Are we in the middle of a major spiritual war?
The Public Square is looking more and more like a battlefield. On one side, we find purveyors of Marxist propaganda. Their views are rooted in materialism. They are atheists who view humans as soul-less biological entities, herd animals.
Standing opposite the Marxists we have spiritual warriors delivering truth inspired by the Word of God. In their view, the essence of a human is an immortal soul. They see others as spiritual beings, not animals.
Marxists, most masquerading as Democrats, passionately seek to control and censor public conversation—in order to protect and maintain their worldview as the “official” view. They seek to regulate speech with cynical labels such as “disinformation” and “misinformation.” Unable to win the war on the merit of their ideas, they bring weapons of mind control to the battlefield.
Those who seek to bring liberating truth to the world bring theology—the study of the nature of God and mankind’s relationship with God—to the debate. Others simply bring common sense and goodwill.
People of faith, goodwill, and common sense threaten the control operation run by Marxists and Communists; thus, they find themselves attacked in the public square. They are defamed and persecuted. Their worldly existence is at risk.
This battle of opposing worldviews and ideology is not banal or irrelevant. Rather, the outcome of the battle is critical to our unfolding future.
In my earlier article, I described a universe emerging from Divine Thought, from The Mind of God. This classical marriage of Idealism and Christian theology provides a potent understanding of our participation in ongoing and unfolding Creation.
In Christian Idealism, our spiritual consciousness, our awareness as souls, makes a difference. What people think matters.
Most readers will ask, how could this be? How could our thought affect anything?
One explanation goes as follows:
- Divine Consciousness gives rise to individual spiritual consciousness (souls).
- These souls participate in Creation authored by Divine Consciousness.
- Being created “in the image of God” means that each one of us is a creative consciousness, a soul.
- Each individual consciousness contributes to unfolding reality.
- Each individual soul, to widely varying degrees, partakes in the Image of God—which is no image at all, but rather a creative consciousness that gives rise to creative thought.
- A very special quality, divine love, binds the relationship between divine consciousness and individual spiritual consciousness, between God and souls.
The essence of Divine relationship is “love.” For an excellent discussion, see God Is Love (Deus Caritas Est) by Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger.) This ongoing love relationship with a living God speaks to the truth of our nature and the essence of our lives as humans.
In contrast, Marxism, with its atheistic and materialistic views, pictures Man solely as a biological entity, a herd animal. Man is a base creature who must be controlled, herded, manipulated, and used.
This view, that “man is solely a biological entity,” forms the foundation of Identity Politics, a Marxist control operation.
In Identity Politics our physical, biological aspects place us in bounded categories. Fixed external characteristics pre-sort us into Identity Pens. These arbitrary boundaries ignore and obscure our spiritual nature, which is not bounded by physical characteristics. Souls cannot be herded into such categories.
Many people have been deceived into self-reporting to the Identity Pens where they’re corralled, like animals. Others have been cajoled and duped into taking part. But now the Marxists have begun to use force to herd and separate humans. They punish those who resist mandated DEI training with the loss of their jobs and careers.
In summary, a battle over our very essence has been engaged. Materialists demand we consider humans solely as biological entities, herd animals. Spiritual warriors, on the other hand, assist humans to realize they are spiritual beings, immortal souls.
Identity Politics, the Marxist control operation, rests on a false notion of identity, a biological notion that excludes soul. Their success depends on deceptive propaganda that proclaims a false concept of self. Their success depends on gaslighting people into accepting a false identity. They employ numerous tactics to sow confusion and promote ignorance regarding our very nature.
Francis of Assisi provides an inspiring counterpoint. When he looked at others through his kind eyes, he did not see immutable traits, but rather he viewed souls. He perceived the divine in each individual. He greeted others with the Face of a Franciscan, showering them with unconditional love.
How we treat our fellow humans depends on how we view their nature. Thus, winning the battle of viewpoints, the battle between a theological viewpoint and a materialistic viewpoint, matters. Only worldviews promoting the truth will bring peace to this world.
The Marxists, materialists, are driven to take command over the mental landscape in order to achieve total control of humankind. In order to exert total power they must gain control of your mind, your reality, your worldview, your speech, and your freedom. They are fully engaged in psychological operations fully intended to keep you immersed in their “reality matrix.”
The propaganda machine that churns out the Marxist false reality must silence religious speech. The winner of this clash, determines the matrix in which we live: an Orwellian matrix of mind control servitude or a Mind of God matrix of free will, divine love, and unity.
Leaders in the faith community, including the clergy, are key players in the battle. We must ask, however, whether the clergy and lay leaders are prepared to go to war for the truth? Are they sufficiently armed to counter the Orwellian control operation? How will the battle end? Are we moving toward a heavenly future or an era of hellish conditions?
The clergy must not only expound the truth. They must debunk lies that distort the nature of who we are. They must defeat deceptive propaganda at the heart of the Marxist control operation. At the same time they proclaim the truth, they must expose the lies. It is not enough for clergy to proclaim the truth on Sunday while the faithful spend the entire week immersed in false views that dull their awareness of their true nature. Clergy must not only present the truth, they must shine a spotlight the deception meant to trick and trap the faithful into enslavement.
While there is much discussion about spiritual warfare and the details of what that could mean, this is the most basic level. On one side are those who deny man’s essence as a spiritual being, an immortal soul. And on the other side, are those who proclaim the truth of our spiritual heritage, our essence as immortal souls. Spiritual warfare does not get any more basic than this.