Patrick Chisholm, Author at Seventimes70

St. Paul wrote, “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.” (Romans 5:20)

In Virginia where I live, sin is set to abound. The new governor and new darling of the left is diligently working to expand the culture of sin in our state. It may already abound in your state, particularly if you live in California, New York, Maryland, Colorado, Minnesota, or another state where abortion and other mortal sins are codified into law. Governors and state legislators are striving to normalize, encourage, even celebrate those sins.

But there is a silver lining. Actively resisting this culture of sin not only benefits society in the usual ways, but also can dispose one to greater graces, more rapid growth in holiness, and greater interior peace.

Most prominent within the culture of sin is abortion. In Virginia it has been legal during the first and second trimesters, and in rare cases during the third trimester. The previous governor, Glenn Youngkin (R), sought to limit abortion to within 15 weeks of pregnancy. But the new governor, Abigail Spanberger (D), supports a radical constitutional amendment that locks-in abortion-on-demand. Due to its vague language and loopholes, it could institute late-term abortion up until birth (and maybe even post-birth infanticide, as Virginia’s previous Democrat governor infamously discussed in 2019). Spanberger approved putting the legislation on a state-wide ballot to amend Virginia’s constitution.

Other grave sins expected to be instituted or to become more deeply entrenched under Spanberger include:

· Assisted suicide.
· Homosexual legal unions.
· Castration and genital mutilation of gender-confused children (unless legal victories frustrate those plans).
· Biological boys in girls’ sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms.
· Schools not notifying parents about their kids identifying as transgender.
· Legalized marijuana.
· Non-cooperation with the federal government in removing criminal illegal aliens.
· Unethical gerrymandering.
· Higher taxes. (It’s arguably a sin to coerce money out of people over and above the amount needed to fund essential government functions.)
· A $15 minimum wage, thus pricing unskilled workers out of a job, hitting low-income minorities hardest.
· A flurry of new business regulations, thus driving out businesses and jobs.

As dismaying as this is, graces abound for those who actively resist – through more prayer, more vigilance, more involvement, and more action. As the saying goes, pray as if everything is up to God, and act as if everything is up to you.

Above all, pray against the depravity. Make it a part of in your daily petitions if you don’t do so already. Bolster your prayers by fasting. Read sacred scripture often. For Catholics, increase your frequency of Holy Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, confession, the Rosary, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Whether this brings results on the legislative front is up to God, but one thing is almost certain: greater graces for you.

Amid the prayer, take action. Pressure legislators with phone calls, emails, and requests for meetings. Raise awareness through social media. Witness outside of abortion facilities. (Show up early Saturday mornings when abortions are frequently scheduled.) Slap a pro-life magnet on your car. March in the March for Life. Donate to advocacy groups that work against the wickedness.

During the 1920s when the Mexican government persecuted the Catholic Church, 14-year-old resistor – and now canonized saint – José Sánchez del Río reportedly told his mother, “Mama, never like now is it so easy to gain heaven”. ( Mamá, nunca como ahora ha sido tan fácil ganarse el cielo.) While our present situation is not nearly as intense as Mexico’s back then, his words nevertheless still apply. During times of moral rot, actively resisting the evil builds extraordinary spiritual merits that are harder to come by during “normal” times.

Pray not only for the thwarting of Gov. Spanberger’s – or your own governor’s – agenda, but also for the salvation of her soul and her conversion to authentic Christianity. By institutionalizing mortal sin, she is in danger of a rude awakening when she eventually passes from this world. Because of her high position she will be held to a far higher standard. As Jesus admonished,

Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more. (Luke 12:48)

And as the Old Testament states,

Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you did not judge rightly,
and did not keep the law,
nor walk according to the will of God,
terribly and swiftly he shall come against you,
because severe judgment awaits the exalted.
. . . for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends. (Wisdom 6:4-5, 8)

Pray also for the conversion and salvation of the legislators who pass her agenda, as well as for the citizens who voted them into office. They, too, are in great spiritual danger.

