Attacking Hell

TRANSCRIPT

Church Militant (a 501(c)4 corporation) is responsible for the content of this commentary.

So you thought it was going to be easy to attack the gates of Hell, did you? Wherever did you get that idea?

In fact, judging from how so many Catholics are unengaged in the spiritual battle and are more concerned about being polite, non-judgmental and inoffensive, it's not entirely clear that even good Catholics understand that we are always supposed to be on the attack.

When Our Blessed Lord gave the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter, He said the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church. May I ask all the sideline Catholics out there — what on earth do you think that means?

Gates are a defensive position. Gates don't attack. They keep invaders out. So when the Incarnate Son of God said that defensive position would not prevail, it quite clearly means it's supposed to be being attacked.

We have the living, breathing example of this: The truly flesh-and-blood example of this in Our Lord Himself. He never played defense. He was always on the assault, on the attack against the kingdom of Satan.

He sneaked into Satan's kingdom specifically to overthrow it and overrun it — which he did. He declared war on Satan in the garden from the first moment and was relentless against the serpent, attacking, pursuing, chasing, driving him into Hell.

Have none of you read the 144th Psalm? "Blessed be my God, my Rock, who trains my arms for battle and who prepares my hands for war." There's a reason the Church on earth is called "militant." It is a militia — trained through grace and will to overrun Satan's kingdom here on earth.

At the moment, there is a great war we are engaged in. It just happens to be on the battlefield of politics, but it is a spiritual war. The other side is the earthly kingdom of Satan. It has all the earthly power. It has brought all that power, all those forces, to bear against the sons of God.

While its weapons are adapted to the 21st century, it is still controlled by its master. Mass communication, or better said, misinformation, has been the single most effective tool in corrupting minds and souls, and even getting large swaths of our brothers to lay down their arms.

The media, the universities, the courts — all of them have been overrun because men of goodwill let them be overrun. And that is the only reason. Evil has no power of good any more than darkness has power over light. It is only when the sun sets that darkness fills the air.

When a candle is lighted, the darkness scatters because, while light and darkness are opposites, they are not equal opposites. Darkness never overcomes light. So let's consider the current national (indeed, global) crisis unfolding on the political landscape.

The party being falsely declared the winner by its own forces rules over a kingdom of violence, murder and lies. It is truly the "empire of evil." That sets it into direct and fatal opposition with the sons of God. Like it or not, there is a war if you are a follower of Christ, and you must fight.

Darkness' fury is always complete. It must be because even the tiniest sliver of light exposes the darkness by making it scatter. The forces of darkness must be absolute in their quest to destroy because, just as the first rays of dawn send a vampire back to his coffin, so too light and truth conquer the dark.

We are engaged in a great monumental battle — a spiritual battle, yes, but played out in a material world. It's a two-front war, and that demands a two-front response. We must fight spiritually, with prayer. But we must fight materially, with the weapons of the material world.

That means we must show up at rallies, educate our minds with knowledge of what's going on, throw down with the children of darkness, never retreat a step. The fate of the world — meaning the world your children and grandchildren will grow up in — hangs in the proverbial balance.

All that needs to happen is for Catholics to attack Hell. The victory is guaranteed as long as you pick up the weapons and engage. No army in history has ever been guaranteed victory. Yet this one is. Imagine you are assured, totally assured, of complete conquest — all you have to do is fight.

Granted, there has never been a promise that the fight would be easy; in fact, there's a virtual assurance it won't be. But the victory: Ah, that is promised. The gates of Hell will be overrun, torn down, they will not prevail against the Church. The darkness cannot hide from the light. It must retreat.

That is the reality in the natural world because it mirrors the reality of the supernatural world: Guaranteed victory. Dear Lord, what else do you want? Pick up your Rosary in one hand for the spiritual battle, and take up your sword with the other, and get in the fight.

Join us, if you would like, in prayer every weekday morning at 8 a.m. ET for our recitation of an ongoing novena to the Holy Spirit for justice in the Church and the nation, immediately followed by the Holy Rosary. When the prayers are concluded, tune in to Church Militant at every opportunity to learn the truth of how the spiritual war is playing out in the material order.

All of this is what we do here, every day. We are not the Church Militant, only a part of it. But we are Church Militant, and we want to link up forces with you.

It is a level of battle and intensity you will never again have the blessing to engage in. It is in times such as these that saints are forged. The only way to gain entrance into the Church Triumphant is to die a hero in the Church Militant, i.e., attacking Hell.