Excellency, I find you not only philosophically brilliant, well-read, non-arrogant, an incredibly gifted speaker...but you also are helping me to feel and seek out the Holy Spirit. I've been following you for years, and I merely want to say thank God for your presence in this crazy world.
Thank you Bishop Barron, you have no idea how your videos have changed my life, I struggled with faith, labelled it as a bunch of traditions without any reasoning behind it, I have returned to church, I still have questions but I'm back after so many years
I love Jesus Christ. I am not a Catholic though. Thank you Bishop Barron for your videos. They mean so much to me, so thank you for your mission and your masses. I truly believe in the love God and Jesus Christ, and I will repent.
@@versatilelord8893 Becoming a Catholic convert is a calling from God. It's not a whimsical choice to do so. My dad was born Methodist, but entered the Catholic church in the 70's. He's no longer with us. Many people enter the Catholic church every year, which is wonderful.
Wouldn't the original sin be the overthrow of Satan against God long before Adam ? Isn't the key of David, knowing the genealogy of Christ and Cain ? In verse 9 when speeking about the church of Philadelphia, Jesus found favor in that church becaue they taught you must know who the Jew were that that claim to be of Judah but do lie you are of your father the first murderer , described in the parable of the sower.
Many years ago, I was in a meeting with my boss and HR director. In the course of the discussion, I said my soul was bought at a high price, and I would not sell it cheaply. At that point, it was dead silence for a minute. .
Thank you Bishop Barron. I am learning so much more about my Catholic faith since listening to you on a regular basis. It was a blessing discovering your video series. Your videos not only inform me but lift me in times of unhappiness. God bless.
Beautiful father..😊 no doubt about it I've seen the temple in heaven when I was 14 yrs old...nothing has been built yet..but it will be in the near future I always ask The Lord for it,I'll take part on it when the time comes ...😊 🙏🙏🙏
Always a joy to listen... informative, clear and made more enjoyable with images representing the biblical times with also the written word caption... thank you Teacher Barron for the revelation made easier to understand! All praise to the King to come!
In this passage, Adam means humanity. Not was Adam, man, who fail God. But Adam, humanity who fail Him. We are those who have failed Him. Thanks and God Bless You Father Barrón
You are one of my favorite speakers. The victory of God is awesome but I have given up my faith because I can't believe in a God who not only seems absent but who allows innocence to suffer due to his error in making this world. I hope he'll is not real. Keep up the great work. You have saved many.
Once, talking to a T.A. in a political theory class (at a Catholic college on the East Coast) I quoted "What does it profit a man to conquer the whole world but lose his own soul." His response, "Oh, I see you're familiar with Thomas More."
In fact, this particular Gospel text had an extraordinary impact on St. Francis Xavier in his conversion process when he did the month of Spiritual Exercises with St. Ignatius.
you are a great theologian Fr Barron! The Holy Spirit works wonders on you...God Bless you! btw, I own the whole series of Catholicism- a true Masterpiece!
"... and make the whole world into the heavenly Jerusalem." YES! Our job is to make everyone everywhere a member of the heavenly Jerusalem, The Catholic Church established by Jesus Himself. Whew, that's quite the order Lord. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. -Reg (formerly "Mottledbrain")
Why is the bible always highlighting Jerusalem? What happened to the rest of the world? Tell me pls😁? I'm curious 🙃! And why do bibles of all religions always have incest sex? In genisis CAIN and his little sister did it! God bribed him with a girl (A. K. A. Thier youngest little sister) after tempting him to commit murder that is! Abel's death was by the words of God he made CAIN kill his brother! God is so screwed up that after the time of creation all he did was killing up until now🤣🤣 What is this some kind of sick joke? Has god lost his balls? Pls reply I'd like to hear what you have to say✌️😁 And do please enjoy your life!
Very thoughtful, wonderful, sublime, remarkable, superb......helpful and upholding spiritually as usual, thanks a lot Fr. Barron. Don't be late for the next video and sorry if I'm a demanding person with you but I guess that your fans and audience can understand and excuse me!
When i first starting reading the book of Revelation, it at first gave me nightmarish visions for example. The four horsemen, the 7 angels with 7 trumpets, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, the whore of Babylon. And a final clash between good and evil. Jesus returns to defeat the dark forces as bloodthirsty warrior but then comes the last judgement. Those who kept the commandments of God and the teachings of Christ will enter a eternal paradise. And those who don't will enter a the fiery abyss known as Hell. And what's interesting is that our Lord Jesus Christ has a apocalyptic sense to him as the members of the clergy reads the Gospels that are proclaimed towards the end of the ordinary time cycle in the Sunday liturgy. We see our Lord Jesus pointing towards the world to come reminding us that even though we live in this world we are not to be of this world. Our hearts have to set fast on the world to come so when Jesus says we don't know the time or hour when it'll happen, he's encouraging and reminding us to be prepared for it. And when it does happen, I'll be ready.
Clear pure truth like holy water is the word ...unlike this [ influence by the evil unseen ] man made world that enjoys swimming in the dark unclean waters of sin, pride and lies.... So many lukewarm spirits ... Eternal life or death....so important ...yet So meaning less to so many...
It seems to me that in the Genesis 3 narrative, Adam's failure is that he heeds the voice of the Serpent precisely as it is mediated to him via Eve, his specially created feminine helper and counterpart. The Serpent's voice is often most seductively powerful through the very gifts of God that we are most tempted to idolize -- usually, the very best gifts.
@Dirk Knight Oh, Adam and Eve did have free will. Why would you say that except by your argument, if they did not eat of the forbidden fruit there would be no need for all of the events told in Scripture? That is a stretch, but I suspect that God knew they would eat of the fruit. Because he created man and woman with free will, and not being God, they were destined by their own nature to "eat of the fruit." God gave them the choice to decide between good and bad, but he did not give them a nature in which they COULD not choose badly. Then they would not have free will.
In my seven trips to Heaven I only passed through a door once. I saw a second great doorway through which the Trinity came into the assembly of the angels and saints.
Ancient Philadelphia was in Lydia, as I'm quite sure Fr. Barron knows. However, I do believe that Philadelphia could be any church today, every one of us have far too many good people that just go below the radar. Fr. Barron does an excellent job explaining the big scheme. That's his job! Thank you..
MARK 16 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and PREACH THE GOSPEL to every creature. 16 He that BELIEVETH and is BAPTIZED shall be SAVED; but he that believeth not shall be damned. THE GOSPEL 1 CORINTHIANS 15 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the GOSPEL which I PREACHED UNTO YOU, which also ye have RECEIVED, and wherein ye STAND; 2 By which also ye are SAVED, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. note note 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the SCRIPTURES; 4 And that he was BURIED, and that he ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY according to the SCRIPTURES: YOU NEED NOTHING ELSE BUT TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL FOR ETERNAL LIFE, JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY, WORSHIP GOD. BE BLESSED IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME
Bishop Barron, I am incredibly grateful for your dissertations on biblical texts and general theology. I’ve recently went through Dr. Creasy’s bible class on Revelation and it was enlightening, however, it is not theologically interpretive. Would you mind going through ALL of Revelation in one of your videos from a theologians perspective? God Bless you and your team!
"But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him" - John 4:23 The book of revelation foretells what is to come. Jesus is coming soon, but this time, as a glorious King (no longer a lowly servant) and He will defeat satan, the false prophet/teacher, and all of his followers. I came across this verse: “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. - Matthew 24:30
Protestants ALWAYS post this scripture WITHOUT understanding it. Yes, Jesus is the ONLY mediator between all on earth and all in heaven. No one on earth OR in heaven can approach the father, ALL must go through Jesus, as ONLY Jesus can approach His father. Non Catholic Christians can quote and refer to scripture verses like the backs of your hands, but you don't understand what you're reading, because you're only reading the words, you're not fully understanding the message behind God's words. Intercessory prayer was given to us by God Himself. When we ask our loved ones who have gone before us or our family members here on earth to pray for us, we are asking for their intercession, mediation to God. If God truly didn't want us to ask those in heaven or here on earth to pray for us, He wouldn't have given us intercessory prayer. When you pray for a friend, YOU are interceding on their behalf TO Jesus, because you CAN NOT approach the father, EXCEPT through His son. That's the ONLY way any of us can pray. Christ is our one mediator/intercessor, yet, St. Paul commands all Christians to be intercessors/mediators. Then notice the first word in verse five: “For there is one God and one mediator…” And then in verse seven he says, “For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle.” What is an apostle if not a mediator? The very definition of apostle, according to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, is “a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders.” That’s an essential part of what a mediator is. In short, St. Paul says we are all called to be mediators because Christ is the one mediator and for this reason he was called to be a mediator of God’s love and grace to the world! The fact that Jesus is our one mediator does not preclude him from communicating this power by way of participation. The Bible also declares: “But you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.” This text cannot be any clearer, yet James 3:1 and Ephesians 4:11 tell us we have many teachers in the Church. The key is to understand that the many teachers and mediators in the body of Christ do not take away from Christ as the one teacher and mediator because they are, in a sense, Christ on this earth and they serve to establish his offices of teacher and mediator in him. As members of the body of Christ graced with a specific task by Christ they can say with St. Paul in Galatians 2:20, “It is not I, but Christ who [teaches] in me…” And remember, we are not talking about necessity here. The Church is not claiming Christ couldn’t get the job done so he needed help. Of course not! He could do it all-and all by himself-if he wanted to. He could come down here right now and write this blog post much more effectively than I ever could. But he chooses not to do everything himself, strictly speaking. He delights in using his body to communicate his life and love to the world.
@@niwotmom8419 .Bible says ee are not to communicate with the dead. Only God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and infallible. No human alive or dead have these attributes
Dear Father Barron, I am an avid follower of you, and absolutely love all your videos , I admire your knowledge and braveness to share all this in the Internet. I have a question for you. In this video you mention in around 11:30, that "God is always testing his people". That is a "theme" that I have always question myself, is that really truth?. In Matthew 4,1 we find "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (If I am right: Devil refers to thruster or adversary from the Greek root)". So I have always believed that trials and tests come from the devil and not from God. To add to this, I am myself a young father, and I never see myself putting a test to my son in order to see his love for me, or his trust in me, or what so ever… and if I who I am not a perfect father, just can't imagine the most loving Father doing that either. Can you comment on that? I know probably is a whole new youtube video and not part of the content for this video, but I will greatly appreciated since, as I said, is something have always been in my mind, especially because my Baptist neighbors are always talking about God testing them. Thanks ann God bless.
...I'm sure Fr. Barron will have a wise and wonderful answer for you! But just a thought...aren't you "testing" when your young child walks for the first time and you let him totter along...or feed himself for the first time even though half the food falls off the spoon? I think He tests us to strengthen us, not to see how much we love Him.....He tested Abraham's faith before He entrusted him with more....same with us.
