Deeper Truth Blog: Intro from God's Girl

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Intro from God's Girl

God’s Girl
Although my Grandfather was always Catholic, he truly realized the value of his Faith once he’d had a scare form a Heart Attack. Realizing he was a coffin dodger he started swatting for his finals & decided to get in the Game and become a really good Catholic! He was a fascinating man who held us children captivated with Giant Tortoise Story’s; marathon walks striding along the Beach; scientific quizzes as we rowed down the river, “What bird is that my girl?” his booming voice commanding an intelligent response!

Gran, an Anglican had a marvelous relationship with St. Anthony. Truly, if something couldn’t be found & St. Anthony seemed deaf to our pleas, Gran would be called to ask St. Anthony on our behalf & straight away a victory would be had! To this day she never ceases to impress all who ask her to intercede, now she is a part of the “cloud of witnesses” Heb.12:1.

My Mother anchored our family in the Love of God & His Church. Mum grew up Anglican since Grampa never went to Mass in the early days. Attending Catholic High School, Mum loved the strength of the Catholic position, firm & unwavering. When she asked the Anglican pastor about their belief in their ‘Eucharist’ she was told, “Well, if you are High Anglican you can believe it is the Body of Jesus, & if you are Low Anglican you can believe it is just a symbol, it’s up to you.” … this stand was unimpressive. Teenagers’ are great at recognizing a weak argument! On this ground Mum converted at 16 and was received into the Church. She knew this was a critical point. She knew she wanted to receive Jesus Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity in Truth, not ‘may be, baby’.

Born & Brought-up Catholic. I am the middle born of 3 girls. At around the age of 1, I almost died of infection & was in Infectious Diseases Hospital, isolated & strapped to a little cross for 3 months with a drip into my jugular vein. My teeth went back into my gums, & I had to relearn to walk & talk, I had been so ill. Mum had a wonderful spirituality& would teach us girls to give away our most favorite toy for the poor at Christmas and to value the pain of loving with our whole heat, of giving until it hurt, dying to self to give life to others. My favorite was my Singing Doll.

Dad converted to The Faith when I was a teenager. So, in the early days there would sometimes be a skirmish Sunday mornings, as Dad would be staying at home, whilst Mum tried to get the 3 of us to Mass. My sisters would often rebel & I’d give in, mostly because I felt sorry for Mum, not because I had discovered the infinite value of the Sacraments. I’ve always gone to Sunday Mass. & I’m sure my Mum blessed me for it! Her prayers & blessings overtook me one day. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I received Jesus in Holy Communion as a little thing, & was Confirmed at 11 years old. We moved a lot, & the new parish Confirmed school leavers. The Church would rather we were Confirmed before the trial of puberty, so as to be strengthened by the Sacrament before the battle. Mum wanted me to join in the Catechism Class. I’d miss the bus, take another route home & do my best to avoid going. She’d be upset & ask me why I was doing this… I explained that the Class was killing my Faith. It was like a coloring-in class, there was no real Church Teaching, it was horrid! I think many teens are in this boat & empathize with them. Church Teaching is so rich, & teens, even littlies can understand it, because it Lives! We must never withhold the strength & truth of Church Teaching from children or anyone, because it is beautiful & the Truth sets us free. The Bible says: “the pillar and foundation of Truth is the Church.” 1 Tim.3:15.

During my Nursing Training, I had some dreams of Jesus. These stirred me, although I was still under the impression that people who were mad for Jesus were “Jesus Freaks” … little did I imagine, I’d one day be at the top of His Fan Club ! One of the dreams involved a Large Boat or Ship or even an Ark, with Jesus on board saving people who were lost at sea & bringing them on board.

“I’m Catholic, BUT I believe in contraception” I cringe to recall claiming. I specialized during my training as a Registered Nurse, Registered Midwife, Community Health Nurse& Psychiatric Nurse & then in Family Planning. My best results were in Family Planning! I mistakenly believed the Church was against reasonable spacing of little ones… which is not at all the case! Contraception & Natural Family Planning is worlds apart, the difference takes pondering, it is subtle. One goes with Nature, the other, against. I did not understand the danger of living this dual life, being in the Church but not 100%. Due to ignorance & lack of catechesis, I was receiving Communion yet was spiritually contracepting the life of grace God wanted to give me. I knew He loved me, but felt Him far away & imagined Him ‘very busy’.

