Lux Lucet

People of Praise

In a recent Christianity Today article, we read, “In 1971, 29 people in South Bend, Indiana, where Notre Dame is located, formed what they called the People of Praise.”  “Today,” continues the article, “People of Praise functions more as a trans-denominational parachurch ministry seeking unity in the body of Christ.” 

On the People of Praise website, the organization describes itself as “a charismatic Christian community.”  We further read, “Jesus desires unity for all people.  We live out this unity the best we can, in spite of the divisions with Christianity.  We are Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians and other denominational and nondenominational Christians.”

In short, People of Praise combines two of the most destructive movements to sweep the church in the past 50 years, the charismatic and ecumenical movements. 

Note well the false implication in the People of Praise statement that Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Pentecostals, and Presbyterians are all Christians.   They are not.  Christians are those who believe the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone.  Because Rome has explicitly rejected this doctrine, we must, of necessity, state that Roman Catholicism is not Christianity and Roman Catholics are not Christians. This is not “anti-Catholic bigotry,” but a conclusion that follows necessarily from a comparison of Rome’s pronouncements and the propositions of Scripture. 

Likewise, Pentecostalism represents a rejection of logical thought and is itself an anti-Christian movement.    

As the Apostle Paul wrote, “And what communion has light with darkness?”  No Christian man has any business associating with People of Praise.  Amy Coney Barrett’s association with this group is not to her credit but calls into question her judgment and, therefore, her fitness to serve on the Supreme Court. 

But there’s more to this story.  A Wall Street Journal editorial from October 1, 2020, while attempting to laud People of Praise, actually highlights one of its dangers.  The editorial “People of Praise Deserves Ours: America has a lot to learn from Amy Coney Barrett’s ‘covenant community,’” says this about the group,

After attending a worship conference at the University of Notre Dame in 1971, a small group of Catholic participants felt called to form a new community that would endeavor to live as the early Christians did. This became People of Praise. The group isn’t a religious order like the Franciscans or Dominicans. Nor is it a fraternal and charitable group like the Knights of Columbus. Instead People of Praise is an association of Catholics and Protestants, most of whom live in their own homes with their families. They live and think independently, choose their own careers, engage in their own outside interests, and attend weekly services in their own communities or parishes.

What distinguishes Catholics involved in People of Praise from the average person in the pew is that they belong to a “covenant community.” After a period of prayer and reflection, members make an intentional commitment to participate in a way of life that is Christ-centered and supportive of others in the group. They participate in weekly prayer meetings, reflect on Scripture together, and attend community gatherings. The “covenanted,” or full members of the community, rely on the widely known Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, the world-wide religious order whose members include Pope Francis—as a source of guidance (emphasis mine).

It’s the Jesuits.  Again.  Is there any organization in America where they do not have influence? 

Given the Church-State’s strategy since Vatican II of co-opting Protestants and various Evangelicals, whom the Church-State condescendingly calls “separated brethren,” it is reasonable to see People of Praise as one of many attempts by the Babylonian Harlot to draw all churches into its orbit.  

It’s worth asking at this point, did Amy Coney Barrett become a covenanted member of People of Praise and thus subject herself to the Jesuit Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola?  According to MarketWatch, “It’s unclear whether Barrett took the covenant.  But members of the organization  [the article notes that People of Praise has about 1,800 members] and descriptions of its hierarchy show that members almost invariably join the covenant after three to six years of religious study or they leave, so it would be unusual for Barrett to be involved for so many years without having done so.”

I was unable to determine the length of time Judge Barrett has been associated with People of Praise.  The MarketWatch article referenced a photo of Barrett in a 2006 issue of the group’s magazine, so presumably she’s been associated with them for at least 14 years.  MarketWatch says simply that her association with the organization is reportedly “decades long.”  Also, her husband, Jesse Barrett’s was until recently listed as the primary contact for the South Bend chapter of People of Praise.  Amy Barret’s father is also a member.  Her husband Jesse Barrett may be a member – a tribute written by Mr. Barrett about his recently deceased grandfather was recently removed from the group’s website – and the Chicago Tribute also reports that five of the Barrett’s seven children are members of People of Praise. 

Given her long association with People of Praise, and the deep ties of her and her husband’s family to the group, it is reasonable to conclude that Amy Barrett is a covenant member of People of Praise and, therefore, has subjected herself to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola.

Jesus said that a bad tree does not produce good fruit (doctrine).  If, as it appears, Amy Barrett’s has allowed herself to be subjected to Jesuit brain washing, there is no reason for Christians to hope that good things will come out of her term on the Supreme Court. 

