St. Augustine said of evil:
God is so good that in His hand, even evil brings about good. He would never have permitted evil to occur if He had not, thanks to His perfect goodness, been able to use it.
I thought of that when I saw the description of ABC's recent episode of Scandal, which, after aggressively pushing Planned Parenthood's talking points, included this bit of depravity:
Kerry Washington's character, Olivia, who is the President's girlfriend, gets an abortion. We see the surgical instruments; we see the abortionist begin the horrific act of killing an unborn child; and, in the background, we hear “Silent Night” playing. Silent. Night.
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| ABC's Scandal |
And apparently, later, after her womb has been violently emptied of her child, she sits by her Christmas tree while Ave Maria plays in the background.
Predictably, the accolades from the pro-abort crowd have been copious. Not only was abortion promoted, but Christianity was mocked. A two-fer!
Now. You all can imagine what I might say about the myriad ironies that abound in this episode. I could write all night long about them.
But I'm not going to even go there. What I want to do is back up and look at the big picture, which is always about salvation history and the supernatural battle.
We know that when Satan first undertakes to woo us, he comes as an angel of light. He is initially attractive. Sin is pleasurable, fun, tantalizing. Sin is seen as freedom, as liberation, as a beautiful unshackling from the burdensome, painful, heavy chains of virtue. Satan is so careful, so nuanced during the courtship; he whispers, he entices gently. He has to be subtle, or else we would never let this liar and murderer in.
Later, when we are addicted to our sin, the devil does not attempt to disguise himself any longer. He doesn't have to. He can expose evil openly, show its ugliness to our face, and we still accept it. We will even embrace it and call it good.
One Catholic friend, Nicole, put it this way, when discussing the twisted Scandal episode:
Here's how we know that the devil is behind it: the evil is getting more brazen, more egregious, more bold. And yet, more than in my lifetime, people are defending abortion, pornography, perversion, and all manner of evil.And another friend, Laura, responded to Nicole:
Not just defending it, they are now demanding more of it.Who can deny it?
For undeniable confirmation of embraced evil in our midst, how about a peak into a recent conference of abortionists. You are a fly on the wall, and you get to hear how abortionists and abortion workers talk amongst themselves. The video below is half an hour out of many hours of video that a judge blocked at the behest of the abortion industry, but which was later released by a third party. Satan is not hiding here; the people who profit in abortions are very clear about what they do.
If you can't bear to watch all those horrifying hours from the conference (you can see them here), just note the frequent uproarious laughter that permeates this particular segment. And if you can't watch even this one video, go at least to the 9:27 point and you'll know all you need to know about the brazenness of the devil. No more subtlety. No nuance.
Here is the transcript of that small part:
An eyeball just fell down into my lap and that’s gross [laughter], and I say to myself, ‘This abortion is going well; it’s going safely.' [laughter, cackles, and applause]
If you watch it all, you will be left with no doubt that these people know exactly what they are doing -- forget all the euphemisms and catchy slogans. They know without a doubt that they are brutally, violently killing babies. They say it outright! And listen to the one abortionist warn about pesky hospital nurses who get upset when they see babies being killed; also how it's important to make sure that babies at the "extreme" of gestational age are not ever in a position to be "resuscitated" (translation: "sometimes the babies we're aborting have the gall to be born alive, and we can't have that"). Again, there are hours and hours of this candid, sickening talk, and this is only one conference.
All this evil is so obvious, so clear, so undeniable that anyone of goodwill will see it. Only those who have completely closed their hearts and minds, only those who are spiritually blind, will not see the ugliness and darkness here and will continue to defend it. The evil is in-your-face!
Satan is not hiding when Silent Night plays as the background to an abortion; he's openly mocking.
Satan is not hiding when abortion workers laugh and applaud the gruesome details of their trade; he is proudly showing his work.
