Cancelled priests & the time for courage
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Summary
In this special Christmas edition of LifeSite News, Father Peter Williams shares the story of a priest who stood up to the church for its anti-abortion policies and stood up against abortion, homosexuality, and contraception. God bless!
Transcript
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Believe it or not, there are all sorts of priests who actually see the scandals happening
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in the church and in the world, and yet they say nothing, or next to nothing.
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But you know, there's some very real reasons why they keep silent.
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Sure, that silent harms the faithful, but speaking up can have real consequences for
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More and more priests are suspended, some for celebrating the traditional Latin Mass, some
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for the Novus Ordo Mass in Latin, doing orthodox things, and still others for standing against
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Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, retweeted Father William's video with these words of
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encouragement, and I quote from Bishop Strickland,
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Please pray for this priest and so many others caught up in similar situations.
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Pray that priests and bishops may be drawn close to the sacred heart of Jesus Christ our
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Lord, living close to his heart in the Eucharist, is our greatest hope for peace and justice.
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Unfortunately, Father Williams was removed from his parish despite his valiant effort.
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This is Father Peter Williams coming to you from near Roanoke, Virginia.
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On the second day of my three-day travels to Naples, Florida, I'm driving a 25-foot U-Haul truck
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with all of my possessions behind me because I've been asked to leave Springfield, Vermont.
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And it's a—the truck was packed and provided for by my wonderful parishioners at Holy Family
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Several priests have been suspended for celebrating the Mass in Latin, even if they're only Novus
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Father Sixto Eduardo Varela Santa Maria, a priest in the Diocese of Alauela, Costa Rica, was
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suspended by the Bishop of the Diocese, Bishop Bartolome BuĂges Oler, for offering the Novus
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Ordo Mass in traditional—and, by the way, still official—the tongue of the Church, Latin,
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Father Luis Hernandez Solis, the Diocese and Communications Director, wrote a letter that
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explained that Varela had already been warned by the Bishop against celebrating the Novus
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Ordo Mass in Latin, and that the priest had previously celebrated the traditional Latin
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But he continued to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass after the publication of the Pope's
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It was explained that the punishments on the priest, such as being removed from his parish—get
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this—so it's not only removed from the parish, it's also enrolled in a psychological treatment
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And they say those are two—are expected to be measures that will restore the ecclesial
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So, you've got to be insane and sent off to an asylum to not do what the Church says you
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But anyway, the priest—obviously, Father Varela—has been treated unjustly.
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Canon 928 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law states, the Eucharistic celebration is to be carried
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out in the Latin language, or in another language, provided that the liturgical texts have been
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In other words, Varela—Father Varela was acting within the bounds of the law when celebrating
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The very first Christmas was a dark time, with the world in the clutches of a foreign and
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hostile power, and with religious leaders betraying God and their flocks at every opportunity.
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But yet, it was in that very time that the angels joyfully announced to the shepherds
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the birth of the long-awaited Messiah, the Holy One of Israel, Jesus the Christ.
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Millions of people worldwide are searching for truth and light, as our fragile world seems
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Our work at LifeSite News results from an unwavering trust in our holy call to evangelize, to bring
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the world the truth—ultimately, the fullness of the truth himself.
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At LifeSite, we pledge ourselves anew to boldly ring out the truth of Christ on life, faith,
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required to keep our news mission and operations going.
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So we rely on your gracious help and support to keep our truthful news mission going, especially
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as we close 2023 and embrace the lean and early winter months.
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This is our largest goal of the entire year, and one that requires each of you to prayerfully
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It is only through your love, prayers, and generous support for our mission that we are
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able to continue reporting the truth without compromise.
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This Christmas season, let each of us do what we can to be the light that we are called to
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be in this culture of darkness, and so we can enable the truth himself to shine ever so brightly
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So I want to thank you so much for your unwavering support and continued prayers for LifeSite News.
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And I pray you have a happy and holy Christmas.
