Timely Reflections on Pentecost

David Martin | The Daily Knight

Pentecost is a time to sharpen our spiritual antennas that we may better discern the spirits and know the way. For the Church today is caught in the grips of confusion and error because the hierarchy has cast aside the age-old guidance of the Holy Spirit.  

In the sixteenth century Luther and his minions waged their antichurch revolt under the guise of a reformation to trick the unwary into thinking this was the work of God to bring man back to the Gospel.

This very same stratagem has been employed in our time. The Council of Vatican II set in motion an insidious revolt from the Faith but this was done under the guise of a reform to trick the unwary into thinking this was the work of the Holy Spirit to bring about a New Pentecost or renewal. The so-called renewal in fact was the work of Satan to lure the Church away from God and unite it with the world.

A True Renewal

Pentecost is a time to wake up and renew our allegiance to the Holy Spirit. Through the centuries the Holy Spirit guided the tradition of the Faith without change. The Holy Spirit bestowed the jewels of tradition on the faithful and drew souls out of the world that they may embrace the Faith. A true renewal is to return to all that the Holy Spirit guided our way including the Traditional Latin Mass and the unchanging doctrine of the Faith.

The Spirit is Contrary to the World

The Holy Spirit enlightens souls to understand that while we live in the world, we cannot be of the world. The spirit impels us to lock the world out of our lives and homes, and especially out of the Church. We must think with the mind of Christ, not with the mind of the world, lest we get swept away by the world and perish. “For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)

Jesus told the Jews, “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.” (John 8:23) When Pilate asked Christ what he had done that caused the Jews to deliver him up, Jesus answered:

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would certainly strive that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now my kingdom is not from hence.” (John 18:36)

Under the direction of the Holy Spirit, true Christians follow Christ out of this world. They are “as pilgrims and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11) passing through a land whose language and ways they know not. True Catholics understand that the world is not their “common home.”

Confusion of Spirits

The problem today is that a wide body of the Church is flowing downstream with the current of the world thinking this is the work of the Holy Spirit. There’s a confusion of spirits where Catholics can’t distinguish between light and darkness, between good and evil, between the Church and the antichurch. Sr. Lucy of Fatima spoke of the “diabolical disorientation” that would confuse the Catholic hierarchy, and this was a key point of the Third Secret of Fatima given to Lucy by the Virgin Mary.

The Third Secret

The gist of the Third Secret was that Satan would capture and possess cardinals at the highest levels of the Church and would use them to misguide the Church but in such a way that this would be done under the illusion of divine guidance. What many would call the Holy Spirit guiding the Church to a renewal would in fact be the devil driving the Church to its own destruction.

Today’s ‘renewal’ is not a renewal but is something brand new. It’s not the work of Holy Spirit yet its promoters blindly see Pentecost as ‘their day’ not realizing that it represents everything they are against, namely modesty, chastity, family values, quietude, prayer, austerity, doctrine, obedience, love of the commandments, reverence for the Eucharist, and allegiance to tradition.

Pentecostals Not Connected with the Holy Spirit

Pentecost is about our encounter with God but many have made it an encounter with the devil. We refer especially to the so-called Charismatic-Pentecostal Movement, a diabolical sect wherein the devil presents himself as the Holy Spirit for the purpose of luring Catholics away from the institutionalized Church. They call upon the spirit but what they are calling down are demons.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider refers to the Charismatics as "a new form of religion," which is an accurate description, for therein we see the faithful stretching forth their hands to strange gods and spirits that our forefathers knew not. It’s pagan idolatry.

The speaking in tongues associated with this movement is a sham. His Excellency points out that after Pentecost the Apostles were not "crying, dancing and clapping hands" nor falling on the floor. The miracle of speaking in tongues at Pentecost was that the Apostles under inspiration spoke intelligibly in their own tongue while those who came from round and about each heard them speaking in their own tongue. (Acts 2:1-11) They didn’t engage in the mindless babbling we hear today. Rolling on the floor and foaming at the mouth are not the work of the Holy Spirit.

Channeling is Demonic Possession

America’s top exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger has gone on record as saying, "The worst case of possession that I ever had was a woman who asked for the gift of tongues and she got it." Father Ripperger describes the so-called speaking in tongues as “a speech pattern, an authentic pattern of speech—there's speech coming out, language coming out of the person's mouth and they don't know what they're saying." He says, “There's a name for that, [it’s] called channeling. It's where you open yourself up to let the 'spirits' speak through you."

Hence this speaking in tongues is a form of demonic possession. Fr. Ripperger makes it clear that Satan is the moving spirit behind the Charismatic Movement. “I cannot tell you how many people I had to clean up from the charismatic renewal.”

The demonic spirit behind the charismatics is the same spirit that set in motion the “renewal” since Vatican II, which is an encounter with the world. The Holy Spirit calls us to forget the world and embrace things eternal, and to remember St. Paul’s counsel to “Extinguish not the spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” (1 Thess. 5:19-21)