[Greek] νικάω (nikaō), [Latin] vincere, [Latin] victoria, [Latin] supervenire, [French] surprendre, [French] agresser, [French] surpasser, [French] conquerir, [German] seigen: to conquer, to overcome, to prevail, to overpower; Lk.1:22, Jn.16:33, Rom.3:4, Rom.12:21, 1Jn.2:13-14, 1:Jn.4:4, 1Jn.5:4-5
Hillaire Belloc (1872-1953) warned about the Modernists (and later Synodalists) who would later wreak havoc in the Church. The Modernists/Synodalists would also follow the example of the Nicolaitan sect found in the Book of Revelations. (Rev.2:6)
Background information:
Greek Hellenism: This term means to surpass, to prevail, to conquer, to be victorious, to carry the majority, to appeal to the mob, and to yield to excellence.
Sophocles’ Ajax 1357: “I yield to his excellence much more than his hostility.”
Plato’s Phaedrus 56b: “For they have truly conquered the Olympic contests.”
Aeschylus’ Eumenides 88: “Remember, do not let fear overpower your heart.”
Sophocles’ Antigone 233: “The view prevailed that I should come to you.”
Euripides’ Orestis 944: “The villain spoke and gained his point by appealing to the mob.”
Mythology: Nike is the goddess of victory. Throughout history mortals (man) have called upon the gods seeking favor, fortune, and victory. The Greeks worshipped Nike, believing that she could grant them the strength and speed to be victorious. The related Roman goddess is Victoria.
Old Testament: This term means to excel, to be pre-eminent, to be permanent, to be innocent, to be clean, to stand victorious as a martyr, and to stand innocent before the judgment. God’s victory is the only answer one can give to the meaning of evil.
New Testament: This term means to overcome, to conquer, and to be victorious. Victories and defeats may be temporary in life, but Christ has the ultimate victory. One must conquer evil with good. The victor is the Christian who holds fast to his faith and does God’s will in the face of opposition and persecution.
Scripture:
Lk.11:21-22: “When a strong man fully arms his palace, his possessions are safe.”
Strong man: the devil
Palace: this is the world (kingdom of the devil)
Strong man’s [temporary] possessions: ignorance, unbelief, disobedience, hardness of heart, hatred, enmity toward God, pride, rebellion, arrogance, failing to acknowledge sin, lack of need for conversion, worldliness, self indulgence, spiritual blindness, closemindedness.
Lk.11:22: “But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, He takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.”
One stronger than he: The stronger one is Jesus who has the authority to defeat Satan. Jesus addresses the power struggle between the kingdom of God and the forces of evil.
Taking away the armor: The armor represents the defenses and strategies that evil forces rely on to maintain control. These represents the false securities and deceptions that people trust in apart from God.
Jn.16:33: “I have told you this so that you may have peace in Me. In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Christ offers a longer lasting peace which this world cannot provide. Trouble in this world: great tribulation, malice, persecution, affliction, torment, pride, treachery, sin, arrogance, ignorance, and “being of this world”.)
Rom.12:20-21: “For by so doing [dyou will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.”
Conquering evil with good (kindness):
- Being conquered by evil is a sign of weakness, not strength. Repressing this desire for revenge becomes a personal victory for oneself.
- Your actions will illustrate the power of the gospel.
- Your actions may serve to disarm your enemies of their rage.
- Your actions may serve to confound the evil one, who seeks to stir up one’s passions and desires.
- Allow God to repay with vengeance upon others.
- “Kill” your enemies with kindness (serving, feeding, and serving them).
- Showing them kindness is like heaping burning coals upon their heads: make them feel the pain of shame, embarrassment, remorse, and repentance.
Why is the Christian life like a race?
- Christians must prepare, equip, replenish (with spiritual nourishment), and strengthen themselves in order to reach the finish line.
- Paul equates the faithful Christian to a disciplined athlete who finishes the race. (1Cor.9:24-25)
- Those who have remained faithful (and those who have been martyred) have already reached the finish line. (2Tim.2:5).
