Dec 2006
BORN AGAIN CHRISTIANITY, THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS
CHRIST & THE DEATH OF THE WEST
30/12/06 12:38 Body
and Blood of Jesus -EucharistPermalink
So many in
the West have fallen away from Christianity and
continue to do so. The popular churches of the
day do not adequately arm Christians to do battle
with the seductions of the world, let alone the
onslaught of Islam.
Two recent articles reveal how young people who have been "born again" in the protestant fashion are nevertheless falling away.
"As Pentecostalism advances across the world, winning converts faster than any other Christian denomination and siphoning believers from more established faiths, it is also suffering its own slow leak: young people who are falling away from the faith."
One teenager stated “[t]he pastor is cool...He doesn’t lie to us. He is a little kid, like us.”
"One of [the pastor's] biggest dreams is an after-school center where they could study, play — and convert.
“Imagine if we had a place where they could play basketball,” he said. “We could play some Christian music in the background, too. I promise you, after a week like that, you will see changes. ”
Yet the conversions do not stick. "Some others had visited but never returned. And one mainstay was drifting away: a 16-year-old who had stopped attending regularly, just before she was to preach her first sermon — and around the time her father went back to prison.
"National Youth Director Jay Mooney for the Assemblies of God, one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States, does not hide research findings about the some 60 percent fallout in church attendance. "We wish that we were doing better than we are," Mooney told The Christian Post.
"After high school graduation, especially, students are dropping out of the Pentecostal pews "immensely," according to Mooney."
What happens to these youths who undergo a "born again" experience and end up leaving faith behind? Are these the future atheists and agnostics of the West?
The book of Hebrews states: "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6
Some may say that religion has evolved. Some churches possess every comfort to attract adherents from upholstered stadium seating, to skateboard parks and coffee shops. The music sounds no different than pop radio fare. The pastor is the star of the show and must be proficient at bringing forth emotions so that the congregants can feel their faith. Church leaders speak in terms of the numbers of congregants in the same way Wall Street speaks of earnings reports. However the souls of human beings is a serious matter and the "retention" and "fallout" rates are something that these spiritual leaders are going to have to answer for.
The formulaic type of preaching that presses for a decision and highlights the reality of heaven and hell does indeed produce conversions. A soul that has never heard these truths and longs for meaning and something solid is eager to make a "decision for Christ". These churches can attract but ultimately produce a stunted Christianity that is incapable of real sustained growth in the human soul.
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment....But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:21-22
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
How are the youths of today supposed to follow these words of Christ with the world's temptations all about them?
Great fellowship, basketball courts, Christian rock music and even the coolest pastor will not fortify, nor will it enable one to follow the hard teachings of Christ. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
To do battle and to actually heroically prevail, there is no earthly replacement for the Body and Blood of Jesus. Conversion without the Eucharist is a call to battle without ammunition. It is grievously unfair to expect a person to fight against the dark powers of this world without being fortified by the Body and Blood of Jesus. Without Him we cannot withstand temptations and confront the enemies of Christ--to think that we can is no less than presumption. A very holy book and a "personal relationship with Jesus" does not make the Christian soldiers that the West is in dire need of.
"To understand how indispensable the Eucharist is to the practice of Christian chastity is to understand the meaning of Christianity. When Christ told us, "Without me, you can do nothing," He meant this to be taken literally. Without the constant help of His grace to enlighten our darkened minds and strengthen our weak wills, all the moral precepts of the New Testament are so much pious rhetoric or religious jargon." Fr John Hardon
Religion that rejects the Eucharist has run its course--it took 500+ years but we are finally at the end of the line. Christianity without the Eucharist is a half truth that fails to feed and fortify souls. Protestantism has failed us and we are now seeing the devastated fruit of its spread throughout the West. Protestantism does not and cannot condemn the sins that threaten to wipe out Western Civilization i.e., contraception. Protestantism does not and cannot with a unified voice confront Islam. Only with the Eucharist can the West again produce true counter-cultural soldiers for Christ. The sword of our enemy is at our backs and non-denominational, do whatever you feel Christianity does not have the divine fortification to resist the world and the onslaught of Islam. If we won't kneel at the true physical presence of Jesus then we will be made to kneel before the god of Islam.
The above referenced articles appeared in the New York Times and The Christian Post.
Two recent articles reveal how young people who have been "born again" in the protestant fashion are nevertheless falling away.
"As Pentecostalism advances across the world, winning converts faster than any other Christian denomination and siphoning believers from more established faiths, it is also suffering its own slow leak: young people who are falling away from the faith."
One teenager stated “[t]he pastor is cool...He doesn’t lie to us. He is a little kid, like us.”
"One of [the pastor's] biggest dreams is an after-school center where they could study, play — and convert.
“Imagine if we had a place where they could play basketball,” he said. “We could play some Christian music in the background, too. I promise you, after a week like that, you will see changes. ”
Yet the conversions do not stick. "Some others had visited but never returned. And one mainstay was drifting away: a 16-year-old who had stopped attending regularly, just before she was to preach her first sermon — and around the time her father went back to prison.
"National Youth Director Jay Mooney for the Assemblies of God, one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States, does not hide research findings about the some 60 percent fallout in church attendance. "We wish that we were doing better than we are," Mooney told The Christian Post.
"After high school graduation, especially, students are dropping out of the Pentecostal pews "immensely," according to Mooney."
What happens to these youths who undergo a "born again" experience and end up leaving faith behind? Are these the future atheists and agnostics of the West?
