Looking For the Dirty, Poor, Criminal, Uneducated, Demonic, Pagan, Illiterate, Diseased, Leprous, Blind, Deaf, & Paralyzed
The four gospels present a variety of evangelists, most of them with no formal education and no previous experience in public speaking. Without radio, TV, social media, magazines or newspapers, they spread the good news “throughout the land.” Some, however, even eye witnesses to Jesus’s miracles, many of them priests, were vocal anti-evangelists who denied Him, condemned Him, and were successful in having Him killed. Today’s antievangelists, including some ordained to the ministerial priesthood, seek to do the same and to kill Jesus’s faithful sheep spiritually.
Dirty Shepherds
St. Luke in chapter 2 of his gospel tells us about the first human evangelists sent by God after the birth of the Baby Jesus; shepherds who slept outside, on the ground, in the heat, in the cold, with animals.
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:16-20).
All who heard the shepherds were amazed. They did not ridicule them or call them liars. And note: Mary remembered – almost certainly St. Luke learned about the shepherd-evangelists from Mary, and Mary “treasured” their efforts at evangelization.
Imagine the lives of these shepherds following that first Christmas. Imagine them meeting Jesus again, both on this earth after He had grown up and when they died and He judged them. Imagine if any of them was present at Calvary. And then when they were outside the pearly gates, imagine them saying: “Lord, remember us? We saw you in the manger in the City of David.” It seems to me – if they continued living their lives “glorifying and praising” God – Jesus most certainly smiled at them and said, “Yes, of course I know you guys. Come on in;” and, turning to His mother, “Mom, look who’s here!”
Possessed Men, Swineherds & Demons
Those possessed by demons, demons themselves, and swineherds proclaimed that Jesus was God:
When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. . . . When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me! (Luke 8:27-28
In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice, “Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:33).
When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” . . . Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. (Matthew 8:28-29, 30-34)
A Paralytic, A Deaf Man & Witnesses to Their Healings
And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed . . . “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” . . . And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” (Luke 5:18, 24-26).
There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. . . . Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:32, 36-37).
A Man Born Blind
In John, Chapter 9, after the blind man is given his sight by Jesus, he preaches a sermon to the unbelieving Pharisees:
The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is the amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes! We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (John 9: 30-32)
Many others appearing in the gospels proclaim the good news:
Samaritan Woman: John 4:27-39
The Blind Man Who Would Not Be Silenced: Mark: 10:46-52
The Blind Beggar: Luke 18:35-43
Pagan Governor: Pontius Pilate provides the first written proclamation about Jesus: John 19:19
The Centurion & Soldiers on Calvary at the Crucifixion: Luke 23:47; Mt 27:54
The Good Thief from his cross proclaims Jesus as heavenly king: Luke 23:42
Anti-Evangelists – Time of Jesus
The corrupt priests, when Jesus was alive, led by the High Priest, had turned organized religion into a business the benefitted them, their families, and those in their favor. They lived lives of lavish wealth and excess, and owned extensive lands and property whose purchase was funded by the sale of the offerings that had to be made in the temple, by the “temple tax,” and the changing of money in the temple itself forcing faithful Jews to use only certain particular coins (which had a high silver content) the priests would accept. The priests got rich from the money changing and then from the tax itself, by some estimates about $150,000,000.00 annually figured in today’s dollars.
The priests, and especially those well placed in the Jewish hierarchy, were willing pawns of the Romans, allowing the Romans to nominate a new high priest and collaborating with them in extorting money and resources from the people. The Romans nominated whichever family offered the largest bribe for the high priest office. High priests’ widows received generous pensions, paid from the monies taken from the people, from the offerings and taxes in the temple treasury. Priests children married the children of other priests with huge dowries being paid. Wives of priests even received allowances for perfumes and jewels.
No doubt Jesus was referring to the priests in His condemnation of the rich. Pagan historians have recounted the wealth on display in the temple. Its building and its gates were overlaid with gold, and a grape cluster (“as tall as a man”) at the entrance that was made of gold. One historian wrote that; “no one need wonder that there was so much wealth in our Temple, for all the Jews throughout the habitable world, and those who worshipped God, even those from Asia and Europe, had been contributing to it for a very long time.”
