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I want to start talking about Mary which can actually be a pretty extensive subject so I will try and limit it to the immaculate conception and Mary as our spiritual Mother today. Some how Protestantism can accept that Eve was born without sin but Mary could not have been without sin. This breaks with the seamless fabric of scripture and how God does everything in perfect measure and balance. When scripture is properly experienced removing the concept of time and space, it becomes a fugue, multiple instruments being played at once as an entire sonata. At the same time God sees the 12 tribes surrounding the meeting tent He sees the world through all time. At the same time he sees the outer curtain in course animals hair He sees the baptism of John. At the same time He sees the Levitical priests washing in the bronze laver He sees people being baptized into the flesh of Christ which Paul refers to the veil in front of the Holies. At the same time he sees the bread of the presence which is sanctified by the Shekinah, He sees the Eucharist in the hands of the priests. At the same time He sees the Menorrah He sees the life giving cross. At the same time He sees the smoke of the incense, the prayers of the saints are rising to the throne of God. At the same time he sees the ark of the covenant in the holy of Holies he sees the true Ark of the Woman clothed with the Son and Christ. Protestantism completely separates from this  perfect balance because Protestantism is founded on protesting the Catholic Church which we know as the one truth God established and protesting is not attesting. Protesting does not get you to deep spiritual truths. The early church fathers saw this perfect balance which is something that even appears to me to flow as a theological poetry. Just Martyr writing around 150 AD tells us: For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to thy word.’ And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him. So Eve is a Virgin and undefiled. Obviously being a Virgin means you have not had intercourse so the words “ and undefiled” would mean undefiled by sin. So in  perfect balance Justin is saying that Mary as the true Eve was a Virgin and undefiled by sin. So Eve when she was undefiled by sin , fell into the temptation of Satan while Mary undefiled by sin was obedient to God. In the ASCENSION OF ISAIAH we read: “[T]he report concerning the child was noised abroad in Bethlehem. Some said, ‘The Virgin Mary has given birth before she was married two months.’ And many said, ‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not gone up to her, and we heard no cries of pain’” (Ascension of Isaiah 11 [A.D. 70]). The Ascension was written around the same time as the Didache was. I consider the Didache to be the first Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism came before the Bible. In the Ascension it mentions the possibility of Mary giving birth without pain. So I am pretty sure whoever wrote this understood the reason for pain in childbirth according to scripture. In Genesis 3:16 we read To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. So Justin tells us that Mary was undefiled and the Ascension of Isaiah shows us one of those results of being undefiled which is to have no pain in childbirth. So anyone who tries to say that this doctrine was created by man first seen  December 8, 1845 in pope pious the XI encyclical INEFFABILIS DEUS does not understand the church. Things can be in the heart of the church since the beginning of Christianity and not made official doctrine until much later. Another example would be the Trinity. We can say that obviously the Trinity existed before it was canonized, or made a rule of faith. Going back to balance and poetry, This lack of contrast and balance is something that Doctor David Anders does a great job of describing. I love his conversion story. Dr Anders wrote: By the time I finished my Ph.D., I had completely revised my understanding of the Catholic Church. I saw that her sacramental doctrine, her view of salvation, her veneration of Mary and the saints, and her claims to authority were all grounded in Scripture, in the oldest traditions, and in the plain teaching of Christ and the Apostles. I also realized that Protestantism was a confused mass of inconsistencies and tortured logic. Not only was Protestant doctrine untrue, but it bred contention, and could not even remain unchanged. The more I studied, the more I realized that my Evangelical heritage had moved far not only from ancient Christianity, but even from the teaching of her own Protestant founders. In  addition to this tradition of Mary being without sin that we see back to 70 AD while some of the apostles were still alive, The Jews saw  no path to heaven due  to the sins of Adam and Eve. They waited for a savior to come and believed righteous souls went to shoul. A place that is separated from hell by a barrier that could not be crossed; a kind of waiting station. Jesus in Lk 16:19-31 shows us an image of this place or state of being beyond our material reality we live. Jesus said: The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ This place was not heaven and not hell but was where righteous souls went and   Job and David show us that even if you lived in righteousness as a Jew, you were still born into original sin which somehow held people back from the final destination. It is possible that the Book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible and was written before Moses. Job could have known of this original sin before the Israelites fell into the curse of not keeping the Mosaic Law. In Job 14:4 we read Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed ? is it not thou who only art? David who was under the law understood this same hereditary defilement of the soul. In Psalms 51:5 we read: For behold I was conceived in iniquities; and in sins did my mother conceive me. And John tells us how nothings unclean can enter heaven ( Rev 21:27)  and of course Paul tells us how those in the church were made clean by the grace given freely of baptism. And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand in despoiling of the body of the flesh: but in the circumcision of Christ. 12Buried with him in baptism: in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him up from the dead. 13And you, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he hath quickened together with him, forgiving you all offences: 14Blotting out the handwriting of the decree that was against us, which was contrary to us. Col 2:10 12Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death: and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned…For if by the offence of one, many died: much more the grace of God and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Roman’s 5 Circumcision is a removal of flesh. A type for going from the man of flesh to the man of spirit. When it comes to the incarnation, Jesus did not need to be baptized yet to be a Christian is to follow Christ. Even follow him into that baptism which we do need. Jesus did not need to be baptized and yet we know that He was not born in iniquity in His mother’s womb. Something different than all of humanity before Jesus happened here. So either Jesus just being God even though He was in the womb of Mary was simply impervious to that original sin or Mary’s womb was specifically prepared by God to not pass on original sin. If we follow the perfect equity and perfect balance we can ask the question, would God make Mary less purified and holy than Eve even though it is Mary who was obedient to Gods will not Eve? Holy meaning set apart for God. These things just do not add up, especially when you are following the perfect balance and poetry. So we should not look to the natural order of things in the incarnation of him who transcends that natural order. And we should look to the Love of Christ in how he would prepare his own mother which He knew of before time began. Perfect love had an image of His mother in His being, before time began. Perfect love would create a perfect mother. He was not born in iniquity in His mothers womb because Mary was saved from original sin through the blood of the cross before the incarnation. Again, we can’t argue against the purity of Mary through following a course natural laws when we know the incarnation itself transcends the natural order of things. So obviously Mary’s preparation for the divine can transcend the natural order of things. Just as the righteous before the cross who went to shoel, would be saved because of the cross in the future. God is not limited to time and space. Mary prayed in ecstasy, “ My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” She prays  He has done great things to me. All generations shall call me blessed. Protestants in arguing against Jesus making his own mother special among humanity, says , see, Mary says she needed to be saved. I like the well analogy for this. If I was about to fall into a well and you caught me before I fell did you still save me? Of course you did, without your intervention I would have fell in. So without Gods supernatural intervention in Mary she would have fell into sin. And yet we should keep focused on why this happened. Mary was preserved without sin not because of her greatness but because of God's greatness and perfection. Moses was told to remove his sandals because he walked on holy ground. A burning bush was considered holy ground while the incarnation of holiness itself was in the womb of Mary for 9 months. I was in a debate a while back and the person I was in a debate with told me that Mary’s womb was no more holy or no more prepared than where Jesus slept on a daily basis. So what he is saying was that Mary’s womb was no more protected than the ground Moses walked on when He was told to remove his sandals because he walked on holy ground. What is fascinating is how Catholics end up defending sacredness and holiness against Protestants. We argue for the sacred and the holy while Protestantism fights against it. This is some of the damage this construct created. The Catholic Church which was living the sacramental life in obedience to the faith before a word of scripture was written, fulfilled Mary’s prophecy that all generations will call her blessed. We have called her blessed for 2000 years. There is also some fascinating science here; knowledge that we have only come into recently. It’s called Michrochimerism . It has been discovered that fetal cells travel through out the mothers body and have even been found on heart tissue actually healing the heart of the mother. Autopsies have revealed that these fetal cells in mothers have lasted even into old age. We are here for a blink of an eye compared to eternity in order to be saved, so we must consider the possibility that God placed this in science for the particular purpose of contemplation on Jesus’s love and union with His own  mother. Jesus who said, woman, what is there between me and thee? His male DNA was miraculous and everything else was from His mother. Makes you think again about the words, “ He has done great things to me.” We don’t know when Mary died. There are different opinions. One of those opinions is that she lived a long life died of old age and was assumed into heaven after death. She could have been alive during the times when most of the apostles were martyred. One of the reasons why Sola Scriptura is foolishness is because of the sacredness of the mysteries and another is because of persecution. It was Jesus who said do not give what is holy to the dogs. Paul explained, “ If our gospel be veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing.” Due to persecution and the sacredness of the mysteries, it was veiled to those outside the church. This would be a good reason why Paul would tell the church to hold fast to the tradition oral and written. Even though what was sacred was being addressed during persecution, Luke used words in his description of Mary that were profound and completely new when it came to Mary. Luke who must have knew Mary in order to get such intimate details of the story of the incarnation, was probably protecting Mary by writing the way he did,  maybe because she was still alive, and the pagans would have done awful things to her, or he simply was being guided by the Holy Spirit in placing many images in scripture and did not fully understand what he was putting to paper. It is pretty obvious that he had to know he was creating a new word though in describing Mary. Luke writes: Hail  full of grace. He is not giving the name of Mary to show us how the angel Gabriel addressed Mary but is addressing  a state of being as a new name; full of Grace. When there is a name change there is a higher purpose established by God  in the salvation mystery, Just like Abrams became Abraham, , Sarai's to Sarah, Jacob's to Israel and Simon's to Peter. Abram’s name, meaning "high father," to “Abraham,” meaning "father of a multitude" “Sarai,” meaning “my princess,” to “Sarah,” meaning “mother of nations” Abram’s  name was changed at the establishment of the covenant with Abraham. Mary was given the name full of Grace before she gave birth to the one who would fulfill Abraham’ s covenant promise. Mary becomes the true Mother of nations because through Mary came the promise of Abraham fulfilled. By her yes to God which reversed Eves disobedience. Irenaeus of Lyons Adversus Haereses (Book V Chapter 19) [120-180 AD] "The Lord then was manifestly coming to his own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation that is supported by himself. He was making a recapitulation of that disobedience that had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience that was upon a tree [i.e., the cross]. Furthermore, the original deception was to be done away with—the deception by which that virgin Eve (who was already espoused to a man) was unhappily misled. That this was to be overturned was happily announced through means of the truth by the angel to the Virgin Mary (who was also [espoused] to a man). . . . So if Eve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way, the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued by a virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created man received amendment by the correction of the First-begotten This is what Catholics mean when they refer to Mary as the cause of our salvation. This does not mean that Mary is the primary cause she is a creature and all creatures are practically infinitely less than God. Co redemptrix also does not mean that Mary herself is an origin of grace. It means that God chose her to participate in our redemption through His grace. Mary is a practice of humility. Humility is the key to seeing through Satan’s preternatural deceptions. So Mary through obedience to God as a Virgin and undefiled who gave birth without pain, was the bridge between the Old Covenant and the New. The promise of Abraham in the Old Testament and the promise fulfilled in the new. The promise that includes multiplying  the descendants of Abraham to be numerous as the stars. Both Joseph and Mary were from the Royal Line of David but that is another story for another day. Brant Pitre does a beautiful job of showing Mary in the redemption mystery when he writes about the shoot of Jesse. Jesus and Mary are at the top of the tree and of course Jesse the father of David is the foundation. Pitre looks at the typology of the virgin daughter of Sion. “Indeed, this verse becomes an excellent example of what Scripture scholars refer to as the polyvalent or multi-layered nature of Scripture. The angel’s greeting signals not only that Mary is “full of grace,” but also that she is the true “Daughter of Zion.” So how does this relate to Mary being free from sin? We saw before that it was the sin of Israel that prevented God from dwelling “in the midst of” “the virgin daughter of Zion.” How fitting for the New Covenant daughter of Zion—in the midst of whom the Lord would dwell bodily—to be free from all sin. The obstacle that kept God from dwelling in the midst of his people had been eliminated through Mary’s immaculate conception, and Mary becomes the archetype of the Church—“holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). On one level, since she was “full of grace,” Mary was the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the daughter of Zion even before the Incarnation. And yet, there was more to come. Mary’s fullness of grace had prepared the New Covenant daughter of Zion for something the Old Covenant people of God could never have fathomed. It was grace that made her fit to be a worthy vessel to bear the King of Glory in her body. The fulfillment of God’s promise would not be complete, then, until Mary conceived Jesus in her womb.” Paul shows us how we entered into this promise fulfilled through our baptism which destroys original sin. 26For you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. 28There 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. 29And if you be Christ's, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. Gal 3:26. This brings us to the reason for the immaculate conception. The promise of Abraham fulfilled came with the destruction of original sin through the sacrifice of an unblemished Lamb. Jesus as one not born into original sin in order to be the unblemished Lamb The angel Gabriel addressed Mary as:? Hail Kecharitomene in the Greek language. Which is  formed into English as, Hail you who have been perfected in grace. Some Bible versions have full of grace. Some have a lousy interpretation as highly favored. The original Greek does not give the name Mary ( When there is a name change there is a higher calling) , but the new name perfected in grace. I don’t know Greek but I accept this understanding from people who do. Here is a further explanation. I don’t remember where I found this so I just put it in quotes. “Why is the word Kecharitomene used only once in the entire volume of scripture? It is used in scripture when the Angel Gabriel addressed Mary? Why is the word used nowhere in secular Greek literature? The technical name for such a novel, unique word is hapax legomenon.  Hapax legomenon--which comes to us from Greek--means "expressed once." Why is the word a feminine present perfect passive voice participle of a verb which means previously graced; past tense? To have been made graceful in the past? Or the immaculate conception?” So Can sin reside in perfection? Was Eve  before the fall without sin? In perfect balance God would not make Mary who answered Gods call, less than Eve. Why did the Angel Gabriel Address Mary with the salutation of Hail? Past participle previously perfected in grace or "Immaculate conception. " In addition to Luke using this amazing creation of a new word for a creature, he builds this understanding up in layers for those who would live in  the tradition of the church. First he shows us the imaculate conception then he shows us how the imaculate conception is the true Ark of the Covenant. He gives us the reason why an ark of the Covenant was even made. It was made to fulfill a particular aspect of typology. It was made so that the soul should feed on the deep spiritual realities that often have no words to truly describe but simply create a closer union with the divine. It was done to show us the glory of the true ark and the sacredness of the contents. It feeds the soul on images of holiness as God calls us to be holy for He is holy. How Luke does this should show people that it is beyond the laws of probability that it was not happenstance. The words that were used that creates the image of the ark in our minds cannot be denied if you choose to follow truth wherever it leads. I can’t overemphasize this verse from James. “ He who knows what is right and refuses to do so for him this is sin.” So after Mary is declared by God through the Angel Gabriel that she is the immaculate conception who  will give birth to the savior of the world, or as Isaiah tells us Emanuel, God with us, and she proclaims that God has done great things to her, Luke shows her visiting her cousin Elizabeth who will through a miraculous birth due to her age, and it is written that she was never able to conceive, give birth to John the Baptist who will prepare the way for Christ through a ministry of repentance of the Jews in preparation for Christ. This is when Luke brings in the imagery of the true Ark prepared for Christ. The ark of the covenant covered in gold as a sign of purity, contained the High priest Aaron’s staff that budded/ Jesus is our high priest Melchizedek of offers through His body His glorified body and blood in the form of bread and wine , who established the life giving cross. The Ark contained the Ten Commandments/ Jesus is the word that became flesh through which the prophecy was fulfilled that the law would be written on our hearts. The Ark contained  the manna that sustained the lives of the Israelites for 40 years in the desert, food from heaven./ Jesus compared his body to that manna saying my flesh is true food and he is the true bread of life. The ark could be carried on a donkey, set on the ground, be taken across a river but when someone who did not go through the proper purification touched the ark they would die, we see this in the story of Uzzah. The ark could not be touched by unpurified man because the true ark could not be touched by sin. The true Ark from the time it was formed is the immaculate conception. If we follow the type and heavenly reality in perfect measure. If Joseph did not recognize the sacredness of the true ark on his own then God would have done what he needed to do to stop Joseph from having sexual relations with Mary. Joseph was of original sin and he would have thought it as sacrilege to corrupt the true ark which gave birth to God into time. Joseph knew that the Ark of the Covenant was the most powerful symbol of God that was ever on earth up until the incarnation. It was carried into battles as the power of God against the enemies of Israel. He was a Jew. He lived the scriptures. And there is so much more. The  ark traveled to the house of Obed-edom in the hill country of Judea, we see this in (2 Samuel 6:1-11) Mary traveled to the house of Elizabeth and Zachariah in the same hill country of Judea (Luke 1:39). David who was dressed as a priest, danced and leapted in front of the ark (2 Samuel 6:14) John the Baptist who was of priestly lineage lept in Elizabeth’s womb as Mary, the true ark approached. (Luke 1:41) David thought, “how can the ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9) Elizabeth thought , “Why is it granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me”. (Luke 1:43) But we even have more. To anyone who bases their faith on reason this in itself should be overwhelming by now but scripture does not interpret scripture to the heart, faith does. In second Samuel 6:15 David shouts while in the presence of the ark. In Luke 1:42 Elizabeth exclaims with a loud cry in the presence of Mary. Get this, on top of everything else, Luke used the Greek term "anaphoneo" to describe how Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice, the only other times the word "anaphoneo" is found in the Bible is when scripture is referring to the sounds made by the levitical priests before the ark of the covenant. We can go on The ark was in the house of Obed-edom for three months and the house was blessed by the presence of the ark. ( 2 Samuel 6:11) Mary stayed in the house of Elizabeth for three months and beyond all laws of probability to the contrary, the word blessed is used three times. (Luke 1:56, 1:39-45) Later on the ark is returned to Jerusalem and 2 Samuel 6:12 and Kings 8:9 expressed that God’s presence and glory is seen in the temple. We go back to Luke and see see Mary as the true Ark and Jesus as Gods  incarnate presence in the temple. (Luke 1:56, 2:21-22) In Psalms 132:8 David in the Holy Spirit says, “ Arise, O Lord, into thy resting place: thou and the ark, which thou hast sanctified.” And, we see where the ark which was sanctified by God rises to, at the end of Revelation 11 and beginning of Revelation 12. “And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail. And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” An ark that was sanctified, made holy defined as 1. : to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use : consecrate. 