Christ faced the temptations laid out by Satan and defeated them by knowing and understanding scripture and rebuking Satan. Every American can do the same.
Over and over again, I read the comments of Americans that ask what steps can be taken to confront the despotism engulfing the country.
According to the renowned late American Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the word diabolic comes from the Greek "dia-boline" which means to tear apart. Anything that destroys unity said Sheen, such as breaking apart the family and produces discord, is diabolic.
How similar to the trash Hollywood and the media spread to America's youth
In a taped sermon made nearly fifty years ago, Sheen spoke about the increasing discord in the Church and religious communities. He talked about how the diabolical love nudity and violence and possess disjointed minds that have no inner peace.
Sheen's time transcending message focused on the temptations of Jesus Christ by Satan. Knowing the biblical account allows today's law-abiding Americans to understand better the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to freedom and peace backed by the real and present forces of evil.
The story takes place in the desert where Christ has been fasting for 40 days and nights. In his weakened state, Christ is tempted by Satan, who tries to show Him easier ways of attracting followers.
Satan explains to Christ that He can easily attract more followers by first abandoning the pain of the cross. He further illustrates how supporting people as they indulge in their desires will attract them to Him. And that Christ should allow people to satisfy their appetites and encourage them to do whatever they feel like doing.
How similar to the trash Hollywood and the media spread to America's youth. If it feels good, do it. Drugs, sex, theft, and abortions are readily obtainable and more and more acceptable. Men can compete in women's sports and use the restrooms and locker rooms once reserved for women. Anything goes.
"The decline in the spirit of discipline is a hatred of the Cross"
Satan's second temptation involved Christ performing some wonder or doing something shocking. Satan tells Christ that His marvelous acts would attract more followers.
Look at today's musicians and movie stars constantly pushing the envelope to attract a bigger audience and selling their souls for additional fame. Social media is flooded by individuals acting in the extreme to gain more subscribers—the more outrageous and dangerous, the better.
Each time politicians promote another absurd, jaw-dropping policy, it desensitizes Americans and lowers the bar. Escalations in the illogical allow crazy policies that were previously rejected seem semi-normal and somewhat tolerable.
In the final temptation, Satan points to politics as a way for Christ to attract more followers; that Christ should abandon the divine and only be concerned with the social and political order.
Today's Church and society has abandoned the divine in support of ill-equipped legal and political solutions to a soul disorder that requires divine intervention. Law-abiding Americans are fighting a war not just against lawless Americans but against a definite and separate power of evil.
Without seeking the help of the divine, Americans are engaged in an unwinnable contest where the rules change to accommodate evil.
One certainty confirmed by Sheen is that the essence of the satanic or the diabolic is the hatred of the cross of Christ. Observe how every far-left fake news channel mocks the Church and the beliefs of the faithful.
And today, are we surrounded by lies? Are we told one thing while our eyes clearly see something else? One way to be sure that the satanic is hard at work is hearing an abundance of lies, for we are told that Satan is the "father of lies."
Have our schools brainwashed our children, has law enforcement sided with the powerful against individual freedom, and have the courts abandoned the rule of law? Another way to be sure the demonic has taken hold is the politicization of the institutions we depend on, such as our schools, law enforcement, and the courts.
"The decline in the spirit of discipline is a hatred of the Cross," said Sheen, who added that the disciplinary character of Christianity has moved to the totalitarian states.
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Complete destruction of human liberty
Sheen was foretelling in his statement made so many years ago, "China and Russia have discipline, self-denial, and commitment to a common purpose, but without a cross, it is a complete destruction of human liberty."
Even the Taliban had the discipline that enabled them to conquer a larger force.
But is it possible that love, the opposite of fear, is just now starting to blossom against the current tyranny?
What we might just be beginning to see is the pushback against the demonic by the power of love. The love of a parent for their child's wellbeing could be the catalyst for confronting demonic schoolboards. The love of the body, liberty, and sovereignty could be the force behind rejecting the coerced injection of a substance into one's body.
These confrontations by ordinary Americans against the demonic are holy actions. Christ faced the temptations laid out by Satan and defeated them by knowing and understanding scripture and rebuking Satan. Every American can do the same.
Rick Hayes lives in the epicenter of liberal land where reality and truth will never encounter a welcome mat.
An award-winning writer and photographer, with over twenty years of professional experience in both fields, Hayes started his journalism adventure after a successful, eye-opening career as a Banker in Wall Street. Although he spent his early work life surrounded by custom made shirts, expensive ties and the shiniest of shoes, Hayes was an accomplished singer, cutting a few records with a local band and appearing on one of the first cable shows.
Working for a weekly New York paper, in one of the most politically corrupt areas in the State, he began investing his time trying to understand the nature of corruption.
