The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

We need to know who the good shepherds are and who the hirelings are if we are to find the true faith and save our souls. There are many hirelings out there that have stolen flocks and have even usurped the position of the shepherd.

Christ is THE good shepherd, and He has established the Apostles as shepherds in His stead. The flock can distinguish the good from the bad by comparing one with the other. The visible shepherds for our souls must have the voice of THE good shepherd, i.e. those who take the place of Christ must speak His words and not his own. He must be concerned for the flock even more than he is concerned for himself. He must love to such an extent that he is willing to defend the sheep even with his own life if necessary.

The bad shepherd (the hireling) does not love the sheep, but only loves himself. He sees the wolf coming and flees. His self-centeredness will be to his own destruction. By fleeing he abandons his post _ he does not save himself, but brings about his own destruction. God will call him to an account and he will be able to give none. "He who loves his life looses it; and he who hates his life in this world keeps it unto life everlasting." (John 12, 25)

The hireling is a mercenary. His only love is worldly advantage, and he has no care for eternity. These pitiful excuses for shepherds do not care about the sheep. Not only are they willing to abandon their posts when danger threatens but often times they will be the cause of danger themselves. They become the wolves in shepherds clothing. These false shepherds have sold out the sheep for some worldly advantage, and will ultimately reap the reward of their endeavors _ eternal damnation.

The voice of THE good shepherd is eternal it is the truth and never changes. The voice of the hireling changes with the times and situation, his goal is to adapt to the times and to make himself pleasing and acceptable to the masses so that he will be better able to fleece the flock of all worldly and spiritual advantage.

The doctrines which Our Lord gave to the Apostles were, are, and always will be true. There is no more that can be added. The true Church does not make new doctrines; she secures and passes on the eternal truths that God the Son has given us. The true Bishops do the same. They preach what Christ has preached. They lead where Christ has led. They must preserve intact all that has been revealed.

All those who have never entered the Church have never been in Christ's fold. All those who have left the Church have left the fold of Christ. This sadly to say includes even those who were supposed to be guarding and leading the flock. Many of the heresies have had bishops and priests for their origin. These men were supposed to be shepherds but turned out to be hirelings and wolves. They strike the shepherd and the sheep have scattered. Perhaps the most amazing of all is the modernist heresies that have acted as the fifth column and struck the Church (therefore Christ Himself) seemingly from within. These false shepherds stand in the places once occupied by true shepherds and promote their errors from within. And they either drive the sheep out or corrupt those that are left within so that they do not hear the true voice of the Shepherd (Jesus Christ).

The Novus Ordo heretics very cleverly have changed the law of prayer and thereby changed the law of belief. (lex orandi est lex credendi). By changing the words of the prayer they have succeeded in changing the meaning thus they changed the beliefs and therefore the faith. It has now become not the voice of Christ that the people hear but the voice of the false shepherd (Satan).

This false shepherd along with his hirelings is not interested in the salvation of the sheep but only desire their destruction.

The true shepherds will be found only where the law of prayer and therefore the law of belief is the eternal same as that given by THE good Shepherd (Jesus Christ) to His spouse the Catholic Church.

The true shepherds must be within the true Church and cannot have originated outside or even against the Church. There must be that continual continuity from Christ to the present. It must be: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. We must learn to recognize the voice of THE Good Shepherd, and therefore of the true shepherds that He has sent, so that we can fulfill the words of Christ. "They shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

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