20 Feb 24 – Divine Teaching Made Unclear with Mere Human Sophistry

[0] Welcome to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[1] This is Ash Wednesday.

[2] We're doing this show for next Tuesday, but you can see the ashes on my forehead.

[3] So if you're wondering if I got some dirt on my forehead, no, it's just the ashes.

[4] Bishop Strickland, thanks for taking the time on a busy Ash Wednesday to preach the gospel.

[5] Yeah, what a great idea.

[6] All right.

[7] Thank you, Bishop Strickland.

[8] Are we going to cover an article from Cardinal Mueller, we're going to talk about different things that are going on in the church and also we're going to do some catechesis but before we do any of that i always say this about the terry and jesse show we we call it soul food the gospel and today for tuesday february 20th the gospel of matthew chapter 6 verse 7 to 15 and if bishop strickland could proclaim i didn't say read it proclaim that gospel and then give it give us a little ex of Jesus, that'd be grand.

[9] Okay, Terry.

[10] Well, the gospel according to Matthew, chapter six.

[11] Yes.

[12] Jesus said to his disciples, in praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because there are many words.

[13] Do not be like them.

[14] Your father knows what you need before you ask him.

[15] This is how you are to pray.

[16] Our Father, who are it in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

[17] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

[18] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

[19] If you forgive men their transgressors, your Heavenly Father, will forgive you.

[20] But if you do not forgive men, neither will your father forgive your transgressions.

[21] The gospel of the Lord.

[22] Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ.

[23] Well, Terry, that's a beautiful gospel as we will be into the first week of Lent.

[24] Yes.

[25] This is proclaimed next Tuesday, March 20th.

[26] And it really is that question of the disciples being answered.

[27] how are we to pray?

[28] And many people have that same question now, even though the Lord has answered it beautifully with what we call the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father.

[29] It really is the model of prayer very brief, but very full of messages and truth to guide all of our prayer.

[30] It's, I think there's a bit of irony here, Terry, because living in a very non -Catholic area, many of the non -Catholics that I've spoken to will challenge us as Catholics and say, we do exactly what Jesus told us not to do.

[31] We use a lot of words, the rosary, or other novenas or other prayers.

[32] Sure.

[33] And I think that what we as Catholics are challenged to remember is if these are just empty words, then we are falling into what Jesus told us to avoid.

[34] But if the words are not empty, then multiplying the words isn't the point.

[35] But speaking to the Lord in an intimate way is the point.

[36] And I think, as he beautifully tells us, the model of prayer is to call God Father.

[37] And really, Terry, I think it's important for us always when we read the gospel, but especially with this passage, to put ourselves into the position of the disciples when they first heard this.

[38] To call God, the Almighty God of the Hebrews, the God of Moses, the God of Moses, the God of Moses.

[39] and Abraham and Isaac to call God Father, I think we have to recognize that that was probably a pretty startling prayer when the disciples first heard Jesus answered.

[40] How are we supposed to pray?

[41] And he gives them this model, calling God Father.

[42] I think we need to allow that to startle us as well, because honestly, Terry, I think I've said before, I know I've mentioned it in other situations that I don't even remember learning the Our Father.

[43] It just sort of becomes part of us.

[44] Yeah.

[45] I'm sure as a kid, you know, the Hail Mary, the Our Father, those basic prayers.

[46] Sure.

[47] But I don't have a memory of sitting down and being told, okay, memorize the Our Father.

[48] it just becomes part of who we are if you pray the rosary enough and if you go to mass you're going to learn these prayers and I'll mention just something very personal but I think it's significant for all of us to be reminded the beauty of these prayers I may have mentioned before that my mother had Alzheimer's and she died from that terrible disease that so many struggle with.

[49] One of the things that was very poignant for us was, as a lifelong Catholic, my mother was 81 when she died, and really had faded to the point that she didn't know me. I would purposely wear the clerical collar of a priest to just hopefully have some awareness.

[50] But toward the end, even that didn't register for my mother.

[51] sure but some of the last things that she said my sister would take her to mass because she knew if she had any recognition of anything she would want to go to mass and my mother would take her to mass and she would pray the prayers and sing the hymns wow even when she wasn't recognizing any of us I mentioned that because I think it's very significant and that's how the prayers need to be for all of us.

[52] So deeply woven into our saki that they just are part of who we are.

