"Et tu, Presidente?"
An Open Letter to President George W. Bush and intended as well for all the elected officials of the land, all the judicial officials of the land, all the spiritual leaders of the land, and all in the land from the greatest to the least: It is time to don sackcloth and ashes and to emulate in these desperate times, the Ninivites who heeded Jonas' prophesy and dire warning for "Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from His fierce anger, and we shall not perish?" (Jonas 3: 9).
"And Jonas began to enter into the city one day's journey: and he cried, and said: Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed. And the men of Ninive believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least...covered with sackcloth, did cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way...And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not" (Jonas 3: 4-5, 8, 10 )
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Mr. President,
The Ides of March have just passed. Beware. From watching the news and hearing the buzz, the word is that you are in trouble in the polls. The pro-aborts and those who would seek to push the sodomite agenda on our culture are trying to commandeer the airwaves and print, not to mention the net, in propagandizing that this country needs change and a new direction. Considering where this rhetoric is coming from, one would think I would never agree with such logic that the United States needs to go in a new direction. Yet I do agree. We do need to go in a new direction, and it will take courage and conviction. In this I agree with them.
However, the change needed is not what those who embrace the culture of mortal sin want, but what God wants. That is the ONLY thing that is important, Mr. President, the ONLY thing. Everything else doesn't amount to a hill of beans. We are a republic, not a democracy. The United States was founded upon the Judeo-Christian principles of the Old and New Testament. Of course, it is a fact that with the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ and His rising up in three days the Temple, that the old temple - the Jewish Covenant with God - was toppled, ended and the New Covenant established with the New Jerusalem being the One True Church He founded upon the Rock (Petrus) in Matthew 16: 18-19. Our Lord fulfilled all that was required of the Old Covenant. He closed the book, so to speak.
Then does that mean that the Old Testament holds no meaning any more? Au contraire. The Bible, the Sacred and Divine Revelation of God inspired by the Holy Ghost through the chosen men the Almighty chose to convey the message of salvation contains both the Old and New Testament. From the Old Testament we are to learn in order to better carry out the tenets of the New Testament. But have we learned. Sadly, no. We are no better than the chosen people who veered so far from God in ancient times. We all know what happened to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their stubborn resistance to heeding God's simple Commandments. Does anyone think He has turned a blind eye to this civilization which is far, far, far worse than those times? The lascivious lifestyles of so many Americans, the abandonment of morals and ethics, the enthusiastic encouragement of murdering innocent babies (50 million to date) in what should be the safest place in the world - the mother's womb, and the perverted promotion of the unnatural as natural - all cry out to Heaven for vengeance.
So are we all doomed? We could be if we do not learn from history, if we do not take drastic measures to right the wrongs. If I recall during your campaign for President in 2000 you said numerous times that abortion was wrong but that America's heart was not ready. It is long past that time for during your first term in office you have waffled, speaking the pro-life dialect, yet acting very little, seeking to please all people. That you cannot do! Ever! But if you want to please God and, in so doing, please the majority of God-fearing Christians in these United States - especially Middle America, the backbone of this country, then you will take seriously what several have asked you to do.
One such is my Protestant friend Bill Keller of Liveprayer.com who has called on you directly to proclaim a 40-day period of prayer and fasting commencing on May 1st through June 9th. This is in keeping with the truths of how God's mercy preserved the wicked Ninivites because they listened to His prophet Jonas and covered themselves in sackcloth and ashes to make atonement for their sins (cf. Jonas 3: 2-10). If ever a nation collectively needs to do the same, it is these United States and her citizens. We at The Daily Catholic and all Traditional Catholics heartily endorse this call for an extended, special and extremely needed period of extra fasting and prayer wherein sacrifice of self is elevated to a higher plateau of understanding within each person's heart and soul.
This period of time suggested by Bill is most appropriate. Because of the wicked times we live, Lent this year is not enough to fulfill the traditional 40 days of prayer and fasting. No, we are all in the game or contest of our lives and those who do not compete and give it their best, you can be assured they will come up short by their own choosing. Losing a ball game is one thing; losing eternal salvation is quite another. After 20 days of hiatus from fasting, the half-time, if you will, in order to properly celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Christ's Resurrection, we join Liveprayer in asking, pleading with you to lead by example your fellow countrymen on this path of atonement. The time is a God-incidence, if you will, for the day before the period of prayer and fasting would begin is the Traditional Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena a fourteenth-century saint whose own prayer and fasting and persistence to righting the wrongs, convinced the Popes to return to Rome from the Avignon exile. So also we need to return from the exile of existentialism and secularism to the moral and ethical Christ-centered principles this country was founded upon.
