Is Your Conscience in Good State?

By Dennis Edwards:

Paul admonishes Timothy: 

"that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron."[1]

The television and movies have seared our minds with violence, sex without commitment or love, vulgar language, same-sex marriages, evolution and millions of years, and any anti-God opinions so that we cannot even think properly any more.

We are afraid to take a stand for God and the truth. There is no truth they teach us. It's all relative. Well, it's not relative when you’re going down a busy street and the light is green or red. It could be a life and death call, if you think it's only relative. There are absolutes. If there weren't the universe and life could not function. Society could not function. Our rejection of the absolutes leads to spiritual darkness. Like Nietzsche said in his famous story "The Madman."

"Whither is God?" he cried; "I will tell you. We have killed him- you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how did we do this? How could we drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night continually closing in on us?"

Nietzsche seems to have known that the rejection of God would plummet mankind into an endless abyss of hopelessness. Jesus said the love of many would wax cold as a result of the increase in iniquity in the last days.[2]

"Has it not become colder?"

It certainly seems like in our lifetime that it’s become a bit colder even with all the talk of global warming!

"Is not night continually closing in on us?"

We have chosen darkness rather than light, because our deeds are evil.[3] We have rejected the love and light of God. We have killed Him and have embraced the darkness. That darkness that promised us liberty, the agenda of television and in the movies, was itself the servant of corruption and now we are in bondage to it.[4] We cannot escape.

But there is an escape. God has made a way of escape. Turn around and call out to the Father in Jesus' name and He will hear you. He that confesses and forsakes the way of darkness shall have mercy[5]. Jesus said,

"I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."[6]

Are you seeking the truth? Then come to the light, the light of Christ, the true light and He will set you free![7] As Jesus said,

“If ye continue in my words, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”[8]

Pope Francis, coming from his Jesuit roots, does well in talking about the conscience and the battle that takes place there. The battle is in our minds. Ignatius of Loyola the founder of the Jesuits had made his mental/spiritual disciplines mandatory for all new coming Jesuit disciples. Each one needed to learn to analyze his thoughts in relation to the Word of God, so that he could learn to be totally submitted to God in both thought and action.

Jesus said the first and great commandment was,

"Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."[9]

In Ignatius’ point of view, the Biblical point of view, mankind was living in a spiritual battlefield between the good forces of God and the evil forces of the Devil. These forces were fighting for the heart, soul and mind of mankind. That’s why Paul admonishes us,

“To cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”[10]

Jude warns us to,

“earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”[11]

Peter similarly says the same thing,

“But sanctify the Lord in your hearts:” in other words, love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind; “and be ready always to give and answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”[12]

How can we give an answer if we do not even know, nor study God’s Word?

I am happy to hear the Pope talk on the subject of conscience. But let us please reinforce our conscience by reading and studying God’s Word and not just stuffing our heads with the philosophy of

“vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”[13]

Footnotes

[1] 1 Timothy 4:2
[2] Matthew 24:12
[3] John 3:19
[4] 2 Peter 2:19
[5] Proverbs 28:13
[6] John 8:12
[7] John 1:9
[8] John 8:31-32
[9] Matthew 22:37
[10] 2 Corinthians 10:5
[11] Jude 1:3
[12] 1 Peter 3:15.
[13] Colossians 2:8

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Pope Francis: ‘When the devil numbs your conscience, he has won’

By Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, 9 Oct 2015

Pope Francis returned to one of his favorite topics Friday morning, telling his hearers that the devil seeks above all to become master of their consciences, so they no longer can tell right from wrong.

The Gospel reading at Mass spoke of Jesus casting out devils, and the Pharisees accusing him of driving out demons by the power of the Beelzebul, the prince of demons. It also spoke of a devil returning after being cast out, bringing other demons with it and setting up shop in the house where it had been before.

In his homily in the chapel at the Saint Martha residence, the Pope said that in the spiritual life “temptations always return, the evil spirit never gets tired.” If he has been kicked out once, he is patient, waiting to return, and “If you let him in, you fall into a worse situation.”

In fact, Francis said, in the gospel story, at first it was clear that it was the devil who was causing problems. But afterward, “The evil one conceals himself, and comes with his very polite friends, knocking at the door, asking permission, but then moves in and spends time with the man and, little by little, starts giving the orders.”

With his “good manners,” Francis said, the devil makes the man fall into moral relativism, calming his conscience.

We start saying things like “This happens everywhere” and “We are all sinners,” Francis said. Yet “When we say everybody, we mean nobody,” he said. “And so we live this worldliness that is the child of the evil spirit.”

“Calming the conscience, numbing the conscience, this is a great evil,” he said.

“When the devil manages to numb your conscience he has won a real victory,” Francis said, because “he has become the master of your conscience.”

The Pope said that the key to combatting the devil is discernment and vigilance. We need to be able to discern situations, he said, to see what comes from God and what comes from the devil who “always tries to deceive” and to “make us choose the wrong path.”

The Christian cannot just accept anything, but must “discern and look well to see where things come from, and what their root is,” he said.

Francis said that the Church “always encourages us to examine our conscience: What happened in my heart today, why? Did this well-mannered devil visit me today with his friends?”

“Where do these comments, these words, these teachings come from, who says this? Discern and keep watch, so as not to let in the one who deceives, seduces and fascinates,” he said.

“We ask the Lord for this grace,” he said.

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