If you read this article with the understanding that I am working to build a bridge to true Christian unity–true Christian unity and not a false one–it may very well speak to you indelibly. I pray it does.
Today the Church celebrates St Jerome (342-420), whose translation of Sacred Scripture into the Latin Vulgate gave Christian civilization its surest anchor against heresy. He worked as a sickly hermit, yes–but he swung a sword sharper than any politician’s rhetoric. Jerome knew that to twist the Word of God is to twist souls, and that a single mistranslation could echo into eternity.
In my studies I see these mistranslations all the time, and I ache that people I love read these things and are learning the entirely wrong thing.
We should also keep in mind that the Bible and its 73 books became official in the late 300s, so it was providential that Jerome be born at this time. Of course because of that catastrophic splintering in the 1500s, many folks today assume the Bible to be comprised of 66 books. Much of the uniqueness (and what we as Catholics believe truth) of the faith can be found in those “missing” seven books.
If Wikipedia is correct, even the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheran Church, and Anglican Communion celebrate him. If this is true, it is likely many followers of these groups are anti-Catholic; it is equally likely many have no idea who Jerome was and how instrumental he was in making sure the Bible was the Bible it was supposed to be–not just in its words, but more importantly in the absolute necessity that its hearers received the closest thing to what Christ’s apostles and the early Church Fathers understood Christ’s message to be.
–the same Bible Luther would cling to well over a thousand years later at that pivotal, catastrophic moment when Christianity would move from two feuding sects to what is now estimated to be over 50,000.
This is not what Jesus wanted, clearly. He said that his wish was that we would be one as he and his Father are one.
And this is why, no matter how much I learn, no matter how much I know about the enemy (they were never Catholic!) infiltration of the Catholic Church, no matter how much crap we get online for being who we are, I will always adhere to my Traditional Catholic faith. I currently resist and reject whatever is currently enthroned in the Vatican because it isn’t the Catholicism previously handed down for centuries, but I will always be wedded to what Church I still believe Christ intended. I know one colleague of mine believes that this intention is found in Orthodoxy. And yet we continue to be online friends who respect each other’s writing.
I know he will likely read this piece.
This all may sound like a detour, but it’s not–it’s the heart of the matter. Jerome isn’t just history; he’s the reminder that truth comes through a Church, not a cute line on a church sign or the memetic energy spread by social media after a tragic event. This all deals with current events. This all deals with myself very personally.
We must remember, Jesus didn’t exactly hand down an instruction manual for our glove compartment. He didn’t hand down a Bible. If he wanted to do that, he could and would have. Instead, he trusted a bunch of rugged and unlearned men to start of fire, a movement, a Church. Christ’s own behavior before his Ascension–most accurately found in what he didn’t do–and the fact that the Bible wasn’t compiled until much later, proves exactly what he wanted.
And that includes the Judases he personally handpicked. It even includes the ten apostles who abandoned him in his darkest hour.
But it also includes John, you know. And yes, Mary, the beloved Mother of Christ himself.
What did Jesus want, based on his behavior? He wanted a Church to replace the synagogue, all the while allowing his disciples to graft onto that backbone of the synagogue the new testament, the new covenant, the new seal of blood.
The new sacrifice, eternal and true.
The Bible is absolutely important–obviously! But how did that Bible come to be in the first place? St Jerome was a part of a community–a Church–with guidelines, a hierarchy, and a court. This is how heaven will be, and God would not expect his Church on Earth to be anything other than a replica of that.
It is that Church that spoke the Bible first through the oral tradition, and then compiled it–but not until the late fourth century.
The point, or one of them: To love the Bible is commendable. But if this is the case, will we invite some cognitive dissonance into our minds by realizing that without St Jerome and the Catholic Church, not to mention all the Christian monks that copied it down through the centuries word by word before the advent of the printing press in the 15th century–not even 100 years before Luther’s rebellion–we wouldn’t even have that Bible?
Here is one reason we do have it, even though now it has been splintered itself into myriad bad translations too:
In 385, Jerome left Rome and settled in Bethlehem, where he spent the rest of his life. He took up residence near the cave where Jesus was born, establishing a monastery and dedicating himself to his translation work. Over the next 40 years, Jerome meticulously translated the Old and New Testaments from their original Hebrew and Greek into Latin. This translation, known as the Vulgate (meaning “common” or “popular” version), became the standard Bible for the Western Church for over a millennium and remains the official Latin text of the Catholic Church to this day.
Jerome’s approach to translation was marked by a commitment to accuracy and fidelity to the original texts. He often consulted Jewish scholars to ensure his translations of the Hebrew Scriptures were precise, reflecting his dedication to understanding the Scriptures as deeply as possible. His famous quote, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” emphasizes the importance he placed on the study of the Bible for all Christians.
While the world stage is crowded with men waving Bibles in the air, too many of them are reading from poisoned wells. The most nefarious example is the Scofield Reference Bible–a “translation” that re-engineered Protestantism–and Catholicism through the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s–into a political machine, baptizing Zionism, excusing endless war, and turning America’s evangelicals into reliable foot soldiers for what amounts to a state-sponsored, managed, “Christian” cause. Scofield’s footnotes did more to redirect the course of the 20th century than most legislation ever did. It was not inspiration from above–it was manipulation from below. I bring the receipts, or just a few of them, here:
Anyone wanting to scream anti-semite or that I’m pointing the finger at Protestants, do understand how prodigious my work has been and will continue to be concerning the very skeletons and snakes inside my own garden.
