Sometimes i wonder what people think prayer is. Someone prays for 2 hours, and more than 90% of his/her words is directed TO SATAN "I come against you, i bind you, holy Ghost fire".
I have not written to condemn it, i have only written to give something of a food for thought.
1. Jesus said "Pray thus 'Our Father'" and inferring from this, ALL our prayers are to be directed HEAVENWARD not to HELL.
2. When you talk to the devil, God is no longer in the picture.
3. The devil is not interested whether you have accidents or not, so casting him from the road isn't ideal, he is interested in advising you to sin against God, so if causing accident will make you lose faith in God, maybe he will have reasons to do that then. He is interested in YOUR SOUL, not your material problems. He only will use your bad situations to encourage you to lose faith in God.
4. Some people who believe in witches and wizards find it hard to sleep, whilst their neighbors who are not as superstitious sleep soundly. WHY?
5. The battle you engage in belongs to God, Only He can actually defeat the enemy in such a combat, not you. Many people who have seen the devil himself DID NOT SURVIVE. I assure you, were the devil to appear, you will not stand a chance before him. You may either collapse or lose sanity. The attention is to be on God, and on heaven. You may say "God protect me from Satan" and not "Satan i come against you", the first one is speaking to God, the second one is directed to the devil.
6. When some people say "Satan Holy Ghost fire", he is probably laughing at their faces. God is not at war with the devil, God is at war with sin. When you refuse to repent, you are making yourself God's enemy and this is what the devil wants. So scream all the "Die Satan die" or "holy Ghost fire" Satan will not die. He will always be near you to tempt you to sin. If you doubt, then i wonder why you still get tempted even WHILE YOU PRAY. This is because a demon who is not somewhere HE SHOULD NOT BE, cannot leave for you. Meaning: When a demon possesses a person, he is where he is not supposed to be, when someone with the gift of exorcism gives the command in God's name, they flee. But you cannot tell the devil, who "goes around seeking for people to devour" to stop working. What then do you want him to do? To lie down and sleep in hell? HE WILL KEEP WORKING no matter how many times you shout. The better thing to do is to be sure you have no ties with him, that your relationship is with God. The Devil then will have no hold on your life, you will be free !
I too have had my share of superstition, i too know what it feels like calling the devil. I suffered grievously for it, God taught me a lesson i cannot forget. Then i thought i was praying, i did not know i was offending God by being proud. Right now my prayer is "Lord i love you, make me love you more, protect me from THINGS I DO NOT KNOW, for i TRUST IN YOUR LOVE FOR ME".
And i assure you, since then, i have not been carried by any witch, i am still alive !
Remember that such fear is from the devil.
May the Lord protect his people. Amen.
SHARE AND SHARE AND SHARE.
This is not condemnation, only giving my view. God bless you !
WITCHES AND WIZARDS; MY GENERAL RESPONSE
I am indeed amazed that some people are unable to read well and judge objectively. I separate personal views from official Catholic Teachings, for this reason i said I DO NOT CONDEMN BUT GIVE AN OPINION. Some people jumped upon it and said I MISLEAD. Well, what can i say than hope they are wrong?
I sincerely hope that by directly condemning my opinion, and accusing me of misleading people that you are actually being mature, and leading people to God through your uncharitable and hurtful comments. (i.e. for some of the comments not all)
LET ME ADDRESS SOMETHING FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO LEARN
Our misunderstanding stems from the fact that some of us DO NOT KNOW CATECHISM the same way. It is not my level of Doctrinal knowledge that the other person has, and it is not his own understanding that i too possess.
After some time of reflection on the replies given by people, with all the quality contrary views (Which i honestly respect), and other heartbreaking comments (Which honestly makes me doubt if some of us here are Catholics at all), i have discovered that our problem is understanding basic Catechism.
LET ME TALK ON BAPTISM.
"But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God" (Jn 1:12), older scripts render the word "power" as "grace", pointing directly to BAPTISM, not some kind of 'authority' per se.
