The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

"The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things."

The Holy Ghost teaches the Church. The Church has been commissioned by the Holy Ghost, and therefore what she teaches and rules are not the words of men but of God. "Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

The Church is composed of men who of themselves are prone to err. The popes, the bishops, the priests are all men, and as men are not infallible. If the Church were a purely human institution it would have collapsed a long time ago as have so many human institutions throughout the Church's two-thousand year history.

The Church is not of human origin, but of divine origin. It is the Holy Ghost that acts through the men in the Church to protect them and ourselves from the errors that we are so prone to by our fallen nature. "The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you." Therefore what the Church teaches is not the word of man; it is the word of God; the Holy Ghost teaches us through the Church and makes use of her mouth to bring to our knowledge all that is necessary for us to believe and do in order to be saved. We must therefore believe what the Church teaches, because it is the teaching of God not men.

All the power that popes and bishops have comes from the Holy Ghost. "Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops to rule the Church of God." (Acts. 20: 28) [It is the Holy Ghost who has chosen and commissioned the bishops.] As rulers and nations govern through their officers, so the Holy Ghost governs the Church by the pastors as His instruments, and defends her against all enemies, so that the gates of Hell can never prevail against her.

While the Holy Ghost can and often does work with individuals directly, He does not offer them the same protection against error as He gives to those whom He has commissioned to rule the Church. Therefore we must understand that the Church is not a democracy or a grass roots establishment. The veracity and sanctity of the Church is not dependent upon the number of "supporters" that she can accumulate. What the Holy Ghost teaches and therefore the Church teaches, is the truth: yesterday, today, and forever. The truth can never change as so often the "will of the people" changes.

What must one logically and rightly conclude when a man who presents himself as a pope declares that the United Nations is the last hope of concord and peace? ("Paul VI's" address to the UN Oct 4, 1965) Can this be the voice of the Holy Ghost? Can God have us believe that our last hope is in a human institution and not in His divine institution?

Or, what are we to think when another appearing as a pope (the vicar of Jesus Christ) embraces Dr. Robert Runcie (An Anglican "clergy-man") and declares that we are sister Churches? ("John Paul II" May 29, 1982) Anglicans are Protestants with invalid orders. They fell away from the Church with Henry VIII. They were and are inspired by the devils who are the teachers of all heresies. They cannot have the same father as the Church nor be Her sister.

These and many other instances should strike fear into the hearts of all conscientious Catholics. Can the Church make a mistake in matters of Faith, Doctrine, or Morals? Can the Holy Ghost change His mind? There is a definite conflict that must be resolved.

It appears that these men were not guided by the Holy Ghost and therefore are not what they appeared to be or claimed to be. This means that they were the heads of a human institution (Novus Ordo) and not the Church established by Christ which is protected and maintained by the Holy Ghost. The Roman See was vacated with the death of Pope Pius XII.

But, the Church cannot die! The teaching, sanctifying, and governing mission of the true Church lives on today in those bishops who were rightly called, guided, and protected by the Holy Ghost. To deny that the Church today is lacking in any of her aspects to teach, sanctify, or govern is to deny the Holy Ghost and His promise to remain with us to the end of time.

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