@@janmicnatLet me begin with I grew up in the Catholic Church. The Sprit of G-d gives us discernment. With an open mind, think about the following. The first churches were home churches made of mostly Jewish congregants, gentiles enter later, see the Book of Acts chapter 15, all previous chapters in Acts pertained to Jews. Satan is the master of deception, Father of Lies. Think of this, what do the Catholic Church, Islam, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints have in common? All three organizations use the G-d of Abraham as their foundation, in all three individuals claimed to have a supernatural G-d related vision/revelation which the masses were all too happy to believe, all three decided to add to the Word of G-d, their own twist if you will. Emperor Constantine had a vision while alone, Catholics added to scripture e.g. Holy Mary Mother of G-d, nowhere in scripture do we receive instructions to offer prayer and supplication to Mary, plus the Catechism claims that Catholic Tradition is equal to the Word of G-d which was never taught by Jesus Messiah. Muhammad had his vision, then came the Quran and Islam. Then there is Joseph Smith, his vison complete with golden tablets and the Book of Mormon. Think of the history of the Catholic Church, during the Spanish Inquisition that spread through Europe and other parts of the world. In Europe individuals who did not wish to be part of the Catholic Church were forced to do so, through intimidation, torture, death, having their property seized and shared with government who supported the Church. This happened to Muslims, Protestants, Jews and frankly anyone else who look for religious freedom. Same thing happened in South America and Mexico. When I was part of the Catholic Church there was no such thing as bible study, why do you think that was? Why did the Catholic Church hold back on printing the Word of G-d? All I got was a lot of Latin, a quick sermon, incense, and give your dollars. The Catholic Church claims that we are now experiencing the Millennium, the 1000-Year Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth. Some attributes of the Millennium, It Will Be an International Kingdom of Spirituality and Unified Worship of God, It Will Be a Kingdom of Holiness, It Will Be a Kingdom of Justice and Righteousness, It Will Be a Kingdom in Which Nature Will Be Altered, the Curse Removed, It Will Be a Kingdom of Economic Prosperity, It Will Be a Kingdom of Peace and Security, It Will Be a Kingdom of Global Israeli Supremacy and Honor, It Will Be a Kingdom of Joy. Look at this world. I do not do these things for my own reason, I do it out of love and to defend the Gospel, to serve our Father G-d. I believe anyone who seeks to have a relationship with our Creator deserves to know the truth. Satan has been hard at work ever since the Garden of Eden. Look at Prophecy, Book of Isaiah chapter 11:15, where is the Egyptian Sea (CJB) it is by Yemen North of the Gulf of Aden where the Houthis are at war with the world. Euphrates River, drought, this is something rare, why now? All nations will turn on Israel, all, see the Book of Obadiah all on chapter. Repent for the time is near. Why will on a few enter through the narrow gate, some many false churches, religions, beliefs. Only one way into the Kingdom, by Grace through Faith, in the Gospel which points to our Messiah, Jesus. This why I'm here. Blessings.
@@janmicnat anyone up for some bible study, to share spiritual gifts, not control them. Love you all and praise be to the G-d and Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah.
@@janmicnat Let me begin with I grew up in the Catholic Church. The Sprit of G-d gives us discernment. With an open mind, think about the following. The first churches were home churches made of mostly Jewish congregants, gentiles enter later, see the Book of Acts chapter 15, all previous chapters in Acts pertained to Jews. Satan is the master of deception, Father of Lies. Think of this, what do the Catholic Church, Islam, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints have in common? All three organizations use the G-d of Abraham as their foundation, in all three individuals claimed to have a supernatural G-d related vision/revelation which the masses were all too happy to believe, all three decided to add to the Word of G-d, their own twist if you will. Emperor Constantine had a vision while alone, Catholics added to scripture e.g. Holy Mary Mother of G-d, nowhere in scripture do we receive instructions to offer prayer and supplication to Mary, plus the Catechism claims that Catholic Tradition is equal to the Word of G-d which was never taught by Jesus Messiah. Muhammad had his vision, then came the Quran and Islam. Then there is Joseph Smith, his vison complete with golden tablets and the Book of Mormon. Think of the history of the Catholic Church, during the Spanish Inquisition that spread through Europe and other parts of the world. In Europe individuals who did not wish to be part of the Catholic Church were forced to do so, through intimidation, torture, death, having their property seized and shared with government who supported the Church. This happened to Muslims, Protestants, Jews and frankly anyone else who look for religious freedom. Same thing happened in South America and Mexico. When I was part of the Catholic Church there was no such thing as bible study, why do you think that was? Why did the Catholic Church hold back on printing the Word of G-d? All I got was a lot of Latin, a quick sermon, incense, and give your dollars. The Catholic Church claims that we are now experiencing the Millennium, the 1000-Year Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth. Some attributes of the Millennium, It Will Be an International Kingdom of Spirituality and Unified Worship of God, It Will Be a Kingdom of Holiness, It Will Be a Kingdom of Justice and Righteousness, It Will Be a Kingdom in Which Nature Will Be Altered, the Curse Removed, It Will Be a Kingdom of Economic Prosperity, It Will Be a Kingdom of Peace and Security, It Will Be a Kingdom of Global Israeli Supremacy and Honor, It Will Be a Kingdom of Joy. Look at this world. I do not do these things for my own reason, I do it out of love and to defend the Gospel, to serve our Father G-d. I believe anyone who seeks to have a relationship with our Creator deserves to know the truth. Satan has been hard at work ever since the Garden of Eden. Look at Prophecy, Book of Isaiah chapter 11:15, where is the Egyptian Sea (CJB) it is by Yemen North of the Gulf of Aden where the Houthis are at war with the world. Euphrates River, drought, this is something rare, why now? All nations will turn on Israel, all, see the Book of Obadiah all on chapter. Repent for the time is near. Why will on a few enter through the narrow gate, some many false churches, religions, beliefs. Only one way into the Kingdom, by Grace through Faith, in the Gospel which points to our Messiah, Jesus. This why I'm here. Blessings.
Christ is knocking on the door because he wants you to let him in, not (primarily?) because he wants to let you out. I think that is clear from the context in Revelation.
Thank you, Bishop. May I submit for consideration that the Church is entering the 6th/Philadelphia age. The one with a little strength, practicing The Little Way of St. Terese and consecrated to Our Lady as exemplified by the little Fatima seers. Every Catholic knows Our Lady's Immaculate will triumph "in the end" but few consider what it will be like after that. To get ready for Her triumph I suggest we follow the lead of Sr Lucy i.e. personal consecration to Our Lady including the morning offering prayer, daily rosary and wearing the brown scapular. Our Lady promised salvation to all by this means which likely will be the rule once She saves the world and the restoration begins..
From Tradition to Truth The Testimony of Former Roman Catholic Priest, Richard Bennett.
The Early Years Born Irish, in a family of eight, my early childhood was fulfilled and happy. My father was a colonel in the Irish Army until he retired when I was about nine. As a family, we loved to play, sing, and act, all within a military camp in Dublin. We were a typical Irish Roman Catholic family. My father sometimes knelt down to pray at his bedside in a solemn manner. Most evenings we would kneel in the living room to say the Rosary together. No one ever missed Mass on Sundays unless he was seriously ill. By the time I was about five or six years of age, Jesus Christ was a very real person to me, but so also were Mary and the saints. I can identify easily with others in traditional Catholic nations in Europe and with Hispanics and Filipinos who put Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and other saints all in one boiling pot of faith. The catechism was drilled into me at the Jesuit School of Belvedere, where I had all my elementary and secondary education. Like every boy who studies under the Jesuits, I could recite before the age of ten five reasons why God existed and why the Pope was head of the only true Church. Getting souls out of Purgatory was a serious matter. The often quoted words, "It is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins," were memorized even though we did not know what these words meant. We were told that the Pope as head of the Church was the most important man on earth. What he said was law, and the Jesuits were his right-hand men. Even though the Mass was in Latin, I tried to attend daily because I was intrigued by the deep sense of mystery which surrounded it. We were told it was the most important way to please God. Praying to saints was encouraged, and we had patron saints for most aspects of life. I did not make a practise of that, with one exception: St. Anthony, the patron of lost objects, since I seemed to lose so many things. When I was fourteen years old, I sensed a call to be a missionary. This call, however, did not affect the way in which I conducted my life at that time. Age sixteen to eighteen were the most fulfilled and enjoyable years a youth could have. During this time, I did quite well both academically and athletically. I often had to drive my mother to the hospital for treatments. While waiting for her, I found quoted in a book these verses from Mark 10:29-30, "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Not having any idea of the true salvation message, I decided that I truly did have a call to be a missionary. Trying to Earn Salvation I left my family and friends in 1956 to join the Dominican Order. I spent eight years studying what it is to be a monk, the traditions of the Church, philosophy, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and some of the Bible from a Catholic standpoint. Whatever personal faith I had was institutionalized and ritualized in the Dominican religious system. Obedience to the law, both Church and Dominican, was put before me as the means of sanctification. I often spoke to Ambrose Duffy, our Master of Students, about the law being the means of becoming holy. In addition to becoming “holy,” I wanted also to be sure of eternal salvation. I memorized part of the teaching of Pope Pius XII in which he said, “...the salvation of many depends on the prayers and sacrifices of the mystical body of Christ offered for this intention.” This idea of gaining salvation through suffering and prayer is also the basic message of Fatima and Lourdes, and I sought to win my own salvation as well as the salvation of others by such suffering and prayer. In the Dominican monastery in Tallaght, Dublin, I performed many difficult feats to win souls, such as taking cold showers in the middle of winter and beating my back with a small steel chain. The Master of Students knew what I was doing, his own austere life being part of the inspiration that I had received from the Pope's words. With rigor and determination, I studied, prayed, did penance, tried to keep the Ten Commandments and the multitude of Dominican rules and traditions. Outward Pomp - Inner Emptiness Then in 1963 at the age of twenty-five I was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and went on to finish my course of studies of Thomas Aquinas at The Angelicum University in Rome. But there I had difficulty with both the outward pomp and the inner emptiness. Over the years I had formed, from pictures and books, pictures in my mind of the Holy See and the Holy City. Could this be the same city? At the Angelicum University I was also shocked that hundreds of others who poured into our morning classes seemed quite disinterested in theology. I noticed Time and Newsweek magazines being read during classes. Those who were interested in what was being taught seemed only to be looking for either degrees or positions within the Catholic Church in their homelands. One day I went for a walk in the Colosseum so that my feet might tread the ground where the blood of so many Christians had been poured out. I walked to the arena in the Forum. I tried to picture in my mind those men and women who knew Christ so well that they were joyfully willing to be burned at the stake or devoured alive by beasts because of His overpowering love. The joy of this experience was marred, however, for as I went back in the bus I was insulted by jeering youths shouting words meaning “scum or garbage.” I sensed their motivation for such insults was not because I stood for Christ as the early Christians did but because they saw in me the Roman Catholic system. Quickly, I put this contrast out of my mind, yet what I had been taught about the present glories of Rome now seemed very irrelevant and empty. One night soon after that, I prayed for two hours in front of the main altar in the church of San Clemente. Remembering my earlier youthful call to be a missionary and the hundredfold promise of Mark 10:29-30, I decided not to take the theological degree that had been my ambition since beginning study of the theology of Thomas Aquinas. This was a major decision, but after long prayer I was sure I had decided correctly. The priest who was to direct my thesis did not want to accept my decision. In order to make the degree easier, he offered me a thesis written several years earlier. He said I could use it as my own if only I would do the oral defense. This turned my stomach. It was similar to what I had seen a few weeks earlier in a city park: elegant prostitutes parading themselves in their black leather boots. What he was offering was equally sinful. I held to my decision, finishing at the University at the ordinary academic level, without the degree. On returning from Rome, I received official word that I had been assigned to do a three year course at Cork University. I prayed earnestly about my missionary call. To my surprise, I received orders in late August 1964 to go to Trinidad, West Indies, as a missionary. Pride, Fall, and a New Hunger On October 1, 1964, I arrived in Trinidad, and for seven years I was a successful priest, in Roman Catholic terms, doing all my duties and getting many people to come to Mass. By 1972 I had become quite involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement. Then, at a prayer meeting on March 16th of that year, I thanked the Lord that I was such a good priest and requested that if it were His will, He humble me that I might be even better. Later that same evening I had a freak accident, splitting the back of my head and hurting my spine in many places. Without thus coming close to death, I doubt that I would ever have gotten out of my self-satisfied state. Rote, set prayer showed its emptiness as I cried out to God in my pain. In the suffering that I went through in the weeks after the accident, I began to find some comfort in direct personal prayer. I stopped saying the Breviary (the Roman Catholic Church's official prayer for clergy) and the Rosary and began to pray using parts of the Bible itself. This was a very slow process. I did not know my way through the Bible and the little I had learned over the years had taught me more to distrust it rather than to trust it. My training in philosophy and in the theology of Thomas Aquinas left me helpless, so that coming into the Bible now to find the Lord was like going into a huge dark woods without a map. When assigned to a new parish later that year, I found that I was to work side-by-side with a Dominican priest who had been a brother to me over the years. For more than two years we were to work together, fully seeking God as best we knew in the parish of Pointe-a-Pierre. We read, studied, prayed, and put into practise what we had been taught in Church teaching. We built up communities in Gasparillo, Claxton Bay, and Marabella, just to mention the main villages. In a Catholic religious sense we were very successful. Many people attended Mass. The Catechism was taught in many schools, including government schools. I continued my personal search into the Bible, but it did not much affect the work we were doing; rather it showed me how little I really knew about the Lord and His Word. It was at this time that Philippians 3:10 became the cry of my heart, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection....” About this time the Catholic Charismatic movement was growing, and we introduced it into most of our villages. Because of this movement, some Canadian Christians came to Trinidad to share with us. While much of what I learnt centered on pretended signs and wonders, which I have later renounced, the use of the Scriptures was truly a blessing to me. The love the Canadian Christians had for the Bible got me deeply into it as an authority source. I began to compare scripture with scripture and even to quote chapter and verse! One of the texts the Canadians used was Isaiah 53:5, “...and with his stripes we are healed.” Yet in studying Isaiah 53, I discovered that the Bible deals with the problem of sin by means of substitution. Christ died in my place. It was wrong for me to try to expiate or try to cooperate in paying the price of my sin. “If by grace, it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace..” Romans 11:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). One particular sin of mine was getting annoyed with people, sometimes even angry. Although I asked forgiveness for my sins, I still did not realize that I was a sinner by the nature which we all inherit from Adam. The scriptural truth is, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10), and “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Catholic Church, however, had taught me that the depravity of man, which is called “original sin,” had been washed away by my infant baptism. I still held this belief in my head, but in my heart I knew that my depraved nature had not yet been conquered by Christ. