A Devout Catholic isn't a Holy Catholic

Welcome to this live session of the Fire Branded podcast. I'm your host, Catholic Fire Brand himself, TJ Haynes coming at you. This is recorded live. It's a live session, genius. It's recorded live April 2, holy Thursday in the year of our Lord 2026.

my guardian angel, but the live sessions is something

a little bit different. I used to do live

sessions on TikTok. I was doing them, like,

once a week, sometimes twice a week, not every single week, but most weeks. Okay. Out of eight weeks, I might've done six of them. But that platform is crazy. And the platform, not the people, but, like, the infrastructure and, I guess, whoever operates the platform itself, The platform is very unkind to me, very hostile to me between the algorithm and the rules and the regs.

in Japan. Got a couple of followers from Japan.

Well, what about China? Okay. I'm sure some of them are

Chinese too, but I know they're from love my Asian folks.

It's not about the Asians. Okay? It's about, it's about the communist ideologies manifesting in the TikTok platform. So the place is a little bit crazy. The app is a little bit crazy. The people who are, like interested in you, they don't even have to be like fanatic. Just interested in you. They're great. Lots of life, very lively, very interactive. But the crazies on TikTok.

an easier platform to work with. It's easier technologically. I think

the people are great. So I'm moving live sessions here. Live sessions is basically they're supposed to be quick live broadcasts, raw unedited. This might get edited just a little bit like the sound might get enhanced but pretty much what you're seeing here is what the episode is going to be okay that's how live sessions differs from an ordinary episode of Fire Branded, which is streamed live anyway. Okay?

if anyone's trying to conquer the world. I don't know

if anyone's trying to occupy the world rather. I do know that there are evil players out there who want to who want to occupy the world by having a manipulative arm everywhere in it. Some might say, well, The United States is one of them. I don't know. I guess you could make that argument.

But was it justifiable to act and to do so now?

I'm not convinced, and I'm not convinced that there wasn't. Okay? So I'm on the fence there. Alright? I'm kind of pretty much neutral

on it. There are arguments that are valid that

can be made from the left and from the right. Okay? Enough to say that. But let's acknowledge what we're seeing here. And these facts are not in dispute. Iran is an evil player with sleet they fund terrorism. That's not in dispute. Their terrorist cells and networks are known. They are not secret. The only ones who deny them are the Iranian regime.

but intended for offense. Okay? Intended to take lives, not defend lives.

You can say the reasons are justifiable or that they are not. I'm not arguing with either side. All I'm saying is what we have in front of us is a war between The United States and Israel against a country that funds terror everywhere in The

Middle East. Their terror networks are known. Their black markets known.

Their intent and intentions known because they say it all the time, death to America, they want Israel destroyed. Not coexistence, they want it destroyed. Known. This is known. They have a massive arsenal of weapons intended not to defend life, but to take it.

So that's what we have. Israel and The United States launching a war to disarm and disempower that regime. So let's see it for what it is.

Are there reasons to not have done it? Yes. Are there reasons to have done it and to

do it now? Yes. Okay. I'm not arguing that. But let's look at it for what it is and not

for what it isn't because this goes beyond geopolitics. This is really about good versus evil in the strictest sense of

the word. Which side you're on is up

to you. I'm not judging you. I'm not saying which side you ought to be on. All I'm saying is let your reason be informed by the truth and the facts of the matter, not by the rhetoric. Enough I'll say about that.

But which of the parties here have an arsenal intended strictly to take life? I'm just saying it matters. Okay?

But I do agree with what the pope is saying. Pope Leo on Thursday, on Holy Thursday, proposed Christian mission as an antidote to what he called the imperialist occupation of the world, saying it is now a priority to remember that neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power. Totally agree. At the Chryso Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on April 2, the Pope reflected on the mission God entrusts to His people and warned that it must never be distorted by a desire for domination entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.

of here. Christian mission counters. And it counters everything. It's more important to be I'm going to

say Catholic first, but it really does apply to all Christians. Protestants, if if some of

you are lurking and watching this, a lot of what

I say can be applied to all Christians. But Catholics are a little bit different. There is a unique culture in Catholicism. There are unique segments of the practice of Christianity in Catholicism. The sacraments, the mass, the Eucharist, Catholic culture, Catholic history. There are things in Catholicism that are unique. So and I'm I'm a Catholic addressing Catholics. That's my mission.

Okay? But if you're watching this, for most of what I say, you

can toss out the word Catholic if you want and replace it with Christian. All of this will still apply.

Okay? It's more important to be Catholic than to be anything else.

To be American, to be Canadian, to be British, whatever your national origin, your pride, your political affiliation is, it's more important to

be Catholic first. And everything else has

to be secondary to that because everything else has to be formed by that primary identity. Identity, culture. Very important to being human. To being what God made. When He made the human race and when He made you.

be men. Women don't know how to be women. It's a manifestation of identity crisis. What is a man? And how must I be as a man? Now,

gender is is not entirely cookie cutter. Okay? I've made this example in the past. I'm a guy who hates sports, although I love baseball and boxing. I used to box, but I generally I cannot stand sports. My god.

