WITHOUT CHRIST YOU LOSE!
Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
Several years ago, I saw a shocking revelation on the Sally Jesse Raphael TV show. The audience sat there with mouths open as former members of witchcraft covens told some of the stories of their lives. They had been born into families that worshiped Satan and offered human sacrifice to devils. They had been tortured and abused, some of their brothers and sisters and friends murdered in grotesque ways by their parents and other members of the covens - members which often consisted of the well-educated and influential people of society - people no one would ever suspect. As I say, the show that morning was like a Friday night “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Only this one was real.
The prophet Baruch speaks of such things in today’s reading: “Remember Israel, you were sold to the nations not for your destruction; it was because you angered God that you were handed over to your foes. For you Provoked your Maker with sacrifices to demons, to no—gods; you forsook the Eternal God who nourished you.”
And in our gospel reading when the seventy-two returned from their missionary work, they said: “Master, even the demons are subject to us in your name.” Jesus said in reply: “I watched Satan fall from the sky like lightning. See what I have done; I have given you power to tread on snakes and scorpions and on all the forces of the enemy, and nothing shall ever injure you.”
There are devils, there are devil worshipers. You are of God. He gives you his power to overcome the influence of evil. Don’t regard his gift lightly. Satan is no joke. There’s a serious war going on for your soul. With Christ you win. WITHOUT HIM YOU LOSE!
