This write-up is addressed to you who loves God, though, not a Christian out of no fault of yours. It is also addressed to you if you are a Christian that loves Jesus Christ and finally, it is addressed to you Catholic Christian who loves Jesus Christ and his holy Mother Mary.
I have resisted undertaking the task of writing this article with the excuse that my thoughts on this issue are already well known. I had convinced myself that it would amount to over flogging the dead horse to write this piece since I had already contributed quite a lot on the issue in my various WhatsApp groups. I particularly took solace in the fact that I had not only written about it but have also prayed and offered mortifications about it. For e.g. just a few days ago, I completed a nine days Rosary Novena, which consisted in the recitation of the four Mysteries of the Rosary on my knees at a stretch, daily for nine consecutive days and in fact even more in the course of the day. Needless to talk of the mortifications offered, all dedicated to asking heaven to intervene in the American elections through the intercession of Our Lady, Holy Mary Mother of God.
It is however interesting to note that the more I tried to restrain myself from further contribution to this issue, the more I experienced the intimations of Our Lord in prayer urging me on to go ahead and put my thoughts down on paper on the American Elections, at least, for the purposes of enlightening those who may not have been sufficiently exposed to the truth but who have the good will to do what God wants. I have also undertaken to put my thoughts down on paper for the sake of posterity, so that it may be known that not all kept silent in the face of the unmitigated disaster threatening the world which the outcome the American election represents should victory fall into the wrong hands.
The question may however be asked, why should I a Nigerian be concerned about American Elections? The answer is very simple and arose from the concern I have for the widespread unawareness and ignorance of the weighty issues involved and the global impact of whoever becomes the American President and how we can influence it, with our prayers and sacrifices. It is precisely the lack of adequate information even among the elites that led a good friend of mine who is so generous and so Catholic that he is single handedly building a Church worth millions of Naira for his local community to be supportive of Biden until he read my expose on the adverse global implications of a Biden Presidency. In the face of undeniable evidence of the harm which Biden Presidency portends, he replied, “Ok let the will of God be done too. Trump can win. Biden can win.
Whoever wins let’s take it that way. No further comments on that. I don’t have voting right in the said election. Dr Felix enjoy your evening”. The issue is however not as simple as my friend makes it appear, more so when we consider that he is still speaking from the position of a partial knowledge beclouded by the misinformation and ethnic/racial prejudices being levelled against President Trump by the media. There are far more serious and life-threatening moral issues involved that have far reaching global consequences. It is an issue that borders on the life and death of innocent children created in the image and likeness of God and as such has an inalienable right to existence conferred by God who created us from nothing. It also borders on obedience to the injunction of Our Father God to love our neighbour as ourselves and since the first right without which no other right can exist, is the right to life, it follows that the greatest act of Charity would consist in defending the life of the defenceless from conception to death.
Why should the winner of the election in America matter to me to such a degree that I had to pray that much and spend so much time writing about it? Because it borders on the termination of the life of an innocent child in the womb in America with the certainty of its spread as a matter of American foreign policy if a certain candidate wins the election. It borders on the global spread of gay marriage as a matter of American foreign policy if a certain candidate wins. It borders on the coercion of Christians all over the world especially in the developing countries to embrace gay marriage and legalisation of abortion as a component of American foreign policy. It borders on the world-wide inducement of religious bodies through the enactment of draconian laws to force them to pay for abortions and abortifacients for workers in their employment.
As a Catholic Christian, I have always believed in the inviolability of human life from conception to death since man is not the creator of life but God. Like all Catholics too, I have always believed that all faithful members of the Church are by virtue of the fact of their being baptized into the Church automatically called upon to defend the sanctity of life from conception to death. For me therefore, being a Pro-life activist for a Catholic is not a matter of choice but a duty of justice imposed by charity and for which we are accountable to God. The degree of involvement may however vary from one individual to another, being determined largely by the degree of doctrinal formation to which one is exposed and by personal circumstances.
It was therefore easy for me in my 4th year in the medical school to see through the antics and diabolical manoeuvres of anti-life organisations that were trying to get the medical students to distribute abortifacients and contraceptive materials to rural women and girls during our rural community health outreach programs. I was then the President of the University of Nigeria Medical Students Association and they tried to induce me with money and other enticement in order to do their bidding of distributing these materials to the women in our target communities. They also tried to get us to distribute not only abortifacients but also public health education materials campaigning against large families. Of course, I rejected such offers and went even further to educate those involved in such anti-life activities, usually promoted and sponsored by foreign governments and organisations.