So, let's bring it back to the opening statement by St. Augustine, and the truth that God only allows evil in order to bring about a greater good. What could God be doing here? Well, I could not begin to fathom all the good that the Lord can bring out of evil (if so, I'd be able to fully grasp the mystery of the Cross, whereby the greatest sin of all led to the greatest good of all), but I can say one thing for certain: By allowing the devil to be this brazen, this bold, this in-your-face -- in other words, by unmasking Satan -- God is making it easier and easier for us to see the difference between good and evil.
God is making things very clear.
Praise God for the clarity! We have to choose good over evil and we need Light to see. The devil at his bloody, mocking worst -- whether manifested in slick TV shows or conferences of "medical professionals" -- does nothing more than shine a brighter spotlight on all that is Good.
What a Great and Almighty God have we, that even Satan unwittingly works at the service of His plans!
....
And... how cool that as I finish up this post, I just realized it's The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe! More commonly known as the Feast of Christ the King, and the culminating Sunday of the liturgical year! What a glorious Feast! What a worthy, benevolent, all-powerful King!
Wow, thank you for bringing light with this post. My mind went to all sorts of uncharitable thoughts for these people. Your words lifted me up over this.
ReplyDeleteIt's the slaughter of the innocents again. Those soldiers were so inured to violence that they could wrench babies and toddlers from their mothers' arms and slay them. One has to wonder, how many of those soldiers and these abortionists are sociopaths?
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you!
ReplyDeleteABC, really? Sorry, but how weak, lame, stupid is that episode? Then again, those are the three earmarks of being in bed with evil—trying to appear clever, poetic, and so relevant to the “modern cause” but anyone with clarity of mind sees what a weak punch ABC tried to throw. LAME.
ReplyDeleteAnd BLOCKED:
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in[d] blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.” Rev 19:11-13
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” - Rev 19:16
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” – Rev 21:5-7
ABC- your lame narrative trying to elevate evil while “mocking” Christianity just doesn’t align with this data set here. But way to be publicly petulant and disgruntled over the fact the strong actually are defending the weak by fighting PP. Weak.
It’s already been won. REJOICE—and feast today!
Thank you for speaking the Truth
ReplyDeleteI am so tired, Leila, of so many "good" Christians telling us that these people who support the act of abortion are "good" people but have been misled. "Misled" is a big word. Yeah, children may be misled through no fault of their own. But adults, whom God breathed life into themselves, and who have been given a conscience filled with God's law, have chosen, yes they have chosen, through one little choice after another, to embrace evil. There is no excuse (save those who are mentally unbalanced)!!! The devil has received their cooperation, one small choice at a time.
ReplyDeleteI get sick to my stomach when I see them, when I hear them defend the indefensible.
I am copying your essay, Leila, word for word into my file of "absolutely necessary truths" next to the words of theologians and saints, so that I may read it over and over again and so that I may forever know what words to say to excoriate those who promote such evil, an evil that makes even the d-evil and the demons pause. I do not have it in me to be charitable to the very people whom you have described.
I fear that those people whom St. Paul described in Romans 1:18-32 who are abundantly deadened to God's words, will embrace their own perdition.
May God continue to fill you with wisdom, Leila. Your children are blessed.
i'm just going to share a part of what i wrote elsewhere: I don't watch this trash, but this story *really* stings. On December 19th, 2003 i had an emergency c-section to try and save my unborn son. Despite the best efforts of the doctors and nurses, my beautiful baby boy, Frederick Nathaniel, was stillborn. He was buried the day after Christmas. On the way home from the cemetery on an exceptionally cold day, 'Silent Night' played on the radio, and took on a new meaning for me. Thanks Scandal for this epic mockery.
ReplyDeleteLisa Julia, how awful! I am so sorry!
ReplyDeleteAnd while it is clear that the folks involved in this evil are deceived by the devil, it's also true that we don't want to concede one soul to him. So, we pray for their conversions, that the scales may fall from their eyes (as it did with Abby Johnson and so many of the former abortion workers she now ministers to at And Then There Were None.
And, I found out that the creator/writer of Scandal has adopted two of her children and got a third child through a paid surrogate. All this while advocating for the destruction of other children. Lots of cognitive dissonance, lots of sin upon sin. Pray for her.