WHAT BAPTISM IS; HOW IT MATTERS IN THE TOPIC
Baptism washes Original sin, makes us Members of the Church. But the most miraculous part is that IT INFUSES DIVINE LIFE in our souls, making us Children of God. This "life" is called "grace". So that when you lose it to mortal sin (AND ONLY MORTAL SIN), you are no longer in the "state of GRACE", and you are no longer worthy of eternal life. However, when you fall sick, have accident, lose your job, this "Divine Life" is still there until you COMMIT A MORTAL SIN. What i was saying all along is simple:
What the devil wants is for you to lose this LIFE OF CHRIST IN YOU, the IDENTITY THAT MAKES YOU REALLY DIVINE, which is GRACE. Without this identity, you are nothing; you will not go to heaven. YOU CAN STILL BIND AND CAST AND DEMONS OBEY, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, CAST OUT DEMONS in Your name, and done many WONDERS in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW you; depart from Me, you who practice LAWLESSNESS!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Simply put : A Christian who does not really obey God well can command the devil and he obeys, but someone who knows God does not necessarily need to command the devil, but to "OBEY THE WORDS OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN" (Mt 7:21). This "Life" is ALL the devil wants, he wants you to lose it, he wants you to believe whatever you think "works for you" and go to hell after. He can go any length to make you believe something you should not, to make you remove your attention from the real treasure which is this LIFE.
UNION WITH GOD IS GOAL OF CHRISTIANITY
The real reason we are Christians is because Christ Came. The reason Christ came is to save us from sin; by conferring upon us his mercy and grace; purchasing our freedom, and conferring upon us his own Nature, which is DIVINE LIFE OF GRACE. When the Christian is in UNION WITH CHRIST, the battle is OVER !
When he is separated, come thunder come fire, he is not God's property.
Prayer means RAISING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO GOD, i.e. Loving communion with Him.
Let me provide a help, PICTURE yourself in front of God's throne, with the devil beside you, who do you turn and speak to, God who shines in great light and power? or the devil who tries to get your attention by making noise? IF your answer is that when you see God very close to your face, you'd still lift your voice to shout at Lucifer than have a Love Talk with God, then continue doing what you do, But if your answer is that his beauty will attract you, his loving face lure you to come closer to him, your mouth moving with words of admiration of his love, his glory, his beauty and splendor, moving with words of forgiveness and mercy, with sighs of joy and love. If this is your attitude in such an occasion, an attitude which means that you SPEAK TO GOD, even in sighs and silence, and almost forget the noise the devil makes in the background, trusting that "My Lover belongs to me, and I belong to my Beloved" Songs of Solomon 6:3, trusting that if the devil comes behind with a 'knife', that God will protect you, trusting that even before the devil attempts anything God already knows, and will keep you from harm, trusting like a little Child NOT MEASURING THE OUTCOME OF THIS TOTAL SURRENDER. This is what a mature faith will do, a faith rooted deeply in a LOVE AFFAIR with God, not just a person who still considers himself a WARRIOR, but the one who considers himself a LOVER.
If you agree with the above attitude, and still shout at the devil it means you have little or no faith in God's protection and jealous love. You think God will let him take you away even though you have been faithful in LOVE. You still PICTURE God as being far off, and you are left to battle "Principalities and powers" (Which battle actually means REMAINING IN GRACE).