- Paul states that he has competed well and has finished the race. (2Tim.4:6-8)
- Interestingly, these Christian martyrs’ bones are called trophies.
- To all Christians: finish that race and achieve that victory. Just do it! (This message has not been brought to you by Nike) ☺☺☺
Jesus hated the Nicolaitans’ deeds because they failed to live a life of separation from the world.
Who were the Nicolaitans?
- They were an early Christian sect who resided in Ephesus and Pergamum (Rev.2:17).
- Their beliefs consisted of a doctrine of tolerance and compromise, paganism, and sin.
- The Nicolaitans’ teachings and deeds ultimately conquered and subdued the people.
- Jesus hated the Nicolaitans’ deeds because they FAILED TO LIVE A LIFE OF SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD’S VALUES.
- Sound familiar? They look like the conciliar Vatican II/Synodal Church.
Why did Christ hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans?
- They advocated for a watered-down and weakened form of Christianity where sin is ignored and and repentance is disregarded. (Changing Church teachings to accommodate the world.)
- This was a doctrine of tolerance, inclusion, and compromise. (Sound familiar?)
- The Nicolaitans were luke-warm in faith and paganistic. (Having nothing substantial to believe in. Believing in idols.)
- The Nicolaitans made a mockery of their faith. (Ignoring, normalizing, and blessing sin. Sound familiar?)
- Holy living and separation from the world was not encouraged. (Removing the distinction between clergy and laity.)
- These “Christians” sought a truth in the world. (Adapting the Church to the world’s values. Sounds like lived experiences!)
- Absolute truth, doctrinal truth, and biblical truth were minimized. (Adjust the truth to the culture.)
- No exclusionary belief that Christ alone is the way to heaven. (Dismissing the idea that Christ is only way to achieve salvation.)
- They do not believe that Christ alone is the way to heaven. (Engaging in questionable ecumenism.)
How the Modernists/Synodalists are like the Nicolaitans:
- Failing to keep separation from the world: Vatican II brought in worldliness and the “smoke of Satan” (spirit of undermining) so that the Church could “get with the times.”
- Removing celibacy: Pope Leo appointed a German bishop Christian Wurtz who proposes scrapping priestly celibacy.
- Tolerating, overlooking, and denying sin (homosexuality) under the guise of tolerance and inclusion.
- Criticizing and marginalizing traditional clergy: a “scandal” who represents “spiritual worldliness,” “rigidity,” and “clericalism” ,”being separate from the laity
- Decentralizing doctrinal authority to the local bishops: This sounds very Protestant. Are they trying to creating a new Church?
- Criticizing and marginalizing conservative and traditional laity: Pope Francis accuses Catholics of being “too rigid” (for holding on to doctrine).
- Claiming that Catholicism must no longer be pre-eminent: Vatican II/Synodality’s questionable ecumenism, troublesome statements by popes and cardinals.
- Downplaying sexual sins: appointing bishops who support sodomy, authorizing Synodal study who claim that homosexuality is no longer sinful
- Watering down doctrinal requirements for receiving sacraments: Lowering standards for the sake of inclusion and toleration.
- Bestowing blessings on same sex unions: This is permitted because of a new situational morality. (Non-liturgical blessings seek to bless evil.)
- Remaking Jesus’ Church in a worldly synodal Church made in the image of man and his lived experiences: (Worldly values, secularism, relativism, and sin creep into the Church. Synodality becomes and IDOL.
- Allowing shared clergy/laity decision-making authority in the Church: Whatever could possibly go wrong when the laity is involved in making decisions about Church teachings and doctrine?
- Elevating man’s dignity: Man does NOT have infinite dignity. The Church focusing more on SEEKING FAVOR WITH THE WORLD/MOVING WITH THE WORLD rather than BRINGING SOULS INTO HEAVEN.
- Inserting pagan idols and cultural practices into Mass: Panchama idols, native rituals and dances, secular function, liturgical sacrilege and desecrations.
- Ignoring, “paying lip-service” to Church teachings/doctrine, scripture, and Jesus’ statements: this inevitably leads to a practical (implicit) atheism
Tradition vs. Modernism/Synodality): who will prevail inside the Church?