[53] Yeah.

[54] And beautifully, they were part of my mother, even when a lot of her had faded away.

[55] Wow.

[56] As we think about this gospel, we both are aware that many of the church fathers, I mean, they'll take it phrase by phrase.

[57] Yes.

[58] Our father, who are in heaven, how are in heaven, I would be thy name.

[59] Each of those phrases of the Our Father is worth a lot of reflection.

[60] And I think especially in our time, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[61] It's pretty much at the center of the Our Father.

[62] And it needs to be at the center of what we strive to do.

[63] Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

[64] If we are seeking that, that will strengthen us, that will help us to navigate the challenges we face, and to take up the crosses we may have to bear, as Christ tells us, to take up our cross.

[65] As we continue this Lenton season, I think it would be a worthwhile part of our prayer for all of us to now and then go back to the Our Father and to reflect on just some of those phrases.

[66] just calling God Father and knowing God as our loving Father for each of us, for every human being, God is our loving Father.

[67] We were talking before we began about people that have rejected the faith, walked away from the faith, and possibly embraced things that are antithetical to the faith, even a demon worship and Satanism, and all the different ways that people, sadly, are on paths of darkness in the world today.

[68] But even they continue from God's perspective to be beloved.

[69] And God is longing for them to return to calling Godfather and living in the way of his son, Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

[70] Let's all be reminded as we continue this Lenton journey for 2024 that God never gives up on any of us.

[71] Amen.

[72] It gives us the freedom to give up on him, to deny him, to blaspheme him.

[73] It really startles me sometimes the freedom that God gives us, the things that we see happen.

[74] I mean, people establishing a church of Satan.

[75] And sadly, in the country, people are saying, oh, well, they should have the right to do that.

[76] But God does give us that free will.

[77] And that's part of the mystery of just how much he loves us, because he knows he can't force us to love him.

[78] He wants us to.

[79] He's given us his son.

[80] He can't really do it anymore.

[81] I'm sorry.

[82] No problem.

[83] He can't do more than he's already done.

[84] And giving us his son.

[85] Yeah.

[86] That's what Lynn is about to remember that great gift of the son of God.

[87] Sure.

[88] Let me jump in just for a minute.

[89] Yet you caught up here.

[90] You know, when you were talking about our father, I don't know if you read, but on August 6th, 1978, when Paul the 6th died, I read the report.

[91] It always touched me. his last prayer before he took his last breath was the our father and they said he did it because as a child his prayers lots of these prayers were coming back to him here he is an old man dying and he's praying the prayers that he learned on his mother's knee and i just thought that was very touching and you know i had i really even thought about that for years until you started talking about this scripture verse it's powerful i want to also mention that for those who are going to be coming to the spiritual warfare conference, you now can come via conference live streaming and you get recordings.

[92] You've wanted instant access to this.

[93] Go to vmpr .org and you can sign up for that and much, much more.

[94] When we come back, we'll continue with Bishop Strickland's hour.

[95] We're going to talk about Cardinal Mueller and any other things that are going on in the church and try to bring that back to the forefront.

[96] Stay with us, family.

[97] back with more on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[98] Now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[99] Indeed, welcome back.

[100] Before we get into this article by Cardinal Mueller, I wanted to say every show we've done for years, we always talk about the life issues, Bishop Strickland, you know, abortion, euthanasia.

[101] And I was just looking at the National Review article about a former Dutch prime minister and his wife had themselves killed at the same time by a doctor and I just found it sad they're both 93 years old and they thought it was going to be great because they're going to hold each other's hands and then let the doctor murder them and I said this is so sad but I think now Bishop Strickland forgive me for pointing the finger at the Catholic Church but the Church of Dutch in the Dutch you know 40 50 60 years ago was falling apart and you know this is the fruit of it.

[102] People never got catechized.

[103] And you think this elderly couple, they think they're doing something beautifully.

[104] And the world right there in the Netherlands, they're like, oh, isn't it great?

[105] You see how, let's pray for those two people.

[106] Turn a rest grant under them.

[107] Oh, Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon him.

[108] May they rest in peace.

[109] Euthanasia.

[110] It's all over the world now.

[111] Now, go ahead.

[112] Sadly, Terry, as we've said many times, once abortion is accepted by too many people, it opens the door to what we're seeing.

