The Evangelical Urge

Sunday's mass on EWTN had a phenomenal priest, Father Scott Hayne, from Chicago. His homily was a twenty-minute powerhouse designed to set some things straight: that God and the Devil are real, that the Church is losing her way but never will be completely lost, and that every day we are the Church Militant--- winning and losing ground on the battlefield.

I've said before that I feel like Fox Mulder on the X Files nearly every day, but the more I get to know and observe others who have had experiences with Evil, the more I'm realizing that we ALL have to be that way. There IS a conspiracy of deception at hand. I often feel so justified and confirmed when I pick up spiritual reading or watch spiritual shows.... Everyone I read and listen to, from Teresa of Avila to Father Groeschel to this priest on Sunday, Father Scott Hayne, to Father Corapi to St John of the Cross, ALL of these beautiful holy warriors will tell you the same thing: there is Evil in our midst. Those of us who are aware of it's presence, either by our own curiosity or because we just cannot seem to escape it, know we must do all we can to be a beacon of truth and hope for those who are drowning.

And yet there's that pesky free will issue, the fact that we cannot force anything on anyone. As a parent, I can command my daughter to look both ways before crossing the street, but I cannot force her... if she decides to break away and make a mad dash, there is little I can actually do about it other than pray for her life and possibly jump in the way of the moving vehicles heading towards her. That's how I feel sometimes when I see what people are doing TO THEMSELVES in this world.

In this blog I am going to treat the idea of evangelism, the whys and hows of it, alongside stories that I have personally witnessed which should give you an idea of the value and importance we should place on our evangelism.

Christianity is an evangelical faith-- there is no escaping it. Jesus told us: "Go and make disciples," and so we must. But evangelism doesn't have to mean leaving little notes in our wake that tell people how to make a decision for Christ. It does not have to mean rabidly inviting everyone you know over to the Church each Sunday, or putting flags on your front lawn proclaiming your love of the Lord. These things are fine, and good, but they are not NECESSARY means of evangelism. Rather, evangelism means sharing your faith, which you are challenged to do using the gifts you have in front of you.

For one friend of mine, this means opening her home in a hospitable manner to her neighbor, cooking, cleaning, and serving Jesus to them. For another ,it means using his understanding of philosophy and history to constantly and imperceptibly point students to their need for God. For another, it means wearing a collar and going into the world. For another, it means choosing not to swear when sharing jokes with the guys at the construction site. For another, it means raising godly kids.

Whatever God has done in your life, whatever He has graced you with, He expects you to serve others with it and use it for His glory. And why? Because if you don't, there is another evangelist sharing a false gospel, and he is extremely eager to get in where you don't go.

The presence of Evil pervades nearly everything around us today. Those of us who have been exposed to it are aware of the putrid stench of Hell when we read the New York Times Bestseller list each month. We see flames licking our friends as they watch TV. We hear agonizing, tormented screams over the phone and through our computer screens. We watch inaugurations and UN meetings with a sense of imminent doom. We KNOW it's there-- just under the surface. Paranormal events might phase us, but they don't surprise us. We remember the words of the demon that Father Amorth, chief exorcist of Rome, once cast out which told us--- when asked how many of "them" there were-- that if we could see "them" with our eyes, there were so many of them that "they" would darken the sky.

Evil takes many forms, from blatant satanism to the most unnoticeable of lies disguised as "human compassion."

Just this year, several prominent leaders in popular political parties were arrested and charged for their involvement in Satanic ritual abuse here in Raleigh, NC. Every day across America, children are born to Satanist families which will be used in Satanic ritual abuse. The city of Asheville, NC has the highest satanic crime rate in the area. It is poorly documented because the satanic element has infiltrated every aspect of law enforcement. But if you listen, there are those with stories to tell.

The "conspiracy" is so great that members of all levels and branches of the judicial, executive, and legislative branches have been affected by it to some degree. It is so vast that Clergy are under constant harassment and often succumb to the Enemy. Bishops in our very church are refusing communion to kneeling communicants, but serving drag queens dressed as religious sisters Our Eucharistic Lord. The Jesuit Schools in Los Angeles are hiding pedophiles and furthering the homosexual agenda for the Church. There is literally no where to hide from the evil that exists----- except the arms of Jesus.