- Acts 5:38: If this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.
- Acts 5:39: If this activity comes from God, you will NOT be able to destroy it. You may even find yourself fighting against God.
- The human actions of bringing in worldliness and “smoke of Satan” (spirit of undermining) created a spiritual and pastoral disaster for the Church.
- Synodality is essentially continuing what Vatican II has done. The German Synodal Church is essentially “reforming” and “renewing” itself into decline and heresy.
- In reaction against Synodality’s doctrinal confusion, an organic Holy Spirit- inspired movement has led to a greater movement and desire for Tradition and doctrinal clarity.
- The younger people (both clergy and laity) are greatly attracted to Tradition. The Church is thriving because of Tradition, not because of Synodality.
- More and more Protestants are discovering Tradition. They are also discovering that the early church was Catholic!
- Traditiones Custodes seems to be the only administrative tool in the “Synodal toolbox” to try to stop the TLM and desire for the TLM.
- Aside from Traditiones Custodes, the Synodal leadership is UNABLE to stop this movement. Let that sink in. This is because of the work of the Holy Spirit.
- We will have to look at Acts 5:38-39 to see who will prevail.
Conclusion:
Victory, victorious, conquer, conquering, siege, invincible, laity, aggressor, aggression, supervene, surprise
Update: Lax criminal policies and emboldened criminal activity have overcome liberal cities. Many businesses and individuals are leaving these cities. These policies are contributing to creating ghost-towns.
Gender ideology, transgenderism, and the tyranny of relativism (one can be any gender one wants) are now undermining and conquering the traditional understanding of two genders created by God. (This is pridefully saying to God: “I know better than you [God] in what gender I should be!)
This modern secular post-Christian world often makes it very difficult for one to separate one’s Christian values from the world’s values. Society’s denial of sin is greatly contrasted with Jesus’ command to sin no more (Jn.8:11).
In a sense, many of us are also like “little pagans” bowing our heads down to our electronic devices, and other gods (money, fame, power, social media, possessions, stuff, etc.)
Scriptural references about the Nicolaitans
Acts 20:29: savage wolves
Acts 20:30: perverting the truth to draw the disciples away
Acts 20:30: pagan worship of Artemis
Jud.1:8: defiling the flesh, scorning lordship, and reviling glorious beings
Rev.2:7: [Jesus]: the works of the Nicolaitans I also hate
The Modernists/Synodalists’ spiritual “hard-heartedness”:
- They will continue to promote their Modernist/Synodal human traditions and ideology at all costs.
- They will continue to “reform” and “renew” the Church even it leads to problems. Just look at the German Synodal Church.
- They will continue to make every effort to employ Traditiones Custodes to shut down the TLM. This will ultimately become a fool’s errand.
- They will continue to marginalize the many faithful who oppose Synodality.
Another fruit of the Holy Spirit: there is more attention and more critical historical examination and analysis on the consequences of Vatican II. Let that sink in!
“It is a mistake for the Church to try to hold onto old traditions or to have clear answers for everything.” Pope Francis.
“We do not want a Church that will move with the world. We want a Church that moves the world.” GK Chesterton
“We don’t want to convert the young people to Christ or the Catholic Church or anything like that all.” Cardinal Auguiar (at the 37th Word Youth Day
“The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity or rather cowardice of the faithful.” Pope Pius X
THE MODERNISTS/SYNODALISTS HAVE BECOME THE NEW NICOLAITANS. I am pretty sure that Jesus hates their deeds and actions as well.

















![Greek] ἀπειλή (apeilē), [Latin] loquere, [French] parler, [French] chasser – Resounding The Faith](https://i0.wp.com/resoundingthefaith.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/apeile1.jpg?w=978&ssl=1)


































The Greco-Roman stage often stages dramas and plays illustrating the human condition.














