[113] A lack of the respect for life.

[114] As the church says, from conception to natural death, what those two people did is not a natural death.

[115] And it's such a poverty.

[116] As Mother Teresa said about abortion, it's such a poverty to think we have to end the life of a child in order to find happiness in this life for ourselves.

[117] That's a paraphrase of what she said.

[118] But that's basically the point.

[119] And it's a poverty also.

[120] We have no idea what God, the giver of life, what he had planned for what was his will.

[121] That's right.

[122] For those two individuals.

[123] Yep.

[124] Once again, I think of my mother.

[125] Yes, I was going to go there.

[126] She taught us a lot about life.

[127] Yeah.

[128] Even as she faded away, it's a tough, believe me. It's not easy.

[129] It's not something that people would choose.

[130] But if you're, again, going back to what we just talked about in the gospel, the prayer, thy will be done.

[131] That is the heart of salvation for us and of flourishing even in this life, the will of God.

[132] And it's not just foolish.

[133] It's tragic and becomes evil to say, no, we're in charge.

[134] We're going to.

[135] We're going to.

[136] We're going to decide who lives and dies.

[137] We're going to decide everything.

[138] We think that.

[139] And we do have control of very significant elements that God has given us control of and that we need to be very careful about the stewardship of what God has given us in this life and in this world.

[140] But to arrogantly decide that we're the author of life, that's simply not the truth.

[141] And it really is of poverty and deeply tragic, not just for those two individuals, but for that whole nation.

[142] That's right.

[143] For the world that looks on with too many people saying, oh, that's a great thing.

[144] I think I'll do the same thing when I decide I'm done.

[145] We need to really re -evangelize our world and remind people it's about when God says we're done, not when we decide we're done we have no idea what plans god has for us he's the lord of life and that's what we need to constantly repeat at every stage along the way from conception to natural death not self -inflicted death in whatever form it may take thank you that's what we need to do for the world.

[146] We need to teach them the meaning and purpose of life.

[147] Before I get to Cardinal Mueller, there's a article here.

[148] We know about the church in Germany.

[149] I remember a few years ago you wrote letters to the bishops of Germany, cautioning them.

[150] Well, the German diocese under a prominent bishop, he's the president of the bishops conference, Bishop George Bazing.

[151] Are you ready for this?

[152] they didn't have one ordained priest this past year and that's the first time in 200 years that that happened and here's my point Bishop Strickland you don't know I'm going to say this but your diocese of Tyler little tiny you guys are so small compared to LA I mean you had I think 125 ,000 Catholics we have four and a half million you have I think 20 seminarians when you left the diocese and that percentage is one of the highest in the entire country and I'm just going to make the point and I'm not trying to toot your horn I'm just saying you get removed but the bishop there in Germany is they're fine they're not getting any vocations and to me one of the characteristics of a good shepherd in shepherding is to inspire future shepherds of the church.

[153] Reese that's all I just want to make the point.

[154] That's what we need to do.

[155] And it is sad that, you know, we had a very respectable number of seminarians, fine young men.

[156] Yes.

[157] And I pray that they continue the path to priesthood.

[158] But things are upside down and backwards in the church in too many ways.

[159] That's right.

[160] There's an example.

[161] We need to just keep proclaiming the truth.

[162] Amen.

[163] Stay close to Christ, seeking the will of God.

[164] I was blessed a couple of weekends ago.

[165] Yeah.

[166] A young man was applying to the seminary.

[167] Yeah.

[168] And he asked for my blessing.

[169] And I was glad to ask God's blessing for him and to encourage him.

[170] Oh, yeah.

[171] As I told this young man, I was vocation director for the diet.

[172] and I did the same as bishop, seek God's will.

[173] Yes.

[174] I mean, I was in the seminary with men who seemed to be determined to be priest even if it wasn't God's will.

[175] Wow.

[176] That's foolish.

[177] That is.

[178] It's not about what we want, especially when it comes to a vocation to the priesthood.

[179] Amen.

[180] But I encourage every Catholic young man to at least give it.

[181] some consideration to pray about it, to ask the Lord.

[182] Certainly, God isn't calling all young men to priesthood, but he's calling a lot more than are really being encouraged to listen to that call.

[183] So, you know, the solution isn't, well, let's water down the priesthood and let's change how you can be a priest or who can be a priest.

