The Bible Story The Devil Doesn't Want You To Hear - The Prodigal Son 

I was the prodigal son in my family. Lost myself for a while and my family was fighting like hell to get me back. I was stubborn but I repented asked God to help me heal and get my life back. I am blessed beyond words I was able to get my life back. I pray for any other wayward souls and pray they find their way back to the light. 🙏

I’m in my sixties, and I couldn’t tell you how many sermons I’ve heard on this passage, both Protestant and Roman Catholic. I have NEVER heard it preached so beautifully and so filled with truth and light. Thank you, Father, for taking the time to teach us.

“Let me go chase away the demons”…..Goes outside and shoos away the woodpecker.😆 Wonderful, Father! I love this Parable.

I’ve wandered through university, offices and whatever doors America offered to me - I was always lost. The past year I have returned to Jesus Christ. I am found and saved now. Lord, have mercy.

As a Latin Catholic I am amazed at the wisdom of this priest. I've never really heard of the story of The Prodigal Son in the same manner that he is presenting it. God bless all my Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters.

This parable told by this IMO enlightened priest has given me an entirely new understanding of The Father. I’m pushing 80 and have never been so ‘shown the way’ in my life! The Father beyond knowing but intimately with us in our ever moment. Thank you for making this teaching available to all 🙏

37:06 "the opposite of love is not hate, it is self love." This is such a powerful statement, and it shows what is happening in our pampered Godless societies. I have never thought of it this way and I am glad I do now. Then that makes me think now that it's ok to hate, as in hating evil is not a bad thing, but hating evil is good. Gosh, I love God, he created all of this, down to very tiniest detail

*Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today with grateful and humble hearts. We pray that you watch over us, guide us in all that we do, and fill our lives with peace, love, and blessings. Grant us the strength and courage to walk in your path.*

I thirsted for this my whole life.,and now I have found it, my cup truly runneth over. Thank you for showing me where I shall go.

Orthodox theology is deepest and it truly warms our hearts. Thank you father

I was the prodigal son. I am clawing my way back to my feet with Christ's Jesus help, I thank God 🙏 for saving me from the mire.

This gave me a whole new outlook on Jesus' sacrifice. When he explained sacrifice it hit me that it is something we are giving up. They had to give up one of their cattle, not for money or food, but just to give it to God and have no earthly reward for it. So it made me also see that it wasn't only Jesus sacrificing Himself, it was us sacrificing Him. Us giving up something that was so important to us. Even though they weren't seeing this in the moment. If we could have kept Jesus with us forever... how amazing would that be. But no. We had to give Him up because our sins were so great. It was the ultimate sacrifice. There's nothing we had/have that is as great as Him. Nothing that could mean more to us than Him.

If you want to find yourself spend a Sunday at Divine Liturgy . God bless to all

i am a catholic and i love both orthodoxy and catholicism because they belonged to one and same church prior to the Great Schism.

"it's just you goofy" is crazy 😭😭😭😭

I have been Orthodox my entire life and always believed that this is one of the parables that is the essence of the entire Gospel, but I've never understood it like this. Usea, Zoe and Bios, Protos, etc... Thank you, Father.

I love everything about this, especially his joy at shooing the demons 😂❤ God Bless you Father!

*I pray for God's love to touch the hearts of everyone listening to this message. May we all have lives filled with health, peace, and happiness. Wishing each of you the ability to overcome financial difficulties.*

Father John your recount of the parable of The Prodigal Son is indeed a great tribute to our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and to God our Heavenly Father. I am currently a catechuman at the Greek Orthodox Church in Singapore. You narrate with such love and admiration for our Heavenly Father, Glory Be To Him!!

We need more videos with Fr. John, he has such a gentle and knowledgeable presence. It’s such a blessing to hear his wisdom ❤️🥹

Father John was the first priest I ever met. He is a lovely man, and I owe him a massive debt.

*Respect you father and much respect from INDIA and i am hindu* *Jesus Christ love all of us*

From being an atheist, an Catholic, and still wants to know more about the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church. Thank you very much for this video. Absolutely loving this teaching of the parable! May all that believe in God will truly believe in Him, not just pick and choose part of Him.

What a powerful title.

"its just you, goofy" iconic line

23:08 Thank you father. This video is one of the best examples of 'Filial Fear' -- a fear borne of love; the child does not want to disappoint their father so the child runs to the father. In the story of Prodigal Son, the father ran in 'filial fear' to be with his son as his son returned to the embrace his father. This is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.

FANTASTIC. I've recently had a budding interest in Orthodox Christianity and have been watching/listening to a lot of videos on a variety of channels. This is one of the best, if not THE best, that I've encountered so far. I pray that I am able to find a spiritual father this good. Blessings to you Fr. Bethancourt!

Thank you, Father! Glory to God🤍🙏🏻

I love Fr. John.

i am not religious but this sermon is highly interesting

Wow. Never heard it explained like this. Today is a new day for me.

Father bless. My dear Fr. John, just to hear you teach again with such love and depth of insight, again fills my heart as a spiritual son! My soul is healed by every loving word, every syllable of true theology rooted and grounded in prayer and worship of the one true and living God. My love and respect, Father.

