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Christ warned us that the devil will quote scripture
AS I WRECK THIS CHAIR By William M. Esposo
The Philippine Star 2008-12-07
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Easily the most noted utterance from the House Justice Committee’s Impeachment case hearing was that of Cebu Representative Pablo Garcia Sr. who compared Jesus Christ to Madame Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA).
The 83-year-old Garcia said: “More than 2000 years ago, our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified because of an opinion survey. Pontius Pilate presented our Lord to the crowd and said, ‘Whom would you prefer, Barabbas or Christ to crucify? Our Lord Jesus Christ lost in the survey. Is that how we are going to judge our President because of an opinion survey?”
Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo reacted. Bishop Arigo was quoted to have said: “Let’s keep our sense of respect for religious matters. The comparison is inappropriate.”
Being a Church leader, Bishop Arigo should be the last to be surprised. Didn’t Jesus Christ warn us that the devil will quote scripture? If the devil will quote scripture, those who help promote and protect the EVIL in the land can easily liken Christ to anyone just to suit their purpose.
In fact, that is the big difference between Christ and the devil when quoting scripture. Christ will use scripture to enlighten, to guide. The devil will quote scripture to lie, to mislead and to take advantage.
Jesus Christ also taught: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” But do our Representatives — who for the most part represent only their own interests — follow that teaching?
Do we not often see our politicians use religion to serve Mammon? How many times have we seen the greediest among them, the horniest fornicators, the cruelest murderers pose for the cameras receiving Holy Communion?
Plundering a poor country, fornicating and killing are mortal sins and those in the state of moral sin are not supposed to receive Holy Communion. But that is a minor impediment to them.
We’re also taught to respect the will of the people because the voice of the people is said to be the voice of God. But what do our Representatives do?
We cannot recall a survey where majority of the people ever clamored for Charter change. The most recent SWS survey showed that 64% wanted NO CHARTER CHANGE. But does any of that ever matter to Rep. Pablo Garcia and his ilk, the promoters and protectors of EVIL in our land? Did it ever matter to them that when surveyed, the majority of Filipinos wants an impeachment hearing in the Senate to provide closure to the issues with GMA?
Perhaps Bishop Arigo’s reaction will stand a better chance of falling on fertile ground if addressed to his fellow Church leaders - specifically those who protect the EVIL in the land. We’d like to think that the Cardinals and Bishops who protect the EVIL in the land are merely misinformed and misguided. After all, it is no secret that this Arroyo regime has special operators who go around to “influence” Church leaders.
One such operator I know even carried a cabinet rank — now PIA Director-General Dodi Limcaoco. Who can forget the late Teddy Benigno’s outrage, which Teddy wrote about in his STAR column, about how Dodi planted the seeds of disinformation on Bishop Soc Villegas against BANGON, the movement Teddy was then promoting.
Lying and evil are twins born from the loins of the devil. To promote and protect evil, lying is a MUST. Lying, in fact, is the main mission of the anti-Christ. The very first operation of the devil on man was that of the notorious serpent in the Garden of Eden. The serpent’s big lie resulted in the fall of man and the existence of original sin. Because of the serpent’s big lie, Jesus Christ had to be born and die on the cross.
Now get a load of this — one of our Cardinals said this to a group that was asking him to help promote the truth about the EVIL in the land: “Truth and lie are the same. It is icing on the cake. What is important is the cake.”
This Cardinal, whose identity is withheld to protect the guilty, said this to defend his position not to meddle in the mission to promote the truth regarding burning issues that destroy this country. A nun who was with the group that met the Cardinal could not believe that a Prince of the Catholic Church could ever say that.
Like a great leader, Christ promoted the truth. Thus, to the nun who heard that highly-controversial statement of the Cardinal about truth and lie being the same icing on the cake — it ran counter to what Christ advocated. We see nuns consistently on the forefront to promote the truth and defend the weak. You can just imagine her big disappointment to hear a Prince of the Catholic Church say that truth and lie are the same icing on the cake.
If you’re wondering why the Church cannot seem to take a united stand against the EVIL in the land, if you’re wondering why only five Bishops spoke of the country’s need for immediate change — then, it is high time that you realized the Catholic Church in the Philippines is also undergoing a similar turmoil like the rest of our society.
Just as members of Philippine society are in conflict, so too are the leaders of the Catholic Church. Some leaders of the Catholic Church have been co-opted by the EVIL in the land. Pathetic if they don’t realize it, devious if they know what they are doing.
To their credit, it is the priest and nuns who are diligently and faithfully pursuing their avowed mission. Some of them have secretly confided to me their disappointment over the failure of some of their leaders to protect the least of our brethren.
I am told by a reliable source in the CBCP that even the Papal Nuncio has expressed concern over the corruption that is now omnipresent and sinking deeply in this country. By omnipresent means that corruption has also seeped into the Catholic Church.
That of course comes as no surprise. Just read the era of the Medici Popes and you’ll know what corruption in the Church has been like. Why do you think the late great Pope John Paul II has been apologizing all over the place during his papacy?
The Catholic Church cannot deny that it has to play the key and crucial role of shepherding this troubled flock back to the ways that Christ wanted mankind to live.
Only our religious leaders can best heal what ails the Filipino nation because the core of what ails the Filipino nation is corrupted values. But before they can heal us, our healers must first heal themselves.
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