Why America Dies

Part 1: American Idol...atry

The world has been in a revolutionary tumult for so long, good people have started to conclude that anything sounding revolutionary must be bad and, therefore, avoided. I beg you to reconsider that idea.

Simply stated: If the world is upside-down, setting it aright cannot be a bad move. Heaven help us to do so.

America dies because it has set up an idol in the place of God. Yes, we are idolaters. Need proof? Really? If I were to ask you if there were an entity on earth that walks around pretending to be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, while seeking our obeisance in matters well beyond reason or right, who or what would you name?

I venture to say that EVERYONE would readily respond with “government” and/or “law”. Sadly, that acknowledgement would not be accompanied by the righteous indignation that should follow. Or have we forgotten that sin is the greatest evil and must be contested?

“I am the Lord thy God….Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.”

Indeed, what a “strange god” we’ve let grow up in our midst. The Ten Commandments have been replaced with a “legion” of laws! An omnipotent, but loving father has been replaced with a “boot stamping on the face of a human…forever.” And instead of that same loving Father present “everywhere” and encouraging us to virtue and morality, we’ve replaced it with the surveillance state. Heck, what if our taxes were only a tithe (one-tenth) of our wealth?!? Nope, the “strange god” wants it all!

Still, as I say, it is our own fault. We don’t have to worship at the altar of this “strange god”, but breaking the habit has proven difficult. The devil has done a number on us, convincing us that “slavish obedience” is a virtue and that all law is just and good. Saints (as should our own common sense) have told us otherwise.

Which leads me to some suggestions on the solution to this quagmire:

• First, study the meaning of law and the types (and hierarchy) of law. You will have to navigate the two extremes of slavery and libertinism, but, when your vision is corrected, you will finally understand the phrase: “We must obey God, rather than men.”

• Second, truly meditate on the Free Will that God gave you and the moral responsibility that follows from your freedom of will. God created us with the ability to DISobey. Notice how the “strange god” considers such actions intolerable. When you properly understand the freedom of your will, you will fully understand what St. Paul meant when he said some are “a law to themselves.” Romans 2:14.

As a beggar, I have nothing to give. I can only ask you for things. Today, I ask you to understand your dignity as children of God. You were created free and have been called to hear and do the law of God. Not just know it, but love it. Make it a rule of life that you will follow, even unto death. Die rather than sin. That is my ask of you.

I beg you to cast away this “strange god”, while following all proper “ordinances of reason” and the commandments of God and His Church.