Book review — Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within

I’ve been reading through the book Infiltration by Taylor Marshall. It’s worse than I first thought. Not only is the book heretical and schismatic in the most extreme manner imaginable, but the main premise of the book, that the Church has been infiltrated by Satan, is literally a type of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The Church is Christ

The Church is the body of Christ. Now while the expression is not literal in the sense that the Church would be the same as His physical body, it is no mere figure. The Church has Christ as Her Head. The Church has the Holy Spirit as Her soul. The Magisterium is the work of the Holy Spirit. Every infallible teaching of the Magisterium is the teaching of God, by means of the Spirit. So those teaching are not only without error, but also are important truths on faith, morals, and salvation. Then the non-infallible teachings, while not necessarily entirely free from error, are certainly free from heresy and every grave error on doctrine. This, too, is the work of the Holy Spirit. For the Church’s teaching is Christ’s teaching, not by an arbitrary decision of God, but because the Church has Christ as Her Head and is His Body.

We say that the Church is the body of Christ, but She is not a body separated from Her head. She is not a body without a soul. So the whole Church is Christ. The Head of the Church, Jesus our Savior, has never been separated from His body the Church. To accuse the Church of being infiltrated by Satan or by evil is to accuse Christ of having a demon (Jn 7:20; 8:48).

How is the indefectibility secured? By means of the Rock on which the Church is founded.

The Pope has certain gifts from the Holy Spirit, as promised by Christ. The gates of Hell shall never prevail against Her, particularly because She is founded on the Rock that is Peter and his successors. And those successors, according to the ancient teaching of the Church and the dogma of the First Vatican Council, have the gifts of immunity from grave error and a never-failing faith. So the indefectibility of the Church is secured by means of Peter and his successors.

* The Roman Pontiff: Immunity from Error and Never-failing Faith

So it is not possible for any Pope to teach heresy, nor to commit apostasy, heresy, or schism, nor to be or become evil. It is not possible for any Pope to be chosen by Satan or by a Satanic or otherwise evil conspiracy. This is dogma. Claims to the contrary are heresy.

Pope Honorius I was never condemned for heresy by the Sixth Ecumenical Council, nor by the Seventh or Eighth, as proven here. Pope John XXII never taught or committed heresy, as proven here. And no other Popes have taught or committed heresy, nor have any Popes taught or acted under the influence of Evil.

Heresy and Schism

To say otherwise is to assert a heresy, contrary to the dogma of the First Vatican Council. Accusing Pope Francis of heresy is itself heresy. Accusing Honorius of heresy is itself heresy, at this point in time. No Pope can teach or commit heresy, by the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit. For the Church is indefectible.

To accuse Pope Francis of teaching or committing heresy is a schismatic act. No one who thinks that the Pope is guilty of heresy also submits their mind and heart to him as Teacher and Shepherd. But that submission is required of every Catholic, to avoid the mortal sin of schism.

Now the words of Taylor Marshall about Pope Francis, “I resist him to his face” and “recognize and resist” are public formal schism and carry the penalty of automatic excommunication. Paul did not “resist” Peter to his face. Rather, Paul corrected Peter for one error of discipline, which certainly did not reach to the extent of heresy. Paul never accused Peter of heresy, nor did he resist his authority. These schismatics are not imitating Paul. Whosoever resists the Roman Pontiff is no longer Catholic.

The book Infiltration is thoroughly heretical and schismatic, and not merely because it rejects the person and papacy of Pope Francis. After judging and condemning Pope Francis, what is to prevent someone from judging other Popes or judging Councils? If you are above any Pope to judge and condemn him, then you are above all Popes and all Councils. As if to prove this sad fact, Taylor Marshall condemns Pope Pius XII, claiming that he was turned to evil in the latter part of his papacy — because he asserted ideas and made come changes to discipline with which Dr. Marshall disagrees. Instead of simply disagreeing, he accuses that holy Pontiff of having been influenced by an evil Satanic plot, which began generations earlier.

