Saturday, January 01, 2011

America flees from theology and toward insanity: Preparation for Antichrist

Patrick Buchanan quotes from the late professor of theology Harold O.J. Brown in his book entitled Day of Reckoning:

"Since the end of World War II, American society has been suffering decomposition and deconstruction..Consider what we have come to in seven decades:

The distinctiveness of marriage has been abolished (Baird v. Eisenstadt); prayer and Bible reading in schools has been stamped out (Abington, Schemp, et al.); the mother's womb has become the most dangerous place for a baby (Roe v. Wade, et al.); the rights (but not the duties) of fathers and parents of minor girls have been voided (Planned Parenthood v. Danforth); divorce has become easier than marrying; the Ten Commandments have been banned from public view; and now the natural distinction between male and female is being abolished (Goodridge, Lawrence, etc).  The Pledge of Allegiance is forbidden; the Boy Scouts are under attack; and Christmas Carols are banned.  Pornography is everywhere.

The structure of American society is being demolished brick by brick.  Within a few short years, Americans will have reached the 'liberty' desired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the abolition of every particular dependency.  This is what Hannah Arendt called 'the atomistic mass,' a precondition for the establishment of totalitarianism." (p. 178).

As I have said so many times before, the retreat from truth is necessary before the reign of Antichrist. There is a preparation. Many are "intellectualizing" themselves into dissent and apostasy from the true Faith. The battlefield is in the mind. The attack is intellectual and psychological. Sin must be justified so that a new religion can turn vices into gods.


What is this but a form of insanity? In the words of the late (great) F.J. Sheed: "..if we see anything - ourself or some other man, or the Universe as a whole or any part of it - without at the same time seeing God holding it there, then we are seeing it all wrong. If we saw a coat hanging on a wall and did not realize that it was held there by a hook, we should not be living in the real world at all, but in some fantastic world of our own in which coats defied the law of gravity and hung on walls by their own power. Similarly if we see things in existence and do not in the same act see that they are held in existence by God, then equally we are living in a fantastic world, not the real world. Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by Him is not a matter of sanctity; but of plain sanity, because God is everywhere and all things are upheld by Him...To overlook God's presence is not simply to be irreligious; it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there." (Theology and Sanity, p.6).

To overlook God's presence (and by extension His Commandments) is not simply to be irreligious; it is a kind of insanity.  Sheed is right.  When we fail to see things as they actually are, we are in the grip of a kind of insanity.  And it is this very insanity which is a precondition for the Reign of Antichrist.
 
Recall the words of those who work at an abortion killing center to Markai Durham on MTV's "reality show" No Easy Decision as they convinced her that the baby within her womb was somehow not human: "Don’t think of it as ten fingers and ten toes with a forehead and all that stuff. Because if you think of it like that, you’re going to make yourself depressed. …Think of it as what it is: a little ball of cells." 

What is this but a kind of insanity?  How is it any different from the Nazi doctors who convinced themselves that they were not torturing human beings but that the Jewish People were somehow "subhuman"?

Before Antichrist can emerge onto the world stage, the people must first embrace this kind of insanity.  Increasingly, Americans are showing that they are willing to do just that.

9 comments:

  1. Theology and Sanity, one of the great, great books of all time.

    Our country was doomed from the beginning because it's foundational principles sprang from Freemasonry and the Enlightenment, an age so mis-named it would be laughable were it not for the damage it has wrought.

    We live in a country that worships the individual, placing him in the place designed for the family. The individual IS NOT the basic unit of human existence, as our founders and now all the acolytes of Rand from Beck to Limbaugh would have us believe. It IS the family. That's why every action taken by all the anti-Christs that surround us have focused on the family's destruction.

    While many of the beliefs and principles of the founders are worthwhile, the truth is that this foundational principle of individualism is so wrong, such a lie, that it corrupts everything built on it.

    Our country was built around this lie because the evil one knew it would appeal to so many and then cause them to fall.

    All we can do now is pray and buckle up. It's going to be one hell of a ride.

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  2. Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward formed Sheed & Ward and gave us some of the most important Catholic books of the 2oth century. God love them both!

    As far as the bumpy ride ahead, I'll quote Betty Davis [who went to Cushing Academy in Ashburnham not far from where I live] from the film "All About Eve": "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

    Indeed it is.

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  3. Betty used to love dining at The Old Mill in Westminster, Massachusetts. My family would see her there from time to time.

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  4. Anonymous9:54 AM

    Wow.

    Happy New Year to you, too.

    Don't you think it's about time to focus on some of the good that goes on in the Catholic world and in this country?

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  5. Stewart10:17 AM

    "Don't you think it's about time to focus on some of the good that goes on in the Catholic world and in this country?"

    And what would that be anonymous [and why anonymous by the way?]. What "good" are you referring to? Millions of abortions? Sodomite "marriage" being promoted across society? An ever-increasing divorce rate? The spread of pornography across our culture? Empty churches and the bland preaching which is largely responsible for it? The loss of the sense of sin? Empty confessionals? Homosexual clergy who abuse children and minors or who otherwise engage in illicit activities? Liturgical wreckovation? rampant crime? Teen suicides? Teen drug use? Terrorism?

    You need to get your head out of the sand.

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  6. Anonymous11:12 AM

    No one's denying the reality of evil in this world. But I personally choose to read other Catholic blogs where the good in people's hearts is focused on.

    The reason why I choose to stay anonymous, and why I won't name the blogs I'm referring to, is because I don't want my inbox or their comboxes overflowing with the vitriol that comes from those that follow Paul. It goes against Christian charity, and I would rather not expose myself or others to that, thank you.

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  7. Anonymous, you write, "The reason why I choose to stay anonymous, and why I won't name the blogs I'm referring to, is because I don't want my inbox or their comboxes overflowing with the vitriol that comes from those that follow Paul. It goes against Christian charity, and I would rather not expose myself or others to that, thank you."

    Yes, it's rather obvious that charity is a strong suit in your brand of Catholicism. In one sentence you demonize readers of this Blog as "vitriolic" and as being incapable of thinking for themselves, referring to these good Catholics as "followers."


    If anyone is lacking in charity, it is yourself. Something to pray about and meditate on.

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  8. And while your chewing on that anonymous, you might wish to reflect on what Pope John XXIII had to say about the Church's authentic peace, a peace which Pope John XXIII taught: "is not completely untroubled and serene; it is active, not calm and motionless. In short, this is a peace that is ever at war. It wars with every sort of error, including that which falsely wears the face of truth; it struggles against the enticements of vice, against those enemies of the soul, of whatever description, who can weaken, blemish, or destroy our innocence or Catholic faith." (Ad Petri cathedram, AAS 51 (1959) 517, PE, 263.93).

    You migt also wish to ask yourself these two questions: 1. "If I really find this Blog to be so obnoxious as well as the people who comment here, why do I visit it time and again?"

    And 2. "If I really have peace myself, why am I visiting this Blog to castigate people I don't even know"?

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  9. Ted Loiseau2:57 PM

    Now we at least know that anonymous doesn't understand what the word vitriol means. Vitriol is defined as, "Cruel and bitter criticism." And no one here engages in that.

    Either that or anonymous is supportive of the homosexual and or abortion agendas and perceives the Church's teaching as "vitriol."

    Either way, this person is confused.

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