[184] A lot of people are pushing that.

[185] That's not the answer.

[186] Christ established the priesthood with the apostles and then their successors and as things develop the presbyterate along with the deacconate, the three levels of holy orders.

[187] We've got to stay with what Christ established and be more faithful rather than saying, well, I guess we need to change and we need to adapt things to the world because we're not, why are we not getting the priests that we need because we're not proclaiming the gospel that needs to be proclaimed.

[188] It's really the same.

[189] It's another aspect of what we talked about with a couple, the Dutch couple who took their own lives.

[190] It's people have lost the truth.

[191] It's still there.

[192] Christ is with us, but we've got to do a better job of calling people to the truth.

[193] Yes, it's challenging, but it's also life -giving and allows us to flourish in this world and be with God in eternity.

[194] That's what we're built for.

[195] So really, Terry, we need to be more energetic instead of less and more hopeful, more clear about the light of the gospel, not to curse the darkness, but light one candle that represents the light of Christ and encourage, courage others to do the same.

[196] You're inspiring me today.

[197] You do that normally, but right now, Bishop Strickland, everything you're saying has nothing to do with Bishop Joseph Strickland.

[198] Everything you're saying is what the Catholic Church teaches and nothing less.

[199] And I just think that's refreshing to hear as a layman that you're like, you know, this is not my personal opinion.

[200] To be quite frank, Bishop Strickland, don't take this offensive.

[201] I don't care your personal opinion when it comes to salvation when it comes to the teachings of the church I don't care I want to know what the church teaches and I thank you for the years that I've been with you on the radio that's all you teach and I just like and this is a guy who gets in trouble because all he does repeats the perennial teachings of the church and I thank you for being very consistent in doing that even at a terrible price.

[202] So thank you for that.

[203] All right, let me see if I got a minute.

[204] Yeah, we got about a couple of minutes.

[205] Let me just set the stage here.

[206] And I want to set the stage for an article that Cardinal Mueller from Germany, he was the former prefect for the Doctrine of Faith.

[207] I had an opportunity to meet him at Mundelline Seminary in Chicago many years ago, and he's about 6 foot 6, and I'm about 5 foot 4.

[208] and someone took a picture of him and I shaking hands, and it was mutton Jeff.

[209] It was hilarious.

[210] And I thanked him for being the gatekeeper.

[211] And he looked at me, and he says, it's my pleasure.

[212] I just thought that was so.

[213] And he's like, in other words, he's just doing his duty.

[214] He's just doing what God wants him to do.

[215] So I was very impressed with him.

[216] Well, the article is an interview from the National Catholic Register where Cardinal Mueller efforts to explain fiducius supplicans, he says it's adding to the confusion over the document.

[217] And he said this, and this is what I want to leave you at the break, says Cardinal Mueller lamented that as a consequence of this declaration, nobody is speaking about the blessing of marriage, amen, of children, of the family, which is our duty, and not to divide the church.

[218] And I thought, wow, I have not heard any prelate speak so clear on that.

[219] And when we come back from the break, we'll be able to talk more about the questions and answers he's asked about this very document.

[220] But I will say this, that what he has to say made me really realize what Bishop Strickland has been saying for years.

[221] We have to become like first century Christians and have a biblical worldview.

[222] And, you know, when we deviate from the Bible, as President Mueller said, that's when we get into trouble.

[223] And I think about where our trouble has come from, and it's coming from statements that have nothing to do with the biblical worldview, but more of a worldly view, whether it's the LGBT or whether it's abortion.

[224] You know, things have gotten so secular inside the church.

[225] And I'm sorry to have to say it.

[226] I don't want to have to say it, but we're putting in people who are secular people in departments of the Vatican who are atheists.

[227] I don't get that.

[228] So Cardinal Mueller calls it out in a way that I think as a layman for me, it's refreshing to say, let's go back to the original plan, which is right in the Bible, is what the church has always taught.

[229] You're listening to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[230] Terry Barber here, having a good time, and I hope you are too, learning more about your Catholic faith.

[231] Stay with this family.

[232] We'll be back after a quick break.

[233] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[234] Yes, indeed.

[235] Welcome back.

[236] We're talking about Cardinal Mueller, his interview with the National Catholic Register.

[237] And he's very bold in what he has to say.