The temple “curia” and ruling priestly aristocracy were one and the same. Four “priestly” families controlled all of Israel and its society. One historian of the time saw this as the dream of a worldly, corrupt clergy: “Could there be a finer or more equitable polity than one which sets God at the head of the universe, which assigns the administration of its highest affairs to the whole body of priests, and entrusts to the supreme High Priest the direction of the other priests?”
If the true Messiah did arrive in Israel, this entire corrupt system would disintegrate. Overnight, the priests would lose their earthly power, the cash flow form Jews all over the world would dry up, and what political influence the Romans allowed them to have would disappear. No wonder they incited good Jewish people to shout, “Crucify Him!”
Again and again the gospels recite the antievangelist declarations of the corrupt priests and their intense efforts to have Jesus killed. See, e.g. Mt 26:65; Mt 27:41-43; Mk 14:63-64; Jn 8:48=53; Jn 11:47; and Jn 19:15.
Today’s Antievangelists – Ordained Priests, Consecrated Bishops, Princes of the Church
The clerical antievangelists of today cannot again kill Jesus personally. For them, the next best thing is to: deny truths Jesus Himself spoke to us; contradict teachings in Holy Scripture inspired by God; proclaim their own heretical, false teachings as true; and take part in the spiritual killing of faithful followers of Jesus. It is no accident that, in doing these things, they retain earthly power over the institutions and offices of the church on earth; they continue to control, to waste, and to squander the vast properties, wealth, money, accounts, and income of the church; and they live in the licentious luxury that their thefts from and frauds on the faithful make possible.
In extorting millions from the good people in the time of Jesus, the high priests were mere playground bullies taking a little lunch money from innocent students compared to the current ordained antievangelists and the billions they have stolen from the faithful around the world. Below are a few examples – and they are legion – of today’s clerical anti-evangelists.
Antievangelist Jorge Bergoglio
The man currently wearing papal white has had more influence and has spawned more ecclesial chaos than the rest of the antievangelists combined. He has declared that Jesus was in error in teaching that there is Hell and it is eternal. He has implicitly contradicted Jesus in how He dealt with the woman caught in adultery – Jesus saying “Go and sin no more.” Antievangelist Bergoglio has proclaimed that those publicly living in adultery can, and often should, go and sin on more – and do so in the context of a supporting church community. Regarding church teaching on the intrinsic evil of voluntarily engaging in homosexual actions [i.e., there are no circumstances that can change this sin to an act of virtue], he has stated publicly that God makes some people to “love” in this way – implicitly denying centuries-old established church teaching and contradicting Holy Scripture’s many condemnations of such actions.
German Antievangelists
German antievangelist Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich has declared church teaching false on voluntarily engaging in homosexual actions . Echoing his fellow antievangelist on the falsity of church teaching, Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German Catholic bishops’ conference has stated, in essence, that the unchangeable deposit of faith is changeable. Instead of condemning heretical positions on “same sex marriage” and ordaining “women priests,” Batzing pledged that such possible “synodal reforms” would be submitted to the “worldwide synodal process” proclaimed by antievangelist Bergoglio.
German antievangelist Cardinal Reinhard Marx recently celebrated a public Mass in Munich honoring the 20th anniversary of “queer services” there and he apologized for the church’s doctrinal position on homosexual actions. Saying he wants to “take church teaching forward,” and praising an “inclusive church,” he declared that “The catechism is not set in stone.”
American Antievangelists
Antievangelist Cardinal Wilton Gregory has implicitly proclaimed that any office holder and any politician who promotes abortion can receive Holy Communion. He has said Joe Biden will not be denied Communion, and Wilmington, Delaware, Antievangelist Bishop Francis Malooly has said he does “not intend to get drawn into partisan politics nor do I intend to politicize the Eucharist as a way of communicating Catholic Church teaching.” Antievangelist Jorge Bergoglio has given this sacrilege his approval, through his mouthpiece antievangelist Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who told other antievangelist U.S. bishops that they should not publish a statement that sacrilegious, scandalous politicians should be denied Holy Communion because the planned statement might “become a source of discord rather than unity within the episcopate and the larger church in the United States.”
