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Does Ralph Martin Brings a False Spirit into the Catholic Church?

Stop for a moment of silence, ask God what He want you to do next. Make this a practice. By doing this you are doing more good than reading anything here or anywhere else on the Internet.

Are Ralph Martin and Charismatics really bringing a false spirit? I been listening to him and he appears faithful to the teachings of the Catholic. In fact, I've learn much about the spiritual teachings of the church doctors and saints from him. Three popes have acknowledged the movement.

I really would like it at the very least if someone answered my problem and Bishop Sheen and Father Hardon's problem with Pentecostals or Charismatics.

This is my problem. Anyone with some knowledge of the church fathers of the first centuries until the 1900's knows only heretical sects were Pentecostals or Charismatics. A good primer is Monsignor Ronald Knox's "Enthusiasm." A short list of heretical sects are Mormons, Brethren of the Free Spirit, Ranters, Shakers and First Century Montanism.

How is glossolia called "speaking in tongues" of the heretical sects and even pagans up to the First Century the bibles speaking in tongues?

With Fr. Hardon I say "I personally believe, latter-day Pentecostalism is in the same essential stream with Gnosticism, Montanism, and Illuminism, we do not pass moral judgment on people but prudential judgment on an ideology."

I think glossolia can be a natural experience that is not harmful. If someone can show me that Fr. Hardon and I are wrong please do. I do like and agree that the healing teachings of the movement are helpful and good if if done with prudential judgment.

According to early church historian Eusebius:

"Their opposition and their recent heresy which has separated them from the
Church arose on the following account…a recent convert, Montanus by name,
through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the adversary
opportunity against him. And he became beside himself…in a sort of frenzy
and ecstasy, he raved and began to babble and utter strange things,
prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church handed down by
tradition from the beginning.

One of the first, and certainly the most notorious of the early "enthusiast"
challenges to Church authority, originated in Phrygia in the last years of
the second century, and centered around the self styled prophet Montanus, who
claimed to be the voice of the newly descended Paraclete, along with his two
"prophetesses" Prisca (or Priscilla) and Maxilla. Montanism's most famous
convert was the great (previously) Catholic apologist Tertullian, who was
apparently swept away by the great eloquence of the prophecies and the
putative holiness of the sect. Tertullian went so far as to write a defense
of the "prophet's" ecstasies, (which has since been lost) entitled "De
Ecstasi", and also described the manner in which the sect differentiated its
own adherents (the "Pneumatoi", "the spiritual" - spirit filled?) from the
Catholics, who were considered as mere "psychici", fleshly minded or
benighted. A rather illuminating thumbnail sketch of Montanus and the
"Cata-Phrygians" (out of Phrygia) as the sect was also known can be gleaned
from the following passage taken from the "Ecclesiastical History" of
Eusebius. (Bk. V, ch. 14. Eusebius is quoting an anonymous writer of the
second century.)"

Archbishop Fulton Sheen had this to say: “It is their spirit therefore that is gradually unfolding itself in the Church. That is how we come to a theological knowledge of the three persons, and when we detach the spirit from the Church we are very apt to go awry. There just isn’t any such thing as a charismatic Church. There isn’t any such thing, for example, as a baptism of the spirit distinct from baptism."

Please answer how "babbl[ing] and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning" by Mormon, Montanist, etc... are not heretical using Catholic Church teaching and church doctors teaching.

Please don't use possible bible text to answer about tongues, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc.... It is possible these things are good or indifferent. Please show me how using Catholic Church teaching and church doctors teaching.



Thanks,

Fred

Bishop Sheen: "There just isn’t any such thing as a Charismatic Church"

-"Archbishop Fulton Sheen had this to say: “It is their spirit therefore that is gradually unfolding itself in the Church. That is how we come to a theological knowledge of the three persons, and when we detach the spirit from the Church we are very apt to go awry. There just isn’t any such thing as a charismatic Church. There isn’t any such thing, for example, as a baptism of the spirit distinct from baptism. That is why Saint Paul in his epistle to the Corinthians Church, which was the Church that caused him so much trouble, he when he used the word Baptism he said: ‘Sure you are Baptized! You are IN Christ!’."

-"Three popes have acknowledged the movement: Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI. Pope John Paul stated that the movement was integral to the renewal of the entire Catholic Church. Both Popes Paul and Benedict, while acknowledging the good aspects of the movement, at the same time urge caution to its members to maintain their link to the Catholic Church."


Evaluation of the Charismatic Movement By Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/HARDONCharismatics.htm

Evaluation of the Charismatic Movement

Pentecostalism; Evaluation a Phenomenon

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

Before entering on the formal presentation, I think it will be useful to first clarity some possible sources of misunderstanding. The immediate focus of this study is Pentecostalism.�� It is not directly concerned with the persons who call themselves Pentecostals or, as some prefer, Charismatic.

Moreover, the purpose here is to make an evaluation.� It is not to impart information about Pentecostalism, since such information is fairly presumed, with all the literature by and about the movement and, from many people, either personal experience or direct observation of the movement in action.

Finally, though I seldom do this when speaking, in this case it may be useful to give a run-down of �references� about the speaker�s own qualifications in talking on the subject.

My professional work is teaching Comparative Religion.� A phenomenon like Pentecostalism, I know has for years been one of the characteristic features in other religious cultures, and not only in Protestantism or Roman Catholicism; in fact, not only in Christianity.

Since the first stirring of Pentecostalism in Catholic circles, I have been asked to give some appraisal of it to leaders in the Church who sought counsel on the question, e.g., Bishop Zaleski as chairman of the American Bishops Doctrinal Commission and recently the Jesuit Provincial of the Southern Province, in a three-day private conference in New Orleans.

For several years I have been counselling persons dedicated to Pentecostalism, mainly priests, religious, and seminarians.� And on Palm Sunday of this year I preached at the First Solemn Mass of a priest who is deeply involved in the movement.

My plan for today�s talk is to cover three areas of the subject, at uneven length, namely:

����� 1.� The Historical Background of the Pentecostal Movement, up to the present.

����� 2.� What are the principal elements of Pentecostalism, as viewed by Roman Catholics dedicated to the movement?

����� 3.� An Evaluation in the form of a Critical Analysis of Pentecostalism as a phenomenon which has developed an Ideology.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The essentials of the Pentecostalism we know today began with the Reformation in the sixteenth century as a complement to Biblicism.� The two together have formed an inseparable duality in historic Protestantism.

Where the Bible was canonized in the phrase, Sola Scriptura, as the sole repository of divine revelation; the indwelling Holy Spirit in the heart of every believer was invoked as the only criterion for interpreting the Scriptures or even for recognizing their canonicity.� Thus Sola Scriptura became the basic principle of direction in the life of some Christians, in place of the professedly divine guidance by the Spirit residing in the papacy and the Catholic hierarchy.

Pentecostalism turned sectarian in the nineteenth century whom groups like the Irvingites, Shakers, and Mormons broke away from their parent bodies over what they said was indifference in the established Protestant churches to external manifestations of the presence in converted believers of the Holy Spirit.

What gave these sectarian groups theological rootage was the parallel rise of the Holiness movement among Methodists.� Experience of conversion and an awareness of the Spirit had always been prominent in Wesleyan thought.� With the advent of biblical criticism and the solvent of rationalism, many followers of Wesley fell back almost exclusively on personal experience as a sign of God�s saving presence.

When some of these Holiness groups affiliated with the Irvingiton and their counterparts, modern Pentecostalism was born.