What’s interesting is that the mainstream media’s criticism of People of Praise has nothing to do with the very real problems of the group – for its charismatic and Jesuit influences – but rather on the group’s statements that do accord with Scripture. 

For example, the media seem to be obsessed with, and aghast at, the group’s teaching that husbands are the divinely ordained head of the household and that wives must submit to the will of their husbands.  There is nothing unusual about this.  In fact, this has been standard issue teaching in Christian circles for nearly the entire 2,000-year history of the Christian church.  It was true in the Old Covenant as well.  Only with the rise of feminism in the past 200 years, and especially since the rise of second wave feminism beginning in 1963, has this doctrine been challenged. “Wives submit to your husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.  Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24). This is not obscure teaching, neither is this the only place in scripture where this doctrine is taught. But it is anathema to our secular masters of the universe, who are blinded by their ungodly feminist assumptions. 

Of course, this sets up a dilemma for the People of Praise folks when it comes to appointing a woman as Supreme Court justice.  As John Knox noted in his “Monstrous Regiment of Women,”

For she that is made subject to one [her husband], may never be preferred to many; and that the Holy Ghost does manifestly express, saying: I suffer not that woman should usurp authority above her husband, but he nameth man in general, taking from her all power an authority to speak, to reason, to interpret, or to teach, but principally to rule or to judge [n.b., Knox included judging as a magisterial function prohibited to women] in the assembly of men.  So that woman by the law of God and by the interpretation of the Holy Ghost is utterly forbidden to occupy the placed of God in the offices aforesaid which he has assigned to man, whom he has appointed and ordained his lieutenant in Earth…

Given Knox’s devastating argument, how People of Praise members square a woman being in submission to her husband yet also serving as a federal judge and possibly on the Supreme Court is unclear.  But then, logical consistency was never a strong suit of the charismatic movement, but it is a strong suit of Christianity. 

Closing Thoughts

In his Trinity Review “Conservatism: An Autopsy,” John Robbins pointed out what should be obvious,  that conservatism and Christianity not only are not the same thing, but that a state of hostility exists between Christianity and conservatism. 

It is a profound essay, one that all Christians ought to read, especially in these politically troubled times.

One of the implications of Robbins’ essay is that as Christians we are not to get caught up in the false dichotomy of liberalism v. conservatism.  In 1930’s Europe, the fight was between communism and fascism.  One was either a communist or a fascist. A fascist or a communist.  One was right and the other was wrong.  Missing from the discussion was the truth, namely that both were false, anti-Christian politico-economic systems.   

In America today, we see something similar where conservatives are pitted against liberals and liberals against conservatives.  But neither liberalism nor conservatism is Christianity. 

As Christians, we are to take our views on politics and economics from neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans, but from the Scriptures. 

There is going to be intense pressure brought on Christians to pick a side in the upcoming Supreme Court nomination hearings.  Since most of us, including this author, are Republicans, the temptation is going to be to side with Trump in rooting for Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.  For the reasons stated above in this post as well as in last week’s post, this author will refrain from so rooting.   

Some may object to my stance by asking if I think it would be better if Ruth Bader Ginsburg were still on the court.  My response is the Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an evil woman, and it is good that she is no longer serving as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  Apart from her support for feminism and abortion, Justice Ginsburg had “In the year of Our Lord” removed from Supreme Court bar certificates, leaving it up to the member how he wants the certificate to read.  In this, she showed her contempt for America’s Christian founding. 

With that said, for the reasons cited in this two-part series, it is unclear to this observer that Amy Coney Barrett will be any better, that is to say, any more Christian and Constitutional in her rulings on important questions of the day, than was Justice Ginsburg.  This is not to say that she will be another Ginsburg.  Even though she’s not a Christian, it may be that Barrett’s judicial philosophy will prove more consonant with the Constitution than that of Ginsburg, who very clearly hated the document she claimed to interpret.  But it is to say that Christians should be wary of putting their hopes in her confirmation to the Court, that somehow it will usher in a new era of goodness and light.

One of the great concerns this author has is that the upcoming, almost certainly nasty, confirmation battle in the Senate will prompt many Protestants and Evangelicals not only to back her nomination, but defend her religious beliefs as well, thus unknowingly falling into the Vatican’s ecumenical trap and finding themselves drawn little by little into the orbit of Rome.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “we are not ignorant of his [Satan’s] devices.” But, unfortunately, too many Christians today are ignorant of the Antichrist Pope’s devices and thus are easily fooled into supporting the Vatican’s causes.  The principal blame for this ignorance lies at the feet of today’s Protestant ministers, who likely do not themselves understand who Antichrist is, let alone are they capable of teaching their congregations about the Antichrist papacy and properly identify the Roman Church-State as the Babylonian Harlot.                    

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