12 STEPS TO ANOTHER GOSPEL?

Bill Wilson

Part One

Tyndale House Publishers advertises their Life Recovery Bible with these words: "Imagine having Abraham, King David, and the Apostle Paul in your 12-step group." The ad continues: "Like you, they found recovery by trusting in a power greater than themselves." Besides presenting a psychological, 12-step biased "character profile" of Abraham, David, and Paul, this adulterated version of the Bible includes "fascinating 12-step notes on almost every page," "recovery themes at the beginning of each book," "12-step devotions, serenity prayer devotions, and much, much more." The ad assures the reader that "every study help has been written by a biblical scholar who has personally experienced the 12 steps."

When Christians seek to combine the ways of the world with Christianity they end up with a distorted gospel at least, but more often it ends up being another gospel and another form of sanctification. Twelve-Step programs originated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Now they are embraced and followed religiously by numerous other groups, including Al-Anon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and Co-dependents Anonymous.

Churches have housed AA meetings for years and now many leading Christians are promoting various Twelve-Step programs. We wonder if they have explored the history of AA’s Twelve Steps and the implications of programs centred around any unspecified higher power. The following excerpt from our book 12 Steps to Destruction: Co - dependency/Recovery Heresies gives a brief background of AA in terms of its religious roots and goals.

Alcoholics Anonymous Religion.

The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, originally written by Bill Wilson, came from his own personal experience and world view. Step One, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable," expresses the relief he experienced when his doctor convinced him that his heavy drinking was caused by an "allergy" over which he was powerless.

Thus, when Wilson completed his drying out treatment, he thought his problem was solved. He had been relieved of guilt for moral failure and had been diagnosed as having a disease. The cure was simple. Just don’t take another drink. Nevertheless, his confidence in his newly found sobriety did not last long. In spite of his belief that his excessive drinking was not his fault, but rather due to an "allergy," Wilson felt doomed.

During this bleak time Wilson received a phone call from an "old drinking buddy," Ebby Thatcher. They hadn’t seen each other for five years and Thatcher seemed like a new man. When Wilson asked him why he wasn’t drinking and why he seemed so different, Thatcher replied, "I’ve got religion." He told Wilson that when he had prayed God had released him from the desire to drink and filled him with "peace of mind and happiness of a kind he had not known for years."1

Wilson was uncomfortable with Thatcher’s testimony. Yet he desired Thatcher’s freedom from alcohol. Wilson drank for several more days until he reached a point of great agony and hopelessness (the full intensity of Step One). He then returned to the hospital for detoxification treatment.

Wilson’s Conversion.

Wilson’s religious experience occurred at the hospital. He deeply desired the sobriety his friend had, but Wilson still "gagged badly on the notion of a Power greater than myself." Up to the last moment Wilson resisted the idea of God. Nevertheless, at this extreme point of agony, alone in his room, he cried out, "If there is a God, let Him show Himself! I am ready to do anything, anything!"2

Because Wilson believed he was helplessly afflicted by a dread disease, he cried out to God as a helpless victim, not as a sinner. He had already been absolved from guilt through the doctor’s allergy theory. Thus he approached God from the helpless stance of a victim, suffering the agony of his affliction, and commanded God to show Himself. Here is Wilson’s description of his experience:

Suddenly, my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. Every joy I had known was pale by comparison. The light, the ecstasy—I was conscious of nothing else for a time.3

He saw an internal vision of a mountain with a clean wind blowing through him. He sensed a great peace and was "acutely conscious of a Presence which seemed like a veritable sea of living spirit." He thought, "This must be the great reality. The God of the preachers." He said:

For the first time, I felt that I really belonged. I knew that I was loved and could love in return. I thanked my God, who had given me a glimpse of His absolute self. Even though a pilgrim upon an uncertain highway, I need be concerned no more, for I had glimpsed the great beyond.4

The experience had a profound effect on Wilson. From that point on he believed in the existence of God and he stopped drinking alcohol. Thus, Steps Two and Three read: "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity," and "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."5 (Emphasis in original.)

While this experience included God as Bill Wilson understood him, there is no mention of faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ and salvation from sin based upon Jesus’ death and resurrection. Rather than attempting to understand his experience in the light of the Bible, Wilson turned to William James’s book The Varieties of Religious Experience.

Philosopher-psychologist William James (1842-1910) was intrigued with mystical, existential experiences that people reported to him. He contended that such experiences were superior to any religious doctrine.6 He did not care about the religious persuasion of mystics as long as they achieved a personal experience. James says:

In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we become aware of our oneness. This is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed. In Hinduism, in Neoplatonism, in Sufism, in Christian mysticism, in Whitmanism, we find the same recurring note, so that there is about mystical utterances an eternal unanimity. . . .7

It is easy to see how such a description fit Bill Wilson’s experience. The mystical experiences reported by James also followed calamity, admission of defeat, and an appeal to a higher power. The official AA biography of Wilson says:

James gave Bill the material he needed to understand what had just happened to him—and gave it to him in a way that was acceptable to Bill. Bill Wilson, the alcoholic, now had his spiritual experience ratified by a Harvard professor, called by some the father of American psychology!8 (Emphasis in original.)

