How Many Will be Saved? (Catholic/Orthodox Caucus)

Hello everyone .. and welcome to the Vortex .. where lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed .. I’m Michael Voris.

As you explore and dig down deeper into the mysteries of the Faith .. the final realities come to full view.

The Catholic Church has always taught on a subject known as the Eschaton – that’s a Greek word referring to The Four Last Things.

In short, when it’s all said and done, bottom line – we will all die, be judged and enter into Heaven or Hell forever.

So since, every human being in the history of the world who has ever lived will be in one or the other .. it pretty much stands to reason .. that either Heaven or Hell will have more “occupants” so to speak.

Estimates are as of now .. that roughly 11 billion people have lived on earth at one time or another .. including now. And unless the world ends right this minute .. that number will increase.

So .. how many will be in Heaven and how many in Hell? It’s not a new question. Some of the greatest saints in the Church have chimed in on this .. and what they have to say is .. well .. sobering.

“The greater part of men choose to be damned rather than to love Almighty God.” -Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, Doctor of the Church

“.. on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire.” -Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church

“It is certain that few are saved.” -Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church

“Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved.” -Saint Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church

What I am about to tell you is very terrible, yet I will not conceal it from you. Out of this thickly populated city with its thousands of inhabitants not one hundred people will be saved. I even doubt whether there will be as many as that!” -Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church

And on a special note to the clergy .. “I do not speak rashly, but as I feel and think. I do not think that many priests are saved, but that those who perish are far more numerous.” -Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church

“Christ's flock is called "little" (Luke 12:32) in comparison with the greater number of the reprobates.” -Saint Bede the Venerable, Father and Doctor of the Church

“The greater part of men will set no value on the blood of Christ, and will go on offending Him.” -Saint Isidore of Seville, Father and Doctor of the Church

“How few the Elect are may be understood from the multitude being cast out.” -Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Father and Doctor of the Church

“The majority of men shall not see God, excepting those who live justly, purified by righteousness and by every other virtue.” -Saint Justin the Martyr

“There are a select few who are saved.” -Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church

And not to belabor a point .. but we hear this so infrequently .. if ever at all from the very people .. bishops and priests .. who’s solemn duty is to tell us this .. that we feel we indeed NEED to labor over this point.

“The number of the elect is so small — so small — that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief: one here and there, scattered up and down the world!” -Saint Louis Marie de Montfort

This isn’t meant to frighten or terrify people .. it’s meant to wake us up so we can avoid Hell. If most people goes to hell .. the vast majority of people go to Hell .. which seems to be the consensus among the greatest minds of the Church .. then they perish because they choose to.

Our Blessed Lord established the Catholic Church as the ark to save whoever .. whoever would come into it before their time runs out. Either we believe this .. or we don’t. Death .. Judgment .. Heaven or Hell. We can’t choose the first two .. but the second two are entirely up to us.

I am very much a Roman Catholic, very conservative theologically, and I read (and appreciate) receiving the daily readings.

When I was studying theology way back in the 1970s, the priest who taught Eucharistic Theology often said that the Son of God did not die in vain. Repentance is necessary, belief in the Jesus as the Son of God is necessary, for salvation, but who knows what graces are poured out upon individuals when they die, when the Shepherd calls their names in His loving attempt to turn their hearts to Him, even at the last moment of free will decision.

The great saints quoted in this thread are an inspiration to repentance, but theirs are personal statements, not dogmatic tenets.

While I understand the pessimistic tone and context of these quotes, I’m convinced that those who are a part of His Church and sincerely try to follow Christ aren’t in danger of Hell. Given the number of people who are now or who since the founding of the Church have been in His Church, minus those who were only in His Church because it was expected of them or for some other reason, that’s still going to be a pretty small percentage of the entire population of the world throughout history. The reference to purgatory is especially noteworthy because the fires that purge away the chaff are capable of sparing even a very, very, small grain of faith buried in a great deal of chaff. Given the will of God that all men be saved and what little is required of us in order to receive His Grace through faith in Christ, why would comparatively few be saved?

It seems to me the main reason a great many people don’t ever come to Salvation is the very same reason Eve sinned. Eve was disobedient because she relied on her own understanding rather than doing as she was commanded whether she understood the reasons and details or not. Disobeying was just the natural consequence of Eve deciding that her own understanding was sufficient. The first step in accepting Christ is to surrender, not to reach an understanding that your own carnal mind is comfortable with. “I believe, forgive my unbelief” is very real acceptance while “now I understand”is most often no more than the same sort of acknowledgment Christ says the demons make. One of the very real burdens we have to accept if we really want to follow Christ is the burden of not understanding everything up front, a burden most people cannot accept and many avoid by only accepting those things they’re comfortable with. Unfortunately, in doing so they’re refusing to follow Christ while at the same time fooling themselves into believing they are following Him.

The Apostles didn’t know in advance and couldn’t possibly have understood all that they would learn by following Christ when He called them. That’s the same way we have to follow, by taking up our cross and following even though we cannot know and understand everything before we follow Him. Only when people put following Christ first rather than putting their own understanding first can they do His will and accept Salvation. It seems to me that’s why there may be comparatively few who will be saved, only a comparative few are willing to follow first and understand later.

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