We in the United States are going through hell on earth right now. Everything in our nation is falling apart and most Americans just stand by in a torpor and watch it happen, seemingly helpless to turn it around.
The problem with our country has been building up for years. It started in earnest in 1973 with the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. Why would the Supreme Court of a country dedicated to God dare to legislate a law in violation to God’s command, “You shall not kill?”
Today our country refuses to honor God not only through the legalization of abortion but also through our culture’s rejection of solid monogamous, stable marriages like God commands. The rejection of the sanctity of marriage has evolved into same sex unions, transgenderism, and even the huge pornography industry.
Our Christian ancestors were just as wicked when God released Satan to punish them for clerical misconduct and for the general infidelity of the laity. The Church was strong in Europe when some of the Christian nations were still united as the Holy Roman Empire, but most of them failed to live up to the moral code required by God. They were eventually punished by a rebellion of Protestant princes within the empire that weakened the Holy Roman Empire which was eventually dissolved in 1809.
The Church failed to evangelize the whole earth like Jesus desired. About half of the 7.9 billion people on earth today are totally uninfluenced by the Gospel. Only about one-fourth are Christians scattered throughout the hundreds of Christian sects that have resulted from the Reformation.
An Early Correction for Wickedness
In 1531, when the splintering of the Church and empire in Europe was beyond repair and the seething hostility of the abused Amerindians in Mexico seemed ready to destroy the heavily armed Spanish explorers, the Virgin Mary appeared to the 57-year-old Aztec Juan Diego on the side of a hill known as Tepeyac. She identified herself using a word in the native language (Nahuatl) that sounded like Guadalupe (which was a shrine in Extremadura, Spain, known to the conquistadors). Later (in 1666), this word was identified as “Tlecuautlapcupeuh” meaning: She who proceeds from the region of light like the fire eagle.
She asked Juan Diego to visit the Spanish bishop and ask him to commission a shrine where Our Lady could meet the defeated people for healing and conversion. The bishop, not believing Juan Diego, asked for a sign.
The next day, instead of returning to Tepeyac, Juan Diego headed straight for his uncle’s home because his uncle was on his deathbed. Mary intercepted him and said: Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, I who am your mother? The mother of Jesus then told Juan Diego to gather some roses from the top of the hill and take them to the bishop.
Juan Diego made a container for the roses by lifting the bottom of his tilma (cloak) and the Virgin Mary placed the flowers between the folds. That day was December 12th, 1531. Juan Diego went to the bishop, opened his tilma and let the flowers fall to the floor. To the bishop’s surprise, they turned out to be flowers he recognized from his native Spain, flowers that do not blossom in December. More to the bishop’s surprise, an image appeared on the tilma. It was a picture of the Lady who spoke to Juan Diego. It was the sign the bishop had asked for.
While approximately five million Christians left the mother Church in Europe and began the disintegration that led to at least fifteen hundred conflicting sects we have today, it is estimated that as many as eight million human beings in Central America abandoned their worship of false gods and came into the mother Church in the very same time period. Europe was no longer the sole locus of Christian vitality.
Our Coming Chastisement
Our current troubles in America began in earnest with the death of George Floyd last year. Think about how unlikely so many chance events could occur simultaneously to create what happened. I recently saw an essay on YouTube asking the question, “Who is behind the upheaval caused by the progressive left?” The author tried to implicate some politicians, but the root cause is not politicians – it is the devil, Lucifer. The American political left no longer believes in the existence of the devil, that’s why they do not understand what is happening.
Here is how I view the events surrounding the death of George Floyd
First, Floyd is arrested on some minor charge and is subdued by a policemen kneeling on Floyd’s body, one knee on Floyd’s neck. For some reason, that officer pressed his knee into Floyd for close to nine minutes. Why did he do that? That’s way too long. He should have known better. The answer is that he was enraged and was tempted. He still bears responsibility for what he did, but it was the devil who prodded him to his rage.
Many people saw the officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck. You would think one of them would have intervened. Why did nobody intervene to help? This again is a matter of spiritual influence. The devil has the ability to influence us sinners far more than any of us think.
The videos are spliced together and shown on all televised newscasts for days at a time. I counted about ten days. Why did the news media do this when anybody could recognize how inflammatory these clips would be? Those individuals were tempted also. And the media who aired the video day after day also contributed to the public outrage.
Some people of the same race as Floyd saw the videos and were outraged. They formed so-called peaceful protests that roamed the streets in many cities, ransacking shops, burning cars, and threatening peaceful neighborhoods with violence. Why did they do that that? They were tempted.
The protesters forced some cities to defund their police force as though fewer policemen could resolve the problem. God exposes all of us to temptation: He expects us, out of love for Him, to resist temptation. If we do resist, our fidelity will be used by God to save the world. If we give in to temptations, our refusal will offend God very much, and He will allow us to experience, through our own actions, where evil will take us.
At least two cities, Seattle and Portland, have experienced severe damage from rioting, looting and wreckage. In videos of these two cities, garbage was left everywhere along streets and alleys, homeless people were camped out everywhere, and there were not enough police to establish obedience to just laws and maintain peace for the city.
This is a major step in the coming chastisement. If America no longer wants to serve the God who created all of us, the wicked will destroy our country.
The Failure of Democracy
Americans have always boasted about how good our democracy is, but I see the seeds of disorder right now in American democracy that could very well destroy it. Our politicians are separated into two hostile camps with different ideas on how to continue our national life. They enact laws that bolster their opinions in defiance of contrary opinion of the other party. Some of those new opinions are detrimental to the stability of the democracy, and many of them are contrary to God’s law.
