John 1:29-34 1-15-2023 (As built, Amite #529)
- Doubt… it’s a million to one shot… I mean pure coincidence… no way no how… it’s just one of those things… leads to doubt… circumspect… we’re not sure… we begin to take a step back…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ it’s uncanny… it’s a million to one shot… it’s unheard of… the coincidence… pure coincidences… between President Lincoln and President Kennedy… I mean Lincoln becomes president in eighteen sixty-one… Kennedy becomes president in Nineteen sixty-one… isn’t it amazing that both presidents have Vice Presidents named Johnson… it’s a coincidence right that both presidents were shot from behind with their wives with them… it’s amazing… it is think about it… Lincoln… the guy that shoots Lincoln shoots him in a theater and runs to a warehouse… the guy that shoots Kennedy shoots him in a warehouse and runs to a theater… man it’s got to be a million to one shot because Lincoln is actually… the carriage he drove was a Kennedy carriage… Kennedy was in a Lincoln Continental… and you know what’s amazing my brothers and sisters in Christ both men were shot from behind… both assassins were assassinated… and they were both assassinated on Good Friday… see doubt has already creeped in… it’s a million to one shot… you honestly believe that the good Lord looked down… Oh… oh my me… it’s a miracle… Peter get Thomas… you’re not going to believe it… watch look it’s a hundred years… look what happened…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ that is exactly what that Gospel is about… I do not know him… wait a minute… you’re three months older… Mary comes to your house with Elizabeth and Zachariah the high priest… you dance in the womb… he’s your cousin… and you’re telling me you’ve never seen him before… that’s exactly what he’s telling you… he’s saying the last time I saw you was in the womb… and the only reason I danced is because the Blessed Mother entered with a greeting first intercession prayer… as soon as that’s over he goes to school…we say the wilderness… but there is a school out there called the Essenes… they are… celibate men who are dedicated to the temple… they do not belong to the Pharisees or the Sadducees… they are very strict… they are unshaven… they have certain eating habits when they are outside of their compound… locust and wild honesty… they often times wear a beard… hence why you see sometimes St. Joseph with a beard… so they are a very strict order… he’s saying I didn’t know him until he walks up and then I see him… my brothers and sisters in Christ listen to what I’m telling you… John the Baptist recognizes him by sight when he sees him… he feels it… it’s the essence… it’s the understanding… and just so you know… you’re a first century Jew you need to understand these things… as soon as you know this… when you hear the words that the heavens were opened… it’s not like the clouds parted and it’s a beautiful day… it’s Schismo… schism in their life… somebody tore it open… then a dove descends… then God the Father says this is my son who I am well pleased… that’s how everybody comes to know him… but John the Baptist knows before him… he’s telling you… the reason I know him is because I was baptized in the womb… now I’ve come to recognize him… now I know him by sight… no doubt about it… that guy’s the Messiah… my brothers and sisters in Christ now stop… as a first century Jew here is the problem… everybody’s looking for a Messiah… but the problem is who are you looking for… to some it would be a warrior… somebody that can bring the country back together because it’s fractured… some people are looking for a political guy who has the ways and the means… some people are looking for pure money… that he’s just got the ability to simply just purchase it and make it happen… and then there’s another group my brothers and sisters in Christ that have no idea who they’re looking for… the fact of the matter is you know what they’re looking for… they’re looking for Moses… Deuteronomy says it… Moses says it in the book… he says you’ve got to look for somebody like me… I’m going to take you out of slavery… what does Christ want to do… pull you out of the slavery of sin… I’m going to bring you into the desert and bring you Manna… which is Blessed bread from Heaven… and then Christ says I’m the bread of life… oh stop… my brothers and sisters in Christ if they have Blessed Bread… Manna… that fell from the alter of God… if they had it Blessed… ours cannot be less than… it can’t be a relic, theory or conjecture… it has to be greater than… the New Testament is always greater… as a matter of fact Moses is going to say I’m going to bring you to a new promised land… the good Lord is going to tell you I’m trying to get you to Heaven… and by the way Moses is saying there is going to be a new temple… Christ is saying in three days they will destroy the temple and I will raise it up… they’re looking for the wrong guy… they’re not looking for somebody who’s going to be poor… born in Bethlehem with so sandals… and no roof over his head… they are looking for the wrong one but it doesn’t change the fact that it is true…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ go back