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection...” (Philippians 3:10) continued to be the cry of my heart. I knew that it could be only through His power that I could live the Christian life. I posted this text on the dashboard of my car and in other places. It became the plea that motivated me, and the Lord who is Faithful began to answer. The Ultimate Question First, I discovered that God's Word in the Bible is absolute and without error. I had been taught that the Word is relative and that its truthfulness in many areas was to be questioned. Now I began to understand that the Bible could, in fact, be trusted. With the aid of Strong's Concordance, I began to study the Bible to see what it says about itself. I discovered that the Bible teaches clearly that it is from God and is absolute in what it says. It is true in its history, in the promises God has made, in its prophecies, in the moral commands it gives, and in how to live the Christian life. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16-17). This discovery was made while visiting in Vancouver, B.C., and in Seattle. When I was asked to talk to the prayer group in St. Stephen's Catholic Church, I took as my subject the absolute authority of God's Word. It was the first time that I had understood such a truth or talked about it. I returned to Vancouver, B.C. and in a large parish Church, before about 400 people, I preached the same message. Bible in hand, I proclaimed that “the absolute and final authority in all matters of faith and morals is the Bible, God's own Word.” Three days later, the archbishop of Vancouver, B.C., James Carney, called me to his office. I was then officially silenced and forbidden to preach in his archdiocese. I was told that my punishment would have been more severe, were it not for the letter of recommendation I had received from my own archbishop, Anthony Pantin. Soon afterwards I returned to Trinidad. Church-Bible Dilemma While I was still parish priest of Point-a-Pierre, Ambrose Duffy, the man who had so strictly taught me while he was Student Master, was asked to assist me. The tide had turned. After some initial difficulties, we became close friends. I shared with him what I was discovering. He listened and commented with great interest and wanted to find out what was motivating me. I saw in him a channel to my Dominican brothers and even to those in the Archbishop's house. When he died suddenly of a heart attack, I was stricken with grief. In my mind, I had seen Ambrose as the one who could make sense out of the Church-Bible dilemma with which I so struggled. I had hoped that he would have been able to explain to me and then to my Dominican brothers the truths with which I wrestled. I preached at his funeral and my despair was very deep. I continued to pray Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection....” But to learn more about Him, I had first to learn about myself as a sinner. I saw from the Bible (I Timothy 2:5) that the role I was playing as a priestly mediator -- exactly what the Catholic Church teaches but exactly opposite to what the Bible teaches -- was wrong. I really enjoyed being looked up to by the people and, in a certain sense, being idolized by them. I rationalized my sin by saying that after all, if this is what the biggest Church in the world teaches, who am I to question it? Still, I struggled with the conflict within. I began to see the worship of Mary, the saints, and the priests for the sin that it is. But while I was willing to renounce Mary and the saints as mediators, I could not renounce the priesthood, for in that I had invested my whole life. Tug-Of-War Years Mary, the saints, and the priesthood were just a small part of the huge struggle with which I was working. Who was Lord of my life, Jesus Christ in His Word or the Roman Church? This ultimate question raged inside me especially during my last six years as parish priest of Sangre Grande (1979-1985). That the Catholic Church was supreme in all matters of faith and morals had been dyed into my brain since I was a child. It looked impossible ever to change. Rome was not only supreme but always called “Holy Mother.” How could I ever go against “Holy Mother,” all the more so since I had an official part in dispensing her sacraments and keeping people faithful to her? In 1981, I actually rededicated myself to serving the Roman Catholic Church while attending a parish renewal seminar in New Orleans. Yet when I returned to Trinidad and again became involved in real life problems, I began to return to the authority of God's Word. Finally the tension became like a tug-of-war inside me. Sometimes I looked to the Roman Church as being absolute, sometimes to the authority of the Bible as being final. My stomach suffered much during those years; my emotions were being torn. I ought to have known the simple truth that one cannot serve two masters. My working position was to place the absolute authority of the Word of God under the supreme authority of the Roman Church. This contradiction was symbolized in what I did with the four statues in the Sangre Grande Church. I removed and broke the statues of St. Francis and St. Martin because the second commandment of God's Law declares in Exodus 20:4, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image....” But when some of the people objected to my removal of the statues of the Sacred Heart and of Mary, I left them standing because the higher authority, i.e., the Roman Catholic Church, said in its law Canon 1188: “The practise of displaying sacred images in the churches for the veneration of the faithful is to remain in force.” I did not see that what I was trying to do was to make God's Word subject to man's word. My Own Fault While I had learned earlier that God's Word is absolute, I still went through this agony of trying to maintain the Roman Catholic Church as holding more authority than God's Word, even in issues where the Church of Rome was saying the exact opposite to what was in the Bible. How could this be? First of all, it was my own fault. If I had accepted the authority of the Bible as supreme, I would have been convicted by God's Word to give up my priestly role as mediator, but that was too precious to me. Second, no one ever questioned what I did as a priest. Christians from overseas came to Mass, saw our sacred oils, holy water, medals, statues, vestments, rituals, and never said a word! The marvelous style, symbolism, music, and artistic taste of the Roman Church was all very captivating. Incense not only smells pungent, but to the mind it spells mystery. The Turning Point One day, a woman challenged me (the only Christian ever to challenge me in all my 22 years as a priest), “You Roman Catholics have a form of godliness, but you deny its power.” Those words bothered me for some time because the lights, banners, folk music, guitars, and drums were dear to me. Probably no priest on the whole island of Trinidad had as colorful robes, banners, and vestments as I had. Clearly I did not apply what was before my eyes. In October 1985, God's grace was greater than the lie that I was trying to live. I went to Barbados to pray over the compromise that I was forcing myself to live. I felt truly trapped. The Word of God is absolute indeed. I ought to obey it alone; yet to the very same God I had vowed obedience to the supreme authority of the Catholic Church. In Barbados I read a book in which was explained the biblical meaning of Church as “the fellowship of believers.” In the New Testament there is no hint of a hierarchy; “Clergy” lording it over the “laity” is unknown. Rather, it is as the Lord Himself declared “...one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren” (Matthew 23:8). Now to see and to understand the meaning of church as “fellowship” left me free to let go of the Roman Catholic Church as supreme authority and depend on Jesus Christ as Lord. It began to dawn on me that in biblical terms, the Bishops I knew in the Catholic Church were not biblical believers. They were for the most part pious men taken up with devotion to Mary and the Rosary and loyal to Rome, but not one had any idea of the finished work of salvation, that Christ's work is done, that salvation is personal and complete. They all preached penance for sin, human suffering, religious deeds, “the way of man” rather than the Gospel of grace. But by God's grace I saw that it was not through the Roman Church nor by any kind of works that one is saved, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). New Birth at Age Forty-eight I left the Roman Catholic Church when I saw that life in Jesus Christ was not possible while remaining true to Roman Catholic doctrine. In leaving Trinidad in November 1985, I only reached neighboring Barbados. Staying with an elderly couple, I prayed to the Lord for a suit and necessary money to reach Canada, for I had only tropical clothing and a few hundred dollars to my name. Both prayers were answered without making my needs known to anyone except the Lord.From a tropical temperature of 90 degrees, I landed in snow and ice in Canada. After one month in Vancouver, I came to the United States of America. I now trusted that He would take care of my many needs, since I was beginning life anew at 48 years of age, practically penniless, without an alien resident card, without a driver's license, without a recommendation of any kind, having only the Lord and His Word. I spent six months with a Christian couple on a farm in Washington State. I explained to my hosts that I had left the Roman Catholic Church and that I had accepted Jesus Christ and His Word in the Bible as all-sufficient. I had done this, I said, “absolutely, finally, definitively, and resolutely.” Yet far from being impressed by these four adverbs, they wanted to know if there was any bitterness or hurt inside me. In prayer and in great compassion, they ministered to me, for they themselves had made the transition and knew how easily one can become embittered. Four days after I arrived in their home, by God's grace I began to see in repentance the fruit of salvation. This meant being able not only to ask the Lord's pardon for my many years of compromising but also to accept His healing where I had been so deeply hurt. Finally, at age 48, on the authority of God's Word alone, by grace alone, I accepted Christ's substitutionary death on the Cross alone. To Him alone be the glory. Having been refurbished both physically and spiritually by this Christian couple together with their family, I was provided a wife by the Lord, Lynn, born-again in faith, lovely in manner, intelligent in mind. Together we set out for Atlanta, Georgia, where we both got jobs. A Real Missionary with a Real Message In September 1988, we left Atlanta to go as missionaries to Asia. It was a year of deep fruitfulness in the Lord that once I would never have thought was possible. Men and women came to know the authority of the Bible and the power of Christ's death and resurrection. I was amazed at how easy it is for the Lord's grace to be effective when only the Bible is used to present Jesus Christ. This contrasted with the cobwebs of church tradition that had so clouded my 21 years in missionary garments in Trinidad, 21 years without the real message. To explain the abundant life of which Jesus spoke and which I now enjoy, no better words could be used than those of Romans 8:1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” It is not just that I have been freed from the Roman Catholic system, but that I have become a new creature in Christ. It is by the grace of God, and nothing but His grace, that I have gone from dead works into new life. Testimony to the Gospel of Grace Back in 1972, when some Christians had taught me about the Lord healing our bodies, how much more helpful it would have been had they explained to me on what authority our sinful nature is made right with God. The Bible clearly shows that Jesus substituted for us on the cross. I cannot express it better than Isaiah 53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (This means that Christ took on himself what I ought to suffer for my sins. Before the Father, I trust in Jesus as my substitute.) That was written 750 years before the crucifixion of our Lord. A short time after the sacrifice of the cross, the Bible states in I Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” Because we inherited our sin nature from Adam, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How can we stand before a Holy God, except in Christ, and acknowledge that He died where we ought to have died? Only through faith we can see, understand and grasp Christ as our substitute. It was Christ who paid the price for our sins: sinless, yet He was crucified. This is the true Gospel message. Is faith enough? Yes, born-again faith is enough. That true faith, engendered by God, will inevitably show good fruit, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). In repenting, we put aside, through God’s strength, our former way of life and our former sins. It does not mean that we cannot sin again, but it does mean that our position before God has changed. We are called children of God, for so indeed we are. If we do sin, it is a relationship problem with the Father which can be resolved, not a problem of losing our position as a child of God in Christ, for this position is irrevocable. In Hebrews 10:10, the Bible says it so wonderfully: “...we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross is sufficient and complete. As you trust solely in this finished work, a new life which is born of the Spirit will be yours -- you will be born again. The Present Day My present task: the good work that the Lord has prepared for me to do is as an evangelist situated near Austin in the central Texas U.S.A. What Paul said about his fellow Jews I say about my dearly loved Catholic brothers: my heart's desire and prayer to God for Catholics is that they may be saved. I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based in God's Word but in their church tradition. If you understand the devotion and agony that some of the men and women in the Philippines and South America have put into their religion, you may understand my heart’s cry: “Lord, give us a compassion to understand the pain and torment of the search that devout Catholics have made to please You”. In understanding their pain we will have the desire to show them the Good News of Christ’s finished work on the Cross. My testimony shows how difficult it was for me as a Catholic to give up Church tradition, but when the Lord demands it in His Word, we must do it. The “form of godliness” that the Roman Catholic Church has makes it most difficult for a Catholic to see where the real problem lies. Everyone must determine by what authority we know truth. For Papal Rome the ultimate authority lies in the decisions and decrees of the reigning Pope. In her own words, “The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held as such.” (Code of Canon Law, Canon 749). Yet according to the Bible, it is God's Word itself which is the authority by which truth is known. It was man-made traditions which caused the Reformers to demand “the Bible only, faith only, grace only, in Christ only, and to God only be the glory.” The Reason Why I Share I share these truths with you now so that you can know God's way of salvation. Our basic problem as Catholics was that personal worth and dignity was ingrained into us. We believed that could respond to the help God gives us to be right in His sight. This presupposition that many of us have carried for years is aptly defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) #2021, “Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons....” With that mindset, we were unknowingly holding to a teaching that the Bible continually condemns. Such a definition of grace is man's careful fabrication, for the Bible consistently declares that the believer's right standing with God is “without works” (Romans 4:6), “without the deeds of the Law” (Romans 3:28), “not of works” (Ephesians 2:9), “It is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8). To attempt to make the believer's response part of his salvation and to look upon grace as “a help” is to flatly deny biblical truth, “...if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace...” (Romans 11:6). The simple biblical message is that “the gift of righteousness” in Christ Jesus is a gift, resting on His all-sufficient sacrifice on the cross, “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). So it is as Christ Jesus Himself said, He died in place of the believer, the One for many (Mark 10:45), His life a ransom for many. As He declared, ...this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). This is also what Peter proclaimed, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...” (I Peter 3:18). Paul’s preaching is summarized at the end of II Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him..” (II Corinthians 5:21). This fact, dear reader, is presented clearly to you in the Bible. Acceptance of it is now commanded by God, “...Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The most difficult repentance for us dyed-in-the-wool Catholics is changing our mind from thoughts of “meriting,” “earning,” “being good enough,” simply to accepting with empty hands the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus. To refuse to accept what God commands is the same sin as that of the religious Jews of Paul's time, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:3) Repent and believe the Good News! Richard Bennett If there is something on your heart that you wish to share, please email me at: rmbennett@yahoo.com Thank you.