One such division is defunding the police. Why would any sane person advocate defunding the police? If we did the same with our military, it would not be long before we would be conquered by some other country that remained militarized. No! The solution to our problem is to get our house in order. The Christian faith our forefathers adhered to is still valid. We must adhere to it ourselves or God will punish us because our refusal to obey will unleash the tyranny of the devil, who wants to overthrow God’s rule in the world through those who refuse to believe and obey Him.
Another major problem for our country is open borders. President Biden immediately reversed President Trump’s procedures to control immigration. He did so without any prior preparation of how to safely implement immigration. The result is that we now have a hoard of immigrants flooding into our country, undocumented, untreated for Covid-19, which is still a pandemic. There are not enough border agents to control the influx of immigrants so Biden’s response is to simply release them into the interior of our country. This is a big issue that all by itself could cause the downfall of our democracy.
But there is a bigger problem here. Biden is accused of wanting this inflow of immigrants because they are likely to vote for his party in future elections. If that is correct, we will wind up with a one party system, and no improvement can be achieved because of the hostility of the two parties.
A big problem we have yet to see is the reaction of people in other countries who paid thousands of dollars to criminal cartels to transport themselves and sometimes their unaccompanied children into the US. They come to the US without food, without clothing, without health care, and without jobs. When families who sent their children into such a disordered and dangerous situation find out what really happened to their loved ones, especially if more of them came to grief than we realize, there will be an embarrassing backlash to what our government exposed them to.
How Christ Must Feel About Our Conduct
Let us be honest with ourselves. Christ commissioned His followers to preach the Gospel to all nations, to baptize them and bring all of them into His heavenly kingdom. Given the growth of the Christianity in Europe up to the Middle Ages, the work of evangelization seemed to be going fairly well until the Reformation when Satan was loosed to wreak havoc. Satan divided Christ’s Church so effectively that one cannot even discuss these divisions even today five hundred years later. There are literally more than a thousand conflicting interpretations of Christ’s teaching
Pagan nations have clung to various Christian sects but not as fervently as they would have if there was only one teaching available, the original Gospel of Jesus. Today, Satan is active trying to destroy Christ’s teaching by constant argumentation about reproductive rights, gay rights, transsexual rights, women priests, reception of the Eucharist by apostates, etc. The list goes on.
We Can Reverse This Situation
When the end of the world comes, there will still be only a minority of believers. The Father is going to wonder why. Nobody needs to tell Him. We all know why. I would not want to be complicit in what our spiritual ancestors did on behalf of God’s command when they had a chance to make a difference.
I worry about today. I worry that the Father might decide to give up and end the world in our lifetime. The American people, my own countrymen, should see what nonbelievers are trying to do the religion of Jesus Christ. It is being destroyed right in front of our eyes, and they don’t strive to preserve it. I wonder how Jesus is going to feel if all He can offer to the Father is maybe 10-20% of humanity as His followers with the rest remaining un-evangelized.
Conclusion
When Jesus saw what the Temple authorities were doing to His Father’s house, He got angry and thrashed the Temple’s courtyard. Will He be angry with our unbelief? I for one, do not want to be standing in front of Him with nothing to show for my contribution to His work. I wouldn’t want to look into His eyes justifiably saddened by my lack of zeal for His cause.
I don’t think that is what you want either. Study the various proposals advanced by different political parties and be sure that whatever you vote for is likely to happen whether it is good for you or our country or not, and above all, keep the faith.
35 thoughts on “The Coming Chastisement of America”
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Do I see underlying your article the assumptions of Catholic integralism? That is, the state should be enforcing the principles of Christianity, under the wise guidance of the the Roman church, in order to suppress evil, deviant minorities that do not conform to the the standards of Christianity as enunciated by the Church?
Bob Emery
Hello Bob,
Thank you for reading my article and for the comment. I am a bit confused by your comment. You think I favor the enactment of the principles of Christianity. You are correct on that portion of your comment. I do believe in God and His Son Jesus. I am convinced the Roman Church is preaching His teaching.
So in a democracy where votes count, I urge my representatives and the senators that represent me to encourage our government to adhere to Christian principles of government.
I was confused by the other phrases in your sentence “of the Roman church, in order to suppress evil, deviant minorities that do not conform to the standards of Christianity as enunciated by the Church.” Of course I would urge our government to suppress evil, but I do not want to suppress minorities.
I would prefer to bear witness to others to believe the teaching of Jesus, but if they cannot for whatever reason, it is not my intention to suppress them I am not in charge of governing my country. I can let my political representative know how I feel about what laws are desirable, but it is up to them to legislate just laws and to enforce compliance with them.
Maurice A. Williams
Hello Lisa,
Thanks for the encouragement. It has been my pleasure to try to bear witness to Our Lord who loves all of and wants the very best for each one of us. I hope in my clumsy way that I succeeded with You and Kyle and Ordinary Papist.
God Bless,
Maurice A. Williams
Hello Ordinary Papist
The Holy Roman Empire was named in 962 when the pope named the German king Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor. The pope named it Holy because it was a Christian replacement of the old Roman Empire It was never very big. I think only fifteen nations joined into it.
The Germans were intrigued with an Empire. Nazi Germany was called the Third Reich. The Holy Roman Empire under Otto in 962 was the First Reich. The Hollenzollern rule of German under William I as Emperor was the Second Reich. Kaiser William means Caesar William. The Russians also were interested in restarting the Roman Empire under their rule. The Russian title Tsar means Caesar in Russian. With both countries, being Christian is what made the empire Holy.