It is also fitting and right that the fasting and prayer period would begin on the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, foster-father of Our Lord and chaste spouse of the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary - the living, immaculate Tabernacle who carried the Divine One in her womb for nine months - the True Ark of the Covenant. The holy Joseph is an ideal example of the work ethic Americans have always emulated in building this great country. Yet, in these modern times, we have grown fat and lazy, cutting corners and relying on the synthetic to be ever more slothful and have become more like the traitorous sons of Jacob who sold their own flesh and blood - another Joseph of Old Covenant times - into bondage. Plagues and famine followed.
With St. Joseph, who with Mary raised Jesus, we also have the role model for chastity and purity which all could follow in realizing things of the soul always trump things of the flesh. This good and humble saint has many titles and attributes, providing an umbrella of solace and encouragement to virtually all walks of life. He is the Model of Righteousness, Patron of the Universal Church, Solace of the Afflicted, Protector of Children, Hope of the Sick, Consolation of the Poor, Rescuer of Sinners, Model of Christian Workmen, Model of Single Men and Married Men, Guardian of Virgins, Patron of a Happy Death, and Safeguard of Families.
Families are the heart of America. In the recent decades the family unit has been so attacked and plundered, so much so, that it has come to open anarchy as you have seen recently in San Francisco and many other places where the will of the people, more importantly the will of God is being neglected in order that a minority of sinners can justify their grave offenses so that they might ease any scruples or guilt from their already afflicted consciences. Judges have usurped the rights of the people and have overstepped their God-given authority for they have long ago forgotten Who their Supreme Judge is and to Whom they must account in the true Supreme Court.
The mid-point of the proposed 40-day period of prayer and fasting happens this year to fall on the Solemn Holy Day of Obligation for all Catholics - the Ascension of Our Lord in which He, His work completed on this earth during His first coming, and having left His Spirit with His chosen Apostles and chosen Church built upon the Rock, returned to sit at the right hand of His Father. A coincidence that this holy day falls exactly at the half-way point of the 40-day fast? I think not. A God-incidence? Definitely.
Probably the greatest God-incidence is that this necessary 40-day prayer and fasting period ends on the eve of Corpus Christi - the Double of the First Class Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Our sins can be washed clean in His Precious Blood if only we, having free will, permit it by our repentance. You have no doubt seen the phenomenon that has occurred with Mel Gibson's masterful masterpiece 'The Passion of The Christ' - a totally Traditional Catholic depiction of Our Lord's Passion and Death. It is already well on the way to becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time and, we quite suspect, will surpass all films and become the number one movie of all time, just as the Bible remains the number one-selling book of all time. God's Word has Power! And it is in this Power that we invite, encourage, plead for you to turn.
You have gone on record as a Pro-Life President, one who is against "gay" marriages but approving of "civil unions." An aside, Mr. President, there is nothing gay about the sin of sodomy and the curses that ensue physically and spiritually. There is nothing civil in sin. Therefore we will never refer to it as anything but the perverted, unnatural act it is - sodomy and homosexuality, and pray for those so afflicted that the grace of the Holy Ghost will flood their hardened hearts to how much they offend the purity of Christ and His saints. You have courted the Christian "Right" which the liberal media has castigated as fundamentalists and out of touch with the rest of America. I think you can see from the unbelievable response of those flocking to see 'The Passion' that the false prophets of the liberal media are losing all credibility. Frankly, we don't care anymore what the critics and so-called 'experts' - be they theologians or self-appointed Scribes and Pharisees - think. We care only for what God thinks. And so should you and every American.
Mr. President, Bill Keller has provided six reasons why he believes you will not be re-elected in November. Sad to say he is right IF you continue on the path you are on. I agree with his points on five of the six he has listed that will doom you unless you, in the same way the king of Ninive did, rise up from your throne, cast away the robes of politics which shackle you to placating man, and clothe yourself in the sackcloth of humility and submission to God's holy will for His people. You can reverse the reasons Keller claims you will not win by doing the following in addition to leading this nation in the 40-Day Period of Prayer and Fasting. Here are the keys for your re-election.
