Oldest Daughter of the Church Rediscovering Catholic Identity
FRANCE MIGHT BE THE OLDEST DAUGHTER of the Church, but she is also the birthplace of the so-called “Enlightenment” an esoteric term connoting Gnosticism – the false light of wisdom promised Eve in Eden, which stealthily crept out of the Masonic Salons of Paris hidden in the amphibologies (double entendre) of the Encyclopedists[1] . These duplicitous agents of the New Age prepared the way for the French Revolution, the rise of modern liberalism, and the subsequent attack on Christendom (on the Catholic clergy, Catholic aristocracy and Catholic monarchy) that Napoleon Bonaparte spread across Europe all the way to the gates of Moscow under the banner of revolutionary banner of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”.
It is possible to grasp something of the double meaning intended by such words as liberty, equality, and fraternity (they mean one thing to adepts and another to the uninitiated or conditioned commoners) by recourse to the writings of François-Marie Arouet (known by his nom de plume as Voltaire), especially by recourse to his Dictionary of Philosophy. Voltaire was a major contributor to the Encyclopedia, a patriarch of the Enlightenment and a Masonic adept initiated into Freemasonry in 1778 at the Lodge of Nine Sisters.
Though Voltaire and the men involved in the cabal with him called themselves “Philosophes”, they were an affront to philosophy, the type of men Paul was referring to when he stated:
“For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22).
Paul indicated that there would be Christian philosophers according to Christ and deluded philosophers full of deceit allied with the world against Christ:
“Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy, and vain deceit; according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).
May of the Catholic aristocracy, the “Old Guard”, were educated in the Thomistic and Augustinian philosophy of Christ. They knew the voice of Christ and the voice of His adversary (John 10:27). Theerfore, though a minority, they valiantly resisted while it was prudent to do so. However, in the long run, they had to surrender the field and capitulate under a tidal wave of liberalism that covered all of Europe by the end of the 19th century.
Since then, France has oscillated back and forth among several political alternatives; nonetheless, most of the proposed alternatives have contained some facet of liberalism and France has remained in the liberal camp as a supposed avant-garde force propelling Europe, and the world, into a new global order under the sway of liberalism.
However, in France, as elsewhere, the liberal ideologues have grown so arrogant and accustomed to easy victory that they have too hastily put forward an agenda so indecent that the supposed “morons” whom they have socially engineered, and whom they abhor, are no longer acting so gullible. They are beginning to question events and even to demand change. Things have gone too far and there is a noticeable counter-current welling up from the reservoirs of France’s deep cultural and spiritual patrimony coalescing into a political current that is swiftly moving in the opposite direction.
Emergence of Marine Le Pen and the National Front
Although the National Front (FN) was launched on October 5, 1972, it is part of a conservative tradition that opposed the French Revolution of 1789. Consequently, the FN rejects both the revolution and its liberal legacy. Sensing the weakness of France’s various conservative constituencies, constituencies that represent its cultural patrimony, its historic national ethos, its spiritual traditions and its ancient moral precepts rooted in Christian faith and reason, leaders of the FN realized the importance of forming a national front, an umbrella party that united the conserving elements of France under one political banner.
Then on January 15, 2011, Marine Le Pen unexpectedly became the leader of the FN and since then has catapulted a municipal party into a national political power. The FN received nearly 5 million votes in the 2014 parliamentary elections and gained 25% of all the seats in parliament. Then in 2015 in the first round of regional elections, it placed first in half of the 13 newly reapportioned regions ahead of every party in France. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie, little Le Pen won 41% of the vote. News like this sent shock waves throughout Europe (as similar events were happening in the Balkans and Central Europe, but no one foresaw such an event in modern France, the Mother of Liberalism.
The FN, much to the chagrin of EU leaders and the political elite of France, has rejected both liberalism and neoliberalism and is researching innovative economic policies that are more popular and serve the broader common good. Although they remain open to leaving certain vital industries such as transportation, health care and energy in the hands of the government, they are rejecting globalism and unfavorable EU mandates and policies in favor of national identity and cultural legacy.
Thus, the FN has referred to the EU as:
“…the last stage on the road to world government” and a “puppet of the New World Order.”
