Timothy Birdnow

Writing at American Thinker this morning, Thomas Lifson chronicles a candidate for the Darwin Awards.

From the article:

"ISIS generally doesn’t respond well to music.

But that isn’t stopping James Twyman, an author and musician based in Portland, Oregon, from planning a trip to ISIS-held territory in Syria later this month to help bring peace to the region through the power of a musical-prayer concert."

End excerpt.

This article about a dim witted peace activist overwhelmed by the notion that warfare and hatred are the results of a misunderstanding and that peace will come through comity and soft-hearted tenderness brought my mind back to the thoughts I had at my local Catholic mass last night.

I attended the 4:30 Saturday evening Mass so as to avoid having to go out on the coldest day this season. The priest, a fine boring old fellow, droned on about the favorite topic of priests throughout the St. Louis Archdiocese (and probably across America); how we need to be gentler, less bellicose, nicer. His sermon consisted of complaining about the coming acrimony of the election season, and how the anger and finger pointing is somehow anti-Christian. We are, he firmly instructed us, charged to bring people together, to be a bridge, to soften the blows of an angry political electorate. Viva la moderation! A good Christian charges the hill shouting "middle ground and tolerance for all!"

The Catholic Church in America is unable to grasp why so many pews are empty in the churches.

The problem is exactly the problem with this dim-wit who believes that everything is but a misunderstanding and that we can all come together. But it is not a Christian concept; Jesus said "I come not to bring peace but the sword" and he meant it. Nothing Jesus did was to promote peace. He is called the "Prince of Peace" because He brings peace to the individual, to the family, to the local community of believers. But Jesus did not come to end war, anger, bitterness or strife but rather to increase it.

Why? Because Jesus came to bring Truth and Righteousness, two concepts that Mankind, fallen and largley evil, despise. Think about it; Jesus was threatened on more than one occasion with stoning, and had to flee. He infuriated his followers, who all left when He was speaking (except the 12). He called Pharisees hypocrites and vipers regularly. He smarted off to Caiaphas, the High Priest, to Herod, and to Pontius Pilate, a situation that ended in His torture and execution. He refused to follow certain laws and customs; dining with tax collectors, whores, Samaritans, and Romans. He grew quite wroth with the money changers in the Temple, overturning their tables and kicking them out bodily.

Jesus was not in any way about blandness, mildness, or finding middle ground.He was about Truth. He was about Righteousness. People hate that.

And what so amazed the Jews of the day was the way Jesus preached with assuredness, with strength, confidence, and authority. This was quite at odds with the Rabbinic tradition of counterargument, balance, and moderation. Many saw Him as wreckless and immoderate.

So when Catholic priests stand up on the altar and exhort us to moderation and spinelessness I cringe; Jesus would be disgusted. In fact I know He is, because in the Book of Revalation His message to the Church of Laodecia is "you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were hot or cold, but as you are not I will spew you forth from my mouth>' Jesus wants passion. He does not want this "middle ground" imbecility.

And to have that one must have the Truth and fight for it. The Church has largely given up on that mission. Time was the Church worried about SOULS, and labored to keep people out of Hell. Jesus spoke extensively about Hell (moreso than about Heaven) and warned about the terrible nature of winding up in that place. The purpose of the Church was to save people from going there. Sin is the cause of damnation, and the Church preached against it as Smokie the Bear preaches against leaving burning camp fires unattended. Fire and brimstone sermons were common, and Sin was called out for what it was. No more; now all the priests talk about the glories of submissiveness, of being nice to one another. Churches have become the playground for spiritual Barney the Dinosaurs, a place bereft of content or spirituality or purpose.

There are never important things discussed. The Church teaches that homosexuality is a Sin, one leading to damnation, and yet, despite the promotion of gay marriage and it's being made law by SCOTUS, there is nary a peep abouot it. The priests never speak about abortion except at certain times, even though it is a horrible sin. How many parishoners have had them? There is no mention of so many things that should be brought up as a matter of Faith and Morals. The welfare state, for instance, is inherently immoral; it empowers the politically connected to steal from some people to give to others. Welfare is a sin. So too is deficit spending, a thievery of the wealth of the future. Refusing to enforce border laws is sinful, a betrayal of authority, a disobedience of the laws of the land. So many issues are in fact moral problems and the Church is duty-bound to address them, but they are afraid, partly because they fear losing parishoners, but also because they are afraid of losing their tax-exempt status.

That SOB among SOB's, Lyndon Baines Johnson, changed the tax exemption code for just this purpose. He was taking a hit from the pulpit, so he made changes to the tax code to allow bigger exemptions for churches provided they stay completely out of politics. The result? Content free sermons and a complete abdication of the duty of the Church to push back against the rising tide of leftism.

So the god of money has taken the altar of the Most High.

But what of losing parishoners? Surely it is our duty to coax them in, so they can accept the message?

Jesus says no.

He was most explicit; "if a place does not accept you, shake the dust of the town off your feet and move on". No coaxing, no begging, no cajoling - present the Truth and they can either take it or leave it. If they leave it then they accept the consequences. Christians are supposed to proseletyze, but not beg.

Which is precisely what the fellow in the American Thinker article is doing. He is begging, guitar in hand, on the theory that a.all people are inherently good (a Progressive, non-Christian belief - Christians believe in Original Sin) b.we must cajol people by pleasing them and c. human hatred is a mere misunderstanding between peoples. None of these notions are true, and none of them are Christian. But this is fundamentally what the preist in Church last night was preaching, and it doesn't work.

People who hold strong beliefs, even if they are delusions, will not be swayed by kind words and easy charities. On the contrary, a hard and devoted people like the Muslims will despise such individuals as weak, cowardly, hypocritical.

America is going to die. America's death is not going to be because we spent to much money, or allowed too many immigrants to come in, or were weak militarily. It will not be Barack Obama who brings us down. These are all symptoms of a spiritual and moral malady; our fall will be because we accepted moral relativism, came to believe in the absolute truth of nothingness. We were told we cannot judge, no matter how worthy of judgement a thing may be. We were told we cannot be firm, must be flexible and willing to compromise. We have compromised the Truth to liars, and the result is we find ourselves beset on all sides by problems that stem from our immoral beliefs. We havre been lulled by the enemy of our souls into dullness, blandness, pussilanimity, all in the name of comity and getting along. America has become Rodney King personified. Getting along is the highest goal, no matter if we must surrender our nation, our heritage, and our souls.

Who are we as a people? If the upcoming political season ISN'T a time for acrimony and bitterness, what is? Happy idiots are precisely that, and making peace while we are being assaulted is the penultimate stupidity. And it is not christian.

If this musician really wants to help in the Middle East he should learn to use a gun and not a guitar. As it has been said, those who beat their swords into plow shears will wind up plowing for those who kept their swords. This fellow should go to the Kurds.

And so should the Catholic Church. There is a time for every season under Heaven, and sometimes there is a time for war. We are in such a time. Sadly, the Catholic Church thinks we are still in the world of Ozzie and harriette.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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