[238] He said that he's reiterating that he believes that there was no need for this declaration of December 18th by the Vatican for the declaration that people in same -sex relationships are not brought to the church by revitalizing the truth and cheapening grace by an unadulterated gospel of Christ.

[239] I've never heard any prelates say it that way.

[240] He said this, and this is bold.

[241] He says, how dare we, you bishops, as servants of Jesus Christ, make this divine teaching unclear with mere human sophistry?

[242] said that that statement just hits you as a bishop's bishop's true i mean you can't do that it's strong he also said this carter mulele lamented that as the consequences of fiducius supplicans nobody is speaking about the blessing of marriage and of children and the family which is our duty and not to divide the church i think back when st john paul too wrote that letter to the families you were probably just a priest at that time in 1994.

[243] He said, the way the family goes is the way the culture goes.

[244] And so I ask you, Bishop Strickland, this.

[245] Do you agree that we need to get back to focusing on having Catholic families live out to faith and put more emphasis on having holy families?

[246] That's the question I'm asking you.

[247] Hang on, Mr. Engineers got it.

[248] Go ahead, Bishop Strickland.

[249] Now I can hear you.

[250] I can hear you now.

[251] I agree with everything Cardinal Mueller said, but especially like what he reminds me of, and we all need to be reminded of, we have the treasure of the sacraments.

[252] We have the truth.

[253] Yes.

[254] And we need to do a better job of celebrating that truth.

[255] I think it's an excellent reminder that Cardinal Mueller, let's, instead of just saying, well, this priest better not start blessing couples that shouldn't receive a blessing because they're living a sinful lifestyle.

[256] Let's have special blessings for married couples, for engaged couples, for individuals that are seeking, you know, their path in life.

[257] Let's celebrate the baptisms that happen in our parishes.

[258] Let's really focus on the good things that are happening the good things that we have to offer you know really celebrate the especially during the lenten season celebrate the gift of confession yeah really highlight that for people and encourage people have sort of a a confessional rally where you encourage people maybe that haven't been to confession for a very long time right invite them to come but we need to emphasize the positive things that aren't gone, that may be threatened.

[259] Many people have rejected, and even the church in her hierarchy is putting into question and confusion.

[260] There's nothing confusing about it.

[261] Marriage remains between one man and one woman for life, open to children.

[262] And I encourage pastors and individual families to celebrate those who are living marriages who are, I mean, the church teaches us marriage that couple you and your wife are a sacrament right you are a sign of god's grace at work in the world we need to celebrate that more and look for ways to really encourage people to rejoice in the sacraments they're living i can get more into this question the cardinal Mueller's question is in answers, but I just want to say one more, and then we'll get to a letter to the American church.

[263] This is interesting.

[264] The National Catholic Register says to the cardinal question, some commentators are saying that this document was needed in order to stop the church in Germany, in particular from going ahead with full -scale liturgical same -sex blessings, that this will help prevent such a thing from happening.

[265] What do you have to say?

[266] And here's what the Cardinal said.

[267] We cannot resolve problems around the German bishops with these diplomatic maneuvers.

[268] And here's what he said.

[269] It sounds just like you.

[270] He said, we must say the truth.

[271] Bishop Strickland, that's what you've been saying for years.

[272] The truth.

[273] He said, that it is blasphemy, that it is a sin.

[274] You can betray yourself, you can betray others, but nobody can betray God.

[275] I like that statement.

[276] We must say the truth, not because we are saints and others are sinners.

[277] You said the same thing, Bishop Strickland.

[278] He says, if I preach the gospel, I'm under the judgment of the gospel.

[279] The preacher himself must be a model to all.

[280] He must make great efforts to give good examples, to underline the faith with the credibility, of the preachers, but he has to say the word of God, which makes us free, and not to present himself as a more liberal or open -minded than God who offers his son for the salvation of the world.

[281] What a paragraph.

[282] Do I need to say anymore?

[283] I mean, he said it so well.

[284] And Bishop Strickland, he goes back and says, we got to get, when you deviate from the word of God, this is when we get into trouble.

[285] And I see this happening so often in the church right now where people are somebody dressed like you, bishops, cardinals, saying things like, oh, well, St. Paul was wrong in his teaching.

[286] We now know better through psychology.

[287] What?

[288] Where did you?

[289] This is not what you're, you know, to be preaching.