It I swear to god. It's like basketball is on all year because my son

is into basketball. So he's always watching this game, the college games, the NBA, the oh my god. All year long, I'm anyway, I'd be okay if I was bombarded with baseball, but it's not. It's basketball. Anyhow, so I'm a guy who doesn't like sports. I'm a guy who likes ballroom dancing. I don't do it, but I

like to watch it. I particularly love flamenco dancing. Not very man

ish, one would think. So gender isn't always cookie cutter. I was also a boxer. I was also an infantry marine. Right? I played with GI Joe's and toy trucks when I was a little boy and He Man action figures. I didn't like flowers. Okay, there's a little bit more cookie cutter. You understand? Now, men don't know these days what it is to be a man. I think toxic masculinity is mostly a

myth, but in some ways it is

a reality because there are men out there, especially the younger generations who think to be really manly is to be a tool. It's tacked very aggressive, very domineering. Pope John Paul the second said that fallen men, males, fallen males, intrinsic to being a male who has fallen is you are domineering. You dominate. Intrinsic to being a female who has fallen is you

manipulate. Okay? These are

the intrinsic fundamental, shortcomings, weaknesses of the two genders. But we have generations who think to be domineering is is to be masculine. That is not true. To add to this problem of identity crisis, you have younger males who do who have no memory at all of good masculinity. At least TJ Haynes and many of you remember things like and how the actor was gay, but the character I'm talking about the character, Mike Brady, who was played by I forget who.

a good man. Ward Cleaver, a good man. What's his

name from It's a Wonderful Life? George, whatever his last name was.

Good man.

Right? We have at least if even if we don't have a, a good masculine role model in our lives, our memory is informed by what good manhood looks like. Right? The younger generations increasingly don't even have that. So their identity crisis specific to gender specific to gender, but identity crisis is broader than that.

Their identity crisis is deeper. Okay?

Not knowing what it is to be

a good man and not having any memory of someone to emulate or reflect or mimic means they really don't know how to be men.

The culture is suffering from an id from a systemic identity crisis where they simply don't know how to be. Period.

I'm not going to get

into my philosophy on being. It's enough

to say this: To be, right?

Think of be as a verb. God called the sun to be and it was. He called the earth to be and it was what he made. He called this and that to be and it was made according to his design. God calls each of us to be, not just universally as a human race, but individually as persons, as individual persons. He calls each of us to be what he made.

Right? You know what a saint is? A saint is someone who became what he made. The being of a saint. Okay? So because we have an identity crisis, people don't know how to be. You understand? So that's being. And then there's identity. What whatever your primary identity is, everything else is going to be subjected to that judgment, to the judgment of your primary identity.

I'll give you an example. There are many American patriotic Catholics. Remember I said Protestants, Christian, you can replace that with Christians if you want. There are many patriotic American Catholics. I'm one of them. But some patriotic American Catholics are American patriots first. And so the teaching of the church is subjected to the judgment of their perspective as patriotic American Catholics. Because they're Americans first. Get those damn illegals out of here. Right?

don't know me. But I am Catholic first. So if my pilot if my political view or opinion airs

against what God teaches through His church, through divine revelation, well, I'm going to adjust my political perspect my political opinion. I'm going to adjust that opinion. I may change that opinion entirely. Depending on what God teaches through divine revelation, part of

that is through His Church. Why? Because I am Catholic first. That is my primary identity and everything else is subject to judgment by that primary identity. Catholic, devoted to Christ, first and foremost, always and forever. That's how we have to be. Okay? So let's go back very briefly to this story. Pope says Christian mission counters imperialist occupation of the world. I'll make this very specific to

the news story. Whatever your opinion of the war is, and I'm not arguing with it from either side, I'm just saying whatever your opinion of

the war is, you have to factor into it what Christ teaches. Now,

does not teach pacifism, but diplomacy isn't necessarily pacifism. Has diplomacy worked with Iran in

the past? No. But I'm just saying, was there still more time for diplomacy? I don't know, maybe. All I'm saying is a good a good Catholic attitude is one that believes what the church teaches first is what's most important and everything else comes later. Christian mission, evangelization,

conversion of the world, counters. It's more important

than imperialist occupation of

the world. I don't believe there is an imperialist occupation of

the world, but it's irrelevant.

Well, what, what should we do about the Pope's words and catechesis when it comes to war and this war in particular and war in general? For, and I'm only going to spend a minute, a minute on this, because this is not what this episode is about. First thing you should do is listen with an open mind, Consider rationally and reason with your reason. Consider it with your reason, not with your emotions. Not everything that comes out

of the Pope's mouth is doctrine,

But it's all catechesis and it

should inform your reasoning. It's all catechesis and it

should inform your reasoning even if it's not doctrine.

The difference being a doctrine is something you must believe and must live in accord with. Catechesis

comes from church teaching

but it's not canonical explicit church teaching. Unless the Pope

says that this is a teaching, if this is that this is part of the ordinary magisterium, I'm not gonna get into that. So step one is the most important. Consider what the Pope

is saying with an open mind and an open heart. Let me take

a break from the action real quick. I can't believe I chose the right song there. Just wanna see if anyone's saying anything in the chat room worth saying before I get to the next and main segment of this episode. This is the Fire Branded con Fire Branded Contract. That makes total sense.

You know? So I got

super into shape. I can't plus it was like my Rocky moment. You want to hear this story or am I boring you? It was my Rocky moment. My favorite movie in

the world is Rocky. And something that

I have in common with Rocky is I'm very proud of my nose. I'm very, very proud of my nose. I'm not, not in a, in a, in a vein kind

of way.