Most people assume that the founders of Alcoholics’ Anonymous were Christians. After all, Wilson talks about God, prayer, and morality. On the other hand, Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is absent from his spiritual experience. There is no mention of Jesus Christ providing the only way of salvation through paying the price for Bill Wilson’s sin. Wilson’s faith system was not based on Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nor is there any mention of Jesus Christ being Lord of his life.

Not only is there clear evidence that Bill Wilson did not embrace Jesus Christ as His Lord and Saviour and as the only way to the Father, but Wilson was also heavily involved in occult activities in his search for spiritual experiences. These are the roots of Alcoholics Anonymous rather than Christianity. Part Two of this article discusses Wilson’s spirituality and occult practices.

===================================================

Notes:

1 Pass It On: The story of Bill Wilson and how the A.A. message reached the world. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1984, pp. 111, 115.

2 Ernest Kurtz. Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous. Centre City, MN: Hazelden Educational Services, 1979, p. 19.

3 Pass It On, op. cit., p. 121.

4 Ibid.

5 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1952, 1953, 1981.

6 William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902). New York: Viking Penguin Inc. 1982, p. xxiv.

7 Ibid., p. 419.

8 Pass It On, op. cit., p. 125.

WHAT IF THIS WERE TRUE.....?

The Tale of Pastor Jeremiah Steepek and the Homeless Man

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek (pictured below) transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service, only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food - NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit n the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. "We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek." The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him. He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited,

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

'The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame. He then said, "Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?"

He then dismissed service until next week.

Being a Christian is more than something you claim. It's something you live by and share with others.

THE EUCHARIST GIVES US JESUS CHRIST

by Fr. William G. Most

The other Sacraments give us grace, the Holy Eucharist gives us not only grace but the Author of all grace, Jesus, God and Man. It is the center of all else the Church has and does.

As St. Mark records that, at the Last Supper, Jesus "took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them: "Take this, this is my Body" (Mk 14:22). That word blessed in Greek is eucharistesas, from which the Eucharist derives its name.

Three of the four Gospels record the institution of the Holy Eucharist: Matthew 26:25-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-23. St. Paul also records it in First Corinthians 11:23-25. St. John's Gospels does not report this, presumably because he intended chiefly to fill in what the others had not written, for he wrote probably between 90 and 100 A.D. There are small variations in the words, but the essentials are the same in all accounts: This is my body... this is my blood.

In John 6:53 Jesus said: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you." Of course, He did not mean to cut off salvation from those who through no fault of their own do not know or grasp this truth. It is like the case of Baptism: one must receive it if one knows.

The form, that is the words required for the Eucharist, are of course the words of institution. The matter is wheat bread (white or whole wheat) for the host, and natural wine (mixed with a very little water) for the chalice. Addition of a notable amount of other matter would make the material invalid.

Jesus is present wherever the appearances (species) of bread and wine are found after the consecration. Hence He is found even when the host is divided. The substance of bread and wine is gone, only the appearances remain. The Church calls this change transubstantiation: change of substance.

In John 6:47-67 Jesus did not soften His words about His presence even when so many no longer went with Him: had He meant only that bread and wine would signify Him, He could have so easily explained that, and they would not have left.

The Church has always understood a Real Presence. For example, St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was eaten by the beasts in Rome around 107 A.D., wrote: "The Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ" (To Smyrna 7:1). St. Justin the martyr wrote around 145 A. D: "We have been taught that the food is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh" (Apology 1. 66. 2). The Council of Trent in 1551 defined that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, body and blood, soul and divinity.

Obviously, this divine presence deserves our worship. Really, someone who believes in it should be much inclined to come before the tabernacle often. Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament seems to have started in the 15th century. The Church also promotes Forty Hours devotion. In some places there is perpetual adoration.

We can correctly speak of other kinds of presence of Jesus. (On this see our discussion on the Ascension in the sixth article of the Creed, and Vatican II, On the Liturgy #7). But none of them compare to that in the Holy Eucharist.

BUILDING AN ETERNITY

Kathy Bernard - Publisher

"From Judah will come the cornerstone, the tent peg,

the bow for battle, and all the rulers. - Zechariah 10:04

How are you building your Christian life? Is your foundation secure?

The dictionary reads: "a foundation is a prepared base on which a structure will rest". Jesus Christ prepared His foundation for all by paying for our sins over two thousand years ago. If we have trust and faith in Him, that foundation stands ready for all believers to start building their eternities through an unshakeable conviction that He is the only way to salvation. He gives each of us His master blueprint for working out our lives according to His explicit instructions.

