutary to pray to them and venerate them. All humans, not just members of the One True Church are given a Guardian Angel upon conception. Theologians agree that even the Antichrist will have a Guardian Angel, but all his efforts to turn him from utter wickedness will be in vain because of the sheer perversity of his will.It is to be rejected that every person also has a demon to tempt him. It is impious to even think God, Who wills the salvation of all, would permit it. 

• Guardian Angels ward off dangers of body and soul consonant with the Will of God.

• They inspire good and salutary thoughts and covey our prayers to the Throne of God.

•  They assist us at the hour of death and bear the souls of the elect to Heaven. 

In regard to Satan and his demons:

Satan and his demons are fallen angels. As such, they are pure spirits with intellect and will. They are capable of things people cannot do, as humans are both body and soul. The Devil and his demons can hurt humanity in the following ways:

• Temptation. According to theologian Pohle,"Satan and his demons...continually strive by lies and false pretenses to seduce men to commit sin and thereby incur eternal damnation." (See Dogmatic Theology,  [1945], 3:345). 

• Physical injury. According to theologian Ott, "The evil spirits also seek to hurt mankind physically also, through the causing of physical evil (e.g., Tob. 3:8, Job 1:12, 1 Cor. 5: 5)."

• Possession. Once more, from theologian Ott, "In some cases people are possessed, in which case the demon takes forcible possession of the human body, so that the bodily organs and the lower powers of the soul, but not the higher powers of the soul, are controlled by him. The possibility and reality of possession is firmly established by the express testimony of Christ, Who Himself drove out evil spirits and Who bestowed power over the evil spirits on His disciples (Church's power of exorcism---St. Mark 1:23; St. Luke 10: 17 et seq)." 

• Diabolic Obsession . There is diabolic obsession, in which strong disturbances are imposed on the mind, e.g., thoughts of suicide, committing serious sins, or gender dysphoria. It can also take the form of an "infestation" in the house (e.g., hearing mysterious footsteps, bad odors with no cause--and all experienced by more than just the one primarily afflicted). According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "But the influence of the demon, as we know from Scripture and the history of the Church, goes further still. He may attack man's body from without [obsession], or assume control of it from within [possession]." (See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12315a.htm).  

According to theologian Delaporte, "Although very rare in ordinary life, obsession is very frequent in the heroic lives of the Saints...Persons of a nervous temperament and lively imagination, imagine themselves haunted by the  Devil, when there is nothing of the kind. People should not believe in obsession without the most convincing proof." (See The Devil, Does He Exist and What Does He Do?, [reprint from 1871], pgs. 129-130).  We must be on guard against Satan, yet not ascribe anything to direct demonic activity without ruling out natural causes.

Conclusion

Angels are very real. Unfortunately, so are the fallen angels. We must understand Church teaching about both. It is wonderful to pray and to be devoted to our Guardian Angel, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Gabriel, St. Rafael, and the Choirs of angels. However, we must be careful that we are are really praying to the angels, and not some New Age counterfeit. If anyone claims "angels" revealed something to them, is that so-called revelation at odds with Church teaching? Before you buy any book that references angels, check if there is anything regarding faith or morals that is incompatible with Church teaching, and therefore equally incompatible with the angels of God. When it comes to demons, we must understand what they really are so as not to get involved with other errors.

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children." (Hosea 4:8). Make sure you understand Church teaching before getting involved with anything claiming to be "angel devotion" or something to "keep away evil spirits/demons." Truly, fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

There's Only One Race

It was the First Saturday Mass in January at the Ave Maria Chapel, twenty-four years ago. Father DePauw, my spiritual father who led me to the One True Church, would always have the first pews reserved for the children so he could quiz them on their monthly catechism lessons. It was also the Feast of the Epiphany. There was a beautiful and large manger outside the Chapel. Inside all could see an equally beautiful (yet decidedly smaller) one, on the Epistle side of the altar, just outside the Sanctuary. After his quiz, Father would deliver an approximately 10 minute sermon aimed at teaching the kids.