If there were Catholics involved in such anti-life activities, I usually advised them to stay away from receiving Our Lord in Communion as long as they insist on promoting such anti-life activities as it goes against the teaching of the Church. In the end my efforts did bear fruit as some of them, especially nurses who were being used as agents to distribute these abortifacients, withdrew from such practices. It was the sinister motives of these anti-life organisations that were being funded by USAID, UNFPA and some foreign governments and organisations then, before President Trump came into office to clean up the mess, that led me to form an Association of Students for Life on campus dedicated to pro life issues, while I was still a student in the University. I have remained committed to the propagation of the gospel of life since I left the University because as I said earlier protection of life from conception to death must be of concern to anyone who calls himself a Christian since abortion, micro abortion through the use of abortifacients, euthanasia, artificial contraception, gay marriage etc. are all grave sins against God which renders the sufferings for us by Jesus Christ on the cross nullity and of no consequence. I wish to start by recounting partly the events of the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the three shepherd children at Fatima.
This serves to illustrate the concern we as Christians should have for the offences committed against our God both in Nigeria and anywhere in the world. Our indifference and lack of concern for offences against God anywhere in the world is simply a manifestation of little love of God in us and this is particularly painful to Our Lord because it is we who are fortunate enough to know him that should make the effort to get others to know and love him. We should also manifest our love for him by making atonement and reparations for the offences committed against him, instead of remaining aloof on the grounds that we are not Americans and therefore should not concern ourselves with their affairs even when Christ is being openly persecuted by unapologetic support for abortion by a candidate in the Presidential election. The angel of peace appeared to the three children, Lucia, Jacintha and Francisco, a total of three times, before the apparition of Holy Mary, Mother of God, on the 13th of May 1917.
In his last apparition, the angel found the children playing away while their sheep grazed in the field and he had instructed them in his two previous visits to pray very much. He asked them in a tone of urgency, “what are you doing? Pray, pray a great deal. The hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy for you. Offer unceasingly to the Highest prayer and sacrifices. “But how are we to make sacrifices?” It was Lucia who proffered the question. “Offer up everything within your power as a sacrifice to the Lord in reparation for the sins by which he is so much offended and of supplication for the conversion of sinners. Thus, bring down peace upon your country. I am the guardian angel of Portugal. More than all else, accept and bear with resignation the sufferings that God may send you.”
Three times in all the Angel visited the children, the third time holding aloft a chalice with a host suspended above it. From the host drops of blood fell into the chalice cup, and, leaving both suspended in mid-air, he prostrated himself upon the ground and three times repeated this prayer of reparation: “Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, I adore You profoundly and I offer You the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which he himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of You the conversion of poor sinners.” The Angel then arose, gave the host to Lucy and the content of the chalice to Francisco and Jacintha saying: “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly out-raged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God”.
The apparitions of the angel were followed by that of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who urged them to pray the Rosary for the conversion of sinners. What lessons can we draw from these revelations from heaven with regards to the American Elections? 1. God is greatly offended by our sins; therefore, we should seek the help of God to avoid personal sins and give us the courage to call evil by its name so that the perpetrators will see their error and desist from further offence against God. One way to do this is to withhold our support for any politician who insists on brazenly going against the law of God.
Support for such a candidate will make us accomplice in evil. 2. Sins committed anywhere in the world for e.g. abortions and legislations in favour of abortions and gay marriages, committed against God anywhere in the world, should be of concern to us and we must do everything within our power, including prayer and mortifications to rectify the anomaly. We also have a duty to make it a primary issue in an election and as a matter of duty accountable to God vote against any candidate that manifests ideas contrary to the Church’s teaching on these issues. 3. In one of the apparitions of Our Lady, the children were shown a vision of hell where the souls of the damned are suffering and She urged them to pray for the conversion of sinners. We also have a duty to pray so that those who wish to spread errors of abortion etc may not get the political power to enable them to do so. We also pray for their conversion.
4. Finally we have to pray for the entire world, so that we all may come to true knowledge of God and strive to do his will in our different occupations in life.
It is therefore, 1. Love for Jesus Christ, the desire to make him loved with deeds, see him glorified and in obedience to his imperative command to make him known that compels me to comment on the implications of the American Elections to the reign of the kingdom of God on earth; keeping in mind His saying that he who confesses me before men, I will confess before my Father in heaven. 2. To affirm in no uncertain terms the truth regarding the positions of the candidates in the American Presidential election as it relates to our common destiny and the will of God for the glory of God – especially in the presence of the deafening silence of the authorities and shepherds of souls.
3. The devastating global effect of the victory of the candidate who supports and promotes anti-life policies especially in Nigeria where poverty is biting hard and has forced men and women to compromise their consciences and believe in God. This is in comparison to the good effect of the victory of the candidate that promotes religious freedom and Pro-life activities all over the world. 4. Finally, to save my own soul because an account has to be demanded of me when I appear before the judgements throne of God.
