11 Oct 22 – There Is No Other Gospel

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] I'm Terry Barber with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[2] I'm honored to spend another hour with the good bishop to talk about my favorite topic, salvation, about Jesus.

[3] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking the time to come on.

[4] Thanks, Terry.

[5] Bishop Strickland, this is kind of a special show because we're going to have a little biblical studies on a great book.

[6] We've been reading it during daily mass this past week, a letter of St. Paul to the Galatians.

[7] and it just seems very appropriate because it's such a direct book of education in the sense of direction for us in falling in love with Jesus and his bride the church.

[8] So I'm going to turn it a little Bible study over to you, at least for the first or second segment, so it's all yours.

[9] Thanks, Terry.

[10] And I think it is important to remember we've just celebrated recently the Feast of St. Jerome.

[11] ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ and to really be reminded that Jesus is the incarnate word and so all of scripture speaks of various facets of who Jesus Christ is incarnate among us and like you said we've been hearing from Galatians and the reading that I really want to focus on is just chapter 1 verses 6 to 9.

[12] Just a few verses.

[13] But I think it carries a message that we need to really hear today and always remember that gospel means good news.

[14] Of course, this isn't technically a gospel.

[15] It's a letter of Paul to the Galatians.

[16] But it's part of that gospel message, the good news of Jesus Christ.

[17] And so let me, just read these verses and then share some thoughts and then we can just continue the conversation because I think this is talking about some critical truth that we have to recognize is good news that brings us joy, but it also brings us a caution and an awareness of what we have in the deposit of faith, what we have in sacred scripture, that this is not something.

[18] something that we can ever let be diminished or let go of in any way.

[19] It is the guiding light of Christ who is incarnate among us, not in the same way as when he walked this earth for 33 years, but he is with us, our incarnate Lord in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist.

[20] And I say all that to set the context for these words from one of his great apostles, the Apostle of Paul to just be reminded of and to be strong and clear and joyful in the truth that these few verses remind us of.

[21] Paul says, beginning with verse 6 of chapter 1 of his letter to Galatians, I'm amazed that you were so quickly forsaking the one who called you by the grace of Christ.

[22] for a different gospel, not that there is another, but there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.

[23] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than the one that we preach to you, let that one be accursed.

[24] As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you have received let that one be accursed strong words big time and i can imagine many people say bishop i thought you said these are joyful words they are it's a joyful message to be reminded there is one lord one faith one baptism one gospel and that gospel doesn't change.

[25] No power on earth, no human being of whatever place or rank or position, no one can change this part of the deposit of faith.

[26] St. Paul doesn't get into detail about what the gospel says, but the rest of this letter and other letters that he wrote always point to Jesus Christ of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

[27] And the deposit of faith is clear.

[28] It's not so clear for too many in leadership today, in the church in various places, and too many people in the pews that are saying, oh, well, you know, we want to go this way.

[29] We want to go that way.

[30] The recent Senate is perfectly fine.

[31] If we remember We're having discussions about what's my understanding, what's my opinion, but always returning to a faith that is revealed truth.

[32] It's not about opinions.

[33] It's not about a popular vote.

[34] It's not about a consensus.

[35] It's about the truth of Jesus Christ.

[36] He's the truth incarnate.

[37] And St. Paul makes it very clear.

[38] I mean, let that one be accursed.

[39] that's pretty strong words.

[40] It can also be translated anathema.

[41] And that word was used in past centuries much more often.

[42] But it is anathema to say there's a new gospel or what has been taught in the gospel isn't the truth.

[43] The truth doesn't change because the truth is an incarnate person.

[44] The truth is God eternal, Father, Son, and Spirit.

[45] And God so loved the world, as we read in the gospel, God so loved us that he sent his son to be incarnate among us, to flesh out what it means to believe in God, to know God in whose image were created in his image and likeness.

[46] And it was just pointed out to me in a conversation.

[47] I have so many conversations I can't keep up with prayer, so I can't directly quote the person.

[48] but very wisely, they said that Jesus, he's fully gone and fully man. He shows us God.

[49] But what this person said that I think is very important in this time, he shows us how to be a man, how to be a human being.

[50] And that is as true for every man and every woman, for every child, every teenager, every other, older person, ever younger person, Jesus Christ models for us in his incarnation, in the hypostatic union, to use that technical theological term, he models for us how we are to be human, how we are to live as those created in the image and likeness of God, because he is the perfect human image and likeness of his father.