It's not Richard Bennett, it's another incredibly inappropriate (and most likely, illegal due to copyright) cut and paste by Meehan. Someone needs to tell this guy that just because he gives the author credit at the bottom does not make stealing the work and RE- publishing it here allowed. The one who owns the royalties to Bennett's work should be notified. Meehan is a staunch anti-Catholic and trolls lots of Bishop Barron's work on Word On Fire. He is also terribly misguided.
Think, for what purpose is artificially created a huge Abrahamic family? After all, all adherents of the three Abrahamic religions are sons of Abraham and brothers to each other in faith. "who are of faith are sons of Abraham."
There is only one Church. The Traditional Catholic Church. All others, including the Norvos Ordo are false Invalid religions like this fake Norvos Ordo Priest!
Though the sex scandals may be a trial period for the Catholic church, one could also make the argument that the great trial of our time is the lack of care for the planet. We are to be the shepherds of the world and we are failing, miserably. I believe part of that is due to the growing apathy we have towards other nations, the environment, and God. Our churches have many empty pews.
May Lord Jesus Christ protect all the priests ... Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. 1 John 4 : 7 He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. 1 John 4 : 8 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 1 John 4 : 9 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. 1 John 4 : 10 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4 : 11 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 1 John 4 : 15 In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world. 1 John 4 : 17 If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannotlove God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4 : 20
Read the Sunday Mass readings a few days before. Pray as you read them. Then during the Mass and the homily listen for the promptings of God. Maybe it will come as a phrase, an off the cuff remark, or an idea springing out at you. God speaks to us through scripture and its interpretation via preaching .Do not be critical of the priest, but be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit who loves us.
The Catholic Church with teaching Cathecism concentrates more on doctrine and preparing third graders for First Communion. No Bible study or mention of the Bible during instruction. At least that how it was done in the 1960s.
Quelles sont vos réflexions sur la relation entre les chapitres 8-12 du Livre de l'Apocalypse et le message de Notre-Dame de Fatima? Qu'est-ce qu'il essaie d'exprimer à nous?
Can someone please explain to me why Revelation is also called Apocalypse by some Catholics? And why other Catholics, such as Bishop Barron, refer to it as Revelation?
I was expecting some discussion on the Great Beast and 666, but that was not present in this video. I’m curious to know if bishop Baron agrees that the Great Beast was most likely Emperor Nero (or some other figure at the time), or whether he thinks that the text is speaking of someone yet to come.
Jimmy Akin has a great DVD set explaining the Book of Revelation (as it was understood for the first 1,500 years following Christ's death). But if you don't want to spend money just google Catholic Answers and punch in anything to do with Revelation. In the meantime, here's the link to the DVD th-cam.com/video/b4ajmcr6RnE/w-d-xo.html
So was there a population of people outside the garden; prior to Adam being created in the garden? Is our understanding of Adam being the first human false? Is he not the first human, per se, but the first earthly king?
the relationship between faith and an excess of wealth is a cuious one. Take the person who is extremely wealthy, who owns many properties, who jets off around the world and enjoys all the good things but at the same time does a tremendous amount of work for the poor and seems to lead a very holy life. To me it seems a strange contradiction. Some people seem to be able to have their cake and eat it.
It's not contradictory.. And it should be a strange thing to you.. Old Testament had it.. And if you just understand what was written, you will figure out just like I did. God allows people to be wealthy, he is given it power and wealth. Remember he clear that to Pilate on the New Testament? There's a lot of purposes and circumstances why God gave it to some people. Just because they spend it to luxuries of mortal life it doesn't mean it was evil.. Remember, envy and jealous were worst than that
scrappy pooh I was thinking the same! I was expecting a discussion on the Great Beast and 666, and whether he thought this figure was Emperor Nero, or someone in the future.
Jesus wanting to "dominate you...." I beg to differ. The Bible contains a slew of conflicting images and we need to be able to say no to some of them rather than try to show them in a positive light at all costs. Contents of the Book of Revelation e.g. are not something to swallow hook, line and sinker. A prayerfully critical mind in approaching the Scriptures should be (re)introduced.
I harken to what CG Jung says about it, and know that Jung's father was a Lutheran? minister , and Jung himself was extremely versed in the Bible : "I will not discuss the transparent prophecies of the Book of Revelation, because no one believes in them, and the whole subject is felt to be an embarrassing one. "
Rouge Shot The American Catholic Bible is the BEST translation due to the extensive research and dedication to seeking the BEST verbage to ATTEMPT to capture the original Greek.
There is a disperaty between religion and scripture. I always go with God's word since His word is inspired and religion is made up by man changes over time by different men who are not inspired.
Ewald Radavich if you do your own interpretation, you are not following God's Word. God left us only one church, and he promised that the Holy spirit will guide it and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. That's the Catholic Church.
How do you know scripture is inspired? How do you know which books God wants in the bible? How is it that the Protestant bible missing books from the original bible?
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Excellency, I find you not only philosophically brilliant, well-read, non-arrogant, an incredibly gifted speaker...but you also are helping me to feel and seek out the Holy Spirit. I've been following you for years, and I merely want to say thank God for your presence in this crazy world.
P9
Amen…
Thank you, Bishop Barron! God bless you. I am learning so much and I love how you don't dumb things down for your listeners. I love being a Catholic.
Thank you Bishop Barron, you have no idea how your videos have changed my life, I struggled with faith, labelled it as a bunch of traditions without any reasoning behind it, I have returned to church, I still have questions but I'm back after so many years
This is great! Praying for you.
God Bless you and your Family! Stay strong in the Faith the Lord our God, Jesus our Savior and the Holy Spirit love you
I love Jesus Christ. I am not a Catholic though. Thank you Bishop Barron for your videos. They mean so much to me, so thank you for your mission and your masses. I truly believe in the love God and Jesus Christ, and I will repent.
You should think about becoming Catholic. It’ll be the best decision you ever make!!
Eleven 👏👏🙏🙏🙏
@@versatilelord8893 Becoming a Catholic convert is a calling from God. It's not a whimsical choice to do so. My dad was born Methodist, but entered the Catholic church in the 70's. He's no longer with us. Many people enter the Catholic church every year, which is wonderful.
Continue to seek the Lord as a person and you will find Him more and more. Don't necessarily seek a "religion", but Christ himself.
Wouldn't the original sin be the overthrow of Satan against God long before Adam ?
Isn't the key of David, knowing the genealogy of Christ and Cain ?
In verse 9 when speeking about the church of Philadelphia, Jesus found favor in that church becaue they taught you must know who the Jew were that that claim to be of Judah but do lie you are of your father the first murderer , described in the parable of the sower.
Many years ago, I was in a meeting with my boss and HR director. In the course of the discussion, I said my soul was bought at a high price, and I would not sell it cheaply. At that point, it was dead silence for a minute. .
Hahaha 😆 that sounds a little nefarious. I like it.
Thank you, father, for your always informative and enlightening talks!
Fr Robert Barren you speak so beautifully of God. Bless you.
Thank you Bishop Barron. Your sermon has touched me deeply.
Absolutely true! The best spiritual nourishment for me and very uplifting. Praise be to God! Thank you, Bishop Barron.
Thank you Bishop Barron. I am learning so much more about my Catholic faith since listening to you on a regular basis. It was a blessing discovering your video series. Your videos not only inform me but lift me in times of unhappiness. God bless.
Thank you Fr Barron for all your teaching and the spreading the Gospel and explaining it to me and others
Thank you, Bishop. Keep preaching the truth, the real presence of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Eucharist!
Love Father B! He’s a beast! So
Eloquent yet precise! So humble and not prideful! God loves you immensely! Pax
Thank you Bishop Barron for crystal clear explanation, God bless you and your work.
Thank you, Fr. Barron. You inspire, inform and educate us in our Catholic Faith.
Father Barron thank you for helping us , to know more about our faith..
Wonderful, Bishop Barron. The connection from Adam -> David -> Christ is a powerful one.
God bless His Excellency Bishop Barron...thank you very for sharing to us this very beautiful information 😊
Praise the Lord Jesus Christ 🙏 Mother Mary Pray For Us 🙏
Beautiful father..😊 no doubt about it I've seen the temple in heaven when I was 14 yrs old...nothing has been built yet..but it will be in the near future I always ask The Lord for it,I'll take part on it when the time comes ...😊 🙏🙏🙏
Da fuq?
God is worthy in the mighty name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Amen
Our prayers for you and all our church family. Michael and Beverly - San Buenaventura Mission, Ventura CA
Very inspirational Father
Thank You Father and Ministry
Fantastic Father, well done, as usual!
