Now: Springtime for Francis and Commies
As sad as times are, a little levity is needed as well or we will certainly sap our strength. I was going to name it Springtime for Satan and Hades because there is a strong diabolical underpinning to all of the changes that have swept the world in such a quick amount of time. So the title(s) and the video is about all that you’re going to get from me for a cheap laugh.
That is because times are perilous within and without the Catholic Church and among the other Christian Denominations. We are awash in a new “morality” that used to be called by its proper name, immorality. Evil is good these days and has its rights whereas on paper, at least the Catholic Church affirms that evil has no rights while affirming practices that gives rights to these very same evils; not only hypocritical but downright satanic in its glorification of objective moral evils.
So is this the new normal of the world and Christianity as a whole? That we now find adultery too hard, celibacy impossible, homosexual acts as good and wholesome as the marital act? It may very well be and is probably responsible in large part to the decline of Christianity in both Europe and the United States. If this keeps up Christianity will be a liberal meeting house that claims moral superiority while rejecting all that our fathers in faith counted as among the worst sins listed in the Bible.
Satan, is gloating. He has been at this for about 2000 years to infiltrate and to destroy the Christian faith; and he is having his best success during our sad generation it seems. But satan can do nothing without willing co-conspirators.
Enter, at least in the Catholic world, Francis and his Very Merry (actually) “gay” entourage and closest allies. His new teachings that take us back to the days of Moses rather than embracing the corrections by Christ on the nature of marriage and what constitutes adultery as a serious sin. We see him making saints of Communists, neo-Marxists, Peronists and his brother Liberation Theology adherents. And of course, he cannot help beatifying anyone that unleashed the ‘open the windows to the world’ cry of the Second Vatican Council. I guess that is to lend it some sort of credibility amongst those who think these ‘saints’ are truly Saints as they were made since the Council of Trent. Sadly, it is John Paul II that stripped the process of 141 rules and regulations that were required prior to his pontificate. You must hand it to Francis to take advantage of any crack that might be available in order to drive the thin end of a wedge through until the whole door is wide enough for one and all. Who knows who will be the next big saint; perhaps Che Guevara or Fidel Castro.
The twentieth century saw the demise of Christian taboos amongst all Christians starting with contaception, then came abortion, women pastors, homosexual pastors and now so-called same sex married couples. We are so much more enlightened it seems that for 2000 years the Christians simply didn’t have the proper teaching techniques and brain-washing techniques to use on our children and our susceptible college kids.
Well what now? Where do we go from here? We can either shut the doors or try like hell to take back the high ground. But do we have the desire or have we all lost the fortitude and courage of being Christ’s warriors? Its either that or our churches will amount to nothing more than meeting halls or NGO’s who pander to the government and the various UN agencies for more money to do all the ‘good’ work that they do.
Spiritual guidance, holiness, piety, sanctifying our lives in hope to get to heaven? I hope someday that it will once again be the purpose of the Christian churches. But if we want it to be that way in our lifetimes you must first have to realize that this is not the business that they are currently in. Politics, raising money, exerting power and living lavish lifestyles and indulging in their every vice without consequence seems a new mission for the new Christianity. You might find that appealing in which case the True Churches will go underground and we will be prosecuted relentlessly. If we find that appalling then we better get busy and retake that which is rightfully ours as Christ gave the Church for the sole purpose of shepherding the sheep not to sheer them and slaughter them for their own amusement and pleasure.
Ignatius of Loyola asked us to answer and think about the following questions:
What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to do for Christ?
If you get those questions answered rightly, we will not have a problem. If you ignore them then we might be back in the catacombs sooner than you think.
All Along the Watchtower 
Springtime for Hitler…one of my favorite songs.
When people use the word “Christian”,the meaning is supposed to mean a believer in Christ. To be technical, the devil and the demons believe in Christ. This post laments what Christians are doingnow a days. But what im going to tell you, and have told you many times befor, that the born again use the term Christian to mean other born again folks.This is how it was from the beginning with the apostles. They didn’t refer to themselves as Christians…others referred to them as Christians. Now a dAYS Christian is a generic word….it lost its purity. Everybody is a Christian. The unsaved have no idea what im talking about. Saved…born again…I ate a cracker or my pastor refers to his followers as saved. How come Bosco says im not saved? Who does he think he is?
There are plenty of saved people, but you never see a building or a flag of the saved. They blend in and go about their business as usual. They just happened to personally know Jesus and walk with him. You wont find them in religions.
