Reflections

I am feeling highly stressed due to being in a psychiatric hospital but have been meaning to write an article about ‘abuse culture’ for some time and this is my meagre and fleeting attempt.

Abusive tendencies are often passed down from parents to children and then to grandchildren. Our trauma sits in us as certain egotistical personality or character traits. Partial healing is possible through love, attention, and compassion, but complete healing can only be achieved by understanding the Gospel and being saved.

I have found that God often uses loving influence and the speaking of truth to break down egos and prepare people to receive the Gospel. Recently, I have been saying words like ‘crime’, ‘punishment’, ‘guilt’, ‘sin’, ‘repentance’, ‘faith’ in my surroundings and have found this to be an effective evangelistic method of making people aware of their sin and leading them into a state where they are ready to receive Jesus.

Interestingly, people who may have been baptised as infants haven’t spoken the all-important words ‘Jesus is Lord’ and don’t necessarily believe this in their hearts. This is a grave danger of infant baptism — it can lead people into the illusion that they are Christians when they are not. To be a Christian you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. It’s possible for someone to attend church for decades and not meet these requirements of the faith.

I am looking forward to getting out of hospital and hopefully contributing to the life of the Catholic Church in a way that lead more people to salvation, though I do not know the plans God has for me. I’m just aware that when I attended a charismatic Catholic Church service in Chelmsford many years ago, there was a prophetic word spoken that I would be involved with the development of the Catholic Church.

God bless

Steven x