Last Sunday I spoke of the importance of discerning between spirits: As St. Paul tells us, “The Spirit says clearly that in later times some believers will desert the Christian faith. They will follow spirits that deceive, and they will believe the teachings of demons.” (1 Tim 4:1)

Let me show you what I mean. In the Gospel, our Lord Jesus conducts the first opinion poll! He asks the question: “Who do people say that I am?” The apostles give our Lord the results of the opinion poll: “Some say You are John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.” Obviously, those who gave their opinions were not listening to the Holy Spirit, right? How do we know? Because the results of the poll are dead wrong!

We do not come to the knowledge of the truth by conducting opinion polls and finding out what the majority think it is. Opinion polls do not give us the truth, they simply tell us who it is that the majority of the people are listening to; which spirit is forming their minds. In Jesus’ day, as in our modern days, too many are listening to the spirit of the world, the spirit of deception instead of the Holy Spirit. Who is the spirit of deception? The devil, of course; he is the evil spirit who hates us and is active in the world trying to lead us away from Jesus. He works through lies, by deceiving us, by tricking us, by putting us asleep to the things of God and the things of holiness. We must understand that this is happening right now and many souls are being lost.

Examples: The phrase: “Pro-Choice” is inspired by spirit of deception to mask the fact that abortion sacrifices a million living children every year in the US alone. Through abortion, the spirit of human sacrifice has taken hold of our country. The phrases “quality of life” and “death with dignity” mask the terrible evils of suicide and euthanasia. The phrase: “Marriage is just a piece of paper” is from the spirit of deception to make sex outside of marriage and adultery seem OK.

The two spirits active in the world are the spirit of deception, the devil, and the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. Who are we listening to? I’m afraid if all we are doing is going to the Sunday Mass for one hour each week and then watching TV for 20 hours and never studying our faith, then we are spending a lot more time listening to the spirit of deception than we are the Holy Spirit. We are inviting the spirit of deception into our home – and our opinions, decisions and actions are being formed by this spirit. I know this is strong language, but I see this happening all around me.

The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, speaks only through Jesus Christ. And when the Lord asks the Apostles: “But who do you say that I am?” Saint Peter answers: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Our Lord: “Blessed are you Simon, son of Jonah, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Heavenly Father.” Saint Peter recognizes that all truth comes from God the Father through our Lord Jesus, in the Holy Spirit. This is why he is the first pope.

So how do we protect ourselves from the spirit of deception? How do we tune out the devil and tune in Jesus? Get in and stay in the State of Grace! Mass every Sunday, regular Confession, daily prayer and reject Mortal Sin. Turn off the TV and do the following instead:

• Replace one hour of TV with one hour Eucharistic Adoration each week.
• Come to Fr. Hilton’s Thursday evening Bible study.
• Come to the Friday evening catechism classes
• Listen to our new Catholic radio station: KPIO, AM 1570