But back to the point. These Christians you lament about are not born again…they are unsaved, as the readers here are. Once in a great while a pilgrim stops in, then leaves. You wonder why same sex marriage and all manner of sin is now tolerated in Christian circles…..oh gosh, this is an easy one…..how about its because they are unsaved and don’t know Jesus from a hole in the ground. The unsaved can and will do anything…I outta know….I was unsaved at one time and I remember how I thought.
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So you don’t believe in Acts 2:38 and the many other references to Baptism? “But Peter said to them: Do penance, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
This was to be baptized in Christ; to be a believer; to be a Christian. It was that way from the beginning and is now as well.
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Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
acts 2;38
Water baptism is an outward sign. Good brothers Stalin and Hoess and Himmler and Heydrich and Hitler were all water baptized. Look at the beginning of that wonderful ch 2 you are referring to…
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
They were sitting around ,not knowing what was about to happen. They were all unsaved at that point. Then they all got born again and everything fell into place. They weren’t being dunked in water. They were just sitting there. John the Baptist had been baptizing people and they weren’t born again because of that. The holy ghost hadn’t been given til pentacost. Who told you that water baptism made you born again?
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The metaphorical catacombs would be better than staying in the open. These vast structures quickly become instruments of bureaucracy and corruption: they look like they have power with their liquid and non-liquid assets and circles of influential allies and friends, but their power is dissipated. The house churches, although they may lack great financial and worldly resources are fed by God, as Elijah was in the wilderness, and they are strong in the Spirit and in charity. A small church of people who truly know and love one another is a real family – I know, for I am part of one, and that was the subject of my very first post at AATW. That is not to say that big churches are bad – they are not. But big churches still need to split the congregation into smaller groups one way or another or people just get lost in the crowd.
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Well, we were meant to move from the catacombs and convert all nations and baptizing all persons as we go. I doubt we have that kind of zeal now. If we go back to the domestic churches we will more than likely simply be a resistance movement to prevent us from being a state church like China is becoming; Francis having sold out the underground Church in that Communist regime. Seems he likes Communism better than he likes Christianity.
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But you will be free – and that is a necessary condition for proper evangelism. There is always a chance for reform, but if the upper hierarchy are resistant and the canon lawyers cannot remove them, then you must distance yourself from the pollution.
Look at Martin Luther and his success in the Holy Roman Empire – why did the Germans hate the Pope so? Because that particular Pope was a bad shepherd and had bad hirelings in many places. The exploitation of the German people did not go unnoticed.
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Yes, and look at the converse side of that as well. Luther brought on the Council of Trent and ushered in a long line of Saintly Popes, bishops and religious. It was, in fact, a new springtime for the Church. God interceded for the Church in Mexico (Guadelupe) and brought in more Catholics than those folks who left. So sticking with the Church and believing God’s promise that the Gates of Hell will not prevail and that He would not leave us as orphans paid off even after one of our darkest hours. We can’t ever forget that and we must believe that Christ loves His Bride and will not let Her fail. If we answer the questions at the end of my post as we should then the Church will see another blossoming. If not, then Christ Himself is about to come and will rescue the Church from the jaws of satan.
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The earth already shakes at the presence of the Lord – look at the quakes in Israel. He is watching and destruction comes soon.
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Perhaps or perhaps we are only beginning to see, by the grace of God, how far we have strayed; small warnings and time allotted to the faithful to wake up and remember what man’s true end actually is.
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The Lord is longsuffering, wanting all to come to repentance. Even this age must have its end, however.
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It will just as the spiritual life has an end. I think that the 3 ages of the spiritual life where between the 3 stages where first one experiences a ‘dark night of the senses’ and then a ‘dark night of the soul’ is applicable to history as well.
Now this could be the entry to either the second stage of the humanly historical moment or it may be the entry to third. The dark night of the soul is of course the worst for it feels that God has abandoned us. But for those who walk forward into the darkness they will soon see a faint light and then they will enter the final stage which is union with Christ . . . into the full light of eternity.
My thinking is that just like the Bride must also experience the sufferings of Christ on the Cross and His dark soul moment (Why have Thou abandoned Me) we too must endure as He did. No climbing off the cross but we must cling to it and forgive them for they know not what they do. That said, justice (DIVINE JUSTICE) will be fulfilled.
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This age cries out for justice in all quarters – it seems as if the West has forgotten what justice is, and in the East dictatorship reigns. The rule of the saints is a lesson in true government, but one that sinful man does not seem to learn, for he rebels again as soon as Satan is released from the Abyss.
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As mankind has always done. The OT is just a preview of the NT age. We fail God constantly and He brings us back until the time is fitting that he steps back into human history; destroying what is evil and elevating that which good and holy. His Church will not fail in the General Judgement for it is His Bride. How many of his unfaithful children born of the Church will survive their particular judgement to reach the general judgement is the question . . . and the biggest of course is will we? Evil has its hour but God will have His Day.
