In a couple of days our streets will be inundated with goblins, ghouls,
ghosts, and other denizens of the dark. Along with princesses, cowboys, and
other assorted characters. By in large, a harmless child's holiday. Who
doesn't like to pretend for just one day? If only evil could be so easily
recognized in real life a we recognize the goblins who ring our door bells.
Evil does wear a mask, but never one we recognize as evil.
In Colorado, a trial is underway to determine the guilt or innocence of
fellows who killed another simply because of his sexual orientation. We
don't know whether the boy they killed practiced homosexual acts. Even if he
did, they had no right to take his life.
"Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at
her" (John 8: 7).
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"
(Our Father).
No doubt these fellows thought they were doing good, or at least, nothing
wrong. After all, homosexuality is a sin which cries to Heaven for revenge.
Thing is, it isn't ours to enact that revenge.
We know of those who feel it is right and good to kill abortion doctors, to
blow up abortion clinics, etc. In these cases, we can't even judge their
final outcome, but can only pray for their repentance and conversion.
So here, we see evil disguised as a good. But there are others less
noticeable.
A group of people are hated, almost the world over. Their leaders are
corrupt, many are poor. Along comes some men who give them pride in
themselves. They sweep away the corruption, put people back to work. The
homeless find homes, and the anarchy of riots in the street are replaced with
law and order. Finally, they think, someone who takes responsibility, who
cares for us. Sounds like a good person doesn't he? That person was Adolf
Hitler.
"From 1921 Hitler, scorning consistency or truth, adapted his views to the
audience and grievance of the moment. His Nazis appealed to all the
discontented and uprooted, and to the middle class, ruined by the currency
collapse, they promised economic reforms. Capitalists were assured of
protection against Communism; workers were guaranteed jobs by a Nazi regime.
Monarchists were led to hope in a restoration of the throne. Patriots were
aroused by denunciation of the Versailles 'dictated peace,' and the
continuing German political and military inferiority among nations. Youth
were inveigled by insignia, marching, noise, games."
While coming to power, Hitler showed himself the champion of the people, ALL
of the people. But we know now that he really championed only some of the
people, those people who followed him. And even they were abandoned by him
as not being worthy to survive him (for losing the war).
Much of his rhetoric is echoing throughout the world today. Not against
Jews, but against those who would obstruct their march to empowerment.
Among various feminist and homosexual groups, among others, tolerance is
preached, but tolerance only for those who follow, lock step, with them. Any
Christian (especially Catholics) who fail to follow are ridiculed and
berated. A 'good' Christian (Catholic) is one who follows exactly as they
should.
"The religious counterpart of Nazism, the "German Christians," with varying
degrees of enthusiasm called for a "positive, virile, Aryan Christianity."
Their candidate for Reichs-bischof, Chaplain Ludwig Mueller, received
Hitler's endorsement as against the German Evangelical Federation. In July,
1933, this Federation was legally replaced by a "German Evangelical Church,"
a centralized body to be "coordinated" by Mueller. But a "New Reformation
movement" of twenty-five hundred Lutheran ministers objected to the
anti-Semitism of the new church, and were upheld in their stand by Protestant
ecumenical groups. Later "German Christian" demands for rewriting the Bible
and removal of the cross provoked a "Pastors' Evangelical League" led by
Martin Niemoller. Its leaders were arrested or exiled and all Protestant
opposition forced underground by 1938. Finally the Reichsbischof was
supplanted by a lay minister of religion, Hans Kerrl, who demanded a "Nordic
Christianity" while Rosenberg campaigned for a "National Reich Church" with a
thirty-point program involving pure paganism or pantheism."
Sounds somewhat familiar? Replace obstructive 'pastors' with those more to
their liking. Especially lay ministers and priest, with the addition of
gnosticism, New Age practices, etc. After all, there are many ways to God,
right?
By 1935, Hitler had all but gutted the Catholic Church in Germany.
"Persecution of the Church began in earnest in 1935 and proved severe despite
Nazi disclaimers of its existence. At first every effort was made to
discredit the clergy by cartoons, loud-speaking trucks, 'exposes,' and trials
of clerics for alleged moral lapses. Chanceries were searched for
incriminating documents, communication with Rome hindered, mails and phones
tapped. Fines and imprisonment were inflicted upon outspoken clerics, but
though the Nazis claimed 7,000 convictions, actually of 25,634 German priests
but 49 were accused and 21 convicted of moral frailty, Nazi propaganda
represented the Church as unpatriotic, hoarding wealth; its clerics as idle
and avaricious."
Again, sound familiar?
"From the beginning the Catholic Church was one of the main targets of
Hitler's policy of annihilation; the totalitarian aims of National Socialism
would not tolerate any opposition or allow any other organization to compete
for the loyalty of the German people" (FAITH AND FATHERLAND by Thomas
McGovern; the story of the heroic resistance of Count Clement August von
Galen; bishop of Munster).
Many of the first inhabitants of Dachau weren't Jews, but Germans who
'opposed' and posed a threat to the good of the German people. But the
Germans honestly thought that Hitler was bringing them good, not evil. That
he was a savior, not a demon. By 1945, they knew the horrible truth, far too
late.