My favourite! 😇😇😇
Thank you Bishop for your enlightening explanation.
Thanks much for this video.
Always a joy to listen... informative, clear and made more enjoyable with images representing the biblical times with also the written word caption... thank you Teacher Barron for the revelation made easier to understand! All praise to the King to come!
Thank you for your daily mass🙏🙏
In this passage, Adam means humanity. Not was Adam, man, who fail God. But Adam, humanity who fail Him. We are those who have failed Him. Thanks and God Bless You Father Barrón
And so...stay on the line.amen , amen and AMEN.
Thank you.
Beautiful, Bishop Barron... enjoyed your perspective on that verse.
Thank you father
You are one of my favorite speakers. The victory of God is awesome but I have given up my faith because I can't believe in a God who not only seems absent but who allows innocence to suffer due to his error in making this world. I hope he'll is not real. Keep up the great work. You have saved many.
Once, talking to a T.A. in a political theory class (at a Catholic college on the East Coast) I quoted "What does it profit a man to conquer the whole world but lose his own soul." His response, "Oh, I see you're familiar with Thomas More."
In fact, this particular Gospel text had an extraordinary impact on St. Francis Xavier in his conversion process when he did the month of Spiritual Exercises with St. Ignatius.
How did you know it was a Jesuit institution?
Once you begin to study these things it is not hard to discern a Jesuit from a Catholic, Jesuits being Worldly, Catholics sweeter and pious.
You know Jesuits are Catholics, don't you?
@Frank Molina Jesus also said the greatest commandment was to love God and love your fellow man.
you are a great theologian Fr Barron! The Holy Spirit works wonders on you...God Bless you! btw, I own the whole series of Catholicism- a true Masterpiece!
Hum.???
Thank you for teaching us.
I AM WITH YOU ALWAY
Mission and Mass!
"... and make the whole world into the heavenly Jerusalem." YES! Our job is to make everyone everywhere a member of the heavenly Jerusalem, The Catholic Church established by Jesus Himself.
Whew, that's quite the order Lord.
Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
-Reg (formerly "Mottledbrain")
Why is the bible always highlighting Jerusalem?
What happened to the rest of the world?
Tell me pls😁?
I'm curious 🙃!
And why do bibles of all religions always have incest sex?
In genisis CAIN and his little sister did it!
God bribed him with a girl (A. K. A. Thier youngest little sister) after tempting him to commit murder that is!
Abel's death was by the words of God he made CAIN kill his brother!
God is so screwed up that after the time of creation all he did was killing up until now🤣🤣
What is this some kind of sick joke?
Has god lost his balls?
Pls reply I'd like to hear what you have to say✌️😁
And do please enjoy your life!
@@jakeelmatador5788 What passage says that God tempts Cain to kill Able?
to anyone who attacks a preist i urge you to pray for them may god bless you
julie newman I pray for All catholic people because I was one of them. Vaticano romano pagano deceive the whole world 😪
julie newman there is a difference between discussing and attacking. No man is infallible.
julie newman respectfully disagreeing. No man is infallible & has all knowledge
julie newman. No cleric is God
wms72. Not pagans, but deceived.
Read Romans 10:9-10
Father Their coming out of the woodwork. We're going to hve t pray for the unbelievers .
Lmao
Peter began to speak. I now realize that it is true God treats everyone on the same basis 🙏 🙌
Really good video. Your interpretation makes sense
Great talk!
Very thoughtful, wonderful, sublime, remarkable, superb......helpful and upholding spiritually as usual, thanks a lot Fr. Barron.
Don't be late for the next video and sorry if I'm a demanding person with you but I guess that your fans and audience can understand and excuse me!
When i first starting reading the book of Revelation, it at first gave me nightmarish visions for example. The four horsemen, the 7 angels with 7 trumpets, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, the whore of Babylon. And a final clash between good and evil. Jesus returns to defeat the dark forces as bloodthirsty warrior but then comes the last judgement. Those who kept the commandments of God and the teachings of Christ will enter a eternal paradise. And those who don't will enter a the fiery abyss known as Hell. And what's interesting is that our Lord Jesus Christ has a apocalyptic sense to him as the members of the clergy reads the Gospels that are proclaimed towards the end of the ordinary time cycle in the Sunday liturgy. We see our Lord Jesus pointing towards the world to come reminding us that even though we live in this world we are not to be of this world. Our hearts have to set fast on the world to come so when Jesus says we don't know the time or hour when it'll happen, he's encouraging and reminding us to be prepared for it. And when it does happen, I'll be ready.
Thats why america is so bless.
Awesome editing
Visuals are Very helpful
Clear pure truth like holy water is the word ...unlike this [ influence by the evil unseen ] man made world that enjoys swimming in the dark unclean waters of sin, pride and lies.... So many lukewarm spirits ... Eternal life or death....so important ...yet So meaning less to so many...
It seems to me that in the Genesis 3 narrative, Adam's failure is that he heeds the voice of the Serpent precisely as it is mediated to him via Eve, his specially created feminine helper and counterpart. The Serpent's voice is often most seductively powerful through the very gifts of God that we are most tempted to idolize -- usually, the very best gifts.
@Dirk Knight Oh, Adam and Eve did have free will. Why would you say that except by your argument, if they did not eat of the forbidden fruit there would be no need for all of the events told in Scripture? That is a stretch, but I suspect that God knew they would eat of the fruit. Because he created man and woman with free will, and not being God, they were destined by their own nature to "eat of the fruit." God gave them the choice to decide between good and bad, but he did not give them a nature in which they COULD not choose badly. Then they would not have free will.
Mass celebrates the Eucharist . Mission is to spread the word . As a Roman Catholic
Great video!
It is wise to confirm everything that is said here with the Bible.
In my seven trips to Heaven I only passed through a door once. I saw a second great doorway through which the Trinity came into the assembly of the angels and saints.
Only Jesus has been to Heaven.
Only 7 times; I'd say you've been luckier than most. 😁
How? How can one possibly go to heaven more than once, and without passing through the fires of purgatory no less!
Is it possible to stay awake watching this
Good explanation sir
You must be born again Sir
Ancient Philadelphia was in Lydia, as I'm quite sure Fr. Barron knows. However, I do believe that Philadelphia could be any church today, every one of us have far too many good people that just go below the radar. Fr. Barron does an excellent job explaining the big scheme. That's his job! Thank you..
MARK 16
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and PREACH THE GOSPEL to every creature.
16 He that BELIEVETH and is BAPTIZED shall be SAVED; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
THE GOSPEL
1 CORINTHIANS 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the GOSPEL which I PREACHED UNTO YOU, which also ye have RECEIVED, and wherein ye STAND;
2 By which also ye are SAVED, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. note note
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the SCRIPTURES;
4 And that he was BURIED, and that he ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY according to the SCRIPTURES:
YOU NEED NOTHING ELSE BUT TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL FOR ETERNAL LIFE,
JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY,
WORSHIP GOD.
BE BLESSED IN JESUS MIGHTY NAME
Bishop Barron, I am incredibly grateful for your dissertations on biblical texts and general theology. I’ve recently went through Dr. Creasy’s bible class on Revelation and it was enlightening, however, it is not theologically interpretive. Would you mind going through ALL of Revelation in one of your videos from a theologians perspective? God Bless you and your team!
Get Jimmy Akins' DVD - it's fabulous - th-cam.com/video/b4ajmcr6RnE/w-d-xo.html
"But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him" - John 4:23
The book of revelation foretells what is to come. Jesus is coming soon, but this time, as a glorious King (no longer a lowly servant) and He will defeat satan, the false prophet/teacher, and all of his followers. I came across this verse:
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. - Matthew 24:30
1 Timothy 2:5
Protestants ALWAYS post this scripture WITHOUT understanding it. Yes, Jesus is the ONLY mediator between all on earth and all in heaven. No one on earth OR in heaven can approach the father, ALL must go through Jesus, as ONLY Jesus can approach His father. Non Catholic Christians can quote and refer to scripture verses like the backs of your hands, but you don't understand what you're reading, because you're only reading the words, you're not fully understanding the message behind God's words. Intercessory prayer was given to us by God Himself. When we ask our loved ones who have gone before us or our family members here on earth to pray for us, we are asking for their intercession, mediation to God.
If God truly didn't want us to ask those in heaven or here on earth to pray for us, He wouldn't have given us intercessory prayer. When you pray for a friend, YOU are interceding on their behalf TO Jesus, because you CAN NOT approach the father, EXCEPT through His son. That's the ONLY way any of us can pray.
Christ is our one mediator/intercessor, yet, St. Paul commands all Christians to be intercessors/mediators. Then notice the first word in verse five: “For there is one God and one mediator…” And then in verse seven he says, “For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle.” What is an apostle if not a mediator? The very definition of apostle, according to Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, is “a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders.” That’s an essential part of what a mediator is. In short, St. Paul says we are all called to be mediators because Christ is the one mediator and for this reason he was called to be a mediator of God’s love and grace to the world!
The fact that Jesus is our one mediator does not preclude him from communicating this power by way of participation. The Bible also declares: “But you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren.” This text cannot be any clearer, yet James 3:1 and Ephesians 4:11 tell us we have many teachers in the Church. The key is to understand that the many teachers and mediators in the body of Christ do not take away from Christ as the one teacher and mediator because they are, in a sense, Christ on this earth and they serve to establish his offices of teacher and mediator in him. As members of the body of Christ graced with a specific task by Christ they can say with St. Paul in Galatians 2:20, “It is not I, but Christ who [teaches] in me…”
And remember, we are not talking about necessity here. The Church is not claiming Christ couldn’t get the job done so he needed help. Of course not! He could do it all-and all by himself-if he wanted to. He could come down here right now and write this blog post much more effectively than I ever could. But he chooses not to do everything himself, strictly speaking. He delights in using his body to communicate his life and love to the world.
@@niwotmom8419 .Bible says ee are not to communicate with the dead. Only God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and infallible. No human alive or dead have these attributes
@@niwotmom8419. Thebible takes presidents over any catachism
Dear Father Barron, I am an avid follower of you, and absolutely love all your videos , I admire your knowledge and braveness to share all this in the Internet.
I have a question for you. In this video you mention in around 11:30, that "God is always testing his people". That is a "theme" that I have always question myself, is that really truth?.
In Matthew 4,1 we find "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (If I am right: Devil refers to thruster or adversary from the Greek root)". So I have always believed that trials and tests come from the devil and not from God.
To add to this, I am myself a young father, and I never see myself putting a test to my son in order to see his love for me, or his trust in me, or what so ever… and if I who I am not a perfect father, just can't imagine the most loving Father doing that either.
Can you comment on that? I know probably is a whole new youtube video and not part of the content for this video, but I will greatly appreciated since, as I said, is something have always been in my mind, especially because my Baptist neighbors are always talking about God testing them.
Thanks ann God bless.
...I'm sure Fr. Barron will have a wise and wonderful answer for you! But just a thought...aren't you "testing" when your young child walks for the first time and you let him totter along...or feed himself for the first time even though half the food falls off the spoon? I think He tests us to strengthen us, not to see how much we love Him.....He tested Abraham's faith before He entrusted him with more....same with us.
I have never heard a Catholic clergyman give a sermon on the Book of Revelation. Good for Bishop Barron.
Unfortunately, his interpretation of the book is super incorrect, you could say heresy.
@@royboy8453 Unfortunately, you don't know what you're talking about. If you think he's a heretic, then why are you here?
