Tuesday, March 23, 2010

March 21, 2010 -- A Day That Will Live in Infamy

This is a travesty.

"This is your hour, and the power of darkness." (St. Luke 22:53)

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing." (St. Luke 23:34)

Our elected representatives have betrayed us, but even worse, they have betrayed the innocent unborn child in the womb. They have told lies instead of the truth; they have condoned murder over respect for human life. They have chosen injustice over justice, and put personal gain ahead of the common good.

Worst of all is the betrayal of Jesus in this hour. Two thousand years ago, the Son of God was betrayed by Judas, one of His own disciples -- in exchange for a bag of money. Today He is betrayed by Nancy Pelosi, who also claims to be one of His own -- in exchange for very much the same thing.

We have done what we can to prevent this from happening. Now we must be at peace, because we have done the right thing and tried to get our national civil authorities to do the same.

"If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life." (Ezek. 3:18-19)

We must also accept God's Will in permitting this to happen, and trust in Him for the future, because He has a plan. Our elected representatives may not know what they are doing, but God knows what He is doing. He is allowing evil a temporary triumph, because in the end it must suffer a complete, humiliating and crushing defeat.

The timing of this event in the latter part of Lent is more than coincidental. Something much deeper than a political reality is at work here: a moral and spiritual reality. "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places." (Eph. 6:12)

We are in a war, a spiritual war that is escalating, a war in which we will ultimately be victorious--if we remain faithful. The final victory over evil will come at the end of the world, when Jesus returns in glory to inaugurate the Last Judgment of all mankind. As the Just Judge, He will assign eternal rewards to righteous individuals and sentence eternal punishments to evildoers.

"These will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matt. 25:46)

Those who do evil will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD will possess the land. (Ps. 37:9)

Truly the evil man shall not go unpunished, but those who are just shall escape. (Prov. 11:21)

The Bible is very clear about what will happen to unrepentant workers of iniquity. "He shall remember their iniquity and punish their sins." (Hosea 9:9)

"My foes will be terrified and disgraced; all will fall back in sudden shame." (Ps. 6:11)

For the evil man has no future, the lamp of the wicked will be put out. (Prov. 24:20)

"As the tongue of fire licks up stubble, as dry grass shrivels in the flame, Even so their root shall become rotten and their blossom scatter like dust." (Isa. 5:24)

"Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." (Matt. 13:40-42)

Just as Jesus triumphed over sin, death and the Devil by rising from the dead on Easter Sunday, the victorious apocalyptic Lamb (Rev. 5-7, 17:14) will definitively triumph over all the evil in the world on Judgment Day.

We await that Day in joyful hope.

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