Freedom from Idolatry

Written by Father Rick Heilman

Reports surfaced that there was no cellphone activity in a high-security portion of the Wuhan Institute of Virology from Oct. 7 through Oct. 24, 2019, indicating that there may have been a "hazardous event" on or about  October 6. On the very same day ( October 6), Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of Akita received a private message ... the first since 1973 (year of infamous Roe v. Wade decision). The message was not unlike the warning Jonah received for Nineveh, in that it called for repentance:  "Put on ashes and pray a repentant rosary every day."

It's more than interesting that Our Lady of Fatima appeared with her warning from May to October in 1917, urging the world to pray the rosary, repent, turn from its wicked ways, and return to the Lord, or there would be  consequences. This warning came just before the 1918 plague ("Spanish Flu") broke out and claimed 50 million lives. Until now, this was the last plague in which churches were closed.

A consistent theme in the bible is that when the people distance themselves from God and His will, which always leads to idolatry, God repeatedly allows a punishment, which is usually a plague.

Our Lady of Fatima pointed to the errors of Russia:  "Russia will spread its errors throughout the world, raising up wars and persecutions against the Church." It was in May of 1917 (just as Our Lady first appeared to the children in Fatima) that the Russian Revolution broke out, leading the way to Communism. Communism is a reductively atheistic materialist world-view which aims at undermining anything Christian in society. At its essence, Communism is an idolatry of man over God, and its atheistic materialist world-view has spread across the planet like a virus.

What about our time? On March 24, 2020, as we were entering the height of the Covid-19 plague's worst devastation, Bishop Strickland of Tyler, TX tweeted the following:  "People of the world, fall to your knees. Fall to your knees to beg forgiveness of your sins. Stop worshiping yourself, stop worshiping creation, stop worshiping your desires, fall to your knees and worship God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Repent!" Bishop Strickland was among many, including myself, who recognized the biblical and historic connection between idolatry and plagues.

According to paragraph 2113 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,  "Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc." What do we revere ahead of God?

So many times, I have pointed to the Pew Research study from August 5, 2019 which revealed that nearly 70% of professed Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence. 70%!!! I recall Bishop Robert Barron being shaken by this, but very few others. Personally, I believed this was a "make or break" moment, in which the Church needed to act decisively,  or else.

No, instead the talk of Communion for those in mortal sin, ending celibacy for priests, women deacons, sodomy no longer a sin, nature worship, etc. only accelerated in the weeks and months that followed (leading up to October, 2019). It became so escalated, during this time, that there was an apparent movement to "normalize" pagan idols brought into our churches. It was as if you could hear God say,  "ENOUGH!"

Okay, so what do we do? My thoughts go to Nineveh and Jonah's warning given to them. What did they do? They repented, and even put on sackcloth as an outward sign of their humility before God. Most importantly, and this is repeated throughout the bible, they put down their idols and made God the highest priority in their lives.

Now is the time for us to be honest with ourselves, and ask, "What am I making a priority ahead of God in my life? What are my idols?" We must ramp up our prayer and fasting, particularly for the bishops and priests in our Church to become more and more courageous in their stand against the forces in the world today who oppose God and His will. The laity must be courageous too!

Satan and his narcissistic useful idiots are emboldened, maybe as never before. Why? Because we are too busy with our idols to stand up for God and His will. The hope is that the horror of this plague and the shock of unbridled evil from sea to shining sea will bring us to our knees, as a country, as we call out to God seeking His love and His mercy!

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land" -2 Chronicles 7:14.

We love You, Lord! We are so sorry, Lord! Heal our land, Lord!