Then a special thing happened & Jesus drew me into His Arms & held me close. I read ‘True Life In God’, & Jesus suddenly became a living breathing Person, not just a Spirit over up there somewhere. I could hear His Voice & feel His Breath, His Touch. The Teachings of The Church became fascinating & I bowed in humble submission to them all, in awe of the wisdom they held. I came to see the truth of Jesus words to Peter, Mt.16: 17-19 “it is not flesh & blood that has revealed this to you, but My Father in Heaven…” . Jesus was showing us that there is a wisdom, the human mind cannot grasp, it comes straight from God. A Hot Line… and this was the Rock He would build His Church upon, The Office of Peter. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom…” The wisdom of Pope Paul IV in refusing Catholics contraception, is becoming visible today. Science proves it time & again, from statistics of Divorce being around 54% in contracepting couples versus 0.002% among couples using Natural Family Planning, that’s 2 couples out of 1000 couples as opposed to more that half of all weddings among the contracepting group! Then the Pathology resulting from contraception is frightening, Cancer, strokes, heart attacks, death! God said in Deut. “I set before you life & death, blessing & curse… choose life therefore that it may go well with you.”

Church Teaching is proved, time & again… it was not “flesh & blood that revealed it, but My Father in Heaven”. But before it is proven, it takes faith, (…surprise!) & Scriptures tell us, “…without faith, it is impossible to please God”. Papal Infallibility is one of these faith tests. We can be like a little child, safe in the arms of our God & Mother Church, trusting & not worrying as long as we rest in this wisdom.

On Catholic Engaged Encounter, shortly after my interior conversion, my future husband, although not yet Catholic, & I were the only defenders of Church teaching against contraception. We were married at a Pilgrimage Shrine in the bush, Our Lady Tabernacle of the Most High. My beloved who was making Rosaries & defending Church Teaching, 9 months later would become Catholic. We got back from honeymoon, & a French Mauritian friend said to him (please do the accent, ) “ahh, I have a boooook for you!” I cringed as she brought out “Rome Sweet Home”, I thought, give the guy a break, that is so pushy! But to my delight, he loved it. He read it twice in one night, woke up & read it again, & said he was becoming Catholic. He entered the Church on Pentecost Sunday, along with our Brother-in-Law & baby nephew who was baptized. God gave a beautiful sign, that day, a triple rainbow hung directly over the Church in their honor. …T

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The Pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15)

The purpose of Deeper Truth is to provide a defense for the one fully true church of Christ. It is not designed to attack or hurt others.

We will speak boldly. We will not whitewash the truth.

Yes, we do believe that there is only 1 truth and the only place on earth where it can be found whole, complete, and uncorrupted is the Roman Catholic Church. Yes, we do feel that we can prove that case.

We can prove it historically, supernaturally, logically, practically and Biblically. And we will, make no mistake about that.

We believe that science and observation and reason are sufficient proofs of the existence of God. We also believe that reason and logic alone are sufficient causes for any human being to suspect that that God would have revealed Himself to us in some fashion. Further, we believe that He has and the historical, practical and supernatural proofs are beyond overwhelming that God has revealed, and continues to reveal, His will to us exclusively through the Roman Catholic Church, which He founded when He lived among us in the historical person of Jesus Christ.

We believe that anyone who has totally given Himself to the whole and objective search for truth cannot help but be drawn towards the light of what the Apostle Paul called the Pillar and Foundation of all truth, that is the Catholic Church.
A mere 77 years after the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, when some of the young witnesses would still have been alive, St. Ignatius of Antioch said; “Where Christ is, there is His Catholic Church”.

Truer words were never spoken.

For those of you chomping at the bit to discuss (or dare you dream, refute) Catholic teaching, don’t worry, you will get your chance.

Here is what constitutes debate to me. You do not ignore my questions or evidences and simply move on to more questions and or accusations. You do not make accusations, purported as factual, without sufficient original evidence.

That means that you do not make an accusation about what Catholics believe, do or have done or will do without providing an original, verifiable source that can be instantly accessed by any listener of the program.

If you characterize debate as an endless stream of unsupported accusations, you have come to the wrong place.

Here are some examples of what would constitute proof;

If you charge, as fact, that Catholics believe a particular thing, I will expect you to provide a link to an official Catholic source, citing it as a defined doctrine. Sources could include the Catechism of the Catholic Church or a document from a council. Links to anti- Catholic or non-Catholic sources that quote teachings out of context are insufficient.