I think it was a mistake for humans to abandon the Catholic Church during the Reformation because Christ Himself started the Church and He predicted the Church will stand until the end of time. But in today’s diversity of religions I have to concede that each person should be allowed to pursue the religion he thinks is valid. But I think it is true that Christ thinks one is valid, the one He started.
We are in another battel over religion today with the same stakes. Jesus still stands behind His Church, but the world (under influence of the Devil) is rejecting the Catholic Church because of the misconduct of some (probably too many) priests, but not all. I think the majority of priests are honest and chaste men trying to serve God by promoting acceptance of the teaching of Jesus.
I don’t agree with your comment that religion grows by baby steps to provide cognitive harbors for each stage of humanity’s spiritual development. That’s the way scientific understanding of the physical world grows because in the physical world there is no need for divine revelation, Religion, on the other hand, is not open to the scrutiny of humans. We need God’s revelation to get started and God’s confirmation of truths to keep us going in the right direction when the Devil focuses his war against God onto us.
God already established a means within His Church to correct errors in understanding His revelation. I think He need only do it to one church (like He did do it). To provide separate avenues of infallibility would only increase the possibility of mistakes in judgement of one croup with another group. There is one God who became Jesus. Jesus established one Church. If anybody wants to know the truth as God reveals it, they should listen to that Church,
The pope is infallible because, when he tries to speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit, Jesus makes sure he passes on the correct information, It May seem impossible because humans are very limited in intelligence compared to angels and devils, and not too many humans display morally perfect lives, But If Jesus wants to inspire them (under certain circumstances, which is the way it is done in the Catholic Church), who is to argue that Jesus is unable to do it?
Hopes this helps,
Maurice A. Williams
Hi Maurice,
I’ve been reading your conversations with Ordinary Papist and Kyle. I want to thank all three of you for your thought provoking and insightful dialogue. You have shared much wisdom about our Catholic faith and I really appreciate it. God bless you all!
Hello Ordinary Papist,
I’m glad you questioned me again. You mentioned the other day that I got the demise of the Holy Roman Empire in the wrong year. You are correct and so was Howard who spotted it before you did. I replied to Howard with an apology for being wrong. Actually both you and I were wrong. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved in around 1806.
Today you asked my position on how can other Christian Churches can carry on without The Holy Spirit granting them an infallible source of divine inspiration, This question is actually easy to answer but most people are reluctant to answer because it generates so much controvert among Christians.
So let me start off at ground zero again. There is only one God, one creation and one human race. When God started His revelation to the human race through Moses by having him put the Torah into writing, God meant that revelation to be valid to all humans. Right away Satan fought against it inspiring humans not to accept it, actually to believe contrary teachings. The human race split up God’s one authentic revelation into three divisions of Jewish faiths. When God continued His revelation establishing His Church through the patriarchs and apostle, Satan fought against it all along, splitting the Church into the hundreds of conflicting Christian creeds we have today.
How can that be? Is God that confused in His mind? No! God is God. He is the source of absolute truth. When Islam came along, it also split into 2 or 3 creeds. All these religions try to lead people into a valid recognition and service of same God based on God’s core revelation to Moses. How can this be? It is because Satan is promoting war against God and wants to destroy everything God is providing for us.
This is a difficult and very controversial topic to discuss. I would start off saying every religion stemmed from the revelation made to Moses and all insists that God is loving and merciful anxious to forgive us and desiring to lead us into close relationship with Him. So if anyone belonging to any one of the groups I just mentioned, and even pagan religions, really wanted to love and serve God. Don’t panic. Eventually God will lead you to where He wants you to be.
So the question now is why didn’t God provide for an infallible source of information in other religions? I think the answer is God provided one inspirited religion for all mankind, but the devil confused it by his misinformation. If God provided other sources of infallible information to all religions that would probably make the devil think he is winning and make judgement much more sever for Lucifer than it already is. Also it would be confusing for humans if there were multiple sources of divine revelation.
So my advice is all of my readers to love Gods and keep the faith that He revealed and be confident that God is not misleading you. His revelation is meant for everyone.
Maurice A. Williams
I’m on my third reading – in 40 years – of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. What made me associate ‘Holy’, as somehow preceding the historic Roman Empire, is Freudian as it gets ; Gibbons must be spinning. Anyway, having learned something interesting from Howard I still have to ask you to answer my question – would the church survive without a pope, the HS not withstanding ? You attribute the splitting to Satan but reading history, it’s easy to see that most of the dividing is the result of legitimate reform. Every time this happens, no matter the religion, the Core is diminished while the plasma surrounding the Core expands. You are very right to say that God leads everyone to where He needs you to be. Hence, all the different religions; baby steps, giant ones, all to provide cognitive harbors for each stage of humanity’s spiritual development.
Hello Kyle,
Thank you for reading my article and presenting another issue for me to clarify.
You wonder why God would grant the pope infallibility. I am going to try to explain why I believe it. I think we can start at the beginning of our faith. I think we both believe that Jesus Christ is God Himself in a human body. I think all Christians believe that.
I don’t know if you believe in the existence of angels, but they do exist. Scripture plainly reveals that. Angels are incredibly more intelligent and powerful than us. Lucifer was created to be the bright morning light, the one who would pass on a clearer understanding of God to lesser created angels and humans, but Lucifer wanted more. He rebelled against obedience to God and decided to take over the world, taking one-third of the angels along with him.
God decided to enter into this world Himself. That’s why He became Jesus. Among the many other punishments Lucifer and his brood of devil have to endure, is his becoming subordinate to the woman’s seed.
