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I'm the director of OCIA for my parish, and as such my name, email, and phone number appear in the bulletin, which appears online. Quite frequently, some spammer scrapes the information, then spoofs being my priest (who I have known personally for 20+ years)... and sometimes... I string them along...
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📜✨ **"He Ascended, But His Body Remained" — The Ascension Didn’t End Christ’s Reign. It Revealed It.**

**He didn’t leave. He reigns.**

The Ascension is often treated like a departure scene.
Jesus goes up… and the story shifts to the apostles figuring things out on their own.

But that’s not what happened.

Christ ascends as the **Son of Man**, fulfilling Book of Daniel — receiving dominion, glory, and a kingdom that spans every nation.
Not a local movement.
Not a temporary mission.
A universal reign.

And on earth?

His Body remains.

Not as an idea.
Not as a loose network.
But as something real, visible, and structured — what Paul the Apostle calls the Bride and Body in Epistle to the Ephesians.

And the very first thing that Body does after He ascends?

They fill an office.

In Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter doesn’t say, “Let’s write some things down and hope people interpret them correctly.”

He cites Scripture.
He points to the Psalms.
And he insists:

**“Another must take his place.”**

Because the office didn’t die when the man did.

That’s not improvisation.
That’s continuity.

That’s authority handed on.

And it’s exactly why, as Paul the Apostle says in First Epistle to Timothy, the Church is the **pillar and foundation of the truth** — not a collection of opinions, but a Body grounded in the Truth who is Christ Himself.

This is what the Ascension reveals:

Christ enthroned in heaven.
His Body active on earth.
Apostles appointing successors.
Councils speaking with authority.
A mustard seed becoming a tree.

Not a book club.

A Church.

🎶 **"He Ascended, But His Body Remained"** — a track for converts, cradle Catholics, Scripture nerds, and anyone who’s ever wondered what the apostles actually *did* next.

#Catholic #CatholicFaith #PetersBarque #CatholicMusic #BibleStudy #Theology #CatholicTruth #ApostolicChurch

**FOLLOW PETER’S BARQUE**

Website: https://petersbarquemusic.com
X: https://x.com/petersbarque
Instagram: https://instagram.com/petersbarque
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@petersbarque
Facebook: https://facebook.com/petersbarque

**LISTEN TO THE MUSIC**

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/peters-barque/1857703433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07uvm7SPGUVwYdxELtbXv8

**SUPPORT THE PROJECT**

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/petersbarque

---

**Disclosure**

Peter's Barque is a Catechetical musical project by Justin West. He's a Catechist, not a musician. The music is created principally through digital means, and the art is AI (but the words/heart/soul is all still him)
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❤️🪨✨ "Not of Works" — Now Animated

Same song.
New experiment.

This week I’m trying something different.

I’ve taken “Not of Works” and turned it into a fully animated version—simple, visual, catechetical… something that shows the theology, not just says it.

Because this topic matters.

Abraham is called justified by faith.
He’s also called justified by what he did.
Same with Rahab.

That’s not a contradiction.
That’s the Bible telling one story from two angles:

Faith that lives… moves.

🧠 What I’m curious about

Be honest with me:

Does the animation make the message clearer?
Does it help you see what the song is saying?
Or is it distracting?

This takes a lot more time than a standard release, so it probably won’t be the norm…

…but if it genuinely helps people understand the faith better, I’d love to do it periodically.

🎶 "Not of Works" (Animated) — for anyone who’s ever heard “not of works” and wondered… okay, then what?

#Catholic #CatholicFaith #PetersBarque #CatholicMusic #BibleStudy #Theology #CatholicTruth #ApostolicChurch

FOLLOW PETER’S BARQUE

Website: https://petersbarquemusic.com
X: https://x.com/petersbarque
Instagram: https://instagram.com/petersbarque
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@petersbarque
Facebook: https://facebook.com/petersbarque

🎧 LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/peters-barque/1857703433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07uvm7SPGUVwYdxELtbXv8

☕ SUPPORT THE PROJECT

https://ko-fi.com/petersbarque

Disclosure:
Peter’s Barque is a catechetical musical project by Justin West. He’s a catechist, not a musician. The music is created primarily through digital means—and the art is AI—but the words, heart, and soul are his.
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📜✨ "Not of Works" — The Verse Everyone Quotes… and the One They Skip

Not of works.
You’ve heard it. You’ve probably had it quoted at you.

Like it settles everything.

But Scripture doesn’t contradict itself—and it doesn’t stutter either.

Paul says Abraham was justified by faith:

👉 “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)

The author of Hebrews says the same:

👉 “By faith Abraham… offered up Isaac.” (Hebrews 11:17)
👉 “By faith Rahab… received the spies in peace.” (Hebrews 11:31)

So yes—by faith. Amen.

But then Scripture says something else:

👉 “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac?” (James 2:21)
👉 “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” (James 2:24)
👉 “And in the same way was not also Rahab… justified by works when she received the messengers?” (James 2:25)

Same people.
Same events.
Same Bible.

So what gives?

Here’s the tension:

One side says faith.
The other says works.

But look closer.

Abraham didn’t just agree with God—he walked up the mountain.
Rahab didn’t just believe—she hid the spies.

Their works didn’t replace faith.
Their works revealed it.

Even Jesus frames it this way:

👉 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life.” (John 3:36)

Not belief vs doubt.

Belief vs disobedience.

And James drives it home:

👉 “Even the demons believe—and shudder.” (James 2:19)

So belief alone?
That’s not the bar.

This is the point:

Paul rejects works of the Law—badges, boundary markers, things you boast in.

But the same Paul says:

👉 “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works… that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Not the root.
But the fruit.

Not the cause.
But the evidence.

No contradiction.

Just a deeper definition:

Faith isn’t mere agreement.
Faith is living trust.
And living things move.

🎶 "Not of Works" — a track for converts, cradle Catholics, Scripture nerds, and anyone who’s ever had Ephesians 2:8–9 thrown at them like a mic drop.

#Catholic #CatholicFaith #PetersBarque #CatholicMusic #BibleStudy #Theology #CatholicTruth #ApostolicChurch

FOLLOW PETER’S BARQUE

Website: https://petersbarquemusic.com
X: https://x.com/petersbarque
Instagram: https://instagram.com/petersbarque
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@petersbarque
Facebook: https://facebook.com/petersbarque

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/peters-barque/1857703433
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07uvm7SPGUVwYdxELtbXv8

SUPPORT THE PROJECT

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/petersbarque

Disclosure:
Peter’s Barque is a catechetical musical project by Justin West. He’s a catechist, not a musician. The music is created primarily through digital means—and the art is AI—but the words, heart, and soul are his.
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