Detecting Wolves in the Church

Mr Holdsworth offers some advice on detecting the wolves in the Church, especially the ones pretending to be shepherds.

We’re in this season of the Church, and it isn’t as exceptional as some of us believe, where it’s hard to know who to listen to. Even from within the hierarchy of the Church, there are conflicting, confusing, and even misleading statements about what we are to believe and how we are to adhere to the faith. 

So how do we know who to listen to from within all the confusing messaging? Well, I think there are a lot of ways to discern that. For example there are plenty of scriptural verses that inform us of what a good leader should be like and they all flow into some pattern of virtue and holiness.

 
But, we live in the age of public relations and sophistry which makes it nearly impossible to detect whether a person is a virtuous leader or not because they can simply portray themselves that way and hide their true nature. 

And this is why we have to rely on more subtle clues to get a sense of who we can rely on to lead us in the faith. So I offer this reflection as one way to help in that discernment but with this disclaimer. I’m not trying to point a finger at anyone with this video. This video isn’t about anyone specifically. Instead, it’s a way of offering a principle that has helped me discern where to fix my attention as I do my best to follow Christ through his Church.