@@janmicnatLet me begin with I grew up in the Catholic Church. The Sprit of G-d gives us discernment. With an open mind, think about the following. The first churches were home churches made of mostly Jewish congregants, gentiles enter later, see the Book of Acts chapter 15, all previous chapters in Acts pertained to Jews. Satan is the master of deception, Father of Lies. Think of this, what do the Catholic Church, Islam, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints have in common? All three organizations use the G-d of Abraham as their foundation, in all three individuals claimed to have a supernatural G-d related vision/revelation which the masses were all too happy to believe, all three decided to add to the Word of G-d, their own twist if you will. Emperor Constantine had a vision while alone, Catholics added to scripture e.g. Holy Mary Mother of G-d, nowhere in scripture do we receive instructions to offer prayer and supplication to Mary, plus the Catechism claims that Catholic Tradition is equal to the Word of G-d which was never taught by Jesus Messiah. Muhammad had his vision, then came the Quran and Islam. Then there is Joseph Smith, his vison complete with golden tablets and the Book of Mormon. Think of the history of the Catholic Church, during the Spanish Inquisition that spread through Europe and other parts of the world. In Europe individuals who did not wish to be part of the Catholic Church were forced to do so, through intimidation, torture, death, having their property seized and shared with government who supported the Church. This happened to Muslims, Protestants, Jews and frankly anyone else who look for religious freedom. Same thing happened in South America and Mexico. When I was part of the Catholic Church there was no such thing as bible study, why do you think that was? Why did the Catholic Church hold back on printing the Word of G-d? All I got was a lot of Latin, a quick sermon, incense, and give your dollars. The Catholic Church claims that we are now experiencing the Millennium, the 1000-Year Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth. Some attributes of the Millennium, It Will Be an International Kingdom of Spirituality and Unified Worship of God, It Will Be a Kingdom of Holiness, It Will Be a Kingdom of Justice and Righteousness, It Will Be a Kingdom in Which Nature Will Be Altered, the Curse Removed, It Will Be a Kingdom of Economic Prosperity, It Will Be a Kingdom of Peace and Security, It Will Be a Kingdom of Global Israeli Supremacy and Honor, It Will Be a Kingdom of Joy. Look at this world. I do not do these things for my own reason, I do it out of love and to defend the Gospel, to serve our Father G-d. I believe anyone who seeks to have a relationship with our Creator deserves to know the truth. Satan has been hard at work ever since the Garden of Eden. Look at Prophecy, Book of Isaiah chapter 11:15, where is the Egyptian Sea (CJB) it is by Yemen North of the Gulf of Aden where the Houthis are at war with the world. Euphrates River, drought, this is something rare, why now? All nations will turn on Israel, all, see the Book of Obadiah all on chapter. Repent for the time is near. Why will on a few enter through the narrow gate, some many false churches, religions, beliefs. Only one way into the Kingdom, by Grace through Faith, in the Gospel which points to our Messiah, Jesus. This why I'm here. Blessings.
@@janmicnat anyone up for some bible study, to share spiritual gifts, not control them. Love you all and praise be to the G-d and Father of our Lord Jesus Messiah.
@@janmicnat Let me begin with I grew up in the Catholic Church. The Sprit of G-d gives us discernment. With an open mind, think about the following. The first churches were home churches made of mostly Jewish congregants, gentiles enter later, see the Book of Acts chapter 15, all previous chapters in Acts pertained to Jews. Satan is the master of deception, Father of Lies. Think of this, what do the Catholic Church, Islam, and the Church of Latter-Day Saints have in common? All three organizations use the G-d of Abraham as their foundation, in all three individuals claimed to have a supernatural G-d related vision/revelation which the masses were all too happy to believe, all three decided to add to the Word of G-d, their own twist if you will. Emperor Constantine had a vision while alone, Catholics added to scripture e.g. Holy Mary Mother of G-d, nowhere in scripture do we receive instructions to offer prayer and supplication to Mary, plus the Catechism claims that Catholic Tradition is equal to the Word of G-d which was never taught by Jesus Messiah. Muhammad had his vision, then came the Quran and Islam. Then there is Joseph Smith, his vison complete with golden tablets and the Book of Mormon. Think of the history of the Catholic Church, during the Spanish Inquisition that spread through Europe and other parts of the world. In Europe individuals who did not wish to be part of the Catholic Church were forced to do so, through intimidation, torture, death, having their property seized and shared with government who supported the Church. This happened to Muslims, Protestants, Jews and frankly anyone else who look for religious freedom. Same thing happened in South America and Mexico. When I was part of the Catholic Church there was no such thing as bible study, why do you think that was? Why did the Catholic Church hold back on printing the Word of G-d? All I got was a lot of Latin, a quick sermon, incense, and give your dollars. The Catholic Church claims that we are now experiencing the Millennium, the 1000-Year Reign of Jesus Christ upon Earth. Some attributes of the Millennium, It Will Be an International Kingdom of Spirituality and Unified Worship of God, It Will Be a Kingdom of Holiness, It Will Be a Kingdom of Justice and Righteousness, It Will Be a Kingdom in Which Nature Will Be Altered, the Curse Removed, It Will Be a Kingdom of Economic Prosperity, It Will Be a Kingdom of Peace and Security, It Will Be a Kingdom of Global Israeli Supremacy and Honor, It Will Be a Kingdom of Joy. Look at this world. I do not do these things for my own reason, I do it out of love and to defend the Gospel, to serve our Father G-d. I believe anyone who seeks to have a relationship with our Creator deserves to know the truth. Satan has been hard at work ever since the Garden of Eden. Look at Prophecy, Book of Isaiah chapter 11:15, where is the Egyptian Sea (CJB) it is by Yemen North of the Gulf of Aden where the Houthis are at war with the world. Euphrates River, drought, this is something rare, why now? All nations will turn on Israel, all, see the Book of Obadiah all on chapter. Repent for the time is near. Why will on a few enter through the narrow gate, some many false churches, religions, beliefs. Only one way into the Kingdom, by Grace through Faith, in the Gospel which points to our Messiah, Jesus. This why I'm here. Blessings.
I love your work
Christ is knocking on the door because he wants you to let him in, not (primarily?) because he wants to let you out. I think that is clear from the context in Revelation.
No leader who is not ordained as king can rule a Godly Nation
interesting view point on the book of Life
Thank you, Bishop. May I submit for consideration that the Church is entering the 6th/Philadelphia age. The one with a little strength, practicing The Little Way of St. Terese and consecrated to Our Lady as exemplified by the little Fatima seers. Every Catholic knows Our Lady's Immaculate will triumph "in the end" but few consider what it will be like after that. To get ready for Her triumph I suggest we follow the lead of Sr Lucy i.e. personal consecration to Our Lady including the morning offering prayer, daily rosary and wearing the brown scapular. Our Lady promised salvation to all by this means which likely will be the rule once She saves the world and the restoration begins..
From Tradition to Truth
The Testimony of Former Roman Catholic Priest, Richard Bennett.
The Early Years
Born Irish, in a family of eight, my early childhood was fulfilled and happy. My father was a colonel in the Irish Army until he retired when I was about nine. As a family, we loved to play, sing, and act, all within a military camp in Dublin. We were a typical Irish Roman Catholic family. My father sometimes knelt down to pray at his bedside in a solemn manner. Most evenings we would kneel in the living room to say the Rosary together. No one ever missed Mass on Sundays unless he was seriously ill. By the time I was about five or six years of age, Jesus Christ was a very real person to me, but so also were Mary and the saints. I can identify easily with others in traditional Catholic nations in Europe and with Hispanics and Filipinos who put Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and other saints all in one boiling pot of faith.
The catechism was drilled into me at the Jesuit School of Belvedere, where I had all my elementary and secondary education. Like every boy who studies under the Jesuits, I could recite before the age of ten five reasons why God existed and why the Pope was head of the only true Church. Getting souls out of Purgatory was a serious matter. The often quoted words, "It is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sins," were memorized even though we did not know what these words meant. We were told that the Pope as head of the Church was the most important man on earth. What he said was law, and the Jesuits were his right-hand men. Even though the Mass was in Latin, I tried to attend daily because I was intrigued by the deep sense of mystery which surrounded it. We were told it was the most important way to please God. Praying to saints was encouraged, and we had patron saints for most aspects of life. I did not make a practise of that, with one exception: St. Anthony, the patron of lost objects, since I seemed to lose so many things.
When I was fourteen years old, I sensed a call to be a missionary. This call, however, did not affect the way in which I conducted my life at that time. Age sixteen to eighteen were the most fulfilled and enjoyable years a youth could have. During this time, I did quite well both academically and athletically.
I often had to drive my mother to the hospital for treatments. While waiting for her, I found quoted in a book these verses from Mark 10:29-30, "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Not having any idea of the true salvation message, I decided that I truly did have a call to be a missionary.
Trying to Earn Salvation
I left my family and friends in 1956 to join the Dominican Order. I spent eight years studying what it is to be a monk, the traditions of the Church, philosophy, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, and some of the Bible from a Catholic standpoint. Whatever personal faith I had was institutionalized and ritualized in the Dominican religious system. Obedience to the law, both Church and Dominican, was put before me as the means of sanctification. I often spoke to Ambrose Duffy, our Master of Students, about the law being the means of becoming holy. In addition to becoming “holy,” I wanted also to be sure of eternal salvation. I memorized part of the teaching of Pope Pius XII in which he said, “...the salvation of many depends on the prayers and sacrifices of the mystical body of Christ offered for this intention.” This idea of gaining salvation through suffering and prayer is also the basic message of Fatima and Lourdes, and I sought to win my own salvation as well as the salvation of others by such suffering and prayer. In the Dominican monastery in Tallaght, Dublin, I performed many difficult feats to win souls, such as taking cold showers in the middle of winter and beating my back with a small steel chain. The Master of Students knew what I was doing, his own austere life being part of the inspiration that I had received from the Pope's words. With rigor and determination, I studied, prayed, did penance, tried to keep the Ten Commandments and the multitude of Dominican rules and traditions.
Outward Pomp - Inner Emptiness
Then in 1963 at the age of twenty-five I was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and went on to finish my course of studies of Thomas Aquinas at The Angelicum University in Rome. But there I had difficulty with both the outward pomp and the inner emptiness. Over the years I had formed, from pictures and books, pictures in my mind of the Holy See and the Holy City. Could this be the same city? At the Angelicum University I was also shocked that hundreds of others who poured into our morning classes seemed quite disinterested in theology. I noticed Time and Newsweek magazines being read during classes. Those who were interested in what was being taught seemed only to be looking for either degrees or positions within the Catholic Church in their homelands. One day I went for a walk in the Colosseum so that my feet might tread the ground where the blood of so many Christians had been poured out. I walked to the arena in the Forum. I tried to picture in my mind those men and women who knew Christ so well that they were joyfully willing to be burned at the stake or devoured alive by beasts because of His overpowering love. The joy of this experience was marred, however, for as I went back in the bus I was insulted by jeering youths shouting words meaning “scum or garbage.” I sensed their motivation for such insults was not because I stood for Christ as the early Christians did but because they saw in me the Roman Catholic system. Quickly, I put this contrast out of my mind, yet what I had been taught about the present glories of Rome now seemed very irrelevant and empty.
One night soon after that, I prayed for two hours in front of the main altar in the church of San Clemente. Remembering my earlier youthful call to be a missionary and the hundredfold promise of Mark 10:29-30, I decided not to take the theological degree that had been my ambition since beginning study of the theology of Thomas Aquinas. This was a major decision, but after long prayer I was sure I had decided correctly.
The priest who was to direct my thesis did not want to accept my decision. In order to make the degree easier, he offered me a thesis written several years earlier. He said I could use it as my own if only I would do the oral defense. This turned my stomach. It was similar to what I had seen a few weeks earlier in a city park: elegant prostitutes parading themselves in their black leather boots. What he was offering was equally sinful. I held to my decision, finishing at the University at the ordinary academic level, without the degree.
On returning from Rome, I received official word that I had been assigned to do a three year course at Cork University. I prayed earnestly about my missionary call. To my surprise, I received orders in late August 1964 to go to Trinidad, West Indies, as a missionary.