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As a premillennialist, I take the line that Satan will have an actual imprisonment subsequent to the visible return of Christ. Satan will be locked away by Michael the Archangel, and Satan will be released after the reign of Christ from Jerusalem. The righteous dead must have their vindication, when the wicked will confess that God and Christ have loved the righteous.
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As a Catholic I suppose others would call us amillenialists though we do not use the word. In the 1940s the Holy Office judged that premillennialism “cannot safely be taught,” though the Church has not dogmatically defined this issue.
The CCC simply says:
676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.
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Well, I understand the arguments proposed in favour of the other positions, but I do not ultimately accept them because I perceive “clinchers” that settle the matter for me. In much the same way, I believe in eternal conscious torment because of clincher passages, but I freely admit that other passages are capable of bearing interpretations that argue in favour of views like annihilation.
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Eschatological language does not really comport very easily into our linear rational logic. It more akin to poetic language than scientific language and the Catholic Church can only say that eschatologically we can expect the return of Christ. We expect that the souls of people are eviternal (a beginning but without an end). That we each have a personal judgement after our particular death and that there is then the prospect of hell, purgatory or heaven. Satan will be forever separated from heaven in hell and sin will end because those who are with Christ will be of the same will as God. Sin will be no longer afflict us nor the temptations to sin.
More than that, there is not much more we can know about how, when or why . . . even Christ left it open ended. But we do know that as long as there remains a soul on earth (or will become a soul on earth) who is written in the Book of Life, this world will continue and that soul will be tested as all men are tested. How do we know if we possess the virtues that we need for heaven? We are tempted to abandon the virtues. Its all I need to understand. Anything more is only conjecture and does not aid me in attaining my final end. And as Ignatius said, we are to use the things of this world or reject them in order that we might attain our final end . . . and such conjectures do nothing in that regard and therefore are superfluous and unnecessary
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I agree that certain conjectures are unnecessary, but I do not believe that this is one of them. I believe that John was given the visions and words of Revelation for a reason and I do note the impact of certain doctrines on theology and practical sanctification. Alan Kurshner and Joel Richardson are good people to read on premillennialism – Alan Kurshner in particular. Preterism in particular is a real problem in some sections of the Church at the moment.
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It is just like the idea of the Cross of Christ that has already happened and yet is happening again in history with the Mystical Body of Christ. It can even be then, now and in the future.
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You mean the Body (the aggregate of Christian believers) is being crucified now in the persecution it endures (e.g. under ISIS), but like Christ, it will be resurrected – at the Parousia? I sometimes wonder whether everyone who has believed on Christ will rise at His coming – a partial resurrection seems to be implied in a few places in Scripture. Some believers, one could argue, will not be resurrected until the 1000 years are over because they did not pursue holiness enough.
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No. I am speaking of the The Church which consists of both the eternal nature and the human nature is an imitation of the Christ on earth (with a Divine and human nature as well). He was victorious over the Cross by His resurrection as will be the Church. And yes, that will include all their Children. Those who have died and were judged immediately will be there: there is no time in heaven . . . it is beyond time . . . an eternal moment. So there needs be no rising of the dead etc. That only happened once when Christ brought those to heaven because the gates of heaven were closed until His resurrection. So for me it is sort of silly to even think about. Our only duty is to cling to Christ, avoid sin, pray, have faith, hope and charity in our hearts and all of the other things that Christ recommends of us. The rest will be taken care of by God.
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The Church as an institution? The continuation of the Apostles? I think I require more clarification of what you mean if you mean something distinct from those who are in covenant with YHWH. Surely the Petrine ministry (if it exists) will end at some point when the Pope hands the keys back to Christ and Christ in turn hands them over to the Father so that “God may be all in all”.
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Of course the Petrine ministry will end when it is no longer necessary at the end of time. We have no assurance given us by Christ of who will or will not be saved that is beyond our pay grade. We have been given the sacraments that give us the grace to live as according to God’s Will and we have been given the Law as to what is evil and what is not. What else can we possibly want other than assurance, which we aren’t going to get, that we are saved or who outside of the Church that Christ founded will be saved. We know he has other flocks; and that is a mystery as to who they are . . . who is confined in them or how many of them will be saved. Not even if you are in the One True Church as Catholics have always believed, we have no assurance that many and maybe most of them will go to hell. God doesn’t tell us. All we know is we believe Him and His promises, He gave us a Church and Sacraments for our help and Has consistently sent us saints and visionaries and delivered us from extinction when all things seemed lost. Outside of that we are simply left to try to battle the demons here on earth and hope, with fear and trembling, to work out our own salvation and try to help others do the same.