[51] He is united with his father as part of the Trinity in ways that we can't even fathom.

[52] He's the second person of the Trinity.

[53] But he models for us how a creature in the image and likeness of God, how we're called to live.

[54] And I think that's very important to look to Christ.

[55] He's not, absolutely, he's the son of God.

[56] He's God incarnate.

[57] but he also is modeling how you live as a man, how I live as a man. He's tempted, but he never sins.

[58] And in that tempting, we've talked about it before, but Jesus is like us in all things but sin.

[59] I think that's what this person was getting at, that to remember that Jesus is showing us God, but he's also showing us what a real human being is.

[60] And that is critical for us to remember.

[61] Accompanying this reading recently in the Daily Mass Readings was the parable of the Good Samaritan.

[62] And it's a great reminder.

[63] That parable is perfect to go with this reading.

[64] Because some of the early fathers of the church, I think including St. Augustine, but I know some of the early fathers of the church, worked at the parable of the Good Samaritan and said, Christ is the Good Samaritan in that story.

[65] And the person that's beat up and left at the side of the road is humanity.

[66] Christ comes and cares for broken humanity and brings us healing.

[67] And even the images of the water or the wine and the oil that the Samaritan brings to bring healing, because that's what they they use for healing in that time in the first century.

[68] And so Jesus as the good Samaritan, it just brings a depth and a richness to that beautiful parable that again reminds us he's showing us by taking into his care this broken person.

[69] He's showing us what, if we want to live in the image and likeness of the one who created us, we have to imitate him as the Good Samaritan, not neglecting the one that is beaten and left at the side of the road, like, frankly, the priest and the Levi does in the story of the Good Samaritan.

[70] But instead, this stranger, and Christ is that stranger who comes.

[71] to us from heaven, who isn't a stranger at all, really, but he looks like a stranger and the world treats him as a stranger that they want to ultimately eliminate, but he models for us in that beautiful parable what it is to believe in this gospel, what it is to be created in the image and likeness of God.

[72] So I think in this time, when we're hearing so many false gospels and too many groups of bishops around the world are saying, oh, well, we've listened to this senatoral path, and we're taking the church in a direction that contradicts the teaching of the deposit of faith.

[73] We have to say no to bishops or to anyone else who says, we're taking you in a new direction that's taking us away from Christ.

[74] We have to say no. A big amen to that.

[75] If we need to talk more about Galatians, we'll get that right after this break.

[76] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour on Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[77] Stay with us, family.

[78] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[79] We just had Bishop Strickland give us a little commentary on the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians chapter 1, verse 6.

[80] Just a real couple verses, but man, it was powerful.

[81] And you know, Bishop Strickland, as a layman, when I hear a bishop read the word of God and just give basic catechises, I mean, you're not a scripture scholar.

[82] I get that, but you're a successor of the apostle, and the Word of God is something that you're teaching from and reading and saying, here it is, folks, this is what the Word of God says.

[83] And I love it because this is what the church has done for 2 ,000 years.

[84] And I love it because you're doing that.

[85] And I just want to, before I bring in a couple other bishops who have said similar things, one of the tweets you said was from Cardinal Sirrah, But I wanted to just give a little inspirational story because I think storytelling is really powerful.

[86] And maybe you've heard about this, but this is a martyr of the Catholic Church in recent, 1937.

[87] This is a young lady who was in a wheelchair.

[88] She decided to start a prayer group of praying the rosary in the Ukraine back in 37.

[89] And the communist, Russians at the time, were upset.

[90] and they arrested her and they put her on trial.

[91] I'm only applying this to a hundred years later not even a hundred years later.

[92] This could happen.

[93] Other people and so when she went to jail they put her on trial and they said are you ahead of a living rosary group?

[94] And she said yes we simply pray to God.

[95] It says how many of are there of you?

[96] Fifteen.

[97] You said that you're recruiting new people to pray?

[98] Yeah.

[99] The process did not accept her reply and said, you know what, there is no God.

[100] And she says, that's what you say, but for us, God exists.

[101] And then the judge looks at her and says, woman, what are you going to do?

[102] What's going to happen when we kill you?

[103] And you're gone.

[104] And I love what she said.

[105] It inspired me, Bishop Strickland.

[106] She said, someone who believes in God will take my place.

[107] I love that.

[108] I mean, what a, so she was taken away in her wheelchair, and she was.