But, so when I was boxing, I was very much in dread fear of my nose being broken and ruining my beautiful nose, which was also a thing for Rocky. He was very proud of the fact that with all his fights, 30 fights, whatever it was,

he never broke his nose. Anyway, this guy was from Philadelphia. He was and, you know,

in in Rocky, the opponent was Apollo Creed, who was a black guy. My opponent was a black guy from Philadelphia. That's the switcheroo. In the movie, the black guy was not from Philly, but still took place in Philly. He was from Philadelphia. It was his home territory. Right? He was, pretty popular, very loved. And the, the first time that I fought him, it was a draw. Although people remember people to this day, remember me winning because the, you

know, your memory gets foggy. They remember me winning that fight. Why? Because I bloodied his nose. But really, I

got whooped in the ring against that guy. I I really got whooped, but I bloodied his nose. So people remember incorrectly remember me winning that fight. I did not. Also, I think it ended in a draw just out of mercy. I think really he won that fight. Anyway, I wasn't going to lose or draw this time, I got super, super into shape, man. I was oh my god. I was a killer. Training and lifting and conditioning, forget it. And one of the things that I intended to do is one that when that bell rings,

I'm gonna come out with fire and

I'll be damned if I'm not the first one to throw and land a punch. I I don't know why. I don't know why I set these standards for myself, but I wasn't hell bent on landing the first punch, making it count and doing it early, making them respect me early. Well, there's the bell outcomes. TJ Haynes outcomes. My opponent who's like twelve feet tall. So he's got and I'm pretty tall. So so so he had quite a reach on me, so, you know, he was a monster. And, boom. Caught me right across the face.

I think. Either I had 13 and

that was the fourteenth or I had 14 and that was the fifteenth. Can't remember which one it was, but good times, man. Good times. I love that story. I love that story because I worked so hard. You know? And with that first punch, I said, I'm definitely losing this fight, man. Plus, he was a real boxer. Like, he boxed very well. I was more of a fighter. You know? And I beat him. Yeah. If I really pay the price for it, though, boy. But that I I sometimes tell that story as a lesson in holiness.

the ring with you in that fight. And pay attention now. If this is all

you get from this show, this is this is the thing to take. Everything, every effort, every failure, every victory, every trying again, every Eucharist, every confe everything

is what stands before Jesus at judgment. Everything.

Just like everything that you encounter that you experience in training, good, bad, ugly, indifferent, everything walks into that ring. Well, judgment isn't a ring. I'm not comparing it to a to a boxing ring.

But every so people sometimes think all of my sins are standing before Jesus. Well, yes, they are. But all of

your efforts are also standing before Jesus. Your whole record is standing before Jesus. Every time you said no to sin and you let your no mean no, that stands before Jesus.

Every time you said no to temptation, but then you eventually said yes, that stands before Jesus. But part of that story is how many times you said no before you finally caved. How many times did you say no before you finally caved? That stands before Jesus too. Right? Your effort, your your your your engagement in the refusal to give into temptation, that stands before Jesus too. Every mass, every Eucharist is a

all of that stands before it's not just that all

of your sins stand before Jesus. Everything stands before Jesus.

Even the good stands before Jesus. It's not just your sins.

Okay.

Alright. Let me get on with this show because it's already longer than it was supposed to be. Didn't I tell you at the top of this show that this is gonna be a quick one, but every time I say that they're long? Here we are again. I wanna say thank you again to those of you joining me on, YouTube.

That's a very good question. I would say no. Purgatory is a process that takes place over time. Your judgment, we think of

it as taking place over time. We're going to talk about your life for a half an hour, but we're going do it real, real fast. Right? We think of it that way, but

it really happens in a moment. It really happens in a moment. Okay. So I would say it's not purgatory. I

have heard saints in fact, say that when you are judged, you're total peace. When you while you're being judged. You're not ashamed. You're not proud. You're not trying to talk your way out of

it because you're looking truth in the face. And so you are at total peace with everything that goes that that's being that's being visited in your in your judgment. You'd even if you're even if

your judgment is hell, you're at total peace with that. Not that you want to go to hell, but you accept it with total peace. You accept it because you know that you lived this way, you chose this way, even if your judgment is hell. You're not happy about it, but you totally accept it without reservation, without doubt, whatever.

Alright? Okay, let's get on with it. Let me tell you something. I know some people who are very, very devout. I'll tell

you about one person in particular. I know

a few people like this, but I'm

gonna say one person in particular, and I'm

gonna tell you about people in general that in in my life, people I've encountered, have experiences with. I know someone who has been very devout for a long time.

And by devout, mean, rosary, rosary, rosary, blessed mother, blessed mother. And this is true. This is not hypothetical.

Did the, seven churches devotion every year, very devout, was always doing something devout. And I'm here to tell you, not very holy. I don't mean he's flawed because we're all flawed. I mean, not very holy. Rash, judgmental, mean. And at this stage of your life, you should have addressed meanness at the very least.

Okay? Even if it's in your core, at this stage of your life, you should have addressed

that by now. Mean, rash, judgmental, gossipy, like, oh my goodness. Like, so gossipy. Not very holy. Why? Why why can why is it that with all of this devotion

I mean, I'm being very literal. He's no more holy now than he was 20 ago,

thirty years ago. He really isn't. In some ways, he's worse.

