Monday, November 14, 2016

It's Not A Joke


 "Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?" This is no longer a question asked only by Protestant Pentecostal ministers. You will hear it spoken by members of the Vatican II sect involved in the Catholic (sic) Charismatic Movement (hereinafter CCM). When Vatican II's "new springtime" of apostasy came in, so did every form of moral and doctrinal aberration.  This CCM is found in nearly every diocese of the Vatican II sect, including the Archdiocese of New York. According to "Fr" Harold Cohen, SJ of the Archdiocese Catholic (sic) Charismatic Renewal, " What can we expect when we are 'baptized with the Holy Spirit'? We can expect an immediate or gradual experience of deeper union with God, our loving Father and with Jesus, our Lord and Friend; a fresh appreciation of Scripture; a greater love for others and a desire for Christian fellowship; the fuller presence in our lives of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience and
more (see Galatians 5:22-23); the receptions of one or more of the Charismatic gifts of the Spirit such as discernment, service, prophecy, praying in tongues, healing (see 1 Corinthians 12-14). This gift of a new fullness of the Holy Spirit is, I believe, the grace of our age. "Ask and it will be given to you!" (See http://www.catholiccharismaticny.org/baptism-in-holy-spirit).

 What is this "eighth sacrament" being peddled by the CCM? Can the people who receive it pray in tongues, heal themselves and others; even become prophets? The origins and evils of the CCM will be exposed in this post.

Heretical Origins

The CCM can trace its origin to the Pentecostal sect of the 19th century. According to William Whalen's book, Minority Religions in America, "The reappearance of glossolaly (speaking in tongues) was reported in 1901. Charles F. Parham, a Holiness preacher, was dismayed by the aridity of his own spiritual life. He rented a white elephant mansion in Topeka, Kansas, and started a Bible school with about 40 students. Together they set out on an intensive study of scriptures and came to the conclusion that speaking in tongues was the one sign that a Christian had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. At 7 p.m., on New Year’s Eve in 1900, one of the students, Miss Agnes N. Ozmen, startled the assembled group when she began to pray in tongues. Within a few days, many more followed suit. Parham spent the next five years as an itinerant preacher before opening another Bible school, this time in Houston. One of his students, a negro minister named W.J. Seymore, carried the 'full-gospel' message to Los Angeles. A three-year-long revival in that California city attracted people from all over the country, and these people planted Pentecostalism in most of the major cities in the US, as well as in many European nations. The old Holiness churches refused to give emphasis to tongue-speaking, but dozens of independent Pentecostal Churches were soon organized." (Staten Island: Alba House, 1971, pg. 179). 

In 1967, during the nascent Vatican II sect turmoil of ecumenical frenzy and near universal apostasy, students at Pittsburgh’s Duquesne University began exposing themselves to Pentecostal influences because of "spiritual aridity." They were envious of the "changed lives" among many Protestant friends and decided to pray for similar "graces." A weekend "retreat"gave them what they wanted. Various people approached Protestant ministers, laity, and prayer groups. All received "Baptism in the Spirit" after having heretical hands laid on them in prayer.

The importance of this action cannot be overestimated. These former Catholics of the new Vatican II sect submitted themselves to a non-Catholic pseudo-sacramental rite (a mockery of Confirmation) and the emotional thrill brought about by this sin convinced them of the holiness of the entire experience. They came away as "Catholic" Charismatics, and their influence spread quickly throughout the Vatican II sect. The CCM fits in perfectly with the ecumenism of Vatican II. If these "gifts" of the Holy Ghost (allegedly speaking in tongues, "healings," etc.) are true in the "Catholic" Church and they also happen in various Protestant denominations, then it stands to reason that there are "elements of truth and sanctification" outside the True Church by which people can achieve holiness and salvation. (Sound familiar?).

