Ep 195 - Why Some Men Fall and Others Stand: The Authority You’re Ignoring

James Caldwell: This is the Manly Catholic, the podcast that calls you out of the shadows and into the fight. Here we forge men into warriors for Christ, husbands, fathers and leaders who refuse to kneel to the modern world's lies. No more passivity, no more excuses, no more lukewarm faith. This is your battle cry, your call to arms. The time for weakness is over. It's time to fight. Welcome to the Manly Catholic. Let's get to work. Well, all welcome back to another episode. of the Manly Catholic. is James, your host, and today I'm going to be speaking on part six of our spiritual warfare series. And today the topic is why some men fall and others stand. Now there is a moment that every exorcist has seen or has spoken about pretty often. Honestly, I'm just hearing a lot of exorcists talk. You a man comes in. Desperate his home is falling apart. Maybe his marriage his children aren't listening Falling away from the faith his mind isn't clear anxiety temptation disorder He feels attacked or oppressed overwhelmed and of course, he's seeking help. He said enough He wants prayers relief something to make the pressure stop and the priests ⁓ exorcist listens very calmly Does not begin with anything dramatic, but he just asked with a question When was your last confession? That question alone reveals everything about spiritual authority, gentlemen, because most men think that the battle is about what they say, but the church teaches it is about what they are. Or even hear a priest who comes in to speak with his bishop. He's been serving for several years, maybe even decade. He sits down in front of the bishop, feeling nervous, he feels tired, overworked, overwhelmed. And he just doesn't think he has what it takes to be a priest anymore. He thinks he has chosen the wrong vocation. And again, very calmly, the bishop looks at the priest in front of him he says, when did you stop praying? When did you stop saying the Liturgy of the Hours, which is required by every priest? By now in this series, you guys have known that the fight is real. You know the enemy is not imaginary, that he is disciplined, patient, and strategic. You know the weapons the church gives you through confession, the Eucharist prayer, and sacramentals. You know the doors must be closed, and that your home must be defended. But now we arrive at the dividing line. Why do some men actually stand firm while others fall apart? The world is exactly the same. The temptations are the same. The access to grace is the same. And yet one man becomes steady and difficult to shake while another remains inconsistent, pulled back again and again to the same sense. The difference is not personality or willpower alone. The difference is authority. Or maybe he has a stronger guardian angel. I don't know. But before we dive into all that, let us begin with a St. Michael prayer. So in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And to the Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast in hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits, proud about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. Amen. Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Listen to the words of Christ in the gospel of Matthew chapter 28. Surah in verse 18, says, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. All authority. That means there's no independent spiritual power, no self-made authority, no technique that bypasses him being Jesus. Everything flows from Christ through his church, through the sacraments, and into the soul that is rightly ordered. This means something very direct for us. If a man is not aligned with Christ, he is not standing in authority. He may be religious, he may say some prayers, but authority does not come from activity. It comes from union with Christ. There's a passage in the Acts of the Apostles that should make every man stop and examine and really think about this. It is from Acts 19 and it starts in verse 11. said, God did extraordinary miracles through Paul so that when the handkerchiefs or aprons that touched his skin were brought to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Then some itinerant Jewish exorcist tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Eskiva were doing this. But the evil spirit said to them, reply, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you? Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck. In the name of Lord Jesus was praise. Also, many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices. A number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly. When the value of these books were calculated, it was found to come to 50,000 silver coins. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. Now, fun fact for you guys, which I'm sure you were thinking this too, is how much is 50,000 silver coins worth? It's about three to six million US dollars in today's money. So they burned about five million, we'll say, dollars worth of books in public. because of this incident, which is pretty crazy in itself. But anyways, authority, going back to the main point of the passage, authority is not something that you borrow. You can't buy it. You either have it or you do not. This is exactly what you hear from men who do deal directly with spiritual warfare, like Father Vincent Lamperger has been on the podcast, Father Ripperger. But Father Lamperger in particular has explained that when people come to him, they often want immediate relief in something dramatic, but he... first looks at their life, their interior life. Are they in a state of grace? Have they been in confession? Are they going to confession consistently? Are they receiving the Eucharist? Or if they are not Catholic, are they consistently going to church? Are they part of a Bible study, prayer group, church community? Because that is so important. Because if they are not, whatever help they receive will not hold. It just simply won't last. It cannot last because you'll simply go back to your patterns. Father Ripgird talks about this over And over again, he goes to the most important thing is actually one, of course, the exorcism itself is important, but it's restructuring the whole person's life, their interior life, because it's like the passage where it talks about the man who gets rid of the demons and he cleans his house, he sweeps away and the demons, he grabs other demons, he comes back. And even though it's an order that demons come in and the