2. : to free from sin : purify. So Satan goes to make war with the children of the women who keep the commandments of God. The woman who wears the crown of 12 stars with the moon under her feet can be both the church and Mary but it cannot be just the church. In these images is where we who live obedience to the faith, are given the grace to contemplate, things, things that are outside of time and space and simply are. Things that bring forth an eternal vision separating us from time as we contemplate on them. So the seed of the woman has to be those who enter the promise of Abraham fulfilled. I have addressed this in past discussions and we are bound to overlap over and over again. Those who have entered the promise fulfilled have as Paul addressed in Romans 9 Not as though the word of God hath miscarried. For all are not Israelites that are of Israel. 7Neither are all they that are the seed of Abraham, children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is to say, not they that are the children of the flesh are the children of God: but they that are the children of the promise are accounted for the seed. And in order to enter the family of God , enter the promise of Abraham fulfilled, Peter tells us we are divinized. Of course as Catholics we understand that this occurred through the single event of baptism which was the beginning of the correction from the fall of Adam and Eve. Peter writes in 2 Peter 1 3As all things of his divine power which appertain to life and godliness are given us through the knowledge of him who hath called us by his own proper glory and virtue. 4By whom he hath given us most great and precious promises: that by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature. So if we have become the family of God inside His divine nature, then obviously the mother of God into time would be much more perfected in that divine nature than we would be in the flesh. We were not prepared to be a literal tabernacle for the incarnation from birth and it is through our baptism that destroyed original sin that prepared us for receiving the Eucharist. You do not pour new wine into old wine skins. Do you really think Mary needed no preparation to carry God in the flesh in her womb for 9 months? And in perfect equilibrium the mother of that divine nature would also be our mother. Let’s go back to Dr David Anders who writes. Scripture teaches that the Church is the Body of Christ (Eph 4:12). Evangelicals tend to dismiss this as mere metaphor, but the ancient Christians thought of it as literally, albeit mystically, true. St. Gregory of Nyssa could say, “He who beholds the Church really beholds Christ.”1 As I thought about this, I realized that it spoke to a profound truth about the biblical meaning of salvation. St. Paul teaches that the baptized have been united to Christ in His death, so that they might also be united to Him in resurrection (Rom 6:3–6). This union literally makes the Christian a participant in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). St. Athanasius could even say, “For He was made man that we might be made God” (De incarnatione, 54.3). The ancient doctrine of the Church now made sense to me because I saw that salvation itself is nothing other than union with Christ and a continual growth into His nature. The Church is no mere association of like-minded people. It is a supernatural reality because it shares in the life and ministry of Christ… Once I understood the Catholic position on salvation, the Church, and the saints, the Marian dogmas also seemed to fall into place. If the heart of the Christian faith is God’s union with our human nature, the Mother of that human nature has an incredibly important and unique role in all of history. This is why the Fathers of the Church always celebrated Mary as the second Eve. Her Yes to God at the annunciation undid the No of Eve in the garden. If it is appropriate to venerate the saints and martyrs of the Church, how much more appropriate is it to give honor and veneration to her who made possible our redemption? Jesus gave his mother to the church at the same place he consummated his marriage with His bride, giving his mother to His flesh, His bride, His church those who have entered the promise fulfilled who have been divinized in order to enter the family of God. At the foot of the cross Jesus gave care of his mother “ to the disciple whom he loved”. Does he not call all of us to all be the disciple whom He loved, in turn  giving us His mother? Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… Scripture is influenced by God , God breathed, and must be seen as a beautiful balanced poem of a love story between a perfect groom and an imperfect bride. Jesus in the Old Testament tells His bride: I will espouse you to me in justice. I will espouse you to me forever. John who is the friend of the bridegroom says: He who has the bride is the bride groom. Paul tells us: Who ever hateth his own flesh? No, one loves and nourishes his own flesh as Christ does the church. And Augustine shows us the marriage. “Like a bridegroom Christ went forth from his nuptial chamber…He came even to the marriage-bed of the cross, and sensed the creature sighing in her breath, he surrendered himself to torment for his bride in a communication of love. (Augustine, Sermo Suppositus, 120:3) It is consummated

When Protestants began to separate from the errors of believing Catholics have a replacement theology instead of a fulfillment theology is when they would begin to understand Catholicism. There are many images in the Old Covenant which show us how the sacraments effect our souls in the spiritual reality of the New Covenant. It was Augustine who said,refering to the Old and New Testament, “the new is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed.” Protestantism to a point has to be ignorant in order to separate from 1500 years of truth. It began to be developed when most people could not even read and offered a religion of candy  instead of vegetables to the people and People need to eat their  vegetables. I do not say this to be cruel, I say it because God wants us all to be one and there is no true oneness separated from truth. Catholicism is the truth. Paul writes: Obey your prelates who have the rule over you for they watch over your souls. He says he has been given a ministry of reconciliation. But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Cor 5:18 If you believe the scriptures are supposed to be an infallible revelation in order to be saved then why would you ignore what God wrote into scripture that assists us on this salvation journey? Why would you ignore the physical church God established as the reestablished Kingdom of David? Why do you ignore the religion and ritual that is all across the New Testament that Jesus put in place through an agonizing death on the cross ( It is finished) Why do you ignore the sacerdotal office of Bishops, Priests and Deacons in scripture ? Why do you ignore Paul’s call to obedience to the faith? Why do you ignore God incarnate who is the word through which all things were made saying, “ receive the Holy Spirit whose sins you forgive are forgiven whose sins you bind our bound.” Sins cannot to bound unless they are first confessed. There was one church of one doctrine formed at Pentecost. Paul was a priest in this one church . Irenaeus said, “ all of the apostles were priests.” There is no reconciliation, restoration of grace for those who have already been baptized who fell into mortal sin without confession.  This is terrible and ominous for those who leave the church. This is how detrimental living in truth as it is exposed to the soul is. We are called to live in truth as it is exposed to the soul and not living in truth is falling from grace. He who knows what is right and refuses to do so for him this is sin. James 4:17 When Paul says , “Obey your prelates who have the rule over you for they watch over your souls. “ He would have called it an extreme heresy to obey an  authority of Christian matters of anyone who was not of the one church of one doctrine formed in the supernatural sacramental nature by God as the reestablished Kingdom of David. The apostles as part of the gospel believed they were in a time when prophecy was fulfilled which included the restoration of the Kingdom of David in the church. 3And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying: Men, brethren, hear me. 14Simon hath related how God first visited to take to the Gentiles, a people to his name. 15And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written: 16After these things I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down: and the ruins thereof I will rebuild. And I will set it up: 17That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the Lord, who doth these things. Acts 15 When the Jews for longing for the Kingdom to return, they were not thinking of the kingdom of heaven above but they also did not comprehend how the Kingdom would not be of this world but sacramental in nature. The phrase kingdom of heaven does not refer to a place we go to after death but the rule of God, Mount Sion, being established on earth. Therefore in the Lord’s Prayer the Our Father we hear: “ Thy kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. To be born again through water and spirit into the Kingdom of Heaven is to enter the sacramental reestablished kingdom of David where we live obedience to the faith in the sacramental life in our process of transforming grace through which we are saved. Jesus said there are weeds planted by Satan in the Kingdom. He can only be referring to the reestablished kingdom of David in the church because Satan cannot plant weeds in the eternal state of heaven. So it is in the kingdom where we are called in a practice of humility and in a mercy of God, where we have confession to a priest of apostolic succession. In the reestablished kingdom of David is where Paul said these words. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers Acts 2:42 I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, 2With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. 3Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4One body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling. 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism. 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all. Eph 4:1 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment. 1 Cor 1:10 God would  not have establish an old covenant priesthood who offered sacrifice for the sins of the Israelites unless it was going to be fulfilled in a supernatural reality in the new. In the mystery of sacrament we go from the physical in the Old Covenant to a physical sign that gives spiritual grace in the new. We see the New Covenant priesthood in type in Leviticus and Numbers. 20If a man carnally lie with a woman that is a bondservant and marriageable, and yet not redeemed with a price, nor made free: they both shall be scourged: and they shall not be put to death, because she was not a free woman. 21And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. 22And the priest shall pray for him: and for his sin before the Lord: and he shall have mercy on him, and the sin shall be forgiven. Leviticus 19:20 The person that sweareth, and uttereth with his lips, that he would do either evil or good, and bindeth the same with an oath, and his word: and having forgotten it afterwards understandeth his offence, 5Let him do penance for his sin: 6And offer of the flocks an ewe lamb, or a she goat, and the priest shall pray for him and for his sin. Leviticus 5:4 5And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of all the sins that men are wont to commit, and by negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and offended, 7They shall confess their sin, and restore the principal itself, and the fifth part over and above, to him against whom they have sinned. 8But if there be no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest's, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, to be an atoning sacrifice. 9All the firstfruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest: 10And whatsoever is offered into the sanctuary by every one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, it shall be his. Numbers 5:5-10 When Israel Zolli the Chief Rabbi of Rome during world war 11 converted to the Catholic faith, he was asked why he left his Jewish faith. He responded: But I have not given it up. Christianity is the integration (completion or crown) of the Synagogue. For, the Synagogue was a promise, and Christianity is the fulfillment of that promise. The Synagogue pointed to Christianity: Christianity presupposes the Synagogue. So you see, one cannot exist without the other. What I converted to was the living Christianity." So in this living Christianity we should truly see what Jesus meant when He said, I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. So in the fulfillment of the law of confessions for the Jews is confession to those of the New Covenant priesthood. This is really easy to see, if you respect Augustine’s image of type and fulfillment which is obviously draws from Paul’s images of type and fulfillment in Hebrew 9. 1The former indeed had also justifications of divine service and a sanctuary. 2For there was a tabernacle made the first, wherein were the candlesticks and the table and the setting forth of loaves, which is called the Holy. 3And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies: 4Having a golden censer and the ark of the testament covered about on every part with gold, in which was a golden pot that had manna and the rod of Aaron that had blossomed and the tables of the testament. 5And over it were the cherubims of glory overshadowing the propitiatory: of which it is not needful to speak now particularly. Notice how Paul says, “ of which it is not needful to speak now particularly.” There is no where else in scripture where he does so. This is a death blow to Sola Scriptura. So, I have noticed a pattern in the tradition of how Protestantism denies confession and the priesthood. In the process of separation from the church through man’s lower nature, over the last 500 years they have separated from the spiritual reality of Christianity. Through their false understanding of works they have separated from Paul’s call to obedience to the faith. It is a call to live the sacramental life and there is no living as a Christian of the New Covenant without living obedience to the faith. So when it comes to confession in the New Testament they choose not to see more than one application for confession and think confession simply means confessing to the congregation of believers or to God alone in prayer. And yet even with this argument, have you seen any Protestants confessing their intimate sins lately among their congregations? When Paul tells us to confess to each other, he does so for the peace of the church so that we clear our hearts with our brothers in faith before we bring our gifts to the altar. The laity brought the bread and wine to be consecrated. It is the same 2000 years later. Leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother: and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift. Matthew 5:24 This is different from the confession to the priest for the absolution of sins. Paul tells Titus the bishop of Crete: For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee: Titus 1:5 Paul was appointing bishops who would ordain priests everywhere he went. The word priest is in the etymology of elder, presbyter and presbyteros and the earliest historical records show us priests consecrating the Eucharist through the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows us the establishment of confession in John 20:21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. John 20:21 Jesus is telling the apostles that they are being given the authority of the Father who sent Christ into the world, so that they could forgive man’s sins. He does so by way of power of the Holy Spirit through breathing or giving of the nature of God. “the breath of the Almighty gives me life” [Job 33:4 “But it is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. Job 32:8 In the same way God breaths life into man He breathes the sacramental realities into the church which is His flesh. Protestants  quote the Pharisees that only God can forgive sins while they ignore the words of God. Protestantism limits its capacity for faith in scripture by rationalizing away Catholic concepts. It’s a Judeo Catholic book. It is a sad state of affairs because it is a psychological conditioning that leads to not truly seeing scripture. They can’t, it’s Catholic. At the beginning of Mass the church has general confession and during Holy Mass is spiritually sprinkled with the blood that speaks better than that of Able for atonement of venial sins ( Hebrews 12:22) so that Jesus presents his bride to his father without spot or wrinkle. Therefore Paul tells us, the one church God established: 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it: 26That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: 27That he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Ephesians 5:23 We began the Holy Mass with… “I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” In spiritually entering the veil through the laver of baptism we are given the graces to celebrate the true Passover through our high priest with the hosts of heaven. ( Nothing unclean can enter it) Therefore in Hebrews 10, Paul shows us how we entered the veil. In Hebrews 12, he shows us our heavenly reality we come to in every Holy Mass where through our high priest we offer the true Passover for the world. “ You have come to Mount Sion to the New Jerusalem… It begins with baptism which Paul shows us is type fulfilled of the bronze laver the Levitical priests needed to wash In before sacrificing or entering through the veil into the Holies . Not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost. Titus 3:5 The meeting tent holds the mystery of salvation through Christ and his body, his bride, his church. The laver before entering the veil is baptism into the flesh of Christ. But you are come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, 23And to the church of the firstborn who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel. But yet this spiritual reality does not occur if you are not in a state of grace. If you have fallen into mortal sin. Therefore there needs to be the ministry of reconciliation. The “ way” was not a name but a practice of faith. The narrow road of transforming grace through which we are saved. Confession is part of the way. God knows what we need to heal and nurture our souls in a perfect understanding; which is much better than we do. The Didache "Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the (((way )))of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]). The Letter of Barnabas "You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the (((way )))of light" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]). IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH “For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]). “For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” (ibid., 8). IRENAEUS “[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]). TERTULLIAN “[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness” (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]). HIPPOLYTUS “[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command” (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).