Then God elevated Abraham with a special mission: many generations later, Abraham’s descendant would become the woman’s seed, Jesus Christ, who, because he is truly the divine Son of God, really has what it takes to crush the head of Satan and punish him.
The Father sent Jesus to be accepted by the Israelites as the Messiah, their Lord and redeemer. We all know how miserably the Israelites lived up to this position. Every clergy in Jerusalem was either hiding in their homes or shaking in their boots as the hostile Israelites clamored for the death of Jesus.
Compare that to what the early Church did displaying their fidelity to Jesus. The only ones brave enough to try to comfort Jesus during His passion and death was Mary, His Mother, John, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Clophus and a few other women. The Church today, as scandalous as the conduct of some clergy is, behind the scenes, is incredibly more faithful to Jesus than the Israelites were 2000 years ago. There are many Catholics and other Christians being martyred today as we all should be aware of. God, being God, cannot be defeated. He can let His enemies think He is finally dead and then rise again right in front of their eyes.
After His resurrection, Thomas would not believe Jesus actually rose from the dead. Jesus, the first time He was standing in the flesh before Thomas, asked Thomas to place his finger into His wounds and his hand into His side. Thomas felt ashamed that he did not believe Jesus when He said He would rise. Jesus told Thomas “Blessed are they who believe without seeing.”
Now here comes the important part. Jesus taught His apostles truths about God than no human could understand. They have to accept it on faith. Now that Jesus has returned to heaven, and we are still here embroiled in this struggle between good and evil, how can Jesus continue to bring sacred truth into our lives? He can do it any way He wants. He is God. I think He wants to do it by granting infallibility to the popes. If He did not provide another avenue for us to know the truth, his Church would soon become eviscerated by the Devil who always argues against the truth. And how can anybody believe that the Church is divinely inspired if there is no avenue any more for divine truth to be revealed to the Church.
The pope doesn’t lose free will when God inspires him to define a teaching correctly. The pope is infallible under only certain circumstances when He is clarifying what Christ taught in the first place. God simply inspires him to get it straight when he is explaining something infallibility/
Nothing proclaimed by a pope as infallible has ever been shown to be false. The very important dogma I’m aware of is the Immature Conception of Mary. Mary is the woman whose seed will crush the pride of Satan. This is an important point in making sure Lucifer understands that God was not kidding when Satan first rebelled against God.
So, here it is: the reason why I believe in papal infallibility.
Maurice A. Williams
I do so admire your patience. One thrust, that you can parry I’m sure, concerns all those other Christians ( and non ) without a pope. So, unless you think that it’s too big a mission for the Holy Spirit to accomplish alone, would the church survive without one ?
It’s difficult to decide which of this article’s absurdities to address first but let’s start with the Spanish invasion of the Americas and forced, gunpoint conversions of Native Americans (GOOD) and today’s immigrants fleeing torture and persecution crossing the American border (BAD). How can anyone seriously suggest Jesus was all for the former and opposed to the latter? Aren’t we supposed to embrace our brothers and sisters in their times of need? There is not a shred of evidence in the Gospel that Jesus was all for border walls and “keeping people out.” I would suggest that, if anything, the devil was behind the forced conversions and is behind those trying to keep refugees out of the country. Then let’s get to the laughable suggestion that the devil was behind the decisions of unarmed civilians to further intervene with four cops to stop them from murdering a suspect of a minor offense when they were already screaming at the cops that Floyd was dying. What would have stopped the officer from doing the same thing to anyone who tried to interfere? I cold go on about the irrational suggestion that same gender couples honoring marriage some how “de-sanctifies” heterosexual unions but I have the sense Kyle is right and the author views the world through the narrowest of lenses.
Thank you for these well thought-out reflections. As much as I love my faith, I often struggle with applying it to current events that don’t explicitly relate to the faith (e.g. George Floyd). I think we could all use a reminder to “Stay sober and alert.”
Hello Kyle,
Thank you for reading my essay and for the new comments.
You have some problems with papal infallibility. I had to struggle with that myself. Jesus did promise the Apostle that He would send the Holy Spirit to teach them all things. How would He do that? He could back into the world and dwell with us forever, but He already said He will not do that until after the final judgement. So what are His other options?
He appointed Peter to hold the keys of the Kingdom to be the rock upon which He will build His Church. Jesus Christ is God Himself within a human body, the creator of everything that exists. He is certainly capable of doing anything He wants either through His divine nature or through His human nature.
So that settles it for me. If He wants the Pope to be infallible at certain times explaining difficult teaching, He is perfectly capable of doing it. If Jesus did not do it, than His followers would have no divine guidance during the long exile in this wicked world.
You bring up the friability of popes and their failure to live up at all times to the expectations of God is valid only if Jesus did not want to do things this way. But if He did want the popes to be infallible when Christians are about to lose the faith so vehemently under attack by the Devil, He is perfectly capable of doing it.
That’s why I hang on to faith in Jesus Christ/ I trust Him, and I am cautious every time I hear a contradiction of what He or His Church teaches.
Maurice A. Williams
Hi Maurice,
You hit the nail on the head. I do have problems with papal infallibility. Papal infallibility wasn’t declared until Vatican I in 1870. There was much debate about it on both sides, and the side pushing for a strong central authority won. The background was whether the church (and its leaders) would maintain/strengthen their power and lock down the monarchy-like structure of the church. This was in the backdrop of monarchies falling all over Europe. There was a big political aspect to the decision. And I think it was wrongly decided.