[109] was shot.

[110] And now her mother had, there's pictures of her in the Catholic Church there in the Ukraine people honoring her death because she died a martyr.

[111] Now, Bishop Strickland, these stories don't get out as often as they should, but to me as a layman, I don't know if they inspire you as a bishop, but it makes me go, they're going to call me and say, are you a follower of Christ?

[112] Yes or no?

[113] And so they say, Bishop Strickland, are you willing to compromise your faith because it means you're going to be able to continue to live.

[114] I hope and pray you say no, and I hope and pray I say no and say, you know what, I'm not willing to get a little extra time on this planet and compromise and deny my Catholic faith because some atheistic regime is pressuring me. What are your thoughts about a young woman like this?

[115] She was only 30 years old when she was murdered.

[116] Well, the martyrs are tremendously inspiring.

[117] and they get down just like the passage we were reading in Galatians, it gets down to very basic reality that we know there's a God, we know God sent his son, and we know that God's son shared a revealed truth.

[118] And I think that's important.

[119] That young woman didn't die for some consensus of opinions or for something that was dictated to her by some other human being.

[120] She died for the truth.

[121] revealed by God through all the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, the time of the people of Israel, the chosen people of God.

[122] That culminates with the incarnation of the Son of God, who was among the chosen people of God.

[123] He was an Israelite.

[124] He was a Jew.

[125] And so Jesus comes and fulfills that plan of God to save His people, expands it to all people for all time.

[126] It's offered to all people of all time.

[127] That's what this young woman believes.

[128] And that's what we've got to hang on to and to celebrate.

[129] And I guess, Terry, one of the things that that story reminds me of and inspires me to is to realize, certainly, we have to be willing to die for the truth of Jesus Christ.

[130] But another way to look at it, we need to We have to be willing to live it as well.

[131] Amen.

[132] We have to be willing to live day by day guided by this truth and not say, oh, well, I'll die for it, but I'm willing to compromise along the way.

[133] We've got to die to ourself in that spiritual sense with everything that is contrary to Christ.

[134] And that's where the gospel comes in to teach us what is the truth, the basic components of what is true about a God and what is true about us as human beings.

[135] And through the centuries, interestingly, this, the scripture scholars, I read a little bit of a commentary before we were talking.

[136] And they say it was in the, in the 50s, about 20 years after Christ died and returned to the father, rose from the dead, returned to the father in the ascension.

[137] about 20 years later is when this letter to the Galatians.

[138] So Paul is upset because people are buying into a false gospel.

[139] It shows us the threats have been there since the very beginning in various ways.

[140] We call them heresies, but there's been heretical movements one after another from the time of the church.

[141] And frankly, I think we're living in a time when we can see every one of the heresies present in one way or another to deny that Jesus is really God or to deny that he was ever really a man or the other heresies that deal with with who we are that we're not spiritual beings or we're not I mean I don't think people today deny that we have a body but some deny that we have a soul and that's one of the heres I mean I think the basic tendency, what is the tendency of heresy is to believe we've got it figured out through science or through our own study or just through our own contemplation of reality that we've figured out something that is contrary to what God has revealed to us.

[142] And that's always going to take us down a path of darkness and a path that doesn't bring life.

[143] And so I think it's important for us to remember, just like that example of that one young woman who died at 30, she was already in a wheelchair.

[144] So she was already suffering, clearly, but she was willing to give up her life.

[145] And I love what the quote that you said, somebody who believes will replace me. And I think that's a reminder of what I said in a different way that we don't need to just die for the truth.

[146] We need to live it right now.

[147] We need to shape every day according to this truth and acknowledge, yes, I sin, yes, I've failed to live up to that higher calling, but we can always return.

[148] God is merciful, thankfully.

[149] God's mercy is a celebration of what his love really means.

[150] We always have the chance to repent.

[151] But we have to repent.

[152] And there's movement in the church today that part of the fall.

[153] false gospel is the idea, oh, you don't have to change anything.

[154] You don't have to have a change of heart.

[155] The idea of metanoia, oh, that's gone out the window.

[156] Just embrace God's mercy and don't change anything.

[157] That's not what Christ called it to.

[158] And the reality is it's not just about, oh, we have a different set of rules they have to have to live by.

[159] It's called reality.

[160] If you're sinning, you're diminishing that life in the image and likeness of God.

[161] When it's mortally sinful, it's mortally wounding that core of who we are created in the image and likeness of God.