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I have always taken the “other flocks” mentioned in John’s Gospel as a reference to the Gentiles rather than to denominations/conventicles/etc. The flock He was addressing at the time was the House of Israel, the beginning of God’s work among humans after the Babel incident. Work on other planets (if any) is not mentioned in Scripture and is not for us to enquire into, except insofar as exploration of the heavens is a legitimate scientific enquiry, part of reading the “Book of Nature”.
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There are many mysteries that remain Nicholas and we will have an eternity to ponder them. As to “other flocks” I always presume that Christ knows the beginning and end of all things in human history. He knew that He was addressing His Disciples and Apostles and that He was starting a new Church and giving them a new covenant outside of Israel that did not accept Him. Peter was confused and Paul straightened him out. And so the Church was off and running having had its first Council and getting the stamp of approval of its findings by the first Vicar of Christ and the other bishops.
So to me, the “other flocks” meant those that were not following Him at the moment and among those who would be in that same flock that He shepherded in a special way in His Church. Therefore, as far as I can tell, he is speaking perhaps of Jews who keep their prior covenant, or those Christians who separated themselves from the original church but in good will and for love of Him etc. Or even just those who never heard of Him at all but lived according to the law written in our hearts. It is a mystery to be sure. As far as aliens I have no possible answer though I have a hard time seeing that other beings had a similar Adam and Eve Original Sin to be saved from. More likely to be demons from hell manifesting themselves in order to make us unbelievers.
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I do not believe we have been contacted by aliens, I believe what we have seen so far to be a combination of the demonic, sleep paralysis, abuse by humans, imagination, drugs, and mental illness. I do not rule out the possibility of alternative life like our own out there in the universe, but God has not seen fit to tell us about it,
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Perhaps they exist and perhaps they don’t but if it be the will of God that they are allowed to manifest themselves to us I would find it rather hard not to think of them as demonic manifestations even though God may have made another creature in His image and likeness as well and perhaps they did not eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Or was there another paradise and a different test? Or are we simply getting bored of the supernatural quality of what has been revealed to us by our Living God that we like to amuse ourselves with such thoughts? I don’t know . . . and the older I get the less interested I am in such things and the more interested I am in how to save my soul and why I should be praying more for our departed brothers and sisters and for their salvation as well.
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For me the questions I think on these days are: where should I be attending church; how should I present the Gospel to outsiders; how can I conquer temptation and human weakness; and how can I draw close to God? (Not necessarily in that order.) Free will and self-responsibility are important lessons for me – a problem I have struggled with for much of my life is trying to get to sleep without my mind torturing me. Now I actively remind myself, “I do not need to think about these things; I am free to ignore them.” This definitely helps.
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It will do me no good to say that for Faithful Catholics, the worries regarding temptation and our human weakness is bolstered by the Sacraments as is our drawing closer to God. We cannot tell others what these mean to us anymore than I can explain the ocean to a peasant up in the Himalayas. They just have to have faith and trust that I am speaking of that which I know and not simply spinning a wild yarn for their entertainment.
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Indeed – describing a subjective experience (albeit caused by objective matters) to someone else is not an easy – or always productive – task.
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In a sense, I suppose, one could think of purgatory as the eschatological raising of the dead which occurred when Christ went to them after His resurrection though. 🙂
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Along the same lines is this great article by Hilary White.
https://onepeterfive.com/false-prophets-nations-holy/
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Yes, that was a great article. I put the link on my website.
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“Some believers, one could argue, will not be resurrected until the 1000 years are over because they did not pursue holiness enough.”
What believers argue for partial salvation? Not holy enough. (;-D
The bible answers that question. The dead in Christ rise first, then those that are alive will be caught up in the air forever to be with the Lord. This is the Rapturos. After that,you have to be beheaded to receive salvation, and you must not take the Mark. 7 yrs of trib and then the 1000 yrs of Jesus reign and then Armegaddon. Those raised after the 1000 yrs are the ones going to the lake of fire. Every man jack. Those who don’t know this don’t read their bibles or are blind. From what I know of the unsaved….it both.
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“the more interested I am in how to save my soul and why I should be praying more for our departed brothers and sisters and for their salvation as well.”
Sorry, but when you die….. next is the judgment. The bible andJesus are clear on this matter. There is an impassable gulf between the living and dead. There is no such thing as praying uncle Mugsy into heaven. That idea is as unscriptural as you can get.
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