Brian

Pharaoh hated Moses because he was apolitical. Ahab hated Elijah because he was apolitical. They killed the prophets because they were apolitical. Herod hated John the Baptist because he was apolitical. The Jewish and Roman leaders murdered Christ because He was apolitical. Nero executed St. Peter and St. Paul because they were apolitical. The pagan emperors martyred ancient Catholics because they were apolitical. If this all sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. It exposes the apostate core of so many modern attempts to separate religion and politics, revealed truth and public life.

@ShaneSchaetzel I am not voting in the presidential election. State and local only.

I'm never gonna vote Democrat. I'm probably never gonna vote third party. I'm probably not going to stay home on Election Day either. I will likely vote Republican in November, as my Republican Congressman and Senators never attacked the pope. But don't expect me to be enthusiastic about it anymore. Too many Evangelicals in the Republican Party are still anti-Catholic, and Trump just pours gasoline on their fire. The only solution is for Catholics to take over the GOP. We already have 20%. They can't win elections without us — ever — so they're totally beholden to us regardless of what they think. It's time for Catholics to flood into the GOP and just take it over completely. That's the only justice I can think of — real partisan FAFO.

@melodymlyons @mikepantile @WalmartThomist Can you please state what he has changed? it is not apparent to me. I have been listening and reading his work for years.

No, absolutely not. I don’t have malice toward Father so why would I want you to? I followed him for a long time and even own a couple of his books that I recommended to people. His teaching has changed. His approach has changed. Many traditionalists are growing increasingly uncomfortable. It’s a needed conversation.

This article is a huge W. @WalmartThomist

I am not looking to be right, I have no followers to impress, but I do love our Catholic faith and dialogue is important. It appears that to hold your position would require me to have malice toward Fr. If you approach this with charity and chruch history, his actions are above board.

@BCas22 @mikepantile @WalmartThomist Not really. It’s more accurate to say that you were convinced by this one statement because you went in with a will to disprove. This quote can also be used to support my position. If I had broadened the section on divination, I could easily have used it.

Your entire thesis is disproven by this one statement. "It is one thing to question a demon who comes to us of his own accord (and it is lawful to do so at times for the good of others, especially when he can be compelled, by the power of God, to tell the truth) and another to invoke a demon in order to gain from him knowledge of things hidden from us. (ST.II-II.Q95.A4.Rep1) I pray that you do the right thing. Regards, YBIC

It's not particularly well done. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the conversation. That's why I wrote in the first place. Christian's rebuttal will persuade some simply because it sounds very academic, but it's a good bit of weak gymnastics to support his point, and he never really ends up refuting mine. The biggest obstacle to proving his conclusion? Fr. Ripperger himself. But again... I'm grateful for the dialogue, though he should have linked my article (but perhaps it was an oversight). I would love to respond and hopefully will have the time soon. My article was not intended to be an end in itself but a jumping-off point for conversations that need to be had. That is happening and it's a good thing. Incidentally, those defending Father R who are using lies, personal attacks, and vile behavior to do it, are not doing him any favors. They simply confirm for his opponents that his work has bad fruit. So if you see them, perhaps kindly correct them. Finally, I have appreciated Father very much in the past. I even purchased books of his. There's probably still a photo up of one on my IG. But his teachings have changed. His method has changed. And it is good for Father and for the Church to talk about it. Great men do fall by inches. And sometimes it's exorcists.

Judging from the best/most likely estimates of casualties, Israel has killed 10x the number of people in Gaza than Iran killed protestors.

@dragodimitrov @michaeljknowles

@michaeljknowles Yes or no - do you think Trump believed that was a picture of a doctor?

It was right and responsible that the President deleted the post. I'm impressed he took responsibility for it, as I doubted—and daresay continue to doubt—that he personally made and posted it. But the buck stops with POTUS, so good on him for taking it down and moving on.

Jack, who blocked SF, is ok with it if DJT does it. Notice you aren’t seeing Jacks online Catholic friends call him out

@BigModernism Will not be voting republican again but that does not mean I will vote democrat.

Hard to argue with this 👇

@melodymlyons @VinceIovin43311 Did you weigh any of the benefits to this knowledge being mainstream verse the mythical "problems" you seem to have come up with?

@BCas22 @VinceIovin43311 I never posited that people shouldn’t be aware of spiritual warfare. Quite the opposite. So I’m not sure where you’re getting that from. Just making it up or what?

We have known since the inception of the Church how to protect ourselves. We have all that we need in Christ. If there was no Fr. Ripperger, we would still have it and with great confidence. In the article (I am “the author” he’s referencing), I talk about how I approach spiritual protection. It is not ignorance, but neither is it checking constantly the movement of the demonic. Our fixation should be Christ alone.

PLEASE CATHOLICS take 10 minutes today on Divine Mercy, and write your bishop an email telling him how gentle, charitable, pastoral, kindly, Gospel-spreading, and faith-enlivening Fr. Chad Ripperger and his ministry are. Please r/t and viralize this (I never request as much).

@melodymlyons @VinceIovin43311 I think the point you are missing is that most people do not believe there are demons and do not believe we are in a spiritual war. Putting this knowledge into general society is nothing but positive.

