The CatholiCity Message
Volume IV, Number 27 - Part One – November 21, 2000
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
Our goal today is to give you truth and hope. We've gathered a lot of important information for you so we're breaking up the CatholiCity Message into two parts. In Part One today, we're going to give you the inside scoop on what some of our "inside" sources and Catholic contacts are telling us about the election, as well as our own meager comments on the spiritual battle that is raging for the United States.
At the bottom of this message, we've gathered several secular election commentaries from the Net which we have found helpful. The mainstream media's bias is sometimes overwhelming, so we've done some homework to lighten your load. We'm sure you'll find the insights excellent preparation as you speak with your family and friends during Thanksgiving weekend. To save space here in this message, we're posting links to these articles on our homepage as a public service because the disputed election bears directly on our futures as Catholics and citizens of our nation. Go here:
(PERTINENT ARTICLES NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
Our homepage will make it easier for you to refer friends to the information, too. Tomorrow, in Part II, we're going to return to prayer for God's will in the U.S. Election. And before we forget, please note that many CatholiCity Citizens are Canadians, and they've been praying for the U.S. Their election is coming up, also, and we're sure all our American CatholiCity Citizens will join in to pray for Canada in return. So let's get started. We'll start with two quotes:
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing.
Those who count the votes decide everything."
Joseph Stalin, communist dictator, butcher of millions
"The condition of the survival of America is to respect every human person,
especially the weakest and most defenseless ones, those as yet unborn."
Pope John Paul II, 9/9/1987, Christ's Visible Head on Earth
1. POWERS AND PRINCIPALITIES
Based on your input and discussions with Catholic leaders we've been in contact with, beginning with the International Week of Prayer and Fasting in early October through the almost surreal U.S. presidential "non"-election to this present day, we've discerned among Catholics an amazing unaminity. Just about everyone believes that what has been taking place is more than just a disputed presidential election. We are in the midst of a battle for the very soul and survival of America for future generations which transcends politics and is taking place in the order of powers and principalities.
Our pre-election novena and post-election email prayers in this Weekly Message have exploded around the Catholic Internet as a result. Because we've carefully avoided mentioning particular candidates or political parties, one person emailed us and asked us who the "enemy" was. The answer is simple...
2. SAINT MICHAEL PROTECT US
The enemy is satan himself, and he is trying to gain spiritual control of our country through those who would serve him completely. That is why our prayers have focused on asking God to unleash Saint Michael the Archangel. As one Catholic leader who we respect very much told us just last night, "Our national pastime is baseball, and this election is the bottom of the ninth with two outs. In the 1990s, America has had two chances to vote for the Culture of Life and now we have two strikes. We've got to put the bat on the ball or this election will be Strike Three."
We recently had the honor of attending the Catholic Leadership Conference (CLC) just days before the election. The CLC is a yearly gathering of over one hundred Catholic leaders; virtually every attendee a household name in devout Catholic circles. The sentiment we encountered there during our conversations was the same: there is a supernatural battle being waged over the presidential election. You feel this, don't you?
3. THE BIG BANG BEFORE THE EXIT
Almost two decades ago, at the University of Notre Dame, we knew of a college student named Joe who detected a malignant spiritual presence in his dorm room. Holy water in hand, praying a Rosary together, the man and his best friend called on Saint Michael to expel the evil one from his room. The man's friend returned to his room in another dorm across campus.
That night at 3am, the Joe's friend sat up in bed, wide awake from a sound sleep, and started staring at the phone. It rang. "Hi Joe," he said.
"How did you know it was me?" Joe asked.
"God woke me up," his friend replied.
Both felt chills as Joe explained that he had been trying to pray himself to sleep when suddenly his bed, propelled by an unseen, evil force, had risen abruptly up into the air then dropped to the floor; this was followed by a loud bang that was still ringing in his ears.
Remembering something a spiritual director had once said, the friend advised Joe that this was good news, "The devil always makes a racket when he's forced to leave."
4. CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE
We believe that God is going to win this supernatural battle. We believe that our recent prayers, combined with fasting and prayers of our Protestant brothers and sisters and the prayers of Catholics everywhere around the world since Our Lady appeared at Fatima in 1917, have unleashed Saint Michael and his angelic army into today's supernatural battle. For us here on earth, there may be a lot of spiritual and political, and even actual warfare in our future before the victory and period of peace promised by Our Lady of Fatima is experienced, but the good guys are going to win.
Don't kid yourself, though: the good guys also have to fight. Eventually, the peace-loving boy has to stand up to the bully on the playground. Strike three will be called if the hitter keeps the bat on his shoulder. If we don't pray, Saint Michael and his army of warrior angels won't get called in for reinforcement with the maximum divine mandate. But remember:
Expect a big bang before God binds and banishes the dark one back to hell.
5. A NIGHT CROSSING
The Threshold of Hope which our beloved and magnificent Pope has directed us toward, in fact, is a "night crossing." The warm sunlight of the Eucharist Period of Peace is on the other side. We promise you this, as for our families and the workers here, we're strapping on our night-vision goggles, and we intend to not go gently into the night. Join us in committing to do whatever God requires for victory, in whatever humble ways Our Lady calls us, until we cross that threshold. And if we individually don't make it all the way across on this earth, it won't be because we didn't fight. Let us vow to leave our blood on that threshold if need be, and thereby cross through a more wonderful doorway into a place where we'll continue to fight for each other, for those we love, and for every soul on earth...until Jesus returns.
And we know you'll make it because you are with us, helping God, and we'll be with you, helping God help you...
6. LET US PRAY Because you've been so diligent and faithful about copying our recent messages to everyone in your email address books, we don't know how many tens of thousands of souls will join us in prayer today. God knows, and He hears. Let's stick with our Big Gun:
"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen."
"Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, pray for us.
Saint Katharine Drexel and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.
Saint Thomas More, Patron of Politicians, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, Patron Saint of Canada, pray for us.
Immaculate Mary, Patroness of the United States, pray for us.
Jesus Christ, King of Kings, we adore you!"
7. TALK TURKEY
Finally, here are those fascinating and urgent commentaries about the election from around the Net to help you prep for those Thanksgiving conversations. Just go to the CatholiCity homepage to read them:
(PERTINENT ARTICLES NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
COLSON: THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT USURPING POWER?
Chuck Colson, the former White House aid, Marine, evangelical convert, and Watergate ex-con turned prison minister, is one of the most respected and cogent voices on the Christian landscape. His insights in this article are alarming to say the least, and his call to action could make a big difference during in these critical hours.
SHEETS: PROTESTANTS KNOW IT'S A SPIRITUAL BATTLE
Read Pat Robertson's interview with Protestant minister Dutch Sheets, who months before the election had an amazing prophecy from God that Palm Beach County would be the focal point of a spiritual battle for the soul of America.
FUKUYAMA: ABORTION, CONTRACEPTION, AND THE ELECTION
One of our friends who works for EWTN told us that Francis Fukuyama's commentary shows more insight into why the U.S. is split down cultural lines than anything he's ever read in the secular press. We agree.
NOONAN: THE DONKEY IN THE LIVING ROOM
The liberal bias of the mainstream secular media has reached disgraceful new lows, and Peggy Noonan–a devout Catholic, by the way–exposes why the Emperor Has No Clothes for the Wall Street Journal.
REESE: SUMMARY OF ELECTION FACTS
Along with Thomas Sowell and Robert Novak, Charlies Reese is one of the plainest-speaking columnists in the nation. In this column for Florida's Orlando Sentinal, he distills into a few short paragraphs what countless television talking heads can't (or won't) admit during their endless hours of spin. Reese will earn your bookmark for future reading.
We'll add more to the homepage as we find them. Thanks for hanging with us. If you're reading still reading this, well, hey, we've done our job. Anything good in our writing comes from God–the rest is all ours. But we will keep writing as long as you keep reading.
Yours in Christ,
Your Sentinels at CatholiCity
