I came across this thing where after dying on the cross Jesus descended into hell.
Could you explain more about the purpose and significance of this?

Cheers

There are many truly wicked people on the earth, for whom sinful actions and behaviors are their practice. They are the proud, the disdainful, the morally corrupt, the thieves, the liars, the adulterers, the malicious, etc. Many are they who are in positions of power and control over other people, who take advantage of other people’s trust for their own personal gain. For they are the manipulative and the charmers, who deceive the naïve.

They are abusers and users, the addicted, and adulterers who abuse those entrusted to them. Many of them are in positions of authority over others and they use their positions of authority to abuse those trusted to their care. So some of them are parents or grandparents, spouses, teachers, pastors of church congregations, elders and deacons within the church, heads of businesses, or supervisors over workers, and/or they are heads of nations.

And many of them are able to get away with their mistreatment of others because of their positions of power and rule over other people, and/or because they are wealthy, and/or because they give a lot of money to the church and/or to other charitable organizations. So the powerful, but guilty, often go unpunished while the weak, the vulnerable, and/or the innocent continue to be taken advantage of, while the church is largely asleep.

Many are they who are able to get away with their wickedness for generation after generation, because few people, it seems, are willing to confront evil, to call it what it is, and to address it biblically. And now we live in a generation where evil is being pampered, where it is being given other names other than “sin,” and where not many are being taught that they must abandon their sinful practices to now obey God, in practice.

So, the weak and the vulnerable, the widows and the orphans, go on being taken advantage of and misused and abused because we live in a culture which honors the wicked, the adulterers, the liars, and the manipulators, and which gives them permission to keep on living in their sins. And they call that “grace.” But the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives, while we wait for the return of Christ Jesus.

So, this is a cry to God, for him to judge the earth, for him to judge the wicked who exult themselves and who take advantage of others. And this is also a cry to God for him to rescue his people from those who use and abuse. And his people are all who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, who are walking in the ways of the Lord, and not in sinful passions and desires. Many are they who are being persecuted.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 17:14; Romans 5:3-5; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; James 1:2-4; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Hebrews 12:3-12; 1 John 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

And so we need to know here that “the gospel” message, which is gaining the most popularity in the USA, and perhaps in other nations, is not the gospel taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles. For they taught that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we must deny self, die to sin daily, and follow our Lord in walks of surrender and in obedience to him and to his commands. For all who continue in deliberate and habitual sin, no matter what they profess with their lips, will not inherit eternal life with God.

Gospel:[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Seven Woes

Based off Matthew 23
An Original Work / May 31, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to you, teachers of the law;
Hypocrites, you keep men from God.
You refuse to obey the truth,
Nor will you permit others to.
You travel o’er land and sea
To win a single convert to you.
When he becomes one
You make him twice as much
A “son of hell” as you are.

Woe to you, blind guides of mankind.
You distort the words of your God.
By your practices you declare
Your oaths mean nothing, though you swear.
You give a tenth of your spices,
But you neglect justice, mercy.
When you focus your
Time and talents on
What is external, you miss out.

Woe to you, who appear so clean,
When inside you are crass and mean.
You work hard to look so upright,
While you hide all your sins inside.
You deceive yourselves when you think
You would not have done what others
Did to God’s messengers
And prophets of old,
For you will do much the same.
You’re to blame.

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Recompense To The Proud
An Original Work / August 23, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I wanted to introduce myself; my real name is Andrew, and am excited to meet some new people and hopefully make new friends.

I was raised Christian, but about 20 years ago I backslid and left the flock. I lived the life of a godless sinner, made many mistakes and did things that would make the devil blush. But Jesus hunted me down and after all these years, brought me back home last year, hence my username, the lost sheep.

I think that perhaps I can give a fresh perspective on some things, and certainly still have much to learn, as we all do. I'm looking forward to talking to you all here, see you around!

Praise our Lord,

Andrew

so starting in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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So few find their way into Eternal Life.

But then in Matthew 8:

11 And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

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So many are with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, either in heaven, or on the New Earth, resurrected.

However, the next verse is kind of curious

12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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The context was that Jesus was talking to a Roman, a Gentile, who exercised more faith than anyone Jesus had encountered in Israel:

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

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So.. to Israelites, Jesus said few would enter eternal life.
But to a Gentile, Jesus said many.