Pride, Fall, and a New Hunger
On October 1, 1964, I arrived in Trinidad, and for seven years I was a successful priest, in Roman Catholic terms, doing all my duties and getting many people to come to Mass. By 1972 I had become quite involved in the Catholic Charismatic Movement. Then, at a prayer meeting on March 16th of that year, I thanked the Lord that I was such a good priest and requested that if it were His will, He humble me that I might be even better. Later that same evening I had a freak accident, splitting the back of my head and hurting my spine in many places. Without thus coming close to death, I doubt that I would ever have gotten out of my self-satisfied state. Rote, set prayer showed its emptiness as I cried out to God in my pain.
In the suffering that I went through in the weeks after the accident, I began to find some comfort in direct personal prayer. I stopped saying the Breviary (the Roman Catholic Church's official prayer for clergy) and the Rosary and began to pray using parts of the Bible itself. This was a very slow process. I did not know my way through the Bible and the little I had learned over the years had taught me more to distrust it rather than to trust it. My training in philosophy and in the theology of Thomas Aquinas left me helpless, so that coming into the Bible now to find the Lord was like going into a huge dark woods without a map.
When assigned to a new parish later that year, I found that I was to work side-by-side with a Dominican priest who had been a brother to me over the years. For more than two years we were to work together, fully seeking God as best we knew in the parish of Pointe-a-Pierre. We read, studied, prayed, and put into practise what we had been taught in Church teaching. We built up communities in Gasparillo, Claxton Bay, and Marabella, just to mention the main villages. In a Catholic religious sense we were very successful. Many people attended Mass. The Catechism was taught in many schools, including government schools. I continued my personal search into the Bible, but it did not much affect the work we were doing; rather it showed me how little I really knew about the Lord and His Word. It was at this time that Philippians 3:10 became the cry of my heart, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection....”
About this time the Catholic Charismatic movement was growing, and we introduced it into most of our villages. Because of this movement, some Canadian Christians came to Trinidad to share with us. While much of what I learnt centered on pretended signs and wonders, which I have later renounced, the use of the Scriptures was truly a blessing to me. The love the Canadian Christians had for the Bible got me deeply into it as an authority source. I began to compare scripture with scripture and even to quote chapter and verse!
One of the texts the Canadians used was Isaiah 53:5, “...and with his stripes we are healed.” Yet in studying Isaiah 53, I discovered that the Bible deals with the problem of sin by means of substitution. Christ died in my place. It was wrong for me to try to expiate or try to cooperate in paying the price of my sin. “If by grace, it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace..” Romans 11:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
One particular sin of mine was getting annoyed with people, sometimes even angry. Although I asked forgiveness for my sins, I still did not realize that I was a sinner by the nature which we all inherit from Adam. The scriptural truth is, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10), and “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The Catholic Church, however, had taught me that the depravity of man, which is called “original sin,” had been washed away by my infant baptism. I still held this belief in my head, but in my heart I knew that my depraved nature had not yet been conquered by Christ. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection...” (Philippians 3:10) continued to be the cry of my heart. I knew that it could be only through His power that I could live the Christian life. I posted this text on the dashboard of my car and in other places. It became the plea that motivated me, and the Lord who is Faithful began to answer.
The Ultimate Question
First, I discovered that God's Word in the Bible is absolute and without error. I had been taught that the Word is relative and that its truthfulness in many areas was to be questioned. Now I began to understand that the Bible could, in fact, be trusted. With the aid of Strong's Concordance, I began to study the Bible to see what it says about itself. I discovered that the Bible teaches clearly that it is from God and is absolute in what it says. It is true in its history, in the promises God has made, in its prophecies, in the moral commands it gives, and in how to live the Christian life. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Timothy 3:16-17).
This discovery was made while visiting in Vancouver, B.C., and in Seattle. When I was asked to talk to the prayer group in St. Stephen's Catholic Church, I took as my subject the absolute authority of God's Word. It was the first time that I had understood such a truth or talked about it. I returned to Vancouver, B.C. and in a large parish Church, before about 400 people, I preached the same message. Bible in hand, I proclaimed that “the absolute and final authority in all matters of faith and morals is the Bible, God's own Word.”
Three days later, the archbishop of Vancouver, B.C., James Carney, called me to his office. I was then officially silenced and forbidden to preach in his archdiocese. I was told that my punishment would have been more severe, were it not for the letter of recommendation I had received from my own archbishop, Anthony Pantin. Soon afterwards I returned to Trinidad.
Church-Bible Dilemma
While I was still parish priest of Point-a-Pierre, Ambrose Duffy, the man who had so strictly taught me while he was Student Master, was asked to assist me. The tide had turned. After some initial difficulties, we became close friends. I shared with him what I was discovering. He listened and commented with great interest and wanted to find out what was motivating me. I saw in him a channel to my Dominican brothers and even to those in the Archbishop's house. When he died suddenly of a heart attack, I was stricken with grief. In my mind, I had seen Ambrose as the one who could make sense out of the Church-Bible dilemma with which I so struggled. I had hoped that he would have been able to explain to me and then to my Dominican brothers the truths with which I wrestled. I preached at his funeral and my despair was very deep. I continued to pray Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection....” But to learn more about Him, I had first to learn about myself as a sinner. I saw from the Bible (I Timothy 2:5) that the role I was playing as a priestly mediator -- exactly what the Catholic Church teaches but exactly opposite to what the Bible teaches -- was wrong. I really enjoyed being looked up to by the people and, in a certain sense, being idolized by them. I rationalized my sin by saying that after all, if this is what the biggest Church in the world teaches, who am I to question it? Still, I struggled with the conflict within. I began to see the worship of Mary, the saints, and the priests for the sin that it is. But while I was willing to renounce Mary and the saints as mediators, I could not renounce the priesthood, for in that I had invested my whole life.
Tug-Of-War Years
Mary, the saints, and the priesthood were just a small part of the huge struggle with which I was working. Who was Lord of my life, Jesus Christ in His Word or the Roman Church? This ultimate question raged inside me especially during my last six years as parish priest of Sangre Grande (1979-1985). That the Catholic Church was supreme in all matters of faith and morals had been dyed into my brain since I was a child. It looked impossible ever to change. Rome was not only supreme but always called “Holy Mother.” How could I ever go against “Holy Mother,” all the more so since I had an official part in dispensing her sacraments and keeping people faithful to her? In 1981, I actually rededicated myself to serving the Roman Catholic Church while attending a parish renewal seminar in New Orleans. Yet when I returned to Trinidad and again became involved in real life problems, I began to return to the authority of God's Word. Finally the tension became like a tug-of-war inside me. Sometimes I looked to the Roman Church as being absolute, sometimes to the authority of the Bible as being final. My stomach suffered much during those years; my emotions were being torn. I ought to have known the simple truth that one cannot serve two masters. My working position was to place the absolute authority of the Word of God under the supreme authority of the Roman Church.
This contradiction was symbolized in what I did with the four statues in the Sangre Grande Church. I removed and broke the statues of St. Francis and St. Martin because the second commandment of God's Law declares in Exodus 20:4, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image....” But when some of the people objected to my removal of the statues of the Sacred Heart and of Mary, I left them standing because the higher authority, i.e., the Roman Catholic Church, said in its law Canon 1188: “The practise of displaying sacred images in the churches for the veneration of the faithful is to remain in force.” I did not see that what I was trying to do was to make God's Word subject to man's word.
My Own Fault
While I had learned earlier that God's Word is absolute, I still went through this agony of trying to maintain the Roman Catholic Church as holding more authority than God's Word, even in issues where the Church of Rome was saying the exact opposite to what was in the Bible. How could this be? First of all, it was my own fault. If I had accepted the authority of the Bible as supreme, I would have been convicted by God's Word to give up my priestly role as mediator, but that was too precious to me. Second, no one ever questioned what I did as a priest. Christians from overseas came to Mass, saw our sacred oils, holy water, medals, statues, vestments, rituals, and never said a word! The marvelous style, symbolism, music, and artistic taste of the Roman Church was all very captivating. Incense not only smells pungent, but to the mind it spells mystery.
The Turning Point
One day, a woman challenged me (the only Christian ever to challenge me in all my 22 years as a priest), “You Roman Catholics have a form of godliness, but you deny its power.” Those words bothered me for some time because the lights, banners, folk music, guitars, and drums were dear to me. Probably no priest on the whole island of Trinidad had as colorful robes, banners, and vestments as I had. Clearly I did not apply what was before my eyes.
In October 1985, God's grace was greater than the lie that I was trying to live. I went to Barbados to pray over the compromise that I was forcing myself to live. I felt truly trapped. The Word of God is absolute indeed. I ought to obey it alone; yet to the very same God I had vowed obedience to the supreme authority of the Catholic Church. In Barbados I read a book in which was explained the biblical meaning of Church as “the fellowship of believers.” In the New Testament there is no hint of a hierarchy; “Clergy” lording it over the “laity” is unknown. Rather, it is as the Lord Himself declared “...one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren” (Matthew 23:8). Now to see and to understand the meaning of church as “fellowship” left me free to let go of the Roman Catholic Church as supreme authority and depend on Jesus Christ as Lord. It began to dawn on me that in biblical terms, the Bishops I knew in the Catholic Church were not biblical believers. They were for the most part pious men taken up with devotion to Mary and the Rosary and loyal to Rome, but not one had any idea of the finished work of salvation, that Christ's work is done, that salvation is personal and complete. They all preached penance for sin, human suffering, religious deeds, “the way of man” rather than the Gospel of grace. But by God's grace I saw that it was not through the Roman Church nor by any kind of works that one is saved, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
New Birth at Age Forty-eight
I left the Roman Catholic Church when I saw that life in Jesus Christ was not possible while remaining true to Roman Catholic doctrine. In leaving Trinidad in November 1985, I only reached neighboring Barbados. Staying with an elderly couple, I prayed to the Lord for a suit and necessary money to reach Canada, for I had only tropical clothing and a few hundred dollars to my name. Both prayers were answered without making my needs known to anyone except the Lord.From a tropical temperature of 90 degrees, I landed in snow and ice in Canada. After one month in Vancouver, I came to the United States of America. I now trusted that He would take care of my many needs, since I was beginning life anew at 48 years of age, practically penniless, without an alien resident card, without a driver's license, without a recommendation of any kind, having only the Lord and His Word.
I spent six months with a Christian couple on a farm in Washington State. I explained to my hosts that I had left the Roman Catholic Church and that I had accepted Jesus Christ and His Word in the Bible as all-sufficient. I had done this, I said, “absolutely, finally, definitively, and resolutely.” Yet far from being impressed by these four adverbs, they wanted to know if there was any bitterness or hurt inside me. In prayer and in great compassion, they ministered to me, for they themselves had made the transition and knew how easily one can become embittered. Four days after I arrived in their home, by God's grace I began to see in repentance the fruit of salvation. This meant being able not only to ask the Lord's pardon for my many years of compromising but also to accept His healing where I had been so deeply hurt. Finally, at age 48, on the authority of God's Word alone, by grace alone, I accepted Christ's substitutionary death on the Cross alone. To Him alone be the glory.
Having been refurbished both physically and spiritually by this Christian couple together with their family, I was provided a wife by the Lord, Lynn, born-again in faith, lovely in manner, intelligent in mind. Together we set out for Atlanta, Georgia, where we both got jobs.
A Real Missionary with a Real Message
In September 1988, we left Atlanta to go as missionaries to Asia. It was a year of deep fruitfulness in the Lord that once I would never have thought was possible. Men and women came to know the authority of the Bible and the power of Christ's death and resurrection. I was amazed at how easy it is for the Lord's grace to be effective when only the Bible is used to present Jesus Christ. This contrasted with the cobwebs of church tradition that had so clouded my 21 years in missionary garments in Trinidad, 21 years without the real message. To explain the abundant life of which Jesus spoke and which I now enjoy, no better words could be used than those of Romans 8:1-2: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” It is not just that I have been freed from the Roman Catholic system, but that I have become a new creature in Christ. It is by the grace of God, and nothing but His grace, that I have gone from dead works into new life.