From the pulpit Father pointed to the indoor manger. "Do you see the Three Wise Men? They were blessed to be among the very first to see the Infant Savior. I want you to notice that one of the three has decidedly black skin, and the others have white skin. In life, you will meet some people with white skin who will tell you to hate people with black skin. You will also meet people with black skin who will tell you to hate people with white skin. These people who hate other people with different skin color would like everyone to live apart according to their color, and they also want you to believe that one skin color is better than others. This is stupid and not Catholic. Jesus Christ did not die on Good Friday for the black race, the white race, or the yellow race. He only died for one race--the human race to which all skin colors belong." (Written from my memory as best I remember. Father used that same sermon for the children virtually every First Saturday in January).

There is a disturbing trend among Millennials to take extreme positions. As a Generation Xer, I believe it is the effect of growing up in a world where all remaining vestiges of Catholicism were eliminated in the Great Apostasy by the Vatican II sect. If you look at the supporters of Communist Senator Bernie Sanders, there are overwhelming numbers of 23-38 year olds. There is a tendency among this generation to take extreme right-wing positions as well, such as Fascism/Neo-Nazism. Add to the mix the fact that four in ten millennials now say they are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center; therefore large numbers of young people are left without any thought of God and remain feeling empty. The extreme positions give the definitive answers regarding right and wrong/good and bad that the Church used to give before Vatican II created a new sect falsely claiming the title "Roman Catholic Church." (See https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/).

As a result of these sad circumstances, a new racism is being touted among some young people calling themselves "Traditionalist." Many of them are attracted to the fact that sedevacantism "sounds extreme" and are not really searching for the Truth. Their knowledge of the Faith is very superficial. Adding fuel to the fire, the media and political climate cause distrust among races. The liberals are making non-whites "victims" and want job quotas (think Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ), while conservatives are claiming racial superiority in the form of "White Nationalism." Both are causing a new and real hatred based on skin color. Some of these racists also think they can be Traditionalists simultaneously without contradiction in their beliefs. This post will explore Church teaching on racism, and the correct type of nationalism we need today.

Essential Unity of Humanity

In his first encyclical, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum (1914), Pope Benedict XV declares that the relations between people should be one of brothers and sisters, i.e., of those who are one in nature because they are of the same family created by God. Discussing the ravages of the First World War (1914-1918), His Holiness writes, "Who would imagine as we see them thus filled with hatred of one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all members of the same human family?" (para. #3; Emphasis mine). 

In Mortalium Animos (1928), Pope Pius XI teaches, "... it is easily understood, and the more so because none now dispute the unity of the human race, why many desire that the various nations, inspired by this universal kinship, should daily be more closely united one to another." (para. #1; Emphasis mine). The same holy pontiff ordered the Sacred Congregation for Seminaries and Universities to compose a letter refuting and condemning racism and Nazi "Aryan race" ideology in order to prevent it from infecting Catholic educational institutions. The result was a privately circulated document entitled Instruction Concerning Racism, Its Doctrinal Errors and the Measures to be Employed Against Their Spread (hereinafter "Instruction"). The Instruction was dated April 13, 1938 and a complete English translation was made by canonist Bouscaren in the Canon Law Digest-Supplement 1941 (pgs. 165-167). The Congregation's Instruction condemns no less than eight (8) propositions as being both "pernicious" and "absurd:"

I. The human races, by their natural and immutable characters, are so different from each other that, the humblest of them is further from the highest race than of the highest animal species.

II. We must by all means, preserve and cultivate strong race and purity of blood, so that all which leads to this result is therefore honest and permitted.

III. It is blood, seat of the characteristics of the race, that all the intellectual and moral qualities of man derive as their main source.

IV. The basic purpose of education is to develop the characters of the race and inflame the minds of a burning love of their own race as the supreme good.

V. Religion is subject to the law of race and must be adapted to it.

VI. The first source and the supreme rule of law and order is racial instinct.

VII. There exists only the Cosmos or living universe; all things, including humans, are only various forms growing over the ages of universal life.

VIII. Each man exists only by the State and for the State. All that he rightly possesses derives exclusively from a concession to the State.