[290] We're supposed to be preaching Christ and Him crucified.

[291] Now, there's one other question that I thought was appropriate.

[292] Did you want to comment on that?

[293] Because what he said there to the German bishops is go back to the truth, basically.

[294] Yeah.

[295] Well, like you said, he says it very well.

[296] Yeah.

[297] I hope many people read Cardinal Mueller's statement there.

[298] Yeah.

[299] Because people need to wake up.

[300] We need to quit just wallowing in the confusion.

[301] Yeah.

[302] Yeah, certainly.

[303] We can be upset that leaders of the church are creating the confusion.

[304] But we who know the truth have to just go back to that and be clear and, you know, quit munking around with what Christ died to share with us.

[305] Talk about blasphemy.

[306] It is devastating to have Christ shedding his blood.

[307] I mean, that's what Clint is about to remind us of that sacrificial offering that the Son of God gives us, that we commemorate and celebrate it.

[308] every mass, to throw mud in the face of that and to bring confusion, it's just devastating.

[309] And we've got to, hopefully, I just encourage people to be clearer than ever.

[310] Yeah.

[311] The truth is the truth.

[312] And it doesn't change.

[313] No. It sets us free.

[314] It has a power that lasts.

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

[316] I keep repeating Bishop Robert Barron's statement, but I think it's appropriate for this conversation.

[317] He said it's a sign of a corrupt church that stops thinking deeply about the truths of Christianity.

[318] A church that is against being precise about its teaching is a corrupt church.

[319] Bishop Strickland, we have a lot of corruption, in my opinion, I agree with the Bishop Barron, because we're not articulating clearly what Christ taught.

[320] we're going into this area of ambiguity that says, well, you know, if you feel this way, it's okay.

[321] And I think about what St. Thomas said about real love.

[322] He said that we will the good of the other.

[323] And how can we, as Father Bill Casey would say, the most merciless thing we can do is let someone wallow in their sin.

[324] So if we know that sodomy is against the Bible, in other words, The Bible condemns sodomy, and we come up and say, well, you know, you've got two loving people.

[325] I keep telling, they're not loving each other.

[326] That's not love.

[327] Come on, don't call it love.

[328] It's sinful behavior that the Bible condemns and that the church is always condemned.

[329] And to try and paint it any other way is false compassion.

[330] And I say this, like I said, the most merciless thing you can do is let someone wallow in their sin.

[331] So priests, bishops, cardinals, all the way up to the Pope.

[332] We have to teach people what the Bible teaches and what the church is always taught.

[333] And, I mean, it sounds like that's a novel idea, but the church has been doing that for 2 ,000 years.

[334] So I think Cardinal Mueller is being very bold and saying this.

[335] I know he's retired like you now, but it's still important because they asked him another question.

[336] See if we got time.

[337] Yeah, we got a minute just to answer a little bit of this.

[338] He said, another criticism of the document is not only its contents, but what it's lacking.

[339] Yeah, I know.

[340] There's no mention, for example, of the sin of sexual relations outside of marriage, or same -sex acts as the importance of repentance and the firm purpose of amendment or exhorting a person to come to Jesus Christ.

[341] Yeah, in other words, the gospel.

[342] They avoided.

[343] For them, these people are only in different situations.

[344] for their weakness, and so they deny the existence of sin.

[345] That's a good way of saying it.

[346] Denying, there's no sin as a willingness to do wrong and act against God's holy will, thinking they are only poor people and we must help them.

[347] Bishop Strickland, that's what we're experiencing right now.

[348] We've lost the sense of sin.

[349] You've talked about this.

[350] Absolutely.

[351] And talking about false compassion.

[352] I mean, it's really the opposite of compassion.

[353] it's it's leaving people to devastation and sadly it's not just in the next life i mean that's certainly the most tragic that people are choosing paths that lead to darkness and damnation we just that's what christ tells us yeah like you said it's not my opinion no it's not something that we've decided no it's not something that some human formulated christ the Son of God shared with us that there will be a day of reckoning.

[354] There will be a separation of the sheep from the goats.

[355] And Christ makes it very clear.

[356] And to ignore what he says and say, oh, we've figured out, we've figured out something better and easier and more compassionate, supposedly.

[357] It's not compassionate at all.

[358] It's ignoring the truth.

