July 2021 – The Fellowship of St Francis

Sometimes reading an article in the news leaves me stunned and incredulous.

It happens to me fairly often, truth be told. Well, it happened again just a few minutes ago. An article from the Washington Post tells the story of a violent insurrectionist who participated in the January 6th riot, putting together a plan to form a new militia-like organization to commit more violence in the wake of that tragic and shocking event.

Here’s the most shocking part of this nearly-unbelievable tale: the “cover story” for his efforts to organize more violent, insurrectionist acts was to be the forming of a Bible study group.

Plans for violence and killing wrapped in a cloak of dark, fake religiosity.

Things like that are certainly not new. When the writer of Proverbs penned this text, he recorded for posterity a situation to which these more recent events bear an uncanny resemblance:

¹⁴ Do not enter the path of the wicked,
   and do not walk in the way of evildoers.
¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
   they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness
   and drink the wine of violence.
from Proverbs, Chapter 4

There’s no doubt in my mind that Fi Duong has been imbibing the wine of violence for a long time. It’s a very good thing that law enforcement uncovered this particular plan for evil in time.

Ben Lawrence Basile

The COVID Pandemic and the early lockdowns which were put in place to mitigate its spread led to so many changes in the ways we go about our lives. Zoom meetings and all forms of virtual get-togethers became common, for example.

The changes most certainly have affected the ways the Church goes about its business. Especially when it comes to “gathering” for worship.

It would be hard to overstate how big and thorough-going these changes are and will be for how the Church operates. This article from Religion News Service treats shines a light on this issue and it’s well-worth the next few minutes of your day.

Changes come. We adapt. The Church adapts.

We move forward, hopefully, into our future.

Ben Lawrence Basile

Month: July 2021

The bomb-making Bible Study

The Pandemic and Big Changes