Monica Dennington

By Paul Baylis, Editor Marian Times.

A reply to Monica Dennington's video "Spirit of Antichrist" at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7ulQ5ain5g

Monica's writing is in normal black font, mine is in blue.

Monica Dennington continues to mess with the Holy Word of God. Here she tries to lead people away from their churches on the premise that we are all anointed apostles who have no need of teachers. By virtue of these ideas, she exalts herself to the level of Christ, having full anointing of the Holy Spirit with ability to discern truth for ourselves in the written Word of God. And she hopes to bring us all to this level of self-glorification. How much closer to satan does she want to bring us?

(Remember, Monica's writing is in normal black font and mine is in blue.)

The Spirit of Antichrist

1 John 2: 18-27. "Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. "

The antichrists are those that "went out from us, but were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have REMAINED with us".

Is anyone else besides me, upon reading this, reminded of the various sects and schisms that have splintered away from Christ's Body over the last two millenia, most recently the Protestant reformation, leading to the religious disunity we see today, including those, such as Monica Dennington who completely deny any requirement to belong to any physical church at all? It's intuitive isn't it? Yet, Monica Dennington seems to completely overlook this, despite her own constant warning to everybody not to adapt the word of God to their own designs and not to say to ourselves "Well, it doesn't really mean that".

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Monica and I both agree that the liar or anti-christ is the one that denies that Jesus is Christ - denies the Father and the Son.

However Monica picks up on verse 20 "But you have the anointing of the Holy One" and builds a case around this, based on her conceptions that we are all as fully anointed by the Holy Spirit as the apostles when tongues of fire descending upon them causing them to speak in tongues and roar like lions for God; this spirit that would remain with them until their fearless deaths. Monica thinks we are all like that and should thus be capable of discerning every truth from the Bible without any need of a teacher or priest or advisor. But how quickly such a notion can be dispelled with even a cursory glance at the arguments and disagreements and often confusion within the early Church. An obvious example of course is the disagreement between the two leaders Peter and Paul as to whether gentiles could join the Church without needing to follow Jewish customs.

So even the apostles, anointed as they were, still needed to consult with each other and thrash out problems and grey areas.

24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

To continue building her case, Monica focuses on verse 27, and specifically:

"you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things".

But before I go on, if readers recall my respone to Monica Dennington's article "Have you got blood or the bride on your hands?", they will know how vehemently she argues against tradition, for the same reason as she argues that we are already spirit-filled apostles, that is to divest us of any need for anything else other than the Holy Word of God - Martin Luther's own erroneous and ironically UN-Biblical position of "sola scriptura". Here, it seems that Monica has completely missed the truth in verse 24 - that we are to allow to abide in ourselves what we have learned FROM THE BEGINNING. This verse is actually an endorsement of tradition - things we have been taught to us by word or letter (the two forms of communication in Paul's day). And again, the use of the word "heard", as if we are to keep our ears open. And heard from whom? Leaders and teachers of course. Leaders and teachers that we have today? Most certainly!

Back to the verse above, she uses this verse to endorse a lonely self-aggrandising style of faith that has no need of the teachings of priests, teachers and the like by virtue of having received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who teaches us through the Word of God. Note that she adds "through the word of God". It is not there in the original:

"As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him"

It does not narrow the field down to only the WRITTEN Word of God - the Bible. This mirrors what Paul said in Thessalonians 2:15 where he urges his followers to "stand firm and hold onto the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter". And this is none other than the "apostolic tradition" of the Catholic Church contained in the magesterium, which has been handed down over two millenia and protected from error by the Holy Spirit.

If we are to read God's Word correctly, please also note the very important matter of context. Yes, John says that because of the anointing the followers didn't have any need for "teaching". But, he was not referring to teaching received from true apostles. A common error is to take verses out of context. In this case, the preceding verse is apparently not noticed. Verse 26 says "These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you." So, John was effectively saying "Don't be swayed by anyone or anything that doesn't agree with what you have heard from the beginning" (i.e. apostolic traditions passed on by word of mouth and letter). He is saying "If anyone comes to you saying other than what tradition has told you, then he is a deceiver". John is NOT saying "Ignore your reliable teachers" as Monica tries to interpret it. She tries to paint a picture of unreliable priests and teachers telling us all kinds of misleading unreliable things.