[359] And there's a lot of suffering built into it even before we leave this world.

[360] And so we've got to continue with energetically and hope and clarity.

[361] Well said, Bishop Strick, and we come back, we're going to get into a letter to the American Church, and we'll hold off the other questions for Wednesday's show with Cardinal Mueller, because he's saying things that need to be said.

[362] And now back to the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[363] Welcome back.

[364] Yes, you can't keep me in this seat too long, Bishop Strickland.

[365] I'm too hyper.

[366] Hey, I just wanted to introduce a little clip of a movie that's coming out on the issue of a letter to the American church.

[367] It's not just a Catholic church.

[368] It's just Christian churches in general.

[369] And Bishop Strickland, you made a comment that you endorsed it.

[370] And I did too.

[371] We did a whole show on this.

[372] So, Mr. Engineer, can you play the clip?

[373] I'm convinced that the American church has arrived at a significant moment of truth.

[374] We are only 75, 80 years removed from three separate regimes that killed 60 to 70 million people intentionally.

[375] The parallels with where the American church is now to where the German church stood in the face of the Nazi regime are unavoidable.

[376] and grim.

[377] Churches need to understand really what Marxism is, which is to destroy the church, to destroy the Word of God.

[378] So if you capture the seminaries, you capture the pastors, you capture the laity, you capture the soul of the world.

[379] Christianity is not just about saying Jesus loves you and then going to heaven one day, but that there's a war that's raging.

[380] The church is weakening, which is why Marxism is ascendant in America today.

[381] This is the hour.

[382] of the American Church.

[383] Very powerful, Bishop Strickland.

[384] I thought that comment, the church is silent, silence in the face of evil.

[385] Boy, what are your thoughts about this?

[386] Yeah, I believe it is critical that believing Christians, and as you said, certainly our hearts are in the church that Christ established, the Catholic Church.

[387] Amen.

[388] But there are many Christians.

[389] that are not part of the Catholic Church that seek to be true disciples of Jesus Christ.

[390] Amen.

[391] All of us need to address this threat together because there are too many divisions in the Catholic church and too many divisions in the Christian community.

[392] The body of Christ is one, and he prayed in the gospel that we might be one.

[393] We're such a long way from that, as someone said in that clip.

[394] Sadly, in the 21st century, the church is weak.

[395] The church is uncertain.

[396] The church is confused.

[397] The church is compromised.

[398] And it's allowing evil forces to just speak.

[399] And bishops, cardinals, they're not saying evil.

[400] thing, or sometimes they're even in agreement.

[401] It really is a critical time as this full video.

[402] I encourage everyone to see it.

[403] You can get it on Epic TV.

[404] It came from Epic Times.

[405] And I think it's something that needs to be watched.

[406] I talked to Eric Matack.

[407] this morning.

[408] And he said this video, he is willing to make available to any church congregation that wants to view it and discuss it and look at how do we combat this evil.

[409] Instead of being the complacent church, we need to be the body of Christ.

[410] We don't attack anyone.

[411] We're accused of that, but that has never been Christianity.

[412] If anything, we're too ready to be attacked, but we have to not attack, but to share the truth and to speak up when false messages are being proclaimed.

[413] Really, this video, I had the chance to watch the whole thing.

[414] It does talk about the church in general and toward the end brings in the issues of the Catholic Church.

[415] The Roman Catholic Church is not strong at this time, as we've been talking about for the rest of this hour.

[416] Cardinal Mueller wouldn't have to be putting out excellent statements, but statements that are counteracting other things that are coming out of the Vatican that are just divisive and wrong and undermining sacred scripture, undermining the deposit of faith, and really adding to the threat that this video letter to the American church speaks to.

[417] And as I mentioned to Eric this morning, is not just the American church.

[418] I mean, we both love this nation and we see the threats to the American nation and to the American church.

[419] And those who believe, both in church and in the goodness of this nation.

[420] I mean, no nation is perfect, but we have a system that is worth holding on to, and it could slip away if we just stay complacent and we don't speak up.

[421] So as they, as Eric said when we spoke briefly this morning, you know, people accuse me, they accuse you of being too political.

[422] Yeah, they do.

[423] What is politics?

[424] Politics is about governing the people of God.

[425] And when the governors of the people of God are saying false things and ignoring scripture and leading people away from God and denying God, at least by the way they live, if not outright claiming to be atheists, which too many do, we've got to speak up because we know the truth of Christ is for all human beings.

