Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Catholic talk that hits — Direct, and unfiltered; talking about the realities Catholics face in ordinary life. News, culture and Catholic thought without outrage journalism or controversy. Faith, without fluff. FIRE, with integrity.
Check this out. Welcome. I don't know why I said check this out. Welcome. Welcome.
Speaker 1:One and all. Welcome to fire branded. I am your host, TJ Haynes, the undisputed technician of the truth. And today, I'm talking to you about the antichrist. Are you ready for the antichrist?
Speaker 1:My friends, I don't think you are. In fact, you are shockingly unprepared for the antichrist's coming. This isn't gonna be a very heavy episode. I always say that. It winds up being heavy.
Speaker 1:This isn't gonna be a very heavy episode, but what I'm gonna talk about, you really need to hear. I also have a couple of, really one update for you and one little tidbit of a podcast you probably missed. I'm gonna tell you about it here. There's already a link in the description below if you're catching this on YouTube. Hello to those of you who follow me throughout the known galaxy checking me out live or on demand.
Speaker 1:YouTube Substack. Check me out there on the tweeter over on X. Thank you for joining me. This is live and recorded January 24 in the year of our lord 2026. And I say, thank you, Catholic church, and you're welcome, Protestants.
Speaker 1:Let's fade that music out. Thank you very much, mister producer. There he is, my fat ugly face. Speaking of fat ugly face, happy New Year to all of you catching me, whether you're catching me live or on demand. First show of 2026.
Speaker 1:First live show of 2026. I haven't had you know, I said in on New Year's Eve twenty twenty five, I said, happy New Year, y'all. See you in 2026, and then I was never able to get back on to do a show. I've been so busy. I did one x spaces session, which I converted into a podcast yesterday.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you about that in a second because it's relevant. It comes to bear. And, it's just been very busy. Today, I'm talking to you about preparation for the Antichrist. Now let me tell you about this podcast I did the other day yesterday.
Speaker 1:I think yesterday. It was really an x spaces session that I turned into a podcast. And I was taught it's titled journalism sorry, lies dressed as journalism. It's based on a response to an article on LifeSite News saying that the pope has appointed a pro LGBT archbishop to a Vatican post. I forget which dicastery he put them he put them in.
Speaker 1:And LifeSite News said he was a pro LGBT bishop, and also that he refuses to condemn gay marriage. None of that is true. So I went through in that podcast explaining the facts and very meticulously, very carefully explaining why what LifeSite News is reporting is a lie. Sure enough, there's going to be people who are going to back and defend LifeSite News anyway. Do you know why I know that?
Speaker 1:Because Michael Voris of Church Militant, God bless Michael Voris. He's a very smart and talented guy. It's a shame, you know, where all of that whole Church Militant stuff led. I I always found it problematic, but whatever. Pray for Michael Voris.
Speaker 1:I don't want this to look like an attack of a guy. Michael Voris of Church Milton could have shot the pope in the face and would never lose a supporter. Michael Voris could have grown horns and literally just transformed into Satan himself, and I'm not saying Michael Voris is the devil, but he could have grown horns and transferred into and and transitioned into Satan himself. He would never have lost a supporter. I don't understand the hex, the hocus pocus, the hypnosis.
Speaker 1:I don't understand what goes on with people because it's the same thing with life site news. Satan himself can come out and say, I am the editor in chief of LifeSite News, and they will not lose a single supporter. Okay. I don't know why. None of my business.
Speaker 1:I have my own life to live, my own problems for sure, my own salvation to work out, my own kids to raise and wife to care for. Y'all do y'all, and I'll do me. But for the life of me, as an educator, as an evangelizer, as a Catholic thinker, I do not understand the level of devotion LifeSite News commands. But it is what it is. Again, that podcast was called that podcast episode, which is available on iTunes and everywhere or Apple podcasts and everywhere else, but you'll find a link to it in this description where you're well, if you're seeing it on YouTube, you'll see the description.