Thank you for the teaching, Father John. This will remind me to take communion, to "eat drink and be merry" with God, to have the humility to join the feast - much appreciated ❤

What a wonderful telling of the story. Thank you Father ☦️

Thank you Father Bethancourt for sharing the Word in such a rich and wonderful way.

A beautiful reflection on a profound parable. Glory to God!

Thanks father for the wonderful words, I was hearing this story since I was a little boy, but this the first time I go deep in spiritual meaning and well understanding ☦️☦️☦️

mighty lord Jesus's name amen

Thank you so much. I've never heard the parable in this deep true meaning so I could really understand it. God bless you!

when he insulted the demons....I felt that on spiritual level. I swear demons must hate me lol

I am so grateful for this channel, it's a blessing to be able to hear these beautiful words

We need more of this style teaching. Thank you for sharing the insight and wisdom God has clearly bestowed upon you. May God bless your ministry!

This blessed me so deeply and revealed to me the level of forgiveness that I need to grow to inside to be in joy to see my repentant enemies blessed by God

Such a beautiful explanation. Never correlated this parable with the fall. Thank you Father

Thank you father for explaining that so beautifully. It brought tears to my eyes at some points 🥲🥺 The last part about the older son was particularly haunting, I hope and pray that I will continue in faith and join in the feast wholeheartedly

One of the most important videos of my life. Thank you God. Thank you Priest! ☦️🙏

I get that happen all the time when I focus praying to our lord Jesus Christ.

Please, please do more Bible stories🙏🙏🙏🙏 I love this priest and the way he is describing and explaining things❤

Thank you, Father John!

I was a prodigal Also in a sense of being backslid and rededicated my life back into his hands!

What an absolutely beautiful telling of the story. Simply amazing. Thank you so much Father for detailing every event in this parable. Truly enlightening. God bless you.

The lesson I needed to hear was from the point of view of the oldest, dutiful son. How unfair it all sounded to me! He did his duty, and his wayward brother gets the feast! A fantastic book, entitled "The Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri J.M. Nouwen interprets this parable using the beautiful painting by Rembrandt. Perhaps even more important than a wayward son returning home, is the lesson to his brother not be envious of that reunion, but to rejoice with both the father and son. Envy, resentment, jealousy all want to prevent the reunion. The lesson is that the father's love is enough for us all. Rejoice in it.

Amen. Thank you Father. I come to the feast and I celebrate.💖🥰

Thak you Father for sharing this exceptional sermon. Your words, your gestures are filled with the nectar of godly inspiration. Your entire being exudes with the warmth of profound experience of God!! Be blessed!!

since I have made it my personal drive to cut out the things that are sinful in my life, I, too, get pestered by demons. Sometimes a woman screaming, sometimes a cat outside my door only to find there is no cat and no more meowing once I open it(it could just be a cat and I happened to miss it), I've seen outlines of something walking in or around my apartment, dog growling by my bed when I lay down. It has made me cement my resolve, and holding onto prayer and listening to psalms when I suspect a spiritual attack or if I just need comfort. Plagues such as these have been a force throughout my life, and I can recall my early childhood back when my family was entrenched in protestant revivals and the like, when these spiritual attacks also made a forefront in my life. You know who was there, and is there to comfort me? God and his angels. Angels combated these demons, the Holy Spirit gave me words of wisdom, and Gabriel himself guided me when I could not feel comfort in a decision that would shape my future. I have fallen out of faith just as any Christian does, when I was still bapticostal(a meme term I call it) I fell away from my devotion in Christ's death after being baptized. It wasn't until over a decade later I started joining groups for discussing faith, that I heard the Holy Spirit tell me "Just go to church", so I did. I fell away after joining a wildland fire crew, so I didn't have access to church. When I decided to move back to my home town after my father passed away, Gabriel appeared to me(in icon form) pointing his wing in the direction I was already heading, after praying to God of course. On the way back home I slept at a truck stop for the night,, and dreamt of dark figures running up to my truck like zombies in the 28 weeks later movie, and the same number of heavenly beings encased in spheres of light came down, formed a line after taking the shape of armed soldiers, and drove out the dark figures. I came to the church I attend now, and receive the sacraments at, because of little stepping stones set up throughout my life. Since I never got the closure of seeing my father pass or hearing his final words, I believe the Lord allowed him(since God is outside of time,, and since my father is part of the Lord now, he could speak to me three more times until I didn't get anything else from him) to visit my dreams to tell me "I need to do my thing" and "I'm proud of you" and finally,, just a hug(these were spread out among three dreams over several years). This has also cemented my resolve. Still, the dark figures are abound, and since they appeared to me in order to break me down as to make me think I don't deserve Christ's grace, their plan backfired. Yes, they're right. I don't deserve grace, and that's the beautiful thing about grace. None of us deserve it, but it is given to us anyway. That is a comforting thought. Steel yourselves in prayer, never let the thought of your undeserved grace keep you from accepting it, and thank God for all that is given to you. If you do not recall blessings given to you, be that blessing to others, and you, too will be blessed. If you fall, pick yourselves back up. You have help,, because the Lord is there extending a hand for you to grasp. The Lord sends his angels to defend us. I'm lcms btw

How beautifully explained❤ Much love fr. John Bethancourt. The story tells us prodigal son desired stuff more than his father But father loves his son. As Jesus said in Luke 15:20 : So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Further more...... ~ ‭‭Luke‬ ‭15:32‬ But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. WHAT A LOVE of our heavenly father towards us. (John 3:16)☦️❤️

Love from Romania!