in scripture… all of our best players are the ones plagued with doubt… why does Mary Magdalene get up on Easter Sunday… she would rather be near a dead savior… no listen she thinks he’s dead… her words even confirmed that he’s dead… when she gets there and the rock is moved… she sees Christ… thinks he’s a gardener… and says where have you laid him i.e where did you take the body to go bury him yet again… and when he says… Mary… she says Rabboni… do you know she grabs him so hard… in Greek she literally tackles him… do you remember the words that he said… he said do not touch me for I have yet to ascend to my Father… so listen to what I’m telling you… when he tells the good thief on the cross… this day you will be with me in paradise… no doubt about it… he’s not in heaven on that day… because the good Lord hasn’t gotten their yet he just told Mary Magdalene three days later I have yet to get to my Father… so I want to erase the doubt of Abraham’s bosom … where is Moses, John the Baptist, Jeremiah or St. Joseph… where are they before the gates are opened… Abraham’s bosom… the garden of Eden… the garden of paradise… that’s why he says this day you will be with me in paradise… our best players are plagued with doubt… but it didn’t keep Mary Magdalene from doing what she needed to do… that’s the point… just because you had the doubt doesn’t mean you stop doing what your doing… my brothers and sisters in Christ Longinus… if you had to start a city… and you’re a Roman provincial… you’re Caesar… you’re Pilate… you’re Herod… king Herod’s son… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you knew that the first guy you want Is Longinus… everybody respected Longinus… he’s the one in the battle that lead everybody to safety… he’s the one that made sure his troops got fed and they did what they needed to do… he was the one that made sure they got the supplies… if you’re going to be in a foxhole Longinus is the one you want next to you… so when he makes the statement… truly that man is the son of God… can I tell you there must have been doubt before… because why else would you make the statement… he learns it through he crucifixion… that’s the only times he’s confronted with him… for him to make that statement is erasing the doubt… do you know about six months to a year later he is beheaded… by the same guys that he protected… why… because Pilate said man I want his head on a pike… guess what… his head goes on a pike… my brothers and sisters in Christ I tell you these things because doubt is creeping into your heads and I need you to stop it before it grows too far… you start to question whether the church is true… listen to this… I don’t care who the manager is… I don’t care who the management or the pontiff is per se. I don’t really care per se what the president says or doesn’t say… the only thing I care about is what you do and what you say…it’s your soul I’m worried about… you know the truth… don’t get caught up in all this rhetoric you know the truth no doubt about it the church is true… do not get caught up in the management… what they say or don’t say… the only thing that matters is that you know the truth… because it’s going to be your soul… what’s going to be our card on judgement day… you think you’re going to stand up before the good Lord and say not my fault… Francis… go talk to him… go talk to Biden… somebody needs to might as well be you… you go talk to him… my brothers and sisters in Christ you’re judgment is your judgment… so what’s your whole card… that’s my problem is you allow doubt to get in… and you start to question because of the pedophile issue… the homosexual issue… malfeasance… so because it’s not he church therefore it’s all contaminated… you know better then that… my brothers and sisters in Christ you can’t allow doubt to come in… go back and think… let me put it to you this way… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you and I lived in the time of Christ and we hear he’s crucified… we don’t make it to the crucifixion… but you have friends that want to be converted… you have questions about the faith… who do you go to… you’re going to look for the twelve… Peter, James, John or Nathanial… what if it’s the year sixty-six… and you find out they are all dead less John… what are you going to do now… you’re going to go find John… did you know there are about ten pontiffs from Peter before John departs… who do you think those ten guys went to… to break ties… who do you think those ten guys went to… to make sure this was done right… my brothers and sisters in Christ I can tie myself back to Bishop Munch… Bishop Munch can literally tie himself to John Paul II and from John Paul II I can tie myself all the way back to Peter… here’s my point… you can’t have forty thousand truths in the world today… that’s insane… my brothers and sisters in Christ every time you and I would worship with Christ in his day no matter what city we are in… Jerusalem to Caesarea Philippi to the Sea of Galilee… we all worshiped the exact same way… my brothers and sisters in Christ the good Lord gave us a rule book to follow and the rule book is the Holy Mother Church and the teachings of the mass… I’m telling you there is no doubt