Dr. Marshall goes on to condemn, as persons also influenced by evil, Pope Saint John XXIII, Pope Saint Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope Saint John Paul II, the Second Vatican Council, Pope Benedict XVI, and of course Pope Francis. The alleged “infiltration” of the Church by Satan supposedly affected all of these persons and an Ecumenical Council.

This claim by Dr. Marshall is contrary to dogma. I don’t care how many persons loudly proclaim, on the internet, how scholarly and well-researched this book supposedly is. The book blatantly severely rejects the dogmas of the indefectibility, the immunity from error of the Pope and the Magisterium, the never-failing faith of the Pope, and the teaching that the Church is the body of Christ, enlivened by the Holy Spirit. The claim that Satan has infiltrated the Church, beginning with the latter part of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, is severe heresy and severely schismatic. It is also a type of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and a violation of the First Commandment.

Blasphemy

The Church is the body of Christ, with Christ himself as Her head, and with the Holy Spirit as the soul of the Church. Evil cannot infiltrate the Church. Satan cannot infiltrate the Church. To make such a claim is identical to claiming that Jesus has a demon.

[John]
{7:20} Why are you seeking to kill me?” The crowd responded and said: “You must have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you?”

{8:48} Therefore, the Jews responded and said to him, “Are we not correct in saying that you are a Samaritan, and that you have a demon?”
{8:49} Jesus responded: “I do not have a demon. But I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me.

{8:52} Therefore, the Jews said: “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the Prophets; and yet you say, ‘If anyone will have kept my word, he shall not taste death for eternity.’

{10:20} Then many of them were saying: “He has a demon or he is insane. Why do you listen him?”

The Church is enlivened by the Holy Spirit, and the teachings of the Church are the teachings of the Holy Spirit. To accuse the Church of being infiltrated by Satan or by a Satanic or otherwise evil conspiracy is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The book “Infiltration” by Taylor Marshall is an expression of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Not only its author, but anyone who promotes or approves of the blasphemous claims of the book, are guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The unforgiveable sin is final impenitence. But other sins are called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by their connection to that last and most grave of sins. Claiming that the Church, the sole Ark of Salvation, the body of Christ, has been infiltrated by Satan, has the result of cutting oneself off from the sole source of salvation. If such a person goes to Confession, attends Mass, receives Communion, he does not benefit, as he or she has rejected the Church Herself as Evil. I doubt that anyone can receive Confession validly while claiming that the Church has been infiltrated by Satan. The forgiveness of the Confessional is of the Church. Satan cannot forgive sins.

The Open Letter is a public act of heresy and schism. But the book Infiltration is far worse, as it accuses Jesus Christ of having a demon. The Church cannot be infiltrated by Satan, nor by evil, because the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. Similarly, any human person who is in the state of grace cannot be possessed by a demon. Only persons without the state of grace can possibly be so possessed. To claim that Satan has infiltrated the Church is to claim that the Church is not in the state of grace, does not have the Holy Spirit as Her soul. Such a claim carries the penalty of automatic excommunication due to the sin of apostasy.

Anyone who accuses Jesus Christ of having a demon commits not only heresy and schism, but also apostasy. For the Christian Faith is entirely destroyed by the claim that the Christian Church, which is none other than the Catholic Church, has been infiltrated by Satan and has been teaching many grave errors as a result (since the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII).

This is the natural result of the accusations against Pope Francis of heresy: schism, further heresies, rejection of other Popes, rejection of an Ecumenical Council, apostasy and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Taylor Marshall is automatically excommunicated for heresy, schism, apostasy, and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Whosoever approves or promotes the claims of that book or the book itself as a whole thereby commits the same sins and is also automatically excommunicated.

The accusations of Taylor Marshall against the Church are false and heretical, scandalous and blasphemous, schismatic and apostate. Do not join him in his sins.

by
Ronald L. Conte Jr.
Roman Catholic theologian and translator of the Catholic Public Domain Version of the Bible.

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