HAS JESUS LEFT AMERICA?

"JUST HITTING ANOTHER
BRICK WALL"

HAS JESUS LEFT AMERICA?

During the past 50 – 60 years, America has changed from a Christian nation of people to a nation of unmitigated apostasy. There may still be a few Christians here and there, but as a whole, we could care less about God and His church. Our founding Fathers would be sickened if they could see the state of America today. Our politicians talk about God, but they are nothing more than two-faced vote seekers that could care less about the Ten Commandments or basic principals of Christian life and morality.

In our nation today, abortion is as common as taking out the garbage. We show more concern for saving the life of condemned murderers, spotted owls, baby seals and whales then we do about our unborn children who are too often sacrificed at the altar of convenience at the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. A large percentage of men and women do not marry and the traditional family unit has almost disappeared. Our teens are introduced to sex and drugs in their local school and not just in the urban schools, but also in rural America. The educators extol the “virtues” of homosexuality and take great pride in the fact that they warn our children to be alert to sexual predators on the internet and in their neighborhoods, and then they turn around and molest our children themselves. A large percentage of our men are on parole or probation and thus under the thumb of the government while their families are supported by welfare and other government agencies. Grandparents who are supposed to be enjoying their retirement years are forced to take care of the crack-babies that were born to their drug addicted daughters.

We refuse to discipline our unruly children or set boundaries, because we are so afraid of bruising their tender egos or shattering their creative spirit. Then when these same children grow up to be self-centered, rude hedonistic jerks, with no respect for themselves or anyone else, then we wonder how it happened. We, along with our children, are bombarded on a daily basis that we deserve the very best of everything that life has to offer, not because we did anything to earn or merit it, but simply because we were born. Our children have grown up with the idea that they are not responsible for anything bad they do or for much of the bad that happens to them. They are taught that they did nothing wrong and that whatever they do that is wrong or allow to happen to them, is everybody else’s fault or that they are just a product of their genes.

We get all uppity over a crude remark about female African/American basketball players made by Don Imus, but we say nothing at the filthy, violent and very degrading lyrics sung by African/American rap singers and offer a pass to every ignorant media star, such as Rosie O’Donnell, Sean Penn, Jane Fonda and others when they disrespect our country and our president. And we fawn all over the likes of the two hypocrite “Reverends”, Jackson and Sharpton, and listen to them vent their spleens over the comment made by Imus, yet these two have said much more hateful stuff about whites.

Go to any retirement community. Most of the people that live there are over 65 years old. Many of them claim to be religious and some are. Oh, you will find that many of them will have their Bibles displayed in a respectable place, but they are covered in dust from not being used. Many have been married and shacked up many times in their lives. Some of these grandmotherly women will not think twice about handing out condoms to their granddaughters and great-granddaughters and considers it normal for them to be promiscuous at their young ages. Many of these young girls are in a family way and hooked on drugs.

In every city in the United States, someone is on the corner selling drugs or their bodies. If under age young people cannot buy cigarettes or liquor in the local store, there is always some adult who for a “price” will go in and get it for them. I saw a 13 year old girl on the Montel Williams Show, who is having her second baby by a second man and a few years back there was a report of a 13 year old boy, (a drag queen) who was found at a small hotel, butchered up like a pig in a slaughter house. His older brother, who was the pastor of their family church, had tossed him out on the streets.

We go out of our way to proclaim our support for equal rights, yet we allow a double standard in our legal system when female teachers molest and rape our sons and then are treated far more leniently then men who molest children. The prettier the teacher, the lighter her punishment is (if any at all). Or when a woman murders her husband while he is sleeping and the law allows her to plead “self-defense” claiming she was the victim of abuse. How do we know that she was abused?

because she says so? The real victim isn’t here to defend himself, so it is just her word against a dead man.

Even our churches have or are going down the tubes. Pope John Paul II once stated that apostasy was a sign of abandonment of faith. During any given Sunday, the majority of Christian and Catholic Churches are lucky if they have 30 – 50 worshippers. Each year, more and more churches are either forced to close down or become a mission of another church further on up the road. On Easter Sunday, there were far more cars at the local Wal-Mart and K-Mart stores then in the local church parking lot. The only churches that are still doing a thriving business, are the Charismatic and Evangelical churches that preach a feel good “you name it, you claim it” message. The ministers are nothing more than glorified self-help gurus. There is little or nothing preached about repentance or salvation.

Most of the Catholic and Anglican priests no longer believe in private confessions, the Stations of the Cross, the rosary or trappings of the church. The interior of the churches are painted white, the murals are covered and the walls have plain white tapestry hanging in place of traditional hangings. Some churches have even gone so far as to remove the Tabernacle and the pews. Go on eBay and you will find hundreds of Tabernacles, church statues and other church furnishings for sale to the highest bidder. Many Christian churches will have a catfish dinner on Good Friday, but no Good Friday Service. No veneration of the True Cross or the like. And far too many members of the clergy and lay members of the Church are pushing to legalize same-sex marriages, even though Holy Scripture declares homosexual relations to be an abomination in the eyes of God. You would be surprised at some of the totally stupid arguments I see posted to the comment sections of various blog sites, that so-called Christian homosexuals and those who support them, use to claim that homosexual marriages are acceptable by Jesus.

Where are the clergy when you need them? They cannot be found in the rectory or parsonage. They are out at the spa, in the parks or at happy hour at the country-club. Some are in a motel for an afternoon encounter. Some monasteries are known for accepting men that are seeking love relationships, and not the love of God. Cardinals, bishops, priests, religious are all smeared with sex scandal. Dioceses are paying out millions of church dollars as hush money. And in many areas of the country, more priests are serving time in prison than there are serving at the altar.

When I mentioned to someone recently that I was giving up several things for Lent, the person asked “They still do that?” When I said, Christ’s church does not change, I lied. How many people said the rosary last night? How many prayed for a soul in purgatory? How may lit a candle in a church and how many looked for the Tabernacle in their church.

What are we, as Christians, doing about any of this? We in America have an excellent opportunity to witness, but instead we have allowed Church to become a convenience and we might as well say that we are “convenience store Christians”. Today, most people are happy to be Christians so long as they can bend or change the Church to fit their way of thinking or immoral life-style. We have women fighting tooth and nail to be ordained priests and/or consecrated to the episcopacy in direct violation of Holy Tradition and Canon laws that have been held by the Church since it’s founding. Many of these women are having no problem in finding renegade bishops who are more than willing to violate Church rules and lay hands on these women and making them believe that are “REAL” priests.

There are many Episcopalian, Roman Catholic and Old Catholic bishops are ready and willing to ordain a pedophile to the priesthood, or to consecrate a pedophile or openly active homosexual to the episcopacy and place him on a throne of prominence. This kind of stuff has already gained national news attention, but do we care about the reputation of Christ’s church?

Yes, I would have to say that Jesus Christ has left the country, but I believe that He is waiting just outside the door for us to invite him back in. The question is, “Will we do the right thing?”

“Abouna” Gregori