Part 2: Fear Is A Tool Of The Devil

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In Part 1 of this blog post [HERE], I discussed Pope Francis' recently homily he gave regarding the dangers of living in fear. I showed that the motivation of true followers of Christ is love. God does not deal in fear. Fear comes from the devil. As II Timothy 1:7 says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment."

I also said in this post that much of the Catholic Internet is motivated by fear: fear of the world, fear of changes in the church, fear of church authority, fear of one another. In my opinion the poster boy for all of this fear mongering is Michael Voris. His entire "apostolate" (which his bishop forbids him to label as "Catholic") is based upon instilling fear into his followers. A recent Vortex episode illustrates this in magnificent Voris form. This Vortex is entitled, "It's In the Eyes".

Voris starts out with his usual shtick about the false "Church of Nice" and the "evil and wicked leaders in the Church" who are knowingly and deliberately trying to foist off a false Catholicism on the Church. As I stated in my previous post, those who lead by fear must always have an enemy or a bogeyman they can point to who is cause of the problems we face. For Voris, that bogeyman is Church authority. As far as Voris is concerned, there is no term that is too extreme to describe the "evil" bishops and priests in the Catholic Church:

Now, of course, there are actually evil and wicked leaders in the Church who know this isn't authentic Catholicism. But they are happy to carry on the charade that the current state of madness that is the state of affairs is Catholicism come to full blossom. These wicked men use the vincibly ignorant masses as well as clergy to continue to refashion the Faith.

Voris always uses an "us versus them" mentality.  This is a vital step in creating fear in people.  Fear must have something outside of itself to blame and ultimately to destroy.

And as the above statement shows, Voris doesn't stop at blaming the leaders in the Church.  He attacks the vast majority of those sitting in the pews as well for being complicit with the "evil" bishops.  Notice the term "vincibly ignorant masses."   Voris very deliberately uses the word "vincibly" because this says that these people are responsible for their "ignorance" and thus stand condemned, giving Voris and his followers another reason to feel superior to everyone else, as he says in his next statement:

But for the masses, they have no problem with how things stand. Mass is a kind of weekly social obligation, sort of. Everyone goes to Heaven; we can't judge, and all is right with the world — or right enough for the time being.

Voris, with just a few choice words, writes off millions of Catholics as purposely ignorant morons who not only don't know right from wrong but they don't even want to know.

None of these tactics leads to unity.  Everything Voris is doing is designed to lead to distrust and disunity, which is most certainly not a mark of the Holy Spirit.

Voris continues to use inflammatory language designed to instill more fear and even hatred into his listeners:

We run into these Church of Nice zombie Catholics all the time.

Voris then gives us a litany of specific "zombie Catholics" he has "run into":

• Father John Jenkins of Notre Dame 
• Cardinal Timothy Dolan (a favorite target of Voris's hate) 
• Cardinal Walter Kasper 
• Cardinal Vincent Nichols 
• Cardinal Donald Wuerl 

There would be no problem if Voris was just pointing our specific statements and/or actions of these validly ordained leaders who are all in good standing in the Catholic Church. They are fallible human beings just like the rest of us and although we must be subject to their authority, we are most certainly allowed to disagree with them from time to time. But Voris doesn't just disagree with these prelates of the Church. He judges their hearts and souls and condemns them with the following statement:

They believe what they are doing to the Church, the mauling of the Faith, is correct because they don't see it as mauling. They have a view of the Church, and if you don't agree with it, then you must be maligned.

Voris accuses these Church authorities of actively trying to destroy the Church, making them the enemy of all Catholics. Again, Voris deliberately uses heated, divisive rhetoric designed to create fear and even hatred in those who are listening.

As an aside, the above statement by Voris would be laughable if it wasn't for the harm it causes. Michael Voris - the master of maligning those with whom he disagrees - is whining because he thinks he is being maligned? To that, I can only say:

Voris then continues by telling us the difference between "faithful Catholics" (Voris and all those who agree with him) and these "zombie Catholics":

Faithful Catholics understand the Church in the way that the Church says She is to be understood. Unfaithful Catholics have a view of the Church, an understanding of the Church that is of their own creation.

This is a truly masterful statement of deception. On its face, this statement says absolutely nothing. Any meaning in this statement comes from the listener. For someone who is convinced he is right and everyone else is wrong, this statement says that anyone who disagrees with me if a heretic and therefore must be rejected.

Ah, but Mikey doesn't leave us on our own. He correctly states:

And there you have it: the stand-off over Catholic identity, over which is the correct understanding of the Church. Each side believes its understanding of the Church is the right one, and correspondingly, that the other side is wrong.

So how can we know which side is right? Mikey explains:

Ah, but there is one glaring difference: a summation of all that is different between the two sides. And it can be seen in the eyes.

There is something in the eyes, in the face of those who want to change the Church; and what's notable is that it is the same look no matter where you are or which of the Church-changers you might be engaging.

This statement doesn't seem to say anything either. But as Voris makes these statements, we see sinister eyes in back of him and hear a menacing growl. Madison Avenue advertisers would be envious of your technique, Mikey.

Lest you strain your brain too much in trying to figure this out, Mikey comes to the rescue by giving us examples of this "look":

Church Militant has now been around the block enough times to begin having up-close-and-personal encounters with the Church-changers.

Notice once again the rhetoric: "Church-changers." This is a term designed to create fear and hatred, and if you read the hundreds of comments left for this video, you will see that Voris has succeeded on a grand scale.

Voris then describes encounters he has had with these "church-changers":

• An usher at St. Francis of Assisi Church in New York City - "There was something about the look in the eyes 
• Cardinal Dolan - " something in the eyes, in the face" 
• Father Jenkins - "that same look, that same thing in the eyes that I had seen in New York." 

What is Voris talking about?

There's not a way to describe it specifically, even generally — just that it's a look that unsettles, that does not want you around — that would harm you if it could.

Again, Voris uses over-the-top rhetoric which in no uncertain terms states that the Catholic hierarchy hates "faithful Catholics" and wants to destroy them. Therefore, all "faithful Catholics" must fight back with everything they have.

Mikey seems to have forgotten that he is the one threatening harm with these statements directed to Cardinal Dolan:

“Do not think the punishment visited on you will not be of the most severe sort when you die, perhaps even before you die, if you do not change.”

and

"Cardinal Dolan needs to publicly repent of his evil while there is still air in his lungs. Until he does, his Eminence should be quite nervous when he hears something go bump in the middle of the night because, like all of us, one of these nights is going to be his last."

Who is really threatening whom?

And as far as the "look that unsettles", could Voris be talking about something like this:

Or maybe this:

It is not necessary to be afraid of Michael Voris or anyone else, for that matter. A Christian never operates on the level of fear. We are promised by Our Lord that He will never leave us. He has given us the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity to guide and lead us into all truth. He has given us His own Mother who constantly intercedes for us before her Son. We have our own guardian angel and all of the angels and saints praying for us and looking out for our souls. We have 2000 years of Church history to tell us that nothing can destroy the Mystical Body of Christ.

The only real enemy we have is our own stubborn wills refusing to submit to the Will of God, refusing to trust in Him and, as Revelation 14:4 says, "Follow the Lamb wherever He goes." There is only one enemy that God cannot conquer, and that is our "No." But to say "Yes" to God means to trust Him completely, to allow Him to work in your life unimpeded, never imposing your own will but always accepting His, even when you don't understand it, just as Mary, our Blessed Mother did.

And one thing that is definitely not in the Will of God is to demonize those He has put in authority. Fear is a tool of the devil because he knows that it will separate you from God. Reject fear and you reject Satan.

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