Martin Luther's Cancel Culture: Those Who Fail To Learn From History Are Condemned To Repeat It or What Every Good Catholic Should Know and Do

In a 1948 speech to the House of Commons, Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Little did he know at the time he would be addressing one of the biggest needs of our times- a change on how we teach our Church religious education. 

Some alarming statistics

Source: WHAT CATHOLICS ARE READING: FORMING INTENTIONAL DISCIPLES BY SHERRY WEDDELL, SEPTEMBER 9, 2013, KEVIN COTTER_Please Note This Was a good 6 years before Covid)

Only 30 percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are still practicing (p. 24).
10 percent of all adults in America are ex-Catholics (p. 25).
79 percent of those who have dropped the name “Catholic” and claim no religious affiliation of any kind, have done so by age 23  (p. 33).
In the early 21st century, among Americans raised Catholic, becoming Protestant is the best guarantee of stable church attendance as an adult (p. 35).
The majority of adult Catholics are not even certain that a personal relationship with God is possible (p. 46)
Mass attendance is always lower than, and goes up and down with, the percentage of those who are certain that it is possible to have a personal relationship with God (p. 44).
Church Numbers  1970   18,224     2020  16,703
Number of Students In Catholic High School  1970 1.008 Milion          2020 555.901  or almost a 50% decrease
What is going on here?

Why are people leaving the Church?

Why have they given up?

The answers vary and are as numerous as they are the people who have 

made up their minds to turn their back on the Church and or God.  

As we approach these troubled times we should once again look at our history to see what God provides for us and what we have to do to fight against the evil which is everywhere. Did anything like this happen before?  If so, where could you go about and study more on this subject?

The answer will shock many people and thanks to one individual's misguided ignorance of history, language, customs, and the Holy Bible itself- took this Book out of the Bible and placed it outside of the official canon of his church.  Notice I said his church, not His Church.  There is a large difference.  Martin Luther, a former Catholic Priest, and protestor believed that the following part of the Bible was not important for you to read.  He thought that the Pope had too much power, yet he used his power to influence others to cancel out history.  In this effect cancel culture was begun when he tried to cancel out history.  Who does this?  Why was it done?

Read the passage from the 1st Book of Maccabees.  It is rich in history.  The history of God’s People and struggle against their government who placed burdens on their religion.  What did God want the people to do?  Did He want them to become Greek and turn their backs on God?  What would have happened to the Church without the Maccabees?  When it appeared the government and the Seculid Emperor turned against the Jews what did the Maccabees do?  Why is this important for us to learn about today?  Are we seeing anything like right now in our world?  Is religious persecution growing?  Are people (Church Going Catholics-who think they are Good Catholics) now following the ways of the world and not the Church?  Are these people being punished by our society or are they being accepted as great leaders?

Brothers and sisters, do you now see why we need to learn our history and learn about our religion?  It is not about just reading a passage in the Bible it is about passing on our religion to our children and grandchildren.  We can not accept the ways of the world and corrupt the teaching of the Church and say we are doing good.  This is not being a good Catholic or Christian.  Maybe that is why Luther and so many today will not read the Book.  The book promotes a very simple truth- history repeats itself when people fail to remember what has happened in the past. 

May God bless each of us, and please read this passage, apply this passage, and most all reflect on the importance of being a good Catholic.  This means you never have to accept the false teachings of the world over the teachings of the Church.  Amen

1 Maccabees 15-48 

Pagan Worship Refused and Resisted.

15. The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them sacrifice.

16.Many of Israel joined them, but Mattathias and his sons drew together.

17. Then the officers of the king addressed Mattathias: “You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kindred.

18. Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command, as all the Gentiles and Judeans and those who are left in Jerusalem have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s Friends,* and you and your sons shall be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.”

19. But Mattathias answered in a loud voice: “Although all the Gentiles in the king’s realm obey him, so that they forsake the religion of their ancestors and consent to the king’s orders,

20. yet I and my sons and my kindred will keep to the covenant of our ancestors.

21. Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments.

22. We will not obey the words of the king by departing from our religion in the slightest degree.”

23. As he finished saying these words, a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king’s order.

24. When Mattathias saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar.

25. At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar.

26 Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did with Zimri, son of Salu.

27. Then Mattathias cried out in the city, “Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow me!”

28. Then he and his sons fled to the mountains, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.

29. At that time many who sought righteousness and justice went out into the wilderness to settle there,

30. they and their children, their wives and their animals, because misfortunes pressed so hard on them.

31. It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Jerusalem, that those who had flouted the king’s order had gone out to secret refuges in the wilderness.

32. Many hurried out after them, and having caught up with them, camped opposite and prepared to attack them on the sabbath.

33. The pursuers said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and obey the king’s command, and you will live.”

34. But they replied, “We will not come out, nor will we obey the king’s command to profane the sabbath.”

35.Then the enemy attacked them at once.

36. But they did not retaliate; they neither threw stones, nor blocked up their secret refuges.

37.They said, “Let us all die in innocence; heaven and earth are our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly.”

38. So the officers and soldiers attacked them on the sabbath, and they died with their wives, their children and their animals, to the number of a thousand persons.

39. When Mattathias and his friends heard of it, they mourned deeply for them.

40. They said to one another, “If we all do as our kindred have done, and do not fight against the Gentiles for our lives and our laws, they will soon destroy us from the earth.”

41. So on that day they came to this decision: “Let us fight against anyone who attacks us on the sabbath, so that we may not all die as our kindred died in their secret refuges.”

42.  Then they were joined by a group of Hasideans, mighty warriors of Israel, all of them devoted to the law.

43.  And all those who were fleeing from the persecutions joined them and supported them.

44. They gathered an army and struck down sinners in their wrath and the lawless in their anger, and the survivors fled to the Gentiles for safety.

45. Mattathias and his friends went about and tore down the pagan altars;

46.they also forcibly circumcised any uncircumcised boys whom they found in the territory of Israel.

47. They put to flight the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands.

48. They saved the law from the hands of the Gentiles and of the kings and did not let the sinner triumph.