Faith makes us "see" God close to us, makes us see Christ IN US and love makes us see him IN OTHERS, when the three Theological Virtues are present in your soul, you are invincible to the enemy. The Devil can use NATURAL occurrences to tempt you, but he cannot do you real harm. ALL TIES WITH THE DEVIL BEGINS BY COMMITTING SIN, and BEING DISOBEDIENT, and ALL TIES WITH GOD IS KEPT BY FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. When you are tied to God, you need not fight, you only need to LOVE MORE, since the more you love (As St John says) the more you resemble God, and the more you resemble God, the more you are shielded in his great light, away from the reach of the enemy's darkness, the more you are transformed into LIGHT ITSELF. If you doubt this, then keep doing what you wish, however, i am speaking to people who are willing to have an attitude of the Church Fathers and Saints, who have ALL TAUGHT THE SAME thing about prayer and being in union with Christ. The Mystics say that when you have loved God (and i believe this too), you are transformed into a FIRE OF LOVE, into God who is CONSUMING FIRE. This FIRE is LOVE, for GOD IS LOVE. If you want to be free from the devil, then LOVE, LOVE AND LOVE. Say prayers that foster this love, spend all your time professing this love to Jesus, that profession is enough to gain you both eternal and temporal salvation. This is what True Catholic Faith teaches. When i was still in the monastery, we'd pray seven times everyday, waking up at 2:30am, just to sing praises to God, confess our Love in "Prayer of the Heart", in order to live throughout the day in service and love. We'd study in order to pray better, work better, but most importantly LOVE MORE !
So when an average Christian stands, commanding the devil, and a holy man who LOVES kneels and simply sighs lovingly to God, the Lover's sigh reaches heaven 100X faster, and puts the devil into confusion more. Because this sigh is ENTIRELY FROM LOVE, the only language the devil does not know since he himself CANNOT LOVE. This is the type of prayer that Mary herself would pray, St Padre Pio, Bernard of Clairvaux, Lawrence, Gregory the Great, ALL DOCTORS, ALL FATHERS OF OLD, ALL SAINTS !
Read their lives, books etc, your sense of Faith will change for the better. When you have understood how their lives were transformed by this Flame of Love (Which St John of the Cross wrote about), your life will be set ablaze with this Love, when you have kept in touch with Papal Encyclicals, Exhortations and other Documents of the Church, you will then know HOW THE CHURCH PRAYS. Not when you simply learn from just one priest or just one brother, ITS BETTER TO GO TO THE FOUNTAIN DIRECTLY, letting the Church herself teach you, rather than draw conclusions on your own. Your conclusions can be good and can lead to God, but the Church's directive leads you 100X faster.
This is what i conclude with. Let everyone believe what he can understand, i am not condemning anything or anyone AT ALL, but let those who understand what this means learn something new. And those who even though they do not like me or my thoughts, but have come to see i speak maturely, let them drop their prides, and acknowledge that all precious stones may be precious, but DIAMONDS LAST FOREVER !
ALL PRAYERS ARE PRECIOUS, but the one that flames from the heart of a lover is usually simple, less theatrical , but MOST POWERFUL !
Therefore FIRE PRAYERS may be Gold, but LOVE-TALK / LOVE-UNION with God is DIAMOND!
Wake me up from sleep @ Midnight, all i can think of is JESUS MY LOVE, call me a child, call me a novice, i agree, i may be worse. Only that I am not just a Christian, i am A LOVER drunk with the FINEST WINE OF GOD'S LOVE !
SHARE !
I have not written to condemn it, i have only written to give something of a food for thought.
1. Jesus said "Pray thus 'Our Father'" and inferring from this, ALL our prayers are to be directed HEAVENWARD not to HELL.
2. When you talk to the devil, God is no longer in the picture.
3. The devil is not interested whether you have accidents or not, so casting him from the road isn't ideal, he is interested in advising you to sin against God, so if causing accident will make you lose faith in God, maybe he will have reasons to do that then. He is interested in YOUR SOUL, not your material problems. He only will use your bad situations to encourage you to lose faith in God.
4. Some people who believe in witches and wizards find it hard to sleep, whilst their neighbors who are not as superstitious sleep soundly. WHY?
5. The battle you engage in belongs to God, Only He can actually defeat the enemy in such a combat, not you. Many people who have seen the devil himself DID NOT SURVIVE. I assure you, were the devil to appear, you will not stand a chance before him. You may either collapse or lose sanity. The attention is to be on God, and on heaven. You may say "God protect me from Satan" and not "Satan i come against you", the first one is speaking to God, the second one is directed to the devil.
