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TODAY’S WORD…

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Jesus said,

“I assure you that people can be forgiven all their sins

and all the evil things they may say.

But whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven,

because he has committed an eternal sin.”

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– Mark 3:28-29 (GNT)

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REFLECTION…

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Imagine a sick person who has lost confidence in a good doctor,

rejects him as if he was some kind of enemy

and regards as poison the medicine that can save his life,

and then seeks the magical potions of some charlatan or witch-doctor instead.

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Take “new age” practices as an example –

Christians who dabble or experiment with “new age” practices and beliefs,

are very much risking to sin against the Holy Spirit.

“New age” philosophies attribute nothing to the Living God,

reject Jesus’ divine nature and His Truth,

and hijack the Spirit’s Gifts

to replace them with “forces” or “energies” whose sources are dangerously unspecified.

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Invariably, “new age” philosophies, and their practitioners and believers

claim that these mysterious forces and energies can be harnessed,

so as to unlimitedly augment the human potential

and we are brought to believe that we need not rely so much on God anymore!

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When we accept this

we are behaving like Adam and Eve who believed the serpent when he told them

that when they ate from the fruit from the tree of the knowledge

they would become like God.

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We must ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen our faith

and protect us from ever believing

that we, or anybody else, can do it as well as, or better, then Him.

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QUOTE…

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“To attribute to the spirit of evil, to Beelzebul, or to magic

that which is so manifestly the work of the Spirit of God

meant to stubbornly close one’s eyes to the truth,

to oppose oneself to God Himself,

and therefore to deprive oneself of the possibility of forgiveness.”

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– Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

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PRAYER…

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Holy Spirit, strengthen my faith and shield me against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

Grant me the gift of discernment so that I will not be misled and steered away from You.

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