To Christians Contemplating Marriage
What We Really Need
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“ . . . . proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2)
I recently read a news article titled: “Does the U.S. need a nationwide exorcism?” You can read it here: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/does-the-us-need-a-nationwide-exorcism/
My knee-jerk response was to shout at the computer screen, “No! What we need is a Church leadership to do the job they abdicated decades ago.” But now that I’ve let the article percolate in my brain for a while, I’d like to offer a more thoughtful response:
Darkness cannot coexist with light. Not only does Scripture declare this to be true, but experience also testifies to it. Walk into any dark room and flip the light switch. Darkness flees even from the corners. But turn off the light, or shroud it with a thick fabric, and darkness floods back.
It is to that focus of darkness, of light, and of exorcism Jesus said what he did to those in the first century. And He says the same to us in the 21st.
“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” Matthew 12:43-45
If you skimmed that biblical text, please go back and read each word. Jesus’ comment specifically addresses the spiritually blind remarks you will read in that news article.
Jesus said of His ‘evil generation’ that the demon left its host for a while, only to return to find it swept, put in order – and empty. So the demon brought with seven others more wicked than itself.
And therein lays America’s problem.
For the last several decades the Church has dutifully worked to sweep out despair, poverty, sickness, and hatred across this land. We’ve built hospitals and orphanages, we’ve established social agencies and raised vast numbers of men and women who feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and build homes for the homeless.
The record is easily accessible to anyone who cares to do the research, and so there is no need to itemize all the Church has done to sweep our American house and put it in good order. But in our sweeping, we neglected a critical element. And so our house is essentially unoccupied by God’s word.
I have witnessed in the past 40 years a slow, nearly imperceptible shift from teaching the fullness of God’s word to selectively proclaiming a most narrow picture of God – a picture framed exclusively in the word, “Love.”
When was the last time you heard the word, “sin” mentioned during a Sunday morning homily? When was the last time your pastor made specific reference to the multiple sins promoted, legitimized, defended, and commended in the media, the internet, our educational systems, our politics, our corporations – and even in our homes?
When was the last time your pastor warned of the ‘Lake of Fire’ promised by God for all those who persist in their ardent rebellion against His laws and the historic teaching of the Church? Where are the men and women of faith who are unashamed to proclaim the entire gospel of Christ – the full gospel which includes not only Christ’s great love and mercy, but also His many and dire warnings of judgment for those whose lifestyles betray Him worse than did Judas?
Our house has been swept and put in order, but we have dimmed the light of God’s word. In some places, we’ve extinguished it. And so we don’t now need to look further than tonight’s newscasts to see the dreadful evidence of our state being so much worse than at the first.
No, we do not need a national exorcism. We simply need God’s shepherds to do their primary job. We need them to fully, clearly, and courageously proclaim the whole of God’s word – not just selective texts here and there – but the word of God in all its truths, even truths we don’t want to hear.
Only then will His light dispel our every darkness.
You can view my short videos on YouTube at this link: http://tinyurl.com/nk9g9so You can read my blog at www.thecontemplativecatholicconvert.blogspot.com
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About the Author
Richard Maffeo was born into a Jewish home in the early 1950s. In 1972 he discovered Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and he dove into his awakened faith with a passion that continues to this present day. Richard spent 33 years in evangelical Protestant churches until he realized God was calling him to the Catholic Church. He was received into the Church in 2005. He has written three books, writes a blog, and teaches several bible studies each week at 55+ communities. You can find his blog at www.inhimonly.blogspot.com. You can find him on Facebook by searching for his name.
Richard and his wife Nancy are married 47 years. They have three grown children.