If I ignore Jesus Christ and stand on my own desires and wants, I am building my life on a faulty support that is temporary. In my self-righteous state I may not realize I am building on perilous sand. But if I follow as He directs me, I will build my life with loving vigilance. Any foundation other than that of Christ is a shallow marsh which will swallow me up into regrettable behavior making my work worthless to God. My surety comes from choosing to build on the support I know is solid, and that is Jesus Christ. When we listen with our hearts to what He wants from us as His followers, we do not worry like the wicked whose houses will one day disintegrate because their foundation is makeshift and will not support what we build. No matter how beautifully constructed, no building can stand without a secure base.

Even though I make mistakes and build wrongly, with His help I can always start over with God's grace because one of His vital promises is forgiveness. Not one of us is perfect but we depend on the goodness of the Heavenly Father Who gives "second chances" to amend our lives and begin again. As long as there is life within us, God will give His forgiveness if we ask for it and repent of wrongdoing. But if my faith foundation is imperfect, nothing I build upon can ever be made right unless I, through strong faith, exchange it for 'the real thing".

Jesus tells us of the parable in Matthew 7: 25-27: "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."

There is a story about a very wise man who called one of his faithful workmen and said to him, "Go into the far country and build a house for me. I am giving you the plans for the foundation. This is most important. Use them exactly as I have written. The decisions of planning and of actual construction will be yours for I know you do excellent work. But remember, I shall come to inspect your work very carefully because this house is for a very special friend of mine and is my gift to him. Do not stint on the materials but buy the very best so build using your talent and the guidelines that I have given to you.

And so the workman departed with a light heart for his field of labor. Material of all kinds was plentiful here, but the workman looked around and took note of the prices.

"Surely," he thought, "I know my business. I can use a bit of inferior materials for the foundation here and cheat on my workmanship a little there, and still make the finished work look good. Only I will know that what I have built has weaknesses. and I can have a little money left over to enjoy myself. My employer will never know because the house will look good".

And so, at last the work was completed and the workman reported back to the wise man that the house was finished.

"Very good. From what you are showing me, everything looks great," he said. "Now remember that I wanted you to use only the finest materials for the foundation and craftsmanship in this house because I wanted it to be a present to a faithful and an honest worker. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny new key. I knew I could trust you with this job. "My friend," the man continued, "you are the one I had you build it for. It is yours!"

The worker's face fell in disgrace and regret. He endured the praise heaped upon him because he knew he could not tell his employer what he had done. What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he would live in a home he had built none too well.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about what you are building, about how you are living your life. Stone by stone, brick by brick, you construct your eternity. Your life tomorrow will be the result of the choices you make today. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall you are choosing how you will spend your eternity. The plaque on your wall may say, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." but added to that should be, "A project that was built on the rock of Jesus Christ"

St. Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 3:11-14: "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have - Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials - gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward."

One day the Overseer will inspect my work as I stand facing Him. Will I cringe in sorrow as He surveys my lack of effort? Will He shake His head in disappointment when He sees how I built my life? Will He look with regret and sadness at all the inferior work I have done in my lifetime? I know He will see the times I turned away from what He taught in order to live my own way. He will look deep inside my heart and see the shoddy choice of materials I used for my own personal satisfaction.

Apocalypse 20: 12-13 also says "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Our Lord Jesus Christ will be the one who will test the foundation upon which we built our lives and the solidness and the structure of our buildings. Everything we have ever done, both good and evil will be revealed to us on that day. If we have rejected Jesus as the true foundation, the whole house will tumble and fall. But if I have built my life on His solid doctrine with Christ as my foundation, I will be called into His eternal kingdom.

I am the builder of my own eternity. Every deed I do in my Savior's name is added to what I am building on His precious foundation. For me, "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, and my strength in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower" (Psalms 18:2 ). I can choose to build on the rock Jesus laid down using the blueprints He gives me or I can choose to build on the crumbling sands of sin. I, alone, make this choice. But on the morning of my resurrection I will have to live with what I have built... forever and forever.

"Together we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself." - Ephesians 2:20

IF ONLY I COULD AVOID TEMPATION ...

by Dr. Jeff Mirus, July 23, 2009

A recent magazine article called attention to a web site devoted to connecting people who wish to commit adultery. This is an excellent reminder that, perhaps especially in our culture, it is impossible to hide from sexual temptation. It will never be sufficient to attempt to eliminate temptation from our lives, or from the lives of our children. Rather, we must devote ourselves to the cultivation of the virtue of purity. But this must be something more than the cultivation of a natural virtue. To resist temptation successfully, our desire for virtue must be spiritually rooted. It must grow out of our own personal relationship with God.

Purity

Of course the cultivation of a specific virtue is necessary to overcome every vice. But the case of sexual temptation is particularly vexing. In the first place, sexual desire is normal. Not every normal person will experience (for example) the desire to maim or murder. But every normal person will experience sexual desire. And in the second place, contemporary Western culture is now deliberately constructed around the fulfillment of sexual desire. Our culture no longer acts as a hedge against sexual dangers and weaknesses; rather we live in a society which is designed to be sex-saturated, a society which impels each and every person to satisfy his or her sexual impulses. The ubiquity of private, anonymous sexual gratification through the Internet, television and movies has been generally sufficient to break down the instinctive human sense of shame. Immodest dress and the near complete deregulation of sexual activity has led to enormous opportunities for those whose sense of shame has been blunted to take the obvious next social step.