Now, before I start sounding like a nutcase (and some of you reading are already saying "too late!") let me be clear. It is my particular calling or election in life to be aware of and disseminate information about the darkness. This does not mean that I think EVERYONE around me is affected to some degree, but I do find it quite astonishing to note just how vast and varied the effects of the darkness actually are.

I will take music, as an example. I am not one of those people who has no music in my home, or who thinks that rock music is the key to eternal condemnation. There are plenty of those people out there and I'm sure you've heard from them. But consider for a moment the severe spiritual state of most modern-day musicians.

For a while there, our children were listening to teenage pop bands like Britney Spears and NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, all of whom incited teens, through their lyrics, to pursue a life of sexual expression outside of marriage. Interestingly,the lyrics of those songs which were blatantly and overtly sexual never seemed to make it to the inside cover of the albums where the lyrics were located. An accident? A coincidence? Or a plot to keep parents from knowing what their kids were REALLY being ingrained with? Why did America wonder why Britney Spears, being managed and advertised as a Pedophile's wet dream in heels and a schoolgirl uniform with braids in her hair and her dolls on her shelf in the background, end up tormented and destroyed?

Or consider these quotes from popular musicians-- the musicians, indeed, who shaped the sixties and seventies and revolutionized an entire generation which rebelled against everything their parents had ingrained in them:

David Bowie:
"Rock has always been THE DEVIL'S MUSIC . . . I believe rock and roll is dangerous . . . I feel we're only heralding SOMETHING EVEN DARKER THAN OURSELVES." (Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976)

Franck Zappa:
"I'm the devil's advocate. We have our own worshippers who are called 'groupies.' Girls will give their bodies to musicians as you would give a sacrifice to a god." (Peters Brothers, What About Christian Rock, p. 17)

Carlos Santana:
"The energy of devils and angels is the same energy; it's how you use it. It's fuel. There is a saying: If you scare all your devils away, the angels will go away with them. You know, the halo and the horns are the same thing. I mean it's OK to be spiritually horny - that's what creative genius is all about. Geniuses don't have time to think about how it's going to be received... they don't have time to think whether people like it or not, is it morally right, will God like it?" (Carlos Santana, Rolling Stone, magazine, March 16, 2000, p. 87).

"...you meditate and you got the candles, you got the incense and you've been chanting, and all of a sudden you hear this voice: 'Write this down' " (Carlos Santana, Rolling Stone magazine, March 16, 2000, p. 41).


JEFFERSON STARSHIP:
"Rock concerts are the churches of today." (Guitarist Craig Chaquico of the rock group 'Jefferson Starship.')

"Get them while they're young and bend their minds." (Spencer Dryden of the rock group 'Jefferson Starship.')

THE EAGLES:
Hotel California is a reference to a Church of Satan located in an old hotel turned mental assylum on California street. One of their songs is titled "have a good day in hell." Anton Lavey, the granddaddy of Satanism, can be seen on the inside cover of their album.

KISS:
"I'm lord of the wasteland, a modern day man of steel
I gather darkness to please me and I COMMAND YOU TO KNEEL
Before, The God of thunder, the god of rock 'n roll
I'LL STEAL YOUR VIRGIN SOUL!""
(incidentally, Gene himself has repeatedly said in an interview that they were going to name the band a certain "F" Word, but decided to name it KISS because they couldn't get away with the initial idea.)

ACDC:
One need only glance at the lyrics to Highway to Hell, and Hell's bells, to get an idea.

PINK FLOYD:
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want . . .
With bright knives he RELEASETH MY SOUL
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places . . .
For lo, he hath great power and GREAT HUNGER."

ROLLING STONES:
Phew. There is such a slew of satanic stuff to tell about Mick Jagger and the Rolling stones that I would recommend just doing a google search for "Satanic Rolling Stones."


The BEATLES:
Don't get me started on the lyrics to "imagine," but how about the cover of Sgt pepper? Notice Aleister Crowley in the picture? The names and faces were the beatles' heros as they publically proclaimed that they were taking LSD.

And these are just the beginning.
Consider the lyrics of modern bands like Slayer, Dimu Borghir, Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies. Yikes. Perhaps the most interesting case is that of Marilyn Manson.

