{"id":13415,"date":"2022-10-24T12:52:34","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T16:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renewalministries.net\/?p=13415"},"modified":"2022-10-25T08:29:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T12:29:09","slug":"the-light-shines-in-the-darkness-a-letter-from-ralph-martin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renewalministries.net\/the-light-shines-in-the-darkness-a-letter-from-ralph-martin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Light Shines in the Darkness: A Letter from Ralph Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dear Challenged Disciples,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The temperature of the battle is rising\u2014and with this letter, I want to give you my best understanding of where we are in the war, as well as reasons to hope and how to help.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Masks are Off<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe fog of religion has been lifted, the positions and numbers of both armies can be observed: and real shooting is now possible.\u201d \/\/C.S. Lewis, <\/span>The Decline of Religion<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the quote above, C.S. Lewis refers to the ambiguity and false covering of \u201creligion\u201d that is not real Christianity and can camouflage the real battle going on under the surface.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I remember when abortion supporters said they wanted it to be \u201csafe, legal, and rare.\u201d They acknowledged many of its negative dimensions and claimed to only want it used in truly difficult situations.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For many, though, that was merely a tactic; it was never the true underlying conviction of many in the pro-abortion movement. The repeal of Roe v. Wade has exposed the fallacy that there was a right to abortion in the US Constitution, and rage against God and the moral law\u2014the real rage underlying the desire to kill babies\u2014is coming out. Abortion supporters boldly declare independence from any moral norms except those determined by the autonomous self. A good analysis of how we got to this point is provided in the book <\/span>Strange New World <\/span><\/i>by Carl Trueman. While a serious book, it is very readable and easily understood by the educated Catholic.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A multitude of voices now claims the only one with rights in the matter of abortion is the pregnant woman, not the child. When it is pointed out that there is another body now in existence, abortion supporters no longer deny it is a human person\u2014the biological science of that matter is increasingly difficult to refute. They simply repeat the mantra, \u201cMy body, my choice.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Genuinely heartbreaking situations do surround some pregnancies, but the solution is never to kill another person. Once we abandon the absolute moral law to not kill innocent life, it becomes easier to rationalize killing in a broad array of situations: already born infants with health problems; girl babies who aren\u2019t wanted; older people who drain resources from their families and the economy; and one day soon, perhaps those who are \u201chaters\u201d and enemies of the state.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The violence and hatred against Christ and the Church are very much out in the open now. In Canada this year, more than sixty churches have been attacked, and in the United States, there have been many instances of attacks on churches, defacing of statues of the Virgin Mary, robbing of tabernacles, firebombing of pregnancy counseling centers, and more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Monkeypox and the Sexual Rebellion<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Peter Herbeck posted an important video on our YouTube Channel<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span>that compassionately explains how monkeypox is almost exclusively contracted through gay male sexual activity and results in terribly painful sores on the body parts involved in such activity. The disease\u2019s initial outbreak has been tied to raves, group sex, anonymous sex, and multiple sexual partners. Peter lovingly invited those who may be suffering from monkeypox to consider if this shouldn\u2019t be understood as a \u201cwake-up call\u201d that this way of life can never lead to satisfaction or happiness and will have terrible consequences not only in their bodies but also in their souls. His message is relevant not just for those suffering from the latest plague of sexually transmitted diseases but for all declaring their independence from the will of God as it pertains to marriage and sexuality. Consider sharing it with those who may be suffering from the consequences of any such abandonment of God\u2019s ways.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A profound rejection of God lies at the root of sexual rebellion. Having sex (any kind of sex\u2014heterosexual, homosexual, solitary, etc.) outside of the faithful marriage of one man and one woman, open to life, is a grave offense against God\u2019s gift of sexuality and causes grave damage to untold millions of people. The Church still theoretically believes this is the case but in many places is weakening in its conviction and even more so in its courage.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some responses to the monkeypox plague reveal how many people have completely rejected any semblance of common sense or the traditional moral truths once held by virtually all the world\u2019s religions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It took many months to stop talking about monkeypox in generalities and tell the truth about who was almost exclusively affected by it. The fear was that if people learned that ninety-eight percent of cases were connected almost exclusively with promiscuous gay sex,<\/span>1<\/sup><\/span> federal funds wouldn\u2019t be given to help alleviate it and people might develop a prejudice against gay sex. There was even a concern that the knowledge might cause people engaging in promiscuous behavior to think there is something wrong with their lifestyle. There is often an extreme unwillingness to suggest that people alter their sexual behaviors, even for a time, to reduce the transmission of a painful disease.