1. Stand uncompromisingly against abortion at any stage and appoint judges who will uphold life as sacred from womb to the tomb. There is no liberal or conservative philosophy, only what is right before God. Killing innocent unborns and helpless old folks is never right. The Fifth Commandment confirms this for all time.
2. Stand uncompromisingly for Holy Matrimony and solidly against sodomy in every form. There should be no discussion of accommodating sin. Homosexuality is a perversion, unnatural in the natural order and, as we have pointed out, one of the four sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance. Do not concede even to 'civil unions' for once you have arbitrated even a little, you have lost the battle. The sinners will want more, those who oppose will consider you a Judas who betrayed Christ and them as well. It's a no-win situation unless you stand totally against this vile sin in every way! Holy Matrimony must be upheld and divorce laws (cf. Matthew 19: 7-9) made even more stringent in order to curtail the ease of leaving a commitment, one which Christ has said, "Have ye not read, that He Who made man in the beginning, made them male and female? And He said: For this cause, shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh. Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matthew 19: 4-6).
3. Stand uncompromisingly against Gambling and Pornography. These two multi-billion dollar industries which have definitely helped, as Bill pointed out, "destroy the moral fabric of our nation," have greatly contributed to empowering the false kingdom of the world, the flesh and the devil. They say you cannot legislate morality, but who says that? Those who persist in pushing their immoral or amoral agenda on the rest. No, I say you can and must legislate morality and it begins with the Ten Commandments meant for all mankind as a simple guide to keep the natural order. The straw that broke the camel's back was the Janet Jackson episode at the Super Bowl, but the event itself was part and parcel of this cancer that has infected every level of society in the secular and religious sectors. No one is immune from this unless they turn away completely from these temptations. That is why when we say "prayer and fasting" we do not necessarily mean only by staying on our knees and eating less. Rather we can pray and fast by doing whatever we do daily in a new light: how God wants us to act in sacrificing our will for His, total surrender to His way. We have the holy bible, specifically the New Testament as our guide in knowing His will for us. That is prayer, true prayer.
True fasting means purging ourselves of things that are harmful to the soul. Television and films that do not uphold intrinsic moral value are a natural thing to fast from, not only during the proposed designated time, but thereafter as well for Jesus has said quite succinctly in St. Mark 8: 36: "For what does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him, when he shall come in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels." Something to definitely think seriously about, Mr. President, and to reflect on the truth of Mr. Keller's words that a "sin of omission is as great as any sin of commission," one reason there is both the Sixth and Ninth Commandments. In conclusion, the Blessed Mother of God imparted to the children of Fatima in 1917 in showing them a shocking vision of hell, that more souls are in the everlasting fires of damnation because of the sins of the flesh than any other sin.
4. Stand as a Solomon in the dispute between Israel and Palestine. Here I disagree with Mr. Keller in that negotiating with Palestine is wrong. No, both Israel and Palestine deserve sovereignty and both deserve the respect and God-given right of land. What the Palestinians do not realize is that the more violent they become in their goal to reclaim the land taken from them by the Jews, the farther they veer from God. What the Jews do not realize, and should, is that the more they insist that it is their destiny they need only remember that their destiny has passed for they rejected Christ and the New Covenant. Note, I do not say they "killed Christ." No, they are no more responsible than you and I, Mr. President.
But it is a fact of Sacred Scripture and history that the Jews refused to recognize the God-Man as the Messiah and forsook their inheritance unless they embrace the One True God - the Triune Divinity of Three Persons in One God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. By rejecting the Son, they have rejected the Father. The problem with the Mid-East is that other objectives are at play, selfish objectives that taint the nobleness of liberation and engulf our nation and other nations in a quagmire that has become for you an albatross with the situation in Iraq. You are intrinsically linked in our times to biblical history and how you respond may very well determine how the West responds to God's test. "As the divisions of waters, so the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord: whithersoever he will, he shall turn it" (Proverbs 21: 1).
5. Stand for the truth in seeking to please God, not man. Bill points out here that you have become infatuated with the White House status and have caved to the lure of pleasing man. By so doing, you are weakening your support base. To reinforce it, you need to allow yourself, as Mr. Keller aptly pointed out, "to be an instrument in God's hand to help bring our nation back to the God of the Bible." How right he is and how right you would be in His eyes and graces if you disregard popular opinion and the polls and strive with every ounce of your being to uphold God's laws first, then man-made laws. Always God comes first. Jesus emphasizes quite clearly in Matthew 24: 24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Which master will you choose, Mr. President?
