An Obadiah Slope Column
Too good to be real: It’s is a great quote and many people, including Brian Houston, but he’s only one among hundreds of thousands, have posted it.
But it is a fake.
The quote: ” Brothers, sisters…
“I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left.
“To those who are fed up with scandals, with misused power, with the silence of a Church that sometimes seems more like a palace than a home.
“I, too, was angry with God.
“I, too, saw good people die, children suffer, grandparents cry without medicine.
“And yes… there were days when I prayed and only felt an echo.
“But then I discovered something:
“God doesn’t shout. God whispers.
“And sometimes He whispers from the mud, from pain, from a grandmother who feeds you without having anything.
“I don’t come to offer you perfect faith.
“I come to tell you that faith is a walk with stones, puddles, and unexpected hugs.
“I’m not asking you to believe in everything.
“I’m asking you not to close the door. Give a chance to the God who waits for you without judgment.
“I’m just a priest who saw God in the smile of a woman who lost her son… and yet she cooked for others.
“That changed me.
“So if you’re broken, if you don’t believe, if you’re tired of the lies…
“come anyway. With your anger, your doubt, your dirty backpack.
“No one here will ask you for a VIP card.
“Because this Church, as long as I breathe, will be a home for the homeless, and a rest for the weary.
“God doesn’t need soldiers.
“He needs brothers.
“And you, yes, you…
“are one of them.”
Moving, true. But it is a fake.
Press One reports “The quote, posted on May 11, at 1:34 a.m. and shared in the St. Anthony of Padua Facebook group, falsely claimed that the newly elected pope delivered a speech addressing people who are losing faith…”
“The group, which has more than half a million members, was quickly shared in Facebook and Instagram.
“A search of the Vatican’s official website and its official news site did not show that the pope delivered this speech. The new Pope’s official page in the Vatican website also did not contain this speech.
“An online search of the pope’s speeches or addresses before he was elected pope also yielded negative results.
“Pope Leo XIV was elected the leader of the 1.4 billion Roman Catholics on May 8, 2025. He has delivered only one homily and three addresses and speeches as of May 12, 2025”
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Spindles redux: Obadiah is not sure if Barry Chant is more famous as a children’s book author or as a great historian of Australian Pentecostalism, or even as a church planter. But that first role is making a comeback. Here’s a note Chant posted: “Fifty years ago, as a young pastor it fell to my lot to tell a children’s story for Christmas. I couldn’t find a suitable tale in the books on my shelves, so an hour before the Christmas party, I sat at my desk and scrabbled together a story about a boy called Spindles who lived in the Outback and had a bunch of animal friends. Later he was joined by Freckles. That stumbling attempt became the first in a series of 36 stories in seven volumes and tens of thousands of books. This year, to celebrate the anniversary, I have written a new volume of seven stories to be entitled The Deadly Arrow. It’s the best yet. It is currently being prepared for printing and hopefully will be released by springtime. All you parents and grandparents, keep your eyes open for updates!”
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En-Chant-ment: Barry Chant’s Heart of fire: The story of Australian Pentecostalism. is out of print. But you can read his fascinating and exhaustive doctoral thesis here. It might be just Obadiah, but he found it a great and encouraging read.
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Explain this: Obadiah has been on a heavy duty tour of hospital visiting, with two really hard things happening in one week to his sibling. (But recovery, twice.) And, yet, covered in plastic, he’s felt the presence of God more powerfully than in years.