We find ourselves in a moment where Scripture is weaponized as a political prop. Politicians thump their Bibles while voting for child trafficking and, what most people aren’t ready to hear, child ritual sacrifice. The occult runs this country. “Deep State” is a sanitized word for that, but let’s just call it what it is. “Christian” leaders back Israel to the point of genocide, idolatry, and a rejection of God’s own Son, while also rejecting his bride. Con Inc celebrities thunder about freedom and make into heroes and martyrs incredibly flawed people who openly rejected Catholic teaching–all the while mocking and rejecting us for lifting up our own saints and martyrs through the centuries. Catholics do it–it’s idolatry. Everyone else does it in one memetic and patriotic sweep–it’s Christian Nationalism.
And all the while, Big Tech wolves like Palantir are wiring the very infrastructure of surveillance that will keep us and our children tracked, nudged, and managed like livestock–like the cattle and goyim detailed in many an “interesting” text out there….
This is why Catholics must return to fidelity, not the fashion of the times. The Douay-Rheims Bible, the 1582/1610 English translation faithful to St Jerome’s Vulgate, is no museum piece. It is our safeguard against dilution, distortion, and deception–including those found in other English translations. Its language carries majesty because God’s Word demands majesty. It preserves accuracy because souls depend on accuracy. If we want to know Christ, we need to know his Word as his Church has preserved it.
And that preservation, made in English in the flow of history after the printing press and after more and more people were even able to read it, replicates exactly the fourth century translation of St Jerome.
The same St Jerome so many Protestants celebrate themselves. The same St Jerome who did the work to even have a Bible many folks base their sola scriptura belief on.
Please don’t stop reading. I’m saying all of this with charity and humility. Think about all of this, and how connected it all is.
I also understand the cognitive dissonance that will arise from such a new connection being made. This is hard.
None of us can pretend this is some exclusively “Catholic issue.” This is heaven or hell. Millions–literally millions–will follow mistranslated gospels to their destruction. Even the bishops’ own bureaucracy bends the knee to the same game–watering down translations, watering down the faith. The Bible you read, the teaching you follow, the faith you live–it all ends either in the arms of Christ or in eternal separation. Scofield’s distortions have not just confused geopolitics; they have jeopardized the salvation of everyone.
That includes hundreds of unsuspecting students I’ve taught. It includes my family. I cannot live my life knowing I never said something. I’ll have to face and answer to God one day. That is why I do what I do.
The wolves are rampant among us, and we should know this because Christ himself said it would be this way. Some wear collars and preach progressivism. Others wear flag pins and preach nationalism. Others wear Silicon Valley badges and preach data collection in the spirit of “personal safety.” But they all have the same Hegelian Dialectic playbook: give you the appearance of godliness without the Cross, movement without discipleship, revival without repentance. It’s the Scofield trick, played again and again–turn the Word into a mirror for man instead of a window into God.
And I know this may hurt to hear–but they just created the martyr every movement like this needs. It is the “Killing of the King” ritual.
Here is the fire St Jerome would want us to live by: the Word of God is not a slogan. It is not a tool for politicians. It is not a footnote factory for neocon war-hawks who pretend to be our friends. It is the sword of the Holy Spirit, sharper than any two-edged blade, able to divide soul and spirit, joint and marrow. Wolves can’t handle that sword–they can only counterfeit it.
So let us not be duped. Don’t mistake applause for testimony when Christ warned against the glory of this world. Don’t confuse data or talking heads on electronic screens for prophecy when we have a Bible to do that. Don’t let the woke left’s or Con Inc’s outrage-of-the-day substitute for a Bible correctly translated and read. Test the spirits. Test the words. And for heaven’s sake, read the Bible St Jerome gave us–the one the Catholic Church has preserved for centuries and centuries even before the 16th century Protest, not the one Scofield and his multi-trillionaire handlers rewrote at the turn of the twentieth century.
Because the difference is not small. It is not just academic. It’s not just an innocent word here and there. It is absolutely fundamental to the faith. It is eternal. St Jerome’s Vulgate, faithfully rendered in the Douay-Rheims, anchors us in the truth that saves. The Scofield machine, and all its modern political descendants, lead millions toward a counterfeit gospel. That is not just error–it is damnation.
I recommend the Haydock version of the Douay-Rheims. It’s expensive, yes, but it is worth it. The footnotes are a game changer. The other Bible I consult is the Cantena version online–which has a gold mine of commentaries from Church Fathers on each and every verse, not to mention cross references for each verse to other passages in the Bible.
If I had to put it to you straight–do not trust the pastors teaching you whatever readings they cherry-pick for the week’s service. I’d venture to say don’t even trust me, not beyond the glance I’m inviting to at least stoke some holy curiosity in you. Dedicate time to researching these things for yourself. Go beyond this article. Go beyond me. And go beyond Google–remember, the enemy has its claws in those algorithms too.
The choice is stark. Wolves or shepherds. Scofield or Jerome. Counterfeit or Cross. Created geopolitics or authentic discipleship. One road ends in the kingdom of man and a reconstituted synagogue still at war with Christ….
The other road ends in the Kingdom of God.
It is the enmity found in Genesis 3:15–and why the dragon roars at the Woman and her Child in the Apocalypse.
That is why St Jerome’s feast is not just a commemoration–it is a battle line. He gave us the Word faithfully. Now the question is whether we will read it faithfully, live it faithfully, and refuse to let wolves–whether in cassocks, suits, or t-shirts inside a tech room–rewrite it for their gain.
We are smack dab in the middle of a deception based on the Hegelian Dialectic. It all seems so right, doesn’t it….
In the end, St Jerome is right: ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. And ignorance of Christ is not just ignorance–it is hell. He gave us a sword to wield with words. Someone else gave us a muzzle. The only question now is which one we choose to wield.
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