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to an article published on NPR\u2019s website, <\/span>“The WHO emergency committee that had previously considered whether to issue such a declaration (making monkeypox a public health emergency) was\u202f<\/span>unable to reach a consensus<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u202f<\/span>in part because of concerns about the risk of stigma, marginalization and discrimination against the communities hit hardest by the virus.\u201d2<\/sup><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The WHO offers the following advice for protecting yourself and others from monkeypox:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “(Limit) close contact with people who have suspected or confirmed monkeypox, or with animals who could be infected. <\/span>Clean and disinfect environments that could have been contaminated with the virus from someone who is infectious regularly. Keep yourself informed about monkeypox in your area and have open conversations with those you come into close contact (especially sexual contact) with about any symptoms you or they may have.”<\/span>3<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The US CDC recommends quarantining and abstaining: \u201cBut that can be very difficult with a disease that can last four weeks.\u201d<\/span>4<\/sup><\/span> Specific recommendations include:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One doctor felt the advice given was so weak and irresponsible that he spoke out publicly against it, warning that if the spread wasn\u2019t stopped in the gay sex networks it could spread more widely and become the global pandemic it was falsely presenting as. The New York Times reported,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “I<\/span>nside the (New York City Health) department, officials are battling over public messaging as the number of monkeypox cases has nearly tripled in the last week, nearly all of them among men who have sex with men. A few epidemiologists say the city should be encouraging gay men to temporarily change their sexual behavior while the disease spreads, while other officials argue that approach would stigmatize gay men and would backfire.”<\/span>6<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to the article,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Dr. Don Weiss, the director of surveillance for the department\u2019s Bureau of Communicable Disease . . . believes the department should advise those at risk of monkeypox to temporarily reduce their number of partners, saying, ‘We\u2019re not telling people what they have to do to be safe.’ His concerns are shared by some of his colleagues, emails and interviews show, indicating growing frustration and pessimism within the ranks of the health department as the window for controlling New York City\u2019s monkeypox epidemic\u2014<\/span>the largest such outbreak in the United States<\/a><\/span>\u2014quickly closes.”<\/span>7<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n How Deep is the Darkness!<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? \u2018I the Lord search the mind and try the heart, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings\u201d (Jer 17:9-10).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n They know it\u2019s wrong but do it anyway!<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How can I make this bold statement? Because the Word of God, the only true source of light in the world, tells us so.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The wrath of God\u202fis being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/b>since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.\u202fFor since the creation of the world God\u2019s invisible qualities\u2014his eternal power and divine nature\u2014have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,\u202fso that <\/span>people are without excuse.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.\u202fAlthough they claimed to be wise, they became fools<\/span><\/b>\u202fand exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images\u202fmade to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Therefore God gave them over\u202fin the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.\u202fThey exchanged the truth about God for a lie,\u202fand worshipped and served created things\u202frather than the Creator\u2014who is forever praised.\u202fAmen.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Because of this, God gave them over\u202fto shameful lusts.\u202fEven their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.\u202fIn the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over\u202fto a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.\u202fThey have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,\u202fslanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;\u202fthey have no understanding, no fidelity, no love,\u202fno mercy.\u202f<\/span>Although they know God\u2019s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,\u202fthey not only continue to do these very things but also approve\u202fof those who practice them.”<\/span><\/b> (Rom 1:8-30; emphasis mine)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Does the Church believe this today? Yes, it does.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n God has put in everyone a knowledge of himself and of what the Church calls the \u201cnatural law.\u201d Everyone has a basic, moral instinct, which if followed will lead to fuller understanding and fulfillment, but which if ignored, buried, or rationalized will lead to deeper darkness and frustration.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it: \u201cBut no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man\u201d (1860).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the world today, we are seeing deep darkness, deception, and complicity in grave immorality that destroys the body and soul of those who practice it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Why isn\u2019t the Church boldly and compassionately proclaiming the answer to this misery and darkness? Why isn\u2019t the Church coming to the rescue of those suffering?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n