In order to appreciate the dangers posed by the victory of a candidate that supports abortion and its global spread to less developed countries, it will be good to outline the views of Nigerian abortion lobbyists who were very active during the Obama-Biden era, as follows: 1.Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy (CAUP) is a pro-abortion group inspired and funded by the MacArthur foundation – a global pro-abortion Non-Governmental Organisation based in the US. It was awarded $920,000 between 1994 and 2006 by foreign organisations for the promotion of abortion activities and legislation in favour of abortion in Nigeria. Under the umbrella of Coalition Against Unwanted Pregnancy, (organised by CAUP and funded by pro-abortion foreign organisations and governments) an alliance of pro-abortion health professionals, journalists, lawyers and women rights activists, presented a draft law that would legalise abortion in Nigeria to the National Assembly in 2009 during the Obama-Biden presidency.
This regime also saw to the proliferation of anti-life and pro-abortion NGO’s in Nigeria but most have since died out since the exit of the duo of Obama-Biden, which dried up the source of funds and in its place is the thriving of pro-life, pro-family and population friendly groups promoting healthy activities for the good and development of Nigeria. It is interesting to note that USAID which used to be an instrument for the promotion of anti-life and pro-abortion activities during the Obama-Biden era has since become an instrument for the advancement of the good since the regime of Trump. For example, in its website in 2019 it says, “USAID offers programs in protecting life and global Health Assistance and Statutory Abortion Restrictions”. It further said “there are several legislative and policy restrictions relating to abortions – USAID takes these restrictions very seriously and works with missions and partners to ensure compliance in their programs”. In May 14, 2017, in honour of National Women’s Health week, Trump recognised the importance of providing women access to the best evidence-based health information and care. The following day he announced the expansion of the global gag rule, previously called the Mexico City Policy.
This policy (established in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, rescinded by President Bill Clinton in 1993, re-established by President George W. Bush in 2001, rescinded by President Barack Obama in 2009, and now reinstated and expanded by Trump) requires that any overseas organisation that receives US aid cannot even discuss abortion, even if they use foreign funds to do so. In 2019, the US rejected part of a UN resolution designed to help women, because it included a statement that women should be given the option of a safe abortion. The US representative Jason Mack told the UN Human Rights Council that President Donald Trump’s administration “does not recognise abortion as a method of family planning nor do we support abortion in our reproductive health assistance”.
Bishop Alfred Rotich, head of the Kenyan conference of Catholic Bishops at that time, commenting on the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development taking place in Kenya said “we find such a conference not good for us and it has a destroying agenda for life. There will be about 10,000 people here and we know what they are for, they are not pro-life but they are 10,000 abortionists. They are practitioners of what is against life. Their coming here is to endorse wrong policies”
Biden’s Anti-life and Pro-abortion activities
1. Shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Little Sisters of the poor in Little Sisters V. Pennsylvania on July 8, Biden (a Catholic) said he was “disappointed by the decision and promised to reinstate Obama-era policies requiring the Sisters to provide birth control, sterilisation, and abortifacients drugs to employees in violation of their religious beliefs and consciences.
2. Shortly after his election as vice president, the then Bishop of his home town of Scranton, PA, rebuked Biden for his views on Abortion thus, “I will not tolerate any politician who claims to be faithful Catholic who is not genuinely Pro-life. No Catholic politician who supports the culture of death should approach holy communion. I will be truly vigilant on this point”.
3. In October 2019, Biden was refused communion at a Catholic Church in South Carolina. The Priest denied Biden communion in accord with a 2004 diocesan policy that prohibits politicians who have been supportive of legal protection for abortion from receiving the Eucharist.
4. At the time Biden was denied communion, his website stated that one of his priorities as president would be to “work to codify Roe V. Wade into federal law” and that “his Justice Department will do everything in its power to stop the rash of state laws that so blatantly violate the constitutional right to an abortion”, including law requiring waiting periods, Ultrasound and parental notifications of a minor before abortion.
5. His website also states “Vice President Biden supports repealing of the Hyde Amendment”, as explained below.
6. He also pledged to restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood that had this to say about him “He has spoken out for LGBTQ+ rights. Biden has committed to champion access to sexual and reproductive rights- including access to abortion. When he left Senate, Vice President Joe Biden had a 100% voting record from Planned Parenthood Action Fund”
7. Obergefell (a woman involved in a gay marriage to another) who was the plaintiff in the historic 2015 case that made gay marriage legal and Judith Kassen-Windsor, the gay marriage “widow” of the plaintiff whose case in 2013 rendered the Defence Against Marriage Act illegal had this to say about Biden. “We won that fight for the freedom to marry because of an ally in the White House, Joe Biden”, calling Biden, the LGBTQ Community’s “greatest ally”.