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And that is the key to understanding the battle surrounding the Latin Mass.
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Why is there such a strong push to get rid of the old rite of the Mass, the old Latin Mass?
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Why is Pope Francis and many of the high-ranking churchmen he has surrounded himself with bent on
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stopping out a flourishing community of young people seeking to deepen their faith life with
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a Mass that's the same one attended by the greatest saints the church has ever known for over a thousand
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What is this hatred for a form of liturgy or worship that, from an outside perspective, can
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only be seen as a, perhaps even a neat gimmick to revitalize a failing institution?
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It's like the return of old Coke, since new Coke was a sales disaster.
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Well, the answer to this central question is contained in a Latin phrase,
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The law of prayer is the law of faith, or more loosely translated, how we pray is how we believe.
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And that is the key to understanding the battle surrounding the Latin Mass.
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Why are all the liberal prelates stacked up on one side of this debate?
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Why the Pope, Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Gregory, Cardinal Roach, Cardinal Farrell, Bishop John
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Why are all the faithful Catholic prelates on the other side fighting for the retention of
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Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Serra, Cardinal Zen, Archbishop Vigano, Bishop Schneider, and more?
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Well, there are all sorts of reasons, for sure.
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But I wanted to highlight one reason that perhaps few think about.
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All those liberal prelates that I mentioned would all be regarded as heretics in more Catholic
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They oppose the Church's perennial teaching on homosexuality, for starters.
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They also oppose the teaching against contraception.
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They fight the Church's encouragement for large families.
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They waver on the pro-life teachings, for instance, in their glorification of pro-abortion
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politicians and the insistence on giving them Holy Communion.
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They are the opposite in these respects from their faithful counterparts, also mentioned
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So, how does this play out, then, in terms of the traditional Latin Mass?
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Well, you will find that attendees of the old Latin Mass reject all the new-fangled anti-Catholic
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nouveau theology that these liberal prelates promote.
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Check out this survey of Latin Mass Catholics compared to mainstream Catholics of the Novus
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The traditional Latin Mass national survey carried out by Father Donald Closter, who celebrated
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both the Novus Ordo Mass and the traditional Mass for 20 years, he noticed big differences
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between the people attending the two different types of Masses.
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So, he decided to do a survey of Latin Mass Catholics to see where they stood on key issues
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which were common to the surveys of Catholics in the general public, carried out by major
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And the results of this survey were astounding.
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Pew, the big national pollster, found that 89% of nominal Catholics or of Novus Ordo Catholics
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You know what the number was among traditional Latin Mass Catholics surveyed?
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89% of Novus Ordo Catholics approve of contraception.
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Pew, again, Pew Research found that 51% of Novus Ordo Catholics approve abortion.
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Among traditional Latin Mass Catholics, it was 1%.
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Also, Daily Wire found, in a massive survey that they did, they found that 67% of Novus
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And among traditional Latin Mass Catholics, it was 2%.
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Go check it out at LifeSite News for the full story.
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Check out the research, how they did it, everything else.
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But to me, it is no wonder that liberal prelates in the Church want to stomp out the traditional
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We recently had Pope Francis join with Anglican leaders from England and Scotland on an ecumenical
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And I think just on the last night there, they all were on stage and they gave a joint blessing
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But, Your Excellency, you've been quite clear about these dangers which are inherent in such
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I think you've mentioned before that the term inter-religious dialogue is itself very, very
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dangerous and it presents a lot of confusion for the faithful.
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I wonder if you'd speak a little bit about that.
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Yes, I consider the wrong ecumenism or the so-called inter-religious dialogue, as it is done currently
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and was already initiated by the Second Vatican Council, a great danger because it contains inherently
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in this form which is done in this form which is done and even in some affirmations in the
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texts of the Second Vatican Council, it contains the danger of doctrinal relativism.
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No one can deny this and so even exteriorly, it is a display of that basically all are equals.
