PATRIARCH The Incredible True Story of John Adams

INTRODUCTION
How do you even begin to tell this true life story of Gods grace , a story so amazing that it needs no embelishment on my part. Why this story has been hidden for nearly two centuries i do not know, but I am going to try my best in these pages to relate it as it happened and to restore the Christian heart of the tale that other authors have either chosen to ignore, prefering to concentrate on the solatious or by design and motive, have removed entirely.
This is a Christian story and a true story. It is the witness of the restoritive , healing and resurecting powers of grace on both a man and a situation so seemingly broken by sin and beyond repair. This story has parralles in my own life and that i suppose is why it speaks to me so deeply and that is why I feel so drawn to blow the dust off and share it with you today. The decent into barbarism, the immorality, the alcoholism the darkness and then the new dawn.
Rather then confuse the reader with the intertwinnig of two stories simultaniously it might be as well to leave John Adams tale to tell it'self and to place mine in the shadow of his.
The sources for the details of what happened on the Island of Pitcairn are many, but I have decided to let one of the earliest be the one that most is drawn from. That work is ' Pitcairn; The Island, the People and the Pastor. Published in 1853. I shall include also the remarks of some of the other earliest visitors who stumbled upon this restored garden of Eden.
For the many readers who may not be associated with the ' Mutiny on the Bounty', it will be necessary to aquaint them with the act of disobedience that catapulted the players in this drama through the series of events that this book purposes to retell. I felt that the nature of some of the more disturbing and violent developments that took place on the Island of Pitcairn , and to which pevious books on the same subect have overfocussed upon should perhaps be left more to the readers imagination rather than a gory overworking on my part. It is the redeeming from the darkness to the light that should interest us far more than peering into the darkness it'self.
CHAPTER ONE : TWIGHLIGHT
'In the year 1787, in the reign of King George the third, his majesty's ship , Bounty, was fitted out by the English government , for the purpose of proceeding to the South Sea Islands for plants of the bread-fruit tree, which afforded to the inhabitants of those islands and of Otaheite [Tahiti] especially, the greater part of their food.
Lieutenant William Bligh, to whom the command of the vessel had been given, was then about thirty-three years of age.
The ship Bounty , of 215 tons burden , left Spithead on the 23rd of December, 1787, carrying forty-six persons, including the commander, and a botanist, and gardener
During the voyage Bligh lost an able seaman, James Valentine. This man's case appears to have been cruelly mismanaged by the surgeon who was an indolent and intemperate man. Valentine had been one of the most robust people on board, but for some slight indisposition, was bled in the arm . Some time afterwards , the arm became painful and inflamed. The inflamation increased; a hollow cough and extreme difficulty of breathing came on, and the poor fellows death soon put a end to his suffering.
The original instructions from the admiralty , dated November the 20th, 1787, were he should proceed round Cape Horn .Owing however to the advanced season of the year and the delay caused by contrary winds , he had applied for and recieved, discretional orders to go round the Cape of Good Hope to Otaheite. Having tried in vain in a tempestuous ocean to go by Cape Horn he took his course towards the island of Tristan d'Acunha and at last made a passage round the Cape of Good Hope. Having visited Cape Town and afterwards Van Diemens Land, and passed near New Zealand, the ship at length arrived at Otaheite, anchoring in Matavai Bay at 10 in the forenoon of the 26th of October 1788.'
After a voyage of 27,086 miles, and taking ten months, the Bounty had reached her destination.
It seems that contrary to popular belief, Captain Bligh was far from being the harsh authoritarian character that histoically many believe him to be. His crew were all volunteers, not a man was press ganged into service. He broke down the ' watches' into three rather than the cutomary two. This gave the crew much more time for either sleep or for general relaxation than was usually the case on board most ships of the time. Bligh even went as far as to procure a ships fiddler to provide jigging time for the crew to excersice by during the times of ships innactivity. This being often the case when sailing the trade winds. Along with the provision of saurcraut and solid vegetable soup to prevent scurvey, it seems that the crews welfare was as good if not substantially better than many Captains of the period. He was as far as the British navy is concerened arguably the least diciplinarian Captain of his time, even the 'humanitarian' Captain cook had more need to use the Cat of nine tails than Bligh.
Tahiti was an island that would have held immense promise for the sea weary sailor, not only in the form of provisions of which the Island always produced in quantity, but also for it's inhabitants culture of extreme sexual promiscuity. This promiscuity must have become near legendary, and stories of immodesty and immorality would have swept like wildfire along the taverns and docklands of western Europe. Sad to say the reports of the chronic degree of sexual licence ,unlike the exageratiion of schoolboy whisperings, would for the most part been more than accurate. The sailors hearts must have been beating fast as land came in sight, thier eyes must have been straining to catch the fine details of the little shapes on the beach as the ship grew closer to land . and when finally the canoes that carried the natives pulled up at the sides of the ships hull their wildest fantasies must have been realised.