6. When some people say "Satan Holy Ghost fire", he is probably laughing at their faces. God is not at war with the devil, God is at war with sin. When you refuse to repent, you are making yourself God's enemy and this is what the devil wants. So scream all the "Die Satan die" or "holy Ghost fire" Satan will not die. He will always be near you to tempt you to sin. If you doubt, then i wonder why you still get tempted even WHILE YOU PRAY. This is because a demon who is not somewhere HE SHOULD NOT BE, cannot leave for you. Meaning: When a demon possesses a person, he is where he is not supposed to be, when someone with the gift of exorcism gives the command in God's name, they flee. But you cannot tell the devil, who "goes around seeking for people to devour" to stop working. What then do you want him to do? To lie down and sleep in hell? HE WILL KEEP WORKING no matter how many times you shout. The better thing to do is to be sure you have no ties with him, that your relationship is with God. The Devil then will have no hold on your life, you will be free !
I too have had my share of superstition, i too know what it feels like calling the devil. I suffered grievously for it, God taught me a lesson i cannot forget. Then i thought i was praying, i did not know i was offending God by being proud. Right now my prayer is "Lord i love you, make me love you more, protect me from THINGS I DO NOT KNOW, for i TRUST IN YOUR LOVE FOR ME".
And i assure you, since then, i have not been carried by any witch, i am still alive !
Remember that such fear is from the devil.
May the Lord protect his people. Amen.
SHARE AND SHARE AND SHARE.
This is not condemnation, only giving my view. God bless you !
After this was published on Facebook and criticized by some of our followers, the following reply was published:
WITCHES AND WIZARDS; MY GENERAL RESPONSE
I am indeed amazed that some people are unable to read well and judge objectively. I separate personal views from official Catholic Teachings, for this reason i said I DO NOT CONDEMN BUT GIVE AN OPINION. Some people jumped upon it and said I MISLEAD. Well, what can i say than hope they are wrong?
I sincerely hope that by directly condemning my opinion, and accusing me of misleading people that you are actually being mature, and leading people to God through your uncharitable and hurtful comments. (i.e. for some of the comments not all)
LET ME ADDRESS SOMETHING FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO LEARN
Our misunderstanding stems from the fact that some of us DO NOT KNOW CATECHISM the same way. It is not my level of Doctrinal knowledge that the other person has, and it is not his own understanding that i too possess.
After some time of reflection on the replies given by people, with all the quality contrary views (Which i honestly respect), and other heartbreaking comments (Which honestly makes me doubt if some of us here are Catholics at all), i have discovered that our problem is understanding basic Catechism.
LET ME TALK ON BAPTISM.
"But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God" (Jn 1:12), older scripts render the word "power" as "grace", pointing directly to BAPTISM, not some kind of 'authority' per se.
WHAT BAPTISM IS; HOW IT MATTERS IN THE TOPIC
Baptism washes Original sin, makes us Members of the Church. But the most miraculous part is that IT INFUSES DIVINE LIFE in our souls, making us Children of God. This "life" is called "grace". So that when you lose it to mortal sin (AND ONLY MORTAL SIN), you are no longer in the "state of GRACE", and you are no longer worthy of eternal life. However, when you fall sick, have accident, lose your job, this "Divine Life" is still there until you COMMIT A MORTAL SIN. What i was saying all along is simple:
What the devil wants is for you to lose this LIFE OF CHRIST IN YOU, the IDENTITY THAT MAKES YOU REALLY DIVINE, which is GRACE. Without this identity, you are nothing; you will not go to heaven. YOU CAN STILL BIND AND CAST AND DEMONS OBEY, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, CAST OUT DEMONS in Your name, and done many WONDERS in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW you; depart from Me, you who practice LAWLESSNESS!’” (Matthew 7:22-23).