I think it was wrongly decided because God gave us both free will and reason. And He doesn’t take these away from any of us – not even the pope. To assume that the Pope is infallible means to assume that either (1) God takes away the Pope’s free will, or (2) every single pope in the past 2,000 years has submitted himself to God’s will. I don’t believe that #1 is true, and given the history of the church and its popes there is no way that I believe #2 is true.
Peter can be the rock that the church was built on without being infallible. George Washington was the rock that the US was built on without being infallible. I think we’re probably going to have to disagree on this one, but I thought I would let you know the reasoning behind my viewpoints. Thank you for sharing your perspective on this. I do appreciate it!
As a conservative Republican, devout Catholic, I am continually amazed at the lack of insight—you can see how the left is contributing to the destruction of America, how lost they are. Not one word about how Trump or his loyal supporters have embraced chaos, rebellion and deception. If you detail the rebellion and destruction of leftist protesters, how can you not detail the rebellion and destruction Trump supporters engaged in? The buffoonish deception, delusional thinking, embracing conspiracy theories? Not one word about Christians willing to slander others with only a suggestion of information—calling the obvious Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol “Antifa”—“BLM” or FBI false flags. Your article is shocking in its look at only one side of America’s deteriorating moral demise.
Compared to the BLM and antifa riots, Jan 6 was simply a rowdy parade. The murder of an unarmed demonstrator by a (probably) black police officer was at least equivalent to George Floyd but without consequences. The left perfectly follows Saul Alinsky, the right imperfectly follows Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson (a democrat).
Hello Kathleen,
Thank you for reading my article. And thank you for your comments.
I am already on your side because you are a devout Catholic. It’s not easy to be a devout Catholic in today’s wicked world when even some Catholic clergy have chosen against Christ. And you are also embroiled in this culture war between the leftists and conservatives. My sympathies are with you and I hope the good Lord helps you to steer your way through the troubles in this world and be happy with him forever in heaven.
However, you seem to be hostile against both sides in our wicked culture. The good Lord would have given us all of us an impossible task if He expected us to fight against the entire world. We must look carefully at the issues. I, for one, do not want my offspring to be taught how to enjoy sex outside of marriage while they are still in grade school. So I am against the progressive left.
I am also surprised at the shortcomings of Donald Trump, but I see a similarity in Trump as there was in Sampson. Both misbehaved sexually and did deeds I would be ashamed of doing. The left trued to destroy him just like they tried to destroy Clarence Thomas and recently Bret Kavanagh. It was dirty politics at its worst, and I would be reluctant to expose myself to such calumny and false witness. I think that would be bad for the United States because I think if I had the guts to withstand their attacks, I would have tried to keep our culture Christian.
Keeping the United States Christian is exactly the major challenge for our generation. Trump is widely known for striving to appoint conservative Christian judges to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court no longer upholds Christian principles, that would be the end of the position all Americans should be proud of/ We won’t realize it until we finally lose it and become just another worldly nation hostile to God.
It’s not only the Supreme Court, it’s also abortion and transgenderism that Trump is against. How could one man stand up against a whole nation and correct its relationship to God? I have listened carefully to almost all of Trump’s speeches. And I can tell you he seldom speaks against Christian principles.
I do compare Trump to Sampson, Both indulged in sexual misconduct, but both knew what God wanted. And both battled against cultures that would destroy God’s people. At the end of his life, Sampson destroyed the Philistine culture when he pulled down their temple on the heads of almost all the ruling class of Philistia. Trump’s life is not yet over. I’m hoping he comes back and finishes the job that only he is capable of doing.
Maurice A. Williams
Kyle @ 12.57p-
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Given that Christ Himself promised the Church, which He founded will endure, there’s no reason to think it “won’t survive”. People either believe the gospel or they reject it. The teachings of Christ are timeless, likewise those of the Church. Those teachings won’t change to suit a worldly audience, though the presentation may differ from age to age. Ultimately those who reject the teaching of the Church are rejecting Christ. They will ultimately answer to Him, not to me, nor the bishops or the pope. At calvary Christ died alone, save for a handful including only one apostle. The Church doesn’t exist to win kudos from the world but to lead souls to heaven. Those who embrace the world will find the Church and its teachings inconvenient. That will be true in any age.
Sorry you were left bitter. Maybe time will heal those bad memories. Btw, none of this is to suggest that the members of the Church are saints, though indeed some are. Most of us though have plenty of foibles, some more serious than others. But the faithful are called to seek Christ daily in prayer and in the sacraments. That’s the “reality” if you will, that will sustain us.
Thank you as well for your replies. I should’ve been more clear about the survival comment. I was referencing the survival of the Catholic church as a large, influential institution. Jesus said that His church would survive, but He did not say in which form. The Protestants believe they trace back to Jesus. They believe the Catholic church became corrupt and they reformed it and carried on Jesus’ mission. I think it’s impossible to say that argument doesn’t have any merit given how corrupt the Catholic church was at the time.
And I disagree that those who reject some teachings of the church are rejecting Christ. The church has had many, many councils over the past 2k years. Most of these were political fights where the leadership got together and debated the issues. One side eventually won each of these battles, but I’m not convinced they got it right every time (for example Vatican I and the idea of papal infallibility). I think the church has strayed over the past 2k years from some of the basic tenets of Christ’s teaching. Popes and bishops have free will and reason, and they also face temptation just like all of the rest of us. And it is abundantly clear that a number of them give in to the temptations of power. The bishops are entering another period of turmoil (you don’t need to look further than the US and Germany to see it), and one side will eventually win. The result will decide the course of the church in the next century or two.