Do Supernatural Gifts Still Happen Today?
 The CCM denigrates the sacramental system of the Church. A sacrament is a "visible sign of an invisible grace instituted by the historical Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of the human race, although every sacrament is not necessary for each member of the Church." They would have these sacramental gifts replaced by speaking in tongues, prophesy, and other such visible manifestations. Some, imitating certain Protestant sects, roll around on the floor and then handle poisonous snakes to show "God's protection." It is a fact, recorded in the Bible, that the Apostles and some early Christians did indeed speak in tongues and heal people. So why did it stop? 

The charismata or "special gifts" of the Holy Ghost such as prophecies, healings, miracles, etc., were given to prove the claims of the Church and to foster conversions. With the achievement of the Church’s moral universality, the need for such phenomena ceased because of the presence in the Church of people of every nationality and because of the Church’s proven record as the One True Religion. Likewise, speaking in tongues was given so that all could hear and understand the preaching of the Gospel. None of these gifts were given for the personal sanctification of the individuals who received them. St. Augustine, Tract. xxxii, states, "Whereas even now the Holy Ghost is received, yet no one speaks in the tongues of all nations, because the Church herself already speaks in the languages of all nations: since whoever is not in the Church, receives not the Holy Ghost."

Some saints were given miraculous gifts, but the CCM would have the extraordinary become the norm. Likewise, these alleged gifts are now offered as "proof" of being in God's favor, yet the Council of Trent infallibly declared, "For even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God, of the merit of Christ, and of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, even so each one, when he regards himself, and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension touching his own grace; seeing that no one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject to error, that he has obtained the grace of God." (See Decree on Justification). 


Errors Abound
The CCM promotes false teachings not only on grace and the continued necessity of charismata, but they foster other serious errors as well. Chief among them:
  • Anti-clericalism. The role of the hierarchy is downplayed. They are seen as "one of the guys." being able to roll on the ground "speaking in tongues" is more important than the ability to offer the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 
  • Denial of the necessity of the Magisterium. You will hear CCM members say that "God has put it on my heart that I should..." Or, "God told me..." If you have direct contact with God, why do we need the Church and Her hierarchy as intermediaries between God and people? If the Church teaches one thing, but God has supposedly told you something different, guess which one will be obeyed. 
  • De Facto denial of the Church's Indefectibility. By wanting to return to the ways of the early Church, CCM claims that an integral part of the Church (charismata) was absent for centuries. This is impossible if the Church is Indefectible. Remember the condemnation of Pope Pius XII regarding those who wish to return to early Church practices, thereby suggesting the Church was not led towards the Truth but away from it. "The desire to restore everything indiscriminately to its ancient condition is neither wise nor praiseworthy. It would be wrong, for example, to want the altar restored to its ancient form of a table, to want black eliminated from the liturgical colors, and pictures and statues excluded from our churches; to require crucifixes that do not represent the bitter sufferings of the divine Redeemer." (See Encyclical Mediator Dei; Emphasis mine). 
Unholy Gifts
Those who seek after such false gifts open themselves up to dire consequences:


1. Risk of Self-Deception: "And I greatly fear what is happening in these times of ours: If any soul whatever after a bit of meditation has in its recollection one of these locutions, it will immediately baptize all as coming from God and with such a supposition say, 'God told me,' 'God answered me.'  Yet this is not so, but, as we pointed out, these persons themselves are more often the origin of their locution."  (See St. John of the Cross: The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Book II Ch. 29) 

2. Possession by demons: "Through the desire of accepting them one opens the door to the devil.  The devil can then deceive one by other communications expertly feigned and disguised as genuine.  In the words of the Apostle, he can transform himself into an 'angel of light' (II Cor. XI:14). (...)  Regardless of the cause of these apprehensions, it is always good for a man to reject them with closed eyes.  If he fails to do so, he will make room for those having a diabolical origin and empower the devil to impose his communications.  Not only this, but the diabolical representations will multiply while those from God will gradually cease, so that eventually all will come from the devil and none at all from God.  This has occurred with many incautious and uninstructed people."  (See St. John of the Cross: The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Book II Ch. 11)