6. Stand uncompromisingly with the First Commandment: "I Am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me." Mr. Keller reinforced this that the God we must worship is the "GOD OF THE BIBLE" and can in no way refer to "allah" which has so possessed Islam for, just as in the case of the Jews rejecting Christ, so also Muslims. Perhaps to try to bring peace, but surely to please man, not God, you and Pope John Paul II have both made the grave error in patronizing Islam that "we all worship the same God." Mr. President, as we have pointed out to his holiness, this is anathema. If the Muslims do not recognize the Holy Trinity, if they do not recognize Christ as the Son of God, then they reject the Father. Ergo, they reject the True God. So also with the Hindus, Buddhists, Animists and other sects which worship other deities, as well as many agnostics who worship the almighty dollar.
Likewise those who do not accept Christ and all He passed down through His Apostles are in anathema. That would even include, sadly, yourself and Mr. Keller and millions of others who, blinded partially or in whole from the truth of Scripture and Tradition, veered from the True Vine whether at the time of the Reformation or in more recent times as each sect became more and more departmentalized and segmented at the whim of man in the 'age of enlightenment.' The holy Apostle Paul strongly charged all in the name of Jesus, to "withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received of us" (2 Thessalonians 3: 5). In truth, so many are not walking according to the tradition handed down from the Apostles. Rather they have moved further away from the Church whose primary dogma deigned by Christ and His Apostles is that outside of which there is no salvation, so well defined in Mark 16: 15-16. For it is the Catholic Church which alone preserves the SACRAMENT of Baptism and has been entrusted by God to impart the graces of God through sacramental grace of penance and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which is re-enacted in a propitiatory and unbloody manner the Sacrifice of Calvary for the atonement of sins and the increase of our sanctity as members of the Church Militant, and the only Church which has the authority to confect bread and wine, when validly said in a licit Holy Mass, into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, Soul and Divinity. Truly present in fulfillment and compliance with Christ's infallible words in St. John 6: 54-59: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh, is meat indeed: and My blood, is drink indeed: He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father" so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from Heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and died. He that eateth this bread, shall live forever." Only in the True Church, the Catholic Christian Church from Peter through Pope Pius XII is this possible with the Holy Eucharist, the True Presence of Christ, His true Body and Blood.
Those who broke away from the True Church, whether they want to blame it on the institution and principles in charge at the time -such as what led up to the Reformation when such scalawags as Pope Alexander VI scandalized so many - cannot take comfort in knowing by departing from the True Tree that they, as automatic members of the Church Militant, abandoned the truths of the Communion of Saints and have abandoned the holy souls in Purgatory - the Church Suffering. The Church Triumphant, comprising the saints in Heaven, realize this and will withhold intercessory help leaving many on their own, just as God has withheld His graces to those who have so turned His True Church into a den of thieves over this past 40 years, beginning with a man-made liturgy which has abandoned the Cross. Only in the True Mass of all ages, the ineffable Traditional Latin Mass is the complete prayer of Petition, Adoration, Thanks, and Atonement (the true meaning of PETA!).
Some might think that this insistence on asserting the One True Church muddles up the chance to unite. Yet there can be no unity unless all are united under the One Shepherd as the Good Shepherd directed. Even Bill Keller, while he might not agree with our summation and syllogism considering us "too papist" for his audience, still realizes we do not seek the favor of men, but of God. Therefore in seeking true unity there can be no compromise, only conversion of hearts to see where the True Faith truly is and has been ever since St. Matthew recorded in Chapter 16: 18-19 what Our Lord said infallibly: "Thou art Peter; and upon this Rock I will build My Church, and the gates o fhell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed in Heaven."
You see, Mr. President, the truths of the Bible come from Sacred Tradition - Oral Tradition formed by the early Church, the very same Church which has outlasted kingdoms and empires and survived for the past two millennia. No other religion, no other sovereignty than the Catholic Church, the One, True, Holy and Apostolic Church founded by Christ remains intact through two millennia though today's version is hardly recognizable so much have they compromised with mammon. For that grievance God has allowed it to suffer with the scandals and erosion that have occurred over the past 40 years and is now coming to fruition - bitter fruit from a barren tree for they have cut off the branches that kept it connected to His true Church. So also all Protestants and other sects who do not believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as the Apostles' and Nicene Creed affirm. The Act of Faith confirmed in the Athanasian Creed and upheld for 2000 years states this undeniably: "O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou has revealed them, Who canst neither deceive nor be deceived."