MARILYN MANSON:
"Hopefully, I'll be remembered as the person who brought an end to Christianity." (Spin, August 1996, p. 34)

On his album, Antichrist superstar:
"I heard this album as finished, I heard it in dreams . . . It was like the revelations of John the Baptist or something." (huH, Oct. 1996, p.34)
"I think every time people listen to this new album maybe God will be destroyed in their heads. . ." (huH, Oct. 1996, p.37)

On his teeshirts:
"KILL YOUR PARENTS" and "I LOVE SATAN."

On his shows:
"I don't know if anyone has really understood what we're trying to do. This isn't just about shock value . . . that's just there to lure the people in. Once we've got em we can give em our MESSAGE." (Hit Parader, Oct. 1996, p.28)

On his desire for Satan:
"My mom used to tell me when I was a kid, If you curse at nighttime, the devil's going to come to you when you're sleeping. I used to get excited because I really wanted it to happen . . . I wanted it. I wanted it more than anything ..."(Rolling Stone, January, 23, 1997 p.52)


We all know that Satan was in charge of the music in heaven, and that's why music is such an easy way for him to affect people. Is he really affecting these musicians? Or is it all just a funny coincidence?

Let's really think about what that means for a minute.

When I was a teenager, I was into techno. So much so that it defined my life.
I organized underground raves with my friends, and we broke into warehouses and rented out entire sections of industrial districts in LA. We projected pornography on large screens over the party, passed out free ecstasy to our friends, dressed up like cartoon characters and anime heros, sucked on pacifiers and blew glitter kisses and bubbles at each other, gave each other lotion hand rubs and danced like robots. My favorite moments of all of these (because the LOVE I felt at these gatherings, brought together by our LOVE for the music permeated my very soul) was to stand in front of the gigantic speakers that stood waaaaay over me with all my friends. We would hug and lean into the speaker in time to the beat, a speaker that was blasting sound at such a high decibel level that we would then be deaf for more than 24 hours as we slept and recovered from these events. As the DJ turned it up and we became more and more excited and in love and on fire, we would move with the rhythm into the speaker and into each other, colliding in an explosion of sound, light, and love that caused us to transcend our physical situation and experience something truly spiritual. One of my favorite DJ's at the time totally got this and incorporated this into one of my favorite songs.....including lyrics like "God is the DJ and I'm f*cking the speaker." That is, in fact, what we called hovering together over the speaker like that--- speaker f*cking. Suggestive? Not in the least, right?
I look back on those moments with bittersweet awe.

The love and sense of childlike amazement I experienced at raves was something that deeply moved me. There was a sense of patient, loving responsibility for each other and for the care of the whole world that really knocked you flat. It was a utopia- the perfect situation. Except now, looking back, I think about what it really was. It was a sweaty, sticky mess. It was dirt and filth and pot and cigarette and clove smoke. It was drugs and paranoia and a loudness that made even your heart panic and go deaf. It was a lie.... It was all these things, and yet I was convinced that it was beautiful and perfect and good for the soul, and I shared it with everyone I could. At this time, I have many friends whose lives have been ruined and destroyed because of what they learned at raves. Some never made it out alive. And I brought them there--- convincing them all the while that it was the most beautiful, perfect, experience they would ever have.

So what does this all mean? Burn the albums? Picket the concerts? A few years ago
Marilyn Manson came to Santa Barbara and the Christians in the area decided, instead of picketing, to serve free pizza to concert goers and to talk about the Lord.
This, to me, is the heart of good evangelism.
We don't go into the darkness and fight it with Evil. We go and we bring the beautiful light. We go and we shine and glow so perfectly that the Evil will have no choice but to recede.

When you see, on a daily basis, the absolute filth that the world of the Enemy represents, the depth of the lie, the sadness that should break your heart it's so ugly, then you realize that the only real solution to that is to shine with all the brightness of God's glory. You don't have to be a Billy Graham to be an evangelist. You have to be a human being who was touched by God's love and knows his or her gifts and wants to share them with the world. You have to be the kind of person that will not let an opportunity pass by to serve and do good works.
You have to be a warrior, in the way you were called to fight.

But in this world, woe to he who is lukewarm. Jesus says in scripture that He will spit us out of his mouth for our lukewarm-ness. Christians, look around at what is in our schools, on our radios, on our ballots, and on our billboards. Pray without ceasing, and ARM yourselves for the battle... using your gifts to "go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit."