The John-Henry Westen Show - Don’t Be Ashamed of Christ： The FEAR of Judgement

00:00:00.000 That doesn't just cut to the heart. It shames the silence of so many shepherds, and maybe sometimes

00:00:07.780 us too. My friends, I have a public confession to make, a confession of my sins. I know that's

00:00:16.780 going to sound weird, but it's true. I have this confession to make, and I'm not suggesting that,

00:00:21.960 you know, public confession for everyone is a good thing. But in this case, I actually feel

00:00:26.680 the Lord has called me to do this. So here's what happened. Well, in fact, before I begin,

00:00:33.660 let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,

00:00:38.620 and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. A short break in this broadcast, just to say, as many of you probably

00:00:44.840 know, we're into our campaign right now, and a generous donor has given us a matching gift.

00:00:49.680 You're able to double your impact right now, dollar for dollar, just for the next three days. I wanted

00:00:53.700 to make this brief announcement here so that you could do that. Find the link below this video to

00:00:58.780 make your contribution. Do it now so that we can continue to fight for life, faith, family, and

00:01:03.180 freedom. In January, at the time of the March for Life in Washington, DC, of course, I saw a fellow

00:01:11.080 that I've seen before quite a few times, especially in Rome. He's a professional photographer. I've

00:01:18.020 probably bumped into him like half a dozen times, and I've spoken with him a few times. And I have to

00:01:25.040 confess that I'm not really good at remembering names. And no, no, just think so. That's not the

00:01:32.380 confession. But it is what comes next. So I saw this fellow, and there I was. I was like racking my brain

00:01:40.680 for his name. I did remember him. And I remembered about him that he's a very devout Catholic. You can

00:01:47.860 tell by his demeanor, by his quality, that people, when they're really close to the Lord, have. They

00:01:55.040 seem to shine or glow, if you will. So he came up to me and said, hello. He used my name. Hello, John

00:02:02.440 Henry. And awkwardly, I just said, hello, and began speaking with him as if I knew him really

00:02:09.100 well, which I did, except for the name. And here's where the sin comes in. So he was kind

00:02:17.060 enough and good enough to give me his card, likely actually to help me with my memory lapse

00:02:22.300 on his name. But rather than accept the kind offer and admit my memory lapse and be done

00:02:28.580 with it, no, no, no. I had to fake it. I had to make it seem like I didn't forget. And

00:02:34.480 of course, that just made things worse. I now had his name, but purposefully didn't use his

00:02:40.840 name out of some kind of insane trying to look good thing or that I'm really with it. Anyway,

00:02:47.220 I went away from there and I knew I had done something really stupid. So the next day, after 0.64

00:02:54.280 some reflection and contrition, I wrote the good man confessing my foolishness and pride.

00:03:00.240 In fact, here's what I said to him. I said, it was great to meet you last night. Thank you

00:03:05.860 for being so kind as to give me your card. I was embarrassed that I did not remember your

00:03:10.640 name. And I must confess that pride prevented me from mentioning this to you. I'm sorry.

00:03:17.160 I re-read just now in a book that the Lord loves the weak. And so I was comforted in my weakness.

00:03:26.160 And I wanted to reach out to tell you that while I'm bad with names, I'm good with hearts.

00:03:32.600 And from the very first time I met you, your love for Christ and his truth spoke loudly to me,

00:03:37.620 even though not much was said. So keep up, my dear brother in the faith, your love for Jesus.

00:03:44.780 And don't let the hardships of the church, nor the Judases in the church, nor even the prideful 0.96

00:03:51.720 fools like me ever dissuade you from pursuing Jesus. And so that's what I wrote him. So you might 0.97

00:04:00.700 think that that was enough. Why do a public confession of my foolishness and prideful sin? Well,

00:04:06.780 I went straight from there, from the Washington March for Life to the California Walk for Life

00:04:14.820 in San Francisco. And while in San Francisco, outside of a planned parenthood, I saw this pro-life

00:04:22.400 leader confess publicly that she underwent an abortion. But get this, she said she had an abortion,

00:04:30.820 not because she was raped or because she couldn't afford a child. She committed an abortion out of 1.00

00:04:38.320 embarrassment. She was mortified about what her parents would think about her being pregnant.

00:04:45.640 So she ended the life of her child. In fact, she said it over and over again. Watch.

