Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.—2 Tim 3:12-13.
By Father David Nix
The word for “all” above in Greek is πάντες or pantes in the Latin alphabet. Just like the English above, all obviously means everyone. That is, every single person who desires to live a pious life in Christ will be persecuted, even if they are not looking for it. When seen from the point of view of heaven, this is more of a promise than a threat!
Notice also that imposters will go from “bad to worse.” That is why it’s funny how many people are praying for the main imposter foisted upon the Catholic Church over the last 13 years. Of course prayers are going to make him go from “bad to worse” in all his heresies. Why? Precisely because he is an imposter.
Look at St. John the Baptist. The great forerunner fearlessly defended marriage between one-man-and-woman against the corrupt hierarchy of his day and the pagan invaders. Eventually, the two groups saw to his execution. The Baptist lost his head over marriage and this fulfilled his role of preparing Israel for hundreds of thousands of converts to Catholicism. Now compare this to the heresy of Amoris Laetitia (demanding the sacrilege of two sacraments—marriage and the Eucharist) as well as the heresies of Fiducia Supplicans (yes, the word “couple” is in there in reference to blessing gays nine times.) Major heresies from the imposter.
But now consider St. Thomas More. He did everything he could to avoid martyrdom from a corrupt king and corrupt hierarchy. Yet the similarities between him and the Baptist are astonishing: Both of them defended marriage as being between one-man-and-woman to a corrupt hierarchy of their day (pertaining to the one true world religion of the time—even though both groups would quickly lose it—one by becoming “the Jews” and the other by becoming “the Anglicans.”) Yet the similarities go on. The quiet but witty British lawyer and the ascetic-man of the desert both had the exact same execution of being beheaded in store for them. Why? It came for defending the sacredness of marriage.
Non-compromise always has one goal: Union with God. In putting God ahead of man, some saints will live their non-compromise on their sleeves (like St. John the Baptist) and attain a speedy martyrdom. But other saints will live non-compromise quietly, like St. Thomas More. Perhaps we could even say St. Thomas More lived in a manner that could be deemed “conflict-averse.” Yet he still put God ahead of human respect and attained the glorious crown of martyrdom. Again, the two saints defended marriage and both died by beheading, even though their personalities (and sense of non-compromise) looked very different.
But we know that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”—2 Tim 3:12. This is true, regardless of having a personality like St. John the Baptist or one like St. Thomas More. The good news is you can be a firebrand or peacemaker, and yet still find martyrdom. The bad news is that if you get along with everyone without any persecution, you’re not living your Catholic faith. (Re-read the line from St. Paul if you think that’s an exaggeration.)
Non-compromise always has one end: White martyrdom or or red martyrdom. Some spiritual writers have said you need to either be a white martyr or a red martyr to enter heaven. In fact, the Word of God says just as much. Also, notice another aspect of complimentary theology in St. John and St. Thomas: One was a celibate and the other was a married man. Though only one was a virgin, both had the love of God to attain to the crown of martyrdom (even though one was quite the reluctant martyr.)
It’s not about being obnoxious. According to the approved apparition from the 16th century of Our Lady of Good Success, the Four Virtues required for Christians following the fallout of 20th century were made very clear by the Mother of God herself: “The freemen from the slavery of these heresies, those who the merciful love of my most Holy Son will destine for the restoration will have a great strength of will, constancy, bravery and much confidence in God. To test this faith and the confidence of the just, there will be times when it will seem all is lost and paralyzed. This then, will be the beginning of the complete restoration.”
Notice again the virtues you really need to make it to heaven right now to be a red or white martyr are: 1) a great strength of will 2) constancy 3) bravery and 4) much confidence in God.
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