Some would date the beginning with 1900, but more accurately, from 1900 on the Pentecostal movement began its denominational period.� One after another, new congregations were formed or old ones changed to become Pentecostal in principle and policy.� By 1971 some 200 distinct denominations in America qualified as Pentecostals.� While the total is uncertain, ten million in the US is not too high a figure.� Outside North America, the largest contingent is in South America, where Pentecostal missionaries from the States have successfully evangelized in every country below the Rio Grande. Brazil alone has four million, of which 1.8 million are mainly converts who were originally baptized Catholics.

The most recent development in Pentecostalism was the ecumenical collaboration with Catholic groups in the United States, at first cautious, then bolder and now becoming a pattern that give rise to what some call �Catholic Pentecostalism,� but others prefer to say is �The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church.�

����� From this point on, my concern will be uniquely with this latest development, seen through the eyes of its dedicated followers and described by men and women who believe they are, and wish to remain, loyal Catholics but honestly believe that a new dimension should be added to the concept of Catholicism before it was touched by the present outpouring of the Pentecostal grace of the Spirit.

Main Elements of Pentecostalism

Although American Catholic involvement in the Pentecostal movement is hardly five years old (this speech dates back to 1970-1971), a growing body of literature is accumulating.� Most of it is still descriptive or historical, but more than a score of monographs and half a dozen books are frankly theological.� Their authors seriously try to come to grips with what they call the Charismatic Renewal, and their studies are couched in formal, even technical language.

There is no doubt that those who are professed Catholics, and at the same time, committed to Pentecostalism, want to span both shores.� As they view the situation, it should be seen from two perspectives: 1) from the standpoint of Pentecostalism, defining what are its essential features; and 2) from the side of Catholicism, distinguishing what is different about Pentecostalism today, compared with other historical types of the same movement in former times.

Essentials Of Pentecostalism

Writers of a Catholic persuasion isolate certain elements of Pentecostalism and identify them as trans-confessional.� They are simply characteristic of this aspect of Christianity whenever it occurs, whether among Catholics or Protestants or, in fact, whether before the Reformation or since.

1) The primary postulate also gives Pentecostalism its name.� Just as on the first Pentecost in Jerusalem there was an extraordinary decent of the Holy Spirit and a marvellous effusion of spiritual gifts, so at different ages in the Church�s history a similar phenomenon occurs. �

It is generally occasioned by a grave crisis or need in the Church.� God raises certain charismatic persons to visit them with special graces and make them the heralds of His mission to the world.� Such were Benedict and Bruno, Francis and Dominic, Ignatius and Theresa of Avila.

The present age is such a period, certainly of grave crisis in Christianity, during which the Holy �Spirit has decided to enter history in a miraculous way, to raise up once again the leaders of renewal for the Church and, through the Church, for all mankind.

2) No less than on Pentecost Sunday, so now the descent of the Spirit becomes probably� perceptible. This perceptibility shows itself especially in three ways.

�������������� A) In a personally felt experience of the Spirit�s presence in the one who receives Him.� The qualities of this coming are variously described; they cover one or more of the following internal experiences: deep-felt peace of soul, joyousness of heart, shedding of worry and anxiety, strong conviction of belief, devotion to prayer, tranquillity of emotions, sense of spiritual well being, an ardent piety, and, in general, a feeling of intimacy with the divine which, it is said, had never or only for sporadic moments been experienced before.

�������������� B) Along with the internal phenomena, which themselves partake of the preternatural, are external manifestations that can be witnessed by others.� Such are speaking in strange tongues, in gift of prophecy, the power of healing, and, it would seem, all the gamut of charismata enumerated in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of St. Paul.

�������������� C) Capping the two sets of phenomena, of internal experience and external manifestation, is the inspiration given by the Spirit to communicate these gifts to others.� Normally a Spirit filled person is the channel of this communication; he becomes a messenger of the Spirit to others and his zeal to act in this missionary role is part of the change that the divine visitation effects in him.

3) The basic condition required to receive the charismatic outpouring is openness of faith.� The only fundamental obstacle is diffidence or distrust of the Spirit to produce today what He had done in ages past.

If the foregoing are typical of Pentecostalism in every critical period of Christianity and the common heritage in Protestant as well as Catholic experience, certain features are typical of Pentecostalism today.

����� 1) Present day Charismatic experience is far wider than ever before.� Where in former days only certain few people received the Pentecostal outpouring, it is now conferred on thousands, and the conferral has only started.� It is nothing less than a deluge of preternatural visitation.

����� 2) Consistent with the large numbers is the fact that Pentecostalism, otherwise than ever before, affects the lettered and unlettered, those obviously pursuing holiness and the most ordinary people.� Indeed, one of the truly remarkable facts in that even quite unholy persons may now suddenly receive the Spirit, provided they open their hearts to Him in docile confidence and faith.

����� 3) Also, unlike in previous times, this is a movement.� It is not just a sporadic experience but a veritable dawn of a new era of the Spirit; such as Christianity had never known in age past.� It is destined, so it seems to sweep whole countries and cultures, and promises to effect changes in co-called institutional Christianity not less dramatic than occurred in Jerusalem when Peter preached his first sermon in response to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

����� 4) As might be expected, the Spirit is now to affect not only individuals or scattered groups here and there.� His charismatic effusion will remake Christian society.� His gifts are to recreate and, where needed, create new communities of believers, bound together by the powerful ties of a common religious experience and sustained by such solidarity as only a mutually shared contact with the divine can produce.

����� 5) While there had been Pentecostal experiences in every stage of Christian history, generally they were characterized by public phenomena or at least their external manifestations were highlighted.� Modern Pentecostalism includes these phenomena, indeed, but, the stress is on the internal gifts received by the people.� Their deep inside conviction of mind and joy of heart are paramount.� These, are, of course, no less phenomenal than the physical gifts of tongues or prophecy or healing of disease.. They, too, partake of the miraculous.� But they are the interior gifts from the Spirit in the spirit, and as such, are the main focus of Pentecostalism in today�s world of doubt and desperation.

Critical Analysis

So far I have given what might be called an overview of Pentecostalism, with emphasis on that form which professed Catholics have not only adopted but which their leaders, priests, religious and the laity, are defining and defending in a spate of books and periodicals.

I have witnessed the phenomena they described, read the literature they have written, spent hours in conference and consultation with those deeply committed to the movement, conferred at length with specialists in the psychological sciences who dealt professionally with �Catholic Pentecostals,� and I have carefully watched the consequences of the movement for several years.� My growing conclusion is that Pentecostalism in the Catholic Church is symptomatic of some grave needs among the faithful that should be met soon and by all effective means at our disposal.� But I also think that Pentecostalism as an ideology is not the answer to these needs.� In fact, it may be a serious obstacle, even a threat, to the authentic renewal in the Spirit inaugurated by the Second Vatican Council.

My reasons for this two fold judgment naturally suggest two sets of appraisal: one for considering Pentecostalism symptomatic and the other for believing it does not meet the felt needs of the Church today.

Pentecostalism As Symptomatic

It is not surprising that a phenomenon like Pentecostalism should have risen to the surface in Catholic circles just at this time.� The Church�s history has seen similar, if less widely publicized, phenomena before.

����� 1) The widespread confusion in theology has simmered down to the faithful and created in the minds of many uncertainty about even such fundamentals as God�s existence, the divinity of Christ, and the Real Presence.

Confusion seeks certitude, and certitude is sough in contact with God.� When this contact is fostered and sustained by group prayers and joint witness to the ancient faith it answers to a deep felt human need.� Pentecostalism in its group prayer situations tries to respond to this often desperate need.

����� 2) Among the critical causes of confusion, the Church�s authority is challenged and in some quarters openly denied.� This creates the corresponding need for some base of religious security which Pentecostalism offers to give in the interior peace born of union with the Spirit.

