“That you may follow in his steps” (1Pet.2:21)
What
the Shepherd requires of His sheep is that they follow Him. We know
what happens to the sheep that go astray. Disobedience brings about its
own punishment, and they are eaten by the wolf. God gave Moses the Ten
Commandments which the people were to follow. But when Moses went back
up the mountain they got tired of waiting, and they worshipped a golden
calf along with immoral carousing and cavorting. God spoke in anger to
Moses:
“Go
down at once to your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt,
for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way
I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and
worshipping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O
Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’” (Ex.32:7,8).
A
terrible punishment from God was executed against them, as it must be
for all who turn away from God and worship the things of this world.
Today the whole world seems to be in open revolt against God, meriting a
terrible and catastrophic punishment for its sins. The leaders of the
nations, virtually all of them, care nothing about observing God’s
Commandments, and the most immoral activities are condoned. As a result,
God’s judgment lies heavy upon the world:
“Woe
to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter… Therefore as the tongue of the fire devoureth the stubble, and
the heat of the flame consumeth it: so shall their root be as ashes, and
their bud shall go up as dust. For they have cast away the law of the
Lord of hosts, and have blasphemed the word of the Holy One of Israel”
(Is.5:20;24).
We
must be absolutely clear about this: those who choose NOT to belong to
the flock of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will find themselves
entangled in the snares of that evil shepherd, the devil, who will drag
them down kicking and screaming into the fires of Hell. In this world
there is no place safe from the devil. God alone is our refuge, as we
read in the psalm:
“I
love you, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my
deliverer. My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold! Praised be the Lord, I exclaim, and I am safe
from my enemies” (Ps.17:2-4).
We
have entered a period of grave danger for the sheep, full of dangerous
cliffs and difficult terrain. If they don’t follow the Shepherd now,
they will find themselves lost and abandoned, and falling over the
precipice to their destruction. The wolf is turning the world upside
down, almost literally, and he has the sheep all over the world
following him. The earth seems to be out of control, the poles are
straying as the earth wobbles on its axis. Earthquakes are on the rise,
and the rains become torrential, with catastrophic floods and
landslides. Ask the Inuit people of the north. They have observed that
the sun no longer rises or sets in its usual place.
Kings
and governors and presidents must rule in God’s place. They are
answerable to God for their decisions and actions. But the nations are
now in full revolt against God. They are following the false shepherd,
the devil. They do not recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, and
they are not part of His flock. They will go down into the pit.
Pity
the children, and those who are not well instructed in their Catholic
Faith. They are the chief victims of the wolves in sheep’s clothing that
abound today. They are even taught lies from the Novus Ordo pulpits and
in their Novus Ordo schools. And their alleged “pope”, Francis
Bergoglio, willfully blind to the truth himself, is leading them into
the swamp of error and confusion.
Bergoglio’s
close relationship with the Jews is well known, especially with his
close friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka. It bothers him not at all that God’s
Divine Son, Jesus Christ, is said in the Jewish Talmud to be suffering
in Hell for all eternity, and that the Most Pure and Holy Mother of God,
Mary, was an immoral woman of the streets.
Every
false religion is honored by Bergoglio, while Traditional Catholics are
the butt of his anger and scorn. Benedict XVI spoke out about the
Muslim persecution of Christians, says an article in Jihad Watch.
But “By contrast, Francis energetically defends Islam, and leaves the
persecuted Christians twisting in the wind… As the prototypical
progressive Jesuit, Pope (sic) Francis prides himself on his
‘ecumenism.’ He oozes enthusiasm for every religion except his own. At
the top of his list of favorite religions is the Church’s fiercest
adversary – Islam…
“As
Europe turns into Eurabia, Pope (sic) Francis is picking up honors and
awards from progressives, including, hilariously, the 2016 ‘Charlemagne
Prize’ for his Islamic apologetics. It is hard to imagine a Christian
leader less like Charlemagne. Pope (sic) Francis is energized not
depressed by the disappearance of Christian Europe.” (Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch, April 26, 2017).
Our own St. Jude, citing the Patriarch Henoch, has the appropriate words:
“‘Behold,
the Lord has come with thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment
upon all, and to convict all the impious of all their impious works, and
of all the hard things that impious sinners have spoken against him.’
These are grumbling murmurers walking according to their lusts. And
haughty in speech, they cultivate people for the sake of gain. But as
for you, beloved, be mindful of the words that have been spoken
beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who kept saying to
you that at the end of time there will come scoffers, walking impiously
according to their lusts…