Baptism ~ the Heavenly Imperative

Posted on February 23, 2022 by Francis

You may have read the disturbing news about the Phoenix priest who performed hundreds of invalid baptisms over a period of years through his improper changing of the words “I baptize you…” to “We baptize you…” A small clerical error you may think which, in reality, has had huge and tragic ramifications for hundreds of people who believed they were redeemed Christians but in reality remained under the curse of original sin. This is no small matter, since any of those persons who may have died in that state will be denied the joys of heaven and the beatific vision.

This case represents a prime example of the careless and lax attitude in free circulation today among Christians that good intentions can pave the way to heaven. Actually, that familiar adage says just the opposite, namely that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. For too many contemporary Churchmen the sacraments have become symbols of our inherent virtues. This is a further reflection of the presumptuousness of modern man who has neatly forgotten that salvation is a free gift from God, not an entitlement. In fact sacraments, and especially baptism, are visible concrete realities capable of infusing invisible grace into otherwise deadened souls. As such their form needs to be fixed and precise so that there can be no doubt as to their efficacy. Yet too many “progressive” liturgists have been playing loose and easy with long settled formulas and causing untold damage in their egoistic wake.

For example, over the past 50 years it has become popular among certain priests and ministers to baptize children in the name of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, a formula that invalidates the sacrament for the simple reason that those things are divine functions – not part of the divine NAME in which Christ himself mandated baptisms be performed (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost). I am reminded of a pithy line from the movie The Princess Bride where Wesley reminds the princess after her hasty wedding ceremony, “You didn’t say it then you didn’t do it.” Words are incredibly important.

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The Fall of Rome ~ Part II

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Francis

History moves in a circular motion. The old civil / military Roman Empire was a power which disintegrated in the 5th century mostly from internal rot and corruption. In the vacuum left behind there arose a new kind of Ecclesial Roman Empire. We know it today as the Roman Catholic Church. But, like its predecessor, this ecclesial empire is on the verge of crumbling, again mostly from the effects of internal corruption. Granted, throughout the intervening centuries it has threatened to topple more than once, beset by mismanagement and even moral corruption, yet it is still with us, undoubtedly through Divine support and assistance. But the present crisis is acute and alarming as any that Ecclesial Rome has ever had to face to date. It seems many in the highest echelons of the Church’s leadership have decided to align themselves with the Freemasonic secular globalist agenda, even to the point of persecuting their own clerics who remain faithful to the Church’s most long-held traditions.

The following is excerpted from my recent follow up essay on Masonic Illuminism (which I will shortly post in its entirety) entitled: Masonic Illuminism ~ “Elites” Waging War on Humanity; on Religion; on your Family. Please read this section, and share widely with your friends and family, concerning the subtle attack on the historic Faith of our Fathers at the hands of “progressive” theologians such as Karl Rahner, beginning back in the 1960s. If we are not aware of a threat we cannot intelligently oppose it and, following the example of our neighbors and great patriotic Canadian truckers, this fight cannot wait till another day.

Taken from Masonic Illuminism, Part 3 ~ Illuminism’s Final Assault

Renowned theologian Dietrich von Hildebrand rightly notes that (Rahner’s) ambiguity (regarding Communism, Freemasonry, etc.) is less an error than an outright deception which only gives the impression of sharing common ground. He goes on to observe, “Such a misrepresentation of the facts leads not to dialogue, but rather to a wishful (and dangerous) minimizing of the differences between Christianity and Communism… The ambiguous use of terms by (such) Catholics, therefore, only serves Communist propaganda and spreads confusion among Catholics themselves.”

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That Wascally Little Wirus!

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Francis

Remember Dr. Fauci’s “two weeks to flatten the curve” promise? Well what he never fully explained was that the curve being flattened was the national I.Q. curve, a curve that has now been so ironed down that it’s beginning to look like western Kansas. What many of us have learned over this past two hellish years is that if the world is not falling apart some people just can’t be happy. I like to call this the Chicken Little Syndrome, or CLS: a pleasurable and profitable (for big Tech/Pharma) experiment in mass psychosis designed to facilitate various anxiety disorders among the public. CLS has played a vital role in “popularizing” the global Covid-19 pandemic for millions by filling up entire nations with newly proselytized hypochondriacs.