You are misunderstanding. I am fully and happily Catholic. And that includes the sacraments and sacramentals. But there is a hierarchy of order and we can make the mistake of putting all the Catholic pieces at the same level as if there is no hierarchy of difference between (for example) Baptism and a Marian apparition. Between doctrine and pious practice. Christ’s power does not diminish because of our idiocy or the presence of the demonic. We need to return to our awe of Christ and kick to the curb our awe of the enemy.

@ShaneSchaetzel The problem is that we would all agree if Isreal was not involved, then the evangelicals could apply Christian teaching in a rational manner.

We Christians should not harbor hostility toward each other over war in the Middle East. Did you really think all Christians would agree!? Catholics and Evangelicals should listen to each other and try to understand each other. We don’t have to agree, but we should try to understand. For example, while I reject Christian Zionism, that doesn’t mean I reject the Evangelicals who believe it. They are still my Christian brethren in spite of our differences.

@breeadail @Sensus_Fidelium @ArchDenver Lol are you aware of how the Rite of Exorcism works? Only a Bishop has the faculties (or someone he grants them to) to perform an Exorcism. Are you intimately aware of what a Bishop can and cannot do during an Exorcism or are you simply making things up?

@BCas22 @Sensus_Fidelium @ArchDenver OR, what Fr Ripperger is actually doing is dressed up as Tradition, but very much against it. The Rite is clear. As has been the Church.

FASCINATION WITH DEMONS: Why the cult of a “celebrity Exorcist” is hitting mainstream: Be Wary. @ArchDenver, will you respond to the inquiries of press on this issue? open.substack.com/pub/melodylyon…

@Sensus_Fidelium @breeadail @ArchDenver An understanding of spiritual warfare leads to tradition... modernist have always had an aversion to tradition.

the 'hit pieces' are getting tiresome. People act like he's sitting there yucking it up having a drink with demons. False. Plus, why aren't people excited that catholics are getting on big secular shows? Isn't that good evangelization? If not why isn't it? How many found those shows out and went to learn more about the faith? Now tell me how is THAT a bad thing? I never see Bree say Bishop Baron is doing too many shows on Shapiro but Fr R gets the heat? Why? Everything in that piece can be easily corrected. Fr Gabriel Amorth (in the TAN book recently published) "sometimes the demons MUST speak the truth" (as per the ritual) and remember there are accounts, like the exorcism of Nicola Aubry, that was a public exorcism, that the bishop there did and was documented. Catholic truths of the sacraments of Eucharist and confession were shown big time in that. Also, he's turned down more shows than he's been on. So enough of this.

@rickbrennanjr youtu.be/FfDKJnUA1Aw?si…

A common trope among Roman Catholic apologists on X is the claim that “the Reformation shattered the Church into 40,000 Protestant denominations while Rome remains unified.” That claim trades more on polemical rhetoric than it does reality. First, the “40,000” figure is a cataloging artifact, not a theological count. It reflects how organizations are registered across nations, languages, and networks—not 40,000 distinct confessions. By the same method, Roman Catholic and Orthodox bodies would also be multiplied across jurisdictions. The number obscures more than it clarifies. Second, this trope misunderstands the nature of Protestant unity. Protestants are not united by a single earthly head, but by a shared confession of what Scripture teaches is central: — the authority of the Word of God — the full deity and true humanity of Jesus Christ — justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone — the necessity of repentance and new birth — the final authority of the gospel itself Across Baptist, Presbyterian, Reformed, and evangelical traditions, these are not peripheral agreements. They are the core. They define the faith once delivered to the saints. This is not superficial alignment. It is doctrinal unity at the level where the gospel actually saves souls and drives the church forward in obedience to the Great Commission given by Christ: to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that he has commanded (Matt 28:19–20). By contrast, Rome’s unity is institutional and hierarchical. It is grounded in submission to the bishop of Rome as the visible principle of unity. But institutional cohesion is not the same as theological clarity. A body can be structurally unified while containing internal tensions on the gospel itself: particularly where justification, grace, and sacramental mediation are concerned. The truth is that the Reformation did not fracture a pure and unified Church. It exposed deep doctrinal divisions that already existed and called the Church back to the authority of Scripture and the gospel of Christ. So the real question is not: “How many denominations are there?” The real question is: “Where is the gospel rightly confessed?” On that question, Protestants stand united. Our unity is not built on a chair in Rome, but on a crucified and risen Christ. And that unity—spiritual, doctrinal, and grounded in the Word of God—is stronger than any merely institutional bond.

@megbasham youtu.be/FfDKJnUA1Aw?si…

Can anyone recommend a Protestant podcaster who offers an apologia of our theology against Catholic theology who is a clear creationist—six days, global flood? I know there are some who do this who are local flood, symbolic creation type of people and I’m not interested in them. If it’s someone, for example, who would promote Biologos and Francis Collins or work with Biologos, I don’t want that guy. Is there anyone like this?

@megbasham The Catholic Controversy, St. Francis de Sales

@melodymlyons Is this real life?

I did not write this to be contentious, but to help those who are vulnerable to darkness. Jesus, Light of the World, be our rescue, our respite, our joy.