It goes without saying that parents should make a serious effort to shield their children from the worst of our culture’s sexual blandishments. All adults should also make reasonable efforts to shield themselves from these temptations throughout their lives. But it is very important to understand that the battle to eliminate temptation cannot be won. No parent can shield his children sufficiently; no adult can shield himself sufficiently. Sexual allure will still become present in a hundred different ways, often arising almost inadvertently from normal interactions which are otherwise completely good. One way or another—and usually in many ways—the temptation to impurity will be felt, especially by men.

The key, then, is to develop the ability to resist temptation when it does come. This requires a growing relationship with God, a genuine desire to please Him based on the knowledge and experience of His love. In other words, we must pay attention to our spiritual nature, the goodness of God, our dependence on Him, and our need to spend time with Him in prayer. We must also cultivate that same attentiveness in our children. Spiritual growth is not only the ultimate solution to the problem of temptation, it is the only solution.

A Multitude of Sins

Spiritual growth also covers a multitude of sins. What I mean by this can best be conveyed by an example. Suppose parents in a particular family try hard to keep their kids from encountering Internet pornography and stalkers. They set up the necessary controls. They supervise access. But at the same time their kids see Mom dressed immodestly at the beach, and they notice Dad has a cache of questionable magazines. Movies which excite a mild prurient interest are routine. The kids go to the local public school, which does nothing to inculcate purity, and their parents have never talked with them about purity. The family does not pray together, and the parents don’t direct their children to spiritual reading suitable for their age group. In fact, the parents don’t even remember to pray for their kids. One day the Internet controls fail (this will always happen), and the kids get into all kinds of things they shouldn’t see.

Now imagine a different scenario. Mom is modest, Dad clearly values purity, and modesty of dress is enforced for the children. If Dad is watching TV, which he seldom does, he switches channels when inappropriate commercials come on, and he won’t watch movies that objectify women, make light of sex, or seem to encourage promiscuity. The parents pray both with and for their children and encourage them to read the lives of the saints. They talk with their kids about the spiritual life and about purity. Unfortunately, though, these parents are fairly clueless technologically, and they aren’t sufficiently aware of the danger of cell phones with Internet connections. Their kids soon realize what they can find with their phones, and one day they decide to go find it.

What messages are implicit in these two scenarios? In the first, the message is that the children have gotten their chance to enter the adult world. Their understanding of Internet pornography is that it is not for children, and now they can jump-start their transition to adulthood. But in the second, the children understand that they have found a way to go down a path that is profoundly different from the one their parents have chosen, and which departs from a loving relationship with God. They also know very clearly that their parents regard pornography as wrong for everyone. They have already developed some spiritual sense of why this is so. They have the benefit of their parents’ prayers, too. Taking everything together, they know they have sinned, and they at least dimly perceive how they ought to deal with this sin now that they have fallen into it.

In the first case, the kids have almost no chance to deal positively with the situation in the long run. But in the second case, the seeds of ultimate success will begin to grow even in the midst of the sin itself. In this way, the preliminary spiritual development of the child will initiate an immediate struggle toward virtue. Spiritual growth covers a multitude of sins.

Same for Adults

The general situation for adults is similar, except the drama is enacted without the continued presence of their parents. If an adult takes a lackadaisical attitude toward spiritual growth, figuring he is basically a good person, organizing his life in a fairly conventional way, and assuming that he will always avoid the worst sins, then when a temptation does strike, he is doomed to fall without engaging in the kind of serious struggle that leads to virtue. But if he is aware of his own weakness, cultivates a desire for grace, spends time in prayer and spiritual reading, frequents the sacraments, seeks spiritual direction as needed, and makes a point of practicing small acts of self-denial when it comes to minor pleasures (especially those he suspects are only semi-innocent)—well, then he will seek to resist temptation when it comes. He may not always resist successfully but, if he falls, the seeds of his ultimate spiritual success will also begin to grow in the midst of his shame.

Anyone who works consistently at spiritual growth will also know that his spiritual battle has an essentially positive trajectory, and so he will generally be shrewd enough to avoid discouragement. While the problem of discouragement can arise in relation to any habitual sin, it is often a bigger problem with impurity, because this sin touches us so personally. We feel not just regretful or weak, but soiled to the core. For this reason, we tend to dwell on it. If we get discouraged, we can lose our sense of God’s love, on which also depends our own sense of worth. Such discouragement will stop our spiritual life in its tracks. Even if we don’t succumb to discouragement, we might be excessively hard on ourselves, joining the battle too aggressively, worrying too much about the next temptation and how to prevent it. Unfortunately, with sins of impurity in particular, dwelling on the problem will always cause the level of temptation to increase, leading almost infallibly to another fall.