Speaker 1:You'll see the link in the description. If you're getting this on Substack, it's on my Substack. You're already there. If you're getting this on Twitter, you should pay more attention to my feed. And you will have seen the link at least twice already.
Speaker 1:Okay? Follow me everywhere at real TJaynes. By the way, Catholic Firebrand on YouTube. So why am I talking about that when we're talking about being prepared for the antichrist? Why am I talking about that?
Speaker 1:That's a strange thing to mention. Right? Because and I have been on this high horse, on this soapbox for many, many years. It's basically this. Catholics are increasingly incapable of discerning truth.
Speaker 1:Catholics increasingly incapable of discerning truth. I am not saying Catholics are stupid. I am really please, I am really not saying that. I'm saying I'm saying Catholics are increasingly incapable of discerning truth. Folks, the proof is in the pudding.
Speaker 1:Here are the facts. Here's what LifeSite News said. They don't meet in the middle by any stretch of the imagination. Wouldn't you know there are still people on my case for pointing this out and saying, well, it's still a problem. No.
Speaker 1:No. No. You don't understand. I understand you think it's a problem, but you don't understand. What LifeSite News said, reported, is not what the facts say.
Speaker 1:Nope. It's still a problem. The the bishop should have come out and said x and y and z. No. No.
Speaker 1:No. No. No. No. You're completely missing the target here.
Speaker 1:The target that you think is the target is what LifeSci News told you is the target, but here are the facts.
Speaker 2:So you're not even in
Speaker 1:the right ball field. Doesn't matter. They don't wanna hear it. Fine. Catholics are increasingly incapable of discerning truth.
Speaker 1:Why is that a problem? Let's talk about something in scripture that when I first read it was deeply disturbing to me, very deeply disturbing to me. Might have been about 13, very deeply disturbing to me. And I thought, wow, the future is going to be crazy. I'm a and I'm gonna read it to you in a second.
Speaker 1:But I thought the future is going to be crazy. And by future, I was thinking five hundred years from now. If you had told me I will likely be living through what we're about to read, I would have said you're smoking crack. Let's get to it. This is the second book of Timothy chapter three verses one through seven.
Speaker 1:There will be terrible times in the last days. Pay attention folks. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love and charity, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, and conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. That one really struck me when I first read it. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
Speaker 1:Having a form of godliness but denying its power, have nothing to do with such people. They are the kind who worm their way into homes. Pay attention because this is about to hit a home run. Who are loaded down with sin and are swayed by all kinds of evils and all kinds of desires. Always learning.
Speaker 1:Pay attention. Always learning, but never, never, never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. When I first read that, I was like, damn. That's definitely five hundred years into the future. Folks, I don't think it's five hundred years into the future.
Speaker 1:I do feel like we're living through at least the early phases of this. Do I think this is the last days? In Timothy, I don't think the last days meant the end of time, like right before the resurrection, but maybe. Maybe that's what the last days here means. Do I think we're there?
Speaker 1:I don't think we're in the end, but we are definitely at the beginning of the end in my opinion. Generations could all say all of these things. People are lovers of themselves. Generations have been able to say this with believability. People are lovers of money.
Speaker 1:Everyone could say that through two thousand years of Christian history, certainly to through thousands and thousands of years of, the history of man. Boastful, proud, abusive, people could always people could always say all of these things, Each of these things. But could they say all of these things together? That this is what would plague the modern human order? That all of these because it's all of these things together, folks.
Speaker 1:You're seeing all of these things in the modern human order. Treacherous. Rash. Conceited. Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.
Speaker 1:It was inconceivable to me that people could refuse to love God. To me, it hit that way. That they refused to love God, and I just couldn't wrap my head around that at 13. Just couldn't wrap my head around it. Here we are.
Speaker 1:But I want and again, if you wanna check this out yourself, it's, I'll put this in the description later on, but it's, the second book of Timothy chapter three verses one through seven. But the one that really is the cherry on top, you know, every Sunday is incomplete until you get that cherry on top. Well, here it is. All of these things culminating to this, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires. To be loaded down with sins, my reading of that, and I don't think it's crazy at all to read it this way, it's not poetic and it's not metaphor.
