Fr. Johannes Jacobse: The Republic is Finished and the America We Knew is Gone
The children will weep by the waters of Babylon, unearthing old movies and books of an America they never knew
With the decision that Obamacare will stand as the law of the land means that America - home of the brave, land of the free - is no more. This great country, the one to whom all great refugee movements of the world for over two centuries saw as the light to escape poverty, political bondage, and hopelessness now turns its back on that legacy of freedom for what will, in a very short time, amount a bowl of pottage. The turn to tyranny won't happen overnight and it won't be recognized as tyranny - not at first anyway. But as freedom gets chipped away the straight jacket gets tighter and then hardens to envelop the mind like a steel casket.
PrintNAPLES, FL. (Catholic Online) - (Editor in Chief, Deacon Keith A. Fournier: Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse is an Orthodox Priest with a spine of steel and a prophetic and courageous writing gift. We welcome his straightforward commentary.)
With Thursday morning's decision that Obamacare will stand as the law of the land means that America - home of the brave, land of the free - is no more. This great country, the one to whom all great refugee movements of the world for over two centuries saw as the light to escape poverty, political bondage, and hopelessness now turns its back on that legacy of freedom for what will, in a very short time, amount a bowl of pottage.
The turn to tyranny won't happen overnight and it won't be recognized as tyranny - not at first anyway. But as freedom gets chipped away the straight jacket gets tighter and then hardens to envelop the mind like a steel casket.
By the middle of the next generation those who gave away their freedom in the name of freedom will be cursed by their own children. The children will weep by the waters of Babylon, unearthing old movies and books of an America they never knew. "Why did you not shout out against the decline?" they will cry.
Antonio Gramsci, that great architect of the coming oppression was a shrewd man. He understood that the overthrow of the great liberal tradition would be a journey that would take generations.
It would require a long march through the cultural institutions, overthrowing line by line and precept by precept those bedrock moral values upon which the freedom of men was first defined and later codified into law.
Today the children of the great people of the Magna Carta, of English Common Law, the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution worship instead pleasure, safety, and wealth.
The God of Abraham has been forgotten, the same God who freed Abraham from the delusion of polytheism and the Israelite from the tyranny of Egypt, who gave man a Gospel from which insights into the nature and dignity man was drawn, and whose teachings unleashed a creativity that brought healing and light into a world in ways that would astonish the prophets and philosophers of old. And in that forgetting, we embrace a darkness the depth of which most of us do not yet perceive.
The path of the free West now follows the path of Russia under the Soviets. When men scorn and ridicule the good, noble, and true, darkness is always the end. The promise of a new enlightenment free from the shackles of self-restraint and morality is a delusion.
When man refuses to govern himself, he will give his liberty to a strong man so that order will prevail. The strong man is glad to take it, and in short order will demand even more to satiate his unquenchable thirst for power. We have just crossed that threshold. Dostoevsky warned us. So did Nietzsche.
Religion is the wellspring of morality and morality is the ground of culture. The encroaching darkness will have no room for religion because faith in God stands as the repudiation of those who see no transcendent referent for truth. Man becomes his own touchstone.
We've seen the outlines of the coming struggles already in the HHS mandates trying to force the Catholic Church to submit to policies that violate its moral precepts. This is just the beginning.
One hope remains: The Republicans take all three branches of government in the next election and overturn this monstrosity. It is possible the Republicans win, but whether they have the political will to overturn Obamacare completely is another question. The cultural rot may be too deep. Maybe there are enough clear thinking Americans left. I hope so but I am not confident.
Expect the hostility towards Christians to increase. Watch too for justifications for this grave loss of liberty in the name of compassion and the greater public good from some religious leaders.
Some of our leaders have already traded courage for acclaim as evidenced by their silence towards the attacks on the laws and precepts that defend human life and other bedrock principles. These leaders know that every defense of human life has its root and source in the self-revelation of God to us but they choose Esau's legacy over the Apostles'.
We may have to prepare for the catacombs. The government has been granted a license to control every aspect of your behavior under the rubric of the public good. Those who claim there is a law higher than the State will be seen as an enemy. It can't be any other way.
-----
Fr Johannes L. Jacobse is an Orthodox priest serving in Naples, FL. He is the editor of Orthodoxy Today (www.orthodoxytoday.org) and President of the American Orthodox Institute (www.aoiusa.org).
- - -
Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Justice Roberts, Affordable Care, Obamacare, Health Care, Supreme Court, Liberty, Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse
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To ALL the posters who were naysayers as to those who poke as THIS was a most accurate article by Fr. I say. GOOD Wait and see what your life will be like if Obama wins another 4 years........................America will NOT NE ANY SEMBLENCE Of what she was from her start.
To TOSS in the SIN of slavery is not appropriate to this particular piece........ITS a SCAR on AMERICA that we will forever bear..............HOW LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG WILL we all have to PAYYYYYYYYYYYY and be reminded of this sin? Gosh a BLACK MAN was elected president!
As for gangs? Adults , parents of these kids are off doing their things and are neglegent... THE CHURCH has always had open hearts and doors to these type troubled youth.......... I want to see Boys Homes come back into vogue...such as Boys Town as made by Fr. Flannigan, SOOOOOOOOOO I BEG you do not bad mouth the church and social justice issues.