[162] So you've got to change that.

[163] You've got to return your life to an image and likeness of God in order to overcome that sin and really embrace the mercy.

[164] The mercy of God is about always giving us a chance to be healed and his life and grace.

[165] Not to just go on being contrary to God and saying, well, God's going to embrace me anyway.

[166] That's contradictory.

[167] It doesn't even make sense.

[168] But God's mercy is always calling us to be more deeply configured to him.

[169] That's the call that so many of the saints talk about is knowing God more and more deeply.

[170] We're just celebrating St. Teresa Lisu, the child Jesus, the little flower, and she talks of God as love in beautiful ways that are not some sort of sugar -coated idea of love, but the down and challenging cross of living the love.

[171] And St. Teresa bore that cross.

[172] She didn't live a long life.

[173] She was ill a lot of that.

[174] And she even had turmoil to face in that.

[175] journey of becoming little in a way of love and now known as the little flower.

[176] She's a great example.

[177] Like so many wonderful saints are the example of doing what we're all called to do to live the revealed truth that God has given us.

[178] There's no escaping it.

[179] We shouldn't want to escape it.

[180] But too many want to in the world today and too many in the church are saying, yeah, let's escape it.

[181] Let's change this.

[182] true.

[183] Let's go on a different path.

[184] It's a path that leads to darkness not to the light of Christ.

[185] Wow, I'm going to school here, and I love it.

[186] Bishop Strickland, thank you for your clarity with charity, because as Bishop actually, Father Bill Casey used to say, the most merciless thing you can do to someone is let them wallow in their sin.

[187] You don't have to change, but you're saying, no, that's not with the gospel.

[188] That's not the good news of Jesus.

[189] want to just throw this out we got another minute and a half you you did a tweet about cardinal sarah and i thought it was very insightful for him to say this and you tweeted this christ is distressed to see and to hear priests and bishops who ought to be protecting the integrity of the teachings of the gospel and of the doctrine multiply words and writings that are weakened and rigor of the gospel by their deliberately ambiguous, confused statements.

[190] Bishop Strickland, that's clarity right there from a Cardinal higher than, you know, you're the bishop there of Tyler, but Cardinal Sirrah is basically calling out his brother bishops, you know, and the church is saying stop compromising.

[191] We have to really protect the gospel.

[192] And I think that he's echoing what you're saying.

[193] Am I on to something?

[194] Absolutely.

[195] And I love the way he said that, Terry.

[196] He said, Christ is distressed, reminding us that Christ is with us now.

[197] He's our living Lord.

[198] He's present in the life of the church in each of us.

[199] He's calling to us to share his life.

[200] He's not some past Messiah who is just in the dim midst of history.

[201] He's with us.

[202] That's why he gave us the Eucharist.

[203] And that's why it's so vital for us to enter into this Eucharistic revival in real.

[204] always, not just a nice popular thing to do for a couple of years, but to deeply embrace once again that he's here.

[205] He's with us, and I love the way the Cardinal said that.

[206] He is distressed.

[207] We have to think of Christ as a living Lord who sees what's happening.

[208] He allows us the freedom to destroy ourselves.

[209] If that's what we choose, he's not going to force us, but he's deeply distressed.

[210] He's in the agony of the garden, even as we go through this 21st century.

[211] Amen.

[212] Christ is still on the cross, as Fulton Sheen would say.

[213] We come back.

[214] We'll talk more with Bishop Strickland on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[215] Stay with us, family.

[216] We'll be right back.

[217] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[218] We just had a good commentary of Cardinal Sirrah's statements.

[219] It seems like more Cardinals are speaking up for the gospel.

[220] I like the title of this show is there is no other gospel.

[221] See, that's what Galatians just said to us.

[222] That for 2 ,000 years, it's not, you know, what we call moral relativism where today it changes because we're educated or some stupid explanation.

[223] Now, the gospel is for all, it's true today, tomorrow, and a thousand years from now.

[224] So that's so reassuring for us when it comes to that.

[225] Cardinal Mueller, he as the former prefect for the doctrine of faith, he said something similar to Cardinal Sirrah and also you, Bishop Strickland, when he came out and pointed out that another cardinal is making a theory, and he's calling him out because this theory from the other cardinal isn't what the church is taught.

[226] And I appreciate him speaking up because for the good of the flood, lock, we need clarity, we don't need confusion.

[227] But he said that a papal advisor has a theory that the Pope's has unlimited power contradicts the entire Catholic faith teachings.

[228] And he's not condemning, you know, any of the papacy.

[229] He's saying that the papacy has limitations.

[230] And I think Cardinal Newman said that a hundred years ago.

[231] And I think if we read that, we'll see why he was a little concerned back 100 years ago saying that.

[232] But what he said here is that this new cardinal, he's a Jesuit, he's a canon lawyer, and we pray for him because he presented a theory that the Pope has unlimited power of divine right over the Catholic Church.

[233] And the German cardinal explained further that the new cardinal, he's an advisor to the Holy father is just dead wrong and he quotes Vatican 2 he quotes lumensian paragraph 27 and so he basically tells him that no that's not what the church's teaching has been and i say this with all humility bishop strickland that the pope has you know to teach govern and sanctify but the pope is not above scripture and he can't just you know he's like a a king where he just says what we're going to do and we do it He has to be faithful to the gospel.

[234] I use it this way.

[235] He's the vigor of Christ.

[236] He is not the superior of Christ.

[237] And I know that sounds a little harsh, but it's true.

[238] Christ is who he serves.

[239] And so pray that the Holy Father and all the bishops, including Bishop Strickland, will continue to be faithful to that gospel that Galatians talked about when saying there's no other gospel.

[240] I know.

[241] And Terry, just let me share that I think what you're talking about is very important.

[242] And it's very important to remember that love for Pope Francis or whoever the successor of Peter is through the edges, real love for the Pope is to call them closer to Christ.

[243] I mean, I'll be the first to admit I need to constantly be reminded of purifying my life and my visions and my attitudes in Christ.

[244] And so real love for Pope Francis, and I know that many share that love the Lord, we love his church, we love all the people that are in charge of the church in any moment in time.

[245] So real love for the Holy Father, whether it's in much of my lifetime, I mean, it was Paul the 6th, then John Paul the 2nd, and then, of course, briefly John Paul the 1st, but just for a month, John Paul the 2nd, and then Benedict and Pope Francis.

[246] I've shared that my grandmother, who was not Catholic, and really was in a community that was very anti -Catholic in many ways, and I remember as a kid when, well, I was.

[247] I was just new in the seminary when Paul the 6th died.

[248] And she was very concerned because she had the idea, which, you know, many Protestants would say, oh, well, we think of the Pope as God or as some divine being.

[249] And I, even as a kid, I could explain to her that, no, certainly we were sad that this good man had died and we prayed for him.

[250] But he's, he's not God.

[251] He's not Jesus Christ.

[252] He has a role of service, servants, servant of the servants of servants of us.

[253] God.

[254] That's a traditional description of the papacy.

[255] So for whoever the Pope is, there have been other popes and there will be more popes as long as the world continues.

[256] And so we pray for the Pope.

[257] Many people pray the rosary and traditionally you add the prayers for the Holy Father and his intentions.

[258] And we absolutely pray for Pope Francis and we pray for him to grow closer and closer to the heart of Christ, as I know, and I ask people to pray for me. Absolutely.

[259] We're all just men and women.

[260] We're all created in the image and likeness of God, but we're all sinners.

[261] We can all wander away from that.

[262] A great inspiring story as we've just celebrated St. Francis, the Pope, I think it was Pope Innocent in his time, but he helped to bring the Pope closer because of the humility that St. Francis brought.

[263] And he was a layman.

[264] St. Francis, he may have been ordained to deacon.

[265] Their debate about that in the history.

[266] But from what I understand, he was never ordained a priest.

[267] And he certainly, it was a lay movement that he started with the Franciscans.

[268] Later on, they became ordained.

[269] But they've always had the Franciscan brothers.

[270] So as a layman, St. Francis went to the Pope of his day and encouraged him, and the Pope had this vision of St. Francis holding up the church.

[271] And it was a vision that the Pope had that inspired him to say, yes, this is a good thing.

[272] And so that's where we always are, where each of us, individual, sinful human beings that need the support of each other.

[273] The Pope needs our prayers.

[274] Every bishop needs our prayers.

[275] Every person needs our prayers because we can all get on the wrong path.

[276] And there are too many people for whatever reasons they may feel justified, but they're walking away from Christ in his church.

[277] And there's nothing that justifies that.

[278] You can't walk off into some sect that is separated from the church or just leave the church outright and say that I just don't believe anymore, that is, that's a tragedy.

