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The Subtleties of Satan by Mary Ann Bryant      We all get them in our email - beautiful thoughts, prayers, sayings. We think "Oh, this is nice, maybe I'll send it to a friend." Then the kicker comes at the bottom of the page, telling us to send this on to X number of people, in a specified amount of time, and something GOOD will happen to us. There are even ones that say "If you love Jesus, send this on," implying that if you DON'T send it on, you don't love Jesus. I call them Holy Chain Letters. They are usually sent with the best of intentions. I cringe every time I see one. This is the devil working at one of the things he does best - making something bad look good. These things have superstition written all over them, but what satan counts on, and what usually happens, is people only see that it's a prayer or a pious thought, and never get past that part of it. What could possibly be wrong with forwarding a prayer? It is a sly and cunning way of fostering superstition, and completely against the tenets of our faith. Close relatives of the chain letter are palm and tarot card readers, psychics, and devotees of the horoscope. Many times, I know, those psychics and those palm readers are accurate. Where do you think they get the information?! These are just a few of the many subtleties of satan.      He lulls us into the complacency of the most traveled road very slowly and gently. He's prepared that road well - after all, he's been working at it since the time of Adam and Eve. By the time this generation came on the scene, he had been wooing world leaders for a long, long time. He was already a pro at it -convincing them that war was the solution to problems, and keeping the fires stoked in the hearts of those greedy for power and money.      He was just beginning his media assault in the early 1940's, with one of the crowning jewels of mass (mostly MISS) communication - television. Easier than feeding peanuts to pigeons. It was a technological wonder, that kept us entertained and informed. The shows were family oriented and cleaner than Clorox. There was no bad language to be heard; no indecent dress to be seen. Even married "TV couples" were not allowed to be shown sharing the same bed. Cowboys and Indians at war with each other, was probably the most violent thing shown, and after all, cowboys and Indians were supposed to kill each other, weren't they? The end justified the means, didn't it? The seed was planted, wasn't it?! Satan is good at what he does - we slept through it all.      We were at "peace" then, WWII was over, and life was good. We had good catholic schools, and good catholic churches; good priests, and good nuns. We made the First Fridays and the First Saturdays, went to confession weekly, adored our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, made "visits" to church often, and had 40 hours devotions. The Mass was a spiritual bonanza - there was great reverence for the sacraments, especially The Holy Eucharist. We humbly knelt, to receive our Jesus, and from midnight on, we fasted before receiving Him. Meanwhile, the smoke of satan was entering the Vatican, and once again we slept through it all.      The 1960's brought "free love" and an abundance of drugs on the scene - but it was just a "fad," right? Just some misguided "hippies." People didn't live this way - it would be immoral - and we were a very moral society. When did cohabitation cross the line from shock and disapproval, to being not only accepted, but encouraged - subtly, very subtly, very slowly. Satan's free love fest resulted in innumerable unwanted pregnancies, but he had a ready solution for that - abortion. After all, wasn't it better to get rid of this child, than have it be unwanted and uncared for? Wasn't it only just a blob of protoplasm, anyway? Wasn't it really the "best" thing for all involved - no one had to know; everyone saved face - except, of course, the murdered child, but then, it really wasn't a baby yet, was it?      It was somewhere around this time, that satan put his plan into action to rid our schools of prayer. After all, not everyone was Christian - wasn't Christian prayer offensive, and even insensitive to the non-believers? Isn't it more "Christian-like" to be respectful of other peoples' creeds, and not push our beliefs on them? Wasn't that a reasonable request - that these people not be discriminated against? We must have thought so.      Satan succeeded in getting prayer out of our schools, and followed it by getting stay at home moms out of their houses. He knows exactly which of our vulnerable buttons to push, and when to push them. Every so subtly, he put it in the heads of some women that they had to prove themselves equal to men in every way. He played upon each small feeling of inequality that dared to peek from a woman's persona, nurturing it, until it became The Feminist Movement, which, in turn, gave birth to the destruction of the family, as we knew it. DIVISION - another famous ploy of the evil one.      The list goes on and on. All we have to do is look at today's headlines, to see the results of the subtle manipulations of satan.      He is cunning, he is far more intelligent than mortals - remember, he ranked highest among the angels, before the fall - we are no match for him. He is powerful, he is pure evil - he wants our souls, and he works at getting them, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.      Above all, he is subtle. He knows our every weakness; he uses us against ourselves! We let him. How many times, do we take the easier, softer way? How many times do we do that, because we have been conditioned to do what "works for us - makes US feel good?" The answer for me, would be many times.      Little every day things - the small irritations of every day life - satan uses every one of them. He brings those irritating things/actions of others to mind, and then embellishes upon them, until they turn into full blown anger, resentment, fear, jealousy, pride - in other words - SIN! He is an equal opportunity destroyer - he uses the same tactics with Kings, Queens, Emperors, Presidents, and heads of state, as he does with the beggar on the street corner.      He constantly brings to mind our past sins - you know the ones - the ones that have been long ago forgiven by our Father, but when they come to mind, we're not so sure they've been forgotten by Him. GUILT is one of satan's best friends. At the same time, he talks us out of thinking that our PRESENT sins - the ones we are busy committing right now - are perfectly fine, and not at all sinful. After all, that was just a little WHITE lie, that wasn't really gossip, I was just relaying information, and on it goes. One of his greatest feats in the switching of good and evil, though, is abortion. How many times do we hear, it's MY body (no, it's NOT YOUR body - it's a temple of the Holy Spirit, on loan from God, to house your soul!), it's not really a baby yet (if it's not a baby, you're not pregnant!), and all the other flimsy pro-death rationalizations. He will go to any lengths to get us to commit a sin, and to any lengths to get us to believe that evil is good. Nothing, among our many weaknesses, as children of Adam, is too small for him to feed on.      SATAN IS SLY, HE IS CUNNING, HE IS POWERFUL - HE IS ABORTION, HE IS EUTHANASIA, HE IS ALCOHOLISM, HE IS DRUG ADDICTION, HE IS CLONING, HE IS THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA, HE IS CRIME BY AND AGAINST CHILDREN, HE IS VIOLENCE, HE IS ARROGANCE, HE IS PRIDE, HE IS GLUTTONY, ENVY AND SLOTH. HE IS EVERY SIN YOU CAN IMAGINE. HE IS ALIVE AND WELL - HE WANTS YOUR SOUL - HE WANTS MINE! HE IS SUBTLE OUR SLIGHTEST WEAKNESS IS HIS DELIGHT - BE ALERT AND REBUKE HIM IN THE NAME OF JESUS! HAVE YOUR HOUSE BLESSED BY A PRIEST, USE HOLY WATER ABUNDANTLY, KEEP BLESSED OBJECTS IN YOUR HOME AND ON YOUR PERSON. PRAY THE ROSARY - HE HATES IT! INVOKE THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS, WHO WILL COME WITH LEGIONS OF ANGELS TO SAVE EACH OF US FROM THE SUBTLETIES OF SATAN AND ETERNAL DAMNATION!