The solution to both problems is a positive concentration on God’s love, and a steady desire to draw closer to Him. The primary prescription is frequent reception of the sacrament of Penance, spiritual direction as required, and regular time for personal prayer. It is important to note here that the sacraments are powerful and certain gifts of grace, but they are gifts which will sit unopened if we fail to develop a personal prayer life through which we can unpack their riches. In addition, spiritual direction may be necessary if we need a change of focus or a deeper understanding of things to get on the right track.

Now, with our spiritual life firmly intact, we grow to understand that for each moment of failure there have been a thousand moments of prayer, spiritual effort, and resistance to temptation. We further understand that every moment of prayer, spiritual effort and resistance has been a sacrificial offering of love. In this context, even our very falls become occasions for recognizing more deeply our dependence on our heavenly Father. God, who loves us far more than we love ourselves, sees all of these moments and wants us to recognize every one of them. Satan sees all of them as well, but he wants us to recognize only the moment of failure.

The Whole Armor of God

If this column were a religion class, I would caution the students not to rush out and tell their friends that “the teacher” says you don’t have to try to avoid temptation. To the contrary, we do have to try to avoid temptation, but we cannot avoid it entirely, and we must be prudent. Surely we should try to avoid bad company or refuse to engage in unnecessary activities which incite us to sin. But we cannot refuse to interact with others, and we cannot wall off all temptation by confining ourselves to a dark room with no external stimulation of any kind. In fact, if we were monks, we would know that even this would accomplish nothing. We are at war not only with the world, but with the flesh and the devil. When the hermits of old had to rush out of their rude caves to roll in the snow, it was because the devil himself incited their flesh to rebellion, in memory of the world.

No. The only path of success lies in drawing closer to God, cooperating with Him in our own spiritual development. Then, as we mature spiritually, we will find many things less tempting than they were, or even no longer tempting at all, and we will also fall less often even in the face of temptations which remain strong. The battle against some vices may take years or even decades, or indeed the battle may be lifelong. But it is a battle not to prevent temptation but to cure it through union with Christ; it is not a matter of cutting ourselves off from life in the vain hope of never falling, but of embracing Life more fully in the assurance of ultimate victory over sin and death.

St. Paul put it this way in his letter to the Ephesians:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (6:11-13)

This is what I’m talking about. It is not enough simply to avoid temptation. Victory consists in reaching out to “take the whole armor” so that we may be able to face evil when it comes. For it will come, and we must face it. There is no other way. So we must put spiritual growth first. We must above all seek an ever-deeper union with Jesus Christ. This, and this alone, is what it means to put on the whole armor of God.

Jeffrey Mirus - President of CatholicCulture.org
If you found this helpful, please subscribe to newsletters and support our work.

WHO DIED ON THE CROSS?

Who died on the cross?

In My Experience, only about 1 in 10 Catholics know the correct answer to this question.

Some of the Answers Given for that Question:
Which is the correct answer?

A1. Jesus Christ died on the cross.
Q1. Yes, but who is Jesus Christ?

A2. The human person of GOD died on the cross.
Q2. Was Jesus Christ a human person?

A3. The human nature of GOD died on the cross.
Q3. Is it the nature of a person that dies?

A4. The Son of GOD died on the Cross.
Q4. Yes, but who is the Son of GOD?

A5. GOD died on the cross.

Q5. You get the gold star.

You are the 1 in 10 who knows the truth.

A1 is technically correct, but there is more to the correct answer.

A2 is wrong because Jesus Christ is not a human person.
Now you may ask, "Well, didn't He have all the characteristics of a human person except for sin?" Almost right, except for one important point. Jesus Christ is a divine person, and if He were a human person, that would make Him 2 persons, each with a nature, one divine, and one human. He is a divine person with a divine and a human nature, one person with 2 natures.

A3 is wrong because persons die on crosses, not natures.

A4 is again technically correct, but we are looking for more here.

A5 is the correct answer because Jesus Christ is a divine person, and persons die on crosses, not natures. While dying in His human nature, Jesus Christ was living in His divine nature. He was both living and dead at the same time, but the person died.
Therefore, GOD died on the Cross.

"But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses." Acts 3:15

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Rev 1:17-18

See also, Acts 1:3, Rom 5:6-10,8:34,14:9,15, 1Cor 8:11,15:3,20,
Phil 2:8, Col 1:18, 1Thes 2:15, Heb 2:9, 1Pet 3:18, Rev 1:5,2:8,5:9,5:12,13:8.

Kudos to all who chose Answer #5...

©

Written 1995 by Bob Stanley

Updated November 17, 2007

IS JESUS THE CHRIST A HUMAN PERSON?

Think before you answer that question.

I asked that question of so many of my friends recently and almost all, save for only one, gave me the wrong answer.
Some even became indignant for my even asking the question. Why they became indignant, I have no clue.
Nevertheless it is an important question about the person of Jesus the Christ.

1. Is Jesus the Christ a human person?

2. Is Jesus the Christ a Divine person?

3. Is He both?

4. Is He neither?

What answer do you have for each of those four simple questions?

