WHAT WOULD JOHN THE BAPTIST DO?

George Offerman

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for Baptism, he said to them “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”

Matt 3:7-10

Can. 915 Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to holy communion.

Code of Cannon Law, Cannon 915.

CNSNews.com continued: “‘We cannot--we will not—comply with this law.’ Catholic bishops are saying they will not comply with this law. Will you stand with your fellow Catholics in resisting this law or will you stick by the administration?”

Pelosi: “First of all, I am going to stick with my fellow Catholics in supporting the administration on this. I think it was a very courageous decision that they made, and I support it.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/pelosi-vows-stand-obama-against-catholic-church-says-decision-forcing-catholics-act   

Excommunication.  She said it herself, and by their own words, Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius excommunicated themselves, and as such, are in grave sin and have disqualified themselves from participating in receiving Holy Communion.  It’s not even an issue of the Bishops doing their jobs on this one; it’s simply a matter of complying with the wishes of both fallen away Catholics Pelosi and Sebelius.  Now if the bishops only have the intestinal fortitude of one of the greatest Prophets who ever walked the earth, this charade would end before it begins.

John the Baptist was described by Jesus himself as being the ‘greatest man ever born’ of a woman, and it was this last Old Testament prophet who ushered in the messianic age with great authority.  John garnered a large number of followers and preached with such authority that even the Jewish religious leaders inquired as to whether John was the prophesied Messiah.  John’s preaching was pure truth, and cut like the sword of truth does; straight and true.  There was no equivocation, no apologies, no taking prisoners and NO PLACATING THE ENEMY anywhere or in any place in either word or deed.  John went directly to the palace (White House) and condemned the King’s (president’s) behavior and called on the king (president) to repent.  John continued until he was imprisoned and executed by the king, due to the king’s insistence that he live his life in the ways as he saw fit (Obama, Pelosi, and Sebelius).

The Bishops know this in the depths of their hearts and the Bishops are crystal clear on what they need to do in this matter.  So are the faithful who truly hold the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.  And the faithful are watching the Bishops VERY CAREFULLY.  If the Bishops do not carry through on their MANDATE TO PREACH AND PROTECT THE GOSPEL AND UNVARNISHED TRUTH, THEY HAVE SET THIS COUNTRY ON THE PATH TO HELL.  There is no other way to put this, and no other outcome will suffice.  If the Bishops choose to placate the enemy and sell the Church down the road, they will bring judgment upon themselves and will themselves experience personal persecution to levels they cannot even begin to imagine.

John the Baptist WOULDN’T BE CAUGHT DEAD giving the invocation at the democratic convention.  Quite to the contrary, John the Baptist would be outside the convention center preaching repentance and giving the real and harsh consequences of policies that murder the most innocent of society.  John the Baptist also would not wait until the ‘last two weeks before the election’ to preach his message.  No, John the Baptist would PHYSICALLY BE PRESENT at the seat of power and would engage the lead perpetrator (Obama) face to face.  No equivocation, no apologies, no taking prisoners and no placating the enemy.

The Bishops must be willing to imitate John the Baptist.  And I will give the Bishops my word as a Catholic, that I will be willing to stand with them in any situation, anywhere in this country and would be willing to be arrested WITH THEM, if they stand against this rogue government, but I want to be clear I WILL NOT STAND IN THEIR STEAD.  I am willing to risk all I have to defend this line, but the Bishops have to be willing to go to jail with me as a witness against this evil regime.  I know of multitudes of people who think and feel as I do, but they must speak for themselves on this matter.

This is the line in the sand.   This is war, declared by the rogue Obama regime and implemented by fallen away 'Catholics' who appear to be proud to be "sticking it to the man" (hierarchy).  This is the future of our church.  Since the Bishops have not stood up for the church in the last forty years, they are not well versed in what civil disobedience looks like.  Either way, they will learn this lesson soon, and will learn it well.

"A LINE HAS BEEN CROSSED'

George Offerman

The above title is taken from Arlington Bishop Loverde’s piece that appeared last week in the Arlington Catholic Herald and it addresses the latest scandal perpetrated against Catholics by the rogue Obamination administration and enforced by Secretary of Health and Human Services and discalced Catholic Kathleen Sebelius.  The HHS is requiring all employers to offer contraceptive and abortofacient coverage for employees of organizations, and the Catholic Church has until January 20, 2013 to comply or face ‘penalties’.  Bishop Loverde, as like many members of the Catholic Hierarchy, has come out with strong statements against this horrific policy in the past week or so and it is reflecting the leading role the Catholic Hierarchy should be taking to begin with.

http://catholicherald.com/stories/A-line-has-been-crossed,17911  

I was also heartened by the fact that our Parochial Vicar gave a strongly worded and politically laced homily last Sunday and was equally convicted of the vileness of this policy.  Similar to the tone taken by Bishop Loverde, this homily focused on the need to act and if need be, to follow one’s conscience in the matter (civil disobedience without using the phrase).  It is one of the first times I have heard in quite a while a more unified stance on any Church teaching and I hope this portends to greater action by the Church body as a whole.