It shouldn't be too hard to understand that racism is inexorably linked to the damnable doctrine of Social Darwinism. It is taken from the false teaching of Charles Darwin (d. 1882) regarding evolution. The term "evolution" is used to refer to the general theory that all life on earth has evolved from non-living matter and progressed to more complex forms with time; humans are not special in any way--both body and soul (or "consciousness")-- comes from brute matter. This stands condemned by the Church.

As the late leading evolutionist George Gaylord Simpson observed:

"In the world of Darwin, man has no special status other than his definition as a distinct species of animal. He is in the fullest sense a part of nature and not apart from it. He is akin, not figuratively, but literally, to every living thing, be it an amoeba, a tapeworm, a seaweed, an oak tree, or a monkey—even though the degrees of relationship are different and we may feel less empathy for forty-second cousins like the tapeworm than for, comparatively speaking, brothers like the monkeys…." (See George Gaylord Simpson, "The World into Which Darwin Led Us," Science, Vol. 131 (1960), p. 970).

As a consequence of this error, when Darwinism is applied to society ("Social" aspect), you will get one of two malevolent results:

(a)  All higher forms of life are to be considered equal. Hence, there was a case here in New York, where a lawyer argued to give legal rights (and constitutional protections) to chimpanzees.
(See https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/do-apes-deserve-personhood-rights-lawyer-heads-n-y-supreme-n731431).

While we must be good stewards of all God has given us, and not abuse the animals God gave to Earth, it is insanity to assert (as some "animal rights activists" have done) that eating meat is "murder." According to the "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals" (PETA), "We are taught the Golden Rule as young children, and all major religions teach principles of nonviolence and kindness. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ethical treatment—the Golden Rule—must be extended to all living beings: reptiles, mammals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians, and crustaceans." To include animals in the Golden Rule, which was given to humans by Christ, is blasphemous.(See https://www.peta.org/features/what-peta-really-stands-for/).

(b) As a consequence of the Darwinian principle of the "survival of the fittest," the superior have the right to dominate the inferior. Humans are animals and each race is different, insofar as it is alleged that certain races are inherently superior to others (Hitler's "Master Race"). According to the National Socialist Movement's (Neo-Nazi) website:

National Socialism is a worldview that is based upon the application of Natural Law to the individual, the family, the economy, and the nation. Natural Law is the organic expression of Truth found within all of nature. The nation within National Socialism is made up of a people who share the same language, heritage, culture, customs, and blood. (This is a perverted definition of "Natural Law" and there is no mention of God or religion; Emphasis mine) We seek to preserve and advance our culture, traditions, and our genetic inheritance based upon the principles of love and duty for our Faith, Family, and Folk. This can be summed up in the famous Fourteen Words "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for White children."( See https://www.nsm88.org/; Emphasis mine)

You also can't get more blunt than "King Shamir Shabazz" the leader of the New Black Panther Party's Philadelphia chapter, who said in a National Geographic documentary (January 2009), "I hate white people. All of them." The Panthers believe that the "superior race" is "Afro-centric."

True Nationalism and National Unity Can Only Be Built Upon The One True Church

As Pope Pius XI taught in his 1937 encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, "Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds." (para. #8). 

The Teachings of the Popes

1. In the absence of a restraining principle by which individual passions are controlled, moral unity of a nation becomes impossible.

Pope Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, para. # 21: Nor can it be said that these atrocities are a transitory phenomenon, the usual accompaniment of all great revolutions, the isolated excesses common to every war. No, they are the natural fruit of a system which lacks all inner restraint. Some restraint is necessary for man considered either as an individual or in society. Even the barbaric peoples had this inner check in the natural law written by God in the heart of every man. And where this natural law was held in higher esteem, ancient nations rose to a grandeur that still fascinates - more than it should - certain superficial students of human history. But tear the very idea of God from the hearts of men, and they are necessarily urged by their passions to the most atrocious barbarity. (Emphasis mine)

