Previously we spoke about difficult things that happen to us in our normal lives in our essay entitled "Silent Sentries". All of us are tempted by evil, but by the graces God gives us we can resist many or most of the temptations. And when we see that we are straying, our guardian angel and the other angels and saints, who love us, urge us to do what is right and stay clear of the offending action. The prayers and instruction of the Church Militant can also help us in this regard. Whereas, self-destruction is an intermediate phase between our normal lives, in which we are tempted by demons but do the best we can to resist and turn away, and the very abnormal life in which demons are in full control of a person who is thereby possessed by them.
Many, many in this world are in an advanced stage in the process of self-destruction and annihilation. To the world's eyes, these people may appear to be perfectly normal, even very successful. But to God's eyes the situation is dismal. And sometimes this situation manifests itself for all to see. We have heard of the seemingly normal family man or woman who suddenly goes berserk. They are good to the children, good to the neighbors, mild-mannered, exemplary at work, and then suddenly "something snaps", or so the newspapers tell us. Quite probably any such "snap" was not all of a sudden, but rather was the process of months or years of self-destruction at the prodding of our guardian demons, who ever seek our eternal damnation. Sometimes also, such destructive behavior is habitual and goes undiscovered for years; when revealed it is even condemned by society as a whole, such as in the case of Robert Hanssen, former top-echelon FBI operative and Opus Dei numerary whose treason has led to the significant compromise of US military capability. See, Opus Dei, Josemaría Escrivá, and Robert Hanssen - A Study . The overriding mission of demons who roam about the earth is to illicit from humans self-destructive tendencies, with disastrous consequences for Mankind and civilized society in general.
Now self-destructive tendencies include exactly what the words would seem to suggest - body piercings, tattoos, illicit sex, engaging in violent crimes, idleness, drunkenness, illegal drug use, wild partying and revelry. Particularly among "mature" adults, self-destructiveness may take the form of failure at job or family and neglect of one's health (but the opposite, obsession with one's health, is just as deadly, spiritually). All of these are sins that directly harm ourselves physically, and may harm others as well. But there are also self-destructive tendencies that affect us more in terms of the psychological rather than the physical. For example, willful disobedience to parents, making fun of others, greed and envy, sloth, condoning immorality. In short, most any sin is self-destructive as it is perpetuated, though some are more visibly destructive, and more rapidly devastating, than others. We can sometimes easily recognize self-destructive people. A high school girl who goes around in slutty clothes with a ring in her nose is clearly in an advanced stage of self-destruction. A pre-teen girl who exposes her midriff is in an early phase of self-destruction; she is just learning how to do wrong as the demons whisper sweet nothings into her young ear. These girls may have some notions that they will be more appealing to boys by immoral behavior and dress. The same goes for the young man who is bent on conquest of girls - he is in a state of self-destruction, mimicking satan himself, who desires the conquest of all souls.
These tendencies of self-destruction snowball after a while, they are a slide down the slippery slope, leading to all forms of harm and sin. At each stage it is just a small step to progress to the next level of transgression, and there is often little resistance once the process starts, since the times are so bad, because of the "diabolic disorientation" as Sister Lucia puts it. And is it any wonder that even the highest-up, that is, many of the execs of large corporations, and even presidents, are doing things that any self-respecting person living in the 1950's would cringe at, Catholic or no? Woe to those people that encourage and promote such behavior! Parents who do not rapidly right the fault in their child are in grave danger themselves. Ditto to the school system administrators who encourage self-destructive tendencies - they will most likely not be happy with their eternal reward.
Such self-destruction often begins now at a very early age, and more so as humanity "progresses". A popular euphemism for self-destruction among the young is "experimentation" or "finding oneself". Nowadays we are always hearing that young adults, and even adolescent children, must engage in "experimentation" prior to marriage so that they will be fulfilled, well-rounded individuals ready to take their place as mature and responsible persons in society. This "experimentation" can include all forms of perversions, which are made to sound endearing by Big Media, for example, light homosexuality, group relationships, illegal drug taking, inter-species intimacies, alternative religions and lifestyles, yoga meditation, drifting, aimlessness, homelessness, recreational baby-making "out of wedlock", multiple abortions, and even infanticide. Concerning the latter we can recall some recent examples including the prom-mom: she gave birth in the high school girl's lavatory, then dropped the little one in a waste container and went back to dirty dancing the night away at her senior prom, also the motel-mom: she rented a motel room with her boyfriend and after giving birth, they then tossed the baby in the parking lot dumpster for quick disposal, the mile-high mom: she delivered in an airplane toilet and then placed the birth products in a cupboard so that they would be out of the way during an in-flight movie, and the English au pair: this teen caregiver shook the baby to death to stop its crying, and got away with it after the English protested that she didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. Now liberals and secularists will tell us that these things are unfortunate accidents of "experimentation" and the process of "finding one's self" and can even be good and healthy ways to deal with stress and cope with young feelings during the time of early adulthood; they chalk it up to the need for a learning experience in the young person's life leading to maturity and growth.