I'll get to the why in a second. Then I've known people, parish communities or groups of people,

who were not very I'm thinking of one parish in particular, which to this day blows my mind. The people there, not very devout, but very, very whole that whole parish, very, very holy. Like truly holy, good, beautiful people saturated in the gospel. Yeah. You had a, you know, groups of people

who did the rosary every morning before mass. You know, you had stuff like that. And they were, you know, they were they were sporadically, there were people there, of course.

So you had your average stuff. But beyond that, they were just mass mass goers.

I mean, most of them went to daily mass, but you get what I'm saying. They weren't over the top not over the top, but they weren't

exceedingly devout.

If you encountered them, you would just see them as normal people, maybe even secularist people. Not maybe that's going too far, but anyway.

But they were very, very, very holy. Even without being exceedingly devout.

They were devout in that they practiced what they believed. They practiced the faith. They went to Mass, many of them daily. You know? Clusters of them would show up

for the rosary here and there. Okay.

But they weren't exceedingly devout like this guy and a few others that

I know was but very very holy let

me tell you that that parish is a gem that par and I told the pastor that that parish is a gem the people there are so holy I've known a couple of communities, parishes or not. I've known a couple of Catholic communities that were like that where either the whole community or a very large segment of it was like incredibly holy. Some of them were very devout and some of them were not.

They were just ordinary Catholics intent on living the gospel and obviously mass goers because none

of this is is possible without the grace of God. Why? What's the what differentiates the two? What's what is why where do they differ? Why do some people do all of this

devoutness, right, do all this devotion, all this devoutness, but never grow in holiness. Folks,

it's very common. Everyone in the church knows. I'm not talking about in the pews. I'm talking about, like, in the upper echelon, behind the curtain, in the church, in the everyone recognizes this. That people can go to daily mass and still be the worst

people you'll ever meet. Everyone who works close to the

church knows this. This is not even a secret. You many of you probably even know this. Right?

Do you know why? It's because of their attitude. Attitude

changes the playing field. Attitudes changes everything. Bob Dylan said, I don't remember if it was in a song or in an interview. It's something that I encountered many years ago. Bob Dylan said, some people get wet, others feel the rain.

You know what's interesting? Oftentimes, even lately, when I share that

line with people, they're like, what does that mean? Like, really? That's you really can't even imagine what he means by that? I I don't know what what's going on with people's brains, but something has shifted. Remember how I'm always saying people are increasingly unable to discern truth? There's an example. But anyway, some people get wet, others feel the rain.

What's the difference? Attitude. When you step outside and it's raining, is it an inconvenience or is

it refreshing? What's the difference? Your attitude. Some people hate doing dishes.

I love doing dishes. Do you know why?

My attitude. I make a moment of it. I play my eighties music.

I pray if

sometimes there's a new prayer that I want to learn or a new litany that I want to learn, and I'll rehearse it as I'm doing the dishes. I'll read it and say it to myself again and again until I'm at a level where I'm praying it while I'm doing the dishes. Then I move on

to another prayer. Or maybe I'll I

won't do something religious. Maybe I'll just

sing along to the music. But I make

a moment of washing of of something menial, like washing the dishes.

Attitude. And so, for some people, the dishes is drudgery. For me, it's a moment. I enjoy it. Folding laundry too. Thank God my wife does it.

But, because I I can make a moment of that, but I like that less than than doing the dishes. But, you get where I'm coming from? Attitude. If you do not have

an attitude where you want to be holy, You can go to Mass every day.

You can say 50 rosaries. You can live your life on your knees. It is never going to matter because your attitude is disinclined to holiness. Your attitude is only inclined to piety or the appearance of piety. And let me be clear, I'm not accusing anyone of being guilty of that, whether you're a general audience, but I'm not targeting anyone, I'm just saying this is a real thing in Catholic life.

I try to anyway. Maybe that's why

I'll never be a success doing this. I don't know. But I'm doing what what I feel God called me to do. Anyway, so it's about attitude. If you're not if you don't have an attitude inclined to holiness, you will not be holy. Some of you may be hearing that, and you're very devout and you may feel like, but I'm I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, but I really want to be holy. What's keeping me

from it? I'm going to address that today.

What's keeping you maybe you have maybe you don't need an attitude adjustment, but something is keeping you from progressing. We're going talk about that in a minute. Let me just spend another minute talking about attitude. Here are some ways that your attitude can lose focus. You're more inclined to the appearance of piety than holiness.

where our attitude is. You understand? Some people are inclined to looking holy, appearing devout. Right?

Well, they don't have an attitude inclined to holiness, so they'll never grow in holiness. Doesn't matter how many masses they go to. It really does not matter. The Lord will not bombard you with graces that you're going to reject. And that's a mercy.

Sometimes doing a project first means you have

to do this step. Well, to do that step first, have to do this one. Oh, hell. Well, to do this one, you have to do this one. Oh, damn it. To do that one, you have

to that one. Sometimes before you

can get to the task itself, you have to address the steps that come before it. Hopefully, please God, it's one step. Before I can change this doorknob, I have to get the right screwdriver. Hopefully, that's the only step. Oh, I don't have the I don't own the right screwdriver. I have to go to the hardware store. Oh, I have no no. I don't have enough gas in my car to drive to the hardware store. I have to get gas first. Oh, this gas station is closed.

can you can even start the project. Right?