2. People can choose the form of government they want, as long as it is not opposed to the Church and Her teachings.

Pope St. Pius X: Notre Charge Apostolique,  In the Encyclical on political government which We have already quoted, they could have read this: 'Justice being preserved, it is not forbidden to the people to choose for themselves the form of government which best corresponds with their character or with the institutions and customs handed down by their forefathers.' (Emphasis mine)

3. The State has an obligation to be a Catholic State, and the Church will bring blessings upon the people.

Pope Leo XIII: Immortale Dei: As a consequence, the State, constituted as it is, is clearly bound to act up to the manifold and weighty duties linking it to God, by the public profession of religion...Now, it cannot be difficult to find out which is the true religion, if only it be sought with an earnest and unbiased mind; for proofs are abundant and striking. We have, for example, the fulfillment of prophecies, miracles in great numbers, the rapid spread of the faith in the midst of enemies and in face of overwhelming obstacles, the witness of the martyrs, and the like. From all these it is evident that the only true religion is the one established by Jesus Christ Himself, and which He committed to His Church to protect and to propagate...the abundant benefits with which the Christian religion, of its very nature, endows even the mortal life of man are acquired for the community and civil society. And this to such an extent that it may be said in sober truth: "The condition of the commonwealth depends on the religion with which God is worshiped; and between one and the other there exists an intimate and abiding connection." (para. #6, 7, 19; Emphasis mine). 

4. Errors Concerning The One True Church and the State

Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, CONDEMNED PROPOSITIONS:

27. The sacred ministers of the Church and the Roman pontiff are to be absolutely excluded from every charge and dominion over temporal affairs.

40. The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well- being and interests of society.

42. In the case of conflicting laws enacted by the two powers, the civil law prevails.

48. Catholics may approve of the system of educating youth unconnected with Catholic faith and the power of the Church, and which regards the knowledge of merely natural things, and only, or at least primarily, the ends of earthly social life.

55. The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church.

Conclusion

Father DePauw's Chapel is approximately 30% non-white, and always was that way. It showed me the true "universal" (i.e., "Catholic") Nature of the Church. I remember one Sunday sitting between an Hispanic man and a Haitian woman. Neither spoke English other than a few simple phrases. Yet here we were at the same Mass. I looked over and saw one hand Missal was in French and English and the other in Spanish and English. Christ came to all three of us in Holy Communion that day regardless of race, language, or other worldly consideration.

God created one race, the human race. While we are composed of different skin colors, it should neither unite us like the Nazis or divide us like so-called "separatists." Let the One True Church unite us all in He Who is Truth Itself. "There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). 

When Strangers Come Knocking---Part 6

This is the next installment of my series to be published the first Monday of each month.

There are members of false sects, like Jehovah's Witnesses, that come knocking door-to-door hoping to convert you. Instead of ignoring them, it is we who should try and convert them. In 1 Peter 3:16, our first Pope writes, "But in thy hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks thee to give the reason for the hope that thou hast. But do this with gentleness and respect,..." Before the Great Apostasy, the Church would send missionaries to the ends of the Earth to make as many converts as possible.

Those in false religions don't always come (literally) knocking at your door. It may be a Hindu at work who wants you to try yoga. It could be a "Christian Scientist" who lives next door and invites you to come to their reading room. Each month, I will present a false sect. Unlike the Vatican II sect, I do not see them as a "means of salvation" or possessing "elements of truth" that lead to salvation. That is heresy. They lead to damnation, and the adherents of the various sects must be converted so they may be saved.

In each month's post, I will present one false sect and give an overview of:

• The sect's history
• Their theology
• Tips on how to share the True Faith with them

The Unification "Church"

Called "The Moonies" after their founder, "Reverend" Sun Myung Moon (d.2012) of South Korea, The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, as this sect is formally called, can rightfully be branded a cult. I use the word "cult" with great caution, and never to designate a false religion. The appellation correctly carries a very negative connotation in modern society. It is used to designate those groups that use coercion (either physical, mental, social, financial, or any combination thereof) to (a) get people to join or (b) prevent people from leaving. Hence, Scientology is a cult, since it has been proven that they have blackmailed people and even threatened the lives of their members should they dare to leave. The Moonies have the infamous distinction of using mental coercion (i.e. "brainwashing") to get people in and stop others already members from leaving. They even had a run in almost twenty years ago with the Vatican II sect. 