I have always respected you, Father Jacobse. You have a keen mind and a strong backbone. I am just a poor and simple layman, and I cannot assert my own intellect beyond its very limited horizons. I do have a moral compass, as all sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. It is undoubtedly corruptible, as is my intellect, but it is the common heritage of all, pointing me toward a scandal-ridden entity, a despised and increasingly persecuted community called the Catholic Church. She has a visible head and an Invisible Head, as she has a visible body and an Invisible Body Triumphant. I can consult the Catechism. It makes sense of the cacophony of voices one hears in those who quote the Scriptures and the Fathers and the Canons according to their own fallible lights. In Rome, there is a "there" there. It can be challenged and gainsaid, but it stands. It can be refuted, but not defeated. If I ever repent, it will be toward the See of Peter.
Judy: Thank you. Blessings to you also.
Thank you again Jo Ann for your sharing and information. Keep Well. Prayerful Blessings...
Charles O'Brien: The "Creator" IS Jesus. Second person of the Triune God. Father, Son & Holy Spirit. John Adams was speaking of the Muslim nation NOT America. Thomas Jefferson ALWAYS signed his documents with "in the year of the Lord Jesus Christ." The first amendment was to protect the Church from the government, NOT the government from the Church. In the time of our founding fathers, Bibles were printed SPECIFICALLY for teaching in the schools. Most of our founding fathers WERE Christians. Thomas Paine was not. Benjamin Franklin was a Deist but was very vocal about the "Hand of God" being present in the formation of our Constitution. He believed that our Constitution was "divinely inspired." "Mr. President, I have lived, Sir, a long time; and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that GOD GOVERNS IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN.And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel....I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. Benjamin Franklin. Request made to GW when they were creating our Constitution. A wonderful book to read is "The 5000 Year Leap" A miracle that changed the world. This book will reveal to you what the founding fathers "really" said about the creation of this nation and its Constitution. Also, the "Federalist Papers" is another wonderful read, especially if you are reading the Constitution. God bless.
"IF WE CEASE TO BE ONE NATION UNDER GOD, WE WILL BE A NATION THAT HAS GONE UNDER." RONALD REAGAN The 4th horseman of the apocalypse is now riding. Are we going to let him win? God bless.
Fr. Jacobse, no truer words spoken. We as a nation have one last chance this November. We can vote out Obama and his extreme secularist party or history will repeat itself and become a nation ruled by tyrants who will persecute the Catholic Church as all communist countries are now doing.
Theresa, I applaud the Book you go by...our world would be in a much better place if it did. In my secular time of growing up, the 10 Commandments were, (around me,) for the most part upheld. I knew of secular public school, with Catholics, Jews, and I guess, I supposed that everyone else was Protestant=believed in Christ, but not Mary, and went to other churches. At the roller rink, which I went to weekly, I met a Jewish boy and became great friends. Commonality=10 commandments. I also had a best girl-friend that was Jewish. And now that I think on it, I know some must have been nothing. I don't think those relationships lasted. The point I'm making here, is that Everyone Got Along. We said prayers, we had Christmas plays that equaled bunny plays, and George and Martha Washington. All at PS. But of course, it is The Ghost of the Past. We are here today. IN the Present. Facing a real turmoil. Kids in public school hear now that Christ is a myth. Also, there is the Myth of the Old West... Indians Myths. These are taught w/real mythologies of Greek, Roman, etc. They are all so confusing,... and they are meant to be that way, to young interpreting minds. Youth sometimes will lose Faith; and the honor due to their parents for teaching them, (a pun if you will,) The Way of the Force; and this my friends is how it is happens. Sound familiar? Sound like a faint rerun down memory lane? Save a few practicing souls that rather live in caves and in the desert.
Ah! We are not there yet there! We still have time! And yet Theresa, I agree with you. When government institutions start taking the 10 Commandments out.....a Judeo-Christian symbolic gift, written by God, laws or rules by which this country was founded on.....laws or rules by which A World Can Live In PEACE, THEN ONE KNOWS, THE LINES ARE OPENLY BEING DRAWN. Your Sister in Christ...
Rob, I must say: How well you summed up all our "ills" as US CItizens and the "solution"--6 days ago.... Someone asked me today if I was Republican and I said: "I am neither Republican nor Democrat, in my book the criteria is moral principles and since there usually is no "perfect" candidate, in the Book I go by my first criteria is based on eliminating candidates and the question is: Does the candidate promote 'intrinsic evils?' " Sadly, some, if not many Americans today have eliminated the Ten Commandments....and they have been removed from many public places. Sadly, many of our children today have not heard of the Ten Commandments--(All the while, the future of a Nation lies in the hands of its children!) This is why I do wonder sometimes if our nation is about "finished"....Though I do also know there IS still a young "remnant...." and "prayer and penance..." is still needed, too!
Rob: I must be going nuts. You are sounding more and more like Glenn Beck. Have you finally stopped being so closed minded and are starting to listen to more independent thinkers without calling them crazy? You and Glenn have a lot in common if you are being truthful with your comments. I hope I didn't make you barf with that last statement. God bless.