affliction is greater than it was before. You know, so you might have cleaned the house. It looks pretty on the outside, but interiorly actually it's, it's a mess. And that's when demons attack as father or as a Dr. Dan Schneider, who is great for in the podcast, but on several times, but he, says demons are lawyers from hell and they recognize authority. And just like in this passage as well from acts 19, if you are trying to exercise authority where none has been given, you are actually opening yourself up to greater. retaliation, a greater temptation, greater oppression. know, and Dr. Dan has talked about on the podcast as well, where he talks about priests who probably mean very well, but they don't have the proper authority. And they try to do exorcist prayers over, you know, a parishioner or someone who just comes up with them after a talk or something like that. And they try to basically expel the demon. And they actually get attacked against because they don't have the proper authority. And then we are the authority in our homes. And that is the whole point of this, this talk, because if, if the structure is intact, right, authority then flows starting with us at the head, or if you are a priest starts at you, and then it flows down after you. But if it's broken, then our authority weakens. And this is where most men fall, not because they don't care, but because they are divided. Right? A man wakes up and he wants to be better. I'm going be better today. He starts with prayers, but he's still holding on to sin. That's why confession is so important. Maybe it's pornography. Maybe it's anger. Maybe it's just laziness, sloth, know, seven deadly sins. He avoids confession and tells himself he will deal with it later. Then he wonders why nothing changes, why his prayer feels weak, why his mind feels scattered, why his home feels disordered. The truth is hard, but it is indeed necessary. Grace does not cooperate with rebellion. A man cannot ask God to strengthen him while he is actively refusing to obey him. He cannot command what he refuses to submit to. And we can't command God anyways, but the concept of being more righteous, right? The thought of the prayers of a more righteous person actually have more merit is very true and it's very biblical. And the letter of St. James talks about, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects. First Peter, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those that do evil. And in Proverbs says the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. This matters in a particular way for husbands and fathers and priests because they are not responsible only for themselves, but for their homes. Like we talked about last episode, while the Gabriel Morse spoke about this often, he says, prayer, fathers who pray over their families and bless their homes exercise real authority, not just a symbolic authority, but real authority, especially in the spiritual realm. Yet that authority is strengthened or weakened by how that man individually lives. A father who is living in serious sin cannot expect to lead with strength. But a father who is striving, confessing, repenting, and ordering his life stands differently even if he feels weak because authority does not come from feeling strong. It comes from being rightly ordered under Christ. coffee and prayer. It's the perfect blend. Mystic Monk Coffee isn't just another cup of coffee. It's handcrafted by the Carmelite monks of Wyoming, roasted with care and infused with prayer. Whether you're starting your morning or fueling your day, Mystic Monk Coffee has you covered. It offers rich, bold flavors that are as divine as their mission. By choosing Mystic Monk, you're not just enjoying exceptional coffee, but you're supporting a community of monks dedicated to their work, to prayer, and to the church. is coffee with a cause. So what are you waiting for? Visit mysticmonkcoffee.com and experience the brew that's feeling faith and flavor. Again, going back to Dan Schneider and some of the books that he's written, he talks about this, how a family, a whole family can become oppressed because of the sins of the father. If the father is addicted to pornography, it opens his whole family, not just himself, but his family up. It goes always, always goes back to the garden, right? Adam abdicating his role to till and to keep, he did not defend. is the garden. He sinned by not exercising his rightful authority by defending Eve. And so Satan was able to get in. So even by your sin, your personal sin that we think as a society doesn't affect anyone else, but by that personal sin, you are then opening doors for the demonic for your entire family. Don't forget that man. This is not just about you. Of course you want to get to heaven, but your job as a man, as a spiritual father, is to get your family to heaven. That is our goal. The church has always taught that marriage is not merely a partnership, but a structure. The husband is called to lead as Christ leads the church, not by domination, but by sacrifice, responsibility, and self-gift. When that order is lived, something changes in the home. Peace increases, clarity returns, and strength grows because the structure God designed is being restored. Disorder, on the other hand, always creates vulnerability, and that is where the enemy works. This is another reason too, and this could be a topic for a different day. but the family structure itself is so important. When did we become two income households? It's a very subtle thing, but it used to be the man was primarily responsible for providing for the needs of his family. then things, mean, we can, again, this topic for a different day, things got way more expensive, ⁓ the rise of feminism, things like that. Women became more inclined to be in the workplace. Children were then passed off to caregivers, things like that, childcare. But the authority of the family changes, the structure changes. Again, but so then it's not rightly ordered. Maybe the mom is being the head of the household, right? Or even the dangers too of single or single parent households. Of course, sometimes death occurs and things like that, but things like divorce, things like that. it leads to chaos, which is exactly what Satan wants. Because disorder always creates vulnerability. And that is where the enemy works. So now the question then becomes personal for you guys listening out there, where in your life is there disorder? What sins have you been avoiding? When's the last time you've