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| | HALLOWEEN or HELL-OWEEN?
SATAN IS REAL. HELL IS REAL. PEOPLE GO THERE.
If today you're looking to get your scare-fix, don't settle for a counterfeit. Don't settle for silly costumes, images, movies and stories that, even in their most grotesque forms, are but cartoon caricatures of the real thing. Satan is real. Hell is real. People go there.
Exorcist Fr. Jeremy Davies points out: “[L]evity about such matters [is] fatal; playing with evil under the pretext of it being untrue is to allow evil to enter.”
Hell exists because God is not a tyrant. Which means He does not force us to choose Him. Which means we are free to choose against Him. And today, many of us do. That is the very nature of sin. Our chosen separation from Him. A taste of hell.
Many of us don't want to talk about hell. We like to presume we're all going to heaven. That all it takes is being generally "nice" or "good." To the contrary, Jesus said the door is "narrow," and that many will not be able to enter it. (Luke 10:23)
Jesus goes off on the very religious and pious Pharisees, saying things like "you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are" (Matt. 23:15) and "How will you escape being condemned to hell?" (Matt. 23:33)
Sin and it's reality of hell are not just in "big" things, like murder. If His Word means anything (the very reason God sent His Son into the world!), we choose for or against Him with our bodies, our sexuality, our words, our time, our money, our resources, our possessions, our vote, and even our desires and thoughts.
Each of these are blessings meant to be used according to the will of the Blesser. Not according to a truth we can presume to create, but the Truth who created us.
So back to the purpose of fear, Jesus warned: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)
Author Paul Thigpen chronicles innumerable saints who described hell: "Saints Who Saw Hell: And Other Catholic Witnesses to the Fate of the Damned."
As a sample, here's testimony of the three shepherd children of Fatima, who saw Hell in July 1917: “Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke… amid shrieks and groans which horrified us and made us tremble with fear.”
We will live forever. While we live here, we can choose. When we die, that choice is irrevocable. If we had the slightest glimpse of what awaits us for eternity, we would be all the more emboldened to live completely for Jesus Christ, and to help others do the same.
Lord Jesus Christ, awaken us to who we really are in You, and Your eternal destiny for us, and the opportunity You give us to choose You now.
All Holy Saints and Angels, please pray for us!
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God is pouring out grace. We have to receive Him.
Presence for Christmas is a 7-week ADVENTure more deeply into the heart of Christ's Mass.
REGISTER NOW
AN OUTREACH OF MASS IMPACT | KEEP US GOING |
| | | | SEASON 3 of the 7-week reality program begins NEXT TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 8P |
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| THANKS TO OUR MISSION PARTNERS...
The Kingdom of God is among you... Luke 17:21
STATUS: 35% Goal (read below)
WE'RE REGULARLY IMPACTING THOUSANDS:
- PRESENCE for CHRISTMAS 12/4, 12/11, 12/18 St. Joan of Arc (GO) - Weekly LIVE IT Gathering Guide / Video (GO) - Weekly IGNITE RADIO LIVE (GO)
- PENTECOST 365 (GO) - "Igniting men in everyday faith" - VIDEO SERIES: "Most Out of Mass" with Fr. Mike Dandurand (GO) - 7 Week LIVE IT SEASONS (GO) (next begins November 1) - 7 Week FAMILY ROAD TRIP PODCAST (GO) - Live IT PARISH BUILDING (GO) - 7 THINGS I'D SAY TO MY 7TH GRADE SELF (GO) - IGNITE's - MISSION ONE RETREATS | CORE COMMUNITY
And extensive evangelization through every form of media.
THE VISION:
Our passion and purpose is to get families on the road of making their homes places of ever-deepening encounter with Jesus Christ.
If God's design for family is revived, we will see a dramatic decline in poverty, homelessness, extramarital sex, divorce, addiction, suicide, and many diseases. There is nothing more important.
HERE'S WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP:
- Fr. Nathan Cromly is lined up for production of a 7-episode series promising to "ignite men in everyday faith." Cost: $7,000
- Presence For Christmas events in December.
All promotion and fulfillment. Cost: $1,000/each
- "Family Road Trip Podcast" 7-episode reality program featuring four families on the journey. Cost: $3,500
- "Mission One" Retreats for couples/families committed to evangelizing other couples/families. Cost: $2,000/each
- "7 Things I'd Say to My Seventh Grade Self" productions targeting 7th graders, parents and teachers. Cost: $500/each
- Live IT Family handouts giving families a simple format for talking and praying on a weekly basis. Cost: $3,500
- Pentecost 365 handouts helping men live everyday faith. Cost: $3,500
HIGH HOPES:- Living IT video series showing individual families on the journey, capturing real challenges and overcoming. $5,000/episode
- Pentecost 365 Conference for men. Cost: $50,000
- The Living Room. A warm and welcoming rental facility enabling ongoing formation and mission. Cost: $5,000/month
- Endowment to form and engage dedicated leadership/interns in the mission. $100,000
WE NEED YOU.
We don't have a development director. We'd rather not have to compromise our limited resources meant for mission on extensive fundraising efforts. We look forward to our "thank you" event in 2020.
STATUS: 35%
MINIMAL NEED: $80,000 | TOTAL PLEDGED/RECEIVED: $27,650
Singular Donations: $10,450 (3) [click]
Pledges: $10,600 (by end of 2019) [email pledge here]
New Monthly Mission Partners: $6,600 (year basis) [click]
Please consider becoming a monthly mission partner.
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