00:04:54.400 I was a 17-year-old high school student, and I found out I was pregnant. And I didn't know what

00:05:01.520 to do. I didn't want anyone to know that I was actually sexually active. And so out of fear of

00:05:06.420 embarrassment, out of fear of embarrassment, I chose to kill my child. That's a choice I can't undo. 1.00

00:05:14.940 I'm stuck with that. And so thank God I found healing through Jesus Christ. Thank God I went to

00:05:24.240 Rachel's Vineyard. Thank God I know that He is a merciful God. I thought at the time, a sin coming

00:05:32.160 from embarrassment, a motivation to sin that I just fell to myself. And so from then on, I felt I should

00:05:40.720 make this public confession to serve as a warning for sins stemming from embarrassment. Have you ever

00:05:49.080 even heard that spoken of before in the past, like about a sin that comes from embarrassment? Well, it's

00:05:57.360 actually in the teaching of the Church, but under different terms, different names that you may not

00:06:02.140 have thought were related. The Catholic Church does address the matter of sinning due to embarrassment

00:06:08.020 or shame. And this is something that is termed sins out of fear of human respect or just human

00:06:17.440 respect. The saints and moral theologians have written quite clearly, usually under that name of

00:06:24.420 human respect. So what does the Church teach? It says that sins due to embarrassment or human respect,

00:06:33.100 when someone sins or omits a good action, that means doesn't do a good action out of embarrassment,

00:06:41.660 it falls under the sin known as human respect. And that sin, it means putting fear of others' opinions

00:06:52.000 above the fear and love of God. It's when we fail to do what is right or say what is true because we're

00:07:03.080 worried about being judged or mocked or disliked by other people. So here are some practical

00:07:09.680 examples of what I'm talking about. We skip grace before meals in public because we don't want to

00:07:17.560 draw attention or seem too religious. We stay silent when our co-workers mock the Church because we're

00:07:27.240 afraid of being judged or labeled or left out. We attend immoral celebrations like same-sex weddings 1.00

00:07:33.960 because we fear offending people, maybe our own family, more than offending God. We dress immodestly

00:07:43.040 to fit in because we want to be admired and accepted even if it costs our purity. We use crude or blasphemous

00:07:54.200 language in conversation because we want to be part of the group, not the uptight one.

00:08:02.040 We avoid correcting loved ones who are in serious sin because we're afraid of being rejected or causing

00:08:09.240 tension, even when their souls are at stake. We put off going to confession because we're embarrassed.

00:08:18.360 Someone might see us in the line or we fear admitting what we've done even to the priest.

00:08:25.720 We hide our Catholic faith when it's inconvenient. We take off our scapulars or avoid talking about

00:08:32.600 church teaching and stay quiet when moral truth is under attack. We compromise our vote or values to

00:08:41.240 avoid conflict, supporting evil policies or candidates because we don't want to lose friends or be called names.

00:08:50.920 We join sinful trends online or say nothing when falsehood spreads online because being liked or going

00:09:00.600 viral or keeping the peace feels easier or better than standing for truth.

00:09:06.440 And finally, and this is especially to some Catholics who are devout, finally we stand and receive Holy

00:09:16.040 Communion in the hand, even though we know we should be receiving our Lord on our knees and on our tongues,

00:09:24.120 just like Saint Pope John Paul II did and commended us to do by giving us his own example.

00:09:30.840 But like with the woman in the video, certain sins of human respect can be deadly, they can be mortal.

00:09:38.200 When it comes to not getting up from your get-together so you can get to Sunday Mass when it's a Sunday,

00:09:45.000 it becomes a mortal or deadly sin, which bars you from communion until after you get to confession.

00:09:52.600 Pope Pius XI said men must look for the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ.

00:09:59.320 And he urged that the faithful give public honor to Christ the King so that individuals and states

00:10:04.520 would submit once more to the rule of their Savior.

00:10:07.480 And that is why LifeSite News is raising up the image of Christ the King across the United States.

00:10:13.560 And you can help us reach millions more.

00:10:16.840 Please pledge your support today for these billboards at lifefunder.com

00:10:21.800 In the Holy Bible, Jesus himself says,

00:10:27.800 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory.

00:10:35.480 You can read that at Luke 9, 26.

00:10:38.440 He also says,

00:10:39.400 Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

00:10:44.440 In Matthew 10, 28.