This was absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for this, Father. ☦️❤️📿

Outstanding presentation of the central kingdom parable ! Well done

Wonderful story ❤️

Glory to God

GREAT SERMON!!! Thank you, dear Father!!!

Grateful to hear Fr John go into this parable in depth, our Father rejoices in us!

Thank you ❤🙏

I absolutely send any and all blessings meant for me to this great man and great mind. I am a person of knowledge and wisdom and what this man speaks is absolute truth and falls in line with many ways of thinking.

What a great teaching. It connected so many dots for me.

You hit the meaning of the parable perfectly and. I have often spoken of the dichotomy between the two brothers. The difference between the Pharisee and the fallen publication. I have often asked the same question. Great video father.

God bless you for this very blessed message from God, Father John.

This was exactly what I needed to hear today. I was in tears at how passionately this man told this story. He captures so perfectly the nature of God and why I want to be with Him, on His terms, not my own. Thank you SO much for this beautiful video. Glory to God in the highest!

Thank you, I am just as relieved as the ones you told the story to in the high school. Praise be to God, our Kind and Loving Father forever and ever. Amen!☦️

I have listened to this three times now. I am so deeply moved by it. Thank you, Father.

Praise and thanksgiving

God bless you father! Greetings from Serbia

Wow.

This was truly a hard-hitting description and explaination of the Prodigal Som parable in the most Orthodox way. Wonderful!

Thank you so much! For years I have been having completely distorted view of God, now the truth has set me free! Glory to God! ☦️

I heard it in 1st grade at st johns Catholic elementary. I loved the parable even when i was 6

This was life to read. This is our Faith. This is our life. This is our hope. Amen.

Thankyou for this revived rendition. I had recently heard someone call this the story of the prodigal father rather than the prodigal son. A father who is more prodigal than his son in lavishing, compassion and love on his son. The tieing up of this parable to the Genesis account of how God clothed the first people right after creation and also just before putting them out of the garden is so wholesome in depicting the substance and the true nature of my Father. Also the ending of the parable.... Where Jesus leaves it for us to discern if we would have it in us, to find it in our hearts to be joyful, forgiving and accepting of those like the 2nd son. Thankyou again man of God. God has spoken yet again

Thank you so much, this is my favorite parable from our Lord Jesus but I have never heard it explained so well!

Would love to go to his church n i havent been to a church since a funeral 10 years ago

Fantastic video 💪🏽 Jesus Christ is Lord 👑🙏🏽

This was moving... i cried❤

Thank you father and thank you Jesus!

Thank You dear Father. Glory be to God!!!

What a Blessing to listen to you, Fr. John

Thank u for a great reciprocation fsther . God bless

You are a gifted story teller my friend!

Thank You, John.

Gratitude and blessings from the Orthodox Roumania! Amen!

That explanation of sin was unique and refreshing.

For context on my views i was raised very loose Christian almost to the point i was raised athiest. I became a pagan in the 7th grade and i never felt anything i was completely hollow. Now being 21 i attend orthodox church after visiting one last week on tuesday second day of the first week of great lent. Ive never felt that kind of love from people that i could say are intellectually superior ro me (i was tired of people who didnt bother to study gods word preaching out of context verses to approve their political beliefs) and i appreciate being surrounded by Christians knowing every one i ask can thoroughly explqin any question i have on scripture on praise and tbh just any question i have with both scientific historical and philosophical explanations leaving scripture out of it. And when you ask the biblical explanations they do have an answer. But what strikes me the hardest is while being the most devout to the historical praise laws and understanding, they also believe praise isnt how you get into heaven works are. In my own belief thats if you remain holy in a sense of love even if you dont believe in exact Christian values you're still more worthy than the most struct devout Christian who doesnt keep that love ik their heart

I received so many revelations from listening to this telling of the prodigal parable! Wow, Thank you Lord Jesus for being so pure and full of love that you lived perfectly inside the Father's will and died for us so that the Father could take us back to Him ❤‍🔥❤‍🔥❤‍🔥

Very well said sir.

Blessings and love Fr John. What a beautiful story explained by you. I knew about the prodigal son. But you explained it so beautifully. ❤. I’m coming out of protestantism being brought up penticostal. Long story but I found orthodoxy through my daughter and son in-law about 3 years ago. Wow such truths I found out. I watch a lot of videos also. I am going to convert soon. Thank you so much for this story. I subscribed to your channel. God bless you and all who reads this.

So beautifully said. Thank you Fr John. Glory To God

God bless ❤

Beautiful 🙏🙏🙏

Beautifully told!

That was beautiful. Thanks!