Actually, SARS-Cov-2 is proving to be one of the most unusual contagions in the history of medicine. It has been credited with causing massive mortality stats in a surprising variety of ways. These have reportedly included SARS induced gunshot wounds, automobile accidents (probably from wearing face masks a bit too high) fatal drug doses, Remdisivir induced renal failure, and even one reported case where the virus induced its victim to fall off a roof! Not only does this killer snuff out the unwary in multiple ways but respected health authorities advise us that it even behaves differently in different settings. For example, it becomes virtually non-transmissible in large grocery stores or big-box retailers and yet in small mom and pop restaurants, public libraries, and especially churches it quickly morphs into a raging killer. Therefore, such high risk establishments need to be locked down in order to “contain the spread.” (Which is what a mayonnaise jar does, right?)

Speaking of containing the spread, that too is a highly volatile topic, like the virus itself. The optimal method of “spread containment” is to triple mask your entire face, especially when riding a bicycle or driving alone in your car. This way you send a strong message to those rascally little viruses to behave themselves, especially in public! (Every mother’s classic line, I”m never take you kids out in public again if you don’t start behaving.”) Fortunately for those lucky individuals who haven’t already succumbed to asthma reactions, hypoxia, face rashes, and sundry breathing disorders from over-masking, there are now multiple levels of needle jabs for added protection. In fact, some states are now introducing a jab punch card system where, after the fifth jab, you get to attend your child’s Christmas or Easter pageant. (Authorities have been overly generous on this one!)

If you don’t have kids (and after taking the jab you probably won’t have any more) you can use that social credit bonus to attend at least one sporting event or possibly attend church, if you still do that sort of thing. As an added thank you gift you will receive a little American flag sticker that says, “I was jabbed for my country.” It’s very patriotic and heartwarming (assuming your heart still works normally after you get poked).

Of course, those horse-paste guzzling, selfish bastards who refuse to inject God-knows-what into their bodies are a different story. Virtuous Americans are running out of patience with these deplorable, obtuse, red-necked, anti-science trolls. Worse, those red-state philistines even object to their 5-year-old kids getting jabbed (despite that group’s 99.99% survival rate vis a vis the actual virus). The real problem is that these irritating killjoys have no team spirit, and arrogantly assume that they have more right to make their kid’s medical decisions than some opaque government agency or political hack who pretends to be a licensed M.D. Luckily those uncooperative, neandral-thinking “renegades from reason” can now be openly discriminated against in restaurants and hospitals; summarily fired from their jobs; even be shipped off to containment camps for the non-compliant. These sensible policies were carefully crafted by far-seeing leaders which, among other factors, are meant to help ameliorate the developing critical labor shortages that are currently shutting down hospital beds, emergency responses, and supply chain infrastructure. I’m also guessing that in time yellow stars worn on the sleeve will be making a fashion comeback among the anti-vaxx group.

And we all now know that these government mandated jabs are “safe and effective” because, so far, only +21,000 Americans have gone happily to their Maker shortly after being jabbed. Another 110,000 or so luckier souls only required hospitalization, according to the CDC’s dysfunctional VAERS reporting system which actually captures as much as 5% of actual vaccine injury data according to a Harvard study. Great News! Forget all those young, healthy athletes who seem to be dropping like flies after receiving their mandated jabs. Those videos are just conspiratorial right-wing optics; just one more prime example of “misinformation” that our diligent High Tech protectors are working tirelessly to shield us against.

Suddenly we have heard astounding news from the CDC that dying from Covid is not the same thing as dying with Covid. Sure, I might die with a steak knife in my hand but that doesn’t mean that the wine wasn’t poisoned (which is why you should always leave your waiter a decent tip). Yes, this is a truly ingenious virus, masquerading under a host of names and symptoms: Covid, Delta, Omicron ~ and like James Bond, all licensed to kill. Imitating that legendary secret agent these sly, covert variants can employ any number of fatal techniques, but they seem to get more creative when boosted by an experimental, gene modifying jab. Their favorite weapons to date are diabetes, heart inflamation, blood clots, embolisms, cardiac arrest, organ failures (and don’t forget falling off a roof). But these viruses also play with your mind to create depression, isolation, social dysfunction, and various mental disorders, especially in children and adolescents. To that end our public authorities cooperate by encouraging lockdowns, remote learning, social separation, and facial diapers ~ all of which make every child’s life so much more meaningful.

