Evangelists Needed, No Prior Experience Required

Looking For the Dirty, Poor, Criminal, Uneducated, Demonic, Pagan, Illiterate, Diseased, Leprous, Blind, Deaf,  & Paralyzed

The four gospels present a variety of evangelists, most of them with no formal education and no previous experience in public speaking.  Without radio, TV, social media, magazines, or newspapers, they spread the good news “throughout the land.”  Some, however, even eyewitnesses to Jesus’s miracles, many of the priests, were vocal anti-evangelists who denied Him, condemned Him, and were successful in having Him killed. Today’s anti-evangelists, especially some ordained to the ministerial priesthood, seek to do the same.

Dirty Shepherds

St. Luke in chapter 2 of his gospel tells us about the first human evangelists sent by God after the birth of the Baby Jesus; shepherds who slept outside, on the ground, in the heat, in the cold, with animals.

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told (Luke 2:16-20).

All who heard the shepherds were amazed. They did not ridicule them or call them liars. And note: Mary remembered – almost certainly St. Luke learned about the shepherd-evangelists from Mary, and Mary “treasured” their efforts at evangelization.

Imagine the lives of these shepherds following that first Christmas. Imagine them meeting Jesus again, both on this earth after He had grown up and when they died and He judged them.  Imagine if any of them was present at Calvary.  And then when they were outside the pearly gates, imagine them saying: “Lord, remember us? We saw you in the manger in the City of David.” It seems to me – if they continued living their lives “glorifying and praising” God – Jesus most certainly smiled at them and said, “Yes, of course, I know you guys. Come on in;” and, turning to His mother, “Mom, look who’s here!”

Possessed Men, Swineherds, and Demons

Those possessed by demons, demons themselves, and swineherds proclaimed that Jesus was God:

When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. . . .   When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, shouting in a loud voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You not to torture me!  (Luke 8:27-28)

In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. He cried out in a loud voice, “Ha! What do You want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:33).

When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes,[c] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.  The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” . . .  Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.  Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. (Matthew 8:28-29,  30-34)

A Paralytic, a Deaf Man, and Witnesses

And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed . .  . “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” . . . And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.” (Luke 5:18, 24-26).

There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. . . . Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it.  People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” (Mark 7:32, 36-37).

A Man Born Blind

In John, Chapter 9, after the blind man is given his sight by Jesus, he preaches a sermon to the unbelieving Pharisees:

The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is the amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes!  We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” (John 9: 30-32)

Evangelists Galore

Many others appearing in the gospels proclaim the good news:

Samaritan Woman: John 4:27-39

The Blind Man Who Would Not Be Silenced: Mark: 10:46-52

The Blind Beggar: Luke 18:35-43

Pagan Governor: Pontius Pilate provides the first written proclamation about Jesus: John 19:19

The Centurion & Soldiers on Calvary at the Crucifixion: Luke 23:47; Mt 27:54

The Good Thief from his cross proclaims Jesus as heavenly king:  Luke 23:42

Anti-Evangelists – In the Time Of Jesus

In the time of Jesus, the corrupt priests, led by the High Priest, had turned organized religion into a business that benefited them, their families, and those in their favor. They lived lives of lavish wealth and excess, and owned extensive lands and property whose purchase was funded by the sale of the offerings that had to be made in the temple, by the “temple tax.”  The changing of money in the temple was a very lucrative business. The priests forced faithful Jews to use only certain particular coins (which had a high silver content) to pay the tax. The priests became excessively rich from the offerings, the money-changing, and then from the tax itself.  Their “take,” by some estimates, was about $150,000,000.00 annually figured in today’s dollars.

The priests, and especially those well placed in the Jewish hierarchy, were willing pawns of the Romans, allowing the Romans to nominate a new high priest and collaborating with them in extorting money and resources from the people. The Romans nominated whichever family offered the largest bribe for the high priest’s office.  Widows of high priests received generous pensions, paid from the monies taken from the people, from the offerings and taxes in the temple treasury. Priests’ children married the children of other priests with huge dowries being paid. Wives of priests even received allowances for perfumes and jewels.

