Monday, April 2, 2012

The Kingdom of Darkness

Can you see it? The spiritual darkness in this world continues to increase. I wrote a post about this a few years back and added some thoughts to it:

I'm going to be very blunt. Should the era we live in concern us? YES.

The Holy Spirit is putting out a world wide "wake up" call and very few are heeding it. There really is no need to "discern the times". It is written, as clear as a bell, everywhere we look. One would have to be completely blind spiritually not to see the writing upon the wall at this point. Unfortunately, many of us ARE blinded. Sin blinds the mind, soul, and spirit of a person.

Despite the clarity of the picture around us, God, in his goodness, is going to allow this picture to become even clearer. The demarcation lines between good and evil will continue to grow greater and soon no one will be able to walk between these two lines but will choose one or the other. There will be no middle ground.

I have written about this numerous times and in no way has this sense of the "spiritual emergency" our world is facing lessened. If anything it has grown stronger.

We should pray daily to the Holy Spirit for the light of His truth to pierce the darkness of our times and for the grace to stand firm in our faith despite the obstacles around us. In this way we can become "little beacons of light" for others.

I reposted this because I cannot stress enough the importance of staying close to the Lord in the coming years. I will go so far as to say it is critical to do this. There can be no "fence straddling". And prayer is a must because it pierces the darkness. Carry your spiritually crippled brothers and sisters. Lay the wounded in the arms of the Lord.

Why is it of such importance that we do this?

Let me explain. God's kingdom is a kingdom of truth. We may think we know truth but it takes a very pure soul to see the reality of God's kingdom instead of our own kingdoms.  We form these  "personal kingdoms" of our own because of sin, both original and personal. Each person tends to think that these little kingdoms they make are "real"...but they are not. We all do this to some degree. In other words...we crown ourselves and seat ourselves on the throne of our personal kingdoms.  In His kindness, God knocks us off these thrones on a regular basis because pride is the worst sin of all. I've been knocked off my "throne" so many times that I've lost count. God purges us if we allow Him to.

What happens if people do not allow this dethroning of the god of self to take place?

Hell happens.

Seriously. God is very merciful but doesn't force people to accept Him.

Hell is not only a place, it's a state of being, and those who do go to hell start their hell on earth. Just as heaven is a state of being as well as a place...so it is with hell. When a person enters hell they have already been living in that state spiritually. There are numerous signs but because of pride many refuse to see it.

Now to the point I'm trying to make:
What happens when millions or even billions of people refuse God's grace time and time again?

Hell on earth, my friends. Hell on earth and an immense amount of suffering as we are forced against our will to live in each other's hells. Think of the number of people who were forced to live in Hitler's hell.

And we said we'd never forget.

"And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God."   John 3:19-21



Next post - The Kingdom of Light




22 comments:

  1. Great insight Mary. Glad to see you again!

    I certainly believe the coming of the Lord is sooner than we think. But, I also believe that there will be one last revival in America. I have been praying for that, especially for my church.

    Hugs to you dear one.

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  2. Sobering read, Mary. Could feel the truth in it as I was reading. God Bless You!

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  3. Wow! That's powerful. I'm so glad you're back, Mary:)

    And, you're right! It's so easy to create our own reality or to slip back when we've had a glimpse of God's reality. I thought I'd be changed forever, after watching 'The Passion' for the first time, but I still struggle to stay on track.

    Thank you for posting this, Mary.

    God bless:)

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  4. Prayer ... always prayer. For us and for others; so that they may see the Light.

    God bless.

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  5. Oh Mary....you are so right. This is a wonderful but brutally honest post. You put what I have been thinking into strong and poignant words. Do you have FB??? If you do, you should post it there...make it public if you have to. It might make you vulnerable to the opinions of others....but I know that isn't your focus. With your permission...I'd like to repost this on my blog....or...I'm going to do my own post that links back to you! Thank you for allowing the Lord to speak through you on this very intense topic.

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  6. Love you, JBR! I am praying for the same thing!
    I've missed you and have been praying for you every day. God bless you, my friend.