And finally, time won’t heal the bitterness at my diocese. Change will. If there is a change in the church to be more upfront and honest about their history, that bitterness could subside. Without change and an admission that those practices were wrong, that bitterness won’t leave. I do appreciate your empathy on the matter.
The Holy Roman Empire never ruled all of Christian Europe. It never ruled Russia, which was Christian, though not Catholic. It never ruled any of the British Isles, either. Nor was it the Reformation that brought down the Holy Roman Empire, it was Napoleon. In the meantime, it sounded noble in its claims and aspirations, but it rarely lived up to those ideals — really like any nation with noble aspirations. Christian — and yes, _Catholic_ — princes showed they would rather fight each other than push the Mohammedans out of Europe.
I’m not sure if you were just too lazy to look into this or if your point is “more important” than honesty and accuracy, but it really doesn’t matter: it’s as hard to get past those claims as it would have been if you had said Benjamin Franklin invented the printing press or Abraham Lincoln invented the airplane.
Hello Howard
Thank you for reading my article and thanks for the comments, and special thanks for the correction of when The Holy Roman Empire ended. I thought I knew this topic very well when I researched my book interpr4ting Revelation. I had searched history books for events on the Reformation and the conquest of Mexico.
I came across a discussion of the Schmalkadic League which was formed by Lutheran princes within The Holy Roman Empire during the mid-sixteenth century. I mistakenly surmised that this spelled the end of The Holy Roman Empire. You informed me that it ended during the Napoleonic Wars when The Holy Roman Empire lingered on until 1806 when it was dissolved.
I truly apologize for the misinformation. I tried to see if I had other historical errors in my book, but I soon saw that everything was very confused at that time because European monarchs were deciding which religion should be established in their kingdoms.Here is Wikipedia’s account of the schmalkaldic league – Bing
My essay on Catholic Stand was not about history: it was about religion, really about our finding salvation through Jesus Christ and the importance of recognizing the role the devil plays in God’s universe, but I am still embarrassed ht I got some of my facts wrong.
Maurice A. Williams
The holy (Christian) Roman empire ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Hi Maurice, I’ve been struggling with staying true to my faith while watching the destruction and division in our country and the world. Your witnessing has helped me tremendously to step back from the political divide in both the secular and religious arenas so that I focus on the One True Way, Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for your words! Like Kyle, I have issues with the hierarchy in the Catholic church and how hypocritical they can be which leads souls to be lost. But I always come back to Jesus and how He chose Peter, a sinner, to build His church upon. Satan has found cracks in the church and will work to divide us and pull our focus away from Jesus. It is up to each of us to help one another back into God’s grace and the fact that Kyle read your article and that you’ve engaged in a respectful interchange with him is really beautiful and I think it makes Jesus proud! God bless you and everyone reading this.
Hello Lisa,
Thank you for reading my article. And thank you for your comments.
Papal infallibility is a doctrine of the Church that has experienced much controversy. One has to think hard about it. Plus there are certain assumptions in the world that slant people against it.
Human beings are frail, not too bright, and prone to make mistakes. Why would the Catholic Church have the gall to proclaim that the head of their Church is infallible when the head of every other Church knows better than to make a claim like that?
When Christ was on Earth, He taught us things we cannot know about God and about heaven. When He died, He left the Earth. If he wanted to still instruct us and decided to do it through the Church, He is fully capable of doing that. He did tell His Apostles that He would send The Holy Spirit who would guide us in all truth. Also Christ gave Peter the keys to the Church and told Perter that He would build His church upon the rock named Peter.
Jesus did, indeed, do as He said He would, and we have the comfort that whenever we have concerns that The Devil is misleading us, there is the infallible pope we can depend upon. Actually I don’t think that there is a single infallible statement of any pope that later on was considered erroneous.
The reason Jesus can do this is that Jesus is God Himself become a human being. That’s why he can do things other humans cannot do. He said the Church he founded will last till the end of time and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. The Church is in bad shape today and we all suffer because of it, but the Devil has not taken over the Church. There are many, many righteous priests in the Church. I think they suffer more than us because the misconduct of unfaithful priest is applied by the world onto all priests. But don’t forget the sins of all humans was applied onto Jesus and He suffered terribly because of it.
So pray for the good priests and above all keep the faith.
Maurice A. Williams
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Kudos to you Mr. Maurice Williams what a great piece 🤩. I love how you incorporated all including the Our Lady Of Guadalupe . You mentioned too half of the 7.9 billion people on Earth today are totally uninfluenced by the gospel . It is overwhelming! There’s so many things to do😢, to reach out and spread the gospel…
“ The harvest are plentiful but the laborers are few”.
Hello Ivy,
Thank you for reading my article and thanks for your comments. It’s a real shot in he arm to realize somebody appreciated my article. Thanks for the compliment.
Maurice A. Williams
The author of this piece cherry picks a few different pieces from history to spin a story that fits his narrative but has no connection to reality.
1. God does not release Satan to punish us. He gives us all free will and reason which we sometimes collectively use for good and sometimes collectively use for evil.
2. The Holy Roman Empire was a political organization. It was a government. It was not objectively holy, and its leaders were often corrupt, petty, and power hungry – much like today.
3. Our Christian forbearers that evangelized the Americas often did so by force and committed genocide and other atrocities against the native peoples. This was certainly not always the case, but the overall legacy of the Christianization of the Americas will forever be tainted by the atrocities committed by many European Christians.
4. Derek Chauvin did not kill George Floyd because the devil tempted him in that moment. He killed George Floyd because of a level of pre-existing racism that caused him to mistreat others. This was not the first time he mistreated people. It was just the first time he ended up killing somebody (as far as we know).