I will gladly debate you on anything the Catholic Church actually has defined and teaches but I won’t waste my time arguing about what Dave Hunt or Jack Chick falsely claims that we teach.

If you charge, as purported fact, that a belief the church actually does have violates scripture or Christian teaching in some way, be prepared to not only support your arguments but to contest mine. I will debate via Scripture, history, tradition, practicality and logic. If you insist that the debate can only be on Scripture alone because you allege that Scripture is the only authority, I will insist that you provide scripture explicitly establishing that only the written word of God, as contained in a specific canon of books, can be accepted to the exclusion of all else.

Good luck.

If you charge, for example, that Catholic sexual abuse proves that the Catholic church cannot be the true church of God, I will expect you to provide empirical evidence that the rate of sexual abuse among Catholic priests is higher than ministers of other faiths or of the public at large.

The purpose of this show is to show you the truth. I will do so by basis of empirical evidence. If you truly want to see the truth, I can provide it. If you are simply unwilling to see the truth, I cannot help you.

That being said, we know that there are good people in all faiths and that many people of good will are genuinely confused about what Catholics believe and why they believe it.

I will start by giving you 30 basic precepts of what Catholics believe, as a foundation for us to build on. I will then explain exactly how this show will work.

1. We believe that by nature, science and reason alone, God has put sufficient light in every man to realize that the formation and expansion of life cannot possibly be by chance or random action. We believe that science, observation and simple human reason makes it impossible for anyone to truly doubt the existence of an intelligent designer. We believe that anyone who denies such a basic and undeniable fact, does so by force of pride or rebellion, not by force of intellect.

2. We believe that, hard-wired, by the creator, into every human being is a basic knowledge of right and wrong, good and evil. Man can choose to suppress this knowledge but he that will cause an intrinsic rebellion within him. Among this basic knowledge is the truth that murder, stealing, lying, violence, rape and homosexuality are disordered and objectively evil. Again, we believe anyone denying this knowledge isn’t doing so out of an intellectually arrived at position but out of rebellion or pain or pride. This knowledge is as basic as the knowledge that we need to breath, eat, drink, sleep, avoid pain and fight or flee danger. It is instinctive.

3. We believe that each person has in him an irresistible longing for God that battles against an unruly and unreasonable concupiscence. Concupiscence is man’s innate selfish desire. We Catholics define this concupiscence as original sin. Fully giving oneself over to the longing for God will lead to salvation. The most perfect completion of this being in the Catholic Church. A lifetime spent resisting this urge for God, in exchange for the longings of the flesh will lead to a lifetime of misery and-eventually- to an eternity of unimaginable suffering.

4. We believe this God has revealed Himself to us in very specific ways and through very specific people. These people include Prophets, Saints, Apostles and Old Testament Kings. The ways include Miracles and Signs, Sacred Scripture, public and private revelation, sacred tradition and the teachers He has appointed throughout the ages from Abraham to the current Magisterium of today’s Roman Catholic Church.

5. Because of #4, We believe anyone who claims to speak for God has an obligation to demonstrate credentials. We can do so in ways that no other church or religious entity on earth could even dare to claim.

6. We believe this God has been revealed as a singular God who exists in 3 persons, the second of which also took on humanity. We believe this one triune God and only this one triune God is worthy of worship. Anyone who tells you that Catholics worship anyone but the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is lying to you. It’s just that simple.

7. We believe that this God gave us a moral law that will never pass away and that every single person will face the judgment of God based on the moral law.

8. We believe that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Mosaic law.

9. We believe that Jesus Christ, by His life, suffering, death and Resurrection redeemed the world.

10. We believe the graces secured at Calvary are sufficient for the removal of all sin.

11. We believe that salvation is by Christ alone.

12. We believe that salvation is by grace alone.

13. We believe that man must participate in his own salvation and that no man or woman has ever been saved, or ever will be saved by faith alone. That the Bible clearly refutes the doctrine of Salvation by Faith alone is clear almost to the point of excess. Anybody who tells you that man is saved by faith alone is simply repeating a man-made lie, whether or not they may actually believe it.