The project of holiness and growing holiness is the same thing.

Sometimes you're very far from even getting to that project and the Lord has to move you there. If you're a person who can handle a lot

of interior suffering, God will move you there fairly quickly, but it's still a process. It's not going

to happen tomorrow. If you're a

person who can endure a lot of interior suffering, He'll move you there very quickly. It's going take a lot of suffering, but He'll move you

there very quickly. If you're a

person who is of a disposition where you can't handle a lot of interior suffering or you can't handle a lot of the particular suffering, the the the work of the process to get to where you

have to be, God will be gentle with you, but it's going to take longer. Understand? So

the first thing you wanna look out for is what's your attitude like? And I I

have to tell you, my brothers and sisters, this is thirty to thirty five years of evangelization talking. Okay? I'm not saying I'm

the greatest of all time. What I'm saying is I have so much experience evangelizing and ministering to real people

of various backgrounds, various age ranges. So this

is what I'm about to say based on that experience:

Many people who swear up and down that they are well adjusted for holiness don't know the first thing about it. They don't really worship God. They worship the liturgy. They don't really go to mass to worship. They go

to mass to be celebrated. They don't really go to church for God. They go for themselves. There is a lot of that. There is a lot of that going on in the church.

Something to really, really look out for because it's a real thing. It really happens. And it's really an obstacle. So the first thing you want

to do is check your attitude. Do you have an attitude inclined to holiness or just looking like it? Be careful my friends because a lot of

people in the church have the latter an attitude toward looking very holy but not being very holy.

Something to look out for. Okay? And understand too, if that's you, if that's your attitude, that's your

disposition, sometimes it's all your fault and sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's conditioning from before you were able to cognizantly choose. Okay.

Sometimes it's a conditioning that you absorb and sometimes it's conditioning that you did. And sometimes it's in between. Sometimes it's a conditioning that you absorbed a little bit of maybe in your upbringing or your parish community or things that you read or things that you saw, whatever. You absorbed a little

bit of it and then you ran with it. You chose. And it could be

that it's not your fault at all. So don't beat yourself up over it. It's in

the past. Get over it. Move forward. Okay? Adjust your attitude. How do you

have an attitude to be more holy? Start with reading the

lies of the saints. And that's all I'm gonna say

about that for now because I was supposed to spend one more

minute on that and I spent like twenty. Now let me

give you some tips. Okay?

Let's say you have an attitude inclined to holiness, but you just you just feel like you're not moving anywhere. Let me

say this first. You could be making progress that the Lord is preventing you

from seeing. Because if you saw it, you'd stop working. Could be that. It could be that your attitude is exactly where it needs to be, but you're still, for whatever reason, a little far from the mark of now

we're going to bring you through some progress. Maybe you're not quite there yet for whatever reason development, experience, whatever.

It could be that you're moving toward holiness. Right?

Like, I I feel like I'm not making any progress. It could be that you are, but you're making progress in tiny baby steps. But I want you to understand this, and I've said this before, and you'll hear me say it again if you keep watching the podcast or listening to the podcast, however you're getting this.

A movement toward holiness equal to half an inch From the perspective of heaven, it's the value of a thousand miles. Because we are so fallen, because we are so weak, because we are so stupid, if we move closer to holiness by a half an inch, from God's perspective, that is the value of a thousand miles. So don't beat yourself up because then you're gonna start going backwards. Don't beat yourself up. You could be making progress the Lord is not letting

you see and you could be making progress that's so small it's escaping you or you only barely see it. Well, that's a good thing that you're even making that little bit of progress because for human beings so fallen, and we are we are deeply fallen, for human beings to make progress toward holiness, toward being more like God by half an inch,

a quarter of an inch, That's a lot of progress. Okay? So don't beat yourself up. Okay. I just needed to make another microphone

adjustment. I'm so sorry. This is an excellent microphone, but it takes a lot of TLC to get the

best out of it. And sometimes for whatever reason, something knocks some of

my dials out of place.

Anyway, moving on. So don't lose hope. If you feel like you're not making progress, don't lose hope.

Here are some things you might want to consider addressing. Okay? You feel like you're not making progress. You feel like maybe your attitude does need adjusting. But let's just say your attitude is definitely locked on. Maybe it is. Okay? What do you do if you feel

like you're stuck where you're at? Here are some things you should address.

In episode 45 of the Fire Branded Podcast, I talked about the hidden sin. And I said something like this. If I ask you to name the sin, obviously we have, or the vice, obviously we all have a number of them. But if I ask you name the main one that you really need to go toe to toe with and overcome, All of you will come up with one, probably instantly. Right?

but also in practice. The mechanism,

the the economy of virtues and vices is very, very sophisticated. Very, very, very layered. Very, very, very, very complex. It's a very complex economy. A highly complex mechanism. Let me illustrate it for you this way. What's the main sin that you need to address? Some people might come

up with gluttony or lust.

Let's say it's lust because that's like the easy one, right? Or the easy one to wrap your heads around. Okay? Lust, the inordinate love of the flesh.

