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\u00a0<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t an election. It was a revolution… Midnight has passed. A new day has come. And everything is about to change. <\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n OR <\/strong>is it about to change, and for the better?<\/p>\n Many Christians in the United States are celebrating today, celebrating as if the “midnight has passed” and a new day has come. I pray with all my heart that, in America at least, this would be true. That the Christian roots of that nation would have a chance to\u00a0flourish once again. That all<\/em> women will be respected, including those in the womb. That religious freedom will be restored, and that peace will fill her borders.<\/p>\n But without Jesus Christ\u00a0and His Gospel as the source <\/em>of the country’s\u00a0liberty, it will be but a false peace and a false security.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As political pundits hash and rehash the American election, I pray that\u00a0we will have the wisdom to perceive the bigger picture unfolding in our world. We have to step back, even beyond our own generation, to understand what is taking place at this time. A revolutionary spirit <\/em>has been unleashed, and has been for some time. As Pope Leo XIII said, it is…<\/p>\n \u2026the spirit of revolutionary change which has long been disturbing the nations of the world\u2026 there are not a few who are imbued with evil principles and eager for revolutionary change, whose main purpose is to stir up disorder and incite their fellows to acts of violence. <\/span><\/strong>\u2014POPE LEO XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum<\/em>, n. 1, 38; vatican.va<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That\u00a0prophetic warning was followed by the Italian, Spanish, Communist, and Nazi revolutions. But while the\u00a0wall fell\u00a0in the Soviet Union, this revolutionary spirit has not. <\/em>Rather,\u00a0subtly, quietly, it has spread its errors throughout the world, namely, atheistic materialism<\/em>\u00a0driven\u00a0by moral relativism.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is to say that Britain’s “Brexit” vote to reject the EU, America’s recent election that repudiated the establishment, the rise of the far right in Europe… are\u00a0not an indication that the nations are moving toward repentance<\/em>, but nationalism and self-preservation. To overthrow governments, even corrupt governments, is not a bad thing, of course. But what fills\u00a0the vacuum afterward?<\/p>\n The majority of countries in the West are rapidly moving away <\/em>from moral absolutes with no sign of serious conversion in sight. What are people most worried about? It’s not the loss of faith in God, but according to polls, the “economy”, “peace” and “security”.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, organized religion is being perceived more and more as part<\/em> of the establishment that needs to be overthrown, particularly\u00a0as sexual and financial scandals undermine the mainstream denominations,\u00a0most especially, the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n This is all to say that the revolutionary spirit of our day has a name: the spirit of antichrist. <\/em><\/p>\n Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist. (1 John 2:22)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n To deny that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, does not\u00a0necessarily mean to intellectually reject His historical role. Rather, it is to reject what it implies: that I need Him to save me. The spirit of antichrist, <\/em>therefore, places oneself at the center of the universe, rather than God. And from my place on the watchman’s wall, I do\u00a0not see this spirit receding, even with America’s election results. Rather, within Christianity\u00a0itself, there is\u00a0a growing…<\/p>\n \u2026dictatorship of relativism that recognizes nothing as definite, and which leaves as the ultimate measure only one\u2019s ego and desires. Having a clear faith, according to the credo of the Church, is often labeled as fundamentalism. Yet, relativism, that is, letting oneself be tossed and \u2018swept along by every wind of teaching\u2019, appears the sole attitude acceptable to today\u2019s standards.<\/span><\/strong> \u2014Cardinal Ratzinger (POPE BENEDICT XVI) pre-conclave Homily, April 18th, 2005<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I am not saying this to be pessimistic. But the reality is that Catholicism in the West is in a free-fall, save for a remnant of souls clinging to the true faith. The reason is that this spirit of revolution has its teeth dug deeply into this wounded generation.<\/p>\n In the fight for the family, the very notion of being \u2013 of what being human really means \u2013 is being called into question\u2026 The question of the family \u2026 is the question of what it means to be a man, and what it is necessary to do to be true men\u2026 The profound falsehood of this theory [that sex is no longer an element of nature but a social role people choose for themselves] and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious\u2026<\/strong> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, December 21st, 2012<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It means that man is losing the very essence of his nature:\u00a0created “in the image of God.” As such, our reason for existence, the meaning and value of suffering, and the goal of life… is reduced to mere fleeting pleasure and gain. This is why, in this present global revolution<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0we are seeing a mass turning away from the faith\u2014putting trust, rather, in our own\u00a0resources.<\/p>\n Progress and science have given us the power to dominate the forces of nature, to manipulate the elements, to reproduce living things, almost to the point of manufacturing humans themselves. In this situation, praying to God appears outmoded, pointless, because we can build and create whatever we want. We don\u2019t realise we are reliving the same experience as Babel. <\/span><\/strong>\u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Pentecost Homily, May 27th, 2102<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Is this just another way of saying what is taught in the Catechism?<\/p>\n The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in the place of God and his Messiah who has come in the flesh.<\/span><\/strong> \u2014Catechism of the Catholic Church, <\/em>n. 675<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n As the election results turned in Donald Trumps favor, the words of St. Paul flashed through my mind:<\/p>\n When people are saying, \u201cPeace and security,\u201d then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:3)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The popes have warned time and again that there are “anonymous” powers at work in the world, particularly through secret societies, who are fomenting and abetting this spirit of revolution. We should not expect them to simply go away with the election of Trump. For this “beast” that is rising insists on what Pope Francis calls the ‘sole thought’ [1]<\/sup><\/a>cf. Homily, November 18th, 2013; Zenit<\/span><\/span>![\"trump-protest\"](\"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/trump-protest-1.jpg\")
Photo by John Blanding courtesy of The Boston Globe\/Getty Images<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\n \u2014Daniel Greenfield\u00a0from “America Rising”, November 9th, 2016; Israelrisiing.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n
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