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I think I used to think that issue was more problematic than I now think it is.

I’ve met folks in every group who . . .

just . . .

smell

of the Presence of The Lord.

Some literally do.

But at least some show forth His countenance in their spirit, face, tones, interests, focus, Loving-kindnesses, Love of and wisdom with His Word and with other people . . . etc.

Whenever I run into such a person, they have my rapt attention and I’m eager to learn from them of The Lord. It doesn’t matter what denomination they are in. It is obvious that they spend time with God and hear His voice above average accurately.

Others . . . may have degrees piled as high as the horse biscuits around them . . . and usually their convictions about their own flawlessness . . . their convictions about their own grandeur are . . . as high and mighty as their images of themselves . . .

They may have 1,001 folks acclaiming their magnificence and worthiness . . . yet I’m wise to run far and fast from them.

Perhaps you’ve had similar experiences.

MD ping.

MD . . . I don’t know how wholesale you fit that characterization . . . but enough to have certainly grabbed my attention and heart above average. That’s one reason the discord was so horrible, to me.

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

LUB,

Imagine, just for the sake of argument, that the Catholic Church is what she says she is, i.e. the Church that Christ Himself founded upon Peter 2000 years ago, that the gates of hell have not prevailed against her, that she remains the "pillar and bulwark of truth", that all other 'denominations' are schisms from her, that she retains the magisterial authority passed down from the Apostles through Apostolic succession, and that it is still true that those who listen to her Magisterium listen to Christ, and those who reject her Magisterium reject Christ (Luke 10:16).

If that were true, how would you know it? How would your experience be any different than it is now?

How would a heretic of the first four centuries, going by 'smell' and spiritual experience, have been able to determine "I am a heretic!"?

-A8