The separated ones

Of all the people Jesus encountered it seems he had a particular dislike for the ways of the Pharisees; the elite or separated ones. Whilst occupying the seat of Moses, guardians of all the doctrines, laws, rules of the faith, meticulous in their rituals and beliefs; sadly they missed the point entirely.

They have returned and are recruiting!

I was invited to attend an International leadership meeting; I couldn’t really understand why but the offer seemed genuine, the person was charming, a faithful Catholic, and had all his ‘ducks in a row’ so I dispensed with the usual discernment process and accepted.

One area of expertise I do have was about to come in handy; I know how cults operate. And so as the meeting began I was unexpectedly prepared and sufficiently detached to watch things unfold from that vantage point.

Within 30 seconds of meeting the facilitator, a short, bearded man who gave me a similar reception to the one experienced by Zelensky in the ambush in the oval office by Donald Trump’s ill-mannered assistant; the alarm bells were ringing. I quickly realised that many of the people in the room, although an international event, were very well acquainted, they had their own in-language, and I strongly felt were part of the same organisation. This was a ‘front’ for something else entirely.

Whilst all were Catholic, it became evident that many were ‘Starbucks Catholics’ meaning not content with the regular Sunday Mass; they customised it to their own taste; some favoured the Latin, others the Byzantium Rites ( I had to google some of them later).

Many discussed (triumphantly) their ascetic practices, from cold showers, to fasting, (not charity though interestingly) and at this point I regretted not having continued with my studies in music (after mastering 3 blind mice on the recorder) so that I could have announced each new speaker with a few good blasts on the trumpet ! although that would probably have been too subtle to be understood.

One younger attendee, with the enthusiasm of a Mormon recruited by ISIS, with wild eyes, tried out his evangelising skills on me; he was clearly in the early stages of being brainwashed himself, something I could only sympathise with silently and pray for later.

After 3 hours I realised that nothing of any real substance had been discussed, even God hadn’t been mentioned, and certainly none of the invited (non-group members) had said anything at all. The groups behind it were carefully concealed but are Catholic with dubious founders if I am not mistaken and coercive techniques, some of which were clearly displayed.

These are dark days; the assault on Christianity and all that is good is intense and perhaps extreme orthodoxy is envisioned as a remedy or push-back against it, a worldly attempt to regain the upper hand through earthly power and positioning, influence and perhaps financial muscle but despite the outward appearance of religion, it’s a godless distortion, empty and devoid of any real supernatural power or authority and indeed of any love or compassion that I could see. Sometimes the devil works both sides of the street. The Neo Pharisees are among us!