To quote the legendary Elmer Fudd, “It’s a wery wascally wirus, to be sure.” So you’d better take whatever those all-knowing governmental paladins of health demand of you seriously because this curve is still not sufficiently flattened. (Now wait a minute, did Fauci say two weeks or two years? We’d better go back and re-watch that speech, or was it the earlier one where he said Trump was over-reacting, or the one where he said that face masks were basically useless, or the other one when he promised….?) Well, from this point I think I’ll take my cue from Elmer Fudd. He’s harder to understand but way more consistent than any official narrative I’ve yet heard from the “experts.”

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.

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Following the Evidence

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Francis

Nothing better illustrates the “woke reality” world toward which our society is dangerously tipping in its “social justice” dance macabre than the recent Kyle Rittenhouse trial and acquittal. Despite the sober, common sense result reached by a jury of 12 ordinary citizens after being presented with overwhelming evidence that this was a clear case of self defense, the woke mob is howling in outrage because, for their ilk, meting out political justice holds a higher priority than attaining actual justice. Their’s is the “don’t bother me with the facts, I’ve already made up my mind” attitude, an attitude which has become increasingly prevalent in large segments of both the institutional media and academic sectors.

In the first place, this case should never have been prosecuted or brought to trial based on the outstanding facts. Assistant district attorney Binger had access to loads of exculpatory video evidence showing that Rittenhouse was clearly acting in self defense, and yet he chose to either ignore or attempt to hide that evidence while proceeding to charge Mr. Rittenhouse with numerous crimes. By abusing his authority to indict an obviously innocent teenager, no doubt to curry favor from his political base, Mr. Binger grossly violated numerous legal ethics as well as Kyle’s right to due process, even as he brazenly lied about crucial facts of the case and falsely claimed that Rittenhouse had no legal right to be armed that night. For Binger it would seem that evidence is something to be selectively used or ignored in order to achieve one’s preferred outcome which, in this case, was to satisfy a howling leftist mob by convicting an innocent man.

Related to this case, a different kind of “mob justice” was meted out last April to Norfolk, Virginia police lieutenant William Kelly who, as a private citizen, had the temerity to make a $25 donation to the Kyle Rittenhouse legal defense fund. For that act of political correctness heresy Lt. Kelly was fired from his position at the Norfolk police department. So, wanting to help a wrongfully accused person defend himself has now become an acceptable reason to terminate a good cop. The whole woke scenario smacks of the French Revolution or Stalinist Russia where a simple denouncement, unsupported by any kind of evidence, is all that is needed to punish supposed transgressors. Such incidents ought to terrify any people who are theoretically protected against such arbitrary retaliation by a Constitution and Bill of Rights meant to curb abuses of official power.

Presumed guilt or innocence today has little to do with actual evidence, at least in the increasingly oppressive and hyper-politicized court of public opinion, i.e., the mass media and academic elites who control the flow of information and craft the official narratives. In their rarefied worldview, judgments about others are not based upon facts and evidence but instead become a function of one’s political persuasion, religious ideology, or more often color of skin. In their enlightened reckoning, “the lighter the skin, the greater your sin.” This whole tangled mentality reminds me of the once widely touted, but today utterly discredited, “science” of phrenology by which 19th century criminologists claimed they could predict a person’s criminal tendencies by mapping the bumps on their head! The same sort of mumbo jumbo is being applied today in order to determine a person’s character. The only difference is that head bumps have been replaced by wearing a MAGA hat on one’s head. And who needs evidence when we have available such refined scientific indicators to help us root out “domestic terrorists?”