Speaker 1:It's so that people are more vicious than they are virtuous by far. More much more vicious than they are virtuous. I that's how I read this. Loaded down with sin. But here's the cherry on top.
Speaker 1:Always learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. He does not say knowledge of the facts. He says knowledge of the truth. And for some time, I have believed that we are there. I mean, you see it yourselves, folks.
Speaker 1:There are 78 genders. Okay. Can a man get pregnant? Just give me a second there. Can I did you
Speaker 2:say can a man get pregnant? Let me let me like, you mean pregnant pregnant? Alright. Let me see. I mean, it depends on why you're asking that question.
Speaker 2:Okay? Because sometime, I think a man can get pregnant. You know, but it's sometimes he can't. I understand that. You know, there's all kinds of people.
Speaker 2:There's all kinds of men's. Can a man now you did say, can a man get alright. I mean, that's a hard question. Let me think. Saturday, can I come back to you with that in like seven, eight months?
Speaker 2:Maybe nine months? Just to run, I just need to run some tests, ask a few people because, you know, I'm not the smartest man in my department. Man, right? Man, can men get pregnant with a P? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna go back to you seven, eight, nine months. I'm gonna have a definite hint of a
Speaker 1:clue of a response to that question. It's very, very difficult question. What? Can a freaking guy get pregnant? Stupid.
Speaker 1:Can a guy get pregnant? Always learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Ask some people very simple questions. And my liberal friends out there, I I have to tell you, you are the biggest faux intellectuals I have ever encountered. And I've had tussles with a lot of intellectuals.
Speaker 1:Most people I know are much smarter than I am. I'm not saying I'm super smart. But why can't you just speak plainly? Why do you have to use unnecessarily big and nuanced words when all I want to know is, how you doing? Okay.
Speaker 1:They talk a good game. And this happens on the right too, but it's really more of a lefty thing. This over talking, this over complication of simple things, and this inability to come to a simple conclusion on simple things. Always learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Having a knowledge of the truth, it's it's not just an awareness of it.
Speaker 1:To have knowledge of the truth means you have received it and have it fundamentally, not just up here, but down in your gut, down in your being. A knowledge of the truth, a fundamental understanding of the truth. Saint Thomas Aquinas used to talk about that. A fundamental understanding of the truth, not just knowledge of it. Right?
Speaker 1:Not just knowledge as we think of it. Scripturally, when it says knowledge of the truth, it's talking about a deep fundamental understanding of it. And that takes discipline. You have to know how to follow the facts, how to filter out nonsense that's getting in the way of the facts. LifeSite News and many in in secular media are very good at surrounding the facts with nonsense.
Speaker 1:Usually, it's with drama. For example, father so and so, a traditionalist priest, likes to eat McDonald's. Why do you have to use the word traditionalist in there? He's just a priest. Right?
Speaker 1:You're surrounding a fact now that's a bad example because there's no reason to to obscure or abstract the fact, so it's a bad example. But you see how sometimes you can surround a fact with drama or with an emotion. Right? Why? Because then the emotion, whatever causes the reaction wrong camera.
Speaker 1:The the emotion is what grabs your attention, and the fact becomes a little bit quieter. You have to be able to spot that that's happening. You have to be very alert, like a pit bull. You have to be like a pit bull on cocaine. You have to be very alert in this day and age to spot when things like that are happening.
Speaker 1:Having a fundamental understanding of the truth, whatever the truth is, you have to be very disciplined. Modern man is very intellectually undisciplined. We we live in a time that doesn't demand for us to be very disciplined intellectually. But we have to counter that with diligence. The point I'm trying to say is even in the church, you do see this kind of abstraction or or obscuring of truth.
Speaker 1:I don't mean the ecclesial church, although that that does happen sometimes. I mean in the church world, in the Catholic world. Being able to have good knowledge of the truth takes discipline that people don't have, and there are there are some, some might even argue many in the Catholic world who are taking advantage of that, taking very, very great advantage of that. Let me go back to this scripture. There will be terrible times in the last days.
