AboutBro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM, L.Th. Expertise I am a Catholic apologist, catechist, spiritual director, and spiritual warfare/deliverance counselor holding a degree of Licentiate in Theology. Questions dealing with the Catholic Faith will be answered according to official Church teachings, where such official teachings exist, and according to solid principles taught by the Church and the saints on areas where there is no specific Church teaching. I am a one-hundred-percent loyal and obedient to the Pope and Magisterium of the Church. If you want to know the TRUE SCOOP of Church teaching, here is the place to get it.
2) Apologetics and Catechesis primarily offered through a Catholic Q&A (plus volunteering on expert.com); and
3) Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare: involving many things ranging from investigating "haunted houses," to counseling with demonized people, to dealing with spiritual warfare issues in our society.
Experience
Experience in the area Apologetics: I was a Baptist preacher, Bible teacher, and evangelist for 15 years before converting to the Catholic Church in 1992.
As a Catholic I have been teaching Bible, Catechetics, apologetics, and evangelism for 14 years. I also have 24 years of pastoral counseling experience and 14 years experience as a Catholic Spiritual Director.
Experience in Spiritual Warfare Counseling: I have been in deliverance ministry since 1986 as a Baptist. After converting to the Catholic Church I continued the spiritual warfare work including counseling, writing, consulting, and teaching workshops, and training Deliverance Counsellors.
In 2002 we began a new apostolate called the St. Padre Pio Center for Deliverance Counseling. This agency offers counseling to those persons who are demonized, and offers training for people who feel called by God to become Deliverance Counsellors. As director of the St. Padre Pio Center I was featured in a series of interviews on Spirtual Warfare on Ave Maria Radio.
Organizational Memberships: In Religion: Catholic Society of Evangelists, Institute on Religious Life, Adoremus: Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Coming Home Network, The Blue Army of our Lady of Fatima, Apostleship of Prayer, Confraternity of Mary, Queen of All Hearts (Montfort Fathers), Confraternity of the Brown Scapular
In Counseling: American Counseling Association, Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling, the International Society for Mental Health Online, and the former National Psychiatric Association. Brother is also currently working with two other counselors to form a new association called the American Nouthethic Association of Catholic Counselors. This association is not yet operational.
In Website Design: HTML Writers Guild, the International Webmasters Association, and the Good News Web Designers Association.
In Creative Writing: Academy of American Poets, the Association of Authors and Publishers, and is listed as Editor and Publisher of St. Michael House Press and Writers House Press in the International Directory of Small Presses and Little Magazines and the WritersNet Online Directory
Religious Book Publications include: +"Regula Sanctus Michaelis" (The Rule of St. Michael) +"Three Secret Strategies of Satan and Other Essays" +"St. Michael's Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog" +"Hope, Help, Victory: A Spiritual Warfare Workshop" +"St. Michael’s Deliverance Counseling Manual" +If God Wants This of Me: The Story of a Baptist Minister Turn Catholic Friar" (forthcoming)
Poetry Publications and Credits: Book: "Only Silence is Shame" Magazines & Readings: published in various magazines and conducted numerous readings
Listed: "Who's Who is U.S. Editors, Writers, and Poets" and the "International Authors and Poets Who's Who" out of London in the 1980s Award: Recipient of the prestigious Kaltenborn Foundation Grant.
Other Publications: Book: "The Wilder Letters" (book of essays)
Book: "The Falling Torch: Our Democracy in Crisis"
Question Recently I was at a Bible class where the kingship of Saul was examined. The question was asked as to why God did not forgive Saul. It was suggested that based on his consultation with the witch of Endor, he was heavily into the occult, hence the reason that God did not forgive him. Can you please clear this up?
Answer Renita:
God forgives all who repent and ask Him for forgiveness. I do not recall Saul was not forgiven. Rather Saul suffered the consequences of his actions. Even if we are forgiven the consequences of our sin remain.
Saul's kingdom was taken from him and given to David due to his constant disobedience of God. That continual disobedience lead to the Spirit of God leaving him. At that point Saul became demonized.
These are the natural consequences of sin. The sin can be forgiven, but the consequences remain.
It is in the story of Saul that the famous verses on obedience are found (1 Samuel 15:22b, 23a): Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice... For rebellion is as the sin of divination.
These passage also give us consequences of Saul's disobedience: "Because you have rejected the world of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king."
The passages after that indicate that Saul wished to repent and worship God (v. 30). Of course Saul later disobeys again and again to the point that he becomes demonized. All this by the way was ultimately a result of Saul's pride.
The fact that God fired Saul as king does not mean that God did not forgive him. If I rob a bank the bank manager may forgive me, God may forgive me, but I still go to jail (the consequence of my sin).
The point is to not confuse forgiveness and consequences of sin.