00:10:47.160 Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologicae,

00:10:50.280 He says when he's discussing the virtue of fortitude, he says,

00:10:55.400 It belongs to fortitude to curb fear and not to allow one's soul to be disturbed by it.

00:11:04.920 And Saint Alphonsus Liguori gave a whole sermon on human respect.

00:11:10.520 And in it, he highlights the danger of conforming to expectations from friends or parents or

00:11:17.080 relatives or peers or classmates or colleagues, spouses even, at the expense of one's faith.

00:11:24.040 He says that many individuals, quote,

00:11:26.040 Kill their own souls by losing the grace of God through human respect and to please worldly friends.

00:11:34.200 But even more than that, he says this, and I quote,

00:11:38.760 Oh, how many souls has human respect that great enemy of our salvation sent to hell?

00:11:46.600 End quote.

00:11:48.600 Wow.

00:11:49.640 So, how much of this goes on in the world today, do you think?

00:11:54.920 It's tons of it.

00:11:56.840 And it makes a real difference, not just to Christians.

00:11:59.800 A very clear warning against being ashamed or embarrassed to do the right thing for Christ,

00:12:07.320 despite it being socially awkward, came from a very unlikely source back in 2008.

00:12:14.200 And it was so stark that these quotes have remained with me all these years.

00:12:21.720 The famous anti-Catholic atheist named Penn Jillette, who was co-host at the time of a very

00:12:27.960 popular television show in North America called Penn and Teller.

00:12:31.800 He said this, watch.

00:12:34.360 And I've always said, you know, that I don't respect people who don't proselytize.

00:12:39.000 I don't respect that at all.

00:12:40.280 If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not

00:12:45.800 getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that, well, it's not really worth

00:12:51.560 telling them this because it would make it socially awkward.

00:12:55.240 And atheists who think that people shouldn't proselytize, just leave me alone. 0.94

00:12:59.480 Keep your religion to yourself. 0.64

00:13:02.840 How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

00:13:07.400 How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible

00:13:12.120 and not tell them that?

00:13:14.040 I mean, if I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't

00:13:18.360 believe it, that truck was bearing down on you, there's a certain point where I tackle you.

00:13:22.760 And this is more important than that.

00:13:25.320 Isn't it amazing that an atheist like Penn Jillette could say something that so convicts 1.00

00:13:32.520 our own bishops, bishops who out of fear of losing donations or status or the favor of the elites

00:13:42.280 or their fellow bishops and cardinals, they refuse to preach the hard truths.

00:13:48.360 Penn Jillette said, how much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize just because it might

00:13:55.480 be socially awkward? That doesn't just cut to the heart. It shames the silence of so many shepherds.

00:14:03.960 And maybe sometimes us too, when we don't say the hard truths, when we know we should.

00:14:10.280 So let me give you five remedies against sin stemming from human respect, from embarrassment.

00:14:17.560 Number one, fear God more than man. Develop a holy fear of God, not a servile fear,

00:14:24.680 but a reverent, a fear of offending him since he is so good and worthy of all our love.

00:14:30.280 Love. Realize that God's judgment matters infinitely more than any human being.

00:14:39.960 Secondly, practice fortitude. Fortitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit and a cardinal virtue.

00:14:47.800 It is God's strength that enables us to overcome fear and remain firm in doing good,

00:14:55.240 even in the face of ridicule or persecution. Start with small things like overcoming our fear to say

00:15:02.440 grace in public. Remember the prayer before the crucifix when we pray, passion of Christ, strengthen me.

00:15:11.640 The third thing, meditate on that passion of Christ. Christ was mocked and scourged and crucified,

00:15:18.280 and he endured all out of love. And he did not shrink back out of human respect. Picture it. Be there in

00:15:27.800 spirit. Watch his willingness to voluntarily take on this horrendous suffering for you and for me.