The man is unstable and needs to be medicated. He has lost all connection with reality. I regret that I have to be so blunt but it's the cold honest truth and somebody has to say it. Advanced Narcissism leads to Sociopathology and Hartley has shown the definitive signs that his pathology has progressed to a dangerous state. Catastrophic consequences are almost certain to follow. I am not joking or speaking in hyperbole. Donald Hartley is unstable and a genuine severe threat to himself and others. His two strokes are proof enough of his inability to control or suppress the rage inside himself caused by his irrational ego. Rather than take the steps to get healthy and examine his own out-of-control pride, Hartley doubles down on his toxic narcissism and dishonesty. Just look at these symptoms that would be characterized by a person with an irrationally inflated self image: A need to speak of oneself in the 3rd person to make oneself appear larger than life. For example, a normal person might say "I chose not to debate John Benko because of X", Hartley says "The Catholic Defender will never debate John Benko...". "The Catholic Defender responds to John Benko". Who talks like that? Is this guy 12? He actually imagines himself as a sort of super hero. In reality, his Catholic knowledge is far below par and his ability to make a cogent defense is simply non-existent. He is the classic combination of arrogance and ignorance. Rather than looking like a super hero, he comes off looking like a clown and he is losing all his friends who refuse to deal with his self absorption. A hysterical need to always be right even to the point of rejecting unimpeachable facts to the contrary. The narcissist will quickly develop a senseless hatred for anyone who has a different opinion regardless of how well founded. Hartley does this relentlessly. A total inability to accept new information, dismissing even the most credible sources as ''the enemy''. A complete disregard of the truth and a willingness to lie huge and often if that what it takes to escape a rhetorical trap. All of these things spring from a psychological device known as projection. Unable to deal with his own deep seeded self loathing, the narcissist projects it onto others. Violence inevitably follows. That is why those who care for Donald Hartley need to intervene before he reaches that point. Make no mistake, he is on the brink. It is in that framework of understanding that you must confront my factual responses to his latest tantrum. That Hartley has made this issue his hill to die on seems illogical to anyone but himself. Hartley actually counts it as a personal assault that anyone even questions the veracity of the alleged events in Medjugorje. This creates an instant conflict because, after a careful examination of the facts, a person would have to be criminally insane to believe in the fraud that is Medjugorje. That is why most Catholics, easily more than 90% of them, don't. That is where to true ugliness of a narcissist like Hartley comes through because he cannot defend his position with facts and will resort to any other means he deems necessary. Ad hominem attacks Slander False and fallacious arguments. outright lies. censorship. Appeals to authority Make no mistake, Hartley cannot hold his own on this subject so he resorts to the tactics of the tantrum and flees from an honest scholarly debate as quickly as he can. He is much less "catholic defender" and much more school yard bully. Let's walk through his latest diatribe and contrast his approach. In his words to follow, you will see: Lying Name calling and emotional outbursts Specious arguments Dubious sources Leaps of logic. With mine, you will see: 100% verifiable truth and accuracy. Surgical deconstruction of his claims. Sound, cogent and impenetrable arguments. Credible and documented sources. Perfect logic. ARGUMENT #1 (my words in red, his response in blue) "The truth is that Hartley, and people like him, can only lie and assert that Medjugorje was supported by Holy men that are now gone and can't defend themselves, because you would be hard pressed to find any priest today who believes in Medjugorje. It has become a fringe movement that all but a handful of Catholics have rightfully rejected." Wow, Benko is so wrong, but he can say what he wants of in his kingdom, obviously truth does not matter in his reporting. Notice the irrational hyperbole and exaggerated language? "his kingdom" "truth does not matter" "Wow, Benko is so wrong". What you won't see from Hartley is verifiable evidence and facts. He can't provide them The facts are not on his side. It is a fact that Medjugorje supporters in 2023 are a fraction of what they were before. Medjugorje conferences that used to fill up stadiums, do not exist now. South Bend, Indiana was one example given by noted historian Dr. E Michael Jones. You won't find Medjugorje materials in any Catholic church or bookstore and you won't find 1 priest in a hundred that supports this farce. I will give just one source. The Total Croatia News reported: It sounds impossible, but it is true: 36 years after Međugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina became a global pilgrimage destination, which was visited on average by about a million Catholics (and others) a year, there has been a noticeable drop in the number of visitors, primarily those coming from Italy, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on February 21, 2017. Italians were among the first who started coming to the location of alleged apparitions and they were the most numerous visitors for years. But now their numbers have been more than halved. Gianni Mauro, the owner of the Mauro travel agency, announced in the Italian media that he would close his business, which was dependent on Italian pilgrims. Mauro says that every year more than 200,000 pilgrims from Italy used to come to Međugorje, but by the summer of 2016 that number decreased to only about 50 people per ferry coming from Italy. People are waking up by the millions and rejecting this Demonic charade. ARGUMENT #2 John Benko is wanting to challenge to St. Pope John Paul II and his Vatican Exorcist Father Amorth. He simply denies what they are themselves quoted to have stated. It was seen on video and is rather difficult to take the Benko clan's position, they have to make up their own facts. Well, who is the real liar here, you decide? about Pope St. John Paul II 's position on Medjugorje! The John Benko clan. Let's take this irrational tantrum apart bit by bit. John Benko is wanting to challenge to St. Pope John Paul II and his Vatican Exorcist Father Amorth. Actually, I am the one defending these 2 holy men against the slander that Hartley is hurling at them. He simply denies what they are themselves quoted to have stated. Notice the shell game here? By denying what "they are themselves quoted to have stated". You see the problem here? He can only demonstrate that they are quoted as saying it. What he cannot do is prove they actually said it. It is hearsay and, as I am about to prove, it is a lie. They never said it. Ever. This diatribe was in response to a challenge by me to prove these two persons actually said these things. Yet, rather than do so, Hartley simply doubles down on the 3rd and 4th hand gossip he has been pushing all along. No court would admit this type of evidence and neither would any debate moderator. The entire crux of his argument reminds me of a line from a James Taylor song: Someone said, someone said Something 'bout, something else Someone might have said about her Then, in a desperate attempt to divert attention away from his obviously pathetic argument, he launches into a hopeless ad hom. It was seen on video and is rather difficult to take the Benko clan's position, they have to make up their own facts. Well, who is the real liar here, you decide? about Pope St. John Paul II 's position on Medjugorje! The John Benko clan. The Benko clan? Who is that? Would that include T4P member Terry Delp who had to block Hartley for falsely claiming they were aligned? Would that include Master Apologist and published author William Hemsworth who, like Delp and myself left Hartley over his support of the fraud in Bosnia? Would it include Michael Cibenko, former Catholic school teacher and published author who left for the same reason? Would it include top tier apologist Ken Litchfield, who like Hemsworth has appeared on Gary Michuta's show and who also rejects the Medjugorje fraud? Would it include top tier apologist Luke Haskell who also rejects Medjugorje? How about Licensed Clinical Catholic therapists Deb Rojas and Dr. Fred Boley who also reject the Medjugorje hoax? Jack Gist and the group at Catholicism Rocks, part of the clan too? Luis Ogando, Chantal Reigns, and Cherry Mallorca too? None of these people have done anything against Hartley or said anything negative about him. Nothing. Yet, he equates them with the klan? Seriously? For Donald Hartley, the only unforgivable sin is disagreeing with him. Everyone of those people disagrees with him on Medjugorje. Why? Because it's false and anyone with 3 firing brain cells can see that. Hartley hates anyone who doesn't bow down to his god complex. The truth is, he is a coward who just isn't man enough to accept correction when he is wrong. So what can we say about this video that Hartley purports as such strong evidence? I will say what I always do- the facts: Hartley gives no information as to the creators or distributers of the video. Absolutely nothing that can establish (or refute) the authenticity of their claims. This fact alone makes the video inadmissible as evidence under any standard. His entire case rests on an anonymous source making a dubious claim that literally counters all of the other evidence of JP II's entire 25 year papacy. However, just for the sake of argument, even if the source is good, the claims in the video still are inadmissible because..... The evidence is not first hand. In fact, it is 4th hand which makes it nothing more than hearsay. The narrator (who we cannot identify, much less cross examine) refers to an article he provides no link to. Thus, we cannot examine the article or investigate it's veracity, sources etc. The alleged article links us to yet another person we do not have the opportunity to cross examine- Bishop Pavol Hnilica, who died in 2006. We will get to him in a moment. The Bishop recounts an alleged conversation with then Pope John Paul II which, again, we have no access to. So, let's review. Rather than produce a video, or anything at all, showing direct evidence that JP II ever supported Medjugorje in his entire 25 year papacy, Don has nothing but a narrator claiming that an article quoted a Bishop as saying he spoke to Pope Saint John Paul II. If Hartley thinks any reasonable person would accept that as evidence, he is more insane than I thought and that boggles the mind. However, just to remove any doubt that Donnie and his ilk are lying, let's play along just for fun. So, for the sake of argument, we are going to assume: The video source that we cannot identify, is credible. The narrator is accurately quoting an actual article and.... The article is accurately quoting the Bishop. In this case, the entire question of whether JP II ever supported Medjugorje in any way, comes down to the credibility of this one Bishop. Was he credible? About as credible as Don Hartley which is to say not at all. Bishop Pavol Hnilca was a central figure in trying to promote the condemned apparitions of Our Lady of All Nations which were thunderously condemned by the Vatican. Despite a grave warning from the Vatican not to promote this fraud, Donnie Hartley and his heretic partner John Carpenter still are. As for Medjugorje, this is from the Wikipedia article on Bishop Hnilca: Hnilica was a member of the "Queen of Peace" Committee, along with other supporters of the Medjugorje apparitions: Msgr. Dr. Frane Franić, retired Archbishop of Split and Makarska, Father Tomislav Pervan, Father Ivan Landeka, Father Slavko Barbarić, Father Jozo Zovko and Father Leonard Oreč.[18] Chris Maunder believes that Hnilica's support for Medjugorje was a burden because of his involvement with the Vatican Bank scandal from the 1980s of which he was acquitted.[16] It was correctly stated by Kutleša that in March 1994, while in Mostar, Hnilica falsely presented himself as the Pope's personal delegate[19][citation needed] and attributed statements to Pope John Paul II supportive of Medjugorje, which were dismissed as false by the Vatican.[20][citation needed] So even the Vatican has publicly confirmed that Hnilca's claims were lies. Of course, that won't stop Donnie from continuing to repeat them because he has a long history of rejecting the authority of the church. There is more. Hnilca was found guilty in the Vatican banking scandal and sentenced to 3 years in prison. His sentence was later overturned on a technicality. Donnie relies on the lies of a criminal to support Medjugorje. The credibility of the star witness giving the only flimsy evidence Hartley has, is non existent. Just like Hartley's credibility is non existent and his apostolate is followed by exactly no one. As for the book, Hnilca claimed JP II was reading from (another obvious lie), it was written by Father Rene Laurentin. He also has no credibility. He actually changed one of the Gospa's messages from "disbelieving Judases" to doubting Thomas's. Changing Mary's words? Seriously? Once considered an authority, Father Laurentin's word has lost all credibility. Father Jozo Zovko, another Hnlica associate has been defrocked and excommunicated. Donald Hartley is out of his mind if he thinks anyone would take seriously any of the claims made in this video. It is utterly refuted click bait. Here is where it gets really funny though. It was a stupid line or argumentation anyway. John Paul II never supported Medjugorje. Not once. That's a fact. However, Donnie didn't want to tackle the real gotcha point. For even if it were not a lie that JP II privately supported Medjugorje (and it obviously is a lie), even lying Donnie heretic cannot claim he or Benedict XVI or Francis ever publicly supported it or contested the any of the 4 negative judgements. That is the only kind of support that would matter. Donnie has literally hitched his whole case to an argument that would mean absolutely nothing even if it were true which it clearly isn't. ARGUMENT #3 Father Amorth’s other great battle can be considered the recognition of the Medjugorje apparitions. The first journey of the priest in the place of Marian worship took place in 1981 and already in that case he was fully convinced of what we saw. In fact, in a secret notebook, the exorcist wrote:“The children [seers] are sincere.” In the presence of the Madonna he believed blindly and “with all of himself,” convinced that the Bosnian visionaries and pilgrims were the Madonna’s army against the evil one. Can you believe this clown? We are supposed to dismiss the condemnation of 22 Bishops of Jurisdiction who have condemned this demonic farce because Hartley claims Amorth wrote something in a secret notebook. Once again, Hartley just has to produce the notebook. He can't because there is no secret notebook. It's in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow covered by Jack's Beanstalk beans. As incredible as this slander is, the point I made above is clear. Obviously, Amorth had no secret notebook any more than the 6 liars have been given secrets by The Gospa but even if he did have it and he did write what Hartley alleges, it still means nothing. Nothing. The Bishops have the authority. They have spoken. Medjugorje is condemned. Period. Hartley simply isn't man enough to accept that Medjugorje is settled and that he was duped by 6 lying hucksters who are laughing at him from their mansions. and Hartley cannot understand why literally no one except me reads his blog or listens to his shows and the only reason I do is out of a morbid curiosity to say just how unhinged this insane clown will be this week. Case in point. Just look at him lie here. My words in Blue, his in Red "The claims are that certain persons have knowledge of other persons who conducted/found interviews, diaries and letters in which these two Catholic luminaries secretly expressed support for Medjugorje. The claims are beyond credible. One of the claims is that Bishop Amorth is alleged to have said that disbelief in Medjugorje is unforgivable. Speaking bluntly, anyone who believes that is almost too ignorant to even converse with. Anyone that knows even basic Catholic theology knows that belief in any private revelation, even one like Fatima or Lourdes, is not required. " Wow, Benko says that Father Amorth is "almost too ignorant to even converse with" If hellbound Hartley was actually a Christian, he'd know not to bear false witness. Any 8 year old can read that passage and see that I am the one defending Bishop Amorth against the false witness Hartley is slandering him with. It takes a real SOB to slander a deceased Bishop, Our Lady, Our Lord and me all at the same time but this fraction of a man, Hartley does it. The facts are clear. This good Bishop never said that not believing in Medjugorje is unforgivable and anyone stupid enough to believe he did say it is too stupid to talk to. Even Hartley isn't that stupid. He is just evil. Hartley deliberately twisted my words because that is just how evil he is. The demon of Medjugorje has full possession of him. ARGUMENT #4 Actually, this war began with John Benko. I had suffered from a stroke and was not able to participate on radio or the blog for several months. I began receiving calls from people who were upset that John Benko had been attacking them. They also informed me of his attacking of me. When I was finally able to get activated, I began to see what Benko had been doing. I then set out to defend myself. Anyone looking through this blog can see that it is Benko who is wrong. and continues to be wrong on his webpage and radio. I refused to debate Benko because he does not deserve such a debate, he sent perverted messages to my wife, Benko is not a Christian Hartley had his stroke on Christmas Eve. Him and his sidekick began 2 solid months of Medjugorje shows in SEPTEMBER. Hartley started the fight by blaspheming Our Blessed Lady and attacking me for 4 solid months before his stroke. Only a truly perverse individual like Hartley would use his own stroke as an opportunity to cover his own mortal sins and play the victim. His lie about me sending messages to his wife is just another example. It never happened, not once. He made it up like all his other lies. Hartley refused to debate me because he knew all the facts are on my side and I'd kick his ass. Like I just did here. The facts still stand. Medjugorje has produced: No miracles No cures No fulfilled prophecies No Verified Medical tests No conversions It has produced broken marriages, defrocked priests, filthy rich hacks posing as seers and a massive rise in the occult. That is why it is condemned by the Catholic Church and always will be. Look in any Catholic bookstore and you won't find one book on Medjugorje. You won't find 1 priest in 1000 that supports this crock either. Finally, in the only number that really counts, Bishops of Jurisdiction have condemned it 22-0. The facts are all on my side. Sadly, Hartley will likely have a 3rd stroke before he will grow up, be a man and admit he is wrong.

