
The number 40 is the “prime” biblical number of probation and trial.
The year 2013 will mark the 40th anniversary of the bloodiest, most inhuman, most corrupt court decision that the world has ever known.
And while there’s no doubt that abortion is an abomination in the eyes of God, the question remains: What is God going to do about it?
Throughout the scriptures, we read of God declaring various “trial” periods of 40 days or 40 years, with the fate of mankind often hanging in the balance.
If we pay attention and change our evil ways, life goes on, often better than ever. If not … there is the prospect (more like a promise) of divine judgment (and subsequent chastisement).
The fact is: Due to Roe vs. Wade (and its gruesome aftermath) we’re collectively guilty of some FIFTY MILLION innocent deaths, in the United States, alone!
Some maintain these “Wrath of God” types of things were “strictly” relegated to Old Testament times, and that in this age of superabundant grace … courtesy of our Divine Savior, Jesus Christ … the only thing we need be concerned with is our own personal Judgment Day.
I say: Take a good look at what happened to Jerusalem in 70 AD ( New Testament times) exactly 40 years from the day Jesus pronounced its coming destruction. Then, take careful stock of what’s going on in today’s world … where the economy, the political system, the fate of nations, the state of human morality … and virtually everything else we used to take for granted … is hanging by a virtual thread.
So, here’s a call for widespread repentance and reparations … not just by the Catholic faithful … but by all men of goodwill, everywhere.
The Judgment clock is ticking … and unlike the widely popular but phony “2012” Mayan calendar fiasco … this 2013 Day of Divine Judgment might just come to pass.
Unless … like the ancient Assyrians … we choose to heed Jonah’s prophetic words*… wake up … and change our evil ways.
*Jonah 3:1-10 And the word of the Lord came to Jonas the second time saying: Arise, and go to Niniveh, the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonas arose, and went to Niniveh, according to the word of the Lord: now Niniveh was a great city of three days’ journey. And Jonas began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried and said: Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed. And the men of Niniveh believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Niniveh: and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Niniveh, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen, nor sheep taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish? And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not.
January 24, 2011
Categories: Books & Publications, Events, Human Rights, Inspirational, Politics, Scandals . Tags: catholic, chastisement, conversion, divine judgment, Jonah, mercy, Niniveh, number 40, probation, repentance, Roe vs, scripture, trial, Wade . Author: Hosted by Doug Lawrence . Comments: 3 Comments
Reader Paul comments on “Those in danger of death are presumed to be repentant…”
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“Those in danger of death are presumed to be repentant…”
Paul writes:
We are all quite damnable sinners and our life style and actions may be far less than we hope them to be. As death approaches perhaps we should be in terror of our eternity especially if we think about God and his judgment upon our wretched selves.
It is not that I disagree with this point. Indeed it is strangely comforting to remember that God is All Just and everything we do we shall be called to account for. Many wicked people would do well to tremble at this thought and perhaps the fear of eternal damnation may allow grace into their hearts before it is too late. After Death it will certainly be too late to repent and if a soul refuses grace all its life and at death spits hate upon whatever grace is offered its fate may be what it desires. As C.S.Lewis noted; “hell is a door locked from the inside”.
Nevertheless, we should not be afraid of our final judgment. Rather we should welcome it and go blithely to Our Lord. That is not because we are mentally deranged but as Christians we believe in something even greater than Judgment . . . We believe in Hope.
This virtue comes not from what we do not know but from what we do know.
It is about knowing that God is Love and essentially is revealed by Jesus as a God of infinite mercy and compassion. Hence the thief on the cross asks “Jesus remember me when you go into your kingdom“. The response of Jesus is one of sublime mercy when he promises the thief eternal salvation that very day. It is not that the thief has asked for repentance because he fears final annihilation but because he dares hope that this man crucified beside him so unjustly is a king after all.
And if the Gospels are Good News then we must recall what they are good news about? That Jesus understands us and seeks out the company of sinners rather than condemning us and blasting us into oblivion because of this or that action.
Mortal sin is constantly being re-evaluated by the Catholic Church. We simply do not understand the eternal consequences of any temporal act. There are some actions that are heinous and these are universally abhorred. Yet our understanding of these has and does change in time because we are creatures of time and place. For example, Abortion is a horrible sin but not all people that have had an abortion are of equal guilt because time and sense make the individual culpable or less so. The act is monstrous but individuals take greater or lesser part by their understanding. Again for example, suicide used to be considered always a mortal sin but today we are more gentle in our understanding that we simply do not know the reasoning or intelligence of a person that takes their own life. It would be insensitive and immoral for us to dismiss the hope of paradise because of any action of which we are ignorant of the full story.
Instead we have come to understand that God is not about Judgment but about infinite understanding, kindness, gentleness, mercy. Our hope is therefore that our loving father whom knows us intimately will forgive us more often then we fall, prostrate with our own stupidity.
All people of good will are potentially redeemable and it is the will of Our Lord that we shall be saved and not condemned.
When we see the Sacred Heart of Jesus we are told that he loves us beyond all reason or rational consideration. The Sacred Heart does not require us to offer a prayer in word, a simple longing look for example is enough to bring grace of salvation upon us. We will never earn Paradise but Jesus gives us his everything so that we can obtain it. It is Love that we face at death and it will require us to open before it every window in our soul. We can never escape Gods justice and his final judgment upon us but as Christians we must not be afraid to embrace his Love. If we can do this then we believe that Salvation is assured no matter our faults or errors at death.
To turn from Gods grace is unfortunate and could be disastrous but we must never forget “God is Love” and that should encourage us to go into the light and give us faith to welcome our Risen lord.
April 25, 2011
Categories: Books & Publications, Human Rights, Inspirational . Tags: death, faith, god, God is Love, grace, hope, Jesus Christ, judgment, love, mercy, reader comments, repentance . Author: Hosted by Doug Lawrence . Comments: Leave a comment