In a remarkable and rare move, a state governor is defying the order of
its highest court. Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma is resisting last
week's state Supreme Court ruling
holding the Ten Commandments monument an unconstitutional violation of
separation of Church and State, and Fallin claims the monument is here
to stay — at least for now...
The governor says outright that "the court got it wrong." In a statement Tuesday, Fallin said:
The Ten Commandments monument was built to recognize and honor the
historical significance of the Commandments in our state's and nation's
systems of laws. The monument was built and maintained with private
dollars. It is virtually identical to a monument on the grounds of the
Texas State Capitol which the United States Supreme Court ruled to be
permissible. It is a privately funded tribute to historical events, not
a taxpayer funded endorsement of any religion, as some have alleged.
Nevertheless, last week the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma's
Ten Commandments monument was impermissible. Their decision was deeply
disturbing to many in our Legislature, many in the general public, and
to me.
Oklahoma is a state where we respect the rule of law, and we will not
ignore the state courts or their decisions. However, we are also a
state with three co-equal branches of government. At this time, Attorney
General Scott Pruitt, with my support, has filed a petition requesting a
rehearing of the Ten Commandments case. Additionally, our Legislature
has signaled its support for pursuing changes to our state Constitution
that will make it clear the Ten Commandments monument is legally
permissible. If legislative efforts are successful, the people of
Oklahoma will get to vote on the issue.
During this process, which will involve both legal appeals and
potential legislative and constitutional changes, the Ten Commandments
monument will remain on the Capitol grounds.
(Church Militant) Monday, we
showed the voice of Scripture on Judas being in Hell; yesterday we
showed constant witness of the Fathers of the Church.
Today: the witness of the saints in approved private revelation, and
specifically, the Church-approved revelations of God the Father to St.
Catherine of Siena.
In her famous Dialogue, St. Catherine reveals the following that was told to her by God the Father:
So the despair of Judas displeased Me more and was a greater insult
to My Son than his betrayal had been. Therefore, such as these are
reproved for this false judgment of considering their sin to be greater
than My mercy, and for this they are punished with the demons and
tortured eternally with them.
Notice again the sin of Judas betraying Our Blessed Lord is not the one for which he is damned, but the despair of God’s mercy. But whatever the sin, he is damned.
From Scriptures, from Doctors and Fathers of the Church, from Church-approved private revelations of the saints — nowhere in 2000 years is there a voice in the Church declaring that Judas was saved.
And if you include Church-approved private revelations as credible
sources, then there is actually a three-fold revelation of Judas being
damned from each of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity: God the Father
to St. Catherine; God the Son as related by the Gospel writers; and the
Holy Spirit as revealed to St. Peter and recounted through inspiration
in the Acts of the Apostles. Add to this the deep reflection and
meditations by Popes, Doctors, and Fathers, and it is simply UN-Catholic
to try and hold that Judas was saved.
And as to the objection that the Church does not teach that Judas is
damned as part of official teaching — that’s a pointless
objection. There are many things the Church holds that are not part of
declared dogmatic teaching. Something doesn’t have to be officially
declared to be true; it’s just that whatever is declared definitively is true.
Moreover, we should never look to the Church to declare anything
definitively that does not bear directly on our salvation. The declaring
of someone as being damned does not bear on your or my salvation.
And switching gears here to the question of private revelation, it
can never contradict official Church teaching. This is one of the ways
that so many fraudulent apparitions are discovered. Our Lady, or whoever
the supposed vision is of, says some oddball thing, or in other cases
simply never seems to say anything related to Church teaching. It’s one
of the biggest reasons for totally dismissing the supposed revelations
of Our Lady of Medjugorje.
Having allegedly appeared every day now for over 30 years — including
many multiple appearances in the same day to some of the various seers —
this means if that apparition is true, that Our Lady has appeared more
than 12,000 times, day after day, with no end in sight.
In all those appearances (more than 12,000) she has never, ever —
not once — breathed a word about the worldwide slaughter of over one billion
children in the womb. She has never said a word about the evil of
sodomy and its quickly growing acceptance by even many Catholics. She
has never breathed a word about the increase in sin, homosexuality in
the clergy and so forth.
But according to the visionaries, she has said things like the differences in world religions don’t matter to God.
That is a fake apparition, regardless of how many people who have gone their have felt
about it. Feelings do not make something true. The truth makes
something true. The supposed visions at Medjugorje are the perfect
apparition for a Church drowning in feel-good emotions. They appeal to
Catholics on an emotional level, not an intellectual level, that is to
say, an authentically spiritual level.
This is a fake private revelation, especially when you consider that nothing has really been revealed.
But in cases like real apparitions and private revelations
such as that of God the Father to St. Catherine of Siena, not only is
nothing revealed contrary to Church teaching or tradition — it all agrees with and supports already-existing tradition and teaching.
When it comes to the question of Judas, there can be no private
revelation revealing he is saved because such a private revelation would
stand in contradiction to close to 2000 years of well-grounded
(including Scripture) belief that he is damned.
Even the early fourth-century saint of the East Ephraim said, "Judas
was the treasurer of his poison [referring to Satan]; And although
Satan’s form is hidden, in Judas he is totally visible. Though Satan’s
history is a long one, it is summed up in the Iscariot."
The Holy Spirit inspired the prophets a thousand years before Our
Lord to speak of this; Our Blessed Lord Himself spoke of this; the first
Pope spoke of it; later Popes spoke of it; the Early Fathers spoke of
it; later Doctors of the Church spoke of it; the saints down through the
ages spoke it; private revelation spoke of it.
And of it there can be no doubt: Judas is damned.
But the effort to “say it isn’t so” still continues, with feeble
attempts to deny it. One in particular has created much much confusion
in people’s minds in understanding some fundamental truths of the
Faith. It is the subject of tomorrow’s Vortex, and it is the attempt to
say Judas had to betray Jesus in order for us to be redeemed. Not a word of truth to that.
"Growing religious pluralism is a factor that calls for
serious consideration. The ever more active presence of
Pentecostal and Evangelical communities, not only in Colombia, but
also in many regions of Latin America, cannot be ignored or underestimated." - Pope Benedict XVI
"Our Lord was crucified by the nice people who held that religion was all right in its place, so long as its place was not here, where it might demand of them a change of heart. The gravest error of the nice people in all ages is the denial of sin."
Following prayers for Servant of God Archbishop Fulton Sheen's intercession, anonymous donor gives building to RealCatholicTV (now ChurchMilitantTV.)
"Vatican II said the laity should be involved in promoting the gospel.
Well, here we are." - Michael Voris
"Today the word ecclesia militans [Church Militant] is somewhat out of fashion, but in reality we can understand ever better that it is true, that it bears truth in itself." - Pope Benedict XVI
"Who is going to save our Church? Do not look to
priests, do not look to the bishops. It's up to you, the laity, to
remind our priests to be priests and our bishops to be bishops." -
Archbishop Fulton Sheen