Do you trust this Holy Priest, a pillar of the Catholic church or the proven liar, schismatic heretic, plagiarizer Donald Hartley? That is the question. The truth is that Hartley, and people like him, can only lie and assert that Medjugorje was supported by Holy men that are now gone and can't defend themselves, because you would be hard pressed to find any priest today who believes in Medjugorje. It has become a fringe movement that all but a handful of Catholics have rightfully rejected. We have won the debate, Medjugorje has been utterly refuted. This closing statement is a summary of the victory we have already achieved. Outline: I What was contested. II Acceptable form of evidence and argumentation. III The nature of final determination. Section I Though DT's position was a moving target of Medjugorje being approved or partially approved or unapproved but will-be, T4P's position was straightforward. T4P maintained that Medjugorje has received a negative judgement which is indistinguishable from a condemnation. As such, public promotion of this event is prohibited under penalty of sin. Further, it was T4P's position that all of the aspects by which a private revelation are judged, support the negative decisions. We sought to demonstrate that these events are not merely false but demonic. Section II While DT relied exclusively on conjecture, hearsay, personal attacks, slander and emotion, T4P relied exclusively on objective, verifiable evidence and cogent, fact-based argumentation. At no point in this entire debate did DT offer even one objective, verifiable argument for their position. We maintain that people will rightly judge all of their arguments as fallacious and their ''facts' as not merely unsupported but unsupportable because they are simply objective falsehoods. Section III Since this was supposedly a disagreement among Catholics, both sides should have been held bound by the remedy laid out in the 18th chapter of Matthew's Gospel (DRB) and adhered to by the Catholic church ever since: 15 But if thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. 16 And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. 17 And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. 18 Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven. DT attempted to create an entirely new subjective standard by which to judge these phenomena. I will leave it to the reader to decide their motivations, but their approach was absolutely protestant in nature, even speaking out in open defiance against the very Bishops charged in making this determination. T4P always followed the facts and followed the authority of the church in who makes these determinations and how. A brief history of the events and our relation to them. Donald and I first came to hear about the events in Medjugorje at some point during the mid 1980's. He actually went there, I did not. However, we both experienced the "sign" of items such as rosaries and miraculous medals turning from silver to gold. On the strength of this superficial phenomena, we both became sympathetic to the reported events though, even at this early stage, I was troubled by the lack of anything substantive to the messages. By the time I formed Deeper Truth (by myself) in May of 2009, the initial belief in Medjugorje had given way to a back-and-forth confusion. In retrospect, I can see that even then I could see that the story of Medjugorje simply didn't add up but this conflicted in my mind with the fact that so many Catholics who I admired were devotees. Admittedly, in the late 80's and 90's this held great sway over me because nearly all the Catholics I knew believed in it. Over time, the script has flipped almost entirely to the point where comments I would see on the subject are consistently 90% - 95% against and the church presentations and tv specials on the subject virtually disappeared. I met Donald about a year and a half after I founded Deeper Truth and asked him to join. This takes us to about August of 2010. Shortly after that, Margie Prox Sindelar joined Deeper Truth and first broached the subject of Medjugorje. I stated way back then that the little that I had heard about it caused me great suspicion and that I was undecided but leaning in the direction of against. I pretty much stayed in this skeptical but unsure position for far too long. What shook me out of it were the comments of John Carpenter. Many of these comments were so absurd and easily refuted that even the most nominally Marian catholic would know they were false. Among these were the loopy claim that there are nearly 2,700 documented appearances of the Blessed Mother. No Catholic statement, article, publication or website of any kind supports this nonsense. In fact, multiple affirmed Catholic sources such as EWTN, Ascension press, New Advent and others puts the number of documented (that is to say, officially approved) events at 25. This combines those at the Bishop level and at the Vatican level. In full disclosure, I had personally known about/studied about 10 of the 25. One thing I knew for certain was that Medjugorje was not on either list. This is something any one could verify with a 30 second google search, as former deeper truth member William Hemsworth said. So, when Carpenter started claiming- on our show- that Medjugorje was approved, I knew I had to confront Donald about it. Afterall, our show was called Deeper Truth and here this uninformed tool was claiming something that every Catholic around the world was false. That's when the trouble began because Donald and I embarked on two different missions. I endeavored to find the truth, he endeavored to defend John Carpenter and ruin the reputation of this once great apostolate. The truth that I found A diligent examination of the facts led me to 2 inescapable conclusions. John Carpenter's lies and inaccuracies were so numerous and eggregious as to render him complete without any credibility whatsoever. We have publically proven that he is openly promoting the following events that are all condemned: San Damiano, Amsterdam, Garabadal, Naju, South Korea, Necedah, Wisconsin and many others. The alleged apparitions of Medjugorje are not only false, but they are also condemned, and they are demonic. The first conclusion will not be dealt with here, it is only provided to give context to my story. With apologies for this little diversion, it was necessary. It is needed to provide context. The war between Donald Hartley and myself was started by him and is being perpetuated by him for one reason and one reason only- he isn't man enough to admit he was wrong. That is not my opinion, it is an objective fact. The facts have proven him wrong, he has seen them, he hasn't even attempted to counter them. All that is left is for Donald Hartley to grow up and take the "L". The war between Donald Hartley and myself was started by him and is being perpetuated by him for one reason and one reason only- he isn't man enough to admit he was wrong. That is not my opinion, it is an objective fact. The facts have proven him wrong, he has seen them, he hasn't even attempted to counter them. All that is left is for Donald Hartley to grow up and take the "L". A few words about the "peanut gallery" One of the first facts that stood out in contrast was Donald's lazy sophomoric sophistry against the profound humility, visible holiness and impeccable credentials of the ever growing list of experts he dismissed as the peanut gallery. There were three things that stood at: Not one of them was vicious and nasty like Donald. All of them were far above Donald in knowledge and intellect and far more respected in Catholic circles. Unlike Donald, who never presented any facts to support his claims, they always did. Here is a partial list of people slandered by Donald with his pithy comments. Every single one of these people rejects Medjugorje. Current Deeper Truth member Dr. Gregory Thompson. At least 7 Former Deeper Truth members. Former Chief Vatican Exorcist Andreas Gemma (He called the events absolutely Diabolical). Contributor to Sensus Fidelium, The Fatima center, and Lighthouse media; Father Shannon Collins EWTN Contributor Father Mitch Pacwa Noted Catholic Apologist Patrick Madrid Noted Catholic Apologist, formerly with Catholic answers, Patrick Coffin Historian and Author of a book with over 150 pages of footnotes; Donal Foley Historian and Author; Dr. E Michael Jones The late Father Phillip Pavich who publicly testified of the alarming rise of demonic activity in Medjugorje. The late Bishop Pavao Zanic who led two commissions that condemned Medjugorje. Bishop Ratko Peric whose subsequent commission also condemned the events. Bishop Petar Palic, the current Bishop of Mostar who concurs with his two predecessors that Mary has never appeared in Medjugorje. The 20 Bishops of the 1991 National commission that voted 19-0 (with one abstention) that the apparitions are not from God. The Late Pope Benedict XVI who as a Cardinal deposed/defrocked/excommunicated/exiled 5 of the Priests from the Medjugorje inner circle. The current Pope Francis who said the woman of Medjugorje is NOT the Mother of Jesus. The members of the Ruini commission who state that the visionaries are spiritually immature liars and actors who have an unhealthy attachment to money. Mark Shawl, the brother of the operator of the largest Medjugorje website in the world who stated his brother knows it's a fraud. and.... the Late Father Ivo Sivrick who grew up in Medjugorje and compiled the original transcripts that proved the children lied on multiple occasions, attacked the authority of the church and made all manner of heretical claims such that Bishop Zanic had no choice but to condemn this fraud. The first 8 are given only to provide the context of why Donald's Apostolate is in flames. He has chased away/alienated/demoralized nearly everyone who supported him for the sake of his wounded ego. The rest of those people are people from which we have provided exhaustive first hand accounts and information clearly refuting the Medjugorje claims. In addition to all that, we provided video evidence provided by a professor of parapsychology. We will provide links at the bottom of this post to the mountain of evidence we have provided. To this date, Donald Hartley and John Carpenter have provided zero evidence to rebut this evidence.... not a speck. All they have provided is a remarkably juvenile and feeble attempt at the poisoning the well fallacy. Since he sees fit to make a broad-brush, Ad hom attack against the intellectual prowess of these distinguished people, it is only fair to point out that these attacks are coming from someone who can't spell basic words like "joins" and "exorcist". but I digress..... Deeper Truth's line of argumentation and evidence. Deeper Truth's entire line of defense of Medjugorje can be summarized by a strikingly short list of specious arguments. Let's tackle them one at a time. The good fruits argument. This argument portends that the number of pilgrims, confessions, Masses conversions etc. are good fruits that prove the veracity of the apparitions. The argument deliberately ignores the shocking documented rise in spin off cults and false apparitions, broken marriages and occult activity that have resulted from Medjugorje. However, the argument misses the point. The good fruits argument is straight from the 7th chapter of Matthew's Gospel: 15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. This actually cuts against Medjugorje. It tells us to judge THEM, not the events. How do they measure up? Father Vlasic, spiritual director to the "visionaries" was defrocked then excommunicated. Among the serious charges were violations of the 6th commandment. (Sexual sins). His sexual deviancy came to be known to (then) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who forced him to leave Medjugorje for this and for the conjuring up of evil spirits. He is now a full fledged promoter of the occult/new age and a promoter of UFO conspiracies. Vlasic's fellow Franciscans- Frs Vega and Prussina- led a mob to evict the clergy from a Mostar church. The Bishop (Zanic) suspended them. The "Gospa" told the seers that the Bishop was to blame and that the dissident Priests were to ignore the Bishop's directive. (This naked disobedience is something the REAL Mary absolutely could not be a part of). Over the nest few months, the Devil with a blue dress on said that the Priests should stay in the diocese and continue to hear confessions and give Communion even though they had no faculties! The so-called Gospa (demon) then said the Bishop (A DEVOUTLY MARIAN BISHOP) had "no love of God in his heart" . The demon continued that the defrocked priests had "no faults!" Vega's faultlessness took a bit of a hit when he was- like Vlasic- defrocked for sexual indiscretions (he impregnated a nun) Their Franciscan brother, (and central Medjugorje figure Father Jozo Zovko) was also defrocked for insubordination and allegedly molesting Medjugorje pilgrims. Later, the Franciscans were involved in the kidnap of Bishop Peric, who had to be rescued from his abduction! All 6 visionaries have become filthy rich off of Medjugorje funds. So much for the good fruits. The Miracles and signs Other than a few rosaries changing color, there has been literally nothing from Medjugorje, despite the claims. Rosaries changed color at Necedah, Wisconsin and it was condemned as well. Not one cure substantiated by the church. Not one miracle substantiated by the church. Not one fulfilled prophecy substantiated by the church. Not one medical study of the seers reviewed by and substantiated by the church. So stop lying about brain waves. It never happened. These are the facts and they are indisputable. Gabrielle Amorth and The Late Saint John Paul II. Medjugorje adherents, in transparent desperation, point to the alleged secret support of Medjugorje by the late Chief Vatican Exorcist Gabriel Amorth and the Late Saint John Paul the Great. The claims are that certain persons have knowledge of other persons who conducted/found interviews, diaries and letters in which these two Catholic luminaries secretly expressed support for Medjugorje. The claims are beyond credible. One of the claims is that Bishop Amorth is alleged to have said that disbelief in Medjugorje is unforgivable. Speaking bluntly, anyone who believes that is almost too ignorant to even converse with. Anyone that knows even basic Catholic theology knows that belief in any private revelation, even one like Fatima or Lourdes, is not required. A statement that says disbelief in a condemned apparition is required- or else- is a sure and positive sign that that event is from the Devil. In fact, it is the threatening letter to the Bishop from the so-called Gospa of Medjugorje that is one of the absolutely infallible proofs that those events are from the Devil. Of course, Bishop Amorth never said this and neither did John Paul II ever say the things attributed to him about Medjugorje. They are lies. They never happened. Stop