[279] That's a sadness for anyone to walk away from the bride of Christ.

[280] And you can't blame them in some ways, in human ways, because the church has always had her issues.

[281] Yep.

[282] The church has always been imperfect.

[283] But when we pray, we believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church, we need to be willing to live and die for that church.

[284] because we're willing to live and die for Christ, and we know and believe that the church is the bride of Christ, but the church is always in need of reform.

[285] And that's what I've always said as a young priest and now not so young.

[286] St. Francis did the reform the proper way.

[287] He was a layman.

[288] He wasn't even a priest, but he called people to fidelity to Christ and reformed the church.

[289] That was his envision.

[290] That's what the crucifix spoke to him and said, renew my church.

[291] He thought it meant rebuild this building.

[292] We can all get mistaken understandings of what the Lord is calling us to.

[293] But when he told St. Francis to rebuild his church, he was saying, bring people back to the truth that I died to reveal to you.

[294] And that truth isn't going to change.

[295] So I think we all need to pray for Pope Francis, for all the Cardinals, all the bishop for fidelity to Christ, fidelity to the deposit of faith that represents the truth that Christ has revealed to us.

[296] The truth isn't going to change.

[297] There can be this fad and that fad, just like St. Paul speaks of in Galatians.

[298] There can be new ideas proposed, even claiming to be new but as faithful, we always have to return to the gospel and ask ourselves, does this correspond with what has been revealed to us?

[299] And if it doesn't correspond, we have to reject it.

[300] Certainly, we hopefully understand more deeply what Christ is calling us to than the people in Galatia did originally, but it's always the same truth that we're understanding more deeply.

[301] It's not a contradictory truth that can say, oh, well, this was true, but it's not true anymore.

[302] Well, said, I want to give a plug to the St. Philip Institute every time, and Bishop Strickland give, for those who don't know about your St. Philip Institute on your website, can you share a little bit about what the Institute is all about?

[303] Yeah, thank you, Terry.

[304] St. Philip Institute.

[305] You can go St. Philip with one else, St. Philip Institute .org, and they've got some great resources, as you've mentioned on Vatican 2, on basic catechesis.

[306] There's a way of Christ that the Institute and others help them to develop it that is a great way for people who want a basic introduction to the way of Christ in the Catholic faith.

[307] So there are a lot of materials that are offered some great people.

[308] And one of the things that I think is the greatest part of the Institute is really strengthening and renewing marriages.

[309] Oh, yeah.

[310] Recognizing, as I just read something today that emphasizes, the church is really the domestic church.

[311] That's where the church happens or doesn't happen.

[312] If it's not happening in that church at home every day in all the circumstances of life, then the people gathering on Sunday once a week or even daily.

[313] If it's not happening in the home, it's not going to continue to happen in the life of the church.

[314] The domestic church really is where the church lives.

[315] And I think we need to remember that.

[316] What right on in St. John Paul 2 said in 94 to his letter to the families, he said the way the family goes is the way the culture goes.

[317] That's why it's so important your resources on merit.

[318] are there for us, not just for the Diocese of Tyler, but for the whole world.

[319] It's accessible through the internet.

[320] Bishop Strickland, I have a good news story, and I want to get your take on it when we come back from the break.

[321] And this, I'm going to tease everybody, there's a country in the world who told the UN that their resolution that declaring abortion is a human right, the entire country told the United Nations to go pound sand and said, not where we are.

[322] And I'm I think you might be a little surprised what nation told the UN to go pound sand.

[323] Yeah.

[324] And I'll tell him, wow, it's refreshing to see them stand up for the truth about the dignity of the unborn.

[325] Stay with us, family.

[326] We'll be right back.

[327] Welcome back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[328] I don't think we ever go a show without talking about the unborn.

[329] And Uganda, which is one of the big countries in Africa, rejected the United Nations resolution declaring a board.

[330] as a human right.

[331] I'm so proud of them because they said, we are pro -life and therefore we oppose your definition.

[332] There are many things that are promoted as a human right, including for the United Nations homosexuality, but we do not support them given our laws, our culture, and our morals.

[333] And Bishop Strickland, I want to get your take because I read that in the next century, everything goes the way it's going right now with demographics, that Africa, the whole continent, will be representing over 90 % of the new births.

[334] In other words, the new births in the entire world are going to be coming from Africa because they have rejected the contraceptive mentality.

