Recognizing the Face of Evil

Many Catholic churchmen also seem to be incapable of recognizing the evil of the most monstrous of human acts. Internet searches of the comments made by senior clergymen after terrorist events reveal an undeniable pattern. Terrorist acts by extremist Islamists are almost always met with comments disassociating the “religion of peace” from the act. Frequently – despite evidence that many Islamists like Osama bin Laden are well-to-do – joblessness and economic deprivation are blamed. The solution usually includes a strong call for more “dialog” (with whom?). There is never talk of just punishment and just measures to protect individuals and society – even just retribution. Why such a disconnected response?

[Many Catholic churchmen also seem to be incapable of recognizing the evil of the most monstrous of human acts. Internet searches of the comments made by senior clergymen after terrorist events reveal an undeniable pattern..]

Unfortunately it isn't just Catholics.

Observe the fallible and uninspiring whitewash in "more Catholic than Catholic" Lutherland -- self-evident per two versions of Martin Luther's "On the Jews and their lies":

"First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom...
...Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.
Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. (remainder omitted)"
https://web.archive.org/web/20170107173100/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Luther_on_Jews.html

Vs:

https://web.archive.org/web/20170107171207/http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres9/Luthereng.pdf
Translated/Edited by Martin H. Bertram in association with Concordia Publishing - and, oddly,missing the above (and other) text.

Search Bertram's edited version for any of the following: Burn, Raize, Cinder

"Evil prospers when good men do nothing"
--(NOT) Martin Luther

Q: Who is responsible for learning the lessons of the past so they're not repeated?

A: In the body of Christ's "priesthood of all believers" - We ALL are.

Let’s take these on, one at a time:

“They don’t like the inconsistency of matters like capitol [sic] punishment, unfettered gun control, alleviating homelessness and guaranteeing their children a nuclear free world”

Capital punishment - Romans - It is good to fear the sword of the state, for it has its purpose.

Gun Control - Exercising the right to self defense REDUCES crime. Proven by the drop in crime in jurisdictions that move to approve CCW.

Homelessness - Quit facilitating drug abuse and provide meaningful help for the mentally ill

Nuclear free world - If America disarms, the bad guys will either use nuclear blackmail or actual use to achieve their goals.

A Florida bishop, recently retired, wrote in a parting reflection on his blog, as is now customary, about the Church’s loss of our young people. His narrative (in which he never mentions the name of Jesus) includes this passage which illustrates a pattern of ambiguity and lack of confidence in the Gospel:

That bishop would be Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, whose stupendous achievements include banning Eucharistic adoration in his diocese, abandoning Terri Schiavo at her hour of greatest need and making unsolicited sexual advances on other men.

A faithless, destructive rogue who wrought untold havoc to the sheep he was supposed to shepherd.

Hands down, the worst bishop in America and amongst a mob of faithless, zeitgeist-grovelers, that's really saying something.

I have had a difficult time recognizing evil in my life. It’s been a lesson that I have been working on for many years and kept repeating it over and over.

So I stopped and asked myself, why am I drawing this uncomfortable experience to myself! This was happening repeatedly with different people over many years.

It was not until I recently re-read Scott Peck’s “People of the Lie” on the psychology of evil that the proverbial light bulb in my head went on. In this book he goes into a detailed description of the attributes of a narcissist. This was the key to my discernment lesson.

If I am around a good person I feel the love energy radiating from them and usually can see it in the deep sparkle in their eyes. However being next to a narcissist is like being next to a piece of furniture.... no energy at all and no spark in the eyes. They are so self centered and self absorbed that they do not radiate outward. As such they are very difficult to identify.

Narcissists generate a facade for an identity. They usually use a surrogate to do their dirty work and use scapegoating or attacking others for what they are personally doing as a diversion from people examining them. The easiest way to identify an evil narcissist is by their trail of victims. (You shall know a tree by the fruit it bears)

Years ago I did quite a bit of spirit depossession and exorcism work. It was not done by me but through me by the Love that flowed from God. Dark spirits were afraid of the Light generated by the Love of the Holy spirit. By surrounding them with as much Love as possible they would become weak and mild. The perfect Love of God casts out fear and evil gets its power from creating fear.

My lesson was... It is good to Love thy friends but it is even better to Love thy enemies. What I found was that radiating God’s Love toward a narcissist was like pouring water over the wicked witch. Just as water is used in baptism, the Love and Light of the Holy Spirit causes evil to fear that the Light will kill them.

In meetings with narcissistic people who meant to do me harm, I found that a sincere loving prayer for them would make them very uncomfortable. When I imagined hugging them and allowing God’s Love to flow into them, they would get up and leave the room. Often they would become very emotional and irrational and outright attack me. They would not come close to me, but circle at a distance. The key is to keep loving them while they are attacking. I’ve actually had people start growling at me they were so angry they could not speak. Their true nature came out.

Thus the same exact methodology that I had used many years ago on dark and evil spirits worked on narcissists and humans possessed by evil. I view every human being as a creation of God and worthy of Love. Just because they have fallen and opened themselves up to evil influence which is causing their bad behavior does not mean that they are not worthy of Love. They actually need it more than most. Love the person and have compassion for them. That will cause the evil to depart them or they and the evil will depart.

If someone does make me angry (which they can only do if I have a personal unresolved issue surfacing that is creating a wound in my own soul) I must thank them for helping me to find it. While that is the ideal, in practice it is not quite so easy. Like everyone, I’m a work in process.

Last week I was amazed when talking with an advanced martial artist who had studied many schools his entire life. I said to him, here is the best martial art I know and I imagined hugging him and sending him love. I could feel his energy shift and open to the love. I then asked him to try an offensive move toward me and he could not do it. We both laughed as Love is the ultimate weapon.

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