It is perhaps ironic that while the culture around you moves closer to hell, the opportunities to move closer to heaven increase. Take advantage of those opportunities through prayer and action. That may help to not only save souls, but also your state.

Bashing Big Oil While Reaping its Benefits

Cover image courtesy of Vecteezy

Last year at a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) took Heritage Foundation economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth to task for working for organizations that accept money from the oil and gas industry.

Accepting money from people who work in the oil and gas industry? For shame!

But Furchtgott-Roth gave him a taste of his own poison. She pointed out that Whitehouse’s family fortune came from, gasp, the gas business.

Since then, new information has come to light regarding Sen. Whitehouse’s coziness with Big Oil. I’m privy to inside information on this. Correction: outside information.

It has been determined that the Senator is a serial user of products made from oil; hundreds if not thousands of such products. He denigrates Big Oil while simultaneously shelling out thousands of dollars on merchandise that ultimately props up that industry.

Examples? Let’s start with a product he had in plain sight at the Senate hearing while ironically berating Dr. Furchtgott-Roth for her alleged coziness with that industry. As he was droning on about her workplaces’ perceived funders, he had his assistant hold up a sign about “Big Oil Funding” of her current employer. The sign did not appear to be all-cardboard but rather the more common posterboard material with a foam core. The stiff foam is known as polystyrene, a type of plastic. And plastic is made from, you guessed it: crude oil.

Yes, through various chemical processes, plastic is made from naphtha, which is one of the products distilled from crude oil by heating it to certain temperatures.

So we had a situation where a Senator had a sign held up with a message implying that oil companies are scoundrels, yet the material of the sign itself came from the oil companies. Go figure.

Another Big Oil-based product the senator clearly had on display were his eyeglasses – or at least that’s very probably the case. While it’s possible he had metal frames and/or actual glass lenses, far more common these days are lightweight and durable frames and lenses made from plastic compounds.

Similarly, while the suit the senator was wearing may have been 100 percent cotton, wool, or silk, suits these days are commonly made from a blend of cotton and polyester. Yes, polyester is a type of plastic. So Big Oil may have helped supply the senator with the suit he was wearing that day, too.

And surely he must wear casual shirts during his off-hours. Such shirts are increasingly made of the smooth, silky polyester or cotton-polyester blend. We can thank Big Oil for that. Nice plastic you’re wearing!

Dare I mention some of the other Big Oil-derived products we can assume the senator uses? Here’s a partial list: pens, cell phones, computer components, pharmaceuticals, cameras, credit cards, shampoo, shaving cream, shower curtains, toothbrushes, toothpaste, trash bags, soap, and any other product made of or containing plastic.

What if he drives an electric vehicle? He’s still patronizing Big Oil. EVs are replete with plastic components. Even imitation leather seats are petroleum-based. As are tires. The electricity to charge the vehicle likely came from a fossil-fuel-using power plant. And more than 90 percent of the roads the senator drives on are made from oil. Yes, asphalt is comprised of tiny rocks held together by asphalt cement, also known as bitumen. Bitumen is a byproduct of oil refining – it’s the thick, gooey substance left over from crude oil after the various fuels and petrochemicals have been distilled.

The senator surely must be a frequent flyer. Without the services of Big Oil providing the fuel and so many other components within airplanes (plus the runways), flying would be impossible.

The next time Senator Whitehouse or others impugn Big Oil or berate people for working for nonprofits that accept donations from oil and gas companies, point out to them that their words are empty, given that they themselves use oil company products galore. And that for their words to have any meaning, they would need to first swear off using oil company products.

Of course, that would mean being mired in poverty for the rest of their lives, given that so much of the modern world is built on thousands of product lines derived from Big Oil. So they probably wouldn’t be willing to swear off them after all. Which puts them in a very contradictory and compromising position, whenever they bash the hand that feeds them.