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The different Christian confessions, there is no, they can continue in this, everyone in his own way.
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But then basically, we can, we have not to change.
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Then there is a no stable and constant unchanging truth, which is only one.
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And there is undermined by these meetings and actions, as you mentioned, and other similar.
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It's undermined the truth that there is only one Church of God, and this is the Catholic Church.
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The Church of Peter, united with the Holy See, the chair of Peter, is the popes.
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They are transmitting a message that it is okay that there is an Anglican Church, a Presbyterian, and all the others.
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Because these non-Catholic communities are containing objective errors, which God condemns, which God does not accept, errors, doctrinal errors, or practical errors in sacraments, in some morality,
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which are contrary to the will of God, which are contrary to the will of God, and what is contrary to the will of God cannot bring blessings,
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And such gestures of ecumenical meetings or interligious dialogue are undermining this truth.
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And therefore, I think these actions and meetings had to change, basically.
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Of course, we have to show our charity and love for our separated brothers.
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But nevertheless, state that they are unfortunately in an objective error, that they are called by God to join the Holy Mother Church,
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which is the Catholic Church, which is the will of God, they are joined to abandon their errors.
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Of course, we have to help them patiently with a dialogue, but a crystal clear dialogue, to help them to see their own errors,
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help them, I repeat, with charity, but with clarity.
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When we Catholics are saying to our separate brothers, Christians, showing them respectfully, of course, their errors,
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because they cannot continue to live in these errors, it's contrary to the will of God,
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and to invite them to join the Holy Mother Church, which is only one Catholic Church,
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the Church of God is the Catholic Church, not only subsists in.
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This is a very ambiguous expression, because then it can suppose that there are other churches or other communities which got established.
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No, there is only one Catholic Church, willed by God, and all the others are abandoned the Holy Mother Church,
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and have this charity, this respect, to call them back, this prayers, to the unity of the one Holy Catholic, Apostolic Church.
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Jesus is our only Lord, and that He desires that all humanity, for all time, may embrace eternal life in Him.
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Bishop Joseph Strickland has issued a stunning letter.
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He knows what's coming, he sees the Synod on Synodality is about to take off,
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and he knows that he's under threat of being cancelled.
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He wants to give his people, his flock, a warning.
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It is one of the most heartfelt letters you will ever read.
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On behalf of a bishop to his diocese, go to lifesitenews.com right now and read the full letter.
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I want to give you here some of the excerpts from it.
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In this time of great turmoil in the Church and in the world, I must speak to you from a Father's heart
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in order to warn you of the evils that threaten us, and to assure you of the joy and hope that we have always in our Lord Jesus Christ.
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The evil and false message that has invaded the Church, Christ's bride, is that Jesus is only one among many,
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and that it is not necessary for His message to be shared with all humanity.
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This idea must be shunned and refuted at every turn.
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We must share the joyful good news that Jesus is our only Lord,
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and that He desires that all humanity, for all time, may embrace eternal life in Him.
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And then, the bishop goes on to quote from St. Paul to the Galatians.
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I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel.
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Not that there is another, but there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.
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But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel other than the one that we preached to you,
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let that one be accursed, as we have said before and now say again,
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if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed, end quote.
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So, Bishop Strickland goes on in his letter, and he says,
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Again, as your spiritual father, I feel it is important to reiterate the following basic truths
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that have always been understood by the church from time immemorial,
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and to emphasize that the church exists not to redefine matters of faith,
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but to safeguard the deposit of faith as it has been handed down to us from our Lord himself,
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through the apostles and the saints and martyrs.
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Again, hearkening back to St. Paul's warning to the Galatians,
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any attempts to pervert the true gospel message must be categorically rejected
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as injurious to the Bride of Christ and to her individual members.
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He goes on then to list seven points of faith that you need to read at LifeSaintNews.com,
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and he warns that these are the ones we must stick to and the ones being threatened.