Now Salvation for Gentiles through the Messiah was revealed in the old testament, Isaiah 11

10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

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Zechariah 9:

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

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and Jesus to the Pharisees about how the Kingdom will be taken from them and given to others (Gentiles), Matthew 21

42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

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Now we see how that all plays out, the few, and the many, Revelation 7:

2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

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144,000... a paltry few out of the Millions in Israel.

and the many..

9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

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how consistent. The most of the children of the kingdom of God that Jesus was taking from Israel, would be cast into outer darkness, only a scant few get redeemed.
I've seen so many people go up and down about the statements focusing on the few...
while neglecting the many. It's all about the audience Jesus was talking to when He said few, vs when He said many.

I can't off the top of my head remember other places but I'll be revisting the Gospels nightly for awhile so I will try to focus on that, and see if it holds.

Shalom

Can you please pray for my health in Jesus' name?

May the Lord bless you abundantly (Luke 6:38, Job 42:10) and may he bless Israel in Jesus' name. Amen!

Soli Deo Gloria

PS And I pray that the Lord will send out harvesters into his harvest (Matthew 9:38).

I'm sorry if this is a little too personal for The Kitchen Sink. I thought about putting it in My Two Cents, but there may be more traffic here, and I would really appreciate feedback. I originally posted this on my Facebook page. I'm transferring it here hoping for various individual views on drastic changes in a person's socioeconomic status. Specifically, apparent *resistance* to anyone making those changes, especially in an upward direction. I grew up on public assistance, raised my children on public assistance, and now realize I could have done SO much better in life if I hadn't listened to certain advice. If anyone needs any further information about my background and what led to my present feelings, you're welcome to ask.

Facebook post follows:

I am not going to share any more detail about our lifestyle and situation than (Hubby) himself is willing to share. I announce things when he announces them, not before.

But as he is showering and getting ready for work, I am thinking about how DIFFERENT things are now. Not that I am boasting. I am happy for the changes, and in a way, it makes me angry too. I want to address why the anger.

I resent that in my earlier life I had been led to believe, nay *brainwashed* to believe, that I didn’t qualify for the kind of life I have now. I was somehow not good enough. I’m not talking only about people close to me who wouldn’t teach me to drive, tried to convince me to stay with my abusive ex-husband, tried to get me to remarry him after we were divorced, were absolutely convinced that another ex-husband who was barely functional as an adult was “the perfect man” for me, and all that jazz. It’s also those social workers and program directors who didn’t want me to even try to look for a job, because they were afraid I might lose my disability benefits. If I’m doing well enough to no longer qualify for them, why do I need them? Why should I sit on my butt and do nothing just so I can qualify to keep a few paltry hundred dollars a month coming my way and live in cramped, run-down, noisy, unsafe housing, eating food that isn’t nearly as healthy as I can afford now, receiving medical care that’s barely worth mentioning? Why did so many people want to keep me at the bottom of the barrel, when I could have THIS? Why was I treated as downright delusional when I hinted that maybe I might have this one day? Just why?

Dare to dream, people. And don’t ever let ANYBODY tell you you’re not good enough to achieve it.

Please pray, my brother has still not sent us a copy of my parent's will, as executer, we found out that he is supposed to do so. (we were told it was in probate, but that's not true apparently) Both my parents have passed, my Dad was a the last to pass a few years ago. They are dearly missed. <3 Please pray my brother sends us each a copy of their will. Of course I don't want my relationship with my brother to be broken so that is a concern too. He has broken ties with one sibling, but not our older sibling.

Hegseth fires head of Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse​

The firing follows a June preliminary assessment from the DIA — the Pentagon’s main intelligence wing — of the Iran military strikes, which prompted vicious backlash from the Trump administration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/08/22/defense-intelligence-agency-kruse-fired-hegseth/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Hegseth's previous employer fired people for telling truths that didn't fit his expectations and that why he did it. But that was just a television network known for shading the truth. When people become afraid of telling a nation's leader unpleasant truths, said leader ends up blind in the very things he desperately needs to see clearly. God help America.

Is there a 'vocations crisis' in women's religious life?​

Catholic media outlets frequently herald the vocations crisis, bewailing that young men and women are not becoming priests and religious sisters anymore.

In reality, the situation is more nuanced. Some dioceses are struggling with low numbers of priests, while others are blessed with many young men entering seminary.



The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia pray vespers. Courtesy photo.

Male religious communities are similarly divided, with some like the Dominicans and Jesuits reporting solid numbers, while others like the Franciscans and Augustinians adjusting their strategies in an attempt to engage more young men.