Simply put : A Christian who does not really obey God well can command the devil and he obeys, but someone who knows God does not necessarily need to command the devil, but to "OBEY THE WORDS OF MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN" (Mt 7:21). This "Life" is ALL the devil wants, he wants you to lose it, he wants you to believe whatever you think "works for you" and go to hell after. He can go any length to make you believe something you should not, to make you remove your attention from the real treasure which is this LIFE.
UNION WITH GOD IS GOAL OF CHRISTIANITY
The real reason we are Christians is because Christ Came. The reason Christ came is to save us from sin; by conferring upon us his mercy and grace; purchasing our freedom, and conferring upon us his own Nature, which is DIVINE LIFE OF GRACE. When the Christian is in UNION WITH CHRIST, the battle is OVER !
When he is separated, come thunder come fire, he is not God's property.
Prayer means RAISING OUR HEARTS AND MINDS TO GOD, i.e. Loving communion with Him.
Let me provide a help, PICTURE yourself in front of God's throne, with the devil beside you, who do you turn and speak to, God who shines in great light and power? or the devil who tries to get your attention by making noise? IF your answer is that when you see God very close to your face, you'd still lift your voice to shout at Lucifer than have a Love Talk with God, then continue doing what you do, But if your answer is that his beauty will attract you, his loving face lure you to come closer to him, your mouth moving with words of admiration of his love, his glory, his beauty and splendor, moving with words of forgiveness and mercy, with sighs of joy and love. If this is your attitude in such an occasion, an attitude which means that you SPEAK TO GOD, even in sighs and silence, and almost forget the noise the devil makes in the background, trusting that "My Lover belongs to me, and I belong to my Beloved" Songs of Solomon 6:3, trusting that if the devil comes behind with a 'knife', that God will protect you, trusting that even before the devil attempts anything God already knows, and will keep you from harm, trusting like a little Child NOT MEASURING THE OUTCOME OF THIS TOTAL SURRENDER. This is what a mature faith will do, a faith rooted deeply in a LOVE AFFAIR with God, not just a person who still considers himself a WARRIOR, but the one who considers himself a LOVER.
If you agree with the above attitude, and still shout at the devil it means you have little or no faith in God's protection and jealous love. You think God will let him take you away even though you have been faithful in LOVE. You still PICTURE God as being far off, and you are left to battle "Principalities and powers" (Which battle actually means REMAINING IN GRACE).
Faith makes us "see" God close to us, makes us see Christ IN US and love makes us see him IN OTHERS, when the three Theological Virtues are present in your soul, you are invincible to the enemy. The Devil can use NATURAL occurrences to tempt you, but he cannot do you real harm. ALL TIES WITH THE DEVIL BEGINS BY COMMITTING SIN, and BEING DISOBEDIENT, and ALL TIES WITH GOD IS KEPT BY FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. When you are tied to God, you need not fight, you only need to LOVE MORE, since the more you love (As St John says) the more you resemble God, and the more you resemble God, the more you are shielded in his great light, away from the reach of the enemy's darkness, the more you are transformed into LIGHT ITSELF. If you doubt this, then keep doing what you wish, however, i am speaking to people who are willing to have an attitude of the Church Fathers and Saints, who have ALL TAUGHT THE SAME thing about prayer and being in union with Christ. The Mystics say that when you have loved God (and i believe this too), you are transformed into a FIRE OF LOVE, into God who is CONSUMING FIRE. This FIRE is LOVE, for GOD IS LOVE. If you want to be free from the devil, then LOVE, LOVE AND LOVE. Say prayers that foster this love, spend all your time professing this love to Jesus, that profession is enough to gain you both eternal and temporal salvation. This is what True Catholic Faith teaches. When i was still in the monastery, we'd pray seven times everyday, waking up at 2:30am, just to sing praises to God, confess our Love in "Prayer of the Heart", in order to live throughout the day in service and love. We'd study in order to pray better, work better, but most importantly LOVE MORE !
