Words, words, words.
It is all too astounding.
For those who don’t want to believe, these thoughts in the “Red Deception” can all be easily “sloughed” off as “irrational” or “absurd.”
But we say no.
For the Scriptures clearly teach us that we are dealing with a being who is so powerful, he was able to offer our Lord the Kingdoms of the World!
Not only was the evil one able to offer all the kingdoms, but he did so in “a moment of time” Luke 4:5.
There are many “kingdoms” of the world.
But in our age and time, perhaps there is none more deceptive than that which reaches out into outer space — the true “final frontier” of the unknown.
Now remember, before anyone tries to state that we are in the “fringe” category, we have long been part of the aerospace community, knowing full well the minds of many who seek to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”
And again, we are not against exploration nor scientific research.
We are only against deception.
In our space and time, the great deception is to “seek out new life and new civilizations” — of which we have come up with the astounding number: drum roll, please, zero!
As we take “one small step for a man and one giant leap for mankind,” we, as spiritual beings, lose sight of the great debt we owe to our Redeemer.
This is apparent in how the secular world goes about its busy-ness.
On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, what was the “prestigious” rag, the New York Times, spouting?
“Mars Rovers in Quest for Grail: Signs of Water!” ran Sunday’s headlines.
The article, referring, of course, to the Mars mission, has so many spiritual connotations to it, we can’t believe that the writer of the headline did not consciously think of it that way. And, as a former headline writer for a “great major metropolitan newspaper” that fought a never-ending battle for “Truth, Justice and the American way,” we, too, remember when we sought takeoffs of this sort to catch the reader’s eye!
It may not be done maliciously or with comprehension as to its effect, but it is done with aforethought to strike a chord within people that is familiar, yet done as a twist. And who would be behind the inspiration for this “cleverness” (unbeknownst to the writer) but the one who controls the “kingdoms” of the world — the evil one who wants mankind’s attention taken away from our Lord’s feast days!
Interestingly, the “quest for the Grail” has always been associated with the Cup the Lord used at the Last Supper. In reality, those who study the Shroud know that this is a common error. More likely, as research shows, the Grail referred to Jesus’ burial cloth which was then kept in the city of Edessa (now modern-day Urfa, Turkey) in what was known as the “Citadel.”
In the language of the Edessans, the “Citadel” — the palace of the king — was known as “Britio.” This word, many believe today, was mistranslated to “Britain,” thus giving rise to the ridiculous and absurd legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought the Grail (or Cup) with him to Great Britain.
But don’t tell that to anyone who believes in masonry or who has been tainted by its lies.
What was the “Grail” that the “Britio” contained that was considered the “holiest of holies”? Nothing more than what we call today the Shroud of Turin — a cloth that contains the very Blood shed by Jesus on Calvary the day of His Crucifixion!
Can it get more holy than that for those of us who believe?
As among those who stood before the cloth in awe of this Precious Blood, we can testify that there is a spiritual feeling that is truly indescribable.
Now, in 2004, the New York Times (the world’s supposed “paper of record”), on the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus when our Lord was anointed with Water by St. John, the “grail” becomes not the finding of the Cup or the Shroud, but the search for “water” on the Red Planet!
And so the “Red Deception” continues!
It is a deep deception and has long plagued mankind throughout our history.
The legend of Mars and its influence on pagan Rome comes to mind.
The concept that the dead planet harbors the “god of war” frightens the superstitious and those who follow astrology till today.
But, perhaps, the planet’s greatest “Red Deception” legacy lies in the now-infamous “face on Mars” photographs taken by the Viking during the bicentennial celebrations of America’s “birthday.”
A whole cottage industry has grown up around this anomaly and still generates controversy until today.
It is striking that mankind continues to seek a plausible answer to how the feature of this supposed “face” appears as it does. Light and shadows? Rock formations? Alien life forms?
Our favorite theories are those which try to connect the “face” to Egyptology!
Yet, these same theorists can debate endlessly on the “face” while ignoring the Face of the One who redeemed them!
They choose to pursue an oblique feature on a planet so distant no one really knows what the realities are.
And they choose to reject the One whose Passion He has left on a cloth as evidence for all!
Will they find “water” on Mars?
Will they find evidence of ancient “life”?
Will they find in a future manned mission that, indeed, the Martian “face” is made not by human hands?
We care not what the answers to these questions really are, for in the long run — that is, Eternity — they are worthless.
For mankind it all comes down to the old adage that the “answer” is staring all of us right smack dab in our faces all along!
It is the “answer” found in the Water of Baptism.
It is the answer found in the Red of His Blood.
It is the answer found in the Passion of His Face on the Shroud.
It is the answer found in the proof of His Resurrection on an ancient cloth — an Image scientifically proven to be “not made by human hands.”
On that cloth is the answer that mankind really is seeking.
But it is the answer mankind does not want and refuses to believe. The cloth to most is too “absurd.” For it is not the symbolism, symbolism, symbolism or words, words, words of Christ people want to see or hear.
Instead, the world goes for the “irrational.”
Astoundingly, as we choose to fund more billions to the blackness of space, mankind continues to seek out what can only be called — as those who followed atheistic communism found out — the “Red Deception” of the Planet Mars.
© 2004 Agnus Dei Presents!
O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the
Heart of Jesus as a Fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!
