“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This is our “Lepanto Moment”

As I write this, there are exactly 33 days (recalling the 33-year lifespan of Christ) to the Presidential election. Tens of thousands of people from around our nation have just prayed for 54 days and, today, many stand in front of our nation’s capitol in Washington, DC for the National Rosary Rally.

The National Catholic Register writes …

Friday, Oct. 7, marks the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary and also the 445th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto.

 

Some people have taken up Lepanto’s call and showing us what we can do to turn the tide of the battle in our country over secularism, immorality, antagonistic unbelief, and laws downright hostile to Christianity.

 

Many who have been faithfully praying the 54-Day Rosary Novena for our Nation will be heading to Washington, D.C., for the conclusion of the novena with the National Rosary Rally and hopes a Lepanto-like victory will happen again. Many others would be joining them too.

 

Why a Lepanto moment? Lepanto became the model for other lopsided victories to come in favor of saving Christianity in Europe and elsewhere.

 

(You can read more about the Battle of Lepanto and the Holy League as this excellent article continues)

Many do believe it is entirely “lopsided” right now …

“For the past 50 years, every major institution has been captured by the radical secular left. The media, Hollywood, TV, universities, public schools, theater, the arts, literature — they relentlessly promote the false gods of sexual hedonism and radical individualism. Conservatives have ceded the culture to the enemy. Tens of millions of unborn babies have been slaughtered; illegitimacy rates have soared; divorce has skyrocketed; pornography is rampant; drug use has exploded; sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS have killed millions; birth control is a way of life; sex outside of wedlock has become the norm; countless children have been permanently damaged — their innocence lost forever — because of the proliferation of broken homes; and sodomy and homosexuality are celebrated openly. America has become the new Babylon” (Jeffrey Kuhner, Washington Times).

Even as Mr. Kuhner wrote this article, our nation still believed marriage was reserved for a man and woman for the procreation of children. In that very short period of five years, our nation has surrendered to this “ruling class” who continues to advance their narrative. Moreover, we have just witnessed our nation’s judicial system sanction the ability of men to enter into little girl’s restrooms.

 

COUNTRY CLASS BEWARE!

Some refer to us as the “Country Class” (or, more recently, “Deplorable”). We are the ones who, by and large, have kept America’s founding Judao-Christian philosophical worldview. We still hold that men are created in the spiritual likeness of God the Father and that all men are therefore subject to His laws. But, that is deteriorating at an alarming rate.

There are two movements spreading like wildfire throughout the Western world. Robert Enright warns:

“There are two over-simplified and very dangerous ideas emerging:

 

1) There is no personal responsibility because of brain activity which determines how we behave, rendering free will impossible;

 

2) Social forces of poverty and oppression determine how we behave, rendering free will impossible.

 

Beware of these over-simplifications of humanity.

 

Do you see the implication….no really….do you see it? If there is no personal responsibility, then there are no moral offenses…..rendering forgiveness impossible. Why? How can you forgive those who just couldn’t help it?” –Robert Enright

This “relieving anyone of moral responsibility” is the coup de grâce – the “kill punch” – of the ruling class’ modernist movement. Once we accept that we were not created by God in his image – and cease to spend our lives striving to be as perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect – we are left to stand as a soulless human ape who is subject to or “a victim of” his circumstances. Weaver dubbed this way of thinking the “spoiled-child psychology” of modern man, who had “not been made to see the relationship between reward and effort.”

I called this the coup de grâce, because “now” we are in the very place the “ruling class” wants us to be … completely dependent upon them. If we are “just” soulless barbarians, we “can’t help ourselves” … we have “no power” to chase perfection and catch excellence. The ruling class then claims all of the power to “control” us based on our willingness to heed their dictates.

Have we completely lost our drive to strive to the heights of our humanity as children of God? Where is “Honor” any longer?

 

Repent America!

“Of the twenty-two civilizations that have appeared in history, nineteen of them collapsed when they reached the moral state the United States is in now.” -Arnold Joseph Toynbee

I do not believe the sky is falling and the end is near. But, the signs seem to be pointing to a minor chastisement … a “God Correction.” When is this “God Correction” coming? Scripture says,

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father … Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” Matthew 24:32, 42-44.

I’m not “prepping,” yet. But, I am spending these next 33 days in intense fasting and prayer. You can decide for yourself what that looks like for you. I would recommend the following …

GO TO CONFESSION!! FREQUENTLY!! You may not be a big ole mortal sinner, but we fall to multiple venial sins throughout our lives. These can begin to “open the door to the thief.” Satan is always at our doorstep, trying to find a way in. We can let a toe in, then a leg, then before we know it, the devil is eating popcorn on the sofa of our soul, as that dastardly red thief pilfers every ounce of grace we have.

PRAY OFTEN!! One of the most difficult “bad habits” we have today is complacency or a lack of discipline. How difficult it is for folks to develop a disciplined prayer life. It’s like pushing a boulder up Mt Everest for most. Fight through that, and get in that groove of a regular and sustained daily prayer routine.

FASTING!! Please add fasting to your prayer, as it adds to our determined petitions to God!

KNOW YOUR GUESTS!! Using the “owner of the house of your soul” image, be careful who you invite to your soul. Be very careful what you watch on TV. Stay away from internet porn. Be careful which folks you hangout with … if they have bought into the whole worldly thing – “The times have changed … pretty much nothing is sin any longer” – Stay clear of them!! They will wear you down, after a time, and you’ll buy the lie too!!

LEAN ON OUR LADY!! This unlikely teenage girl is folly for the world. Which fits God’s M.O. precisely. Mary was chosen to be the one who crushes the head of the serpent. Pray the rosary often, as our Lady of Fatima instructed. I’ll often use brief, little prayers throughout the day like, “Mary, cover me in your mantle!”

Just as it was on October 7, 1571, we are facing a juggernaut, and our chances for victory looks extremely unlikely. Yet, we stand on the promise that, with God, all things are possible.

Let’s accept the call to be His Champions!!!