Antievangelist pastors and parish priests nationwide, on a regular basis, follow antievangelist Bergoglio’s heresies and, with respect to those living in sin, and known publicly to be doing so, welcome and celebrate them and their sins in the church and integrate them into daily parish life.
Antievangelists Promote Disobedience of Jesus’s Command
Numerous antievangelist priests, pastors, and bishops have publicly called for disobedience of the Command of the Lord that only men are to be ordained. Some consecrated antievangelist bishops have conducted illicit – and sacramentally ineffective – faux show “ordinations” of women.
The Hell Denied by Antievangelists Does Indeed Exist
Perhaps some of those led astray by these antievangelical wolves may not be responsible for the deformation of their consciences. Any of them who proceed knowingly, and then do not repent, will be the modern-day victims of these demonic clerical antievangelists today shouting “Crucify them, crucify His sheep”. Since they cannot kill Jesus again, today’s clerical antievangelists seek to spiritually kill living members of His Mystical Body, those made in the image and likeness of God, those who are able, on this earth, to love God and to love their neighbors.
Everyone Can be an Evangelist of the Truth
God our Father can inspire men who never finished 1st grade to write down and recount His words. Jesus can ordain as His priests smelly, illiterate fishermen and send them to proclaim His good news to the whole world. The Holy Spirit can enlighten all believers to overcome and defeat the antievangelists and spread His comfort to everyone.
If God can do all these things, then every person, no matter who they are, no matter what gifts they have or do not have, can today be an evangelist and spread the truth, the good news. Any member of the laity can speak truth to the corrupt, criminal, and antievangelical power of the ordained hierarchy.
Which Level of Hell for Clerical Antievangelists ?
And woe to today’s clerical anti-evangelists if they do not repent. They will burn forever in that eternal hell whose existence antievangelist Bergoglio denies. And Jesus, whom they and they alone represent here in persona Christi, will be ashamed of them:
For whomsoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26).
(a previous version of this was published at Catholic Stand)
We need priests that “smell like the sheep”, sons of brick tile layers, carpenters and masons… a HUGE problem has been that there are too too many soft college (and may I say gay) men.
We’ve all heard the joke about a man who lost his keys on a long road with one street light, looking for his keys only under the street light.
There are more young catholic men than those who with few siblings and much money attend catholic high schools. Why is it that vocations are only encouraged for those few young men?! Only those attracted to attending elite schools, making much money in the world, and carrying on the family name with no brother!
I have a few points on this:
Opus Dei Priests are almost always highly educated with degrees in medicine, law, architecture etc…their knowledge of the gospel is deep. They are the conservative side of the Church. They would suit a congregation which has a high level of educated individuals. They also are pro-family and pro-life at their core.
The Bishop needs to understand the congregation and the demographics of the Parish in order to appoint the correct priest and personalities for that Parish. That would mean the Bishop needs to regularly visit the Parishes in his diocese. Rather than this arms-length distance approach.
Lastly, the priests at our Parish from Nigeria are fantastic. All 3 of them. Humble, funny, passionate about the gospel, relatable. They know what a hard life is, they relate to the congregation in their homilies and interactions through sport (one is a tragic Arsenal fan), and they have a clever sense of humour. One particular priest always says tongue-in-cheek “I bet you are thinking what this black boy standing up here know”. These priests, most importantly, understand family life and it’s ups and downs. I must admit that at first I was puzzled why ALL of our priests were form Africa, and not local men. However as time has gone on I must say that they bear witness to Gods word in a way which is unapologetic and yet sincere and you can hear the passion and love for their Faith when they speak. And boy can they sing. We’re fortunate that Africa are producing good priests willing to leave their family and country to do Gods work. Our local home-bred Bishops and priests could learn a thing or two from them.