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Rushing to Judgment, and Fr. James Jackson, FSSP

Posted on November 13, 2021 by Francis

As a friend and former parishioner of Father James Jackson, FSSP over the past 15 years or so, I feel no need to rush to his defense against the contemptible charges being made against him for the simple reason that no defense is truly necessary. This is a priest beyond reproach who, for reasons only known to God, has been entangled in a bizarre and suspicious cyber-sting operation which smacks of a deliberate frame-up either by corrupt officials, a malevolent hacker who took offense at something this priest wrote or said, or a combination of both. Nor would Fr. Jackson be the first innocent person to be accused or convicted of child porn possession and distribution. Today there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent people whose lives have been ruined by similar accusations. A Nov. 8, 2009 NBC News / Associated Press investigative article bears this fact out. It begins “Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.” The piece goes on to report the ease with which malignant viruses can capture an unsuspecting user’s PC and load it with porn. (the complete article can be found at http://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna33778733)

Are we to believe that somehow, 12 years later, this problem has abated even as major corporations and vital pipelines have been hacked and compromised by malicious malware? If Yahoo, Target, and Colonial Pipeline, employing legions of cyber-security experts, cannot prevent such breaches, are we also to believe that someone with a minimal literacy in computers, such as a Fr. Jackson, would be invulnerable to malicious hackers? His case has all the earmarks of the recent Cardinal George Pell travesty in Melbourne, Australia: a patently false accusation and prosecution, apparently orchestrated by corrupt Vatican insider Cardinal Angelo Becciu, himself now disgraced and under indictment for financial fraud. And although ultimately exonerated by Australia’s high court, Pell’s slandered reputation will never be restored.

So before rushing to judgment over such ludicrous accusations, as most of the media has already done, I would beg my readers to view the classic 1953 Alfred Hitchcock thriller I Confess starring Montgomery Clift. Clift’s character is Fr. Logan, a priest accused of murder who cannot exonerate himself without breaking the seal of confession. Consequently, he must watch the ruin of his reputation, face criminal prosecution, and the wrath of a hostile mob. Perhaps we are now being treated to a case of art imitating life, because there is an uncanny physical resemblance between Clift’s Fr. Logan and the real Fr. Jackson that we who know him well have come to love. I wish more Catholic media reporters would reflect on the sins of both slander and detraction before jumping to rash conclusions, but Mr. Dan Dougherty addresses that issue better than I could which is why I have included his recent letter as an addendum, below.

The Fr. Jackson I know is a quiet, thoughtful, and very humane individual whose real desire was to be a contemplative monk. In fact he has spent a year or so in a monastery in France before God called him into an active priestly ministry. Although naturally reserved, he loved playing rugby and became a Marine Corps chaplain before finally joining the traditional Latin FSSP community in 1996. Fr. Jackson is a hard-nosed realist who possesses a truly contemplative soul that longs above all for God. His writings show it, his sermons demonstrate it, his gracious and courteous manners around all sorts of people manifest it, and above all his great love of beauty all indicate how his life is totally ordered to union with the Divine Will.

Such a man does not suddenly turn, after 66 years, to a trifling, soul deadening amusement like pornography. One does not suddenly acquire such a degrading habit at that age. I work with the Road to Purity, a recovery program designed to help people caught up in pornography and sexual addictions, and if such a propensity had been there all along it would have surely manifested itself long before this point. Father Jackson is not naive about human nature. He wrote with real insight about priestly life in his weekly parish bulletins. For instance, “Without the faith (I mean real belief in God) and the pursuit of the interior life, celibacy just creates a class of professional bachelors who are still saying Mass and doing baptisms, but are overcome with isolation and even depression… They naturally turn to the natural for consolation,” he warned. “And with that turning from God, there is hell to pay.”

These are the measured words of someone with a rich interior life, fully aware of the corrupt McCarrick culture infesting the modern Church, so one must ask, what is the real story behind this Kafka-like turn of events? Are we witnessing just another burlesque script from the same authoritarian bureaucrats and media lackeys who have been feeding us Russian collusion, a false pandemic, and now imposing medical tyranny? My perspective is that Fr. Jackson is being targeted for the crime of pointing out unpopular truths: whether it be calling out “psychosexually dysfunctional” priests or challenging an emasculated priest-class he calls “professional bachelors” or leading a prayer rally against a Satanist black mass in Salem. All these things will earn you great enmity in the world. After all, if his foes can take down a high ranking prince of the Church like Cardinal Pell, how difficult would it be to target some lowly unknown pastor in Providence, R.I.?