Becoming More Bizarre
 A new "charismata" known as "Holy Laughter" is also present at many CCM meetings. The person who is most responsible for this phenomenon is Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African Protestant evangelist who was born in 1961. It has been picked up by many in the movement. Rodney Howard-Browne reported: "One night I was preaching on Hell, and laughter just hit the whole place. The more I told the people what Hell was like, the more they laughed." "The Holy Ghost...might have you do something that no one's ever done before, and he might have you do something that's totally unique. But don't question, and don't argue, and don't ask, and don't try to devise and to plan it out but just follow the prompting of the leading of the Spirit of God and, oh, great and wonderful things shall be done, for God will move in diverse ways and with diverse anointing in these last days." Laughing about Hell? How does any of this help anyone?

When they are "slain in the Spirit," phenomena reported with "Holy Laughter include: shaking, jerking, loss of bodily strength, heavy breathing, eyes fluttering, lips trembling, oil on the body, changes in skin color, weeping, laughing, appearing drunk, staggering, dancing, falling, claiming visions, "hearing audibly into the spirit realm", inspired utterances--i.e.so-called prophecy, speaking in tongues, violent rolling, screaming, nausea as discernment of evil, smelling or tasting good or evil presences, tingling, pain in body as discernment of illness, feeling heavy weight or lightness, trances--altered physical state while seeing and hearing into the "spiritual world," inability to speak normally, removing some clothing, pawing people and roaring like a lion, walking like a chicken, howling like a wolf, digging the ground with hoofs like a bull while "prophesying," among others. 

This totally insane behavior can only be the result of (a) mental instability/mass hysteria, or (b) demonic influence. St. Thomas Aquinas states that (1) prophesy can come from demons (they can guess at what the future holds given their superior intellect and knowing those who will do their work--they do not know the future as God does but can predict much with an uncanny accuracy); (2) prophets of demons can (in that sense) foretell the truth, and (3) the wicked can work wonders that appear to be miracles.

Conclusion
The CCM is totally heretical, and leads people to Hell. Remember the sobering words of Our Lord, "For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) the elect."(St. Matthew 24:24); and again, "Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have not we prophesied in Thy Name, and cast out devils in Thy Name, and done many miracles in Thy Name? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity." (St. Matthew 7:21-23). The people involved with the CCM will soon learn (perhaps too late) that this is no laughing matter. 

9 comments:

  1. What are your thoughts on the Duarte Costa line?
    Its "valid" in that the rites of holy orders were never changed (ordination & consecration) yet it's a schismatic line.

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    1. The line has problems. Bp Duarte Costa was a heretic solemnly excommunicated by Pope Pius XII in 1945. Duarte Costa used the unchanged rites of the Church to consecrate several bishops. One Bishop, Salomao Ferraz, immediately got "married" and had several children. In 1963, he reconciled with Roncalli and was a voting bishop (!) at Vatican II with his wife present during the Council sessions! He was not made to leave his wife, nor laicized.

      These abominations aside, the question is validity, not the integrity of the bishops, which seems non-existent. The Brazilian National Churches have become super-Modernist and recognize even Anglican Orders. Herein lies but one problem. In the 1990s a group of Anglicans founded the "Charismatic Episcopal Church" combining the Charismatic Movement with elements of the Vatican II sect. One "Fr" Craig Bates received episcopal consecration from a Duarte Costa bishop and they attempt to proselytize V2 sect members because they claim valid orders "from your Church." The problem is that Bates was invalidly ordained as an Anglican "priest" without priestly ordination from the Duarte Costa bishop. Since episcopal consecration is only valid if the recipient is a priest (according to the vast majority of the theologians), Bates is (at best) a dubious bishop. All his ordinations and consecrations are therefore dubious as well. Yet they claim to be "in the Duarte Costa line." Do they still use the unchanged rite of the Church? I'm not sure about that either. I'd stay away from any Traditionalist "priest" claiming his orders through the episcopal lineage of Duarte Costa.