Speaker 1:People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Now, when you think of power, think of the word goodness, a force that does. Having a form of godliness but denying its power. When you think of power, of a force that does something. There's really more nuance to the word power than that, but we don't need the rest of the nuance.
Speaker 1:Think of a force that does something. Let's fast forward. Always learning, but never being able to come to a knowledge of the truth. So here you have a pairing of two things that always go together. Goodness and truth.
Speaker 1:I know he's not saying goodness, but he does say goodness in another section of this. Right? Not lovers of the good. But the but when we say power, it's essentially the same thing. Paul tends.
Speaker 1:That's really what the good is. The good does. It's dynamic. Right? So power, it's not literally alike, but it's for what we're doing with it, it really is the same thing.
Speaker 1:Power and truth. Having a form of godliness but denying its power, learning but never being able to come to a full knowledge of the truth, a fundamental knowledge of the truth. Folks, life happens. Life is. All life, the life of of creation, all life is because of goodness, because God is good, and because God is truth.
Speaker 1:Goodness and truth you've heard
Speaker 2:me say this before if you've
Speaker 1:been following me for a while. Goodness and truth are like a coin. Right? You got heads, you got tails. You literally cannot have one without the other.
Speaker 1:It's impossible to have heads without tails, then you don't have a coin. Right? All truth is good, and all goodness is rooted in truth. They go together, they are inseparable. But they play different roles in the order of, I guess, in the created order.
Speaker 1:They play different roles. The good is dynamic. It's it's ultimately positive, even if sometimes approximately proximally it's a little negative. Right? Like discipline is proximally negative.
Speaker 1:It hurts. It sucks. We don't like it. But it's ultimately good. That's what we're talking about.
Speaker 1:Where does it lead to? Where does it result? The truth, think of that as the stability. The stability factor. This is simply because it is.
Speaker 1:Right? So good gives life. Truth, I guess you might say, sustains life. I'm kind of simplifying it. But are we living at a time that people have a form of godliness but deny its power, or a form of religion but deny its power?
Speaker 1:Yes. And if it's something so, in other words, if they have the form of something, but not the power of it, then they don't have the life or the dynamism that it provides. You understand? It's a body without a soul. It's dead.
Speaker 1:Are we living in a time where people are always learning but never able to come to a full knowledge of the truth? Oh my god. Are we in that time? And if we don't have full knowledge of the truth, that is also a zombie. Right?
Speaker 1:That's also a dead corpse. So we're living in a time where people have denied or rejected or are lacking something fundamental, not just to day to day life, but fundamental to creation itself. To life itself. Even to eternal life. We're living in a time where because people are unable to comprehend truth, and they are unable to comprehend truth.
Speaker 1:I see it on socials every day. Because we're living in a time where people can't comprehend truth and because truth is inseparable from the good, without the good I'm sorry. Without the true, they don't have the good. They're not receptive to the good, the objective good. A disability for reception of truth is a disability of reception of goodness.
Speaker 1:The good can't permeate you. It can't inspire you to something greater than yourself, to something greater than how you are, because you can't receive the truth and therefore you can't receive the good. You're literally not receptive to it or to them. Now we have this, and this is my conclusion, we have this problem also in the Catholic world where people are following their preferences and they are not following the truth, they truly think obviously, it's not I'm not saying it's everybody, but I'm saying we find it in the Catholic world. They truly think they're following the truth.
Speaker 1:They truly think they're in possession of the facts or of the truth, but they are not. When you show them that they are not objectively, they deny it, which is unbelievable to me. Because until we have the humility to receive the truth and to discern it carefully with discipline, Catholics, I I gotta tell you, and I only address Catholics because I don't know the Protestant world, but I would say this applies to all Christians. I have to tell you, when you read this in second book of Timothy, terrible times in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves, will not love God, and so on, I have to believe many Catholics look at that and they say, that won't be me. You don't think so?