No doubt Jesus was referring to the priests in His condemnation of the rich. Pagan historians have recounted the wealth on display in the temple.  Its building and its gates were overlaid with gold, and a grape cluster (“as tall as a man”) at the entrance was made of gold. One historian wrote that; “no one needs wonder that there was so much wealth in our Temple, for all the Jews throughout the habitable world, and those who worshipped God, even those from Asia and Europe, had been contributing to it for a very long time.”

The temple “curia” and ruling priestly aristocracies were one and the same. Four “priestly” families controlled all of Israel and its society. One historian of the time saw this as the dream of a worldly, corrupt clergy: “Could there be a finer or more equitable polity than one which sets God at the head of the universe, which assigns the administration of its highest affairs to the whole body of priests, and entrusts to the supreme High Priest the direction of the other priests?”

If the true Messiah did arrive in Israel, this entire corrupt system would disintegrate. Overnight, the priests would lose their earthly power, the cash flow from Jews all over the world would dry up, and what political influence the Romans allowed them to have would disappear. No wonder they incited good Jewish people to shout, “Crucify Him!”

Again and again, the gospels recite the anti-evangelical declarations of the corrupt priests and their intense efforts to have Jesus killed. See, e.g., Mt 26:65; Mt 27:41-43; Mk 14:63-64;  Jn 8:48=53; Jn 11:47;  and Jn 19:15.

Today’s Anti-Evangelists

The clerical anti-evangelists of today cannot again kill Jesus personally.  For them, the next best thing is to: deny truths Jesus Himself declared, in His own words,  to us; contradict teachings in Holy Scripture inspired by God; proclaim their own heretical, false teachings as true; and take part in the spiritual killing of faithful followers of Jesus. It is no accident that, in doing these things, they retain earthly power over the institutions and offices of the church on earth; they continue to control the vast properties, wealth, money, accounts, and income of the church; and they live in the luxury, materialistic corruption, and perversions that their thefts from and frauds on the faithful make possible.

In taking millions from the good people in the time of Jesus, the high priests were mere playground bullies taking lunch money compared to the currently ordained anti-evangelists and the billions they have stolen from the faithful. Below are a few examples – and they are legion – of today’s clerical anti-evangelists.

Anti-evangelist German Cardinals have declared as false the church’s stance on the intrinsic evil of voluntarily engaging in homosexual actions.

Another cardinal has stated publicly that the President of the United States –  the most powerful person in the world, who currently promotes, advocates for, and endorses everyone paying for the murders of unborn children in America with tax money from all citizens – will not be denied Holy  Communion. Other bishops and cardinals have echoed this willful ignorance of canon law and have joined him in furthering the scandal of pro-death pro-abortion democrats desecrating the Body of Christ.

Around the world, numerous priests, pastors, and bishops have called for disobedience of the Command of the Lord that only men are to be ordained; and some anti-evangelist consecrated bishops have publicly conducted illicit – and sacramentally ineffective – faux “ordinations” of women.

Perhaps some of those led astray by these anti-evangelical wolves may not be responsible for the deformation of their consciences; but any of them who proceed knowingly, and then do not repent, will be the modern-day victims of those today shouting “Crucify them, crucify His sheep”. Since they cannot kill Jesus again, today’s clerical anti-evangelists seek to spiritually kill living members of His Mystical Body, those made in the image and likeness of God, those who are able, on this earth, to love God and to love their neighbors.

Conclusion

God our Father can inspire men who never finished 1st grade to write down and recount His words. Jesus can ordain as His priests smelly, illiterate fishermen and send them to proclaim His good news to the whole world. The Holy Spirit can enlighten all believers to overcome and defeat the anti-evangelists and spread His comfort to everyone.

If God can do all these things, then every person, no matter who they are, no matter what gifts they have or do not have, can today be an evangelist and spread the truth, the good news.

And woe to today’s clerical anti-evangelists:

 For whomsoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” (Luke 9:26).