That being said, my dominant reaction to both is: WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THESE YEARS?  The Church has remained, with a few exceptions deafening quiet for the past 40 years or so concerning laws enacted in this country that are contrary to Church teachings.  What is so difficult to fathom about this ‘new’ stand is the outright war on our Church has been going on for way more than a generation.  Why this is now considered crossing a line seems to only indicate how far behind the Church is concerning these matters, and how much more the fight will require of all of us now that we need to retake ground that should have never been lost in the first place.

The Supreme Court threw out public prayer in the mid 60’s, and the Church remained silent.  The Roe V. Wade decision occurred in 1973, ‘legalizing’ the slaughter of the most innocent among us and the Church remained silent.  There was the homosexual scandals in both the Church and Seminaries in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and the Church hid and denied the truth, and in effect remained silent.  Various elected and /or appointed ‘Catholic’ officials elevated into places of power since the late 90’s to present have consistently violated clear Catholic teachings and tenets of the faith, and nary a peep from the Church.

The Church has consistently taken a passive “let’s love them, and change their hearts” approach instead of standing up as a John the Baptist or an apostle of Jesus as called by the Gospels, and we are now reaping the very deserving harvest of religious repression and persecution.  It seems incredible, or nearly inconceivable that the Church will now take a hardened position on the matter of contraceptives and mandates to ‘pay’ for these items, when we as a nation have been funding legalized child killing through taxes for years.  What has changed in the Catholic attitude that would lead one to believe things will be any different this time?

This is a Church that just a few short years ago put out a scandalous brochure “Faithful Citizenship” that equated the perceived ‘racism’ and legalized child killing as moral equivalents.  This brochure did nothing but cause confusion among the laity, and equivocated on real Church teachings.  As has been well documented, 54% of CATHOLICS voted for the most pro death president in the history of this country.  Candidate Obama was CRYSTAL CLEAR on his intention of upholding the ‘rule of law’ protecting legalized child killing on demand, and intended to overhaul heath care as his number one mandate, which included REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS.  So there can be NO CREDIBLE CLAIM BY THE CHURCH that they did not see this coming, and in fact, they were active in having several people arrested for handing out guides that accurately reflected true Church teachings, and yours truly was one of those arrested for doing such activities.

The truth of the matter is, that we have no excuse and have no one else to blame except ourselves for this predicament.  Obama is doing exactly as he promised, and is being true to his agenda, which was laid out before us at the onset of his campaign.  How the vast majority of Clergy and laity did not (and some still do not) see this is beyond mystifying.  However, they (the Church) had been warned by those who could see where this was going, and it landed on deaf ears.  Now, it appears the bill is due, and the deadline is set for January 20, 2013 (Ironically, nearly 40 years to the day from Roe).

This is a spiritual battle, and spiritual techniques must be employed.  The Bishops especially those close to the seat of power, Bishop Loverde of Arlington, Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Archbishop O’brien of Baltimore  must lead the charge and take matters into their own hands, as if they were John the Baptist, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter and Paul all rolled into one.  It needs to start by EXCOMMUNICATING EVERY ONE OF THESE CHARLATANS CLAIMING TO BE CATHOLIC, WITH NO APOLOGIES.  Demand they publicly denounce their Anti Catholic positions before readmitting them to the sacraments. This message must be preached on every Sunday and the laity must be given clear and concise marching orders to effect change.  These charlatan ‘Catholics’ must be told without any hesitation that their eternal souls are in jeopardy, and that their faith must guide their political decisions in that order. And there needs to be clear and concise consequences if these charlatans want to walk this fine line and be both 'self serving' politicians and ‘Catholics in good standing”.  Take no prisoners, and make no apologies.

If the Bishops stand up and follow cannon law, especially Cannon 915, this matter will be cleared up within 12 months.  Once again, the hierarchy would carry the moral grounds this Church once had some time ago, and these wayward and lying politicians would be fearful of violating God’s laws and would tremble at the thought of ‘legislating evil’.  There wouldn’t even need to be a ‘debate’ about homosexual marriage, birth control and abortofacients, or legalized child killing because even the most daft among us would understand it would be legislating evil.  Yes, the line has been crossed, but Bishop Loverde and the rest of the Bishops; it was crossed decades ago.  Where have you been?