I recently saw a debate (I believe on C-SPAN) between two women. A
feminist and another woman. The feminist claimed that she was fighting for
the rights and dignity of all women, but what was shown was that, in truth,
she was fighting only for those women who followed her agenda. Many women
(and men) have been deluded (as the Germans were) that unfortunate
occurrences are bound to happen in their fight for freedom, dignity, and
power. Though they dislike their methods, at least they are fighting for
women. The same can be said for many homosexuals. "It's terrible what
tactics Act Up uses, but hey, at least they're doing something for us." Just
like the Germans before them, they've accepted the Big Lie and closed their
eyes to the truth.
This is the nature of evil. It never comes with horns. It's often finally
recognized only after the damage is done. What many Germans saw as a good,
ended with the almost total annihilation of Germany. It's hidden in sweet
sounding words and concepts.
"But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not die. For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.' So when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be
desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave
some to her husband, and he ate" (Genesis 3: 4-6).
Sounds good doesn't it? Can't we easily reword it for today? "That's not
fair, keeping you from this one tree!! You will not die. For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil."
Satan tried to tempt Christ by sounding good. He offered Him bread when He
was hungry, he offered Him a chance to prove to the world that He was God,
and he even offered to relinquish his hold on the world if Christ would bend
a bit. (ref. Matt. 4: 1-11) It sounded so good. No need to suffer, what
good He could do with the world His. But in every case, there was a catch, a
price to pay. It sounded good, but if one looked closely, one could see the
trap.
" 'The whole world lies under the power of the evil one' (1 John 5:19) -
allude also to the presence of satan in the history of humanity, a presence
which becomes all the more acute when man and society depart from
God" (John Paul II; General Audience, Aug. 13, 1986).
Since it behooves satan to get people to think he doesn't exist, is it any
wonder that people would find themselves saying "We more enlightened know
that satan is only the personification of our personal evil" (Fr. Richard
McBrien).
While reading a debate between St. Augustine and Fortunatus (a
Manichaean) I was struck by how the same tact was used by Fortunatus as is
used by Modernists.
"FORTUNATUS said: Because I know that you have been in our midst, that is,
have lived as an adherent among the Manichaeans, these are the principles of
our faith. The matter now to be considered is our mode of living, the falsely
alleged crimes for which we are maltreated. Therefore let the good men
present hear from you whether these things with which we are charged and
which we have thrown in our teeth are true or false. For from your
instruction, and from your exposition and explanation, they will have been
able to gain more correct information about our mode of life, if it shall
have been set forth by you.
2. AUGUSTIN said: I was among you, but faith and morals are different
questions. I proposed to discuss faith. But if those present prefer to hear
about morals, I do not decline that question." (St. Augustine;
ACTS OR DISPUTATION AGAINST FORTUNATUS, THE MANICHAEAN).
This very modern, replace faith with morals, and of course, WE can't judge
morals, especially if we don't know Christ. So Christ is quietly, slowly
expunged to allow a more 'liberal' interpretation of faith, morals, and
religion.
From Fr. William Most, Ph. D., we read some of the main 'adaptations' of
modernist thought.
"They often say things do not mean what they seem to mean, but are
, e.g., the perpetual virginity of Our Lady they say is only a
symbol for purity - nothing physical. There are many
things in the Gospels given this treatment.
They are fond of claiming retrojection: e.g., the strong words of Jesus to
the Pharisees were mostly not spoken --later in the century Christians and
Jews began to quarrel.
Similarly, it was not the Jews who brought His crucifixion: the Romans did
that, fearing a dangerous leader of insurrection. [I love this one. Pilate
let Christ be crucified to avoid a riot, not to stop a revolutionary. Ref. Lk
23: 1-25; Jn 18:33-40: 19:1-22) ].
Jesus did die, but there was no resurrection: His body was given a shallow
burial, like other criminals. Then wild dogs ate His body.
His miracles are allusions, suggestion or magic. He did not multiply loaves
--He got the selfish people to take out the bread hidden under their cloaks.
Cure of possessed people was just handling epileptics.
Infancy Gospels are just a fanciful kind of midrash-they include
contradictions e.g., the census, was he found by magi in a home or a stable?
At Bethlehem or Nazareth?"
Consider the aim of satan, of evil. It's to take us away from God, Who
loves us. A line from the movie "Hook" is very appropriate, what better
revenge than turning one's own children against their father? So satan comes
as an angel of light, tickling our ears about fairness, enlightenment, the
divinity of mankind, the power of mankind to change things himself. So, he
prowls through the world seeking to ruin souls, to rob God of His treasure,
His love.
So we hear, seemingly good and logical things being repeated to lure
people away. In the 'kinder, gentler' world we can hear:
"You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, "All these
I will give you"
We are all called to follow God. To be compassionate to all men, saint
and sinner alike. To look after their welfare as a brother or sister. To
help them overcome what keeps them from Christ, as we hope they would help
us. But we must be very careful to discern the spirit. Is it truly from
God, or is it a distortion? A false compassion (such as euthenasia) a false
welfare (like abortion) and false help (such as supporting illicit
sexuality)?
There is a saying that whoever does not learn from history is doomed to
repeat it. Aren't we in danger of repeating the mistakes of the German
people in the 1930's? Aren't we accepting the 'purging' of those who do not
toe the line? Aren't we close to replacing the cross of Christ with a new
sort of swastika?
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves
as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an
angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise
themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their
deeds" (2 Corinthians 11: 13-15).
"But even if we, or an angel from Heaven, should preach to you a gospel
contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
Don't be angry with those who follow these false teachers, but as Christ
would do, try and lovingly bring them back to the truth.
"My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and some one
brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the
error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of
sins" (James 5: 19-20).
Pax Christi, Pat