[335] They've rejected killing their future citizens.

[336] And I think they're a highlight for us as committed Christians.

[337] What's your take on that?

[338] Yeah, we have to applaud and support Uganda.

[339] for having the, I mean, they're not considered one of the big nations, but they had the strength to stand up against the UN, which is too often corrupt and a lot of the things it promotes.

[340] And a human right to murder is just contradictory to human rights, period.

[341] Right.

[342] And, you know, one of your tweets that you mentioned called human rights, there's another cardinal.

[343] I've been talking about a lot of different cardinals who are standing up.

[344] Cardinal Joseph Zinn, who's been on our show many times.

[345] He is, as you know, if everybody knows, he's facing his fourth day of trial at the Communist Court in Hong Kong.

[346] And what I'm amazed at this, Bishop Strickland, is he had the opportunity to flee.

[347] He could have left the country, but no, he's going to stay there and face the communists.

[348] and I really respect him and I notice that you tweeted that today our beloved Cardinal Zen is back in court and to keep him in your prayers why do you feel so compelled about speaking about Cardinal Zen?

[349] Well, because I honestly know very little about what's going on in China but from what he has said the true faith, everything that we've been talking about for the past 45 minutes.

[350] This real gospel is being, you know, denied.

[351] And the Catholic Church that China wants to promote is not the Catholic Church.

[352] It's a false gospel.

[353] It's a message that doesn't really support the deposit of faith.

[354] So Cardinal Zen has to speak up, and I'm grateful that he's strong enough to do so because no nation, no power on earth, can change the truth of the gospel.

[355] And that's where, I mean, Cardinal Zen is really on the front line of exactly what St. Paul talked about in Galatians.

[356] Yep, well said.

[357] Bishop Strickland, this month of October is dedicated to the rosary.

[358] And also, early in the month, we had the celebration of the guardian angel.

[359] And I like what you just told everybody, said, you know, it is what Jesus, excuse me, it is what Jesus, what God said, I'll send an angel before you to guard you, to accompany you on the way so that you will not make a mistake.

[360] I like that one.

[361] And it's the holy guardian angels pray for us.

[362] I just want to ask you to encourage us again.

[363] Why is it so important that we collaborate with our guardian angel in the time that we're living in today, especially?

[364] Well, I think one of the great things about guardian angels in this time in the 21st century, it's just a reminder that we believe in the supernatural.

[365] Amen.

[366] Ours is a supernatural faith.

[367] It's not something that, you know, is empirically evidence that you can just nail it down and measure like everybody wants to do everything in the world today.

[368] and our faith is a supernatural faith.

[369] It's built on divine revelation.

[370] And so angels and the concept of angels, I'm sure there are many people that just laugh themselves silly about, oh, these Catholics talking about their guardian angels.

[371] But it all fits together if you believe in the spiritual and the supernatural, then it makes sense.

[372] And certainly the scriptures don't direct.

[373] talk about guardian angels, but they certainly support the idea, and Christ talks about angels that will be there to support us.

[374] And that's the role of the angels.

[375] The angels are incorporeal beings.

[376] They're not human beings.

[377] We depict them as looking like a man or a woman with wings, but that's just trying to get our mind wrapped around the reality that it's beyond us, but purely spiritual beings are a reminder that we are, not purely spiritual, we're spirit and body.

[378] And it's a reminder of that component in us that can easily denied.

[379] And, you know, as scientists, a faithful scientist who are believers, remind us, we're not the sum of the chemicals and the minerals and all the things that make because, I mean, frankly, you know, Terry, what comes to mind for me, when somebody says to another human being, you're all wet.

[380] Yeah.

[381] They're really pretty accurate.

[382] Exactly.

[383] Because we're mostly water.

[384] That's right.

[385] We are made up of a certain amount of minerals, a tremendous, wondrous creation, the human being, the human mind, the human person in every aspect.

[386] That's why we're such a treasure.

[387] But ultimately, if you take out the supernatural, then we're just a conglomeration of chemicals and minerals with a whole lot of water.

[388] And that's not the reality.

[389] We are, we're in touch with the supernatural just by our very being.

[390] And angels remind us of that, remind us that we came from God and we are called back to God.

[391] but God's given us the freedom, and sadly, some do choose to reject that call.

[392] I mean, Satan is the angel who rejected God.

[393] And St. Michael is, you know, his title, Who is like God?

[394] It's a great name of Michael to ponder.