5. The police did not step in because many departments have a level of corruption built in. Police officers protect one another regardless of who is in the right. This is very similar to the church protecting pedophiles and other transgressors.
6. The news showed the clips because this event was noteworthy. It was newsworthy. Sometimes things that happen should make the public mad so we can make changes to avoid the same things happening again repeatedly.
7. The protestors and the rioters (they were different groups) did not protest or riot because they were tempted by the devil. They were justifiably angry over abuses that continue to happen. Remember that Jesus himself flipped over the money changers tables in the temple. Sometimes anger is justified. I wish Catholics would get justifiably angry more often over church abuse.
8. Defunding the police does not mean getting rid of the police. It means starting over and building a police department from scratch to root out the deep systemic corruption present in some police departments across the country. Police departments run the gambit from hopelessly corrupt to very fine organization with appropriate checks and balances on power. Unfortunately, there are too many of the former.
9. Immigrants that are trying to get the US are coming from horrendous living conditions and/or situations. They are not risking their lives to take advantage of Americans. They are risking their lives to survive. They face risks wherever they go. God also does not see nationalities. He looks at all of us as his children equally, and we should treat the rest of humanity the same way Jesus treated Gentiles. My ancestors were Irish immigrants, and I will treat today’s immigrants the same way that I would’ve wanted my ancestors to be treated.
10. History is loaded with great stories of both good and evil. The evangelization of the middle ages was not a success story. It was often done by force. The Crusades for example were a stain on our history as Christians.
As I read this piece, it sounded similar to the writings of some European political leaders of the 1930s. It uses half-truths and selective pieces of information to scare and divide people. It pits groups against one another based on fallacy. Satan is not dividing us. We are doing it by ourselves by spreading ideas like those laid out in this article. As a country, we do not currently possess enough of the ability to empathize with people that are not like us or see things from others’ perspectives. We are a “Christian” nation that is acting historically “Christian” but sadly far from Christ-like.
Hello Kyle,
Thank you for reading my article. And thank you for your comments. You had 10 criticisms of it. I will try to briefly answer all 10.
1. God does not release Satan to punish us.
God allows Satan to tempt us.. If we resist temptation, that’s to our credit. But if we succumb to temptation, we put evil into action in our lives. It’s in that sense that God released Satan to punish us. But God always wanted us to resist temptation.
2. The Holy Roman was a political organization.
It really was a political organization to enable Christian governments to rule according to Christian principles. The idea was that the Church would rule in the spiritual realm and the Empire would rule in the secular realm.
3. Our American ancestors evangelized the Americas by force.
In some cases they did, but if you have read any of the chroniclers of the Spanish and French missionaries, you would realize that they faithful used persuasion. The preaching of the Gospel is what converted the biggest portion of the natives. I think some of your ancestors might say that it was the preaching of St. Patrick that converted the Irish nation.
4. Derek Chauvin did not kill George Floyd because the devil tempted him.
Even you claim that Chauvin killed Floyd because of pre-existing racism. What is Pre-existing Racism? It is not an inspiration that comes from God. Therefore it must be another form of temptation.
5. The police did not step in because police protect one another regardless of who is right.
I was present when an irate customer started trouble with the manager of a restaurant. The manager reached under the counter and pulled out a baseball bat. Shocked, I Immediately jumped in and said “Do not use that bat.” You will lose your job and your restaurant will have a big law suit.” That stopped the fight. I’m sure if someone did something similar when the policeman was kneeling on Floyd’s neck the other policemen would have stepped it because it makes sense to stop an action that might have injured someone.
6. The news showed the clips because this event was newsworthy.
It was also inflammatory. Not every news event should be played over and over again when the subject matter could incite the viewers to take drastic action.
7. The protestors did not riot because they were tempted by the devil. They were justifiably angry over abuses that continue to happen.
Protesters should not start riots that destroy property in a civilized society. If they do start riots, then we have the beginnings of mob rule. We must remain civilized and try to choose leaders who will enforce just laws legally and not fall into mob rule. It takes longer, but it will save our government. Riots will eventually destroy our government.
8. Defunding the police does not mean getting rid of the police.
Yes it does. Even you say it means starting over and building a police department from scratch. While you are building it, there is no police department. We need police reform. We do not deserve even a few days of no protection by a shutdown police force.
9. Immigrants are coming from horrendous living conditions, They are nor taking advantage of Americans,
The point in my article is that President Biden invited the immigrants into our country, but his invitation did not include being able to effective deal with the rush of immigrants. They have little food, no jobs; no housing, no health care .Who is going to provide these things for them?
10. History is loaded with great stories of both good and evil. The evangelization of The Middle Ages was not a success story. I was often done by force, The Crusades, for example, were a stain on our history as Christians,
Kyle, the purpose of the crusades was not evangelization: it was to insure peaceful conditions for Christian pilgrims to make pilgrimages to the Holy Land. Even though the Crusaders were dealing with robbers and bandits that were harassing innocent people, even I think the Crusaders could have more charitable.
Kyle, I think I discussed every point you brought up. I think I should point out to you my motivation in what I am doing, I know who God is, and I believe in His revelation. I’m trying to bear witness to him and help in evangelization. I’m just one man trying to convince through words. I am not part of a vigilante group intent on punishing the wicked. God issued His commandments; He is perfectly capable of enforcing them. I do not want to use force against anybody, just logic and plain common sense.
I certainly do not bear the guilt for the wrongs that other Christians have done only for what I have done, and I’m trying to be righteous within a wicked world..