been to confession? What habit have you justified? We are great at justifying our sins. I am terrible at it. I go, well, it really wasn't that bad. Well, it wasn't X, Y, Z because I did this thing or I didn't really think it was, you I didn't get full consent. So it's not a moral sentence. Like the amount of justification I do. I'm going through XS 90 right now. I'm just like the Israelites in the desert. We are just as bad guys. We look at them and we're like, why we on earth would you do that? And we are just as bad, if not worse. So what area of your life is clearly out of alignment? Because that is where your authority is breaking down and no amount of external prayer will fix it when you refuse to confront these things. If you're a rosary every day, and I'm not saying too, it's not like your prayers become ineffective, but they're not as effective. It's not like you just flat lines like, you're praying and you're wasting your time. Of course, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if you are living in mortal sin. And you're not confessing that you have taken yourself away from God. Like you, your soul has been separated from God because of the mortal sin that you have committed and you need to run back to his grace immediately. Because guys, if you are Catholic and you're listening on here and you have committed a mortal sin, which we talked about a little bit, I think last week or the week before, and you die without any sort of contrition or like Resolution to go to confession you are damned for health. This is very clear. This is church teaching This isn't James making this up Look at the catechism because this is the turning point men because once a man understands this everything becomes clear The goal is not simply to pray more in which some of us most of us I'd say probably could do so But the goal is to become ordered to place Christ first and allow everything else to follow From that so here is what we need to do Go to confession and don't delay it. That seems to be a very common theme in this spiritual warfare series is go to confession, especially during Lent. Examine your life honestly, name your sins and bring them into light because of authority begins with truth. Because if you can name it, you can tame it. Then restore that order in one concrete way. Just one, fix your prayer life, cut off a sin or take leadership in your home. Institute order into your life into your family's life and then begin to pray out loud with your family and your children even if it feels weird or uncomfortable and especially if it feels uncomfortable because authority grows when it is exercised and Yeah, you're gonna be batted up first if you've ever done this before Because man, we want strength, right? We want clarity, we want stability, but these are not built on emotion, right? It's not built when we feel like it. They're built on order, on discipline, because as the great philosopher Jocko Willink says repeatedly, discipline equals freedom. Christ, the church, the sacraments, state of grace, and a rightly ordered life. That is where our authority comes from, and that is why some men fall and others stand. is because the men who stand are exercising their authority rightly through Christ at the center of their life. And they're not hiding, right? They're not hiding in the shadows, not lurking in the shadows, like, well, I'm gonna hide this part of my life because I'm really uncomfortable with it, but 98 % of my life is fine. It's like, God wants all of it, right? If we're hiding certain parts of our lives, we're really not surrendering to Him. We're really not loving Him because He calls us to give everything to Him. So as we move into this final episode next week, understand this, gentlemen. You can know everything we have talked about in the series and still lose if you do not endure. The man who wins this war is not the most intense. He is the one who refuses to quit, the one who is trying to order their life and exercise authority correctly. So do not just leave this here. I want you to focus on going to confession if you have not been already. Put your life in order and that might not be spiritually. Maybe you're like, ⁓ my spiritual life actually is pretty good. This is all aspects of our life, right? Again, just ask God, ask our lady of sorrows. If you have a certain saint, Saint Joseph, especially he's near and dear to me right now. This is the year of Saint Joseph for me. Ask him like, Lord, what in my life is chaotic? You might not even know. Again, spiritually you might think, ⁓ actually, like I'm doing pretty good, but physically. Maybe you're not working out, you're not eating right. Maybe your house is a mess, your room's a mess, your rectory is a mess. What in your life is chaotic and what can you put into it? Maybe it's your finances, right? Maybe it's your sex life, maybe it's your intellectual life. Again, if you name it, you can tame it. If you name it, you can tame it. The men who stand are not the most talented guys. They're the most aligned according to Christ. according to his church and according to rightful authority. So make the decision today, put order back in your life and fight back against Satan and his demons. Let's finish with a prayer. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Bless her, thou my woman, and blesses the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and the hour of our death. Amen. In the of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Thank you all so much for tuning in and listening. Tune in next week for part seven, our final installment of our Spiritual Warfare series. Can't wait to see you next time. Go out there and be a saint. Brothers, thank you for listening, but do not let this end here. If this episode stirred something inside of you, do not keep it to yourself. Share it with a brother who needs to hear it, a man who is tired, a man who's drifting, a man who's under attack and does not even know it. This podcast exists because the battle is real and souls are at stake. This work has helped you. Please support the channel so we can keep fighting. Your support will help ignite the mission to keep us going. We need your help, brothers. I know you will come through for us. Pray for us because we need as well. The enemy does not rest and neither can we. Now go and live this. Be a saint, not tomorrow, but today. Choose the hard thing, reject sin, get back up. Go to confession, pray your rosary, love your family. Carry your cross without complaining.