Perspectives of a Wanderer

Apr 20 2009

We are at war. Time to start acting like it.

Published by peregrinus at 9:15 pm under Apologetics, Evangelization, Ramblings, The "Next Real Crusade"

Yes, we are at war, and the enemy is “Legion”.

The forces of evil are taking many forms today. Whether it be Relativism, Socialism, Liberalism, Materialism, or even Global Capitalism, all are aligned against the moral and social teachings of the Catholic Church and are trying to drive us away from the Church. Their perversions have infested the world and we must be the defenders against them

We must completely reject all of these even if it means persecution. This means the complete opposition and refusal to comply with unjust man made “positive law”, rejection of excessive material cravings, and refusal to do business with or even associate with those who subscribe to the above perversions. This is the defensive part of the war.

The offensive part of the war is the Crusade of Evangelization we must all partake in to convert people over to our way of thinking. This crusade has a two-pronged attack.

The first is how we live our lives. You have heard of the quote: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words”. This means we must live our lives according to the teaching of Our Lord and his Church. If we do not live accordingly, we will lose the war at this point

The second is a very active evangelization. Yes, what I am talking about can be considered proselytism, and you know what, you are right because it is. We must take the truth to the enemy and get in their faces. Of course, there are some things that must not do. Those things include:

Forcing people to convert
Providing physical benefits in hopes that recipients will be open to listening
Providing physical benefits only to those willing to listen
Providing physical benefits only who convert

What we must do is preach the Truth to all, both those who are willing to listen and to those who are hardened to the Word of God. We must use the public square as our pulpit at every chance we get.

The battle will be long, but we must in it for the long run. All of us are called to do battle in varying degrees.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

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4 responses so far

4 Responses to “We are at war. Time to start acting like it.”

# Ted Duplessison 20 Apr 2009 at 9:46 pm

Great article. This is what I love about the Catholic faith. We don’t force people to covert or bribe people by with holding food in Africa, in exchange for them to read a bible.
# Felixon 22 Apr 2009 at 3:23 pm

Proselytizing is generally seen as an evil thing in this relativistic culture. But, it is a very good thing if done charitably and with humility as the Apostles and many Saints have done in the street corners, welcoming homes, government offices and tribunals, non-Christian ghettos, and even synagogues or other non-Christian places of worship that they were eventually expelled from due to the people’s intolerance, unreasonableness, and bigotry.

Of course, performance of the corporeal works of mercy should not be subject to the spiritual condition of those benefiting from those works. Whether or not they want to be Catholic Christians should not matter when we give them food and other material assistance. We should also not bribe them into conversion by making conversion a mandatory condition in order to receive such help. It is important that conversions be truly genuine springing forth from the prompting of the Holy Spirit. We should simply give compassionately and hope that we show them a good and holy example to strive to imitate. They would already know that we’re Catholic Christians by our many exterior signs, if our living example causes them to inquire about our faith, then we teach them our faith in a humble and charitable way.
# Felixon 22 Apr 2009 at 3:30 pm

PS: You know, I’ve heard that outside religious processions, public outdoor prayer, and stations of the cross can at times be very effective. Also, distributing pamphlets or booklets wouldn’t hurt. Catholic Answers and other apologetic groups and religious orders print them.
# peregrinuson 22 Apr 2009 at 4:03 pm

Felix:

You have to remember, almost anything type of evangelization that comes from the Christian community, especially Catholics, is considered by some to be proselytizing. That is what we are up against. That is why I said “I do not care”. Those people’s opinion means squat and we should treat it that way.