Well, it might not be lust. That might not be your problem at all. It could

be something that that you indulge in. It could be a vice that that you indulge, but it might not be

the main one. In fact, I would

say eight times out of 10, it isn't the

main one. Usually, your main vice is hiding a couple of layers behind lust. It could be gluttony. It could be vanity. It could be sloth.

And that is your main sin that's causing that's causing the vice of lust, expanding the vice of lust, manifesting or expressing as the vice of lust, but lust is not the fundamental vice. The the fundamental vice is going to be something else. Hello, and welcome to Mark Becker, who's apologizing for being late. So I wanted to acknowledge him and say, it's no problem, brother. Thank you for thank you for showing up at all.

but that's not the main sin. Often, I won't

say always, but often there's something else that's causing that one, something hidden. And the devil engineers it that way because as long as it's undetected, it won't be addressed. So he hides it very, very well. Sometimes lust is not just an inordinate love of the flesh. Sometimes what what expresses as lust is actually something else, like greed. Or it could be it it expresses as lust, but it's actually

vanity that's got some greed sprinkled into it. Or it could be gluttony. Believe it or not, gluttony

is not just about eating. It's about overconsumption of anything. Not just consumption orally, like eating or drinking. Sometimes it's consumption intellectually.

Sometimes it's consumption spiritually. It's the inordinate consumption of anything. Consuming more than you need. Consuming more

than you ought to have. Gluttony. Sometimes people who overeat think, Oh yeah, gluttony is my sin. I just love to eat and eat and eat. Maybe your vice is lust. Maybe it's not gluttony. You understand? Very, very sophisticated, very complex. I wish it could be so simple, but it is not. It is not so simple as saying my main sin is sins of the flesh, and so that's the one I most need to tackle.

I had this experience once years ago.

I

don't even remember what triggered it, but at the time, I

was I had my face buried buried in the works of the saints in the early church. So it must have

been something that I came up with from there. But I went to mass one morning with all this stuff swirling in my head.

I, again, I don't remember exactly what triggered it. And I said, I asked the blessed mother. I remember this. I asked the blessed mother because at the time I was like I mean, I still am, but especially at the time that this was new, my love for the holy Virgin Mary. Right?

And I remember, I'm not going to tell you what it was, but I remember maybe a week went by before it was revealed to me in the weirdest way.

And I knew it in an instant. And I've since encountered the works of saints who have said similarly, so this is not unique to me. And I just knew it immediately, but I didn't know why. Like, okay, so this is my main sin. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I know certainly. Yeah. That's true. You're right. But I didn't understand it. Like, but I don't see myself as that. Well, the next day, I started seeing this vice everywhere in my life.

Any vice. Any vice. Okay? So ask the Blessed Mother and ask the Holy Spirit fervently, earnestly, what is my main vice that I need to overcome? I think it's this,

but maybe it's not this.

But what is it? And I'm telling you, the blessed mother slash the and the holy spirit I have

to be careful with my words in case there are Protestants listening to this. I wanna make sure it's very clear. The Holy Spirit, through the intercession of

the blessed virgin Mary, will re will reveal it to you. What

my suspicion this is my suspicion. It's not fact. It's my suspicion. Whether you are ready to see it or not, the Holy Spirit is gonna show it to you. Sometimes the Holy Spirit doesn't give you what you're not prepared to handle. Usually that's the case. But there are times when the Holy Spirit gives you more than you can handle, and you have to grow into it very fast. And so sometimes that's very hard. Don't ask for that. It's hard.

Mhmm.

But you will have you will have you will have already come very far through the revelation, by the revelation of that core and fundamental vice that's manifesting in ways that pretend to be your core and fundamental vice. So that's one thing I can tell you is overcome your, or at least address. You may take your whole life to overcome it,

but at least you address it. You at least address it and you fight like hell to overcome it.

And in the name of Jesus Christ, you put that son of

a bitch beneath your boot heel and

take control of it. In the name of Jesus Christ, you can't do it on your own. And sometimes, you know, just a little little bit of breakaway, sometimes you literally have to say, in the name of Jesus Christ, I reject and renounce this vice. I reject and renounce every manifestation of this vice in and

of itself or where it manifests

in other vices. In the name of Jesus Christ, I reject and renounce it. That's not gonna free you of it. Oh, it could. It could free you of it overnight, but I don't think so. But it will at least start to help you to have

control of it, to grab it by the throat in the name of Jesus Christ. You understand?

Quick break for some coffee. Pause. Alright. So overcome your chief, your fundamental vice, because guarantee you, it's hiding. Whatever you think it is, well, that's a that's a vice you

have to overcome. But what you think is your main vice, it's hiding. Uncover it. And in the name of Jesus, overcome it. Defeat it. Impose your will against it.

Set your will against that desire. And maybe you'll lose sometimes.

Okay. Maybe you resist for a while before you lose.

Okay. That's what confession is for. But eventually, you're gonna win and you're gonna win and you're gonna win and you're gonna win. And you're going to eject that vice from your life. And then all of the other vices that it feeds into are going to start to yield to your command in the name of Jesus Christ.

True. Not myth. True. Believe when I tell you it's true. Alright. Now this

is going to be the only other tip that I give because this is running long. I'm going to provide a list of three other tips. Okay. I'm I'm I have a good attitude or at least I'm working toward it. I really want to be holy, but I swear I'm not making any progress.