about it… I’ve already been everything else… I mean at some point I even made it up because it’s just easier… I mean I like once saved always saved… but I mean what the Sam Hill is that… I mean I just can sleep around… do what I want… cheat on people… taxes… backstab… and all I got to do proclaim is for him to be the savior of the world… I mean are they the Ten Commandments or the ten sticky notes… you did write them with your finger didn’t you big guy… I mean you did it twice… so my point to you is why do you allow doubt to creep into your heads… why do you worry about going to confession… well Father I just go directly to the big guy… the big guy never said it… he never did it… didn’t baptize anybody either for that matter… Hebrews five… I will chose priest among men for the forgiveness of sins no one is to take it upon themselves… so why is it that you feel that you can still go directly to him… what’s your whole card when you see him… I just felt I could… did you read my book… did you study the scripture… did you not read Hebrews five… my brothers and sisters in Christ go to confession… throw up and walk away… every sacrament has an outward sign… Thomas… so that you know what took place… water hits your head so you know your sins are forgiven… you wear white so that you soul can be seen as I see it… when you come to communion you chew the Host… when you get anointed after mass I put oil in your hands… you go to confession you hear your sins are forgiven… my brothers and sisters in Christ… everything in the church is true… just because you don’t like the rule doesn’t mean it’s not applicable… my brothers and sisters in Christ how many times do I hear people say well father it’s contraception I got to tell you… we want children but we really want them on our terms and we’re financially we’re not ready… is he the God of supply and demand or is he not… is he omnipresent or is he not… are you going to take children when you’re supposed to because when he wants it and he wills it… did you not sing the Psalm today your will be done… my brothers and sisters in Christ therein lies the point… you make a little exception here… in about a year from now it’s going to be this wide…
- The question for you and I is you’ve got to get the doubt out of your head… how many times do I hear you proclaim to me… father I’m praying for my daughter… my son… they can’t get out of the woods… oh my God… man it’s drugs… it’s alcohol… it’s this and that… it’s the in-laws… man I pray for them but look nothing’s happening… I tell you what… no prayers… cut them off… that’s it no prayers everybody go home… now watch how far everybody falls… your prayers kept them from falling all the rest of the way… in prison… not getting out… committing a crime… possibly maybe even suicide… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you when the devil plants the seed of doubt what he does is he festers it and grows… and pretty soon it starts leaping and you make exceptions to the faith… I’m telling you… stick to your guns… I promise you… listen to me… I promise you that your prayers are being heard… the answer may be no… it may be not right now… if our job is to get to heaven… and he’s the God… and he’s the one that controls Heaven… shouldn’t he be in a better spot to determine what works for us… so maybe the answer isn’t no… It isn’t right now… or maybe the answer is yes… you ever thought for a second that the reason he keeps telling you no… is because that’s the only time you ever come back to him… you ever thought the reason he doesn’t answer your prayers right away is because he will never hear from you again if he does… you ever thought for a second he just loves being around you so much that if he keeps telling you no for at least a little while he will see you more times then not… because once he gives you what you need… he won’t see you until you need him again… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you stay close to the church more now then ever before… if there’s ever a time to double down on going to the sacraments… to receive the Eucharist… remember his words to you… my Flesh is true food… my Blood is true drink… and if I am not in you and you are not in me you do not have eternal life… I don’t care how you count this by.,.. you don’t go to mass… your chances of making it are negligible… say what you will but the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives… keep Holy the Lords day… there’s only one thing Holy… and it’s in that Tabernacle… that’s why you’ve got to get married in front of him and not on the beach and not in somebody’s home… because you’ve got to be in front of him… that’s why you and I have to receive him… because it’s all we’ve got… I’m telling you… do not allow the devil to get in your head…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I leave you with this… may the devil pull it out of your dead hands when your through… doubt or not… you finish what we started… a poor prayer prayed is prayed nonetheless… that one prayer that you want to stop praying because you’re tired and frustrated… that’s the one that’s going to win the day… my brothers and sisters in Christ doubt kills more things than failure ever will…
