Editor, Times-Union: In the Old Testament, God sent the great flood as a punishment for the sins of man. Only Noah and his family survived. Because the people of Sodom and Gomorrah sinned, God destroyed them with fire and brimstone. Only Lot and his daughters survived. Jonah was sent to Nineveh to warn the kingdom to do penance or God would destroy it. Nineveh did penance and therefore God did not destroy it. In the New Testament Jesus wept over Jerusalem and prophesied that it would be destroyed because it rejected him. Around A.D. 70, the Roman general Titus and his army leveled the city and most of its inhabitants were killed. In the 17th century, Louis XIV was warned to consecrate France to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Because he did not, France suffered the catastrophe of the Revolution in the late 18th century. Many of the events of our time were predicted at Fatima in Portugal in 1917. One of the children who saw the blessed Virgin Mary said she told them we are living in parts of the Book of the Apocalypse. These are scary warnings, but like past events, they are contingent on the responses of the people. If enough are found to pray (especially the rosary) and do their daily duties, then God will revoke his sentence (Exodus 32:11-14, etc.). Since these warnings came from heaven, and since Jesus is king of heaven and earth, his laws must govern heaven and earth. On earth his laws not only pertain to the church that he founded, the Catholic Church, but to all human society. But all countries do not obey the laws of Jesus. And here is where various prophecies will be applied. What are the laws of Jesus that countries should obey and make their own? These laws are the 10 Commandments given to Moses, and the greatest and first Commandment: the love of God and the love of neighbor. If these laws were in force in the United States, for example, there would be no abortion; there would be no divorce (there would be proper preparation for marriage), no pornography; no “rights” for sodomy; companies would have to pay their workers a living wage; the United States would have to protect its own workers; the elderly, the young and the disabled would be cared for; we would provide for defense of our country, but could not engage in unjust wars; the money supply would be protected from inflation; and we would have fair trade. But I don’t think this will ever be achieved in the U.S. because it is too liberal – it loves this “liberty,” this freedom from the rights of God too much. In Red China, atheistic communism (materialism – the non-recognition of the supernatural) dominates. In the U.S. and other countries, capitalism (economics without rules) reigns. The only difference is that in the U.S. and Europe, people are free to worship, but the cultures produce a spiritual tepidity that is essentially agnostic. God used a flood to cleanse the earth in Noah’s time. He used fire and brimstone against Sodom. He used the Roman Army against Jerusalem. There is nothing to stop him from using the Russian or Chinese military to chastise us for our indifference to his kingship, except our prayers and penances. St. Padre Pio, the stigmatist priest, said Russia would convert to God and better the U.S. in this regard. Let us hope our country is not too proud to kneel and pray. “And the rest of mankind. they who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of their murders or of their sorceries or of their immorality of their thefts.” Apocrypha 9, 20-21 Diana Whitehead Warsaw Editor’s Note: This letter was edited to conform more closely to the 500-word limit stated in our Letters Policy.