But what about women?

With more than 500 women’s religious communities in the U.S., many report they have not had new vocations in years.

But others do see women enter, raising a critical question: What draws young women to religious life, and to particular communities?

History and numbers​

Continued below.

‘God is constantly calling’ — Women religious talk vocations

Is there a 'vocations crisis' in women's religious life?

www.pillarcatholic.com

Hi, maybe it's a Friday thing or maybe it's the fact that I'm at home today and didn't go out anywhere but sometimes things feel so dead, as in "not enough people, not enough activity." Everyone gets days like this but today is one of those days and I hope it passes, for the better.

Of course. Soon the Democrats will come up with yet another claim about something.

“Britain has emerged as the "western capital" for sharia courts, with 85 Islamic councils now operating across the country since the first was established in 1982.

These religious bodies have become increasingly influential, drawing Muslims from across Europe and North America who seek religious rulings on marriage and family matters.

The councils, typically consisting of panels of Islamic scholars who are almost always male, serve as informal bodies issuing religious rulings particularly focused on marriages and divorces.”

In a statement to the BBC's US news partner CBS, the White House said it welcomes Canada's move, adding that it is "long overdue" and that the US looks forward to continuing discussions with its northern neighbour about trade and national security.
Trump later told reporters on Friday that he and Carney will speak again over the phone soon.
Canada is one of many countries tariffed by the US as part of Trump's global trade strategy, but it is one of only two countries - along with China - that have placed retaliatory levies on American goods in response.

We can work with Canada, especially if they take border security and national security more seriously.

Y’all get a second edition today, because I have an hour to kill in the DC airport, and something has irritated me! Imagine that: Your Working Boy is irritated. Whee!

So, driving my rental car to the airport this morning, I didn’t want to get back into my audiobook, so I listened to NPR’s Morning Edition. I caught an interview segment having to do with Donald Trump’s recent complaints about exhibits at the Smithsonian — specifically, about the way slavery is depicted.

Well, I would like to know more specifically about Trump’s criticism, and whether or not it’s valid. I know a fair bit about the wokeness at museums, but I also don’t know what, in particular, Trump is criticizing. Maybe he’s missed the mark. It wouldn’t be the first time. The best you can say about the phrase in his social media post (see below), in which he complained that the Smithsonian is wrong to focus on “how bad Slavery [sic] was,” was sloppy.

So, iin this morning’s broadcast, host Michel Martin interviewed — guess who! — Nikole Hannah-Jones of the 1619 Project. Here’s the audio link. I guess Ibram X. Kendi wasn’t available.

Naturally there was no discussion about the merit of Trump’s complaints, or the more substantive (I guess) complaints that conservatives have made of the way museums have embraced a highly politicized narrative in the Woke Era. It was simply assumed that Trump Is Wrong And Racist.

Second, of all the critics of Trump you could have on to talk about it, you choose Nikole Hannah-Jones?! She is an entirely ideological figure. Not once did Martin question her about the serious criticism some leading historians have leveled at the 1619 Project for distorting history to serve an ideological narrative. Why not interview a professional historian, instead of an ideological journalist? It seems pretty clear to me that as a matter of journalistic professionalism, Martin ought to have pointed out that Hannah-Jones herself has been credibly accused of doing the same thing she criticizes Trump for doing.

Again, though, none of this seems to have occurred to NPR at all. And they wonder why they were defunded!

Washington journalist Dave Weigel, no conservative he, nailed it here:

Continued below.

I (Josh) just finished Melissa Kearney’s The Two-Parent Privilege (book link), and I felt compelled to write. On the one hand, I’m genuinely glad to see her admission that two-parent homes are advantageous for children. On the other hand, she keeps stopping short of the obvious truth about why.

Kearney deserves credit for naming what she calls the elephant in the room: children generally do better when raised by two married parents. In a moment when even modest acknowledgments about family structure draw fire, saying so is a public service—and I applaud her for that. She writes

“Marriage is the most reliable institution for delivering a high level of resources and long-term stability to children. There is simply not currently a robust, widespread alternative to marriage in US society. Cohabitation, in theory, could deliver similar resources as marriage, but the data show that in the US, these partnerships are not, on average, as stable as marriages.” (p. 15)

Continued below.