Speaker 1:You don't think that might be you? You think that when the Antichrist comes, you won't be fooled? My friends, how many of you are fooled? I'm I'm just gonna be very frank. How many of you were fooled by church militant?
Speaker 1:I mean, my god. My god. And how many of you are fooled today by LifeSite News? You think the Antichrist won't fool you? Oh my god in heaven.
Speaker 1:Folks, I have nothing to gain here, and I have nothing to lose, so I can be honest with you. And I don't have to worry about who likes it or who doesn't. And I I wanna make it receivable. I don't wanna be nasty, obviously. But I have to tell you flatly.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of Catholics who are on that bandwagon who swallowed the church militant Kool Aid whole, big old gulps of it, gallons at a time, swallowing the LifeSite News Kool Aid or any other Kool Aid of a truth or of of of a statement that feels affirming, feels good, but isn't actually true. Catholics. Feels good, but what you're what what is making you feel good is not actually true. Here's what the truth is. Nope.
Speaker 1:I don't see it that way because father so and so said and bishop so and so said. No. Because because they're part of the grift. Here's what the truth is. Listen.
Speaker 2:This is not my interpretation. Here's the historical fact.
Speaker 1:Here's the historical record. Here's what saints have said and so and so on. Nope. Okay. And you really think the Antichrist won't fool countless souls in the church?
Speaker 1:Millions, millions left the church for Protestantism following the Reformation. You think the Antichrist won't fool you? So you have to be prepared by disciplining your mind, by looking for the truth where it may be found, even if it makes you uncomfortable. And I walk my talk, my friends. Do you know how many phases of correction I've had to go through that really, really hurt?
Speaker 1:I mean, really deeply hurt because it was so hard to be challenged. I'll give you one example, Vatican II. I was so anti Vatican II, you have no idea. And then it occurred to me one day, I never really read Vatican two. Never really read the documents, or I never studied this document very closely.
Speaker 1:I always just looked at tidbits and and such. And, I I went through a very painful process to change my thinking about Vatican II based on what I was seeing in the documents. And it was very painful to say, my god, not only was I wrong, but how many people did I misinform? You know how many phases of painful correction, self correction, or being corrected by others I've had to go through. So I walk my talk.
Speaker 1:I know that it's hard. I'm not saying I'm better than you. I'm saying I know that it's hard. But the alternative is that you don't have a good relationship with truth, which ultimately means you don't have a good relationship with God because truth comes from God. Not only that, and this is my number one concern, is that if we are this sloppy in managing the truth and seeking out the truth, what do you think the Antichrist is going to do with you if he were to arrive tomorrow?
Speaker 1:What do you think the Antichrist is gonna do with you? How do you think you're gonna stand up to the Antichrist? Come on, man. Let me just read what somebody in the chat room is saying here. Our Lady of Fatima contains the truth.
Speaker 1:No. You're already wrong with that first line. Our Lady of Fatima contains the truth. Stop. Because once you capitalize truth, my friend, once you say the word truth, you have to talk about public revelation.
Speaker 1:Fatima is private revelation. So let's stop right there and let's refocus. Okay? Our Lady of Fatima contains true things, I'll edit it that way, needed for these times. I agree with you.
Speaker 1:Our Lady of the Good Event of the Purification, same thing. Padre Pio's only concern, according to father Gabriel Amorth regarding the third secret of Fatima, contains the truth for these times. Rather than get tangled up in the weeds over some of those claims, which I think are I mean, some of what you said I agree with, and some of them I'm like so so on, some of them I'm like an eye roll, but okay. Everyone's entitled to what they think. But the gist of this is x and y and z contains the knowledge that we need for these times.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, maybe. And with some of those things, I would say I wouldn't say no, but I would say not necessarily. Like, see, I I noticed you're very quick with the nope. You you need to not do that because you do not have what it takes to have that kind of confidence. But you see, I'm not even telling you nope.
Speaker 1:I'm saying maybe. Right? But what really has the knowledge for these times is right it's right there between Genesis and Revelation. That's what has the knowledge that we need for these times and go to mass. You're good.