Secondly, not all disciples of the growing church received the same anointing that the original apostles received. Certainly, the anointing of the twelve apostles was truly awesome, and probably unequalled. Peter, particularly, had the ability to heal, and also to kill. He could apparently effect healing through the dropping of his shadow on the sick, and he caused Ananias and Sapphira to drop down dead because of their deception (Acts 5:1-11). All the apostles had the gift of calling down the Holy Spirit in baptising the faithful. Of the faithful, the Spirit was strong in some and not so strongly present in others. In Acts 6:3, the fledgling church is getting bogged down in financial and administrative matters, so Peter calls for the selection of a group dedicated to handling the finances. He said "Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom". We gather from this that there are also men among them who are not so filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And Acts 6:10 says of Stephen that "the Spirit gave Stephen such wisdom that when he spoke, no-one could refute him". We gather from this that there are others not so filled with wisdom as to cause the writer to express his awe.

And further along in Acts is the story of the Ethiopian who had been to Jerusalem to worship God and was on his way home. As he rode along, he was reading the book of Isaiah. The Holy Spirit of God prompted Philip to go to his carriage, where he asked the Ethiopian if he understood what he was reading. The Ethiopian responded in Acts 8:31: "How can I understand until someone explains it to me?" and he invited Philip up on his carriage where they discussed the scriptures. Note that the Holy Spirit prompted Philip - a true apostle. No-one other than a true apostle is so directed by the Spirit. So, for us, the verse reminds us that we certainly do need teaching and encouragement, but we don't just turn to anybody for spiritual matters. We turn to a valid teacher who possesses the Spirit and the Truth, nourished by the stream of apostolic tradition - none other than the clergy of the Catholic Church.

Monica uses another verse to dissuade people from listening to any authority:

Romans 6:16 -- "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey -- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"

Unfortunately, Monica has committed another out-of-context faux pas. The whole picture reads as follows, and this time I'm giving my Good News Translation:

Romans 6:14-16 -- "Sin must not be your master; for you do not live under law but under God's grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under God's grace? By no means! Surely you know that when you surrender yourselves as slaves to obey someone, you are in fact the slave of the master you obey - either of sin, which results in death, or of obedience, which results in being put right with God"

Paul here is talking about how the sinfulness of men brings a greater increase in God's mercy. So, he is asking hypothetical questions such as "If God's grace increases more as we sin, does that mean we should sin?" The answer is obviously "no" and that if we follow this twisted concept, we become a slave to sin, instead of obtaining the righteousness we would achieve if we obeyed the law. Despite what she warns people, with shaking fist, against doing, Monica has clearly used a verse to further her own argument in a context it was never meant for.

Paul tells us that we have what we need for salvation handed down to us through the apostles, in both spoken and written form, not merely by virtue of being anointed by the Holy Spirit and having the Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding the written Word! We have not all been anointed by the Holy Spirit to the same degree as the apostles and Mary were in the upper room at Pentecost. The truth of the Catholic faith has been given primarily to the leaders of the Church (Ephesians 3:5), who, with Christ, form the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:20). The Catholic Church has been guided by the Holy Spirit, who protects this teaching from corruption (John 14:25-26, 16:13). It is our obligation to listen, follow and be corrected and encouraged by our priests who have been well-trained in these traditions and are appointed by God for such guidance roles. Following them thus, we should avoid being convicted by Christ's words:

Luke 10:16: "Whoever listens to you listens to Me, whoever rejects you rejects me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One Who sent Me".

So, what conclusion can we draw? That Monica Dennington, by virtue of rejecting the notion that the Bible already has an authoritative translator in the Catholic Church, and by virtue of rejecting the notion of apostolic tradition which has been protected from error by the Holy Spirit over two thousand years, has gone about translating the precious Word of God according to her own designs and falls victim to her own dire warning:

"If you exhalt your words above the authority of God's words and if you diminish God's word and say it doesn't really mean what it says because it doesn't make sense to me, it must mean something else, and you speak that with authority, you're trying to take the authority of God and that is the spirit of anti-Christ."

Please Monica, the Catholic Church has a website which addresses all the usual questions and concerns that people have as well as giving a solid background to the beliefs and apostolic traditions of the Catholic Church. Please visit http://www.catholic.com

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