[395] And we got too many in the world today who think they are like God.

[396] Yeah.

[397] And they're not.

[398] There is only one God, Father, Son, and Spirit, only one Son of God, Jesus Christ, only one Lord and Savior.

[399] And that's what we need to remember.

[400] And the guardian angels, I believe, remind us of all of that, that we are called to a life beyond us, beyond anything we can measure or fully understand.

[401] But thankfully, God has revealed to us what we need to know to be saved in His grace to live in eternity with him.

[402] Amen.

[403] Bishop Stricklandite, we started with Scripture, chapter one of Galatians.

[404] I'd like to end another tweet with Philippians chapter 4 verse 4 where it says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

[405] Again, I say these words, you know, you're saying, resonate with the message of Job that we've been reading during daily mass, that we are hearing at daily mass, whatever the day brings, let us rejoice.

[406] What great advice that we have a life and know the Lord and that his truth guides us throughout this darkness rejoice what a way to finish a show from the philippians chapter 4 is that something that i think we should all be reading over and over again because it keeps our focus on the lord absolutely and it's a reminder that to be is a joy yes because it's sharing just by our existence we share in the the life of the creator and we need to because all of us can get down and all of us can be concerned and depressed and fearful in this crazy world.

[407] But we do need to remember we need to rejoice in simply being because we're beings in the image and likeness of God.

[408] Well said, I would say living in the presence of God.

[409] Bishop Strickland, could you give our audience your bishop's blessing, please?

[410] peace.

[411] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all who are listening and all who are participating in this Virgin most powerful radio opportunity to reflect on the faith.

[412] Help us to rejoice in the great saints that we celebrate through October and always the Queen of Saints, the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

[413] She is always calling us to do what He, Jesus, tells us.

[414] And so may Mary, intercede for us and may God, Father, Son, and Spirit, shower their grace upon us so that we may truly live in the image and likeness of God.

[415] And we ask this blessing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[416] Amen.

[417] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[418] For those who are brand new listeners, you can go to VMPR, that's Virgin Most Powerful Radio, download any of the previous shows of Bishop Strickland.

[419] As a matter of fact, you can take all the shows that we have done.

[420] We have a new show coming up next week with Gerald Cologne, who's all the way in Austria.

[421] He'll be doing a new show for us here at Virgin Most Powerful.

[422] He's a historian, a very loyal man of the church.

[423] He'll be speaking with Bishop Strick – no, Bishop Athanasia Snyder coming up with a conference.

[424] And so we've got a great crew coming out with a new show, so you can check that out on vmpr .org.

[425] Also, I want to thank all you supporters who give us an opportunity to share the gospel with Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[426] Without you, we couldn't do what we're doing.

[427] And I know that it's not easy right now, especially in the country where inflation is out of control.

[428] Here in California, we're paying $7 a gallon for gas.

[429] And I know in other parts of the country, they're not.

[430] But it's not easy.

[431] So we appreciate your sacrificial gifts to you.

[432] to vmpr .org.

[433] If you want to become a monthly donor, $25 a month, gets you hundreds of dollars of downloads of people like Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, all the good guys that are out there teaching Father Bill Casey.

[434] We have 30, 40 years of recordings that we want to share with you.

[435] And you can also get the Life of Christ by Archbishop Sheen.

[436] I'm really encouraging people to meditate on the life of Christ.

[437] And I think that book we put on a recording, it's downloadable for you.

[438] And I think that will help you be inspired, you know, to fall deep in love with Jesus because I think Fulton Sheen's greatest book is The Life of Christ.

[439] And that's on our website at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[440] Also, I want to encourage people to go to that St. Philip Institute again and get resources there.

[441] And again, we'll have Bishop Strickland, God willing, next week to talk more about no one other than the person of Jesus Christ.

[442] Bishop Strickland, thanks again for taking the time each week.

[443] to bless us with the teachings of Christ, not the teachings of Bishop Strickland.

[444] Nope, not interested.

[445] I want to know what Jesus Christ teaches.

[446] That's where we get it right from the Word of God and what we call the perennial teachings of the church.

[447] And that's what we do here at Virgin Most Powerful, because we realize if souls are saved, everything is saved.

[448] But if souls aren't saved, nothing is saved.

[449] Thanks again for your support here at Virgin Most Powerful Radio.

[450] May God richly bless you and your family.

[451] and I want to say keep the faith, God love you.