Saruman of Many Colors
Everyone is a sinner. This isn’t the elementary school playground, and we aren’t calling people names. God is Truth and our faith in God demands we speak truthfully. That means we must speak plainly, in a way that leaves no room for confusion, calling things what they are.
In order to be on the narrow road to Heaven at all, one needs to take the first step in acknowledging one’s sins as we do at the beginning of every Mass. The second step is embracing the Hope for salvation from sin and eternal life through Christ’s resurrection.
Drunkenness is a sin, fornication is a sin, racial, political, cultic and personal idolatries are sinful. No one is ever hateful in pointing out when one’s brother or sister is doing wrong and how they are doing wrong. It’s evil to scandalize, to tell people they are healthy when they’re sick.
Christ ministered to the sick, not the healthy, and he gave them medicine, saying “Go and sin no more.” The logical structure of that statement is as follows: (1) the sick were sinning beforehand, (2) Our Lord informed them that they were sinning, because (3) Our Lord is telling them to stop it.
It isn’t our power to judge. That’s correct. We’re not acting as judges. We aren’t passing sentence on any sinner when we are pleading and praying for them to change their ways. It isn’t within our powers to tell a sinner that they are going to Hell, because we aren’t Christ. It’s our duty to tell them that they’re in danger of it, because we would want to be told if we were in danger of it.
“For all the law is fulfilled in one word: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” - Galatians 5:14
No one who lies, no one who misleads, no one who, trying to be nice, distorts the Truth is following God’s Law. The Father of Lies is the poisoner who drips black-tar hatred into the hearts of Men. Those who would lie to their neighbor hate their neighbor. Those who would speak truth to their neighbor know Charity.
To what end were we Humans given sexuality? The purpose of our sexuality is nakedly apparent from the very beginning of our existence. As naked as Adam and Eve were and as shameless when it is kept within the bounds of Good.
“God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” - Genesis 1:27-28
There are further stipulations that clearly outline that Man was united to Woman, that right ordered sexuality only exists within the bounds of marriage between the two.
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I want to make him a helper similar to himself.” - Genesis 2:18
“This time she is flesh from my flesh and bone from my bones.” - Genesis 2:23
“So it is that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined let no man separate.” - Genesis 2:24
God is Life, Love, Truth and Being. Anything which is against these are against Him. Anything which is against Him is sinful. Sin cannot enter Heaven. If venial, then it is purged before entry. If mortal, then it falls into Hell. We must reject both, resist both with the help of God.
The Pope is a sinner, knows it and freely admits it. The saints were and are sinners, they knew and know it, and they have freely admitted it. We common faithful are all sinners, know it and freely admit it.
The Enemy is the Father of sin, knows it and denies it in his dark desire for us to deny our sins as well. The Enemy is pleased when even a single soul is opened up to a life of sin. This is the inverse of our Lord being pleased when even a single soul is opened up to a life of Grace.
Our Lord never once muddied the waters around sin, never caused the waters to be muddied around sin by his words or deeds, and never left the door open for “public opinion” to decide what was and wasn’t sinful. Mortal men do all of these things. Christ’s words speak plainly, Men twist them.
Our Lord also never would’ve allowed Caesar to determine what the Moral law is. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s. Morality belongs to God, not to Caesar and certainly not to public opinion.
It’s not the People’s Republic of Heaven, nor is it the Democratic State of Heaven. It’s the Kingdom of Heaven. God is our eternal King and we owe him our absolute fealty through faith and our obedience to His will and His law.
Caesar also isn’t God’s representative on Earth. It isn’t his right to tell us what the Moral law is. It’s the Church’s right to instruct Caesar on what the Moral law is, because he is as much below God as the rest of us common faithful.
There are people of authority today, who share our faith, who muddy the waters about whether certain behavior is sinful. If for all of our history God has had one plain and simple teaching on the right way for Human sexuality, that sex itself is only good when it is within the bounds of a procreative marriage between Man and Woman, what then is the position of those who would muddy the waters?
Do these men claim that God has altered His moral law and commanded them to pronounce this change to us? No. If they did that, they would be expelled from the Church.
However, if they don’t claim that this is the case, what then are they doing?
These men may say that they are ministering to the sick as Christ did. Well, what are they telling the sick and what did Christ tell the sick? Christ encouraged the sick to take medicine. To go and to sin no more. To leave on the wayside of the road, to cast off all that would hold a man back from following Him on the narrow road to Heaven.
If they are ministering as such, alleluia, all is well. Let us rejoice for the boundaries of God’s kingdom silently increase.
However, if they aren’t actually ministering as our Lord ministered to the sick, if they are rather affirming the sick in their illness and telling them that there is no need to get well, then what we have is an alteration of the moral law being preached.
Who then is altering the moral law in this case?
God has spoken for eternity on the moral law. Moses received it in the Ten Commandments. The Israelites expounded on it in their laws presented in Leviticus. Christ came to fulfill the Mosaic laws, not abolish them. Our Lord reaffirmed in all his teaching the eternal moral law, which includes that sexuality is only good when it is practiced within the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman.
God has clearly said “Do this” countless times over the course of Human history.
Imagine someone whispering in your ear, “Well, God didn’t directly say not to do the opposite of what He told you to do.” If reading those words doesn’t make your skin crawl with revulsion, you must seek the Love of God because it has grown dim in you.
God hasn’t altered the moral law. These men are trying to make up their own moral law, placing it above God, committing a sin of personal idolatry. That these are prominent men and women only intensifies the gravity of their public sin. The Enemy fell like lightning from Heaven because he placed his own will above God’s will and bade other angels to come and bow before it.
Why are they trying to alter God’s moral law, the eternal truth given to us over and over again by God? Let us remember that our Lord is the physical embodiment of Truth and the fulfillment of God’s law. When they assault truth, they assault Jesus Christ, putting the spear in His side as He hangs on the Cross. When they twist the Truth, they are the Roman torturers mocking Christ, crowning Him with thorns.
Why are they doing this?
Pride.
Friends, let us remember the words of our Lord:
“And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.”
“But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 18:2-10
Here are modern words of warning for idolatrous, scandalizing men:
“There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power.” - Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Holy Mother Mary, please pray for the Sarumans among us, that they listen to the Holy Spirit and renounce their ways, seeking reconciliation to Our Lord.