The Paganization of America, Part 2

Elevating the concept of liberty to the status of an absolute turns liberty into a god or goddess. Did you know that the French artist who designed and constructed the Statue of Liberty modeled it after a pagan goddess?

In the last two weeks we've witnessed drastic swings in the stock markets of China, Japan, Europe and the United States. This was brought about by the devaluation of China's currency, which threatened to bring on "currency wars" - other nations also devaluing their currencies in order to compete better in international trade. The final result of such actions, however, is rapid inflation and the plundering of the poor and the elderly whose limited finances are stretched to the breaking point.

When stock markets no longer serve the purpose of financing honest buyers and sellers of goods and services, but rather become the domain of mega-banks and giant investment funds near-instantaneously squeezing tiny slices of profits via electronic day-trading, the markets become subject to vast, rapid fluctuations. The honest small business owner loses his shirt in such a violently rapacious environment. When central banks create trillions of dollars out of thin air to bail out investment funds and private banks that went under by lending to totally unqualified home buyers, the common taxpayer is stuck with the bill in the form of higher taxes and inflation. Is that liberty, or debt slavery?

We also witnessed this week the celebration of New Orleans' recovery after Hurricane Katrina struck that city ten years ago. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were devastated and left homeless. The storm surge, as high as 15 to 30 feet above normal sea level, flooded 80% of New Orleans, had affected about 60 miles of Louisiana coast, much of the Mississippi coast, and came several miles inland. Large swathes of this area that are located under sea level were to be protected by seawalls against the flooding that comes with hurricanes.

Now the new higher, stronger seawalls, built at the expense of billions of tax dollars, are supposed to protect that sinful city against such a catastrophic event for the next 100 years. But the rise of temperatures causes melting of glaciers and polar ice and more violent weather, bringing sea levels ever higher and increasing the risk of other Katrina-size hurricanes much sooner than in 100 years, producing another failed bailout at taxpayer expense.

"The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn't repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn't worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. They didn't repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts." (Rev. 9:20-21)

What is the cause of all this?

Mankind is in rebellion against all authority, both divine and human. The goddess of "Liberty" promises total autonomy of each and every individual. Children are to be free, not obedient to their parents' authority. Adults must be free to do whatever they like, disobeying the law of God and man, and flouting traditional morality. St. Paul wrote -

"But know this, that in the last days, grievous times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof." (2 Tim. 3:1-5)

Woven into the fabric of western society is this rejection of authority: university and even high school students consider themselves on a par with their professors and teachers, ordinary citizens see themselves just as competent as or even better than experienced government officials (perhaps due to revelations of moral lapses by the latter), and even church members often have little or no respect for pastors, priests, bishops and patriarchs. They reject the idea that a holy, godly and righteous person could be any more of a saint than they are.

The result is that morality is turned inside-out and upside-down with sexual perversion winning court cases against those who try to practice traditional Christian morality. They are so convinced of the rightness of their error that they are totally unable to repent and turn from their wickedness. St. John describes this sad condition of hardened hearts -

"The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire. People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory. The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. Yet they did not repent of their works." (Rev. 16:8-11)

It is a terrible thing to be incapable of recognizing one's own sins, and instead projecting the guilt on God and His saints, even persecuting and killing them. But in the end, as St. John writes - "I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, and didn't receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for the thousand years." (Rev. 20:4)

As Christians, we look forward to this glorious hope of resurrection when God the Father and Christ His Son will set things straight again. But until then we must hold firm, because only "he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Mat. 24:13)

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 29 Aug. 2015.)