Okay. You don't have to subscribe to see what I have there. A lot

of stuff there you do have to be subscribed for, but it's free. Okay? But there's also a lot of stuff that you you don't have to subscribe to see it. If you are in my inner circle, if you are subscribed to firebranded.fm, firebranded.fm, those that post show note, the additional tips for how to advance in holiness. If you feel like you've stagnated or plateaued, that will just be emailed to you. You don't have to keep coming back to look for it.

Okay. Oh, Shellback Bowe, I

think is leaving. I just saw somebody tell him goodnight. It's almost, oh, it's almost 02:30AM for Shellback Bowe. He's in Japan. And he says he needs to get some sleep. 02:30AM. Yeah. Yeah, man. That's pretty late. So for Shellback Bo, it's already Good Friday. Happy Good Friday, Shellback Bo. Okay. Let's continue. This is going to be the second and the last one, the last tip I'm going to cover in this live session. You want to grow in holiness.

Pause for effect. Do you really want to give up your sin? How do you know that you really do? Maybe you really do, but maybe you really don't. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you to see that. Sometimes, and this is true, sometimes we hate our sins so much, but what we hate just a

little bit more is the idea of letting them go. Sometimes we hate that more, letting go of our sins. We hate them so much. Yeah. There was this poem called, the pains of sleep by Samuel Taylor Coleridge or S. T. Coleridge. You should read it. It was pretty powerful. But he's dealing with some kind of moral conflict in that poem.

He's dealing with some moral conflict, something

that he wants to stop or give up, but he just can't. And one of the lines

in that poem says desire with loathing, strangely mixed Desire with loathing, strangely mixed. And later he says, to know this is so powerful. To know and loathe, yet wish and do. Desire with loathing strangely mixed. To know and loathe yet wish and do. Is that you? Do you have desire and loathing strangely mixed? Do you know and loathe yet wish and do?

Well, that's a tough one. That's a tough one to figure out. That's not as simple as changing a fan belt in your engine. That's more like finding the teeny tiny problem that's causing an entire jet turbine to stop working.

Right? Probably you're not going to

be able to straighten that

out yourself. So include that in your personal prayer intentions. Lord, do I really want

to give this up or do I just want to want to give this up? Whatever the this is, it could be a single sin, a single vice, it could be a set of interconnected vices. You know what your life is. I don't. Okay? So you have to you have to apply this, to yourself, to your own experience.

Do I really wanna give this up? Or do I just want to be a person who wants to give this up?

Ask the Lord to help you to let it go. Even if he doesn't help you to see the truth of it, Because that might be a truth that's a little too complex for you to comprehend or me or anybody. Right? Depending on your situation. It doesn't matter if you can doesn't matter if you ever arrive at the wisdom.

of it tomorrow, but it means the healing process can finally begin. Lord,

help me if not to see whether or not I really want to give up this sin or these sins.

If not to see it, fine. Just help me

to get to where I need to be, to where I really want to give up these sins.

Because sometimes we can hate the hell out

of our sins, but what we hate just a little bit more is the idea of giving them up. And because that desire and loathing are strangely mixed, it can be very, very hard for us to see that. It doesn't matter if you see it, just ask the Lord to help you to get over it. And I'm telling you, the Lord is going to help

you get over it. There are certain things.

This is my personal opinion. There are certain things that if you ask the Lord for, he will answer those things very, very, very, very quickly, sometimes more quickly than you would like. Lord make me holy. He'll answer that very quickly. Not that you will be holy quickly, but he's going to start the process rather abruptly and maybe even move quickly.

this up. I think this is my personal opinion.

I think that's one of those prayers that he will answer quickly. Help me, Lord, to see the true fundamental vice I need to overcome, or you ask the blessed mother to intercede for you that the Holy Spirit reveal that. Whatever. That's a prayer that I believe the Lord answers quickly. Some prayers prayers the Lord says, I'll answer that, but not yet because you're not ready.

in the other direction, makes you more vicious. Could be. If your attitude isn't right,

that can happen. Or if your attitude is right, there might be some things there might be some sticking points, some obstacles you need to get over. Letting go of of sin, like really, really letting go of it in your in your will, in your heart, in your being, in your desire, letting go of it. Willing to be free of it. And then then you have to do the work of getting free of it.

Could be a set of interconnected sins. That's that's up to you. Okay?

And Mark Becker says just stepping back to see how sin is disgusting, disgustingly ignorant, ignorant. Not sure what that means, Mark. I'm not sure what that means, but going back to the chat room in just a second. So that's the, that's one thing.

Let go. Let really want to let go of your sins. Not just get over them, but let them go so that you can start getting over them. And the other thing

is ask the Lord to reveal what your fundamental vice is. Now you might have a few of them, but what I'm saying is if you were to point out one vice or sin that you really need to overcome, probably that's not really the one vice you need to overcome. Probably it's something hidden that's causing that vice that you're putting, that you're pointing out. It's a hidden vice that you probably don't even realize you have that's causing that other vice that you've put that you've identified and probably some other ones too. Okay?

And it didn't matter what you asked. Didn't matter what you asked less than 1% would respond. Didn't didn't matter. Listen.

I really need your donation. There's a, I don't remember why 160,000 is in my head, but I'm, I'm fairly sure that was like the, the ratings. Of this slot of this thing. A 160,000 barely 1% would respond. When I first encountered this in media, I was told, oh, that's very normal.