Le Pen does not represent the ultimate solution for the French people, but she is an astute political barometer measuring change in the political atmosphere indicating widespread discontent with worn-out liberal rhetoric and indicative of a growing movement favoring social and political solutions that respect French tradition and its cultural and spiritual legacy as well as the Christian identity of Europe. Consequently,
Le Pen admires Vladimir Putin and refers to him as a “defender of the Christian heritage of European civilization.”
Marine Le Pen believes that
“Russia is unfairly ‘demonized.’ She has claimed that the campaign against the Russian leadership is being conducted at the highest levels of the European Union with support from the United States.”
French National Values
As a leader deeply interested in protecting the national patrimony, Le Pen is a sharp critic of continued immigration of Islamic fundamentalists who refuse to adopt the traditions and values of their host country but continue to oppose and ridicule them while receiving protection for doing so from the EU. Tolerance does not mean permitting a guest to dictate to you what you must believe in your own house while persecuting a person if he or she dared do such a thing in their own house. For example, Christian refugees in Kelkheinm, Germany are being persecuted by Muslims in a Christian country and getting away with it.
In a Report put out out by “Open Doors” a Christian Alliance operating in Germany 743 attacks against Christians in German refugee camps have been documented in this year alone. The Report states that:
“It must be assumed that there is a high number of unreported cases….Effective measures for the protection of religious minorities have yet to be implemented.” In Spain for example,
“Christian refugees thrown overboard and drowned 84 In Spain, a migrant from Cameroon has been indicted of having murdered six Christian refugees. The accused and captain of a boat supposedly blamed a Catholic priest for the rough sea during the passage. He beat the priest with a sharp piece of wood and threw him overboard. Subsequently he and another refugee searched all other boat passengers for any items identifying them as Christians and subsequently dumped another five Christians into the sea. The state prosecutor has charged him of premeditated murder.
In France, Open Doors Reports:
“In January 2016, the public learned about violent incidents directed against Christian refugees at Grande-Synthe, a camp in Northern France. Regarding the general situation of the Iranian-Christian minority, labour union leader David Michaux confirmed that there was a real problem between Muslims and non-Muslims. “The Muslims are trying to drive the Christians out from the camp.”
Numerous Christian migrants have filed complaints but have not received any help. This statement by an Iranian Christian is typical,
“I reported the death threats I received to the Info point several times in Persian but they did not react. I reported it two to three times.”
A Lutheran Pastor Gottfried Martens, verified the neglect of Christian refugees under attack by Islamic refugees in Germany.
“There is not a single case in which Christian refugees in my church had been attacked and injured in their accommodation where the investigation was not dismissed in the end,” he said. “In every case the attacked Christians word stood against the word of the attackers, who were always in the large majority. … In the end, each of the criminal charges only leads to further humiliation of the victims and a loss of confidence in the constitutional state.”
Marine Le Pen understands what is happening to Christians abroad and even in European refugee camps and wants to put a stop to it.
Since it is the European Union that is imposing these foreign ideologies on France, it is the right of France to leave the EU. Recalling BREXIT, she proposes a FREXIT:
“The Brits have chosen their destiny and decided to leave the European Union. They made the choice of independence… I will hold a referendum (if elected president) on France’s EU membership because you have the right to speak out… Yes, my friends, it is possible to change things.”
Trump or Clinton?
Regarding presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, CNN reported that Le Pen favors Trump because Clinton means entrenched interests, therefore globalism and more war to protect entrenched interests. Comparing herself to Trump she stated:
“We are similar because we are not part of the establishment, we are not part of the system, and we do not depend on anybody and we don’t take orders from anyone,” she said.
“For France, anything is better than Hillary Clinton. Anything but Hillary Clinton. Because I think Hillary Clinton means war. Hillary Clinton means devastation. It means world instability.”
ARTICLE BEING COMPLETED
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NOTES
[1]The group of French philosophers who worked together to produce renowned Encyclopedie. The work was overseen by Denis Diderot, and promoted as a Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts, et des métiers (Dictionary of arts, sciences and letters). The writers intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire field of human knowledge from the perspective of the “Enlightenment”