(Photo courtesy of fromthebarn.org)
By John Cannon, Guest Commentary
There is no particular bottom rung to which evil descends and stops. The placid comfort of denial is addictive when in the company of luxuries here and now, in the quantity that has never been seen before by the human race. In the early 1900s Americans were moving from the farm. Life expectancy was only in the 40s due to childhood diseases and little medical know how. The Christian cultures of Europe and the "new world" here in America had already laid the foundations for success such as had never been seen. Christianity had civilized the human race by teaching the principles of human interaction that are most applicable to mankind because our our very natures.
It had only been within the span of a few generations that the printing press (with Ben Franklin inventing moveable type) had enabled the relative proliferation of books, and allowed "science" to be born by keeping and sharing records. It was Christian churches that had founded schools, elder-care facilities, hospitals, orphanages and hospitals. There was no "public school system," and virtually all universities were founded by the Christian churches. Most every home had a "family bible," and children were taught to read, so they could read the bible. The sanctity and purpose of human life was not questioned. If every human soul existed due to the Creator's personal relationship to him, mutual respect of each other seemed secure. Americans in the "new world" would sing: "My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He has trampled out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored....". But Satan's cunning has a way to sabotage the most formidable defenses. It seems that mankind's very success would plant the seeds for his undoing. Like many angels, he would become enamored and blinded by his own perfections, his own successes. We were vulnerable to the very sin that had been the undoing of many of the angels: PRIDE!
Over the last 50 years our culture has changed immensely and we seem destined to regress from the "space age" back to the cave. Grandfathers of today recall never knowing a friend who didn't live with both parents. Men were men, and women were women, and both seemed to have great devotion to the roles of each, especially by way of their awesome ability to conceive and nurture human life. But science was on the march and Darwin had written his book, "The Origin of Species." It was immediately taken up around the world as an excuse to deny the sanctity of human life. Adolf Hitler abandoned the Christian training of his childhood to embrace atheism, and thereafter led the world into the most horrific carnage of human life (and property) during World War II that man has ever seen, before he committed suicide while suffering from syphilis. In truth, Darwin had never established the "origin" of even a single species, let alone all species. He simply discovered that a species can adapt ("evolve") over time to a changing environment. To this day scientists do not have a theory, or even a foggy clue, as to how "life" came about. Yet the principle of "Intelligent Design" is ignored and demeaned by the "elite".
At the same time our unprecedented economic success has allowed us to "assist" those "less fortunate". As it is just so admirable to be "generous" and "help those in need," we who would use our wealth more judiciously have been forced to give to seemingly "noble" causes, not through charity, but by way of government confiscation of our wealth. The result is government financial subsidies to blunt the natural consequences of every kind of chosen human sin, and self-caused catastrophe. We have legalized acts that were crimes for 200 years: adultery, divorce (now "no-fault"), fornication, "lewd co-habitation" (shack-ups), "deviant sexual intercourse" homosexuality, pornography, "using profane, obscene, and abusive language in a public place or on a public highway" (quoted from Oregon statutes), and abortion. Of course, abortion was to be "legal but rare" said politicians, but it is now the most common "medical" procedure in the nation, and has now claimed over 56 MILLION babies. Divorce rates are near 50%, 44 % of children are born out of wedlock, 28 million children live in single-parent families: the families that studies prove decade after decade are the of the highest (or #1) cause of: juvenile delinquency, low student achievement, drug abuse, child abuse, crime, school drop-outs (and thereby unemployment), poor health, low medical insurance coverage, and poverty. The nation is over 16 TRILLION in debt (about $160,000 per working "family) from borrowing to cover costs associated with this cultural chaos.
St, Thomas Aquinas (a major "doctor" of Church theology) wrote extensively on the angels years ago clearly because he believed that we must know them and turn to them. Understanding them and their relationship with our mutual Creator, and their relationship with us, uniquely reveals mankind's stunning, almost unbelievable dignity! We need desperately to find protection from "the wickedness and snares of the devil".
John Cannon is an alumnus of '67 and can be reached at jckaboom@gmail.com, or learn more by visiting johncannonangels.com.