I already have a very low number anyway, but still there

have been streams where I know I have like a handful of people who are really into what I'm doing. And I swore they for sure will sign up. One of them did only one of like the seven or eight people across all of the net, the platform, because I simulcast. Right. So across all of the platforms, I expected, let's just say, just to keep the numbers simple, I expected 10 definitely will respond.

thinking about. It's like, I feel like

Lent was it. I hate Lent. I don't know if you've ever heard me say this before.

I hate it because the Lord has brought

me through such treacherous lens, back to back to back to back for like six years or something. Like, it was like

some, some kind of disaster spiritual or temporal or usually both during lent.

So now I'm actually terrified on Ash Wednesday. Now I'm like terrified because it's like, what, what what's in store for me now? Sometimes I joke that on Ash Wednesday, I'm going

to become Muslim just so I don't have to go through lent.

I made that joke to somebody and they said, well, Muslims have it worse. They have to do all this fasting. So I was like, oh, damn. That's right. I forgot about that. Man. I have to, I don't know. I don't know what I'll do then, but obviously I would never change religions, but, but this lent sometimes

we set standards for ourselves that we're not prepared to reach. We're not prepared to hit. And as

I said earlier, sometimes we make progress that we just barely see or don't see

at all. Though I feel like this Lent was a disaster for me during that walk when I

was thinking this over and talking to the Lord about it, I do feel like the law I needed some attitude adjustment to my own different from what I was talking about here, but I do feel like the Lord straightened some crooked things in me this Lent. And now it's up to me to do something with that new attitude. Now it's on me. And, of course, it's grace. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course it's grace and the help of God.

So don't don't be hopeless even if you don't identify what it is.

Just assume that you probably got something or the Lord did something in you that you just don't recognize, and it doesn't matter if you recognize it or not. What matters is that there was a course corrected or a trajectory adjusted that is bringing that has brought you closer to becoming the person God intended for you to be, brought you closer to holiness. Sylvia, longtime fan and friend of my work says, can you handle the truth? In reference to something that I said in the, in the episode. Sin is like onions.

So the training evolution was going to be

at like 1PM or something, something like that. It was, it was not in the morning. It was in like the middle of the day and my roommates and I spent the first part

of that day watching Rocky one, I

think Rocky one, two, and three back to back to back. This is what you do in Marine Corps inventory when you're not needed anywhere else. And, but you don't have leave or Liberty. Leave is when you can actually leave, leave you're on vacation. Liberty is when you can just leave the base and you have to be back later that day or the next day or something.

the base. Very often guys would watch movies like all day. So

I think we watched all three of the, of, I think we watched Rockies one, two, and three, or we might've watched one the previous night and then the other two, next morning. I don't remember. We were on a Rocky high. Right. And we were joking about the lines and, know, heckling and, you know, we were having fun watching these movies.

He's the boot, you know, so

you can toy with him. When I was a boot, people toyed with me. Okay. It was just Marine Corps culture. And I was toying with them to an, to the extent that I was doing Apollo Creed's moves, you know, dancing around the ring, waving my, you know, waving my fist around like Apollo Creed did. I was trash talking them like clubber Lang did not just for my own entertainment, but to entertain, you know, my fellow Marine, you

know, I had a bunch of fun and I got to

tell you, I was looking beautiful. I was doing these, these moves around the so called ring. Like I had been rehearsing them for weeks, you know, because we had just gotten off of these movies, you know? Well, I paid the price because after that training evolution, there was a guy who managed the boxing matchups. That's all I'll do is put it in quotes.

he did not act

how he looked. Okay. He was intense. Okay. He was a, you know, he, he had been building his body, you know, probably like since freshman year of high school.

with it. But anyway, you better watch, man.

Don't be too bold, man. If you're going to come off with some confidence, this is, this is actually a good, good lesson, an unexpected lesson to share. If you're going to come off with some confidence, maybe that's okay, but you better be prepared to back it up. You better be prepared. Don't be arrogant, but sometimes you have to show a little confidence or maybe you don't try to show it. It just comes out

of you. Well, that's okay. But don't pretend because one day you're going to have to back it up. My mother used

to tell me this every day in the streets. There's always somebody tougher.

Not literally every day, but many times she told

me that in the streets, there's always going to be somebody tougher. And that always stuck with me. Maybe not at first, but pretty, pretty quickly that stuck with me in the streets. There's always going to be somebody tougher. And I really took that to heart, you know?

of girls and stuff. Not that it

was like an, a dread fear, but it, it, what I'm saying is it just made me more intelligent.

Don't project what you cannot back.

And even if you can back it, maybe don't project it anyway. Keep them guessing. Keep them guessing. When the moment of truth comes, then you let them know. And then they'll respect you.

That is a lesson I learned as a street kid from Brooklyn. Even if you can back it, don't project it. Keep it quiet. Because

if the moment of truth ever arrives, usually by somebody else's prompting, that you have to show your quality and show what you're worth, then you let them know, and then they'll respect you. That sounds prideful. I know. And at the time, I was a young kid. At the time, maybe it was prideful, but there's a virtue in that lesson. That's why I'm sharing it with you. Do you know what it is that I'm teaching you? You're have to figure it out. Figure it out. What am I teaching you in that lesson?