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  7. Colleen,
    Thanks for your comment. I'm glad that you could see the truth in my words. Prayer is key :) God bless!

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  8. Vicky,
    I have to watch myself like a hawk to keep from backsliding. The Our Father is one of my favorite prayers and I stress "THY kingdom come" because I sure as heck wouldn't want to live in anyone else's including my own!

    God bless you too, Vicky :)

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  9. Definitely prayer, Victor, and lots of it.

    By the way, since I posted does this mean you lose your own bet? Lol!

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  10. Hi Nancy,
    Yes, I'm on Facebook but the truth is I barely ever go on there. Thanks for your comment - I appreciate the feedback from everyone and am glad you all sense this too. Feel free to do whatever you'd like with this post :) I hope you and the crew are all well!

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  11. It is about recognizing the time of our visitation. The verse you closed with says it all. Our world, our country has become so evil in its ways that it can not stand the light. As I have written myself, those who do stay close to God need to make reparation, stand in the breach as Moses and Abraham did. We need to love God for those who can't or won't. Great post Mary. Thank you for your courage to say what needs to be said.

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  12. Hi Karin,
    Your comment about our country and world not standing in the light is right on the mark. Currently we stand in darkness and the fruits of it are everywhere for those who care to look.

    I loved your post. Moses and Abraham are perfect examples of intercessory prayer. Before I moved, whenever my mom and I got together for our Rosary we would read the passage about Abraham at the end. It's my mom's favorite!

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  13. Hi Mary! It was so good to see you had a recent post so I hurried right over! Praying all is going well with you and your mom's business. I've missed "seeing you". Your post is very timely and well written. It's shocking our blinded our society is about it's evils. I went to our Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally recently and over 2,500 people showed up even though it was heavy down pouring minutes before it started. It was a beautiful witness for God, religious liberty and christian unity. Some "bad guy" in the Federal building refused to turn on the electric for the P.A. system. Can you believe it? The organizers took an extension cord and ran across the street to the USPS and asked if they could plug in and they agreed! 45 minutes into the rally. Unbelievable.

    What passage about Abraham were your referring too after your rosary?

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  14. Hi Noreen,
    That's awesome that so many people showed up for the rally! God bless the folks at the USPS for fixing the problem!

    The passage I was referring to is Genesis 18:16-33. It's a beautiful example of intercessory prayer! Abraham is interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah and works the Lord down to ten people. Unfortunately, there were not even ten good people there except for Lot (and family).

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  15. Thank you Mary. May we receive the graces God is pouring out upon us, and have courage and final perseverance.

    Good to see you back!

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  16. Hi Kathryn! Yes, God is flooding the world with graces :) May we all open our hearts to receive them! God bless!

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  17. Mary, thsnk you for speaking what so many of us are feeling. It seems to grow darker each day. I never thought I would see the likes of it. I agree with you about no more fence straddling..once there was somewhat of a middle ground where many liked to stand, but no more.

    I prayed at the altar of repose about this tonight. Only God can save us!

    Love,
    Patricia

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  18. Hi Patricia! I hope you are doing well!

    You are right about many people sensing this. It's almost a feeling of "impending doom" as one lady I know put it. As if everything is off kilter in some way. God is the only one who can correct this and I believe He is and will be doing just that.

    God bless :)

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  19. This is a timely and profound post.
    Thank you, once again, Mary for sharing the Truth in an unabashed, yet charitable way. This is your gift.
    What you wrote about hell on earth and Hitler...is SO thought-provoking. I am eager to share this whole post; with particular focus on that section, with my teens.

    THANK YOU

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  20. Hitler came to mind because my daughter recently did an oral report on Anne Frank and the horrors of the Holocaust were fresh on my mind while writing this post. Thanks for your feedback, Judy! May God bless you and your whole crew :)

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  21. What a powerful post Mary!

    God Bless you for the wake up call.

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  22. Thank you for your wake up calls too, Michael.

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