When one truly searches their conscience, truly researches their heritage they will discover that undeniably somewhere down the line one of their ancestors veered from the True Faith. The question is what are the present 'believers' going to do right the wrongs? What are you going to do to right the wrongs of this country with which you have been entrusted with its leadership? You might say that its spiritual direction is not your responsibility but, as Mr. Keller rightly pointed out, it is. One, because the religious leaders have abdicated their authority by their failure to be vigilant just as Moses gave up his opportunity to lead the chosen people into the Promised Land because he was disobedient. Two, you have been called in these times for a greater charge. It is no longer about politics, but the lifeline of America. Right now that is on a very fine thread, the fabric worn so thin by the repeated chaffing of moral statutes by a pagan, secular agenda that seeks to break the bond between God and man. Those dedicated to His arch adversary - satan - are prone to do just that. Earlier I had quoted Our Lord's words that no man can serve two masters. I ask you again: Which master will you serve, Mr. President?
Finally, in the spirit of cooperation by all in this necessary and desperate additional special 40-Day Prayer and Fasting Period, I call upon you and your opponent Senator John Kerry as well as all elected officials, judges and all citizens to set aside all differences for at least 40 days, to cease from all political advertising and campaigning for this 40 days and think only of God. If all are cooperative, then, as Scriptures confirm, I along with every God-fearing Christian can guarantee that things will turn out right for America. Will you be re-elected? Though Bill Keller has assured you won't and Pat Robertson has assured you will, I cannot answer that. Only you can by how you respond to this crucial crisis that can only be healed by Divine Intervention. Only through prayer and fasting is this possible. Will it result in your serving a second term if you follow this highly-recommended directive from God? Not necessarily for we must accept His permitting will in carrying out His ordaining will. But it can guarantee that many, many more souls, including hopefully your own, will be rewarded with everlasting life for their willful turning away from sin. That is really what counts when you come down to it. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19: 26).
You have seen, from the turnout for the 'The Passion of The Christ' the massive Christian base that is ready and willing to support you if you walk with God, if you willingly take up the cross being given you in these times of world terrorism. Know, Mr. President, despite the threat of Osama bin Laden and that godless ilk, yours and our greatest terror, our greatest enemy is satan just as the Apostle Paul affirmed in Ephesians 6: 12, "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood: but against principalities and powers against the rulers of the world of this darkness: against the spirits of wickedness in the high places." Thus, it is time for you, as our leader, to clarion the call to "put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the snares of the devil" (Ephesians 6: 11). The undergarment of that armor is sackcloth and ashes.
If you choose to ignore this plea from faithful Christ-centered citizens whom you have sworn to serve, then we will have no choice but to begin a campaign, a radical campaign for the only One Who can save this country. No, fear not, we will not be signing up for the Kerry campaign. God forbid! Nor will we be advancing the campaign of Pat Buchanan, though God knows he would be a worthy and excellent President because he does believe and shows it in his daily actions. He is a man of God. No, he is only a man. We have arrived very close to the time when we have no need of a president but a time very soon when all will realize we need a King. Not the type of monarchy of England or Spain, or any other earthly kingdom, but the return of the King of all kingdoms - the total surrender and loyalty to the King of kings, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in proclaiming the Sovereign Kingship of Christ. This was strongly suggested to the French monarch King Louis XVIII and he refused. Do you want America to go the way of France? It will happen and while it took centuries in the land of the Franks, it will take only a few years, quite possibly just months here in the United States. We are that close to the time when God can no longer hold back His hand from meting out due Justice.
If, for political reasons or fears that you will lose support of certain groups, you decide not to heed the strong suggestions of a special designated 40-day period of prayer and fasting for the necessity of saving our beloved land, then be forewarned just as Caesar was warned and foolishly went forward to be betrayed by his friend Brutus that God may well say to you, "Et tu, Presidente?"
Michael Cain, editor
For past CATHOLIC PewPOINT editorials, see 2004ed.htm Archives
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