In order to understand and convert The Moonies, it is necessary to understand their founder and the false claim that they are "Christian" in any sense of that word. The cult is based on a false "Messiah" and they encourage occult practices. 

Bad Moon Rising

Sun Myung Moon was born on January 6, 1920, in northwestern Korea. Raised as a Protestant, Moon claimed that on Easter Sunday 1936, the 16 year old was praying on a mountainside when Jesus Christ appeared to him, and requested Moon to "complete the mission" which He began nearly 2,000 years ago. Moon realized that he was the only one who could save the world, and accepted the "call to become the Messiah."  Moon then spent the next nine years "battling Satan," in which the devil tried to get Moon to sin (and thereby become unworthy of his role as "Messiah"), and also tried to convince him he could not be the alleged Messiah. In 1945, Sun Myung Moon declared his "victory over Satan." 

The year 1946 saw Moon under the Communist regime of North Korea, when the country was divided by the Americans and the Soviets at the 38th parallel. At this time, he began studying under Paik Moon Kim who ran a "Christian monastery" with bizarre and occult teachings regarding Christ. It was from Kim that Moon developed most of his theology. In 1948, Moon's religious activity caused the Communists to sentence him to five years of hard labor. He escaped during the Korean War and made it into South Korea. He was subjected to torture at the hands of the Communists resulting in making anti-Communism and pro-American political ideology part of his cult.

 In 1954, Moon officially established the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, commonly known as the Unification Church.

In 1957 he published Divine Principle. Moon claims that Divine Principle is a revelation he received from God and is the "Third Testament" alongside the Old and New Testaments. Paik Moon Kim, also fancied himself to be a "Messiah" of sorts. In 1960, Moon married Hak Ja Han, with whom he had fourteen children. She now controls the cult since Moon's death in 2012.

On New Year's Day, 1972, Moon said that God "sent him to America." He came to America and toured under the guise of patriotism with the theme "God Bless America." On his second tour he supported President Richard Nixon during the Watergate investigation, stating that "God made Nixon president, and only God should remove him." Three hundred fifty followers fasted for seventy-two hours on behalf of Nixon, asking Congress to "forgive, love, and unite." The President personally thanked Moon for his support. Since that event the Unification Church has had the public eye. He began initiating an aggressive proselytizing effort using techniques aimed at getting the disenfranchised to join, and make them feel worthless without the cult so they would never leave. He bought The Washington Times to give his cult an aura of respectability, and with the help of his followers, he made tens of millions of dollars.

In the 1980s, he performed the first of many mass wedding ceremonies in which more than 2000 couples were married. In 1984, he was convicted of tax evasion in the U.S. and sent to prison for 13 months. Moon was the ultimate authority within the cult; an authority passed on to his widow Hak Ja Han. The administration of Unification organizations is by a board of elders. The Unification cult's main religious text is the Bible. It is seen as teaching truth, but is not viewed as truth in itself. It is only a partial revelation. Moon's interpretations of Christian beliefs and additional revelations from God are all recorded in the Divine Principle. (See Frederick Sontag, Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church, [1977]; for detailed accounts of cult activity, See Crazy for God: The Nightmare of Cult Life, by Christopher Edwards, [1979]).

The "Third Adam"

The beliefs of Moon are further out there than the actual moon. Here is a brief summary:

• God is both positive (male) and negative (female) aspects, which are in perfect harmony with each other. A variation of the Asian pagan belief of "yin" and "yang" 

• The Holy Ghost is not a Person, but God's "feminine counterpart" --a form of energy derived from God

• The Fall of Humanity was caused by two illicit sex acts: Eve had sex with Satan, and had pre-marital sex with Adam before God had the chance to marry them. They could no longer form the perfect family and Satan took over the world

• Communism is of Satan and American's democratic republic is of God

•  Jesus Christ was a unique human being who was born without original sin. After his crucifixion, he was spiritually resurrected, although Satan took his body away