00:15:38.200 Number four, regular confession and spiritual direction. Frequent access to the sacraments will help

00:15:45.720 you grow in grace and moral courage. And a good confessor can help you discern

00:15:50.680 when you're compromising for human approval. Number five, invoke the saints, especially those

00:15:57.800 who faced mockery. Saints like Thomas More, Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, they all suffered martyrdom

00:16:03.800 for refusing to compromise the truth out of human respect. Let me go through a couple of those

00:16:10.280 because it's so powerful. Saint Thomas More, a martyr who refused to trade truth for approval,

00:16:16.840 one of the most brilliant and respected men in England. He was a lawyer, a scholar, and eventually

00:16:22.200 Lord Chancellor under King Henry VIII. He had the admiration of the king, of the nobility, and the whole

00:16:30.360 country, all the people. His wit and wisdom made him beloved across the country, even by all the common

00:16:37.000 folk. But when King Henry VIII demanded his loyalty in an unlawful divorce and declared himself the head of the

00:16:45.880 church, Thomas More refused to sign the oath acknowledging that. He remained silent for a time, hoping to avoid

00:16:56.280 conflict, but ultimately silence wasn't enough for the king. Saint Thomas More was arrested and imprisoned in the

00:17:04.440 Tower of London. While imprisoned, he was visited by his beloved daughter, Margaret, who along with his wife

00:17:13.000 and family begged Thomas More to sign the oath to spare his life to come home and be with them. They pleaded

00:17:21.640 that it was just a signature, that God would understand that he could keep his true beliefs in his heart.

00:17:30.120 But Thomas More gently, but firmly refused. He said, when a man takes an oath. And this is to his beloved

00:17:42.840 daughter, Meg, in a letter. He said, when a man takes an oath, he's holding his own self in his hands,

00:17:50.360 like water. And if he opens his fingers, then he needn't hope to find himself again.

00:17:55.720 Eventually, he was condemned for treason and beheaded on July 6th, 1535. His last words are legendary.

00:18:07.640 I die the king's good servant, but God's first. In the face of pressure, not only from political powers,

00:18:16.760 but even from his own family, Saint Thomas More chose truth over compromise, conscience over comfort,

00:18:25.320 and God's approval over man's approval. He is a radiant example of a saint who conquered the sin of human

00:18:34.200 respect, of embarrassment, not with bravado, but with quiet fidelity, fatherly love, and heroic courage.

00:18:44.120 There's another saint, Saint Perpetua. She died only 203 years after Jesus.

00:18:51.800 She was a mother who chose Christ over family approval. Saint Perpetua was a young Roman noblewoman

00:18:59.720 and a new Christian living in Carthage. She was just 22 years old and a mother to an infant when she

00:19:08.600 was arrested during a wave of persecution under the emperor Septimus Cerberus. She was imprisoned

00:19:18.440 with a group of fellow Caracumans, including her slave Felicity, who was pregnant at the time.

00:19:25.560 Perpetua's father, a pagan, begged her repeatedly to renounce her faith and to save her life and spare her

00:19:32.200 family, her family the shame. He actually came to the prison and wept before her, holding her own

00:19:40.600 child in his arms. And he pleaded in these words, have pity on your father, if I deserve to be called

00:19:46.840 your father. Have pity on your son, the infant son he carried in his arms in front of her. This mother,

00:19:53.960 this young mother, was asked to betray her faith so that she could appease her father and even be there

00:20:02.600 for her son. It was brutal. But Perpetua was filled with a faith and interior strength. She calmly refused

00:20:12.200 and she wrote in her prison diary, I cannot call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian. Even the

00:20:21.320 Roman governor tried to pressure her by bringing her father into the courtroom where she was being 0.95

00:20:27.320 judged during the trial. And her father again begged her to recant. And the judge, seeing her emotions, said,

00:20:36.840 Spare your father's white hair, spare your infant son, offer the sacrifice to the emperor. But Perpetua stood 0.56

00:20:44.600 firm in Christ declaring, I will not. She was sentenced to death and entered the arena with joy. The arena

00:20:55.480 where wild animals were going to rip her apart. And she even encouraged her companions and forgave her

00:21:04.640 executioners. In her diary, The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, it is one of the oldest and most

00:21:12.040 moving first-hand accounts of martyrdom in the church. So that's it, my dear friends. There is my

00:21:19.480 confession. I hope it has helped some of you to avoid sinning due to embarrassment like I did.

00:21:26.680 And if this has helped you, please share it. You never know who may need an extra nudge to stand firm.

00:21:34.120 God bless you and pray for me. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto thine.

00:21:46.600 Aloha, everyone. This is Jason Jones for LifeSide News. We hope you enjoyed this video. For more content

00:21:52.600 like this, check the link in the description. You can also connect with us on social media to stay up to

00:21:59.320 date with the latest news on life, faith, family, and freedom. Thanks for watching and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - June 18, 2025

Don’t Be Ashamed of Christ： The FEAR of Judgement

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