Maurice A. Williams
Hi Maurice, thank you for the response. I appreciate the thoroughness; however, your responses still only reflect a partial view of the truth at best. I won’t go into all of them, but for a few examples: You’re worried about the immigrants not being provided food, healthcare, or housing? Do you think they all have all of those things where they’re coming from? Or if someone would’ve just told the police officers that they were hurting George Floyd and lawsuits might occur, they would’ve stopped? Did you watch the videos? People told the police officers they were hurting Mr. Floyd. Why in the world do you think they were filming it? Putting it on film didn’t stop that behavior. What do you think happens when corrupt and/or racist and/or power hungry police officers aren’t on camera? And riots will destroy this country? Riots built this country. Colonial protests turned to riots and then into a war. There have been protests for reform for years. And nothing has changed. If you are being abused and your only power is to change the status quo, I can see why they do it. I don’t think violent protests are right. But the fact that we as a society have done nothing to fix the situation is worse.
I don’t know what your motives are in writing these pieces, so I am going to take you at your word that your intentions are pure. What you are expressing is dangerous and incredibly naïve. And I urge you to try again to look at things from the point of view of others – others that have less power or privilege than yourself. The church taught me recently what it feels like to be powerless. I recently found out that I had classmates and friends that were abused by priests when we were kids – by priests that the diocese had known were abusing kids for years. And the diocese did nothing to stop it. What can I do about it? Nothing. The bishop has done nothing, and the laity has forgotten about it and moved on. Or left the church. Do I understand the urge to riot when your group is being mistreated or abused? When there is a massive injustice? Absolutely. I have strong urges to riot down at the chancery. That wouldn’t be right, and I don’t do that. But what the church is doing is worse than rioting. And what the laity is doing is also worse. They’re doing nothing. So I can commiserate with African Americans who have been mistreated and abused for years. As a white male, I didn’t see it before. The church has sadly taught me a lot recently, but in all the wrong ways.
Ultimately, I urge you to try again very hard to see things from others’ perspectives. Just because something has worked for you, doesn’t mean it works for others. And just because there are good parts to your ancestors history, doesn’t mean that there aren’t also bad parts. Did you abuse children in the church? Or black Americans on the streets? I hope not. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t owed something from us as a church and as a country. The least we can do is fix the problems and make sure they don’t continue happening. I’m a white male, but when I read this piece it sounded a lot like telling the people you disagree with to shut up and get back in their place. It did not come across to me as being charitable at all. And again, I’m not attacking your motives, just trying to let you know how it sounded to me.
Kyle, your comments read like a political screed. You show no understanding of spiritual realities including the presence of the devil and temptation to do evil and the real life impact that has on our world. . The author is conveying a spiritual message, while you wish to argue politics. There are ultimately no political solutions to our manifold problems. There is but one solution; Christ our Lord. If we fail to worship God, we will worship false gods and idols, including those of a political nature.
Hi Faithful – I have no doubt that the author and I have different politics, but I attempted to leave those out of my responses as much as possible. There is plenty of room for differences of opinion, but this piece was full of factual errors and misrepresentations. There is no room for that.
As Howard detailed in one example, the description of the Holy Roman Empire was grossly inaccurate – and you don’t have to be a historian to see it. Perhaps the author received a biased Catholic education. I did, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly bitter about it. Every time we looked at church history, the bad parts were left out. It was a whitewashed version of history. The same thing happened – albeit it to a lesser degree – with US history.
One can make spiritual arguments, but they cannot misrepresent reality to do so. And I believe that is what was done in this article. I also believe this is a major problem in general in church settings. I think this unwillingness to deal with reality is pushing people to the doors. If the church can’t survive in reality and help people deal with real problems, it won’t survive. Information is flowing far too freely today to keep misrepresenting like this. In addition to it being wrong, it is also now an unsustainable strategy. People will see that they were effectively lied to, and they will leave in many cases. There are a myriad of reasons that trust in the church is virtually non-existent. This general situation is one of the reasons.
Hi. A quick note. Regarding George Floyd and no one intervening, 3 other police officers held back the few bystanders. This incident was culmination of a number of events. The original police drastically contradicted what was filled via the bystander, causing more outcry. Then there were other incidents immediately prior and after. One was the police no knock warrant, with the wrong address listed, the suspect was arrested earlier that morning, Ms.Taylor was killed, the police report stated to one was serious injured. Then jogger killed by a retired police office which was filmed by his son in another following car. This was investigated by local authorities and closed. Then rumors of a video caused reasons for an outside investment which resulted in the father and son arrests months afterwards. Without videos 2 of the three would have went undiscovered. Others question about prior incidents with no video. SATAN IS DIVIDING US.
Hello Glenn,
Thank you for reading my article, and thanks for the comments. Our culture has lost recognition of the Devil. If all Americans realized that as soon as they get an interior impulse to do something that is contrary to God’s law, they are being tempted. If all Americans could do that, there would be far less crime in this country, especially crimes of gun violence.
Maurice A. Williams
A most interesting exchange of views by all parties. As I am not a moral theologian, I will leave that part to those best able to comment. I do have some competence in History and Social Science by virtue of education, employment and avocation. While I am certainly not qualified to speak to the decisions of the Almighty, I note that there seem to be far fewer examples of the “lightning from the sky” type of punishment for evil as from the natural adverse consequences of violations of divine law and prudent behavior. Conversely, it would seem there have been a number of occasions in history when the righteous have triumphed in the face of seeming impossible odds in response to petitions to God. Obviously it is not possible for humans to discern all the reasons for God’s actions but it is comforting to know that we are being looked after in some measure more than “the birds in the sky who do not sow or reap”.