A popular expression is: "I never knew a saint who wasn't a great sinner", which of course is false and a product of devilish propaganda. A recent example of "blaming it on youth" is that of the barbarian John Walker Lindh. This odd fellow enlisted in the muslim army in Afghanistan and is said to be an Osama bin Ladenconfidant. A young man, we are now told that Mr. Lindh is "very sorry for what he did" and that he "promises not to do it again". The implication is that since this fellow is young, his actions can be chalked up to the impressionability of youth, and that he is ready to change and become a productive member of society. Well, yes, I think it is ok to accept his apology, but that should not prevent his swift execution for the high crimes he committed against the United States, in accord with the laws of our country to keep the public order.
Yet to our greater shame, there are more recently even officially-sponsored infomercials which endorse this kind of highly self-destructive living in early adulthood, funded by taxpayer monies. We have no say in these, though we support them financially, and they are becoming ubiquitous on the airwaves. These infomercials tell us, for example, concerning youth: "Give them the freedom to be themselves, but discuss smoking with your children." And then the commercial shows a young person, whose sex is indeterminable, full of piercings and tattoos and wild colored hair saying "Bye mom" and then heading off to a party, promising not to smoke and to be home by midnight. God! Isn't this all wrong ladies and gentlemen? Most certainly, children cannot be given the freedom to "be themselves" where that freedom leads to self-destruction. And as a result of this kind of taxpayer-funded advertising we see more and more youth and even "mature" adults crossing over to self-destructive tendencies.
These are people who start out right in life, maybe were brought up well, but while gaining independence, they take a turn for the worse. For example, more and more youth are becoming convinced by their peers that any sexual relationships except intercourse itself are good and healthy experiences to enlist in prior to marriage. That these relationships teach responsibility, caring, and respect for ones' partner which is all that really matters. And that the only no-no's, as the officially sponsored ads tell us, are smoking and an intolerance for gay-pride, gender rights, and non-Christian religions. This is nonsensical. Is it any wonder, dear friends, that most "Christians" don't know their right foot from their left, and that Christianity will be destroyed in the West when we are overrun by the muslims?
To be sure, God in His infinite mercy allows some even of the most extraordinary cases of self-destruction to come to their senses, like King Nebbuchaneezar, and regain life. Recent examples which come to mind are Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who is of Jewish ethnicity, and 'Jane Roe.' Dr. Nathanson is a co-founder of NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, one of the most notorious and evil organizations ever conceived of. He personally and zealously performed thousands of abortions during his early career as a doctor and health care provider. And yet somehow, miraculously, God decided to intervene to bring him out of this treachery, and to deliver him safely into the care of the Blessed Mother and our beloved Church. The same is true of Norma McCorvey, whose story led to the "constitutional right to abortion" guaranteed to every girl and woman in America by the landmark Supreme Court decision "Roe v. Wade" in 1973. This lady had second thoughts, planted there by God and the holy angels, and she converted to Catholicism and now protests at the abortion clinics. Why does God do these things? To show the rest of us outstanding examples of the foolishness of self-destruction, and why the path of God, though difficult, narrow, and steep, is the only path that leads to Christ Jesus and eternal life. It is a warning to the rest of us of how easy it is to be destroyed, not only in this life but in the next, if we put convenience, riches, and political correctness before the things of God.
Now let us consider the consequences of the self-destruction of untold millions of individual Christians, which is transpiring today before our very eyes, first to themselves but also to society as a whole. When in this phase the individual willingly engages in pollution without much if any in the way of worry or remorse. There is nary any guilt - at least not enough to prevent the repeated action - it is a defiant act of freedom from God, it is a statement of friendship with the demons who prod us and it is a proclamation of solidarity with their overseer, who is none other than satan himself. The self-destructive individual is communicating with the devil in a way, and having an intimate relationship with him. He is doing a tango and singing a hymn to satan. Some of the time this may be due in part to ignorance on the part of the self-destructive individual, and other times not. If it is ignorance, due to improper training or even those official ad campaigns designed to soften resistance to sinful behavior, surely the responsible parties will suffer greatly at the Last Judgement. Woe to them that encourage sin or turn a blind eye from it!