In order to come to the correct answers to those four questions, we must first lay some groundwork as to definitions.

Person;
The subject of action. The center of attribution in a rational nature.
Person has a body, a soul, a spirit, and five senses with which to communicate with the outside world.
1Thessalonians 5:23;
"May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept
sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Some Biblical references to the word 'person';
Job 32:21, Ezekiel 44:25, Matthew 22:16, Mark 12:14, 1Corinthians 15:44-47,
Galatians 2:6, 1Thessalonians 5:23, and Hebrews 4:12.

Nature;
That which makes a person or thing be what it is. The essential
characteristics and qualities of a person, or of a thing. What does it do?
What can be done to it? Nature decides what a being can do, but the person
does it. Nature presents the question 'what', while person presents the quesion 'who'.

Various natures mentioned in Scripture;
female-Romans 1:26, the law-Romans 2:14, uncircumcised-Romans 2:27,
tree-Romans 11:24, hair-1Corinthians 11:14, Jewish-Galatians 2:15, not divine-Galatians 4:8,
children of wrath-Ephesians 2:3, divine-2Peter 1:4.

Person possesses a nature. Nature does not possess a person. Nature describes what a person can do, but the person does it. That is a very important point as we shall soon see.
Person poses the question 'who'.
Nature poses the question 'what'.
Persons (who's) die on crosses, not natures (what's). Persons with a nature are born of mothers, not natures only.
Persons are those who can say 'I' because they reflect in some way the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from whom all personhood comes.

Here is a very good publication regarding these subjects, and many more about basic theology;
"Theology and Sanity" by Frank Sheed.

A son takes on the nature of his father.
The son of a cat is a cat.
The son of a man is a man.
The Son of GOD is GOD.
Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and of His Blessed Mother Mary.
Since Jesus was born of GOD a Divine person, He is GOD, a Divine person.
Jesus did not have a human father so He could not be a human person.
The substance of the body of Jesus was provided from the substance of Blessed Mary.

Mary gave birth to a Divine person and is rightfully called 'Theotokos', the Mother of GOD.
Council of Ephesus 431 A.D.

Here are three verses that should prove to everyone that Jesus was NOT a human person:

Philippians 2:6-8;
(6) "...though he was by nature GOD, did not consider being equal to GOD a thing to be clung to,
(7) but emptied Himself, taking the nature of a slave and being made like unto men.
And appearing in the form of man,
(8) He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross."

Elucidation of Philippians 2:6-8;
1. He was by nature GOD.
2. He took the nature of a slave (man).
3. He was made like unto men. Likened to a human person, but it does not say that He was one.
4. He appeared in the form of man. Again, in the form of a human person but it does not say that He was one.

'Haydock' is considered to be one of the best Bible commentaries ever written.
Let us see what it has to say about the above.

Haydock;
Ver. 6. Who being in the form of God, (that is truly, properly, and essentially God from eternity,
as the ancient Fathers here observed against the Arians) taking the form of a servant,
(i.e. taking upon him our human nature) became truly a man, and as man the servant of God, but remaining always God as before, thought it not robbery, no injury to his eternal Father, to be equal, to be esteemed, and to declare himself equal to God, to be one thing with him:
as on divers occasions he taught the people, as we have observed in the notes on St. John's gospel, (Witham)

The Nestorian Heresy, Jesus was two persons, one divine and one human.

Nestorianism (5th Century);
This heresy about the person of Christ was initiated by Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who denied Blessed Mary the title of Theotokos (Greek: "God-bearer" or, less literally, "Mother of God"). Nestorius claimed that she only bore Christ’s human nature in her womb, and proposed the alternative title Christotokos ("Christ-bearer" or "Mother of Christ").

The teachings of Nestorius were opposed by Cyril who argued that Nestorius was actually denying the reality  of the incarnation by making Jesus Christ into two different persons, one human, one divine, sharing one body.

The Council of Ephesus 431 A.D. was called to settle the matter.
This council (reinforced by the Council of Chalcedon in 451) clarified orthodox Catholic doctrine, pronouncing that Jesus, true God and true man, has two distinct natures that are inseparably joined in one person and partake of the one divine substance.
Nestorius was removed from office after the Council of Ephesus.

Here are a few more verses, Biblical proof that Jesus is not a human person.

2Corinthians 2:10;
"And to whom you have pardoned any thing, I also. For, what I have pardoned, if I have pardoned any thing, for your sakes have I done it in the person of Christ."

Did you notice that the verse said 'person' of Christ, singular, and not 'persons'?

1Corinthians 15:45-48;
(45) "Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
(46) But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual.
(47) The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
(48) As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven."

Elucidation to 1Corinthians 15:45-48;
1. 'The last Adam' is Jesus Christ. 'A life-giving spirit' cannot be a human person.
2. The second man, Jesus, was not a 'man of dust', as a human person would be.
3. The second man, Jesus, came from Heaven.
4. Since Jesus came from Heaven, He could not be a human person.