Testimony to the Gospel of Grace
Back in 1972, when some Christians had taught me about the Lord healing our bodies, how much more helpful it would have been had they explained to me on what authority our sinful nature is made right with God. The Bible clearly shows that Jesus substituted for us on the cross. I cannot express it better than Isaiah 53:5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (This means that Christ took on himself what I ought to suffer for my sins. Before the Father, I trust in Jesus as my substitute.)
That was written 750 years before the crucifixion of our Lord. A short time after the sacrifice of the cross, the Bible states in I Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” Because we inherited our sin nature from Adam, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How can we stand before a Holy God, except in Christ, and acknowledge that He died where we ought to have died? Only through faith we can see, understand and grasp Christ as our substitute. It was Christ who paid the price for our sins: sinless, yet He was crucified. This is the true Gospel message. Is faith enough? Yes, born-again faith is enough. That true faith, engendered by God, will inevitably show good fruit, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). In repenting, we put aside, through God’s strength, our former way of life and our former sins. It does not mean that we cannot sin again, but it does mean that our position before God has changed. We are called children of God, for so indeed we are. If we do sin, it is a relationship problem with the Father which can be resolved, not a problem of losing our position as a child of God in Christ, for this position is irrevocable. In Hebrews 10:10, the Bible says it so wonderfully: “...we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The finished work of Christ Jesus on the Cross is sufficient and complete. As you trust solely in this finished work, a new life which is born of the Spirit will be yours -- you will be born again.
The Present Day
My present task: the good work that the Lord has prepared for me to do is as an evangelist situated near Austin in the central Texas U.S.A. What Paul said about his fellow Jews I say about my dearly loved Catholic brothers: my heart's desire and prayer to God for Catholics is that they may be saved. I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based in God's Word but in their church tradition. If you understand the devotion and agony that some of the men and women in the Philippines and South America have put into their religion, you may understand my heart’s cry: “Lord, give us a compassion to understand the pain and torment of the search that devout Catholics have made to please You”. In understanding their pain we will have the desire to show them the Good News of Christ’s finished work on the Cross. My testimony shows how difficult it was for me as a Catholic to give up Church tradition, but when the Lord demands it in His Word, we must do it. The “form of godliness” that the Roman Catholic Church has makes it most difficult for a Catholic to see where the real problem lies. Everyone must determine by what authority we know truth. For Papal Rome the ultimate authority lies in the decisions and decrees of the reigning Pope. In her own words, “The Supreme Pontiff, in virtue of his office, possesses infallible teaching authority when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful...he proclaims with a definitive act that a doctrine of faith or morals is to be held as such.” (Code of Canon Law, Canon 749). Yet according to the Bible, it is God's Word itself which is the authority by which truth is known. It was man-made traditions which caused the Reformers to demand “the Bible only, faith only, grace only, in Christ only, and to God only be the glory.”
The Reason Why I Share
I share these truths with you now so that you can know God's way of salvation. Our basic problem as Catholics was that personal worth and dignity was ingrained into us. We believed that could respond to the help God gives us to be right in His sight. This presupposition that many of us have carried for years is aptly defined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) #2021, “Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons....” With that mindset, we were unknowingly holding to a teaching that the Bible continually condemns. Such a definition of grace is man's careful fabrication, for the Bible consistently declares that the believer's right standing with God is “without works” (Romans 4:6), “without the deeds of the Law” (Romans 3:28), “not of works” (Ephesians 2:9), “It is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8). To attempt to make the believer's response part of his salvation and to look upon grace as “a help” is to flatly deny biblical truth, “...if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace...” (Romans 11:6).
The simple biblical message is that “the gift of righteousness” in Christ Jesus is a gift, resting on His all-sufficient sacrifice on the cross, “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). So it is as Christ Jesus Himself said, He died in place of the believer, the One for many (Mark 10:45), His life a ransom for many. As He declared, ...this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28). This is also what Peter proclaimed, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God...” (I Peter 3:18). Paul’s preaching is summarized at the end of II Corinthians 5:21, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him..” (II Corinthians 5:21). This fact, dear reader, is presented clearly to you in the Bible. Acceptance of it is now commanded by God, “...Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The most difficult repentance for us dyed-in-the-wool Catholics is changing our mind from thoughts of “meriting,” “earning,” “being good enough,” simply to accepting with empty hands the gift of righteousness in Christ Jesus. To refuse to accept what God commands is the same sin as that of the religious Jews of Paul's time, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” (Romans 10:3) Repent and believe the Good News!
Richard Bennett
If there is something on your heart that you wish to share, please email me at: rmbennett@yahoo.com
Thank you.
It's not Richard Bennett, it's another incredibly inappropriate (and most likely, illegal due to copyright) cut and paste by Meehan. Someone needs to tell this guy that just because he gives the author credit at the bottom does not make stealing the work and RE- publishing it here allowed. The one who owns the royalties to Bennett's work should be notified. Meehan is a staunch anti-Catholic and trolls lots of Bishop Barron's work on Word On Fire. He is also terribly misguided.
❤️❤️❤️🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Think, for what purpose is artificially created a huge Abrahamic family?
After all, all adherents of the three Abrahamic religions are sons of Abraham and brothers to each other in faith.
"who are of faith are sons of Abraham."
There is only one Church. The Traditional Catholic Church. All others, including the Norvos Ordo are false Invalid religions like this fake Norvos Ordo Priest!
Saludos Padre Barron ¿Qué opinión tiene de William Lane Craig? gracias
Pienso que Craig es magnifico!
Me alegra saberlo...
If Jonah wasn't actually in a big fish, why did Jesus compare his experience in the grave to Jonah's?
Though the sex scandals may be a trial period for the Catholic church, one could also make the argument that the great trial of our time is the lack of care for the planet. We are to be the shepherds of the world and we are failing, miserably. I believe part of that is due to the growing apathy we have towards other nations, the environment, and God. Our churches have many empty pews.
We care about the earth, but power has been wrested from us.
May Lord Jesus Christ protect all the priests ...
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God.
1 John 4 : 7
He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
1 John 4 : 8
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him.
1 John 4 : 9
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.
1 John 4 : 10
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4 : 11
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
1 John 4 : 15
In this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so are we in this world.
1 John 4 : 17
If any one says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannotlove God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4 : 20
Who murdered 300,000 priests in Russia?
Who protects the altar boys from the priests?
@@chrisbrooks4032 Not all Priests, Michael did this. The Lord rebuke you!" Satan,
@@tasiaflynn3549 blahahaha
@@chrisbrooks4032 what about yourself talofaehhhhha
Why is that in church the gospel is just read then the priest goes on to life experience and not focus on the gospel itself? It becomes boring.
Read the Sunday Mass readings a few days before. Pray as you read them. Then during the Mass and the homily listen for the promptings of God. Maybe it will come as a phrase, an off the cuff remark, or an idea springing out at you. God speaks to us through scripture and its interpretation via preaching .Do not be critical of the priest, but be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit who loves us.
I agree, do as xangot says, or take a bible class, and self study.
@S.Elaina " *The homily isn't the main priority, it's the Eucharist* " Thumbs up!
Matthew 15:9
Matthew 15:10-11 It is not what goes into a person's mouth that makes him ritually unclean, rather, what comes out of it makes him unclean. "
The Catholic Church with teaching Cathecism concentrates more on doctrine and preparing third graders for First Communion. No Bible study or mention of the Bible during instruction. At least that how it was done in the 1960s.
Quelles sont vos réflexions sur la relation entre les chapitres 8-12 du Livre de l'Apocalypse et le message de Notre-Dame de Fatima? Qu'est-ce qu'il essaie d'exprimer à nous?
Cool
I would like to know what is the painting that pops up when Father Barron speaks of Jesus. I think I've seen it in another of the videos.
where do you think Jesus is in Chapter 4 of the Book of Revelation?
I want to know that wether the early Catholic Church and the Medieval Catholic Church recognized the Bible literary?
Can someone please explain to me why Revelation is also called Apocalypse by some Catholics? And why other Catholics, such as Bishop Barron, refer to it as Revelation?
read revelations, it is the end of man on earth, the end of satan.
I was expecting some discussion on the Great Beast and 666, but that was not present in this video. I’m curious to know if bishop Baron agrees that the Great Beast was most likely Emperor Nero (or some other figure at the time), or whether he thinks that the text is speaking of someone yet to come.
Jimmy Akin has a great DVD set explaining the Book of Revelation (as it was understood for the first 1,500 years following Christ's death). But if you don't want to spend money just google Catholic Answers and punch in anything to do with Revelation. In the meantime, here's the link to the DVD th-cam.com/video/b4ajmcr6RnE/w-d-xo.html
So was there a population of people outside the garden; prior to Adam being created in the garden? Is our understanding of Adam being the first human false? Is he not the first human, per se, but the first earthly king?
the relationship between faith and an excess of wealth is a cuious one. Take the person who is extremely wealthy, who owns many properties, who jets off around the world and enjoys all the good things but at the same time does a tremendous amount of work for the poor and seems to lead a very holy life. To me it seems a strange contradiction. Some people seem to be able to have their cake and eat it.
It's not contradictory.. And it should be a strange thing to you.. Old Testament had it.. And if you just understand what was written, you will figure out just like I did.
God allows people to be wealthy, he is given it power and wealth. Remember he clear that to Pilate on the New Testament?
There's a lot of purposes and circumstances why God gave it to some people.
Just because they spend it to luxuries of mortal life it doesn't mean it was evil..
Remember, envy and jealous were worst than that
the closed captioning can be hilarious..
What did that have to do with the book of Revelation?
scrappy pooh I was thinking the same! I was expecting a discussion on the Great Beast and 666, and whether he thought this figure was Emperor Nero, or someone in the future.
@@davidwarren7279 It is not Nero.
maz, what makes you think so?
@@davidwarren7279 How can Nero be the great beast if Revelation is based on the end of an age.
Where is the church of Philadelphia now?
All those churches were where modern day Turkey is to-day. Turkey now is a muslim country and the christians are mostly murdered or fled.
Do one on the anti-christ.
World Economic Forum and The Great Reset.
And what so you think of the removal of ‘church’ to community or suchlike. And bıble study to naturewalks?
Jesus wanting to "dominate you...." I beg to differ. The Bible contains a slew of conflicting images and we need to be able to say no to some of them rather than try to show them in a positive light at all costs. Contents of the Book of Revelation e.g. are not something to swallow hook, line and sinker. A prayerfully critical mind in approaching the Scriptures should be (re)introduced.
What about the church of thyatira? Rcc
As a Catholic I've never trusted Revelations , taken over as it has been by these new age evangelists. Correct me if I am wrong.
cw anderson Now not trusting evangelical's take on such is fair, but revelation is an extremely important book! So much of it appears in mass.
I harken to what CG Jung says about it, and know that Jung's father was a Lutheran? minister , and Jung himself was extremely versed in the Bible : "I will not discuss the transparent prophecies of the Book of Revelation, because no one believes in them, and the whole subject is felt to be an embarrassing one. "
Which translation is best international or American or king james
Rouge Shot The American Catholic Bible is the BEST translation due to the extensive research and dedication to seeking the BEST verbage to ATTEMPT to capture the original Greek.
Find Oxford historian Robin Lane Fox's book on the various permutations of the Bible, fantastic.
Cannot recall the title
DRB 😊
😇😎AMEN.
There is a disperaty between religion and scripture. I always go with God's word since His word is inspired and religion is made up by
man changes over time by different men who are not inspired.
Ewald Radavich if you do your own interpretation, you are not following God's Word. God left us only one church, and he promised that the Holy spirit will guide it and the gates of hell won't prevail against it. That's the Catholic Church.
How do you know scripture is inspired? How do you know which books God wants in the bible? How is it that the Protestant bible missing books from the original bible?