The sailors of the period must have each been of a similar type, for the most part hard drinking, hard working and hard swearing. They came from a cold wet climate with cramped and filthy living conditions and their lives for the most part would have been governed and enforced by the rule of the law of the land. Just imagine the contrast thousands of miles away from home, on a paradise Island of white sand and warm blue sea, surrounded by beautiful and near naked inhabitants whose only rule governing permissable sexual behavior was ones imagination. For the carnal man of the past and for the carnal man of today this combination of unlimited food, of sun, sea, and sexual excess must have seemed like a paradise beyond their wildest imagination. Indeed this is the ultimate goal of the flesh, a goal that for the flesh seems like super life, but for the spirit this life brings with it only death and corruption.
The Tahitian culture at that time was one that cannot fittingly be described on these pages, as the word pictures that the descriptions would conjure would at the minimum be a burden...perhaps even a stumbling block.
Briefly, this was a society that practised what would rightly be considered deviant human behavior, issues of age of consent , infantside was considered family planning , the status and the treatment of women was so reprehensible that a woman who simply ate in the company of a man could be killed for doing so.
Today as Christs laws are peeled back ever more each day, man encounters the dilema's that primitive cultures faced and more and more are coming to the same conclusions as the solutions for those dilemas, No wonder that pressures from below daily eats away the last residual fat of Christian morality. Without the fixed polarites of absolute good and evil , man has no longer any governing principles with which to navigate and therefore take direction from when trying to decide a course of action on any proposed moral choice. The theory goes that the more liberty that is extended the greater the freedom that man will experience. That freedom however elavates mortal sin to the status of lifestyle choice. The only difference between a primitive pagan society and a civilised pagan society will be the efficiency and the scale of it's implementation and enforcement of those choices under the banner of human rights.
The first thing Bligh did upon arriving on the island was to establish a station on shore for the gathering and the processing of the breadfruit trees. The procurement of which should have taken a fortnight but for a variety of reasons the Bounty remained anchored off shore for twenty-three weeks. Bligh has been criticised for the delay especially for the non-productive inactivity of his crew for such a long period amid such a variet of temptations. It seems that he allowed them almost total autonomy in their actions while away from work. The forbidden fruit of the garden was forbidden no more and they certainly took no encouragement in availing themselves of the pleasures that were so readily available. Many became speedily enculturated by this inebriating climate and 'went native' as it were, spending most of the time with their indiginous new friends and concubines, in having themselves extensively tatooed in the Tahitian style and a few including Fletcher Christian established a special relationship with just the one woman, who for all intents and purposes became his 'wife'.
So thoughraly intoxicating had life on 'pleasure Island ' become that three of the crew took a ships boat and several firearms and attempted to go into hiding on a neighbouring Island untill after the Bounty had left to return to England. These men were quickly recaptured with the help of the local chiefs. Rather than have them executed for desertion, which was the punishment for such a crime , Bligh had them flogged, twenty three lashes to be repeated again in three weeks . It seems a harsh punishment , but when one considers that hanging was the usual penalty for that degree of misdemenour, it seems again to indicate a degree softness on Blighs part. The easy recapture of the deserters would have given much food for thought for those members of the crew who felt like them that life on Thahiti was one far more appealing then one spent in penury under the grey skies of the home counties.
Captain Bligh was later to catalogue his thoughts in the following manner :' The Women at Ohaheite are handsome, mild and chearful in their manners and conversation, possessed of a great sensibility, and have sufficient delicacy to make them admired and beloved. The chiefs were so much attatched to our people , that they rather encouraged their stay among them than otherwise, and even made promises of large possessions. Under these, and many other attendant circumstances, equally desireable, it now perhaps not so much to be wondered at, though scarcely possible to have been foreseen, that a set of sailors, most of them void of connections, should be led away: especially when, in addition to such powerful inducements, they imagined it in their power to fix themselves in the midst of plenty, on the finest Island in the world, where they need not labour, and where the allurents of dissipation are beyond anything that can be concieved. The utmost , however, that any commander could have supposed to have happened is, that some of the people would have attempted to desert. But if it should be asserted, that a commander is to gaurd against an act of mutiny and piracy in his ship, more than by common rules of service, it is as much to say that he must sleep locked up, and when awake , be girded with pistols,'
Blighs down grading on the standard punishment for those deserters, far from being seen as an alturistic act of benevolence on his part, would be seen by them as a sign of weakness, and that was the sign that they were waiting for.
Maybe like the father of a group of unruly teenage sons who have been off the leash for too long , Bligh felt torn between his own weakness and fear of direct confrontation, and the necessity to restore order to a situation that through his own negligence threatened to go beyond his control. In the end he chose the route less likely to explode into all out rebellion, while giving the appearence[ he hoped] that he still maintained mastery .