14. We believe that Jesus Christ created a church that is the Pillar and Foundation of all truth, just as the Bible states. That we have an infallible Bible (and we do) is only because an infallible church gave it to us. That church-and only that Church- is fully and completely entrusted by God with the Scriptures and the Truths of Religion. Everyone else is guessing, to greater or less success, all falling short of the fullness of the truth of Catholicism. In fact…..

15. We believe that, in truth, there is only one true church. Catholic means Universal and we affirm that every single baptized Christian is a member-knowing or unknowing, willing or unwilling- of the Catholic Church and accountable, to the extent of the light of faith within them, to her teachings.

16. We affirm the infallibility and inspiration of Scripture and that all Scripture is useful for reproof, teaching and training in holiness. Nevertheless, we reject the notion of Sola Scriptura and hold the notion of practical sufficiency and the SELF interpretation of Scripture to be self-refuting, untenable nonsense.

17. We hold the teaching authority of the Church, the Sacred tradition of the fathers, and Holy Scripture to all be necessary parts of the Church.

18. We do not believe that any of the members of the Catholic Church are Impeccable, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Divine, Eternal or, in any way, shape, manner or form equal with God. This includes past, present and future members of the Catholic Church. We believe that all members of the Church had to be saved from the stain of original sin by God’s Sanctifying Grace.

19. We believe that Mary was saved by Sanctifying grace from her Mother’s womb, as was John the Baptist. We believe we can prove this scripturally.

20. We do not believe that Mary is God. Anyone who tells you that Catholics worship Mary is a liar. We do believe that She is the MOTHER of God and to deny this is to deny the Incarnation. We also believe that She fulfills the Biblical roles of the Queen Mother, The Ark of the Covenant, the Mother of Christians, the Woman clothed with the Sun and a co-mediatrix, co-redemtrix and advocate that in no manner contradicts 1 Timothy 2:5.

21. We believe that Jesus gave the Catholic clergy the power to anoint, to bind and loose, to preach and interpret Scripture and to forgive sins.

22. We believe that not one soul is saved by any other name than Jesus, even those saved who never heard His name.

23. We believe that not one soul that is saved is not saved by the merits Jesus gives through His Catholic Church, even those who don’t come to fully understand and accept it.

24. We believe that Jesus meant what He said in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel and that each consecrated host contains the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ.

25. We believe that only the full canon of Scripture as defined by the Catholic Church, 73 books, constitutes a complete Bible and only one carrying an Imprimatur is free from doctrinal error.

26. We reject the doctrine of the Rapture and believe that Christians will have to endure the great tribulation.

27. We reject a strictly futurist view of books like John’s Revelation.
The prophecies concerning the great harlot in Revelation 17-18, for instance, refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

28. We reject the assertion that the Israel of today’s world is the Israel of Scripture and find the assertion absurd and untenable. The Church is the new Israel. The Jewish Israel of Scripture is gone, dead, kaput…no more. There is no more temple and will never be. There are no more prophets nor will ever be, no more sacrifice, no more kings, no more Jerusalem. The city is Babylon and a Spiritual Sodom. Revelation 11:8.

29. We reject the doctrine that only Catholics can be saved. God will save who He will. That someone cannot reach the fullness of truth, through their honest efforts, will not be held against him. Those who knowingly reject the truth will perish in their sin and be damned. God will judge all by their works- PERIOD.

30. We do not believe that lying in defense of one’s beliefs, as anti-catholics do, is a virtue but a violation of the commandments of God.

We trust that these subjects and more will make for lively, spirited and- we hope- civil debate.

Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
~ John 15:20

See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles; and reverence the deacons, as being the institution(17) of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper(18) Eucharist, which is[administered] either
See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Christ Jesus does the Father, and the presbytery as ye would the apostles. Do ye also reverence the deacons, as those that carry out[through their office] the appointment of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper(18) Eucharist, which is[administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be;

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by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude[of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast; but whatsoever he shall approve of, that is also pleasing to God, so that everything that is done may be secure and valid.(2) even as where Christ is, there does all the heavenly host stand by, waiting upon Him as the Chief Captain of the Lord's might, and the Governor of every intelligent nature. It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize, or to offer, or to present sacrifice, or to celebrate a love-feast.(1) But that which seems good to him, is also well-pleasing to God, that everything ye do may be secure and valid.

~Saint Ignatius of Antioch, letter to the Smyrnaeans, chapter VIII (AD 110)

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Intro from God's Girl

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