Accept No Substitutes!

Psalm 1:1

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

We are getting to that time of year again, when the TV networks and magazines all go off in search of Jesus. Of course, the search never begins in a church. Instead, it begins by paying some publicity-hungry academics enough so that they manage to discover a version of Jesus acceptable to high-powered media types who are looking for something to titillate the TV-viewing public between soap commercials and ads for the latest car. This Jesus, according to the latest “scholarship,” happens to be exactly what those scholars and TV execs approve of and has none of the troublesome features they dislike. How do they find such a Jesus? Why, by trimming out all the parts of the gospel that make them feel less than comfy. This practice (technically known as “scoffing” in Scripture) is an old practice. For generations, it has helped Cutting Edge People with Advanced Ideas find just the Jesus they need in order to endorse their sundry ideologies. It has given the world Marxist Jesuses and Capitalist Jesuses, New Age Jesuses, Materialist Jesuses, Sad Jesuses, Blissed-Out Jesuses, Jesuses who are interested only in Faith Healing, Jesuses who insist there is no such thing as illness to heal, Jesuses who hate women, Feminist Jesuses, Apocalyptic Jesuses, Jesuses who reject the Apocalypse, Confused Jesuses, Confident Jesuses, Puritanical Jesuses, Homosexual Jesuses, Jesuses of all shapes and sizes. Today, seek the only real Jesus there ever was: the Jesus who reveals Himself freely through the life, teaching, and worship of the Church in both Scripture and Tradition. Accept no substitutes!

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Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

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