But at a deeper level we must realize that the priest acts in persona Christi – in the person of Christ, and it was Christ himself who was falsely accused, condemned, and led to crucifixion. “If the world hates you remember that it first hated me.” (Jn 15:18) The faithful priest must therefore be prepared for immolation in the world which is exactly what I see when I behold the sad, pensive expression in Fr. Jackson’s eyes from the police mugshot. “Like a lamb led to slaughter, he was silent and opened not his mouth.” (Is 53:7) That, to me, represents the true essence of our Fr. Jackson – a willing victim suffering vicariously for his beloved flock.

In the end, Fr. Jackson will be vindicated, perhaps not in the eyes of the world but in the court that truly matters – the eternal judgment seat. Falsely accused, falsely judged, and wrongfully treated is, for his faithful priest, a sign of God’s special love and providence. Please keep him in your prayers, and also those who are persecuting him. We are living in a time of white martyrdom, and Fr. Jackson is not alone among the many faithful priests today who are likewise being “led to the slaughter” simply for speaking the truth.

Francis J. Pierson + a.m.d.g.

Addendum: Letter of Dan Dougherty to Church Militant below

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Pain Retreats ~ and your Angel

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Francis

A week ago today I attended an unscheduled retreat at the Littleton Hospital. The cause was a myocardial infarction, in laymen’s terms a heart attack. The retreat master was a Dr. Pain, an excellent teacher who reminds us when we are getting a little too involved in our day to day concerns just what is truly important.

Pain shakes us out of our little comfort zones enabling us to see another, deeper reality beyond material existence. It lifts the veil on an entire spiritual universe of which our material universe is but a small subset. But because we all tend to be such distracted creatures most of the time, it is not until we are forced out of our comfortable routines that we really give any serious attention to that incredible spiritual realm that surrounds us, influences, and directs our lives. The real benefit of pain is that it grabs and directs our attention to spiritual realities. And if accepted in a spirit of humility, pain will guide one into a deeper understanding of that spiritual realm. Of course, there will always be those who will reject the wisdom that pain imparts and turn all their attention towards medicating it rather than learning from it.

So let me share my own experience from last Thursday. As I was being wheeled in to the Cath Lab for an emergency angiogram and stent placement it became apparent that the room was buzzing with angels. All I could see was the team of doctors, nurses, and technicians busy making preparations for my procedure but I suddenly realized that they were not alone. These medical professionals seemed elegantly orchestrated as they went about their various tasks, smoothly and efficiently undertaking the operation. But this was something more than just a trained team going about its job. As I gazed around I strongly sensed the guardian angels of every person in that room, my own included, skillfully guiding each and every hand in the lab in the performance of its duty.

Although I have the deepest respect for the considerable skills and abilities of my providers, it occurred to me how critical angelic protection also would be to a successful outcome. And so it proved to be. As I silently prayed to all those assembled guardian angels the doctor confidently threaded a tiny fiber through my veins, located a 100% blocked artery, and implanted the life saving stent. As they wheeled me out, happy, alert, and pain free, my wife said I looked like a different person from the man they had wheeled in 40 minutes earlier.

I feel profound gratitude for all those wonderful caregivers, including the nurses on my floor who looked after me pre-op and post-op in their pleasant and optimistic way. But I would not neglect to thank their guardian angels whom I could almost see at times standing by their sides. You must understand that angels, being purely spiritual creatures, are more real than the material objects we are used to. As such they also exercise real control and power over all things material. Never underestimate their power nor doubt their presence, even in the midst of danger or pain. Call upon them often, and don’t just wait for some moment of crisis.

These are God’s special ambassadors to the human race, so show them the respect that their dignity deserves. When we are in need they will be at hand to lend assistance. How do I know that? Well, when my short pain retreat ended on Friday the doctors sent me home with evidence that there had been no apparent permanent damage to my heart ~ despite more than 14 hours of intense seizure activity! I know the skeptics are out there. In today’s world we are sadly surrounded people who will reject angelic power even as they accept and celebrate the foulest demons. But our guardian angels are real spirits whose primary job is to protect us from the demons. Pray and listen to them, and let them do their jobs, which is not only to ward off evil spirits but to protect us bodily as well. But this requires our active cooperation.

