God’s Family or the Devil’s Chattel?
By: Fr. Campbell
On the Feast of the Holy Family, God reminds us that we are an important part of His family. He misses us, and can hardly wait till we are safely home with Him in Heaven. God’s Divine Son, Jesus, misses us too, as do our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. One day, if we complete our journey in this world successfully, we will sit with them at their table enjoying the Heavenly Banquet. If you think I am making this up, read the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk.15:11-32), and the parable of the Marriage Feast (Mt.22:1-14).
Everyone needs a place to call home and a family to love, and that we will have forever in Heaven. Here we have no lasting home, because we belong to God as His very dear children. St. Paul says:
“He (God) predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his sons, according to the purpose of his will, unto the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he has favored us in his beloved Son (Eph.1:5-6)… Be you, therefore, imitators of God, as very dear children and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and delivered himself up for us an offering and a sacrifice to God to ascend in fragrant odor” (Eph.5:1,2).
But can we know God already in this world? We can, says St. John:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love (1Jn.4:7,8).
The devil, despite his incredible intelligence, does not understand this. There is no love in him. He is incapable of love, or of being loved. A great multitude of the angels went to Hell with him, and now he wants to see the rest of us down there too. But St. Paul insists that our true home is in Heaven:
“For we know that if the earthly house in which we dwell be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made by human hands, eternal in the heavens. And indeed, in this present state we groan, yearning to be clothed over with that dwelling of ours which is from heaven…” (2Cor.5:1-,2).
We must not forget that parents have the God-given right to oversee the education of their children, and to give them a thoroughly Catholic education. The State is not equipped to do this, nor does it have the authority to take control of the education of the citizens, young or old. We can hardly overestimate the importance of the Feast of the Holy Family. God’s way of creating and educating a society which is well ordered and at peace is through the family, “in order that, rejecting ungodliness and worldly lusts, we may live temperately and justly and piously in this world; looking for the blessed hope and glorious coming of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ…” (Tit.2:12,13).
The training of the children in the virtue of obedience is of vital importance. Without obedience in the family, the family falls apart. When obedience is no more, society falls into chaos. We must learn from the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph, all three of whom were perfect in obedience.
Those who preside over the governments of this world must also be in obedience to Christ the King, whom God has set over us as Ruler of all nations. But Christ the King has been denied and betrayed, and God’s established order has been overthrown. The devil wants World Revolution. Virtually all nations and peoples have transferred their obedience from God to Satan. The way of the world is to destroy the family, and make everyone a subject of the New World Order. But God will have the last word.
Our own presidents of recent times, and most of our other leaders have become prophets of the New World Order, and have no true love of their country. They do not recognize the authority of Christ the King. They have assumed an authority over us to which they have no right. In their eyes we are no more than cattle that can be herded and branded. Cattle are branded, not human beings. Dogs and cats are implanted with a chip, not human beings. It is far beneath our human dignity.
In the Apocalypse we read about the “beast coming up out of the sea” (Apoc.13:1). But the “beast” is no sea serpent or giant squid. The “beast” represents the antichrist, or the powers of this world which are under his dominion:
“And it (the beast) will cause all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, to have a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and it will bring it about that no one may be able to buy or sell, except him who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Apoc.13:16,17).
Yes, the chip could be very useful! Lost children could always be identified. Stealing would be very difficult. Criminals and terrorists and the mentally deranged could be easily tracked and controlled. Files and medical records could be kept for every person. And, of course, buying and selling would be simplified. You would never need your credit cards again, and no one would be able to steal your identity. But these are not the real reasons for the chip. Control of a population implanted with the chip will be much easier. We will end up under total surveillance and control, as in George Orwell’s prophetic novel, “1984”. Freedom will then be at an end! Medical treatments are already being rationed. Medical treatment may be withdrawn from the old and the disabled, and they could be euthanized when they are no longer deemed useful.
Is the chip the “mark of the beast”? That’s not for us to decide, but it is an exact match for the description given in the Apocalypse. St. John gives us this further vital information:
“And the dragon (the devil) gave it (the beast) his own might and great authority… And all the earth followed the beast in wonder. And they worshipped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast… And it was allowed to wage war with the saints and to overcome them. And there was given to it authority over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. And all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain from the foundation of the world” (Apoc.13:2b;3b,4a;7,8).
I will not be first in line to receive the chip implant. St. John gives us a more acceptable alternative:
“And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, who had it in their power to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’” (Apoc.7:2,3).
As Jesus said to the father of the boy possessed, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him who believes” (Mk.9:22). St. John tells us that by our faith we can even overcome the world:
“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves him who begot, loves also the one begotten of him. In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome. Because all that is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is there that overcomes the world if not he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1Jn.5:1-5).
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