{"id":39276,"date":"2020-02-12T15:59:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T21:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/?p=39276"},"modified":"2020-02-13T09:05:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T15:05:11","slug":"the-spirit-of-judgment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/the-spirit-of-judgment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Judgment","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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ALMOST<\/b>\u00a0six years ago, I wrote about a spirit of fear<\/em><\/a> that would begin to assail the world; a fear that would begin to grip nations, families, and marriages, children and adults alike. One of my readers, a very smart and devout woman, has a daughter who for many years has been given a window into the spiritual realm. In 2013, she had a prophetic dream:<\/p>\n

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My older daughter sees many beings good and bad [angels] in battle. She has spoken many times about how its an all out war and its only getting bigger and the different kinds of beings. Our Lady appeared to her in a dream last year as our Lady of Guadalupe. She told her that the demon coming is larger and fiercer than all the others. That she is not to engage this demon nor listen to it. It was going to try to take over the world. This is a demon of fear<\/em>. It was a fear that my daughter said was going to envelop everyone and everything. Staying close to the Sacraments and Jesus and Mary are of the utmost importance.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How true that insight was! Just ponder for a moment the fear that has engulfed so many since then in the Church, with the resignation of Benedict XVI and subsequent election and style\u00a0<\/em>of Pope Francis. Consider the fear generated by mass shootings and the brutal terrorism spreading from the Middle East into the West. Think of women’s fear to walk alone on the street or how most people now lock their doors at night. Consider the fear presently gripping hundreds of millions of youth as Greta Thunberg terrorizes them<\/a> with false doomsday predictions. Observe the fear gripping nations as a pandemic threatens to change life as we know it. Think of the fear growing through polarizing politics, hostile exchanges between friends and family on social media, the mind-numbing speed of technological change and the capabilities of weapons of mass destruction. Then there is the fear of financial ruin through growing debt, both personal and national, and the exponential increase in serious diseases and so forth. Fear! It is “enveloping everyone and everything”!<\/em><\/p>\n

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So, before I give you the antidote to this fear at the end of this article, it is time to address the arrival of another demon in our times that is using this soil of fear to put nations, families and marriages on the edge of destruction: it is a powerful demon of judgments<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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THE POWER OF THE WORD<\/p>\n

Words, whether thought or spoken, contain\u00a0power.\u00a0<\/em>Consider that before the creation of the universe, God\u00a0thought\u00a0<\/em>of us and then\u00a0spoke <\/em>that thought:<\/p>\n

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Let there be light… (Genesis 3:1)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

God’s “fiat”<\/em>, a simple “let it be done”, was all that was needed to bring the entire cosmos into existence. That\u00a0Word eventually became\u00a0flesh<\/em>\u00a0in the person of Jesus, who won for us our salvation and began the restoration of creation to the Father.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We are made in God’s image. As such, He imparted to our intellect, memory and will the capacity to share in His divine power. Hence, our words\u00a0<\/em>have the ability to bring life or death.<\/p>\n

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Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire… It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God.\u00a0(cf. James 3:5-9)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"No one sins without first embracing a\u00a0word\u00a0<\/em>that comes as a temptation: “Take, look, lust, eat…” etc. If we acquiesce, then we give\u00a0flesh\u00a0<\/em>to that word and sin (death) is conceived. Likewise, when we obey the voice of God in our conscience: “Give, love, serve, surrender…” etc. then that word takes on\u00a0flesh<\/em> in our actions, and love (life) is begotten around us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is why St. Paul tells us that the first battlefront is the thought-life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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For, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ… (2 Cor 10:3-5)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just as Satan was able to influence the thoughts of Eve, so too, the “father of lies” continues to deceive her progeny through convincing arguments and pretensions.<\/p>\n

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THE POWER OF JUDGMENTS<\/p>\n

It should be apparent how ill-informed thoughts about others\u2014what are called\u00a0judgments\u00a0<\/em>(assumptions about another person’s motives and intentions)\u2014can quickly become destructive. And they can wreak special havoc when we put them into words, what the Catechism calls: “slander… false witness… perjury…. rash judgment… detraction… and calumny.”[1]<\/sup><\/a>Catechism of the Catholic Church,\u00a0<\/em>n. 2475-2479<\/span><\/span>