����� 3) Due to many factors, many not defensible, practices of piety and devotion from regular Novenas, to statutes, rosaries and religious articles have been dropped or phased out of use in the lives of thousands of the faithful.� Pentecostalism serves to fill the devotional vacuum in a way that startles those who have, mistakenly, come to identify Christianity with theological cooperation or the bare minimum of external piety.

����� 4) Ours is in growing measure a prayerless culture.� This has made inroads in Catholicism. It is a commentary on our age that millions have substituted work for prayer; and how the balance needs to be redressed--with Pentecostalism offering one means of restoring the spirit of prayer.

����� 5) In the same way, religion for too many had become listless routine, and prayer a lip service or almost vacuous attendance at the liturgy.� Religion as experience, knowing God and not only about Him; feeling His presence in one�s innermost being--was thought either exotic, or psychotic, or presumptuous.� Pentecostalism promises to give what Christians in our dehumanized Western Society so strongly crave--intimacy with the Divine.

All of this, and more, is part of the background which helps explain why such a movement as the Charismatic came into being.� Its existence is both symptomatic and imperative that something be done--existence is both symptomatic and imperative that something be done--and done well--to satisfy the desire of millions of Christians for peace of mind, security of faith, devotion in prayer, and a felt realization of union with God.

Pentecostalism, as a mistaken Ideology

����� The question that still remains, however, is whether the Pentecostal movement is a valid answer to these recognized needs.� Notice I do not say that individuals who have entered the movement cannot find many of their spiritual needs who have entered the movement cannot find many of their spiritual needs satisfied.� Nor am I saying that group prayer is not helpful for many people; nor, least of all, that the Holy Spirit has been inactive during these trying times to confer precisely an abundance of His sevenfold gifts on those who humbly and in faith invoke His sanctifying name.�

What I must affirm is that Pentecostalism is not a mere movement, it is, as the ending �ism� indicates, an ideology.� And as such it is creating more problems objectively than it solves subjectively.� In other words, even when it gives symptomatic relief to some people, it produces a rash of new, and graver, issues touching on the Catholic faith and its authentic expression by the faithful.

����� 1) The fundamental problem it creates is the absolute conviction of devoted Pentecostals that they have actually received a charismatic visitation of the Holy Spirit.

I am not here referring to such external phenomena as the gift of tongues, but of the deeply inward certitude that a person has been the object of a preternatural infusion, with stress on the infusion of preternatural insights, i.e., in the cognitive order.

This is an astounding assertion, and the only thing un-remarkable about it is that so many Pentecostals are now firmly convinced they have been so enlighten.

Their books and monographs, lectures and testimonials simply assume to be incontestable and beyond refutation that they have been specially illumined by a charism which, they say, is available to others who are equally disposed to receive it.

But repeated affirmation is not enough, and even the strongest subjective conviction is not proof, where a person claims to have been the recipient of such extraordinary gifts; notably of spiritual knowledge as God conferred in apostolic times, or gave to His great mystics in different times.

The dilemma this raises can be easily stated:

Either the Pentecostal experience really confers preternatural insight (at least among its leaders) .� Or, the experience is quite natural, while certainly allowing for the normal operations of divine grace.� Everything which the Pentecostal leadership says suggest that they consider the experience, and I quote their terms; �preternatural, special, mystical, charismatic, extraordinary.�

����� 2.� It is irrelevant to discourse about the charismata in the New Testament, or theologize about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.� No believing Christian denies either the charism or the gifts.� The question at stake is not of faith, about of fact.

Are the so-called charismata truly charismatic?� If they are, then we stand in the presence of a cosmic miracle, more stupendous in proportion--by reason of sheer numbers--than anything the Church has seen, I would say, even in apostolic times.

But if the experiences are not authentically charismatic, then, again, we stand in the presence of a growing multitude of persons who believe themselves charismatically led by the Holy Spirit.� They will make drastic decisions, institute revolutionary changes, or act in a host of other ways--firmly convinced they are responding to a special divine impulse whereas in reality they are acting in response to quite ordinary, and certainly less infallible, motions of the human spirit.

����� 3.� At this point we could begin a completely separate analysis, namely, of the accumulating evidence that the impulses which the Pentecostal leaders consider charismatic are suspiciously very human.� Their humanity, to use a mild word, is becoming increasingly clear from the attitudes being assumed towards established principles and practices in Catholicism.�

Logically, it may be inferred, the Holy Spirit would not contradict Himself.� We expect Him to support what Catholic Christianity believes is the fruit of His abiding presence in the Church of which He is the animating principle of ecclesiastical life.

What do we find?� In the published statements, and therefore not the casual remarks of those who are guiding the destiny of the Pentecostal movement among Catholics, are too many disconcerting positions to be lightly dismissed by anyone who wants to make an objective appraisal of what is happening.

I limit myself to only a few crucial issues, each of which I am sure, will soon have a cluster of consequences in the practical order:

����� a) The Papacy.� If there is one doctrine of Catholic Christianity that is challenged today it is the Roman Primacy.� Yet in hundreds of pages of professional writing about the charismatic gifts, we find a studied silence--no doubt to avoid offense to other Pentecostals--about the papacy; and a corresponding silence about a more loyal attachment to the Holy See.� It is painful to record but should be said that the pioneer of American Pentecostalism among Catholics and its publicly take issue with Pope Paul V1 On Humane Vitae

����� b) The Priesthood and Episcopate.� Running as a thread through apologists for Catholic Pentecostalism is an almost instinctive contraposition of, and I quote, �charismatic� and �hierarchical, � or �spiritual� and �institutional�.� While some commentators state the dual aspects in the Church and even stress the importance of harmony between the two, others have begun to opt for a theological position quite at variance with historic Catholicism.� They suggest that in the New Testament there was essentially only one sacrament for conferring the gifts of the Spirit.� Baptism gave a Christian all the essentials of what later on the �institutional church� developed into separate functions, namely the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate.

����� c) Catholic Apostolate.� The heaviest artillery of Pentecostals in the Catholic camp is levelled at the �ineffectual, irrelevant and dispirited� form of Christianity prevalent in the Church.� Accordingly, under the impulse of the Spirit, radical changes are demanded in the Church�s apostolate.� Old forms of trying to reach the people, especially the young, should be abandoned.� This applies particularly to Catholic education.� �In spite of the immense expenditure of money and human effort being put into parochial schools, �Pentecostals are saying, �how often do we not hear complaint that a pitifully small proportion of the students emerge as deeply convinced and committed Christians?� We can therefore well use some new life in the Church.� �Concretely this means to enter other kinds of work for the faithful, and not retain Catholic parochial schools--as more than one teaching order, influenced by Pentecostalism, has already decided to carry into effect.�

����� d) The New Spirituality.� Given the posture of Pentecostalism as a phenomenal downpour of charismatic grace, it is only natural that the human contribution to the divine effusion is minimized.� Actually defendants of the movement are careful to explain that a new kind of spirituality was born with Pentecostalism.

As heretofore taught, persons aspiring to sanctity were told that recollection had to be worked at and cultivated.� It meant painstaking effort to keep oneself in the presence of God and consciously fostering, perhaps through years of practice, prayerful awareness of God.� The charismatic movement is actually a discovery that all of this propaedeutics is unnecessary. In view of its importance, it is worth quoting the new spiritual doctrine in full:

There is a subtle but very significant difference between what the presence of God means in the spiritual doctrine that has long been usual in novitiates, seminaries, and the like, and what it means for those who have shared the Pentecostal experience.

The difference can be put bluntly in the following terms: The former put the accent on the practice, whereas the latter put it on the presence.� That is to say, the former regard the constant awareness of God�s presence as a goal to be striven for, but difficult to attain; hence they exert themselves in recalling over and over that God is here, and in frequently renewing their intention to turn their thoughts to Him.�

The latter, on the contrary, seem to start with the experiential awareness of God�s presence as the root which enlivens and gives its characteristic notes to all their prayer, love and spirituality.

