I'm not sure what false god you're referring to. Surely you don't mean Biden? I oppose pretty much everything he stands for. I voted for Trump and was devastated when Biden won. I haven't been able to even bring myself to listen to any of his speeches. None of that changes the fact that God loves him (as He does each of us) dearly, and if I truly love Christ and want to console His heart, I must pray sincerely and with love for the conversion of Biden's soul.
Really? I strive to be a “good man” Yet I fall every single day. Shall I banish myself to eternal damnation and save Padraig and you the trouble?
Or the veil disappears and your relative is visited by a few family waiting for them. They are able to converse but only they can see those visiting.
God loves everyone like a father. But he hates sin. He does not 'cherish' those who are evil. That is why hell is real. Biden promotes sin - he is an agent of the dark. He is an agent of evil. If Biden's 'heart yearns for God' (as you say) he would not be promoting sin. 'By their fruits ye shall know them'. Did Christ 'cherish' the Pharisees? No, he condemned them in the harshest of words. “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” –John 8:44 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.” 9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” –Matthew 15:7 Just because Biden appears to be pious and sits in a pew fingering beads does not mean anything - for outward appearances can be deceptive. It is from within, the heart that evil flows and one can judge the character of a man by his actions. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” — Matthew 7:21-23
Thank you for strong muscular faith.. I don't disagree that God hates evil and the psalms are full of reminders of this. And Jesus never minced words. I always remember His words when asked about Herod "Go tell that fox..." The contempt dripping from those words is palpable.
When one considers and contemplates the Holiness of God all sentimentality leaves the equation. God is no sentimentalist (a false image of God - an idol). He is Thrice Holy and holier than we can ever imagine -- the soul in sin is as the pupil of the eye to the naked scorching Sun.
I so wish priests would preach the truth about the nature and reality of God. Of His awesome Holiness of His infinite Glory. Holy, Holy, Holy God. For me this should be the starting point of every sermon and everything else falls into place - we can have no excuses when we realise that God IS infinitely Holy and nothing tainted can come near His Presence or into His Shekinah Glory.
My understanding is that in the New Covenant, we are partakers of His Holiness in the Eucharist. When we are in a state of grace, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Thus there is a difference between a good person and a holy person.
One who is in a state of grace is in union with God partaking of His Divine glory from one degree to another (depending on the depth of the union). One who is not is a state of grace even if outwardly a good person is dead in the spirit and alien to God, an outcast. They cannot please God. Romans 8 Walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Is there a pandemic? Do people really need a life or death vaccine? https://pdmj.org/papers/is_there_a_pandemic/
Yes, God loves everyone like a father. Do you have children? I'm curious, because I have 6 (3 in Heaven and 3 on earth) and let me tell you... If any one of my children turned from everything I taught them and, turning their back on my open arms, pursued a life of terrible evil, I would be absolutely horrified and anguished beyond belief. But would I no longer cherish my child? Would my heart turn cold against the one I would gladly die for? No. Until the moment that child died and could no longer be saved, I would be doing everything I could to save him. And I would be so grateful to anyone who would help me by lending their own prayers or reaching out to my child with love and trying to show him the way back to light and goodness. I would be very hurt to see any of my other children looking upon him with absolute condemnation, seeing only the sins and not the sinner. For how would that help save him? How would that stop his sin? How would that grow the love and goodness in my other child's heart? When God send Jonah to tell the wicked inhabitants of Nineveh that He was going to destroy them, Jonah didn't want to, because he knew how quickly God would change His mind about destroying Nineveh if the people repented: "And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster." God could easily have just wiped Nineveh out with His just anger, but instead He sent a man (who would have rathered they just be destroyed) to give them yet another chance to change. When Jesus was dying on the cross, murdered by vicious, laughing, evil people, did He say, "I no longer cherish these evil people. Destroy them, Father." No. He said "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He gave every last drop of His blood for wicked men. While any man is still alive and thus has any hope, however small, of turning back toward God, He is there pursuing him with a Sacred Wounded Heart yearning for their return. Why would He allow Himself to be brutally tortured and killed by evil men if He did not cherish them enough to try to save them? Can you imagine any worse horror, any deeper injustice, than torturing and killing God Himself? Did that not deserve God's wrath and condemnation on the spot? But yet, instead, He prays for them and begs the Father to have mercy! Yes, God hates sin, which is why you hear His strong words against the clinging to sin. But you also hear the broken Heart of a God who loves those sinners still: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" Hear the pain in His Heart that cherishes each of His children when He cries out in His agony, "I thirst!" It is souls He thirsts for. He tries and tries to save us. He sends His beloved mother to us again and again begging us to change our own hearts and sacrifice to save poor sinners because God doesn't want to destroy us! Imagine how many souls we could save if we spent every last bit of our energy praying and fasting for those like Biden, uniting ourselves to the Heart of a God who pursues Biden to the very end?
It is very common for dying folks to have conversations with unseen visitors, usually with dead relatives but also angels, Jesus, the Blessed Virgin. I would expect as a matter of course those with a deep devotion to Our Lady to be taken home by her, which is wonderful. Traditionally it is St Michael, the Minister of Heaven who takes souls before the Throne of God to Judgement (the interim Judgement)
It was Pope St John Paul who warned us we have lost our sense of sin, many years ago. Never a truer word spoken. This is particularly true of sexual sins. Sins of impurity. We have totally normalised them.