      ---Introibo

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    2. And all of this assumes that the bishop abjured his heresy and became Traditionalist. A Traditionalist Catholic can never seek orders outside the Church.

      ---Introibo

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    3. So,other than the Bates line of 'Clergy',are we to assume validity since Duarte Costa bishops keep traditional Rites intact and unchanged?

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    4. The general rule to be applied (for purposes of validity only) is that each case must be decided on an individual basis.

      First, the line must trace back to one of the nine valid bishop consecrated by Duarte Costa.

      Second, at each step you must determine if the recipient of the consecration was (a) a validly ordained priest AND (b) the UNCHANGED TRADITIONAL RITE was used.

      Third, did the recipient have a minimal Ecclesiastical training so he can have the presumption of validity. Some basic Latin is indispensable. If the Rite was translated to the vernacular, is it a faithful translation to the original?

      If this can be accurately determined up to the current priest/bishop in question; they are then valid. If anything is defective at any point, it is dubious at best.

      ---Introibo

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    5. Thank you for responding.
      I read even Bishop Duarte Costa and his bishops/priests outright rejected the Paul VI "new rite" in 1969.

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    6. You're seriously misinformed on this issue. Duarte Costa never rejected the Novus Bogus bread and wine service of Paul VI because he died in 1961, the year before Vatican II started.

      Duarte Costa only ordained apostate priests as Modernist to the core as himself. In 1936 during his "ad limina" visit to Pope Pius XI, Duarte Costa asked the Pontiff to allow the following "reforms":
      1. Celebration of the Mass and administration of the sacraments in the vernacular language


      2. Permission for clergy to marry


      3. The abolition of auricular confession, replacing it with general or communal confession and absolution


      4. Distribution of Holy Communion to the laity under both species (i.e., Host and Blood)


      5. Institution of the "permanent diaconate" for married men


      6. Celebration of the Mass "versus populi" (facing the people) with the priest behind the altar (i.e. a table)


      7. Creation of a Council of Advice, composed of bishops who would govern the Church together with the Pope(read "collegiality")


      8. Participation of laypersons in the Mass, including distribution of Communion

      Pope Pius threatened him with excommunication if he ever dared to mention such things again. He also had him immediately listed as "suspect of Modernism." He was told to study and adhere to Church teaching.

      Evidently, it didn't happen. They are not the "traditional clergy" you have been lead to believe. Ironically, had Duarte Costa lived just 3 more years, he would have seen all his "reforms" adopted by the Vatican II sect, in which he would have probably been created a "cardinal."

      ---Introibo

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  2. Sorry I should've been more specific.
    You're right on point,I was in a hurry and not typing correctly.
    His "successor" rejected "the new rites of holy orders" as Duarte Costa was dead in 1969.
    Yes I knew the above info,sorry for not being specific.
    For the record,is what I have read wrong?
    Did the Duarte Costa crew end up changing the rites of holy orders?
    I re-watched the movie "Catholics" (1973) yesterday and it hit me harder the second time around.That movie should be required watching for any Catholic,Byzantine or Roman Rite.
    My oh my after watching yesterday it hit me most Catholic people in the early 70's (including clergy) didn't care or lost the faith prior to the late 60's.
    The few that cared (Fr.Depauw Bishop McKenna and others) left as soon as possible.
    There is no way a true blue Catholic with faith would've given in to the Novus Ordo.
    By 1988 anyone that cared about the faith left the N.O. after Levefbre was "Excommunicated" for consecrating bishops in the traditional rites.

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    1. The movie "Catholics" is a wake up call! I agree with your general assessment of the Great Apostasy. As to Duarte Costa, I have serious doubts they have retained the traditional rites given their "uber-Modernism."

      ---Introibo

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