It is not too much to call this �instant mysticism�.� And if some charismatic do not succeed as well (or as soon) as others in this sudden experience of God which dispenses with the labourious process of cultivating recollection, it must be put down to a lack of sufficient docility to the Spirit or, more simply, to the fact that the Holy Spirit remains master of His gifts and breathes when (and where He wills).

But the essential dictum stands: those who charismatically experience God, and they are now numbered in thousands, came by the phenomenon without having to go through the hard school of mental and ascetical discipline still taught by an outmoded spirituality.

����� e) Aggressive Defensiveness.� Having postulated what they call the �Pentecostal Spirituality,� its proponents defend it not only against present-day critics of such �cheap grace,� but they anticipate unspoken objections from the masters of mystical theology.� Among their silent critics, whom they criticize, is St. John of the Cross.

As elsewhere, so here is offered a contraposition, the classical doctrine on the charism (or extraordinary gifts of the Spirit) and the new doctrine of Pentecostalism.� Again direct quotation will bring out the full confrontation:

On the practical level, the classical doctrine on the charism has been formed chiefly by St. John of the Cross.

The stand that he takes is predominantly negative: i.e., a warning against the harm that comes from rejoicing excessively in the possession of such gifts.� The one who does so, he says, leaves himself open to deception, either by the devil or by his own imagination: in relying on these charism, he� loses some of the merit of faith; and finally, he is tempted to vainglory.

Similarly when St. John discusses supernatural communications that come by way of visions or words, particularly those that are perceived by the imagination or the bodily senses, he is mainly concerned to warn against the dangers of deception and excessive attachment.� He condemns the practice of seeking to obtain information from God through persons favoured with such communications. Even when God answers the queries that are thus addressed to Him, He does so out of condescension for our weakness, and not because he is pleased to be thus questioned.

If there is anywhere that Pentecostal spirituality seem to conflict with the classical it is here. Then follow pages of a strong defence of the new positive approach to charismatic experience, admitting that where conflict exists between this and the teaching of such mystics as John of the Cross, the main reason is obvious.� Men like John and women like Theresa of Avila lived in a former age, when charism were rare and then given only to individuals.� In our age they are literally an inundation and their recipients are countless multitudes.

����� f) Religious Communities.� Not surprisingly, the Pentecostal movement has made some of its deepest effects of religious communities, of men, but especially of women.

All problems facing the Church at large affected the lives of those who, by prior commitment, dedicated themselves to the pursuit of holiness.

When the charismatic experience offered them release from anxiety and the hope of a strong sense of God�s presence----in spite of the turmoil all around----religious took to the movement on a scale that no one actually knows.� But all estimates indicated that the number is large.

We are still on our final analysis and our approach has been to point up the ideology of Pentecostal leadership, to see whether (and if) it is at variance with historic Catholicism.

A recently, privately-bound study of a religious who took to Pentecostalism reveals many things about convents and cloisters that is common knowledge among the initiated but still unknown among the faithful at large.

Thematic to this study is the firm belief that the betenoire of religious life is structure and institutionalism; that openness to the Spirit along Pentecostal lines gives best promise for religious in the future.� A few sample statements indicated the general tenor:

����� We must remember that in order to choose religious life, you must be a misfit.

����� The danger is that a sacred institution tends to isolate man so he can stand back and deal with God.� The institution tends to come between man and God.

����� Religious life is a human institution which God merely tolerates.� God�s pleasure is the one thing necessary, and God�s good pleasure is man�s total openness.� It is in this openness that we find our true identity, but this takes courage.

����� Total openness takes faith.� Awareness of our true identity implies a life of faith.� But faith implies doubt.� You can�t have faith without doubt.� Doubt and faith are two sides of the same thing.� We don�t pray right because we evade doubt.� And we evade it by regularity and by activism.� It is in these two ways...by which we justify the self-perpetuation of our institutions.

While other factors have also been operative, it was sentiments like these that contributed to the growing tide in some communities with impatience at the slowness of the institutional Church to up-date religious life, make it truly open to the Spirit, and experience the rich depth of internal peace and joy that seemed to be lacking in �structured community routine.�

It is not a coincidence that some spokesmen for the charismatic approach to a life of the evangelical counsels have been most critical of such symbols of institutionalism as the Sacred Congregation for Religious.� It is not surprising that some who feel that Rome is archaic or out of touch with the times should also be most enthusiastic about Pentecostalism.�

Epilogue:

There are those who say we should just allow the Pentecostal movement to go and then see what happens.� But that is not in the best tradition of Christian prudence.� If, as I personally believe, latter-day Pentecostalism is in the same essential stream with Gnosticism, Montanism, and Illuminism, we do not pass moral judgment on people but prudential judgment on an ideology if we say all that I have said in this lecture.

There are gave needs in the Church today--of which the gravest is the urgent recovery of prayer across the spectrum of Catholic living--among bishops, priests, religious and the laity.� But if prayer and the experience of God�s presence are so ungently needed, we must use the means that centuries of Christian wisdom have shown are securely effective to satisfy this need. Pentecostalism is not one of these means.

Old Post By Fred Martinez

Are Ralph Martin and Charismatics really bringing a false spirit? I been listening to him and he appears faithful to the teachings of the Catholic. In fact, I've learn much about the spiritual teachings of the church doctors and saints from him.

Rick Salbato, whom many dislike, but few respond to with reason brings a case against Martin. I really would like it at the very least if someone answered my problem (and to a certain extend Bishop Sheen and Father Hardon's problem) with Pentecostals or Charismatics.

This is my problem. Anyone with some knowledge of the church fathers of the first centuries until the 1900's knows only heretical sects were Pentecostals or Charismatics. A good primer is Monsignor Ronald Knox's "Enthusiasm." A short list of heretical sects are Mormons, Brethren of the Free Spirit, Ranters, Shakers and First Century Montanism.

According to early church historian Eusebius:

"Their opposition and their recent heresy which has separated them from the
Church arose on the following account…a recent convert, Montanus by name,
through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the adversary
opportunity against him. And he became beside himself…in a sort of frenzy
and ecstasy, he raved and began to babble and utter strange things,
prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church handed down by
tradition from the beginning.

One of the first, and certainly the most notorious of the early "enthusiast"
challenges to Church authority, originated in Phrygia in the last years of
the second century, and centered around the self styled prophet Montanus, who
claimed to be the voice of the newly descended Paraclete, along with his two
"prophetesses" Prisca (or Priscilla) and Maxilla. Montanism's most famous
convert was the great (previously) Catholic apologist Tertullian, who was
apparently swept away by the great eloquence of the prophecies and the
putative holiness of the sect. Tertullian went so far as to write a defense
of the "prophet's" ecstasies, (which has since been lost) entitled "De
Ecstasi", and also described the manner in which the sect differentiated its
own adherents (the "Pneumatoi", "the spiritual" - spirit filled?) from the
Catholics, who were considered as mere "psychici", fleshly minded or
benighted. A rather illuminating thumbnail sketch of Montanus and the
"Cata-Phrygians" (out of Phrygia) as the sect was also known can be gleaned
from the following passage taken from the "Ecclesiastical History" of
Eusebius. (Bk. V, ch. 14. Eusebius is quoting an anonymous writer of the
second century.)"

Please answer how "babbl[ing] and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning" by Mormon, Montanist, etc... are not heretical using Catholic Church teaching and church doctors teaching.

Please don't use possible bible text to answer about tongues, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, etc.... It is possible these things are good or indifferent. Please show me how using Catholic Church teaching and church doctors teaching.