• God's original intent was for Jesus Christ to form a perfect marriage in order to redeem humanity, and undo the harm perpetrated by Adam and Eve. Since Jesus was executed before accomplishing his mission, it will be up to a third Adam to form this perfect marriage and complete Jesus' task

• Since Jesus did not complete his original task, physical salvation is not possible on earth during one's lifetime. Complete salvation (spiritual and physical) awaits the arrival of the third Adam and his subsequent perfect marriage

• St. Paul was the "creator" of Christianity. Through his teachings, he converted the tenets of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God into a formal religion about Jesus

• The main purpose of the Unification Church is to unite all of the fragments of Christianity into a single body through ecumenism

• The "Third Adam" who will form the perfect family was born in Korea between 1917 and 1930. Moon is the long awaited Third Adam, who with Hak Ja Han, will have a perfect family that will ultimately redeem humanity

The Unification cult is primarily a cult of personality; the narcissistic rambling of the late Sun Myung Moon and now his "perfect wife and family." These wacky teachings actually made inroads with the Vatican II sect. Besides being ecumenical, like the V2 sect, there was quite an unusual event involving the Modernist Vatican II sect itself in 2001 which will be examined.

The Strange Case of "Archbishop" Milingo

Emmanuel Milingo was born in Africa in 1930. He was validly ordained a priest in 1958, at the age of 28. Eleven years later Montini (Paul VI) "consecrated" him a "bishop" in the new and invalid rite of Holy Orders. Montini made him "Archbishop" of the Diocese of Lusaka. He was known for performing exorcisms at the drop of a hat. The True Church does not randomly go about performing exorcisms without the necessary investigation, which takes time to rule out non-supernatural causes.

Dabbling in such endeavors is dangerous. Wojtyla removed him as "Archbishop" as a result in 1983, and made him a "delegate" of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers. Milingo saw Satan in the Vatican II sect, but wrongly considered the sect as the Catholic Church. He teamed up with "Fr." Nicholas Gruner of the "Fatima Industry" claiming the hierarchy was doing Satan's work. Then in May of 2001, the almost 71-year-old got deeply involved with the Unification cult when he went to a  doctor said to be using pagan "Reiki healing." Milingo "married" a 43-year-old acupuncturist named Marie Sung in a "group wedding," comprising many couples getting legally married by Moon simultaneously. Sung was chosen by Moon himself for Milingo, and he only met her two days before the "wedding." (See https://zenit.org/articles/zambian-archbishop-marries-in-moon-wedding/).

Milingo participated in mass-marriages organized by the sect in Japan in 1999, and in Korea in 2000, yet the Modernist Vatican never censured him. After his "wedding" he was told by the then "Cardinal" Ratzinger to leave Sung. Milingo said, "For 43 years as a celibate priest ... I only knew God as a male. Now, through my union with Maria, I have come to see the other side of God's heart, which is female."  This is Moonie teaching. (See https://www.cesnur.org/2001/moon_july25.htm; Emphasis mine)

He briefly reconciled with Wojtyla, but then rejoined his "wife." He targeted celibacy. "Secret affairs and marriages, illegitimate children, rampant homosexuality, pedophilia and illicit sex have riddled the priesthood to the extent that the UN Commission on Human Rights has investigated the church for sexual abuse, and the western media is filled with stories of lawsuits and scandals surrounding the Church," Milingo said.(See http://www.wewillstand.org/media/20010808_9.htm).

Just like the Modernists, he is right about the scandals but wrong about the source; it is not celibacy but Vatican II. Milingo began an organization urging Vatican II sect "priests" to marry, calling it Married Priests (sic) Now! It still took until 2006, after he "consecrated" four so-called priests as "bishops" that he was "excommunicated" by Wojtyla, and in 2009, he was reduced to the lay state (he is no longer referred to or recognized as a member of their clergy--being called "Layman Emmanuel Milingo." [See http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bmilingo.html]).

