The Catholic Church—Saying "NO" to a World Screaming "YES"

How did the precepts of ethics and morality, based on the Ten Commandments and the "Golden Rule", become a pariah to so many? How did these principles ever become inverted? Why have they seemingly been tossed by many into the dumpster of the outdated and irrelevant?

There is one critical aspect that drives this onslaught, and I think we do not pay close enough attention to it. Those that are flailing away at our religious heritage and freedoms are not committing these attacks on their own. They have a brilliant, diabolical, hate-consumed leader inspiring them onward. Their leader's name is Satan, and he is the lover of evil and the master of deceit and deception.

I believe we do not pay enough attention to God's first creation, the angels. These were the spirit beings that God created, endowing them with knowledge, abounding love, and happiness. They lacked nothing and were to spend eternity in the presence of their Creator, the Triune God. But God, as he did to His human creations, had given the angels free will.

Unlike humankind, the angels had one choice to make. They could return the love given to them back to God or refuse. Some, led by Lucifer, the greatest of angels, turned on God believing Lucifer's prideful boast that they could become like God. This choice caused the creation of Hell, and the newly "fallen angels" became Hell's permanent residents.

This takes us to knowing and believing that which comes from 1 John 4:16, "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is Love, and whoever remains in Love remains in God and God in Him." Satan and his followers are consumed with anti-love, commonly called hate. And their biggest and most hated enemy after Jesus Christ is the church that Jesus founded, the Catholic Church.

Satan’s hatred for the true Church of Christ is unimaginable. It fills him and his minions with an inconceivable rage, a force so powerful if we could hear the sound it makes we would turn instantly deaf as our ear drums start exploding. But, no matter how fierce and intense the onslaught, Holy Mother Church still spits in his evil eye and says NO!

Over the centuries, the Church has withstood Satan's evil attacks even when they came from within. It also rejects today’s “liberation theology,” the perverse philosophy that suggests, “Jesus wants you to be happy, so just enjoy yourself.” The fact is, Jesus wants us to be happy with him in heaven. God’s creation, Mother Earth, is the testing grounds where we can earn the “right’ to join Him there. While we live out our lives on earth, we do not get to decide what that right might be. We have the commandments, the Magisterium, and the Tradition of the Church to guide us on our life's journey. As did the fallen angels, we get the right to choose whether to follow or not

The Church has teachings that have been in place for two thousand years. But secularists maintain that the Church has "nerve and audacity" to use the words, SIN, and MORALITY. In today's self-indulged, secular world, it seems anyone who might suggest that a particular behavior is "immoral" or "sinful" is branded and vilified as intolerant, hateful, racist and even uncaring. How pompous and pride filled this is. Only the new age secularists would have the audacity to suggest that their reversed "virtue" is GOOD and the concept of self-denial is SINFUL.

My favorite comic book character was, Superman. Occasionally, Superman would get stuck in an alternative universe called "Bizarro World". It was a place where everything was backwards. Up was down, hello meant good-bye and yes meant no. Even the planet, Htrae, (Earth backwards), was shaped like a cube. It is the same with the folly of reversed secular virtue. I call this world "Novis," which is Latin for the word "reverse."

On Novis, killing is "Good" and if you stand against it you are evil. For instance, take abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and partial-birth abortion. The Church says NO! On Novis, the Church is now bad. Fornication and people "hooking up" for one-night stands is heralded as "Good". The Church says NO! On Novis the Church is told to mind its own business. Divorced and remarried Catholics want to receive the Holy Eucharist. The Church, as it always has done, says NO! On Novis, the Church is called intolerant. On Novis, if it makes you “happy”, ENJOY!

In this new world, the Church is deemed intolerant and insensitive and is out of touch with the “times” and needs to get into the 21st century. Homosexuals demand to be married in the Church. The Church says NO! Marriage is between a man and a woman ONLY. Satan screams from his evil world to his followers, Say “YES! YES! YES!" Holy Mother Church says “NO!” In the alternative universe, the Catholic Church is evil.

On Novis the Novitians unwittingly listen to Satan’s message and pound on the dogmatic doors of the Catholic Church. They demand that they be opened to personal wants and desires. Unlike Bizarro World, where things are just 'crazy' on Novis, things are mean and vindictive. Novis is ruled by hate. Satan is Hate.

There are other Christian denominations that have succumbed to outside pressures and reworked their "teachings" to accommodate the demands from the people of Novis. They have been praised as "progressive" and "in touch" with the needs of the citizens of Novis. The reality is, they have failed their followers. But the Catholic Church has not caved into the demands and pressures and it never will. We all know that there re those within the Church who would dare to destroy it. They have cast their lot with the unholy one who hates anything Catholic in unimaginable ways.

The Catholic Church still teaches that there are Seven Deadly Sins. They are pride, greed, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth aka laziness. Note the key word in describing these sins is the word "deadly". The Church teaches that these sins can destroy the soul of anyone who might indulge these human appetites. The Church also offers forgiveness for falling prey to these sins. This forgiveness is available 24/7.

On the reverse world of Novis, the Church is mocked and laughed at for suggesting these actions offend God. These acts are acceptable because an individual committing one of these sins is just being human and God made us that way and wants us to be "happy". So--sin away. Just remember, if you subscribe to that concept the victory in the fight for your soul goes to Satan.

Both the clergy and the laity need to be more protective of the faith we love. Many worry about being "PC" and not offending anyone. We might start by going to St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians. Chapter 6: 16-17.

In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield,

To quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit,

which is the word of God.