talking and produce the letter. Produce the interview, produce the diary or shut up. Stop trying to pawn that third party nonsense on us because it is nothing but the very dictionary definition of hearsay- inadmissible in court or any debate. In fact, these arguments actually expose your greatest vulnerability. It's not what they allegedly did say, it's what they undeniably didn't say that is your undoing. John Paul II was Pope for 22 years during which Medjugorje was taking place. Never visited it. Not once. Never made any public statement of support. Not once. Never made any statement against the 4 decisions against Medjugorje even though he served as Pope for 14 years after the last one (1991). Gabriele Amorth was Vatican exorcist for 30 years until his death in 2016. He also never showed any public support whatsoever for Medjugorje. This begs the question for both men, but especially for John Paul II so I will focus on him. He was Pope. If He believed Medjugorje was real, what possible motivation did he have to hide it? To not go there once. To not speak about it once. To never once ask for a review of the negative decisions. He had the power. He had the opportunity and, according to you, he had the motivation to further the cause of Medjugorje. Yet, he did nothing? The silence is deafening. The Gabrielle Amorth and John Paul II lie is nothing but a pathetic, desperate attempt at the appeal to authority fallacy. It simply does not get you where you want to go, even if it were true (which it obviously isn't). It is a fallacious argument. I respect Sam and Sam likes chocolate Ice Cream, therefore chocolate Ice Cream is the best. It is an appeal to opinion to validate an opinion. It actually demonstrates that you cannot make a factual case to advance your opinion. If I made an appeal to a nutritionist to validate that Ice Cream is fattening, I would be establishing a fact based on an expert in that discipline. If you believe in the authority of the Catholic church, the authority to appeal to on a private revelation are the Bishops. That authority has spoken with one voice and by a cumulative vote of 22-0, determined that Medjugorje is false. Three Popes have reigned for 32 years since that decision and have not even hinted at overturning it. A Catholic is bound, under penalty of mortal sin, not to promote a condemned event. The Ruini Commission report. To anyone making an appeal to the Ruini report, I know you have never read it. I have. It doesn't say anything close to what you claim it does. Read for yourself. The only relevant facts about the Ruini report is that it is only that- a report. It is non binding unless it is approved by the Vatican which will never happen. Here is the rub. Even the Ruini report makes it clear that Mary has not appeared in Medjugorje since July of 1981. It is emphatic about that. However, the facts of this case and the fact that Pope Francis has failed to adopt it are the final nails. Medjugorje has disproven. Period. Donald and John will not even attempt to counter this with facts. THE TRUTH ABOUT "DEEPER TRUTH" Part 3 MEDJUGORJE AND GARABANDAL- CATHOLIC GNOSTICS AND THE DEVIL'S DUNG (the4persons.net) THE TRUTH ABOUT "DEEPER TRUTH". PART 2- THE TRUTH ABOUT THE RUINI REPORT (the4persons.net)

The mystical body of Christ is not a metaphor but a heavenly reality. So the images of Christ in heaven who is head of the body should not be separated from the body on earth and in heaven. You must spiritually connect these images to even understand the true image of Yom Kippur where our high priest spiritually takes His body to heaven. Christ as head of the body of the chosen people, the holy nation, the Royal Priesthood is the true nature of the high priest Melchizedek who offers to the Father an oblation of bread and wine. This bread and wine becomes through the Holy Spirit and through Gods words, the glorified body and blood of Christ that does not conform to time and space but transcends them as God does. Why? Because this is what God established through the cross for the general redemption of the world. God who established the Passover as a type for the Holy Mass, 1300 years later, came to us and said, I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. Came to us and said, I strongly desire to celebrate this Passover with you. He has done so since the beginning of Christianity. Instead of a Passover Lamb ( the Israelites had to eat the Lamb in order for the angel of death to Passover) He presented himself as the true Passover Lamb through the Seder when He said, this is my body, do this in memory of me. The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world. Jn 1:29 The word memory in English does not do the Greek justice. “Anamnesis ("remembrance") has sacrificial overtones. It occurs only eight times in the NT and the Greek OT. All but once (Wisdom 16:6) it is in a sacrificial context (Hebrews 10:3, Leviticus 24:7, Numbers 10:10 and Psalm 38 [39] and 70 [70]). In these cases the term anamnesis can be translated as "memorial portion," "memorial offering," or "memorial sacrifice." Thus in the remaining two occurrences of anamnesis (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24), Christ’s words "Do this inremembrance of Me," can be translated as "Offer this for my memorial sacrifice." The types in the Old Testament show us the spiritual realities Christ established in the new. The entire Torah is the law. "I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law"? And thou shalt put upon them the dearest frankincense, that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. Leviticus 24:7 If at any time you shall have a banquet, end on your festival days, and on the first days of your months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God. I am the Lord your God. Numbers 10:10 The oblation is a sacrificial memorial in the heavenly reality the presentation of the second part of the cross by the body of Christ because Christ is head and mediator of the body to the Father in the true Passover for the general redemption of the world. Paul who was a priest in the body of Christ in the office of the ordained, participated in the divine meditation through “ Anamnesis “ That I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost. Rm 15:16 LET a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God. 1 Cor 4:1 Irenaeus said, " all of the apostles were priests." From mystery we get mysterion, sacramentum, sacrament. Consider us priests as dispensers of the sacraments of Christ. ? And thou shalt put upon them the dearest frankincense, that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. Leviticus 24:7 In this Eucharist is the primary mediation to the Father for our high priest Melchizedek. 1I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings ( Eucharistasis) be made for all men: 2For kings and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God: and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: 1 Tim 2 We know this is what Paul was referring to because a few verses later he tells us about how woman should behave in the church. The church where we offer prayer, supplication, intercession, and thanksgiving ( Eucharistasis) for all men. 9In like manner, women also in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire: 10But, as it becometh women professing godliness, with good works. 11Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to use authority over the man: but to be in silence. 1 Tim 2 Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith 1 Cor 14:34 Another type fulfilled in the Eucharist is the thank offering of Leviticus 7. The Eucharist is the true Thank offering. The Old Testament are types to open the soul to the image of the spiritual realities. Leviticus 7 11And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD. 12If he offer it for a thanksgiving, ( Eucharistasis) then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving ( Eucharistasis) unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. 13Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving ( Eucharistasis) of his peace offerings. 14And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave ( Raised into the air before the Father) offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. 23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. 24And giving thanks, ( Eucharistasis) broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you: this do for the commemoration of me. 25In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying: This chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as you shall drink, for the commemoration of me. 26For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink the chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord, until he come. 27Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord. There are two main parts to a Jewish sacrifice, the slaying of the victim and the offering up of the fruit of the sacrifice to the Father. The priests then ate of the altar. Behold Israel according to the flesh: are not they, that eat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar ? 1 Cor 10:18 We have an altar, whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle. Hb 13:10 No power to eat or, those who were not baptized into the chosen people, the Royal Priesthood whose original sin was destroyed, could not receive the graces of the Eucharist. And he saith to him: Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? But he was silent. Then the king said to the waiters: Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. My 22:13 It was God who said, Do not give what is holy to the dogs. It was the apostles who explained what He meant. Didache 70 AD Chapter 9. The Thanksgiving (Eucharist) Now concerning the Thanksgiving (Eucharist), thus give thanks. First, concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David Your servant, which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory for ever. And concerning the broken bread: We thank You, our Father, for the life and knowledge which You made known to us through Jesus Your Servant; to You be the glory for ever. Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was gathered together and became one, so let Your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Your kingdom; for Yours is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ for ever. But let no one eat or drink of your Thanksgiving (Eucharist), but they who have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, Give not that which is holy to the dogs. Matthew 7:6 In the Seder The matzah is broken into three pieces and the third piece is hidden until the end. This is most likely what was presented with the third cup of Seder, the thanksgiving cup ( Eucharistasis) The hidden piece of Matzah is known as the Afikomen. Or in the Greek translation, the coming one. Therefore in the true Passover is the promise of Christs final coming. For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink this cup you will show the death of the Lord ( until he comes again) It was God who said, “ I strongly desire to celebrate this Passover with you.” It was God through Paul who said: Christ our pasch is sacrificed, let us keep the feast. 1 Cor 5:7 What is the feast? Are not those that eat of the sacrifice partakers of the altar? It is participating in the true Passover for the general redemption of the world with the hosts of heaven. 2But you are come to mount Sion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, 23And to the church of the firstborn who are written in the heavens, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood which speaketh better than that of Abel. 25See that you refuse him not that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke upon earth, much more shall not we that turn away from him that speaketh to us from heaven. 26Whose voice then moved the earth; but now he promiseth, saying: Yet once more: and I will move, not only the earth, but heaven also. 27And in that he saith: Yet once more, he signifieth the translation of the moveable things as made, that those things may remain which are immoveable. 28Therefore, receiving an immoveable kingdom, we have grace: whereby let us serve, pleasing God, with fear and reverence. 29For our God is a consuming fire. Hb 12:22-29 There is no personal salvation without the general redemption and Satan has done everything in his power to keep people from this truth. Every Celebration [of the Eucharist] is a celebration of Marriage; the Church’s nuptials are celebrated. The King’s Son is about to marry a wife, and the Kings Son [is] himself the King; and the guests frequenting the marriage are themselves the bride…for all the Church is Christ’s Bride, of which the beginning and first fruits is the Flesh of Christ, because there was a Bride joined to the Bridegroom in the flesh. (Augustine, Homilies on 1 John 2:12-17) The only reason why Paul would constantly express this sacrificial nature in his letters is if the Eucharist were true.

Book Review: Masaru by Michael Cibenko You Will Find That The Title Matches The Story I have read so many books that explain what our faith means but this one shows what it looks like- from street level. Mr. Cibenko spans genres here, acting as apologist, historian and story teller all at once. I had to admit trepidation at how he would pull it off, but he does it so deftly and subtly that you forget you ever had doubts. The friendship of two of the main characters- Shiro and Tomi are a blueprint of how we live our life and win the trust of non-believers who, not having the grace to understand our ideology, must still admire fruit of that ideology which is honor, clarity of purpose and courage. Masura does that. It dives deep into the meanings of suffering and the tenants of our faith with regard to who Jesus and Mary are and what they mean to us as models. This action movie in-print places us inside the events of the 16th century persecution of Japanese Christians as if we were living them. We felt the rage they felt and suffered at the appreciation of their suffering. My biggest doubt was that the author could frame the backstory and tell the tale effectively in so small a book (less than 300 pages) but was quite impressed that he did so. The influences are clear. Cibenko weaves the philosophy of Aquinas together with the history of someone like Father John Laux. The story telling element almost seemed like a mesh between the obvious character representations of a CS Lewis and the broader themes of Tolkein. In the end, Michael Cibenko creates something refreshingly new. I really cannot think of another book I have ever read that I can really compare to it. The only comparison I could formulate was how the Beatles sewed together elements from every part of the music universe- show tunes like "Till there was you", Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Motown and old fashioned rock and roll, and somehow made it work. They were so big, I believe, because they brought all these different vantage points into a singular frenzy. If you hear "I saw her standing there" or "Twist and shout", you could not fail to take notice. I am one who sometimes talks too much, too long, too enthusiastically. All I can say is read the book because I walked away thinking "wow! there isn't really anything I can add to that."

Given the conflict and turmoil of my family over the last 8 or so years, you could say I absolutely had my fill of counsellors. In fact, if you asked me a year ago what I though of psychotherapists, I would have said that they were opportunistic hucksters creating a generation of sociopaths. I still believe that about the overwhelming majority of them. Leftist, atheist, woke-ist idealogues peddling their utopian mush to a generation of perpetual victims who think the entire universe is askew if it doesn't revolve around them and their nose rings and blue hair. but, I always had a problem not saying what's really on my mind so I will digress. If you told me a year ago that the first 2 permanent shows on the 4 persons network would be 2 counselors, I would probably have throat punched you. It did not take me long to realize that Dr. Fred Boley and Deb Rojas are cut from a different cloth. They understand the four persons- emotional, mental, physical and spiritual upon which this network is founded. In fact, every week, Dr. Boley asked the question Why doesn't counseling work? Well, the honorable Doctor is off this week, so on this Wednesday's show, I will give my very unscientific, very un-doctorish assessment of why it didn't work for me. In fact, I have personally vowed never to darken the door of a counseling office again simply because of the rage I felt at these 5 things. I greatly look forward to (and greatly dread) our two resident mental health experts dissecting this forthcoming rant which will be discussed on Wednesday. Consider this a teaser. 1 - You deserve to be happy. 2 - None of it is your fault. 3.- It's an illness like diabetes or cancer. 4.- You must remove all people, who are sources of stress, from your life. 5.- If medication makes you feel better, you should take it. At the risk of sounding unhinged, I will talk Wednesday about how these 5 things drive me into a white hot rage.