8. In an NBC town hall, Biden addressed the possibility of Judge Amy Coney Barrett overturning Roe V. Wade if she is confirmed as a supreme court Justice. “Number one, we do not know what she will do, although, the expectation is that she may very well move to overrule Roe. And the only thing, the only responsible response to that would be to pass legislation making Roe the law of the land. That’s what I will do”.
9. Since 1977, Biden has always supported Hyde Amendments which forbids the use of federal funds to fund abortion. However, in June 2019, during his campaign for nomination as the democratic presidential candidate, he announced his change of mind and dropped his support for the Hyde Amendment. In order words, he changed his mind from a long-held opinion consistent with his faith as a Catholic to another diametrically opposed to it, which guarantees the use of federal money to fund abortion.
In the light of the above abominable actions of candidate Biden, I do not have any doubt in my mind that anyone who knowing these facts about this man, chooses to ignore them and still goes ahead to vote for him or put his support behind him in any way whatsoever, will definitely have much to answer before God on the last day.
We are all witnesses to the just concluded confirmation hearing for Amy C. Barrett appointed to the supreme court by Trump. He also appointed Bret Cavanaugh a knight of the Catholic Church to the supreme court, bringing to a total number of three, pro life judges appointed by President Trump to the American Supreme Court. He also appointed over 250 pro life judges to the American Courts, yet, some people claim that he is narcissistic. He is pioneering global religious freedom with a department set up in the office of the Secretary of State dedicated to this.
The mandate of the department is to secure religious freedom for everyone, anywhere in the world (including China and the Arab world) to be free to worship God as he/she chooses without molestation or coercion, yet he is said to be narcissistic by his critics. While my purpose is not to dispute the label anyone might want to put on him, it may be interesting to consider alongside his great work on the global spread of religious freedom and pro-life activities, the main thrust of this write-up, the good he has done so far, especially, to the black Americans among whose ratings for Trump has gone up to more than fourth percent and for whom he has promised to do more if re-elected.
Consider also the monumental damage Biden Presidency will inflict on the world: the global spread of abortion to less developed countries through the UN, WHO and USAID as was the case during Obama-Biden regime; the global spread of lobbyists for the enactment of legalisation in favour of abortion as we witnessed in Nigeria during the regime of Obama-Biden; the global spread of gay rights and many other immoral and Godless policies. As I wrote to a friend who laid a number of accusations against Trump, which included that of his being a white supremacist, which has since been debunked and that of Trump as a black hater which has also been largely disproved mainly by his works for the Black Americans that have seen their standard of life improve far more than it has ever been in recent times. He has also recently set up a Presidential Commission made up of prominent Black Americans with the mandate to study and make recommendations on how best to advance the good course of the black Americans.
In addition to pursuing the ideal of religious freedom all over the world, the Trump’s administration is also promoting worldwide advancement of women and family health. In a new document, Geneva Consensus Declaration on promoting women’s health and strengthening the family, a group of about 32 countries, representing over 1.6 billion people and every region, signed the document affirming their support for healthy and wholesome development of women and family as follows: “The governments of the Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Uganda and the United States cosponsored a virtual October 22, 2020 gathering in Washington, D.C. for a multinational ceremonial signing of the Geneva Consensus Declaration (so-called because it was intended to occur in Geneva before the live meeting of the World Health Assembly was postponed due to COVID-19).
This Declaration further strengthens the coalition to achieve these four pillars: (1) better health for women, (2) the preservation of human life, (3) strengthening of family as the foundational unit of society, and (4) protecting every nation’s national sovereignty in global politics. For example, it is the sovereign right of every nation to make their own laws in regard to abortion, absent external pressure.
We believe that finding genuine solutions to health concerns should be a priority uniting Member States. This Declaration charts a positive way forward for accelerating progress on achieving this end”.
I write to you also who are reading this article, consider these things calmly in your prayer. I’m sure Our Lord will illuminate your mind sufficiently enough to understand the truth and give you the grace to join me in this effort to make His kingdom reign (Regnare Christi Volumus). It may interest you to know that since I lack both the energy, the will and the intellectual capacity to carry out God’s will with regards to writing this article, I entrusted it into the hands of the Apostle St John my patron saint, St. Josemaria Escriva, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, St. Bridget, St. John Maria Vianney, and St. John Paul II – by saying three prayer cards to each Saint daily on my knees and I intend to continue until the election is over by November 3rd. Into the hands of holy Mary, Mother of God and queen of the Apostles and the Saints, I entrust the victory of Trump. God bless you. I sign out, 28 October, Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles. MARANATHA!
Asogwa Felix
Dr. Asogwa Felix, a medical practitioner, lives in Victoria Island Lagos. 08033806434.