Go here for much more regarding the above graphic and acknowledgments.

Did you notice in the above graphic, those two verses in RED, that it was ONE

and the same person of Jesus Christ who spoke both as GOD and as Man?

So, let us review those first two very important questions one last time.

Is Jesus the Christ a human person?

NO!

Holy Scripture has clearly instructed us that He could not be a human person.

Is Jesus the Christ a Divine person?

YES!

Holy Scripture has clearly taught us that He is a Divine person.

THE TRIPLE BIRTH OF CHRIST.

He was born into eternity of a Father without a mother.

He was born into time of a Mother without a father.

He is born into us at Baptism.

Father Dermot Dwyer

(1923-2005)

Written by Bob Stanley

May 12, 2011

Galations 4:16

THE CONSECRATION (SEAL) PRATER

I LOVE JESUS SO MUCH

I SHOULD NEVER HAVE ANY CAUSE OR REASON TO BE ASHAMED TO LOVE JESUS.

Is not the time coming, and the day hastening, when covetous men shall be ashamed of loving the world, and voluptuous men ashamed of loving their pleasures, and ambitious men ashamed of loving their honors?

For is it not a horrid shame, that a rational creature should be such a sot as to love sin which is most loathsome, and not to love Jesus who is most lovely? to love deformity, and not beauty?

Oh shame, shame! It is a shame that sin should have such esteem, and Jesus such great contempt put upon him. But shame shall before long confound these now shameless wretches, when they shall cry out, "We are ashamed that we loved profits, and not Jesus- houses, lands, lusts, and not Jesus.

This is the confusion of our faces, and shame covers us-- that we should be so foolish, and so blind, that we had not sense, nor reason, to distinguish between sin, which is the greatest and most odious evil, and Jesus who is the greatest and most lovely good." But the time will never come, the day will never be, that a gracious soul shall be ashamed of his sincere love to Jesus Christ.

CHILDLIKE TRUST AND OPENNESS

Homily from Father Joseph Pellegrino
http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
14 Ordinary Time

14th Sunday: Rejoice in the Power that Brings Fullness of Life.

“Rejoice heartily O daughter Jerusalem.” The reading speaks about the end of all wars. There will be no more chariots or fighting horses. That’s equivalent to tanks and cruise missiles. Sort of. The point is that war will come to an end.

“Excuse me, Father. Have you forgotten about the world wars of the last century, the present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Africa, the fighting in the Libya and various Arab nations, and all the blood that has been spilt throughout the Christian epoch? How can you say that there is going to be an end of war?”

The war that has come to an end is the war within us, each of us. Look at that second reading from Romans 8. St. Paul speaks about the spirit and the flesh. By spirit he means the power and presence of Christ, by flesh he means the materialistic world that is radically opposed to Christ. The concept that we can live for ourselves, selfishness, is the way of the world. The concept that it is other people’s problem if we use them is the way of the world. The times that we have engaged in actions where Christ cannot be found or the times that we have avoided actions where He is present, we are giving into the flesh.

To get specific: alcohol, drugs, selfish sex, living for the stuff that we accumulate and hoard, and so much more are the temptations that do battle against us. We are all stronger than these temptations because we have the Power of the Lord. The war is really His War, and He will end it and bring us peace. Consider this: when we get into things that destroy us, we are in chaos, or sin. We feel out of sorts, but it is worse than that. Infinitely worse. We experience the destruction of our very being. We are in turmoil. But when we give in to Jesus, and throw out what is destroying us, or stay away from those people or places that are bringing us down, or go to those places or those people who need our love, then we are in peace.

This is the Power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirt. The very power that raised Jesus from the dead, is dwelling within each of us. There is no reason for any of us to be in chaos, in turmoil. The Spirit is within us and among us. The war is won. At least, it is won if we let it be won. Look, we can’t be buying into the garbage of the world and live in the flesh. No, we have conquered death, actually, He has conquered death for us. Yes, if we live according to the flesh we will die, but if we live according to the Spirit we will live. What force can be stronger than the very power that raised Jesus from the dead? We have this power. We have this Spirt. It is the Holy Spirit. We have found power and peace in Jesus Christ. The war each of us engage in is over...if we let it be over.

All this is really a mystery to the people of the world, particularly to many of the so-called intelligentsia of the world. It is so sad. So many of the intellectual elite are so centered in their own egoism that they cannot see the plain truth when it stands right in front of them, or when the Truth hangs on a cross. They know it all. They are so sophisticated. They are too arrogant to accept the Lord. Jesus was speaking about them when He said, “Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for what you have hidden from the learned and clever you have revealed to little ones.” (Matthew 11:25)

Arrogance kills, particularly, intellectual arrogance. We have to be careful that we don’t fall into its trap. College professors and classmates, intellectually gifted students and associates at work, all attempt to make us feel like fools for believing in Christ. We can’t let them destroy us. Instead, we need to pray for them to see the obvious: peace comes through commitment to Jesus Christ.