Now, at age 89, he has made many "bishops" all with the same desire--to end celibacy and draw "priests" into their movement. In 2010, he was pronounced "patriarch" of his own sect, "The Ecumenical Catholic Apostolic Church of Peace." (See https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=7203).
I believe Milingo is being used by the very Satanic forces he denounces to promote the denigration of celibacy.

Consider:

• He is an apostate priest having broken his Anti-Modernist Oath, and was "consecrated" by Montini himself
• His so-called exorcisms were accused of being "indigenous"--using African pagan elements, which would attract, not repel, demons
• He met Moon through a doctor he went to for a knee problem, and the doctor was alleged to be using "Reiki healing" which is pagan 
• The Moon cult "Unification Church" has many occult practices that open one to demonic forces

The Unification cult has direct occult connections. The Divine Principle itself supports occult practices. "Thus, the spirit men pour out spiritual fire on earthly men, give them the power to heal diseases, and help them do many mighty works. More than that, they enable earthly men to see many facts in the spirit world in a state of trance, give them the gift of prophecy, and inspire them spiritually. Through such activities, substituting for the Holy Spirit, they cooperate with earthly men to fulfill the will of God." (pg. 182; Emphasis mine). Further, Moon said, "If you are a clairvoyant...you should know whether your spirit guide is higher than you in spirit. If he is higher, it is all right. If he is not higher than you and you consult him, you lose…. They want to control you…. It is always dangerous, and you don’t gain anything, to be controlled by spirit. By understanding the Principle, you are in such a position that you can control and use and guide them." (See Unification publication, The Master Speaks, pg. 16)

Moon is clearly a medium. He has urged his followers to engage in mediumistic contacts as part of their "spiritual growth." This is in direct contradiction to Church teaching and Biblical warnings that tell us such activity is an abomination to God: "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord,…" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Satan hates purity. Pope Siricius (334–399), described his opponent Jovinian as a tool of "the ancient enemy, the adversary of chastity, the teacher of luxury," because he had attacked the celibacy of the clergy.

Bringing Someone Back from the Moon

When engaging a Moonie, please remember these important points:

• Not all are brainwashed, and do not insinuate they are, or you will lose them
• Do not call them Moonies or a cult; call them "Unificationists" or they will not hear you out
• Do not directly attack the person of Sun Myung Moon or Hak Ja Han; lead them to draw their own conclusions about them from their theology

Talking points:

Moon claimed that Jesus had failed in His mission. He declared this entirely on the advice of some unknown spirits who had given him revelations and possessed him. On what logical or historical precedent can those possessed by spirits be trusted? 

Moon said he would convert Korea and America. He died over seven years ago and none of this happened. What does the Bible say about a failed prophet? Deuteronomy 18:22 says, "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him." Is this someone you should follow?

In the Unification publication Master Speaks, 1, p. 1 Moon says, "From childhood, I was clairvoyant and clairaudient. I could see through people, see their spirits." In Master Speaks, 2, pp. 18-19, Moon alleges, "I can appear to a thousand people at once." In Master Speaks, December 29, 1971, p. 10, members of the Unification church may become mediums themselves, as it is written, "They [spirits] are free to associate with you and contact you at any time."

Now hit them with Unification teaching in direct contradiction. The January-February, 1977 issue of Unification publication The Way of the World (pages 45-49) lists twelve "theological affirmations" of official Unification Church beliefs. Of number 10, "The Bible," it declares: "Truth is unique eternal and unchanging, so any new messages from God will be in conformity with the Bible." They accept the Old and New Testaments. Read to them the passage from Deuteronomy cited above;  "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord,…" (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). Ask, "How is this in conformity with Master Speaks and Divine Principle? How are Moon's failed prophesies in conformity with Deuteronomy 18:22? 

  Conclusion

It is especially difficult in dealing with members of cults. Even a Vatican II sect "bishop" bought into their false occult-based teachings from a false "Messiah" who was a crook and a master manipulator. He ruined people's lives (and souls). You must get these poor souls to question Moon in a gentle manner so they may begin to think for themselves. Always pray for them and offer a Green Scapular if they will accept one (they are ecumenical, so they may be receptive). Remember well the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ to His Apostles, "Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (St. Matthew 10:16).