Thanks for keeping up the good fight, everyone! Your courage is contagious. :)
Forgive the lack of closed parentheses! Ack! My OCD friends will be cringing!
DeleteWell written post! We must pray for the conversion of hearts, since reason is all lost on the people who do this work and they mock the good & truth we try to share with them.
ReplyDeleteLeila, thank you for explaining what good can come out of such evil! Sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou can't watch major network television these days without having the opposite of our believes shoved down our throats. At the end of this week's Grey's Antomy you find out the reason Dr Owen Hunt punched a guy was because it was his sister who had gone through a sex change.
ReplyDeleteIs that what the ending of Grey's Anatomy meant? Goodness, that went right over my head! Thank you for posting this.
DeleteHere's the part that is so funny: All the beautiful people telling Shondra that she is so "courageous" by being politically correct and agreeing with our cultural elites! Ha, they don't know what "courage" means! If Shonda Rhimes (the producer/writer) wanted to be courageous, she would have put forth a blatantly pro-life storyline, and would have exposed Planned Parenthood for the evil killing/profit machine that it is. Now, THAT would have been courageous in Hollywood! Nothing courageous about putting forth a storyline that is sure to give you the adulation and applause and ... let's predict it ... awards from one's wealthy, influential and beautiful peers!
ReplyDeleteCourage isn't provoking and mocking Christians, since she knows we will do nothing but maybe blog about it, sign a petition, and pray for her soul. Courage would be provoking and mocking Muslims, but we know that would never happen, because she would risk her head being separated from her neck.
So, I have to laugh about Shonda's "courage" here!
If only the secular left understood what true courage was all about.
Oh, and one more interesting thing! So, the woman has just terminated her child, and Ave Maria is in the background.... Anyone think about how the Hail Mary contains an affirmation of the unborn child, and the nurturing role of a mother's womb? ("Blessed is the fruit of thy womb")
Over and over and over again, millions and millions of times a day, that prayer, that line, is repeated over the earth. Again, two starkly opposing world views, incompatible, and God makes sure that the devil is exposed thoroughly so that there is no doubt.
Exactly. I thought the exact same thing when I read all the ridiculous tweets from Hollywood celebrities supporting this woman for her "courage" to tell the story line as she did. Courage? Courage means you're about to do something that will trigger backlash because you're about to swim against the tide, not float along with it.
ReplyDeleteCourage means you're doing the hard thing, the unexpected thing, that you know will bring negative attention on yourself because the majority doesn't agree with you. Courage is not pandering to PP. Hollywood already does that. Don't be basic.
Network television: where brain cells go to die.
I have been trying to post a comment tor several days on this blog, on my iphone and now on my Mac. After a paragraph you delete my posing before I can proceed. I am a practicing faithful child of Christ and think, my view of this post has value. I resent your erasing it before I can post another view of this abortion. I pray for you.
ReplyDeleteExcuse me, Mary, I have done no such thing, so I accept your apology in advance. I am not somehow lurking in the inner workings of your computer. If you were able to post this paragraph, then try again and post the rest of what you said. I don't censor comments unless there is a real objection, in other words, if there are obscenities. I don't know you at all and I've never seen a comment you've written on this post before this one, but please feel free to say what you'd like.
DeleteMary, I can vouch that I have had many, many lost comments but it is always because blogger is wonky! No one can delete something before you publish it as it hasn't been made visible to the author or anyone else. What helped me is to write and save my comments in a word or notepad document, and then copy and paste here. Then, if I lost my comments I could easily re-paste.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer, for being much more patient and kind in your reply. I should have been more patient (I was just so surprised at the accusation). I truly appreciate it! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I've just been the one to scream at the screen one too many times for having lost a well-planned comment. :) So grateful for your challenging posts and that you moderate them like a boss (as my kiddos say).
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet! And, I have had blogger eat my comments, too! I always want to throw the computer across the room, ha!! It's the worst. ack!