We need to go to Jesus. He is not arrogant. He is meek and humble of heart. So we go to Him. We submit to Him. We trust in Him. And the war within each of us is over. We are in peace.

Rejoice heartily, O daughter Jerusalem, rejoice heartily all you people of the Lord, rejoice heartily, for our Savior has come.

LOOKING GOOD ON THE OUTSIDE

Kathy Bernard - Publisher

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7

Today we live in a world where appearance seems to reign supreme and we have become captivated and fanatical with how we look to others. Expensive name brand clothing, shoes and having the latest hair style is of utmost concern and considered to be that final stamp of success.

So what is wrong with this picture?

If I make external things into idols, in essence putting value on "me" rather than putting value on the inside by living the life God wants me to live, material things may become an impediment to my spirituality with Jesus Christ. My time becomes entangled with earthly desires and matters, shutting out the God Who gave me life. We overlook the fact that beauty, talent, success, money, houses, jewelry and everything we own comes from a loving God.

God does not call me to go beyond the ordinary necessity of need. He wants me to enjoy things in this life, but in moderation. The ordinary should mean being clean, neat and attractive without forgetting who I am as a Christian Catholic. This does not mean I must not look stylish, it means that I must not spend all my time on external things to the detriment of putting our Lord second in our lives. To be vain about appearance is likened to worship of self.

Outward appearance can be very deceptive though many of us want to believe what our eyes see and tell us. Seeming perfection in others command our attention because it appeals to our senses. We admire and listen to those who seem to have it all together and we try to emulate them, even though we do not really know who they are or how they live in their private lives. Like a beautiful and shiny apple teasing the palate and presented in pleasing perfection on the outside, the inside could be rotten.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 23:27-28, "What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness."

Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, theologian, teacher, and award-winning author, has this to say about outward appearance, " We are a people obsessed with appearance, with image, with looking good, with being good-looking. For us today, by and large, it is more important to look good than to be good, to look healthy than to be healthy, to say the right things than to do the right things, to be connected to the right persons than to be the right persons, and to be perceived as having character than to actually have character."

"This is evident in our obsession with physical appearance, in the hagiography we accord to our celebrities, in the importance we give to style and fashion, and in our efforts to be perceived as connected to the right things. Image really is everything! We see this, for example, in politics: In public life today, image trumps substance. Invariably we care less about someone’s policies than about his or her appearance and we elect people to public offices more on the basis of persona than on intellect and character. In politics today it is more important to have the right image, to be able to surround yourself with the right energy, than it is to have substance and character."

Sadly we are paying a high price for this. Our concern to look good is crucifying us. We are growing ever more dissatisfied with our own bodies, even when they are healthy and serving us well. A healthy self-image today is more contingent upon looking good than on actually being healthy. The prevalence of anorexia, among other things, is a symptom of this and, too often, our dieting and exercise have less to do with health than with appearance."

"When image is everything, gradually, without us noticing, appearance begins to look like character, celebrity begins to look like nobility of soul, and looking good becomes more important than being good.".... "More and more, in our lives, appearance is what we are most concerned about. For many of us, how we look is the first thing, the whole thing, and the only thing. It’s not so important that we be good, only that we look good." - Father Ron is President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He can be contacted through his website www.ronrolheiser.com.

In today's society, a strong and visual appearance is highly rated because it is a nonverbal communication that can either be a positive force or turn others away even before the person speaks. What we are doing is making sure others will see and admire us. Even an extra pound becomes an albatross to us. However, what others see is not who we really are, for it is what is on the inside that really counts and it radiates its own beauty to the outside. Consider Jesus Christ Who came to earth and gave the gift of eternal life to mankind while dressed in common clothes without artifice.

God wants us to clarify our priorities. Let us ask the Lord to help us avoid the superficial and give us the desire to develop our inner spiritual beauty which will shine from the soul. Through this will come a resplendence more powerful than external trappings because it will emanate from within us.... a powerful glow that can only come from a clean spirit and a pure heart.

"Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. 1 Peter 3:3-4

CREATION

Catholics believe that creation is good, and that God uses creation for His purposes, but that it has been marred by Original Sin, the result of the sin of the first humans. Catholic theologians (and Orthodox ones) have never agreed on one particular interpretation of the creation stories in the book of Genesis.

A few early Christians read them literally, others allegorically, and others in light of the science of the day. Some read them all three ways at the same time. Catholics may interpret Genesis in a non-literal manner so long as the interpretation is faithful to Church Teaching.

Thus, Catholics are free to understand Genesis literally, but also to read Genesis in light of modern scientific observations, so long as certain conditions are met. For example, Catholics believe that God created the world from nothing (ex nihilo), and that He created the world through His Word, who became incarnate in Jesus Christ.

Interpreting Genesis in light of scientific observations may shock some Christians whose churches were founded during the modernist controversies of the 19th and 20th centuries. Surprisingly, insisting on an entirely literal understanding of the creation stories is actually a quite modern concept.

MORE