Speaker 1:That's really all you need. Everything else is just extra. Everything else is just extra. And I and I wanna tell that to all of you. Private revelation, apparitions, and so on and so on.
Speaker 1:Hey, I'm an old school guy. I'm not saying none you know, these things are not good or not important or not fascinating or not enriching of your faith. But put them in the right place. Because what's really needed is the scripture and sacred tradition, which I guess is kind of like wrapped up in there, scripture, tradition, church teaching, and the sacraments. That's all that's literally all that you need.
Speaker 1:Because saints have been made with only those components. Many saints have been made with only those components. Everything that's necessary is in scripture. Everything that's that's profitable is in scripture, sacred tradition, and obviously mass in the sacraments. Obviously.
Speaker 1:Right? That's obvious. It's automatic. That doesn't even need to be mentioned. So who cares what the three secrets of Fatima are?
Speaker 1:And again, it's private revelation. I have no room for all of this knowledge about the mystics, and I just have no room. I'm too busy focusing on scripture and the church teaches. I've got no I don't know how you have room left for that. If you're doing it right, you should have no room left for that once you get get yourself wrapped around scripture and all the those other essentials.
Speaker 1:Listen, man. There's there's people in the church who like to play Maxwell Smart with Catholicism, conspiracy theories, or maybe not maybe conspiracy theories is the wrong way to put it. But I'm gonna tell you this simply, and then I'm gonna bring this to a close. And I'm addressing everybody with this. What's in the Bible, or if you wanna include, like, works of the saints, like Saint Francis of Sales.
Speaker 1:He's not a saint yet, but Fulton Sheen. That stuff is pretty loaded. Right? That'll keep you busy forever. It's so much more interesting than the third secret of Fatima.
Speaker 1:Why are you wasting your time? Why are you distracting? And this is part of what I'm talking about is the lack of intellectual discipline in the church. Why would you want to divide your focus between, let's just say, any book in scripture and the third secret in Fatima. Why would you wanna divide your focus like that?
Speaker 1:I I hey. To each his own, I just don't understand. I would much rather read something from Fulton Sheen than a book about the third secret secret of Fatima. But with that, I can hear somebody downstairs saying, hello. Hello.
Speaker 1:Which means it's time for me to get out of here. Gotta get gotta get real life going. This has been a weird episode. Just a reminder, folks, that podcast that I told you about, about the LifeSci news thing, it's an audio only podcast. That's why it is not on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Okay? So if you're interested in that, there's a link to it on Stoking the Embers. It's also on iTunes and Spotify and stuff, but Stoking the Embers is where I publish my main stuff. Right? So there's a link in the description here on YouTube.
Speaker 1:If you're on Substack, just look for it on my Substack. I can't hold your hand. You gotta figure it out. But do check that out because it's not going up on YouTube. Okay?
Speaker 1:Because it's audio only. I don't put audio only stuff on YouTube. So check out that podcast. It's forty minutes. It's damn easy to listen to.
Speaker 1:And that's that's about it. This has been fire branded. I've been your host TJ Haynes, the undisputed technician of the truth, and I thank you very much for checking me out today. Those of you who are checking me out on YouTube, thank you very much for hanging around. Those of you catching me, was anybody catching me on x?
Speaker 1:I have no idea, but if you were, thank you for doing so. And, of course, home base Substack, that's where it's at. Thank you for joining me. Thank you, Vee, for checking me out, and thank you, Vee, for being such a patient guy with me. Vee's a very patient fella with with this guy.
Speaker 1:Who else came? By Michael, join me. Thank you, Michael. Thanks, Shinara, and Christopher Black, but I guess we cannot allowed to say that anymore. Thank you for joining me, Christopher.
Speaker 1:I really appreciate you. If you know, you know big daddy. TJ Haines signing out here. Follow me everywhere on socials at real TJ Haines. You got the right one, baby.
Speaker 1:God bless you. God be with you all. Bye bye.