To quote Rev Thomas ' In their original desertion and robbery, they had been guilty of an atrocious crime; and their case affords one, among many of the dangers of passing over the first outbreak of a rebellious spirit. Like a fire, if not put out at once, it will be sure to spread.'
Repeated unchecked and unchallenged acts of disobedience, no matter how seemingly trivial brings the rebel ever closer to the seat of power. Until the day when the child sits enthroned and the overthrown parent squats sukily on it's steps. Imagine if you will, this scenario.
If the parent remains firm and intransible in the face of a child determined to get it's own way , eventually the child will acquiese , especially if physical punishment is either threatened or used. Infact it is imperitive that short of appearing a hypocrite, a parent be seen to win in each and every exchange between the power of his will and the developing will of the child.
Today in so many cases the tables are turned and it is the parent who is screaming and shouting, threatening, crying or begging and it is the child who realises that if he remains firm in the face of his parents [ usually but not exclusively Mum] tantrums he will emerge the victor. and every victory that the child secures, entrenches this role reversal. And with it comes a childs increasing contempt for the parent he desperatly wants to be stronger than himself. If we reflect awhile , it becomes more than apparant that Fathers are captains, their wives are first mates, their first born becomes second mate and the rest of their children are the crew. Their family as a whole could be considered the vessel, the circumstances they place themselves in become the seas they sail upon. Their mission, unlike Blighs bread fruit trees, is heaven, together. The people they meet in the sea's of circumstance are like populated Islands. It behoves the Captain to discern , sometimes even from afar as to whether each and every one of these Islands is going to assist them in reaching that final destination. Friends, family, recreation, tv, internet etc etc, all of these will have an impact. Unlike Bligh , a wise captain will use 'vision'. If storms threaten, no matter how much the Island seems to offer, he must weigh anchor, and take to the seas again. It is the spirit of compromise that will be his greatest enemy. compromise will offer so much, and seem to ask for so little in exchange , that his crew will, like rebellious israel moaning in the wilderness, attempt to influence his course of action. My ship , even as I type these passages, is going through rough seas at the moment. We are in a vast ocean, we have no assistance, in the form of friends or family. It is vital that the rest of the crew remain positive, cheerful and industrious. I must try and keep the spirit of consolation that God supplies me with, because if I lose that it will affect everyone onboard. I know it seems as if we are in dead water, with barely a breath to keep us moving, and yet it is what happens on board our ship during the trials of life that will determine far more than what is happening in the world outside , our final resting place.
With over one thousand bread-fruit plants safely aboard her, the Bounty left Tahiti on April 4th bound for the West Indies. During the period of nearly six months that the ship would have been out of regular usage the crew would have grown rusty and out of practice , not to say out of interest. Bligh seems to have attempted to restore this lack of efficiency in his crew , not by a combination of firmness and fairness, but rather through violent language and dire threats, for him they were' scoundrals, rascals, hell hounds , beasts and infamous wretches'.
Fletcher christian particularly came under Blighs invective, possibly because he was showing signs of depression for having left his beautiful ' wife', Mauatua behind and that depression would have been viewed as insolence on the part of the increasingly irate Bligh. The prospect of months of this continued harrasment, especially in front of the rest of the crew must have been a factor in Christians plan to go overboard on a homemade raft and make his way back to his loved one. However before he could put this hastily made idea into action, two senior members of the crew, Edward Young and George stewart somehow got wind it and managed to conivnce him that the risks of drowning, sharks and death by hostile natives was far to much of a gamble. Perhaps it was at this moment that very real idea of mutiny took shape.
CHAPTER TWO ; THE FALL
The night of the 27th of April, 1789, was remarked for it's beauty, even in the tropical regions, all nature being calm and lovely around; but it was the eve of the day of consternation and terror. On that night Christian had the watch for two hours. He had also the next morningswatch, which was from 4 to 8. Fullof desperate intentions, he began to sound Mathew Quintal and some others, and soon gained the greater part of the men. Having rapidly arranged their plans, they got at the arms, under pretence of requiring a gun to shoot a shark which was astern of the ship.
Latter on , Bligh would share his surprise at the events in the following words.
'The secrecy of this mutiny is beyond all conception. Thirteen of the party who were with me , had always lived forward among the people [ mutineers]; yet they neither they , nor the mess mate-mates of Christian, stewart , Haywood, and young, had ever observed any circumstance to give them suspicion of what was going on. With such close-planned acts of villany, and my mind free from any suspicion, it is not wonderful that I have been got the better of. Perhaps, If I had had marines, a centinel at my cabin door might have prevented it, for I slept with the door always open, that the officer of the watch might have access to me on all occassions. the possibility of such a conspiracy was ever the farthest from my thoughts . Had their mutiny bben occasioned by any grievences, either real or imaginary, I must have discovered symptoms of their discontent, which would gave put me on my gaurd: but the case was far otherwise. Christian, in particular, I was on the most friendly terms with; that very day he was engaged to have dined with me, on the pretence of being unwell; for which I felt concerned, having no suspicions of his integrity or honour.