The book of Hebrews states: "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." Hebrews 6:4-6
Some may say that religion has evolved. Some churches possess every comfort to attract adherents from upholstered stadium seating, to skateboard parks and coffee shops. The music sounds no different than pop radio fare. The pastor is the star of the show and must be proficient at bringing forth emotions so that the congregants can feel their faith. Church leaders speak in terms of the numbers of congregants in the same way Wall Street speaks of earnings reports. However the souls of human beings is a serious matter and the "retention" and "fallout" rates are something that these spiritual leaders are going to have to answer for.
The formulaic type of preaching that presses for a decision and highlights the reality of heaven and hell does indeed produce conversions. A soul that has never heard these truths and longs for meaning and something solid is eager to make a "decision for Christ". These churches can attract but ultimately produce a stunted Christianity that is incapable of real sustained growth in the human soul.
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:20
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment....But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:21-22
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."
How are the youths of today supposed to follow these words of Christ with the world's temptations all about them?
Great fellowship, basketball courts, Christian rock music and even the coolest pastor will not fortify, nor will it enable one to follow the hard teachings of Christ. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
To do battle and to actually heroically prevail, there is no earthly replacement for the Body and Blood of Jesus. Conversion without the Eucharist is a call to battle without ammunition. It is grievously unfair to expect a person to fight against the dark powers of this world without being fortified by the Body and Blood of Jesus. Without Him we cannot withstand temptations and confront the enemies of Christ--to think that we can is no less than presumption. A very holy book and a "personal relationship with Jesus" does not make the Christian soldiers that the West is in dire need of.
"To understand how indispensable the Eucharist is to the practice of Christian chastity is to understand the meaning of Christianity. When Christ told us, "Without me, you can do nothing," He meant this to be taken literally. Without the constant help of His grace to enlighten our darkened minds and strengthen our weak wills, all the moral precepts of the New Testament are so much pious rhetoric or religious jargon." Fr John Hardon
Religion that rejects the Eucharist has run its course--it took 500+ years but we are finally at the end of the line. Christianity without the Eucharist is a half truth that fails to feed and fortify souls. Protestantism has failed us and we are now seeing the devastated fruit of its spread throughout the West. Protestantism does not and cannot condemn the sins that threaten to wipe out Western Civilization i.e., contraception. Protestantism does not and cannot with a unified voice confront Islam. Only with the Eucharist can the West again produce true counter-cultural soldiers for Christ. The sword of our enemy is at our backs and non-denominational, do whatever you feel Christianity does not have the divine fortification to resist the world and the onslaught of Islam. If we won't kneel at the true physical presence of Jesus then we will be made to kneel before the god of Islam.
The above referenced articles appeared in the New York Times and The Christian Post.
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CHRISTIANITY AND THE CONVERSION OF ISLAM
"Islam is apparently unconvertable. The missionary efforts made by great Catholic orders which have been occupied in trying to turn Mohammedans into Christians for nearly 400 years have everywhere wholly failed. We have in some places driven the Mohammedan master out and freed his Christian subjects from Mohammedan control, but we have had hardly any effect in converting individual Mohammedans save perhaps to some small amount in Southern Spain 500 years ago; and even so, that was rather an example of political rather than religious change." Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies.
He is not the only modern day prophet that shares the viewpoint that Islam is near impossible to convert. Fr John Hardon S.J. also shared his analysis of Islam.
"Why are Muslims so hard to convert? (1) Conversion would have them accept the divinity of Jesus whom we accept as a living God who took on human form. (2) They see Christians as proccupied with the material world of space and time-- I think they got that right; (3) Christians are not giving an example of chaste living that their religion requires... Christian indifference fuels the spread of Islam." Fr John Hardon
It is in fact extremely difficult for Muslims to convert to Christianity. They believe that all revelations contained in the old and new testaments were merely the "building up" to the ultimate revelation received by Mohammed. They believe that Islam is the "accomplishment" of Judaism and Christianity. The acceptance of the Trinity and Jesus as divine would be tantamount to ascribing "partners to God" which is the worst crime in Islamic theology. Finally, the Koran teaches that any Muslim who converts to another faith must be killed. Thus those that do convert to Christianity do so at the risk of their lives.
Despite the historical difficulty of obtaining conversions of Muslims to Christianity we must not lose hope. The future of Western culture and civilization depends on the conversion of not only Islam to Christianity but also the reconversion of the West back to Christianity.
History is replete with the God of Christianity prevailing over paganism and Islam. But the followers of Jesus Christ must once again implore our heavenly King to open the eyes and hearts of Islam to the Son of God and the salvation that is only offered through His death on the cross. For noone comes to the Father except through the Son.
We must pray for the conversion of Islam with the same faith as the Blessed Virgin Mary demonstrated when she declared: "nothing is impossible for God". What appears to be impossible to man is always possible for God. At the Battle of Lepanto, the victory over the Islam was won by the faithful praying the rosary. The rosary was the weapon.
Prayer For the Conversion of Islam, Muslims
Act of Consecration of the Human Race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before Thine altar. We are Thine, and Thine we wish to be; but to be more surely united with Thee, behold, each one of us freely consecrates himself today to Thy most Sacred Heart.
Many indeed have never known Thee; many too, despising Thy precepts, have rejected Thee. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to Thy Sacred Heart.
Be Thou King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken Thee, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned Thee; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house lest they die of wretchedness and hunger.
Be Thou King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinion, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd.
Be Thou King of all those who are still involved in the darkness of idolotry or of Islamism, and refuse not to draw them all into the light and kingdom of God.
Turn Thine eyes of mercy towards the children of that race, once Thy chosen people. Of old, they called down upon themselves the Blood of the Savior; may It now descend upon them as a laver of redemption and of life.
Grant, O Lord, to Thy Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give peace and order to all nations, and make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise be to the Divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to It be glory and honor forever. Amen.