So when an average Christian stands, commanding the devil, and a holy man who LOVES kneels and simply sighs lovingly to God, the Lover's sigh reaches heaven 100X faster, and puts the devil into confusion more. Because this sigh is ENTIRELY FROM LOVE, the only language the devil does not know since he himself CANNOT LOVE. This is the type of prayer that Mary herself would pray, St Padre Pio, Bernard of Clairvaux, Lawrence, Gregory the Great, ALL DOCTORS, ALL FATHERS OF OLD, ALL SAINTS !
Read their lives, books etc, your sense of Faith will change for the better. When you have understood how their lives were transformed by this Flame of Love (Which St John of the Cross wrote about), your life will be set ablaze with this Love, when you have kept in touch with Papal Encyclicals, Exhortations and other Documents of the Church, you will then know HOW THE CHURCH PRAYS. Not when you simply learn from just one priest or just one brother, ITS BETTER TO GO TO THE FOUNTAIN DIRECTLY, letting the Church herself teach you, rather than draw conclusions on your own. Your conclusions can be good and can lead to God, but the Church's directive leads you 100X faster.
This is what i conclude with. Let everyone believe what he can understand, i am not condemning anything or anyone AT ALL, but let those who understand what this means learn something new. And those who even though they do not like me or my thoughts, but have come to see i speak maturely, let them drop their prides, and acknowledge that all precious stones may be precious, but DIAMONDS LAST FOREVER !
ALL PRAYERS ARE PRECIOUS, but the one that flames from the heart of a lover is usually simple, less theatrical , but MOST POWERFUL !
Therefore FIRE PRAYERS may be Gold, but LOVE-TALK / LOVE-UNION with God is DIAMOND!
Wake me up from sleep @ Midnight, all i can think of is JESUS MY LOVE, call me a child, call me a novice, i agree, i may be worse. Only that I am not just a Christian, i am A LOVER drunk with the FINEST WINE OF GOD'S LOVE !
SHARE !
Posts
The article is self explanatory for the matured minds. It also takes a good and dedicated catholic not to speak or comment wrongly about your article because to me,its a lesson and I have learnt greatly from it today. Though, we all have our different views of how things are and even life itself... So I ask..that you do not hold it aagainst then,rather we pray that God will give them wisdom and understanding to see the truth in some few daily lessons. You are on point as regards your article. God bless you. Paul(madukas2001@yahoo.com)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your effort putting this together, may the good God bless you.
ReplyDeleteI will want the admin of "catholic and proud" put more spiritual picture, films/video, Audio and web sites that teaches catholic doctrines because most of the youths these days don't take time to read long letratures (me included) it is truth those meadium that youths can learn more about catholic doctrine. I believe am just lucky to be a catholic with the knowlage I have in the religion.
Thanks and may God bless us all
Valentine (valchukwura@yahoo.com)
I have always longed to have a deep union with God, but I keep falling short of His glory, mostly because of my sins which cuts me away from His loving embrace. I know but the stubbornness to do things the way I know how and not by His guidance, makes me fall deep EVERYTIME. Thank you very much Catholic and Proud for this eye opener. We learn everyday and I must confess that I have learnt and gained something from this article. May God enrich you more with words to continually encourage us to remain faithful to the teachings of the Catholic faith. Thank you and God bless.
ReplyDeleteI am not catholic but, I have found great comfort in catholic and proud.
ReplyDeletethen be Catholic, you'll feel the difference.. God bless you
DeleteIt is indeed hard to fallow Jesus.. but we must fallow him if we want to go with him...he Love the people so much and give them wisdom but also firmly made rules,norms and laws to fallow.. its simple but its hard.. its a YES or NO question.. BE GOOD or BE BAD.. may the Holy Ghost enlighten us all..
ReplyDeleteAm glad I read this, Lord Jesus I truly want your love inflamed in my soul, that I may love others as you do even when it seems very difficult. I do try but it is hard!
ReplyDelete