Unlike the conversion of the gentile and pagan nations, the conversion of the Jews to the Catholic Faith will come about through their Jewishness, as a fulfillment.​

In a recent article, Philip Primeau argued that Jesus should not be considered a “faithful Jew.” Primeau has a very rightful concern that this turn of phrase feeds religious indifferentism and thereby discourages evangelism. Primeau is a good friend of mine, and I think he has nothing but good intentions in his article. Indeed, from our conversations about this, I think we agree with much of the substance of the matter. Nonetheless, I disagree entirely with his framing of the question. Not only was Jesus a faithful Jew, He was the most faithful Jew to ever live. This is important to make clear when we evangelize to Jews.

Primeau rightly concedes that Jesus was an ethnic Jew and that He followed the law of Moses. Nonetheless, Primeau distinguishes this sort of Judaism from Rabbinic Judaism, and he argues that Jesus was not faithful to this latter sort of Judaism. While there is some truth regarding the need to distinguish between biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, this distinction is overstated by Primeau.

Since many would be skeptical of modern sources on this subject, let us turn to what the Angelic Doctor has to teach about this. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God gratuitously elected a certain people, the Jews (populus Iudaeorum), to be the recipients of the Old Law (ST I-II, q. 98, a. 4). The purpose of this law was to form them into the sort of people who could fittingly bring forth the Messiah, as well as to foreshadow the Messiah. Thus, Jesus, as the Messiah, perfectly conformed His entire life to the law (ST III, q. 40, a. 4). This is important since it means that the religion that Jesus followed during His earthly life can properly be called Judaism.

Continued below.

Growing up, Matthew Das loved learning about theology. His parents, both devout Presbyterians, frequently talked about their beliefs at home.
When Das arrived at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for college, he was excited to converse with and debate his fellow Protestants about Christian theology at the evangelical school.
He was not expecting, however, to fall in love with Catholic theology and eventually enter the Church.
“My dad was an elder at our church and so I always loved talking to the elders and my pastors about Christianity and its history,” Das said. “I became very involved in apologetics; that was my thing. I love apologetics. I love formal reasoning. I loved all of it, but I was very Protestant.”
Then he met Seth Bauer, former president of the university’s chapter of the Thomistic Institute, who invited him to come to an event that the group hosted. The two quickly became good friends.

“We both had a similar passion to try to bring other Christians to understanding more about their faith, taking it a bit more seriously,” Das said. “Our friendship grew out of going to Thomistic Institute events and just enjoying the speakers and conversations.”

Continued below.

Amid rising tensions, Australia’s bishops have renewed their call for the compassionate welcome of migrants, marking the 75th anniversary of a landmark pastoral letter that helped shape the nation’s migration response.

The Bishops’ Commission for Evangelization, Laity, and Ministryreleased “Under the Southern Cross: A Journey of Faith and Unity” on Aug. 21.

The letter commemorates the 1950 pastoral letter “On Immigration” that urged Catholics to exercise “great generosity” toward displaced Europeans seeking refuge after World War II.

“Their words remain just as applicable to us today,” the anniversary letter reads. “Once again, our nation serves as a sanctuary and refuge for thousands seeking a new life — whether fleeing hardships in their homelands or pursuing the opportunities, freedom, and prosperity that Australia offers.”

Continued below.

Sebastien Lai, son of imprisoned Hong Kong democracy advocate Jimmy Lai, said this week his father is “still fighting” and “holding on” as closing arguments continue in his lengthy national security trial.

Jimmy Lai, the Catholic billionaire, human rights activist, and founder of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been on trial since 2023 in Hong Kong for allegations of colluding with foreign forces under a national security law put in effect by the communist-controlled Chinese government. He faces a life sentence if found guilty.

“It’s a textbook example of a show trial, of the weaponization of the legal system,” Sebastien told EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” on Thursday.

“He’s not going to see a fair trial … It’s an absolute kangoo trial.”

Continued below.

District administration in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari has ordered an investigation into a 115-year-old Christian hospital following complaints from Bajrang Dal, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other Hindutva organisations. The groups have accused the Bathena Christian Hospital of medical negligence and forced religious conversion.

The hospital was established in 1910 by American Mennonite missionaries and is recognised as the oldest hospital in Chhattisgarh. Originally founded as a unit of the Mennonite Medical Board, the 250-bedded multi-specialty facility has served 10 districts including Dhamtari, Balod, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Kanker, Bastar, Durg, Kondagaon, Dantewada and Gariaband, along with adjoining areas of Odisha.

Continued below.