Know Your Shepherds: Discernment in an Age of Spiritual Noise
There are seasons in the Church when strange teachings start catching fire among the faithful — not because people are gullible, but because the world feels chaotic and Catholics desperately want clarity, certainty, and a sense of meaning. That’s why teachers who speak confidently about private revelations, timelines, hidden knowledge, or cosmic secrets can gain traction fast.
I know this firsthand.
A while back, I began following a priest — Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi — because he spoke about prayer, spiritual life, and Marian devotion in a way that felt helpful. But the more I listened, the more red flags appeared. Suddenly there were teachings about aliens, speculative “eras of peace,” and a supposed sequence: an Antichrist, followed by a literal 1,000-year earthly peace, followed by a second Antichrist before the final days. Not only was this nowhere in Scripture, nowhere in Tradition, nowhere in the Church Fathers — but it contradicted what I had literally just finished studying in Revelation with a Catholic group: the “thousand years” is symbolic of the Church age, not a literal era, and there is only one Antichrist before the end, not two.
Then someone sent me the academic investigation written by theologian Daniel G. Van Slyke, noting multiple alleged violations of academic integrity in works attributed to Fr. Iannuzzi and raising serious concerns about his theological claims and method. The piece wasn’t sensational. It was careful and restrained. But it was also sobering.
And that’s when something clicked for me: We have to know our shepherds — and verify their teaching — especially when they speak with self-assured authority. There are holy, faithful, orthodox priests everywhere. There are scholars who do rigorous work. There are mystics the Church has tested, discerned, and approved. But there are also voices who drift into speculation, private revelation obsession, and apocalyptic fantasy — and the danger is that they pull sincere Catholics with them.
Not out of bad intent. Often out of zeal. But zeal without obedience becomes confusion. And confusion in spiritual life becomes spiritual vulnerability.The Church herself warns that teachings about “new eras,” earthly utopias, or literal millennial kingdoms are errors (cf. CCC 676). The Church Fathers — including St. Bede and Victorinus — firmly interpreted the “thousand years” of Revelation as symbolic of the present age of the Church, the time between Christ’s first and second coming. And no credible theological school teaches that humanity will face two Antichrists.
So what do we do?
We stay small.
We stay prayerful.
We stay rooted in what the Church actually teaches.
And we remember:
• Private revelation is not binding.
• Speculative timelines are spiritually dangerous.
• No priest or personality has “secret knowledge.”
• Christ already gave His Church everything needed for salvation.
If something a priest says gives you fear, frantic urgency, or the sense that you’re part of an elite group with access to hidden information — step back. That is not how God shepherds His people.
He shepherds with clarity. He shepherds with peace. He shepherds through the ordinary, steady teaching authority of the Church. In a time when Catholics are hungry for spiritual meaning, we must guard against spiritual noise.
Know your shepherds.
Check your sources.
Trust the teaching Church.
And walk in the peace of Christ, not the thrill of speculation.
And if you ever stumble into something strange, as I did — don’t be ashamed.
Just recenter yourself on the voice of the Good Shepherd.
He never speaks in confusion.
“My sheep hear my voice.” (John 10:27)