Thanks,

Fred

Ralph Martin
Brings a False Spirit into the Catholic Church


By Rick Salbato

True fidelity to the Church requires a firm faith in the Holy Bible and perfect obedience to the Magisterium, in particular the teaching that no one who willfully avoids the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, i.e. the One, True, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Jesus' Most Precious Blood, can be saved.

True fidelity implies that any Catholic professing GOD's All Holy Spirit exists outside Christ's Church is a liar... to be avoided. As proven in Jesus' Crucifixion and Death on Calvary and manifest in His Most Glorious Resurrection, His Holy Spirit of Redemption proceeds through His Foundation, His Blood, His Church. Christ alone died for our sins and opened the gates of Hell. To preach another gospel is heresy. While our Omnipresent and Omnipotent God's Grace and Mercy flows abundantly, our Father's Beneficence -- by His Divine and Almighty Will, and Christ's unforgettable Sacrifice and commanding words to St. Peter, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build MY CHURCH." -- proceed into time through the hallowed sanctity of His Church, and His Church alone (not Luther, Wyatt or any other man's words or deeds). Why? Because these false prophets did not die to us free. "Unless you eat My Body and drink My Blood you will not enter My Father's House". Christ freely gave us His Most Precious Blood that all men might come to the knowledge of GOD and be saved. He exists in the Most Holy Eucharist and sacramental lifeblood of His Church evennd of time. This is the Good News, our light to the world that should be proclaimed to all the world in everything we think, say and do. Deo gratias for the Blood Christ that founded GOD's Church on earth. Deo gratias for our Unifying Faith.

The greatest contradiction to Scripture and the Teaching Authority of the Church is that of "pluralism". The Catholic Charismatic Movement started with the "Spirit" of Protestantism. Canon Law 1258 forbids Catholics from actively participating in any way whatsoever in non-Catholic worship or ceremonies. It is a formal act of apostasy for a Catholic to make an act of total adherence to a heretical sect. Why? Because "how you pray is how you believe" (lex orandi, lex credendi).

Nonetheless, that is how it all started in 1967 at Duquesne University. Four professors had read and studied the books of the Protestant Pentecostals. They decided that they wanted this power of the spirit, so they prayed and prayed, put they could not get it inside the Catholic Church. They decided to go OUTSIDE to the heretical sect. They called on a Protestant Minister and within a few days had a group of Pentecostals praying over them. They were BAPTIZED IN THE SPIRIT. Later that year two Michigan State graduates, Ralph Martin and Stephen Clark, were baptized in the Spirit at a Notre Dame University gathering. From there the movement spread into the Catholic Church. To this day Catholics and Protestants of the movement still pray together in violation of Canon 1258.

A year ago we attended a Woman's Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. Some of the members were from Calvary Chapel, some from Evangelical Churches, some from Fundamentalist Churches. Father Michael Barry of Riverside led the prayers. This was not in the Church but in a classroom. No one made the sign of the cross, but tongues and prophesy were common. Father Barry is the same priest who passes out Communion to non-Catholics. When confronted about it, he replies, "Why not? They are Christians."

In order to accommodate the non-Catholics and Satan, himself, Catholic Charismatics do not make the sign of the cross before praying, after praying, or at anytime. They do not use Holy Water. They do not kneel when praying. They do not use blessed Crucifixes or relics. They do not conduct their prayer sessions inside a Church where the Blessed Sacrament exists, except when forced by circumstances.

Since, the sign of the cross, blessed articles, Holy Water, and the Blessed Sacrament are instruments against the demonic, one would have to wonder whose spirit this is anyway.

[Note: In recent years some groups have taken up these practices; the Rosary, sign of the Cross, etc. However, this is not the norm, and those who are doing so will find themselves leaving the Charismatic movement.]

Unity is the constant work of the members of the Body of Christ, the communion of Saints, the Church. It is the duty of all Christians to work towards the common community of God's people. To say that it is all right to belong to any Christian Church is disunity. It is PLURALISM. It has been condemned by the Church hundreds of times over the centuries. Unity is the last will and testament of Christ at the Last Supper (John 17). It is the prayer and work of the Church in the Twentieth Century. It was the dream of Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI, Vatican II, and Our Holy Father today. But unity is not accepting all Christians as they are, anymore than love is accepting what our children do no matter what it is. Love is a study of truth and morals; and then the correction of sin and false belief. This kind of love brings unity.

Catholic Charismatics are filled with the kind of love that hugs each other, holds hands, and speaks nicely of each other. They even speak nicely of sinners. Almost never do they practice any of the Spiritual or Corporal Works of Mercy. Love is a verb, an action, and therefore is something that we must DO, not something that we FEEL. To feed the hungry, to admonish the sinner, to forgive, to bear wrongs patiently, this is love. There is no love in the basic core of the Charismatic Movement.

"NO LONGER IS IT FASHIONABLE TO SEEK A LOGICAL AND SYSTEMATIC DEFENSE OF RELIGION. CHARISMATIC SPIRITUALISM IS PREFERRED TO DOGMATIC REASONING." The words of Pope John Paul II.
This is a great trick of the Demonic, to make man his own authority as to what is right or wrong; true or false. To do this, man must think he is getting his inspiration direct from Heaven. It is the same heresy as the Gnostics of the first century. It is the same method Satan used to trick Adam and Eve. "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."

A few year back, locutions [messages from Heaven] were being sent by the "spirit" all over the world to the effect that the next Pope would be a Charismatic. His name was given. At the time we didn't know this man, so we had no way of testing the locutions. He was a Cardinal. Later we had the misfortune to meet him. The best way to introduce this future Charismatic pope is the Mass he conducted in Rome.

This Cardinal was the late Belgian Cardinal Leo Suenens, the so-called next pope, or so said hundreds of Charismatic prophets. This is the same Cardinal we personally heard say that no Catholic need obey the Holy Father's encyclical, Humane Vitae.

This may, in fact, be the master plan of the Charismatics. We know from St. Malachy's and Don Bosco's prophesies that the next pope will be one of the holiest popes in history. Another thing that bothers us is the prophecy of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. She saw a dark and sinister church growing inside the Catholic Church. This sinister church grew so big that it was almost impossible to stop. Nothing in the past 150 years has been that threatening within except the Charismatics, not even "Call To Action".

Ask a Charismatic what he would prefer, a prayer meeting or the Mass. Ask what he would do if the Church condemned the movement. We have asked. They prefer Spiritualism to the Teaching Authority of the Church, and even to the Sacraments. Does this mean all Charismatics are bad? Yes! As we stated above, just because good people are in amongst them, does not make it from God.

How then is Ralph Martin the one who brought this false spirit of prophesy into the Catholic Church and can we prove that he is not Catholic? Ralph Martin, Steve Clark and Kevin Ranaghan worked in the Newman Center of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan and in the Cursillo Movement. After Ralph Martin, Kevin Ranaghan and Steve Clark were baptized in the spirit in 1967 they were fired from the Newman Center when it was found out that they also were involved with the fundamentalist Protestant Campus Crusade for Christ. They then formed a prayer group of 12 men called, the "Word of God" charismatic group. It grew to more than 100 people in only 4 months. They tied in with a Protestant group called, The Sword of the Spirit. By 1970 they created a real organization with a corporate structure of leaders and sub-leaders. They became a "Covenant Christian Community". By 1972 these people had total control of thousands of members using what they called, "shepherding" but what is essentially a doctrine of control. The top pope was Clark and today it is Ralph Martin. Other groups affiliated with Ralph Martin are: "People of Praise" in South Bend, Ind. headed by Kevin Ranaghan; "The Lamb of God" community in Baltimore, Md.; "People of Hope" community in Berkeley Heights, NJ, "Mother of God" community in England, "Servants of Christ the King" community in Steubenville, Ohio, etc. But the national headquarters for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal is located in South Bend, Ind. and the international headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium. The top authority of the groups is called "Unio Crucis" [Union of the Cross]. Their meetings are secrete and there are never more than 60 members. Their income comes from tithing and from their magazine, "The Word Among Us". The very title of this magazine is what they are all about. They get the "Word" directly from God and not from the teaching authority of the Church. The magazine alone generates from 3 to 5 million a year.