[426] humanity.

[427] It's the only, it is the truth.

[428] He is the truth incarnate.

[429] The truth of Christ is the only reality that will last.

[430] We can play around and we're playing with fire literally.

[431] But, you know, these days, I'm sure you could have a debate whether two plus two still equals four.

[432] But it's that kind of questioning of truth that is going on and many people are adopting and many people, and the church are embracing, but we've got to speak against it.

[433] We've got to speak for sanity.

[434] We've got to speak for the sanctity of every life.

[435] Amen.

[436] Because as just the clip even alluded to, many millions of people have died in the past when believing people have been complacent and allowed these kinds of ideologies to take over.

[437] it is a threatening time that we need to be awake to.

[438] We never despair, but we need to speak the truth, the truth that gives us strength and sets us free.

[439] So this video reminds me of something that I saw several years back, really talking about the same issues, but I think probably we talked about it at that time.

[440] the video, I believe the title is Just Sing Louder but it's the basic point is there was a train going by this church it didn't say where it was but you presume they are in Germany during the 1930s just like this video is talking about this letter to the American church there's a train going past this church and you can hear the people in the train that are screaming saying, help us, get us out of this train to death.

[441] It was going to the concentration camps, to the death camps.

[442] And people deny that this even happened, that, you know, there's still deniers of the Holocaust in the world today.

[443] And that is a false message that we need to just look at the historic.

[444] record and look at all the people that died, but this video that I saw a couple of years ago reminds me of the same basic truth.

[445] And the idea of this video from a few years ago, this train's going by with people crying for help.

[446] And the people in the church say to drown out those voices, basically, they say, let's sing louder.

[447] And that is, tragic, we can try to sing louder, but we're not going to drown out the attacks on human life, the attacks on the church, and on this nation, and on too many nations that are happening.

[448] This global agenda is not an agenda that we can just allow to happen, because it denies God.

[449] It denies Christ and his church, and it denies the truth that Christ died to share.

[450] We've got to speak up, and I hope to talk to with Eric Metaxus again to continue to collaborate.

[451] But I will reiterate that he said this video is available for any Christian congregation that wants to present it to their church and discuss it and look for the ways that we need to counteract this and to say, no, we won't allow Nazi Germany to unfold the game.

[452] in our time.

[453] And that's a very, I'm sure people say, oh, there goes trickling, being an alarm.

[454] We need to sound the alarm.

[455] Exactly.

[456] Because there are too many similarities in what's happening.

[457] And too many people are saying, oh, don't worry, everything's fine.

[458] But that's exactly what happened in Nazi Germany when Hitler said, oh, trust me. And people trusted him and found themselves either devastated in their lives or dead, and we can't trust voices that are denying God, denying the truth of Christ, denying the faith.

[459] We've got to speak up.

[460] We can't allow it to be misshapen by the idea that, oh, we're in the modern world now, and we've got all this technology, we've got things figured out.

[461] We've lost much of the basic human wisdom.

[462] that the church still has to offer, but we've got to return to it, reading the catechism, reading the Word of God, and trusting in the deposit of faith that is founded on the blood of Christ our Lord's Savior.

[463] If nothing else motivates us, if we love the Lord, we've got to speak up for his body and for his truth.

[464] I want to stand up and say, amen, amen.

[465] This is what we need to be doing.

[466] Wow, we're at the end of this hour.

[467] So when we come back tomorrow, we'll have another show with Bishop Strickland.

[468] We're going to finish up the Cardinal Mueller interview and into some catechism classes.

[469] And much more.

[470] Bishop Strickland, how about a blessing for our audience, please?

[471] Almighty God, we ask your blessing for all of us listening.

[472] If we are troubled, help us to turn to the light of your son.

[473] more deeply than ever.

[474] And we ask in the name of the father, the son of the whole.

[475] Thank you so much, Bishop Strickland.

[476] I hope folks enjoyed it.

[477] Remember, you can send this out to your friends and family with the link to vmpr .org.

[478] All of Bishop Strickland shows are on our website, and I just want to encourage you to spread the word.

[479] That's how we get it out for people.

[480] Thanks again for joining us here on the Bishop Strickland Hour.

[481] May God richly Bless you and your family.