This is why it is so important that anyone with influence over a destructive person, whether in an official capacity or not, be willing to take the appropriate measures to deal with it. The second line of defense when parents or society fails to protect the young are our priests and religious. Being specially trained, they must be on the alert at all times, taking an interest in all who come their way, and employ measures to correct wrong and harmful behavior while there is still time. There is no leeway here; it is a responsibility of our clergy from which there can be no acquiescence, because it involves the immortal soul. And yet to our great sorrow, there are most certainly incidents to the contrary which we can speak of. For example at the local State University, which has a large Catholic Center, there are plenty of students who attend mass religiously each Sunday and yet tell me that they believe it is perfectly normal, healthy, and enriching to partake of experimental sexuality. If I tell them that they are sadly mistaken, they say: "Well, Father never told us there was anything wrong with it." What can we say?
Merely that it brings us to the third line of defense, namely the laity. Although we normally have no formal training except what God shows us through our own families, it is our responsibility too to help correct the self-destructive tendencies of others. God tells Ezekiel and all of us, that the sin of others will fall upon us if we know about it and yet we fail to warn the offending persons. Now, this must always be done in a spirit of fraternity, because we are all together in the same boat; we are all sinners. It is quite possible to correct, and yet show mercy. A scientific study suggests that it is important to not humiliate anyone when trying to help them, because such an action can actually leave the person in a worse state than he was in before.
Finally dear friends, to what consequences will society find itself facing as self-destructive tendencies grow among the populace? Well surely there will be more incidents like the various high-school massacres, shootings, kidnappings, bombings, and other incidents involving persons who go berserk. To which we anticipate that Hillary Clinton and the other liberals will likely send up a smokescreen and say that gun-control and gender-rights are the solution. They will declare perhaps that too much parental control is to blame and that the state, through the education system and the National Education Association (NEA) should be given more responsibility over children's lives. These same liberals will call for more of the compulsory education which espouses the merits of advanced birth-control and abortifacient methodologies, tolerance and support for gay and lesbian lifestyles, gender-equality studies, and celebration of multi-culturalism. All of these activities get away from the real nature of the problem: the lack of God in one's life and His replacement by sin, at the behest of demons who seek our destruction. Such liberal ideas are supported by a barrage of secular Media, including the New York Times, USAToday, and the like, as well as far-left organizations such as the NEA, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and "People for the American Way". And many of us are such stooges that we are buying into the propaganda, whether because of the continual bombardment, the desire to be politically correct and fit in with evil-doers, or just plain idiocy. The consequences are clear: the rapid and irreversible destruction of society as we know it, and maybe even the destruction of whole groups of peoples. The open goal of honest muslims, after all, is the destruction of Western Society. And God allows them to succeed, because the level of self-destructive tendencies is so great and so grievous among Western peoples that He can no longer allow it to continue unchecked.
This essay, dear friends, did not confront the topic of demon-possession to any great extent, which is another matter which must be left for another time. We can say however that continued self-destruction leads to demon-possession, which is an extremely grave situation indeed. There are more and more demon-possessed souls, persons who, perhaps entirely through their own fault and perhaps not, go the whole way of embracing Satan and doing his bidding. These people are intimately united with demons, and their thinking and actions reflect it. Further self-destruction sometimes but not always accompanies demon-possession. We can think for example of the Bible story of the demon-possessed man who cut himself with rocks because he didn't know any better, so sorry was his state. Certainly it happens in this way. Others, when demon-possessed, may become less self-destructive in appearance. The demons whose care and guidance they receive may actually order them to stop certain self-destructive behaviors including gluttony, lust, body piercing, drunkenness, excessive smoking, and so on so that the person can fit in better to the politically correct world, advance in stature before men, and perhaps lead many more souls to destruction through a careful and deliberate lifestyle that on the surface appears acceptable but which in fact promotes "deliciously sinful" behavior and acceptably wicked habits. Can we think of any such famous "role model" persons in the entertainment industry, idolization of which will shape us and our children if we are not careful? The answer is obvious, and the best response is perhaps the swift removal of the offending media from the lives of our families, both natural and church families, while there is yet time.
Sanctórum Mártyrum tuórum nos, Dómine, beáta mérita prosequántur: et tuo semper fáciant amóre fervéntes,
May the blessed merits of Thy holy martyrs bide with us, O Lord, and make us ever fervent in Thy love.