'Peace' as a tool in the hands of God's enemies
Feb 17, 2019 13:02:00 GMT
Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2019 13:02:00 GMT
The Angelus - May 1983
Peace
One of the most popular words in the American Church today is "Peace." We have "peace-prelates," "peace-priests, "and, perhaps the most repellent of all, a plague of "peace-sister. "But what these misguided, one is tempted to say possessed, individuals do not seem to realize is that they are not campaigning for peace—we have peace now!—but for an end to peace, by coercing our government to abandon its defense weapons so that the Communist powers could be sure of victory in an aggressive war. Father Werenfried van Straaten is publisher of "Aid to the Church in Need." He probably has more first-hand experience of Communism than the entire plethora of Catholic peaceniks who are infesting the Church today. We commend a letter addressed to readers of his journal in its December 1982 issue.
Dear Friends,
My name Werenfried means "one who fights for peace." That is why I have fought all my life for peace with God and peace among men. It was not just chance that our Work was born shortly after the Second World War in an advent night, when torn and divided humanity awaited the Prince of Peace.
On my journeys through the ruins of Europe I recognised the diabolic wickedness of communism, which misuses suffering in order to drive mankind to its destruction and God from His throne. It is now calling the free nations to a "peace without weapons", but all-out war against God and the subjugation of the whole world under the yoke of slavery remains its unchanged goal.
There are too many peace movements that are simply Moscow's fifth column. With the byword of "peace without weapons" and speculating on fear, they consciously or not prepare the way for the Red Army to move in. Many of them are double-faced. While claiming to serve peace they preach the murder of life still in the womb and unleash a world war against unborn defenseless children and go unpunished, there is no longer any obstacle in the way of universal mass murder.
The false prophets of all-out peace forget that St. Paul admonishes us (Eph. 6, 11-17): "Put God's armour on so as to be able to resist when the worst happens and hold your ground"! They neither have "truth buckled round the waist" nor do they wear "integrity for a breastplate," for they keep quiet about the immeasurable sufferings of our brothers in Soviet concentration camps. Instead of peace with God they preach fear and panic. So they shatter the "shield of faith," replacing it with the defenselessness of no faith. Instead of the "helmet of salvation" they wear a blindfold. And the "sword of the spirit, which is the word of God" has long since been transformed by the Bible critics into a plastic gadget that cannot hurt anyone.
Whoever uses the Holy Scriptures for pacifist day-dreaming must keep silent about many passages. He must ignore our Lord's prophecies about the end of the world. He must forget the word that is a harsh reality for millions today:
Nowhere does the Gospel teach us that we must prevent wars by surrendering without resistence to military dictators and extortioners who use violence to force their godless tyranny on God's world. Nowwhere is it written that, for fear of what war may bring we should open the gates of Europe for a mass liquidation that in the Gulag Archipelago has already claimed more human lives than six years of world war. Nowhere can we read that in order to save peace St. Michael the Archangel, prince of the heavenly host, should have accepted the rebellion against God and capitulated to Satan.
Whoever makes the mistake of believing peace to be the supreme good, capitulates to the beast of the Apocalypse, of whom we are told (Ap.13):
But God is above the beast!
We must fear the atom bomb, the devil, and the untamed beast that slumbers in every human heart. But anyone who makes this fear the sole content of his preaching no longer brings the good news. He only sees the peril, the storm and the raging sea. He sows panic, which leads to despair and ruin. Let us therefore be filled with hope in this dark Advent and await the One "whom the storm and the sea obey," who "walks on the waves" and who, when we "cry out in fear," reassures us with His words: "Courage! Do not be afraid, it is I" (Mt. 14, 25-27).
Peace
One of the most popular words in the American Church today is "Peace." We have "peace-prelates," "peace-priests, "and, perhaps the most repellent of all, a plague of "peace-sister. "But what these misguided, one is tempted to say possessed, individuals do not seem to realize is that they are not campaigning for peace—we have peace now!—but for an end to peace, by coercing our government to abandon its defense weapons so that the Communist powers could be sure of victory in an aggressive war. Father Werenfried van Straaten is publisher of "Aid to the Church in Need." He probably has more first-hand experience of Communism than the entire plethora of Catholic peaceniks who are infesting the Church today. We commend a letter addressed to readers of his journal in its December 1982 issue.
Dear Friends,
My name Werenfried means "one who fights for peace." That is why I have fought all my life for peace with God and peace among men. It was not just chance that our Work was born shortly after the Second World War in an advent night, when torn and divided humanity awaited the Prince of Peace.
On my journeys through the ruins of Europe I recognised the diabolic wickedness of communism, which misuses suffering in order to drive mankind to its destruction and God from His throne. It is now calling the free nations to a "peace without weapons", but all-out war against God and the subjugation of the whole world under the yoke of slavery remains its unchanged goal.
There are too many peace movements that are simply Moscow's fifth column. With the byword of "peace without weapons" and speculating on fear, they consciously or not prepare the way for the Red Army to move in. Many of them are double-faced. While claiming to serve peace they preach the murder of life still in the womb and unleash a world war against unborn defenseless children and go unpunished, there is no longer any obstacle in the way of universal mass murder.
The false prophets of all-out peace forget that St. Paul admonishes us (Eph. 6, 11-17): "Put God's armour on so as to be able to resist when the worst happens and hold your ground"! They neither have "truth buckled round the waist" nor do they wear "integrity for a breastplate," for they keep quiet about the immeasurable sufferings of our brothers in Soviet concentration camps. Instead of peace with God they preach fear and panic. So they shatter the "shield of faith," replacing it with the defenselessness of no faith. Instead of the "helmet of salvation" they wear a blindfold. And the "sword of the spirit, which is the word of God" has long since been transformed by the Bible critics into a plastic gadget that cannot hurt anyone.
Whoever uses the Holy Scriptures for pacifist day-dreaming must keep silent about many passages. He must ignore our Lord's prophecies about the end of the world. He must forget the word that is a harsh reality for millions today:
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be those of his own household" (Mt. 10, 34-36).
Nowhere does the Gospel teach us that we must prevent wars by surrendering without resistence to military dictators and extortioners who use violence to force their godless tyranny on God's world. Nowwhere is it written that, for fear of what war may bring we should open the gates of Europe for a mass liquidation that in the Gulag Archipelago has already claimed more human lives than six years of world war. Nowhere can we read that in order to save peace St. Michael the Archangel, prince of the heavenly host, should have accepted the rebellion against God and capitulated to Satan.
Whoever makes the mistake of believing peace to be the supreme good, capitulates to the beast of the Apocalypse, of whom we are told (Ap.13):
"The whole world marvelled and followed the beast and worshipped him saying: Who can compare with the beast? How could anybody defeat him?"
But God is above the beast!
We must fear the atom bomb, the devil, and the untamed beast that slumbers in every human heart. But anyone who makes this fear the sole content of his preaching no longer brings the good news. He only sees the peril, the storm and the raging sea. He sows panic, which leads to despair and ruin. Let us therefore be filled with hope in this dark Advent and await the One "whom the storm and the sea obey," who "walks on the waves" and who, when we "cry out in fear," reassures us with His words: "Courage! Do not be afraid, it is I" (Mt. 14, 25-27).
—Father Werenfried
[Emphasis - The Catacombs]