Interesting to note that Father Michael Scanlan, president of Steubenville University was a founding member of "Servants of Christ the King" community and has supported the Protestant group "The Sword of the Spirit". When Bishop Albert H. Ottenweller of Steubenville saw the cult controls that the leadership had over the members he ordered Catholics to separate themselves from the controversial nondenominational evangelical organization, "The Sword of the Spirit". Bishop Ottenweller then went about trying to clean up the University and forced Father Michael Scanlan into separating from the Protestant groups. In order to save face the charismatic group's spin doctors painted the picture that Michael Scanlan cleaned up the University. Keep in mind that it is Father Michael Scanlan that promotes and protects the first marriage of the Marian Movement and the Charismatic Movement - Medjugorje. Keep in mind also that Ralph Martin (a pluralist) and Tom Monaghan (an innocent victim) are both on the board of Steubenville University and both on the board of Fessio's new radio stations.

Now I am going to make a bold statement. "Call To Action" (the left) and the Marian Movement both came out of the Charismatic Movement and both have the same agenda - to lead people away from the Mass and the Sacraments. "Call To Action" makes no secrete that they do not believe in the True Presence. What about the Charismatics and the Marian Movement? First the Charismatics: The following account of the Mass prayed at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was printed in the "International Catholic Priests Association" published in England by Simon Keegan.



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"Pentecostals' or 'Charismatics' led by the Belgian Cardinal Leo Suenans, came for a Eucharistic celebration. In the vast crowd that filled the Basilica, it was not an uncommon thing to see, what one first thought of as 'white petals' being scattered among the congregation. Only when I could push my way nearer, did I realize that they were handfuls of consecrated Hosts that the Cardinal's 'hench-priests' were scattering among the crowd, to speed up Communion. They fell on the shoulders of men, on the dyed and coverless heads of women, and as was inevitable, not a few on the ground, and were trampled upon by the crowd.

I spoke to a lady standing near me, who was gobbling a number of them together (the consecrated Hosts). I asked her where she came from and was she a Catholic? She came from Egypt, she replied, and in fact had no religious persuasion, but her feelings are in favor of Mohamedism, to which her family belonged, but her fiancée was an Anglican, and she found Pentecostalism Quite exciting."



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At this Mass in Rome was Ralph Martin who prophesied the Second Coming of Christ in his lifetime speaking from the altar of Peter. In his books "Is Jesus Coming Soon?" and "The Catholic Church at the End of an Age" you can read the same heresies.

Ralph Martin brought into the Church a spirit from outside the Church. This spirit is real. I was a Charismatic (Read my book "The Tongues of Satan"). But this spirit is not from God. As the Charismatic movement began to fade they needed a boost, a Marian boost. Sister Briege McKenna, a leading member of these charismatic cults prayed with "Father' Tomislav Vlasic, who at the time was without faculties for conducting another charismatic charism - "sensitivity training" with young boys and girls. Sister McKenna prophesies to Vlasic that Mary was going to come into his life. When he returned to Medjugorje he found out what she meant. Medjugorje has the same spirit, a spirit that leads people into pluralism and away from the sacraments. I have four witnesses who lived in Medjugorje that not one of the seers attends Mass, even on Sunday unless a crowd of pilgrims are there, and even then they do not go to daily Mass.

The biggest promoter of Medjugorje in America is Denis Nolan from Notre Dame University. Denis Nolan has Ralph Martin on his board of advisors, because Denis Nolan started out in the Charismatic Movement. It was to Ralph Martin that Denis Nolan complained about Unity Publishing and threatened to sue us for telling the truth about Medjugorje. He also promotes Gobbi who prophesied that the real person of the Antichrist would appear in the year 1998, and that Christ would come on this earth in the year 2000 to establish his Kingdom on Earth and walk among us.

Now these people are prophesying the chastisement as though it was Christ's Second Coming and they are turning every true prophesy up side down. No greater example of that is there than Garabandal. There are many who write, fax, call, or e-mail us because of our Testing The Spirit newsletter and web page www.unitypublishing.com. Even those who do not believe in any of the other false mystics have a tough time believing that Garabandal is false because of the signs and wonders around it. And so rather than getting into Medjugorje or Gobbi or Gino or any of the other false mystics, its better to just show proof that the main one, Garabandal, is false.

We could show how the "Virgin" told the children to not bring to Her blessed rosaries and crosses but only un-blessed ones so that She could bless them. And then show that even the Virgin Mother of God cannot bless with a priestly blessing because the priest is in "persona christi", in the place of Christ, and Mary can never be in the place of Christ or a priest. We could show that not even an angel from Heaven can give a priestly blessing but this might take to much theological explanation. We could also show documented proof that Conchita stole a Eucharistic Host from the tabernacle of the Church during the apparitions. We could show proof that the children went up the mountain to steal apples when the apparitions started. We could show proof that Padre Pio did not support the apparitions and never made any statement to Conchita and never sent an clothe to them. We could show proof that Padre Pio never told Joey Lomangino to go there. We could show proof that Garabandal has been condemned by sex local bishops and by Rome four times. We could show how the poor children have no memory of the apparitions, whatsoever, and only know what they read about, proving that they were under a hypnotic demonic trance during that apparitions, and then removed from it, so that an exorcism could not take place. We could show that the idea of a "warning" is like the idea of "rapture" and is designed by Satan to capture people at the moment of death into thinking they are going to be saved at the last minute in order to keep them from last minute confessions and repentance. We could prove that Conchita has married a man with children who was married before and not annulled. All of these we could prove but all we need to do is give one prophesy of Garabandal that will prove it false. This prophesy, however, did fool Malachi Martin.

Quoting from "Marian Apparitions Today - Why So Many?" by Fr. Edward D. O'Connor, C.S.C., pages 19-20 "In 1962, when Pope John XXII died, Mary told Conchita that after Paul VI, there would be only three more popes. When Paul VI died, Mary reiterated that there would be only two more. After the short reign of John Paul I, Mary confirmed that John Paul II is the last. She made it plain, however, that this did not mean that the end of the world was at hand, but only the end of 'an era."

What we ask is this, "Can the world exist without the Catholic Church? If the world continued on without the Catholic Church then the gates of hell have prevailed against her. Can there be a Catholic Church without a pope? Can this be the last pope? The answer is "NO!" We are living in the last age on earth, the sixth generation, and the last generation, the generation of Christ and His Church, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, which is the Catholic Church. Christ said to Peter and not to the apostles, "I will be with you all days until the end of the world." The Church teaches two things that destroy both Sedevacanti and Charismatics, and that is, "Where the pope is there is the Catholic Church and where the pope is not there is no Catholic Church." It also teaches that "Where the Holy Spirit is there is the Catholic Church and where the Holy Spirit is not there is not the Catholic Church." Sedevacanti can never happen or the gates of Hell will have prevailed against the Church. "The Broken Chain"??? Never!

This Sedevacanti leads people to believe in an underground Church "operating outside the control of the canonical structure of the church", what we call today "Traditionalists" (not that they are traditional since the greatest of all traditions is that "where the bishop is there is the Church, and where the bishop is not, there is not the church --- whatsoever is done without the bishop is from the devil." -St. Ignatius - Epistle to the Ephesians.)