Jerome writes: ” ‘But since in the Law no one is justified before God, it is evident that the just man lives by faith.’ It should be noted that he does not say that a man, a person, lives by faith, lest it be thought that he is condemning good works. Rather, he says the ‘just’ man lives by faith. He implies thereby that whoever would be faithful and would conduct his life according to “the faith “ can in no other way arrive at the faith or live in it except first he be a just man of pure life, coming up to the faith by certain degrees” (Commentaries on Galatians 2:3:11 [A.D. 386]). Take into consideration that Gentiles were never under the Mosaic Law as the letter of the law. They never killed a bull, they were never sprinkled with its blood as a sign of this blood oath where breaking the oath is separation from God ( spiritual death) which requires atonement through blood in order to correct the separation. Blood of God. The greater the one you sin against the greater the reparation. Sin against an infinite God requires atonement through the blood of an infinite God in an infinite sacrifice. Jerome says, one needs to adjust their lives according to “the faith”. Jerome lived the Catholic faith. This idea of coming to the faith by certain degrees shows us this transforming process in the sacramental life. This could also have been the foundation of the teaching structure of the church. An example would be how from very early on the Mass was separated into two parts. The liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist. Those who were not yet baptized into the Church were asked to leave after the liturgy of the word. They did not yet reach the degree of participation in the liturgy of the Eucharist which needed to be taught after the deity of Christ was established. In their thinking process they were also most likely influenced by paganism to the point where clear distinctions between the Trinity and paganism needed to be taught. Paganism even had triune gods and food of the gods to become one with the god. Tabernacles of the gods. Queen mothers as fecundity goddess’s. Clarity between Satan’s deceptions and truth had to be taught. The church father Justin Martyrs first apology could be summed up as, Satan created paganism to keep people from Catholic truth. With  this image  Jerome provides ( separating mosaic law from charity) we will begin to see how even when Clement says we are saved by faith not works, he is not referring to faith as modern Protestantism understands faith,  he understands faith according to covenant and he, like Paul, never said , faith alone. And of course, there is no Catholic doctrine that says we are saved by works only. Paul tells us when he writes in  his letter to the church at Galatia (to give context, here in many parts of this letter he was addressing Jews in the church who were falling back into the letter of Mosaic Law and ceremony and not understanding it’s spiritual reality as being fulfilled in the laws written on our heart and the Mass) he tells us: 2But the fruit of the Spirit is, charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, 23Mildness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. ( this is Mosaic Law)  24And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. Gal 5:22 Paul is showing the contrast between the letter of the law and a truly virtuous life. Of course in many of these verses we are going to end up repeating some themes but calling them to mind will help develop the bigger picture. Paul says, Longanimity meaning long suffering with patience and endurance. The same Paul says: But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection: lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway 1 Cor 9:27 So Paul is also talking about suffering as part of living in the truth. He is showing humility and an understanding of holy fear. Again here we see the word concupiscence or that propensity as creatures of fallen nature to fall into sin which would include separating from the truth through free will or denying truth as it is revealed to the soul. The early church understood that being crucified with Christ is our spiritual bath of rebirth into the flesh of Christ through our baptism into a life of obedience to the faith of the sacramental life. You would not see the sacraments across the New Testament and lived in the earliest records of Christianity, if this was not true. It makes faith alone impossible and not logical. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says that he was crucified with Christ and in the end of the next chapter he explained how when he said: 26For you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. 28There 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. 29And if you be Christ's, then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. Gal 3:26 We understand this death and rebirth through baptism by expanding our vision to see the life of the early church. To the Colossian church Paul writes: 0And you are filled in him, who is the head of all principality and power. 11In whom also you are circumcised with circumcision not made by hand in despoiling of the body of the flesh: but in the circumcision of Christ. 12Buried with him in baptism: in whom also you are risen again by the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him up from the dead. Colossians 2:10. Jesus was buried or placed in the tomb because he was crucified. Paul is telling the church that was previously baptized, In our baptism is a spiritual crucifixion, and exorcism, and dying to the Adam of flesh and rising in the Adam of spirit. This is just the beginning of being born again. Faith alone is a diabolical deception that separates people from this spiritual reality of these things. The separation occurs through separation from obedience to the faith. This obedience is the narrow road that contains the tools against concupiscence and as God told us, wide is the road that leads to destruction. In scripture when we see the word the “ way”, this was not the name of the original church, it was living obedience to the faith in the sacramental life; living the New Covenant. Blood of an eternal God needed to be spilled because as Thomas Aquinas explained, the greater the one you sin against the greater the sacrifice must be. Since we sin against an infinite God a presentation of an infinite sacrifice on earth as it is in heaven was put in place through grace given freely. Of course it is Jesus who as our one mediator is who mediates this sacrifice to the Father through the flesh of His own body which is the church on earth united to heaven. Participation as the body of Christ and Royal Priesthood is part of the “ Way”. Christ as high priest is the head of the body and Royal Priesthood. There is no high priest without a subordinate priesthood. Let’s look at a couple verses referring to the “way “ so I can explain this further to our audience. Acts 9:2 tells us: And asked of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues: that if he found any men and women of this way, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Here Saul the Pharisee,  who will later become Paul, identified Christians by a specific faith and practice, a “ way”. In Acts 19:23 we read: 23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. Again, a faith and practice is how you identify specific groups. A faith and practice through all generations back to Christ is how you identify the true church. To him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus unto all generations, world without end. Amen. Eph 3:21 If you cannot trace your faith and practice back to Christ through all generations then your house is built on sand. Acts 19:23 is not in the context of a name of a church but in the context of a practice Christians  were living. Living the religion and ritual of the New Covenant as the “ way” God established,  so when Paul explained that it was his job to bring about obedience to the faith, he is referring to obedience to the faith in the “ way”, the faith and practice of Christianity. Acts shows us a summation of the way. And they were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42 The early church had a clear understanding that confession was part of the way. In confession the spiritual blood is applied for atonement when the priest in Christ Jesus, in his office of apostolic succession, says, " I absolve you of all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We read in the Didache written around 70 AD which I consider to be the proto catechism of the Catholic Church: "Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the (((way )))of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure" (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]). The " way" is confession before participation in the Holy Mass. Why? Because you cannot participate in the graces of the Mass celebrated with the host of heaven in mortal sin. You participating in the body of Christ, cannot be part of the Son with the body presenting itself to the Father without spot or wrinkle. 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church and delivered himself up for it: 26That he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life: 27That he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church: 30Because we are members of him, body, of his flesh and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother: and shall cleave to his wife. And they shall be two in one flesh. 32This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the church. Eph 5:25-32 In the Letter of Barnabas dated to before 130 AD possibly back to 74 AD we read: "You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the (((way )))of light" (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]). You shall not go to prayer. They were dedicated to the doctrine and the breaking of the bread and the “ prayers” which is the liturgy of the Eucharist in the Mass. Paul refers to this when he says we need to present our selves as a living sacrifice. Or, as sacrifice of a pure heart before going to prayer. So the way is the opposite of faith alone. It is a complete system of belief ( doctrine/ dogma) including the communion in the breaking of the bread and the prayers which from the beginning of Christianity was understood as the liturgy of the Eucharist in the Holy Mass. Doing so is obedience to the faith on this road of our transformation. Paul shows us this transformation as a process when he writes to the church as Galatia saying: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ( 2 Cor 3:18) Being transformed is a process occurring while living the “ way”. In this transformation we find help against concupiscence. On the narrow road one of the greatest helps is the grace given freely of the sacrament of confession. Obedience to this is what God knows we need as creatures of fallen nature or else he would never have said, “ receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven.” It’s a healing process that needs to be experienced in order to understand why God established it. After baptism and confirmation of the spirit It is next in the soul’s preparation in our daily lives in order to be present in truth with the hosts of heaven spiritually in the true Passover for the general redemption of the world. Again, it is the “ way”, far from faith alone. Therefore Paul tells us: The sacraments suppress our desire to sin by understanding the power of God's mercy and love through them and at the same time we are reminded by James that: Whoever knows the good and does not do it, to him it is sin. James 4:17 Again, the opposite of faith alone. Once truth is revealed to the soul, if you live as a Christian, you cannot deny that truth revealed. This is how through humility, God leads people to the requirement of dying to self in order to truly find truth. There is no true faith in going against the conscience. This is the sin of omission. It is falling from grace and not running the race to win. It takes a certain level of humility to accept this. This humility leads to taking God at His word when He said, " This is my body ", it leads to obedience to the faith of the sacramental life as a member of the chosen people, the holy nation, the royal priesthood. Protestantism has a problem with tradition due to the false exegesis of scripture alone that is a tradition of man. Apostolic tradition is simply the faith that was lived in obedience to the will of God. The epistles are letters limited to specific subjects for  praise or correction addressed to those who were baptized into the church living the sacramental life, participating in the HolyMass, who were already instructed in the faith. In the early historical record we see over and over again that this is fact. From the book The Incredible Catholic Mass by father Martin Von Joachim we read: "For the Christian who reads the Church Fathers, this is not surprising at all. St. Hegesippus (d. A.D. 180) records that the Apostle, St. James the Less, wore Temple vestments; and St. Polycrates of Ephesus (d. A.D. 196) records that my patron, St. John the Beloved Apostle, wore a primitive Bishop's mitre, in which he was buried. Liturgy is not a corruption of Christianity; it is *indigenous.* " Before Paul admonished the Jews in the church for not understanding the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5, He admonished them for falling back into the Jewish. He explains to them the error of falling back into the Jewish law while they were also participating in the Holy Mass where Christ is portrayed as crucified before us. Catholics understand this verse because we live the sacramental life. We experience the intimate personal relationship in the Eucharist. We contemplate the spiritual reality of being present in the true Passover with the hosts of heaven because we walk by faith not by sight. This is  one of the keys to truly seeing scripture. Paul writes: 1O senseless Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth: before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you? 2This only would I learn of you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? 3Are you so foolish that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh? Gal 3 Returning to the laws of flesh is contradictory to obedience to the faith including participation in the Holy Mass. The truth according to Paul, needs to be “ obeyed”. There is no true faith outside of obedience to the faith. When Paul talks about transforming grace, (this is for for those outside of the sacramental life, ) if you lived the New Covenant you would understand that he even does so in the context of the grace given freely of the Holy Mass which we celebrate in obedience to the faith. Paul who told us that the consecrated bread is participating in the body of Christ and Paul who explained that if you do not discern the body you sin against the cross, said, But even until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. 16But when they shall be converted to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. 17Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor 3:15 The Eucharist is right  in front of us as it was for the apostles and apostolic church; the true bread of the presence which always must be before the Father. We  behold the glory of the Lord by looking upon our Lord in the Eucharist through faith and true understanding not veiled in type. We contemplate this divine condescension in an act of humility beyond human understanding. This is what Paul was beginning to expain in Hebrews 9 when he began to describe the types and heavenly realities of the image of the meeting tent. Yet in this focus on what is holy we are being transformed. We discern the body ( the true bread of the presence in the Holies, which is fulfilled in the church the body of Christ, and receive the grace. But we must have the faith of complete abandonment that Peter had. Peter not understanding Jesus when he said we must eat His body and drink His blood, responded through dying to self faith, saying “ Where shall we go, you have the words of eternal life.” Obedience to authority Obedience to the faith includes obedience to the leaders of the church. The church which is the reestablished Kingdom  of David and Mount Sion which through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, teaches the angels the manifold wisdom of God. This happens not according to our timeline but through God's timeline through the magisterium guided by the Holy Spirit even though Satan will plant weeds in the wheat until the end of time. The council of Jerusalem assembled 18 years after the crucifixion was our first example. Most of the early councils were councils established to defend against heresy by the establishment of clear concise definitions of doctrines that were in the heart of the church from the beginning. Councils that scripture tells us will be guided by the Holy Spirit to all truth. Paul writing to the Hebrews who were living the sacramental life said, Obey your prelates, and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief. For this is not expedient for you. Hb 13:7 DRB Prelates is defined as A high-ranking member of the clergy, especially a bishop. An ecclesiastic of a higher order, having direct and not delegated authority over other ecclesiastics. A clergyman of a superior order, as an archbishop or a bishop, having authority over the lower clergy; a dignitary of the church. So Paul is writing to people who have submitted themselves to the hierarchy of the church as they are living obedience to the faith of the New Covenant sacramental life. It is common sense to say that the only prelates Paul would be saying we need to be obedient to are prelates of this one sacramental church. Paul who calls us to obedience to the faith even tells us that in this New Covenant even the priests have a rule over us in spiritual matters. He writes to Timothy the Bishop of Ephesus about the authority of the priests who were under him, Let the priests that rule well, be esteemed worthy of double honour: especially they who labour in the word and doctrine: 1 Timothy 5:17 And again , I cannot over emphasize this, we cannot separate  obedience to the faith from sacraments and liturgical practice. James tells us. Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man. And the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him. James 4:14 From the earliest days of Christianity this process of anointing and forgiveness was understood as a sacrament conveyed by the Holy Spirit through the priesthood. It is grace given freely as all sacraments are. It can only occur  through living obedience to the faith which begins with the sacrament of baptism into the church. If you do not live in obedience to the faith then you do not have these abundant gifts, this land flowing of milk and honey, grace given freely of the sacraments. St JOHN CHRYSOSTOM writes about James 4:14 . He says, “The priests of Judaism had power to cleanse the body from leprosy—or rather, not to cleanse it at all, but to declare a person as having been cleansed. . . . Our priests have received the power not of treating with the leprosy of the body, but with spiritual uncleanness; not of declaring cleansed, but of actually cleansing. . . . Priests accomplish this not only by teaching and admonishing, but also by the help of prayer. Not only at the time of our regeneration [in baptism], but even afterward, they have the authority to forgive sins: ‘Is there anyone among you sick? Let him call in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven’” (On the Priesthood 3:6:190ff [A.D. 387]). So the Protestant understanding can never separate from these contradictions and these things that are ignored. At its foundation is a body of contradiction. JOHN 3:16 Protestantism reads one of the most quoted verses in scripture, wrong. In order to separate from the original church it had to develop a false construct. John 3:16 says For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting. Taking into consideration everything we have said about obedience to the faith, when we look at John 3:16, what does it mean to believe if Paul says it is his job to bring about obedience to the faith and Christ says, “ not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven accept those who do the will of my Father? What does it mean to believe if God, after establishing the Jewish Passover, came in the flesh 1300 years later and said, “ I strongly desire to celebrate this Passover with you,”and then speaking to His church called bread His body, wine His blood, and said , do this? What does it mean to believe if Paul said he should be considered as a dispenser of the mysteries of God ( 1 Cor 4:1) and the word sacrament is derived from mystery and Irenaeus said, “ all of the apostles were priests.”?  Or, consider us priests as dispensers of the “mysteries, mysterion , sacramentum, sacraments” of Christ? Remember that Jesus even raised obedience to the fathers will above prophecy and miracles. 21Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in thy name, and cast out devils in thy name, and done many miracles in thy name? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. Mt 7:21-23 John 3:16 has to be a summation of belief. John who lived obedience to the faith had the entire image of faith in his mind when he wrote this because this was his life in Christ. Before modern English the words for I believe, " Pistis" In Greek and "Fide" in Latin, were verbs. They meant to adore, to commit to, to be all in, to covenant in. This understanding compliments Paul's call to " obedience to the faith". It is the opposite of faith alone. To not believe is disobedience or apiethe in Greek. To not live in the mosaic law was disobedience that led to the curse being fulfilled, why would people think it would be any different in the New Covenant? Here are a few Greek dictionary entries for this word apeithe? 36.23 apeithe? unwillingness or refusal to comply with the demands of some authority—‘to disobey, disobedience.’ ‘whoever disobeys the Son will never have life’ (literally ‘… will never see life’) Jn 3:36. ‘God’s wrath comes upon those who do not obey him’ Eph 5:6. (Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 467–468.) ***************************************** apeithe?.  This word means “to be disobedient” and is a significant term in the LXX (Greek Old Testament) for disobedience to God. In the NT it is used of the wilderness generation in Heb. 3:18, that of the flood in 1 Pet. 3:20, all sinners in Rom. 2:8, and Gentiles in Heb. 11:31. Rom. 11:30. “ To believe” is the opposite in Acts 14:1–2, and unbelief is parallel. We find an absolute use in Acts 14:2. Rom. 15:31; 1 Pet. 2:7. Important phrases are disobeying the word (1 Pet. 2:8), the gospel (4:17), and the Son (Jn. 3:36). (Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 819–820.)�******************************************* "The  concept of commitment, supports the true nature of belief as it was lived in the apostolic church. This  is also at the root memory of the original Latin in the word “credo”. Etymologically, credo, appears to be a compound of two other Latin words, cor, cordis, meaning “heart” (as in the English derivatives “cordial, “concord”, and “accord”) …The primary meaning of credo in classical Latin was to “entrust”, or to commit”to just like the true understanding of belief in Christianity meaning obedience to the faith. " Commit to, or, to covenant in. Again brings to mind Gods words, “This is my blood of the New Covenant, DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.” This is obviously part of obedience to the faith. The Catholic Creed is an expression of faith that is lived in the heart, “cordis”. The covenant life in the sacraments in obedience to the faith is what God established as the narrow road to assist us who are in fallen nature. Protestantism separated from the essence of true faith. This narrow road among other things, was established to keep us from Satan’s preternatural deceptions. Satan who has the power to implant thoughts in people's minds even coming as an angel of light  and even creating false miracles. Therefore Paul warns us, “ But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.” Gal 1:8 So what  brings you closer to the Eucharist is of God, what  pushes you away cannot be. It’s separation from truth, it’s being influenced by a different type of angel. Even the understanding of the word belief was manipulated through time and a fork in the road that began to move people away from truth. This could have been a diabolical deception. I first saw this in Marthaler’ s book “The Creed”. With what I have previously presented it should be clear that with Marthalers understanding of the etymology of belief, it should be clear that when proper honest exegesis is applied to scripture, you should see that there is not one word in scripture that goes against the Catholic faith. It’s a Catholic book. From the Creed we read: “Etymologically, “believe” is related to a broad range of familiar words, some archaic, like life (dear, willing), some still in use, like “beloved,” and “love”. The history of “believe” in its various forms----ranging from Old English be loef to the early modern English synonym “beloved”, through the seventeenth- century misspelling that gave us “believe” instead of “beleeve”---is a chronicle of its gradual change in meaning…In the fourteenth century, about the time of John Wycliffe (1330-1384), important changes began to take place that mark the transition from Middle English to Modern English. A new word, “faith,” was coming into use as the English form of the Latin Fides. Early evidence of the transition can be seen in two versions of the English Bible attributed to Wycliffe, both based on the Latin Vulgate. In the first, bilefe translates fides, whereas in the second, “faith” appears in a number of places. By the seventeenth century the transition was virtually complete. The 1611 King James Authorized Version used the word “faith” 246 times, while using “belief” only once. The Oxford English Dictionary, which describes this evolution (s.v. belief), states, …the word faith, though being through O[ld] F[rench] fei, faith, the etymological representative of the L[atin fides, it began in the 14th c[entury] to be used to translate the latter, and in course of time almost superseded “belief” esp[ecially] in theological language, leaving ‘belief” in great measure to merely intellectual process or state…Thus “belief in God” no longer means as much as “faith in God.” So with this in mind, when we look at the faith of the fathers, let’s start with how Protestants falsely read Clement. Clement writes  to the church at Corinth And we, too, being called by His will to Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. First examine what Clement means by called. Clement understood the “ elect” as those who through faith by way of God's grace, have entered the church, the family of the elect. So everything is in the context of the elect living the grace given freely of the religion and ritual of the New Covenant in obedience to the faith. He refers to this when he talks about participating in the blessings of the elect. Chapter 29. Let Us Also Draw Near to God in Purity of Heart. Let us then draw near to Him with holiness of spirit, lifting up pure and undefiled hands unto Him, loving our gracious and merciful Father, who has made us partakers in the blessings of His elect. For thus it is written, When the Most High divided the nations, when He scattered the sons of Adam, He fixed the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. His people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, and Israel the lot of His inheritance. Deuteronomy 32:8-9 And in another place [the Scripture] says, Behold, the Lord takes unto Himself a nation out of the midst of the nations, as a man takes the first-fruits of his threshing-floor; and from that nation shall come forth the Most Holy. So the elect are those living obedience to the faith in the sacramental life through faith. If this were not true then Clement would be contradicting himself when he said: Behold, the Lord [comes], and His reward is before His face, to render to every man according to his work. He exhorts us, therefore, with our whole heart to attend to this, that we be not lazy or slothful in any good work. Let our boasting and our confidence be in Him. Let us submit ourselves to His will. Let us consider the whole multitude of His angels, how they stand ever ready to minister to His will. Let us therefore join with those to whom grace is given by God. Let us clothe ourselves in concord, being humble and self- controlled, keeping ourselves far from all backbiting and slander, being justified by works and not by words. . . . Why was our Father Abraham blessed? Was it not because of his deeds of justice and truth, wrought in faith? . . . So Clement also lived by the true understanding of belief in obedience, living as one of the elect in the Church which is the body of Christ. He lived by obedience to the faith of the New Covenant or else he would never have been recognized by the Church. These same elect as the chosen people, the holy nation the Royal Priesthood are who Paul refers to in Romans 9 as the family of God that has entered the promise of Abraham fulfilled. 6Not as though the word of God hath miscarried. For all are not Israelites that are of Israel. 7Neither are all they that are the seed of Abraham, children: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is to say, not they that are the children of the flesh are the children of God: but they that are the children of the promise are accounted for the seed. Roman’s 9:6 Through obedience to the faith in our baptism, we enter the family of God. The early church was clear on the belief that faith included living the Christian life in the church as we saw earlier in reading Jerome expressing  this when as a member of the Catholic church he says we must conduct our lives according to the faith. This idea of coming to the faith by certain degrees shows us this transforming process in the sacramental life. Caesar of Arles 468/470 – 27 August 542 AD) gives us even a clearer vision of the image of faith. “I beg you, beloved brethren, let us consider more attentively why we are Christians and bear the cross of Christ on our forehead. For we ought to know that it is not enough for us that we have received the name Christian, if we do not do Christian works. If you say a thousand times that you are a Christian and continually sign yourself with the cross of Christ, but do not give alms according to your means, and you do not want to have love and justice and chastity, the name of Christian will profit you nothing….Above all, as I already said before, give alms to the poor according to your means. Present offerings to be consecrated on the altar; a man of means should blush to communicate in the offering of another. Those who are able should give either candles or oil which can be put in lamps. Know the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer yourselves and teach them to you children. I do not know how a man can call himself a Christian…when he neglects [this]” (Sermons 13:1-2 [ante A.D. 542]). We see righteousness along with obedience to the faith in the sacramental life here. From the beginning of Christianity, members of the church brought the bread and wine from their own means, to the altar in order for the priest to, through the Holy Spirit, perform the consecration. Going back to Basil and his letter to the Bereans, we are reminded that Basil praised the church at Berea for their “ exactitude when it came to the rituals of ministering at the altar, He writes: “He has told me of the exactitude of those of you who are entrusted with the ministry of the altar, and moreover of the harmonious agreement of all the people, and the generous character and genuine love towards God of the magistrates and chief men of your city.” The Apostolic Constitutions shows us the history of Berea and how the very first bishop of Berea was Onesimus, formerly Philemon's slave. Berea was a province of Macedonia in Greece , from the beginning it went from pagan to Catholic and has always had representation for the  Catholic councils. And of course, faith cannot be separated from a righteous life. People need to understand that  John 3:16 is a summation of the “way”. You see this through a true understanding of “ belief ”. Gregory of Nyssa “Paul, joining righteousness to faith and weaving them together, constructs of them the breastplates for the infantryman, armoring the soldier properly and safely on both sides. A soldier cannot be considered safely armored when either shield is disjoined from the other. Faith without works of justice is not sufficient for salvation; neither is righteous living secure in itself of salvation, if it is disjoined from faith” (Homilies on Ecclesiastes 8 [ca. A.D. 335- 394]). St. Polycarp of Smyrna (d. 155), a disciple of John the Evangelist: Polycarp was a bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of the apostle John. He stressed the importance of good works as evidence of one's faith, and he urged Christians to live according to the example of Christ. He wrote, "Stand fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the example of the Lord, being firm and unchangeable in the faith, loving the brotherhood, and being attached to one another, joined together in the truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in your intercourse with one another, and despising no one" (Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 13). St. Justin Martyr (d. 165): Justin was an early Christian apologist who defended the faith against pagan critics. He emphasized the importance of both faith and good works, arguing that Christians should live lives of virtue and charity. He wrote, "We have learned from the prophets, and we hold it to be true, that punishments, chastisements, and rewards are rendered according to the merit of each man’s actions. Otherwise, if all things happen by fate, then nothing is in our own power. For if it be predestined that one man be good and another man evil, then the first is not deserving of praise or the other to be blamed" (First Apology, Chapter 43) Paul would never have required obedience to the faith outside of this church God established as the reestablished kingdom of David. Augustine showed us the same when he wrote in regards to the book of Daniel: “O magnify the Lord our God, and worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy.” As he said above, “O magnify the Lord our God and fall down before His footstool:” now we have understood what it is to worship His footstool: thus also but now after he had magnified the Lord our God, that no man might magnify Him apart from His hill, he has also praised His hill. What is His hill? We read elsewhere concerning this hill, that a stone was cut from the hill without hands, and shattered all the kingdoms of the earth, and the stone itself increased. This is the vision of Daniel which I am relating. This stone which was cut from the hill without hands increased, and “became,” he says, “a great mountain, and filled the whole face of the earth.” Daniel 2:34-35 Let us worship on that great mountain, if we desire to be heard. Heretics do not worship on that mountain, because it has filled the whole earth; they have stuck fast on part of it, and have lost the whole. If they acknowledge the Catholic Church, they will worship on this hill with us. For we already see how that stone that was cut from the mountain without hands has increased, and how great tracts of earth it has prevailed over, and unto what nations it has extended. What is the mountain whence the stone was hewn without hands? The Jewish kingdom, in the first place; since they worshipped one God. Thence was hewn the stone, our Lord Jesus Christ....That stone then was born of the mountain without hands: it increased, and by its increase broke all the kingdoms of the earth. It has become a great mountain, and has filled the whole face of the earth. This is the Catholic Church, in whose communion rejoice that you are. But they who are not in her communion, since they worship and praise God apart from this same mountain, are not heard unto eternal life; although they may be heard unto certain temporal things. Let them not flatter themselves, because God hears them in some things: for He hears Pagans also in some things. Do not the Pagans cry unto God, and it rains? Wherefore? Because He makes His sun to rise over the good and the bad, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:45 Boast not therefore, Pagan, that when you cry unto God, God sends rain, for He sends rain upon the just and the unjust. He has heard you in temporal things: He hears you not in things eternal, unless you have worshipped in His holy hill. “Worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy.”... 13And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying: Men, brethren, hear me. 14Simon hath related how God first visited to take to the Gentiles, a people to his name. 15And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written: 16After these things I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down: and the ruins thereof I will rebuild. And I will set it up: 17That the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the Lord, who doth these things. 18To the Lord was his own work known from the beginning of the world. 19For which cause, judge that they who from among the Gentiles are converted to God are not to be disquieted: Acts 15:13-19 Jesus would never have given Peter the keys of binding and loosing and succession of the Davidic Kingdom if he was not reestablishing the Kingdom in the church. At the council of Jerusalem Peter being influenced by his dream, through the power of the keys, separated the church from 1300 years of Mosaic Law when he said we are saved by grace not the law of Moses. So with everything we have discussed here in the back of our minds, let’s look at the failure of proper exegesis Protestants have fallen into when they look at Ephesians 2 . Here we find what Protestantism uses in its attempt to separate from the Catholic Church a proof text of faith alone that when proper exegesis is applied looking at the big picture of the faith lived, will prove the opposite. For by grace you are saved through faith: ( For those of the age of reason, faith in baptism was saving faith. All of the sacraments are grace given freely not works of Mosaic Law. The prophecy fulfilled of the law written on our hearts is grace given freely. The apostles were Jews who never understood belief outside a life of obedience to the faith in a covenant relationship with God.) and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God. 9Not of works, that no man may glory. ( Baptized Pharisees at the council of Jerusalem saw themselves as being closer to God than the Jews in the church were because they kept the letter of Mosaic Law, the ceremonial aspects, and circumcision. This was their glory, their boast.) 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God hath prepared that we should walk in them. Created in Christ Jesus in good works. Only God is good. It is God expressing unconditional love through us through a partnership with the Holy Spirit that gives Paul the reason to say, “ for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works.” Yet Paul gives us a warning to this in his words, “ We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in good works, PROVIDED THAT WE SHOULD WALK IN THEM. If you do not walk in them then you are not doing the will of the Father and Christ said, not everyone who says, Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven accept those who do the  will of my Father. In conclusion, I recently came across a great apologist named Joshua Charles who is also a convert. He is also a presidential speech writer. I love how he  has the ability to present the profound in simplicity. He wrote recently The Church Father who “red pilled” me about my protestantism, and finally got me to look into the claims of the Catholic Church, was a disciple of the Apostle John, St. Ignatius of Antioch. On point after point, this disciple of an Apostle was teaching profoundly Catholic doctrine most (sometimes all) of my protestant forebears had abandoned, supposedly in the name of being “biblical.” But for this disciple of an Apostle, Catholic doctrines were biblical, and protestant ideas are nowhere to be seen in his writings. Here are 10 points he affirmed that shocked me into reality: 1. The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; 2. The New Testament ministerial priesthood; 3. Christian worship = the sacrifice of the Eucharist; 4. We become Christians through being spiritually regenerated in baptism (baptismal regeneration); 5. Christians can forfeit their salvation through grave sin, including heresy/schism; 6. Authority in the Church is exercised by bishops who are successors of the Apostles (apostolic succession); 7. Lay Christians must be under a successor of the Apostle’s authority, and cannot start their own independent congregations; 8. The Church of Rome has greater authority than other churches; 9. Schism and heresy from the one true Church possessing the one true Faith is not of Christ, and always unacceptable; 10. This one true Church is called the “Catholic Church.” All of this was apparent in just seven short letters written as he proceeded to his martyrdom in Rome. St. Ignatius of Antioch forever changed my life. He gave me a glimpse into the truth that the biblical Church was and has always been the Catholic Church, and that my inherited protestantism, far from being a “restoration” of the primitive Church and gospel, was a complete departure from it. One example among many: “See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.” St. Ignatius of Antioch, “Epistle to the Smyrnaeans” (§8) (c. AD 107) Ignatius was simply teaching a life of obedience to the faith in the New Covenant God established. The Holy Mass is the true Passover for the general redemption of the world so if there was no obedience to the faith then there would be no salvation. Salvation has a variable that has to include obedience to the faith.