The spiritual warfare never ends, and our material world is its battlefield. So don’t let a little crisis or the experience of pain turn you away from your angelic protector and advocate. Instead, turn to your guardian angel so that, with its help, the pain you may be experiencing will become a source of great learning and profit to you. God may be sending you an impromtu “pain retreat,” so take advantage of it, and remember that whatever you suffer, you are not alone. Your guardian angel will be right there doing whatever necessary to lend all necessary aid and comfort.

Francis J. Pierson +a.m.d.g.

It’s Okay to Discriminate, After All

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Francis

After 50 plus years of non-stop lecturing on the manifest evils of discrimination, America’s woke progressive left has suddenly discovered what they had not realized all along: that discrimination is not only okay, it now positively virtuous! People who have religious convictions or some archaic notion of civil rights; those who believe that the Constitution really means what it says constitute the most likely candidates for discrimination. These are the people who just won’t go along with every faddish diktat that comes along from on high, because as true Americans they actually believe that the individual, not some Sultan of Health or pretty boy politician, ought to be responsible for their personal health decisions.

In evidence I offer three anecdotal, yet personal, first hand cases. The first is my father-in-law, recently deceased, who at 84 was suffering from low oxygen levels and early stage Alzheimers. The VA quickly diagnosed him as Covid positive. Thankfully he was able to die at home surrounded by loving family members instead of being isolated in some sterile medical gulag unit. The interesting part is that later, in talking to the funeral director who was required to go through a lot of extra procedures, we learned that the body showed absolutely no signs of the China virus. His body was clean as a whistle regarding Covid.

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Big Pharma now presents Medi-Jihad

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Francis

How little Americans seem to have learned in 20 years! September 11 marks the somber anniversary of a despicable attack on the American people by foreign terrorists. But as of today, 9-11-2021, our people are again under attack; this time by domestic terrorists in our own government. Headline: The acting president just declared war on those Americans who, either for reasons of conscience or medical freedom, refused to be injected with an abortion-tainted agent not yet out of clinical trials.

Biden has effectively declared a medical dictatorship which allows politicians, who now deem themselves more qualified than medical professionals, to forcibly make medical decisions for you. Regardless of what you may think of a particular “vaccine,” the principle these autocrats are invoking is both atrocious and unconstitutional ~ namely that government knows better than you, or your doctor, your personal health needs, and that it nevertheless has the right to forcibly inject a foreign substance into your body. If you refuse, you will be denied the right to work or to participate in society. You will be accused of being a menace to the community and tarred as an outcast. You will be publicly denounced and discriminated against. Medical “Jim Crow” has now arrived on America’s doorstep!

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Gnosis ~ Light that leads into Darkness

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Francis

Christ is the true Light of the world, but there is another, false light which ultimately leads one only into darkness. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness could not comprehend it. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world… yet the world knew him not.” (Jn 1: 5;9,10) And the reason it knew him not is because there has always been a competing, mendacious light in the world designed only to lead men astray. In the 18th century vicious pirates would sometimes light a fire at night along some rocky patch of shoreline hoping to lure unsuspecting ships to their destruction on the jagged shoals. Just so, the false light which the ancient enemy of God sets up as a guiding beacon is actually intended to lure unsuspecting souls into ruin on the spiritual shoals.

Such false beacons have taken various forms over the millennia, and one of the more dangerous of these deceptive “lights” has long been Gnosticism. Gnostic comes from a Greek word for knowledge, and Gnosticism encourages the notion that some secret learning or knowledge will somehow provide one the key to success and happiness. It treats the “light of reason” in the same way, as indeed a replacement for the Christian “light of faith.” Reason and knowledge is what will free one from this broken world of pain and evil. Sin is no longer a moral fault but merely the effect of ignorance. Spiritually this is a deadly notion because it deflects our attention away from combating sin, the real root cause of our unhappiness, and redirects the will to fighting other things like poverty and ignorance which are only the symptoms, not the real root of human problems.

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