So you see, we can't bring ourselves to accept even those charismatic prayer groups that have orthodox practices. It has been argued that there are many abuses, but there are also many Charismatics who pray rosaries, have devotion to the Eucharist, to Mary, and to the Teaching Authority of the Church. This may be true, although we have not seen it. Amongst the Arian heretics there were many who did not know they were not in the Body of Christ, the Church. There were many Arians who truly did not know they were praying with heretics. All they knew is that the Bishop and the priests in their town had changed. There are many Charismatics who are very innocent of the main thrust of the movement. This does not make the movement OK or even tolerable in our eyes, anymore than it made the Arians or Masons tolerable just because the rank and file members are innocent. It must be tested like any other movement that claims direct contact with Heaven.

This spirit of Ralph Martin came into the Church in 1967 and has spread throughout the entire world so that every formerly humble and innocent Catholic now thinks he or she has had a direct message from Heaven to do this or that. They do not read orthodox books anymore, only the messages from this or that seer. They are being educated in doctrine directly from Heaven, they say. They are being divided from their priests and bishops, and someday from the next pope, and then they will be true Gnostics, as they will be outside the Ark of Salvation, the Catholic Church.

I have spent over 30 years studying prophecy regarding eschatology (the end times - from now to the end of the world). It is from the teaching of the Church, the Apostolic Fathers, the saints of the Church, and Church approved prophets that I have come to recognize the very false prophets that Queenship promotes.

When I read books like "THE LAST WORLD WAR & THE END OF TIME", THE FINAL HOUR", "THE DAY WILL COME". "THE COMING PERSECUTION", "CALL OF THE AGES", "THE AGE OF ONE FOLD AND ONE SHEPHERD". and the like, I know from thirty years study that they do not know what they are talking about, and lack fundamental knowledge about the future.

Finally, however, I picked up a book, "TRAIL, TRIBULATION & TRIUMPH" by Desmond A. Birch, only to prove that it also was as wrong as these other authors. I could not put it down. I read it over and over. Desmond A. Birch put together a masterpiece. Utilizing Scripture, Tradition, the Saints, the Fathers of the Church, and Church approved Prophets, Desmond systematically proved with heavy documentation what I have been saying for 20 years, that the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Christ cannot happen in my lifetime or my children's lifetime. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph is my 30 years knowledge packed into one book.

The errors of the new (so-called) prophets fit into a common theme ( whether knowingly or not) that will prepare uncausious Catholics into accepting the Antichrist as the real Christ, and into thinking that the mystics hold a higher place in authority than the bishops, scripture, tradition, and the fathers of the Church. We want you to know if you do not already know why false mystics like the seers of Medjugorje or Garabandal are so dangerous to the Church and to souls. The fact we know what the future holds for us. We just do not know when and where. If we know, Satan knows. In the last chapter of a book I wrote called "Apparitions - True or False" I said:



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We know that Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is not coming soon. Why? Because we know that some things have to happen first. We know that Our Lord, Jesus Christ, will not set up a Kingdom on Earth. Why? Because we know that the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is the Church. And we know from the Bible that when He comes He will not set His foot on this earth.
What has to happen first? First there must be a "Chastisement of the Earth" in order to bring about one Christian Kingdom and one Church on Earth. We know that this chastisement will last from four to seven years. We know that during the chastisement there will be two very important people, a very holy king, called the "Monarch" and a very holy Pope, a Pope who will be elected outside of Rome in a very fast way, almost certainly the next Pope, "The Glory of the Olive".
We know that after the chastisement there will be only twenty-five percent of the world left, and it will take seven years to bury the dead. We know that the good and the bad will survive. But we also know that the bad will be converted by the Monarch and the Holy Pope.

We know that those who survive the chastisement will have a period of peace that will be without work or needs. We also know that in the first part of this peace everyone will be holy. But we also know that in the second half of this peace faith will fade and become lax.

After this period of peace on earth (we think it will not last more than forty or fifty years) the Antichrist will come. Henoch and Elias will come (maybe even Saint John, the Apostle). The Antichrist will be born in the ruins of Babylon between the two great rivers. He will be born of a Jewish prostitute and a Catholic Bishop. She will pretend to be a virgin. The Child will be able to talk the minute he comes out of the womb. He will appear to be holy, gentle, kind, mild, and charismatic. He will look like Christ, act like Christ, and talk like Christ. He will perform many miracles (or at least what appear to be miracles), and many will follow him. He will convert the Jews first, then the Moslems, and then many Catholics. There will be no other Christian religions on earth at that time.

After converting the Jews and Moslems into one religion, he will rebuild the Temple of Solomon. There he will place himself on a seat in the Holy of Holies and proclaim himself the Son of God. He will cause a great famine over the whole earth, so that no one will have the food he needs. But then he will promise that whosoever comes to the Temple and has his or her hand and forehead marked with his mark will receive all the food he needs for the rest of his life. He will have to go to war against Egypt, Libya, and Africa, but after that all the secular world will come to his side, and he will rule the world. He will outlaw the Continual Sacrifice, the Mass. (Daniel 8:11)

The Pope (whose name will be Peter the Second) and those who refuse to be marked with his mark will go into hiding. Those who cannot hide will be martyred. More Catholics will be martyred during this time than all the two-thousand-year history of the Kingdom put together.

In the last year of his three-and-one-half-year control of the world, he will kill Henoch and Elias and place their bodies in public display in front of the Temple. After the third day, they will come to life and ascend into heaven body and soul by the Power of God.

This will so anger the Antichrist that he will promise the whole world that he, too, will ascend into heaven and bring them back to earth. And on the prescribed day he will ascend up into the sky. However, Christ will strike him dead (as He did to Simon Magus) and he will fall to the earth.

All the people will be very happy because the Antichrist is dead. They will be so happy that they will have parties and celebrations. They will have marriages and will give their children in marriages. And then forty-five days after the death of the Antichrist, there will be a great sign in the sky-The Cross with Christ crucified. All the Jews, who have survived, will see and know that they crucified Him, but it will be too late.

Christ will appear in all his glory with all His Heavenly Hosts, and in the twinkling of an eye, half the people of the world will disappear into Hell. Those remaining will be lifted up body and soul towards Christ, who will remain in the sky. All those in Purgatory will ascend first. All the bodies of those who died from Adam to the time of the Antichrist will come up out of the earth and join their souls in the heavens. All this will take place as those remaining at the end ascend body and soul towards Christ.

Then Christ will wipe away the earth, purgatory, the heavens, and the stars with the movement of his hand. Amen!
How do we know all this? We know it from the Bible: regarding the chastisement, Isaias 24, Ezechiel 39, Daniel 7, Joel 3, and Zachariea 13 and 14; regarding the Antichrist, Dan. 7,8 and 10, Matt. 24, Rev. 20, John 5; regarding the Second Coming of Christ, Matt. 24 and 25, Mark 13, Luke 12 and 21, 1 Cor. 15, 1 Thess. 2, 3, 4 and 5, 2 Peter 3, Rev. 1 and 3, Dan. 12, and Joel 2. We know it from the disciples of the Apostles, like Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Iranaeus, and Clement of Rome who learned from the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John. We know it from the disciples of the disciples of the Apostles like Hippolytus, Cyprian, Augustine and Jerome. We know it from the prophets who have been approved by the Church and by the miracles and prophesies that have already come to pass as listed in the section on prophets.

Now, this is very, very important what we are about to say. If we know this, Satan knows this. Let us repeat that, if we know this, Satan knows this. Let us repeat that again, if we know this, Satan knows this."

Remember, the demons recognized Christ before His followers did. Why? The demons are masters of Scripture. They used Scripture to tempt Christ. They used Scripture to crucify Christ. Simon Magus used scripture to crucify Peter and Paul. Demons know what is going to happen better than we do. In order to counteract the Will of God, they have to make their own plans.