ReplyDeleteIn this morning's local paper was a defense of PP, noting the millions of "other services" it offers, compared to the relatively few (only a few hundred thousand) abortions. The paper fails to note that a "service" is someone picking up a pamphlet, and that 50 "services" are talking to a class of 50 high school students. These "other services" do not compare to the magnitude, cost, nor evil of abortion --- but you wouldn't know that from the article.
ReplyDelete"Who can deny it?" The problem with identifying sin, especially another's, is that sin is a personal thing. I sin. And the person who sins usually knows it, even if he struggles to fool himself, and make it to be a small thing. And so if you point out a sin to him, his sin, he only hears the "his" part of those two words ---- "You are denying me, "hating me", he thinks. He can't distinguish his sin from himself, but they truly are two separate things. No one is inately evil; sin is something we do, not who we are.
"Who can deny it?" No one can deny themselves, and they struggle to detach the evil they do from who they are. We must continue to speak up against evil, even as we love our neighbor. It IS a difficult thing at times. But a Guy on a cross was able to forgive those doing evil, and set for us an example to follow.
It is truly something to be thankful for this day.
Forgive her Lord for she knows not what she does…
ReplyDeleteDear Leila,
This God of yours, this tyrant puppeteer God that uses the sin of abortion via the devil to manipulate human souls into the illusion of what you call ‘clarity’, which in reality is nothing but a dogmatic, black and white world-view full of condemnation and vitriol; This Tyrant God of hate and self-righteousness is no longer needed! What we need is Jesus Christ. For Christ recognizes sin, he sees it clearly, like with the sin of the Pharisees and the women caught in adultery in John 8, but he does not judge, he does not condemn either the Pharisees or the woman, and he makes it clear that condemnation is not what is needed. Christ walks with our sin, suffering what we suffer. The Silent Night song in the midst of the tragedy of the abortion is not necessarily a mocking, but a merciful sign that Christ is there, suffering with the woman and the child, walking with them, even though there is sin. God has renounced power over the devil and other human beings. His only response toward our sin, until the time of the Last Judgment is compassion (suffering with), forgiveness and mercy. Even at the Crucifixion, the ultimate sin as you say, Christ’s response is not condemnation, but “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” This gesture of forgiveness by Christ towards the sinner, who is un-clear about what is good, is what is needed.
Therefore I find it highly ironic that your message is; that sin is becoming more and more clear. The reality is that your obsession with the darkness of this one particular sin, even in the midst of so many other innocent deaths going on around the world due to wars, terrorisms, and fears of all kind- leads into confusion and unclarity because it infects you with the self-righteous condemning light of Lucifer, not unlike the Pharisees themselves. And equally disturbing is the way you develop your argument in an attempt to manipulate folks into feeling that if they don’t agree with your assessment of what is evil, they are obviously not in line with God, and condemned along with those who have abortions. Not only does your approach to evil lead to more confusion because in its condemnation it is full of evil itself, it leads the heart to further imprisonment through fascination with the art of condemnation.
May transformation of heart and mind (metanoia) come to you so that Christ’s living mercy becomes your focus, which is the very thing your pope proclaims, and may you renounce the obsession with condemning darkness. For what we focus on, we eventually become. May we give our attention to Christ! And not to this false tyrant God or his supposed self-righteous puppet Lucifer.
Hi Jonah!
ReplyDeleteActually, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared this the Year of Mercy, so you are barking up the wrong tree if you think that mercy is not part of the Catholic ethos. In fact, it's paramount!
That does not in any way mean that we are not to call out sin and fight sin and injustice when we can. And never did I condone the sins of war, terrorism, etc. And I never condemned anyone. Not one time. Only God can judge a soul or know what is one's culpability. So, you are misrepresenting me, and I know you will want to correct that. Misrepresenting someone's position, willfully, is a sin in itself, and I am sure you don't want to do that. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt that your misrepresentation of me is a mistake, done in good will, and I hope you will afford me the same courtesy.
God bless!