Jeremiah 49:30. "Flee, wander far away, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor! says the Lord. For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you, and formed a purpose against you." Through Jeremiah, God is warning various cities and areas of Judah about the coming threat of Nebuchadrezzar and telling them to get out, their land will be made desolate. He is trying to get His people away before the destruction comes.

One thing we often forget, to our peril, is that we have enemies in this world, often people we do not even realize are enemies. We have no way of knowing what evil is being plotted against us, maybe not personally (although sometimes, yes) but against our nation, family, or, most assuredly, our faith. The devil is working constantly, as hard as he can, to turn hearts to him and against God, the Church, and our fellow man. He is sneaky and wily - we often do not figure out he is working on us, or sending our neighbors against us or our faith, until it is too late. An example happened just this past week at St. Patrick's Cathedral when a funeral scheduled under false pretenses turned into, in large part, a mockery of God. The administration and priests of the cathedral were taken by surprise because they have forgotten how evil works!

This is one reason why reading the Bible is so important; when we do, we see how the devil works, and also how God tries to warn us through the signs of our times, and sometimes even prophets. Without the backdrop of Biblical stories and the protection of the teachings of our faith, we can easily be convinced that "everything is fine," and "everybody's good" - that "love your neighbor" means forgetting that he is capable of great evil, as are you.

One major victory of the devil since Jesus' time has been to twist Jesus' teachings just enough to lure many Christians into severe peril. Satan has managed to convince much of the Christian world that "love is love" - that Jesus' real teaching was to excuse, and never call out, any and all kinds of sinful behavior in the name of some watered down concept of love (actual love is willing the good of the other - and the greatest good for the other is his or her eternal salvation, that is why “admonish the sinner” is a spiritual work of mercy). This redefiniton of love has led many, including many in the Church, to a state of banal semi-religion, in which they expect that everyone else has the same numbed, lukewarm hearts that they do - hearts that desire neither great good nor are willing to believe there is great evil. Meanwhile, in stouter hearts, the devil tries to plant seeds of pride and sin, creating great enemies who will take the likes of the lukewarm completely by surprise. That is what is happening to Hazor and the cities of Judah when Jeremiah is giving this warning. At this point, because they were not willing to awaken from their stupor, there is immense evil going on in Judah, evil the inhabitants don't even see, or are not willing to acknowledge. God had tried warning them again and again to repent, but now time has run out, and all that God can do for them is tell them to get out, Nebuchadnezzar is coming.

Do we still have time to wake up from our stupor? I don't know, but I do know that the Church is the one institution that will survive until the end of time, so we must have faith that God will see her through this. And it is never too late to cast off being lukewarm, learning to see and acknowledge evil for what it is - a direct affront to God. Then we can become stout-hearted warriors in God's service, combating the evil that we see all around us with actual love.