If God is going to chastise the world, the demons know they cannot stop it, but they can confuse people in such a way as to think they will escape it by such stupid things as "rapture" or prophets who say that if you go to this or that hill you will escape, or by claiming that God will give signs before the chastisement, or whatever.

Demons know that a very holy Monarch will come into the world to save the world in the last days of the chastisement. What is their plan? To claim him as the Beast of Revelation! The demons know that a very, very holy Pope will come to save the Church. What is their plan? To claim him to be the Antichrist!

Why would demons have apparitions, locutions, ecstasies, visions, etc., that cause people to be converted, to be more holy, to pray more, to give up sin, to even give up drugs and alcohol? More than just winning souls, Satan wants to mock and stop God. He can mock God by having very holy people worship a false God or a false Mary. He can stop God (or at least slow Him down) by confusing the prophesies that truly come from God.

Some apparitions we have followed for years and years without seeing anything that we could attribute to the demons. Everything seemed so holy to us. Then suddenly a message would come through that would say that the next Pope would be the Antichrist, and we would know that it was not of God. Or one message would say that the Antichrist was already alive, and we would know that it was not of God. Or even that Christ was already on the earth!

All false apparitions of this Century have the same thing in common: They all want to divide the faithful from their bishops. Once they are successful in dividing the faithful from their bishops (by telling them to trust only in the Pope of Rome or the message of the seer), then suddenly a message will come "FROM HEAVEN" that the Pope of Rome is the Antichrist. Who will these faithful, being led astray, be able to turn to then? Only the seers.



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We are running out of time and they (the false mystics) are winning. I communicate with a man, Carlos Evaristo, who lives across the street from Lucia of Fatima and audio tapes all her public conversations. I communicate with Mr. Francis Fukushima, the translator to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of Akita, Japan. We are running out of time. My best estimate is that everything will start happening on April 1, 1999.

We have been shut off from all Catholic Newsmedia for attacking the likes of Medjugorje, Gobbi, Gino, and Garabandal. The supporters of these mystics have gotten to all the major news outlets of the country and have blackballed us so that we cannot get the message out. The traditional Catholic outlets we can get into, like the Wanderer, where we have an ad almost every week. But the National Catholic Register has gone over to Medjugorje. EWTN has gone Med. Fessio and Terry Barber were just afraid to say anything against Med since 80% of the American Catholics believe in it or one of the other false apparitions. Now to make matters worse, Fessio has had to compromise in order to get the money he needed to buy the radio stations across the country. We are very much in favor of these stations and what Fessio is doing, and we are especially glad that it is Fessio doing it instead of the far right or the far left. But Fessio does not know that he brought into his camp the very man who brought into the Church this false spirit that has spread throughout the Church since 1967.

Fessio is a very good man, but because we cannot compromise on matters of faith, we have alienated my relationship from him. Fessio promotes all the writings of von Balthasar and 90% of these are good; however, Balthasar fell into two heresies, an ignorant Christ and that all men might be saved including Satan. Because we could not leave that rest we have lost a good friend. The second thing that Fessio did was allow Ralph Martin into his operation - meaning his radio stations. Fessio was probably forced to take in Ralph Martin because Ralph Martin has a strong relationship with Tom Monaghan - Domino Pizza. Fessio needed hundreds of millions of dollars to get these radio stations. Tom Monaghan's group "Legatus" an international organization of CEO's, was the only group that could come up with that much money. Even this group and Tom Monaghan are innocent victims of this infiltration. Ralph Martin stands for everything that we are against, and in fact, it was he who brought into the Catholic Church the spirit of false prophecy. This spirit has gone from outside the Church through the laying on of hands to inside the Church and has spread like a cancer throughout the Body of Christ making almost every innocent Catholic think they have a Gnostic direct revelation from God that is infallible. If anyone except a bishop tries to lay hands on you or "slay" you in the spirit, run like hell away from him. This spirit is not from God.


Protecting the Honor and Reputation of Our Lady


Rick Salbato
Managing Editor and President
Unity Publishing, Inc.

http://www.unitypublishing.com/feb7_99.html

Comments

Colin L said…
Fred,
You might want to read "Christian Initiation and Baptism in the Spirit" which is a scholarly examination of the charisms in the Scripture and the early church. It is written by Fr. Kilian McDonnell, OSB and Fr. George Montague. Fr. Kilian was one of the founding members of the Catholic-Pentecostal dialogue that the Vatican established many years ago. Fr. George is a Bible scholar. They provide ample evidence for the presence and esteem for the charisms for the first 400+ years of the Church, despite the excesses of Montanism. The article you quote is based on a number of misunderstandings of the history of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Colin LaVergne
William Malecki said…
As an opening comment, a person whose practices are not in accord with Church teaching would not receive the endorsement of ecclesiastical authorites.

The faculty of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome recently granted Dr. Martin a doctorate in sacred theology. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI recently appointed Dr. Martin as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization. I trust them that Dr. Martin is in full communion and accord with the Catholic Church.

As to your specific issue:

Please answer how "babbl[ing] and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning" by Mormon, Montanist, etc... are not heretical using Catholic Church teaching and church doctors teaching.

Assuming that Dr. Martin has at times received gifts of the Spirit which produce such practices, you should judge Dr. Martin by his fidelity to the Magesterium and to the Doctors of the Church, whose wisdom he has written about so well in his recent publications.

Blessed John Paul II was a great supporter of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal:

He said:
"...Today it is a fact of the Church’s life that many vocations arise and blossom in the heart of the various Movements and Associations. I wish to encourage you to give close attention within the Catholic Charismatic Renewal to this particular mode of God’s love for his People. The prayerful response of your members and associates to this grace will be a further, explicit sign of the Renewal’s sharing in the life and mission of the Church, the visible body of Christ (Cf. 1Cor. 12: 27)."

from: ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO THE LEADERS OF THE CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL
Castel Gandolfo
Saturday, 18 September 1993

I'm not an educated Catholic scholar, just a Catholic who is faithful to the Church and the teachings of its Magisterium as confirmed by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and all the sucessors of St. Peter who preceded him.

Respectfully, if I have to choose between Pope Benedict or Mr. Salbato to discern whether Dr. Martin's teachings and practices are in accord with Church teaching I will err on the side of following the Holy Father.
Fred Martinez said…
Colin,

Respectfully, I would say back to you if I have to choose between Pope Benedict or Dr. Martin
to discern whether Fr Hardon, Bishop Sheen and Mr. Salbato's teachings and practices are in accord with Church teaching I will err on the side of following the Holy Father.

I posted some problems from Fr Hardon and Bishop Sheen which they had in this regard. Please answer mine and their exact problems since the Pope hasn't spoken on these exact problems to my knowledge.

Quote Dr. Martin or any other Catholic loyal to the Church and Holy Father.
Fred Martinez said…
Sorry William Malecki not Colin.

God love you,

Fred
Della said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Della said…
Fred,

While in the process of being led back to the Catholic Church from being a person who thought you could be Catholic without going to Church or following the Holy Father, I saw Ralph Martin on TV. I did not know who he was at the time. Is there I way that I can share this experience privately with you? There were two other times that I ran across him in person that I would like to share with you. This took place between 2000 and 2003. I thought that I was the only person who didn't take Ralph Martin at face value. Della
Fred Martinez said…
Dear Colin L
Please show where Fr Hardon or Bisphop Sheen or anyone else has stated misunderstandings of the history of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Please be give exact quotes.

Please quote Church Fathers or church documents other than the heretic Montanus writings on the problems that Fr Hardon or Bisphop Sheen present.

Thanks,

Fred
Fred Martinez said…
Dear Della,

You can email me at mrtnzfred@aol.com.

Fred

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