Vortex: What the Hell?

Michael Voris was on a hell of a roll last week – literally – as he talked about hell. Thanks be to God for straight-shooters like MV! Here are some of the “money quotes” from three episodes; see the videos below.

From “Hell of a Difference” (see the full script here):

With all the talk of the Mercy of God versus the doctrine of Hell, one thing gets pointed up frequently. It’s the idea that the God of the Old Testament was mean and angry and the God of the New Testament is sweet and kind and hugs puppies.

So the implication is that Hell is an idea relegated to the Old and God’s Mercy is the focus of the new.

That would be a very interesting argument, if there was one shred of truth to it – but there isn’t.

The Old Testament has no real doctrine of Hell present anywhere in it in any substantial form the way we understand it now. It’s very murky and vague.

It is only in the pages of the New Testament that the doctrine on Hell begins to emerge very clearly and starkly… [I]t is from the lips of Our Blessed Lord Himself that the doctrine takes its most explicit form.

He talks about the unquenchable fire, the suffering, the desolation, the abandonment, the hunger, the thirst, the pains, the being handed over to torturers.

Jesus is the one who emphasizes Hell over and over and over again. If almost no one goes there, and there’s not really that great a chance of going there, what was He talking about it so frequently for?

From “Fr. Barron Is Wrong” (see the full script here):

First of all, MV makes it clear right at the beginning of this Vortex that:

…this Vortex is not about FR. ROBERT BARRON but about what he says. Fr. Barron is wrong….when he talks about Hell and the hope that we can have that no one is in it.

Of course, predictably, some from the Church of Nice crowd jumped on this and have accused MV of being mean to Fr. Barron…or something like that. Never mind.  MV makes his point:

The Church has never declared on that subject of people being in Hell [as Fr. Barron says in a video clip]. That’s correct.

It’s also meaningless.

It is beyond the Church’s authority and competence to declare that humans are in Hell. It is not part of her mission or charter. Christ never gave Her that authority, so she has none to exercise in this arena. NONE!

…But an official magisterial pronouncement by the Church is not the only way of knowing. Our Blessed Lord Himself has already told us that some souls are damned. He offers that truth both in parable and prophecy multiple times in the Gospels. And while it may be a little bothersome to some, Our Lords own WORDS actually do trump the Church’s SILENCE.

And MV concludes:

If we have a reasonable hope that all are saved, then what would be the point of there being a Lamb’s Book of Life in the first place? And frankly, to underscore the point even further, if we have a reasonable hope that all are saved, what is the point of the Catholic priesthood or Fr. Barron being a priest?

From “Hell Is Real and Souls Go There” (see the full script here):

After giving a multitude of examples of people waking up each day and engaging in a daily life that involves undeniable and rampant sin, MV says:

None of these people in any of these examples live their lives according to a desire to be with God. Could they turn around? Sure. And we pray for that.

But if they die in those conditions – meaning having not repented – how stupid is it to think that they go to heaven and not to Hell. They made their careers on bringing Hell into people’s lives on this earth everyday – the drug addict, the prostitute, the porn addict, the society. They have lived and worked and moved among the demonic and the diabolical for their careers without a thought of God.

It isn’t a question of a person not being able to reach out to God’s mercy and repent and reform. Nor is it a question of God not always extending His mercy.

The question is the person – the man in mortal sin – not WANTING to reform. He LOVES his sin which is why the committed sinner very often, almost always moves deeper into it.

To consider a picture of nearly all humans being simply misguided and making bad choices which God will just kind of somehow overlook reveals an immature mind about human nature, sin, its consequences and by extension, even God and the nature of Heaven and Hell.

The thing about Catholicism is this: It is an integral whole. When you do violence to one part of it, you impact ALL of it. Mess up the liturgy, you mess up belief. Mess up your theology about Hell, and you mess up every other aspect of your theology.

One mortal sin… that’s all it takes to be damned. To die in a state of unrepented mortal sin. So what happens to the man and woman each cheating on their spouses when they die in a car crash on the way to their rendezvous?

No, we can’t absolutely say for certain…but would you want to be standing in their shoes before the throne of God at that moment?

MV concludes with this thought:

It’s too scary to even contemplate – but our own death, judgment and final destiny of heaven and hell is EXACTLY what all the saints implore we do with regularity.

Why do the saints tell us to do that? Well, if we think about hell, we will think about our own sins. And if we think about our own sins, we will go to confession. And if we think about going to confession, we may just learn to avoid sin…which is kind of the whole point, right? We will become more holy. We will progress along the path to Heaven.

Here are the Vortex episodes:

(see the full script here)

(see the full script here)


(see the full script here)