Is the Eucharist “ base and contemptible to the sensual mind? God proved the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist by proving He was the Son of man. Christ said, my flesh is real food. He knew the crowd did not believe. He said, “ What if you see the Son of man rise to where He was before then would you believe? In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.” Daniel 7:13 The Son of man is a physical manifestation of God in the heavens. “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14.  777 They saw the Son of Man rise to where He was before. “And when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight.” Acts 1:9 “What if you saw the “ Son of Man” rise to where he was before, then would you believe my flesh is true food? Then would you believe my glorified body that does not conform to time and space is placed before the Father as the true Passover before He sees the sins of the world? This IS my body With faith no explanation is necessary. Without faith no explanation is possible. Aquinas The diabolical deception of faith alone often separates faith from virtue in weak souls. You accept God's word or you don’t. You don’t pick and choose. His words that are hardest to accept are a test of love. If our gospel be veiled it is veiled to those who are perishing Paul says. It was veiled to those outside the church. My flesh is real food. The cup of benediction that we bless, is this not participation in the blood of Christ? They will see and not see and hear and not hear. "Come together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ." Ignatius Disciple of John the apostle. -"Letter to the Ephesians", paragraph 20, c. 80-110 A.D. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26For see your vocation, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble: 27But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise; and the weak things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the strong. 28And the base things of the world, and the things that are contemptible, ( My flesh is true food) hath God chosen, and things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his sight. 30But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption: 31That, as it is written: He that glorieth, may glory in the Lord. 1 Cor 1:25 Humility humility humility The same Paul who said, “ the cup of benediction that we bless is this not participation in the blood of Christ said, God uses the base and contemptible so that we do not glory in mans wisdom but glory in God. Do you glory in God by dying to the wisdom of this world? The Eucharist is the true Passover for the general redemption of the world, whether or not you choose to believe. With faith no explanation is necessary. Without faith no explanation is possible. Scripture does not interpret scripture to the heart. Faith does.

I often say that Protestantism has to believe in scripture alone or else it cannot confirm it’s reason for existence. Protestantism asserts scripture alone because it is not in scripture. Protestantism had to create new novel false exegesis, concepts, and definitions in order to separate from the original church. God established His church for among many other reasons, as helps against our fallen nature. 1500 years later, man created faith alone and scripture alone in our fallen nature. This is why it appears that Catholics and Protestants are speaking a different language. It’s because we are. Catholics are speaking the language of a first century Jewish convert while Protestants are speaking a language of anti Catholicism. Many have no idea they are doing it. This created a false construct of Christianity. Protestantism as a tradition then began to look at scripture through this false construct and judge Catholicism through this false construct. This is why modern Protestantism does not only look different from the faith of the disciples of the apostles but it is worlds apart from it. It’s not even close. The disciples of the apostles lived the Catholic faith. A clear example is how the words faith, grace, and works were manipulated away from how the early church lived these things. Let’s start with faith. The apostles were Jews who never understood belief outside of obedience to the faith in a covenant relationship with God. So belief was always acted on inside covenant oath. Paul reminds us of this when he writes: This is my blood of the New Covenant, do this... 5By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, in all nations, for his name: 6Among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ. Rm 1:5 Paul is writing to those who were baptized into the church living the narrow road of transforming grace of the sacramental life in obedience to the faith with bishops, priests and deacons. For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and shouldest ordain priests in every city, as I also appointed thee: Titus 1:5 We know this through multiple points of fact including Paul calling those in the church to obey the leaders of the church. Obey your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to render an account of your souls: that they may do this with joy and not with grief. For this is not expedient for you. Hb 13:17 Prelates are the rulers of the church including bishops. It would also be foolish to think that Paul would be referring to obeying any prelates of any church, but only the one church of one doctrine that entered into the covenant relationship with God in obedience to the faith. John 3:16 has to be a summation of belief because belief includes obedience to the New Covenant. When it comes to works. Protestantism had to step back from seeing scripture as a whole and instead had to isolate specific verses applying more of a literalist approach to scripture interpretation instead of a more honest literal. There is in scripture reference to an actual law of works. This has nothing to do with works in general. But knowing that man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; we also believe in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. Gal 2:16 Where is then thy boasting? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Rm 3:27 The literal law of works was the boast of the baptized Pharisees. The literal law of works is the ceremonial law of Moses and circumcision. Baptized Pharisees boasted about keeping the law of works believing they were closer to God than the Gentiles in the church were because they kept the “ law of works.” The law of faith is obedience to the faith of the New Covenant. AND some coming down from Judea, taught the brethren: That except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. Acts 15:1 5But there arose of the sect of the Pharisees some that believed, saying: They must be circumcised and be commanded to observe the law of Moses Acts 15:5 As for grace. Again this is not ambiguous. The prophecy fulfilled of the law written on our hearts as opposed to the Mosaic law of rule, fear, and temporal punishment for Jews only is grace given freely in order to be saved through following conscience. All of the sacraments of " the way" is grace given freely. “ The Gentiles do what the law requires without ever knowing the law, their conscience bares witness.” Rm 2:14 For this is the testament which I will make to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws into their mind, and in their heart will I write them: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: Hb 8:10 Baptism is grace given freely. Baptism is redemption through the destruction of original sin and entrance into the chosen people, the holy nation, the royal priesthood. Whereunto baptism being of the like form, now saveth you also: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the examination of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:21 Protestantism falsely reads Titus 3:5 in its goal of separation from the original church. Protestantism believes that this verse proves faith alone but like many other examples of false exegesis in Protestantism, it proves the opposite. 4But when the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared: 5Not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost. 6Whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour: 7That, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting. 8It is a faithful saying. And these things I will have thee affirm constantly, that they who believe in God may be careful to excel in good works. Titus 3:4 We do not come into the flesh of Christ, the church, the Royal priesthood, redemption from original sin, through our own justices but through the true laver of regeneration through renovation of the Holy Spirit. Of course after, we are called to always be careful to excel in good works.  What did the Levitical priests do after they washed in the Laver? They entered the veil which Paul refers to as the flesh of Christ. 19Having therefore, brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ: 20A new and living way which he hath dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh: 21And a high priest over the house of God: 22Let us draw near with a true heart, in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our (((bodies washed with clean water.))) Hb 19:19 And of course because the New Covenant is a marriage between a perfect groom and imperfect bride. The flesh of Christ is also the church. 19And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. Hosea 2:19 23And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God. Hosea 2:23 9For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the church: 30Because we are members of him, body, of his flesh and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother: and shall cleave to his wife. And they shall be two in one flesh. 32This is a great sacrament: but I speak in Christ and in the church. Eph 5:29 Faith, grace, and works. Hippolytus "The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and he, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the Spirit of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism" (Discourse on the Holy Theophany 8 [A.D. 217]). Even the understanding of the word belief was manipulated through time and a fork in the road that began to move people away from truth. This could have been a diabolical deception. I first saw this in Marthaler’ s book “The Creed”. With what I have previously presented on sola Scriptura and with what we have discussed today, it should be clear that with Marthalers understanding of the etymology of belief, it should be clear that when proper honest exegesis is applied to scripture, you should see that there is not one word in scripture that goes against the Catholic faith. It’s a Catholic book. From the Creed we read: “Etymologically, “believe” is related to a broad range of familiar words, some archaic, like life (dear, willing), some still in use, like “beloved,” and “love”. The history of “believe” in its various forms----ranging from Old English be loef to the early modern English synonym “beloved”, through the seventeenth- century misspelling that gave us “believe” instead of “beleeve”---is a chronicle of its gradual change in meaning…In the fourteenth century, about the time of John Wycliffe (1330-1384), important changes began to take place that mark the transition from Middle English to Modern English. A new word, “faith,” was coming into use as the English form of the Latin Fides. Early evidence of the transition can be seen in two versions of the English Bible attributed to Wycliffe, both based on the Latin Vulgate. In the first, bilefe translates fides, whereas in the second, “faith” appears in a number of places. By the seventeenth century the transition was virtually complete. The 1611 King James Authorized Version used the word “faith” 246 times, while using “belief” only once. The Oxford English Dictionary, which describes this evolution (s.v. belief), states, …the word faith, though being through O[ld] F[rench] fei, faith, the etymological representative of the L[atin fides, it began in the 14th c[entury] to be used to translate the latter, and in course of time almost superseded “belief” esp[ecially] in theological language, leaving ‘belief” in great measure to merely intellectual process or state…Thus “belief in God” no longer means as much as “faith in God.” Belief is obedience to the faith of the New Covenant.

Current rankings: Among Christian shows: T4P #1 My former show: #22 Among Religious shows: T4P #3 My former show: #47 Among all shows: T4P #52 My former show #484 That a 7 week old show is so dramatically out performing a 14 year old show is a testament to the hard work of all of you and I am so very appreciative of, and humbled by, your efforts.

The general redemption of the world makes individual redemption possible. Paul says , for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you will show the death of the Lord until He comes again. Why? Why do we need to show the death of the Lord until He comes again? Obviously we are showing it to the Father. The cross is only a pagan execution without the covenant memorial of the cross always before the Father as the general redemption of the world. There are two main parts to a Jewish sacrifice. The slaying of the victim and the offering up of the fruit of the sacrifice to the Father. The Old Testament sacrifices were types so that in humility and prayer, we can see how they are fulfilled in the true Passover. Think like a first century Jewish convert not like a 21 st century Protestant. Do this in memory of me. “The Apostles and early believers recognized the sacrificial character of Jesus' instruction, "Do this in remembrance (Gr. anamnasin) of me" is better translated "Offer this as my memorial sacrifice." Anamnesis ("remembrance") has sacrificial overtones. It occurs only eight times in the NT and the Greek OT. All but once (Wisdom 16:6) it is in a sacrificial context (Hebrews 10:3, Leviticus 24:7, Numbers 10:10 and Psalm 38 [39] and 70 [70]). In these cases the term anamnesis can be translated as "memorial portion," "memorial offering," or "memorial sacrifice." Thus in the remaining two occurrences of anamnesis (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24), Christ’s words "Do this inremembrance of Me," can be translated as "Offer this for my memorial sacrifice." What did Paul mean when he said “ we have an altar at which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat of? “ Behold Israel according to the flesh are not those who offer the sacrifice partakers of the altar?” He is writing to churches already living the religion and ritual of the New Covenant going deep into those mysteries of the rituals they were living. Offer this for my memorial sacrifice I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. Types And thou shalt put upon them the dearest frankincense, that the bread may be for a memorial of the oblation of the Lord. Leviticus 24:7 If at any time you shall have a banquet, end on your festival days, and on the first days of your months, you shall sound the trumpets over the holocausts, and the sacrifices of peace offerings, that they may be to you for a remembrance of your God. I am the Lord your God. Numbers 10:10 Future fulfillment in the Eucharist. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1:11 Leviticus 7 11And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD. 12If he offer it for a thanksgiving, ( Eucharistasis) then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving ( Eucharistasis) unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. 13Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving ( Eucharistasis) of his peace offerings. 14And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave ( Raised into the air before the Father) offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. It is present so that redemption continues until the end of time. The prophecy fulfilled of the laws written on our hearts is part of the general redemption by way of the 7 virtues. And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, saith the Lord. I will give my laws in their hearts, and on their minds will I write them: Hb 10:16 When the Holy Spirit came into the world by way of the cross, spiritually a new heaven and new earth was established. In this transformation came the law of conscience on a new level. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world. Jn 16:33 For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, having not the law, are a law to themselves. 15Who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them. Rm 2:14 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. Jm 4:17 The true Passover establishes the general redemption. The laws written on our hearts created our culpability for not following truth.