This written testimony of Bligh's seems to fly in the face of the previous statement of Blighs personal invective towards Fetcher Christian His understanding of his relationship with Christian is so at odds that they would appear at first hand to contradict each other. The truth perhaps is that both Bligh and Christian authentially believed their respective positions to be the correct ones. The truth remains the truth, but their individual experience of that truth would be as different as their personalities and situations. Bligh could be forgiven for thinking that his slight added emphasis on forcing the pase, in pursuit of renewed efficiency to counteract the out of practise crews post holiday blues, was relatively minor, possibly unnoticeable.Something that his friend of many voyages could more than have taken in his stride. That perhaps more than anything shows that the weakness in Blighs character was not in over dicipline but in under empathising. What I mean by that is that he failed completely in understanding both the natures of his charges[ crew] in the face of the temptations they had met while on the Island of Tahiti. The thorns in the flesh had gone far deeper than the Captain could possibly have understood. Even going back to regular duties after six months of near complete dicipation would have felt like becoming galley slaves in a Roman tiremene not volunteers and professional sailors of her majesties navy. How could he have been so surprised? How many captains of their families are going to be surprised when the book of their lives is going to be opened , and not only their actions but the consequences of those actions are going to be shown them? While they collected bread fruit in the form of their own self interests, their children would ,like so many little lazaruses, fed up with surviving on the scraps from their parents table, gone off in pursuit of something better to fill the gnawing hunger that lack of love put in produces. And the variety of temptations that can be availed of via the internet are as nothing to those experienced by the crew of the Bounty. So much so that we live today in a world where the contents of the minds of the stranger or even the friend you meet on the street or the children that play with yours is unguessable. C S Lewis had a strikingly accurate premonition, when in his childrens book ' Prince Caspian' he wrote the following.
[Lucy] 'Such a horrible Idea has come into my head, Su.'
'What's that'
'Would'nt it be dreadful if some day, in our own world, at home, men started going wild inside, like the animals here, and still looked like men, so that you'd never know which from which.'
Bligh continues.
'Just before sunrising, Mr Christian, with the master at arms, gunner's mate and Thomas Burket, seaman, came into my cabin while I was asleep, and seizing me, tied my hands with a cord behind my back, and threatened me with instant death, If I spoke or made the least noise.
I however, called so loud as to alarm everyone, but they had already secured the officers who were not of their party, by placing centinels at their doors. There were three men at my cabin door besides the four within. Christian had only a cutlass in his hand, the others had muskets and bayonets. I was hauled out of my bed and forced on deck in my shirt, suffering great pain from the tightness with which they had tied my hands. I demanded the reason for such violence but recieved no other answer than threats of instant death, If I did not hold my tongue. Mr Elphinstone, the masters mate, was kept in his birth, Mr Nelson, botanist,Mr Peckham, gunner, Mr Ledward, surgeon and the master were confined to their cabins; and also the Clerk, Mr Samuel; but he soon obtained leave to come on deck. The forehatchway was gaurded by centinels; the boatswain and carpenter were, hower, allowed to come on deck where they saw me standing abaft the mizen-mast, with my hands tied behind my back, under a guard, with Christian at their head.
The boatswain was now ordered to hoist the launch out, with a threat, if he did not do it instantly to take care of himself. The boat being out, Mr Hayward and Mr Hallet, midshipman and Mr Hallet, midshipman and Mr Samuel, were ordered into it, upon which I demanded the cause of such an order and endevoured to perswade some one to sense of duty; 'Hold your tongue, sir, or you are dead this instant', was constantly repeated to me.
The Master, by this time had sent to be allowed on deck, which was permitted but he was soon ordered back again to his cabin.
I continued my endeavours to turn the tide of affairs, when Christian changed the cutlass he had in his hand for a bayonet, that was brought to him, and holding me with a strong gripe, by the cord that tied my hands, he with many oaths threatened to kill me immediatly if I would not be quiet; the villains round me had their pieces cocked and bayonets fixed. Particular people were now called to go into the boat, and wre hurried over the side; whense I concluded that with these people I was to be set adrift.
I therefore made another effort to bring about a change, but with no other effect than to be threatened with having my brains blown out. The boatswain and seamen, who were to go into the boat , were allowed to collect twine, canvas lines, sails, cordage , an eight and twenty gallon cask of water, and the carpenter to take his tool chest. Mr Samuel got 150lbs of bread with a small quantity of rum and wine. He also got a quadrant and compass into the boat, but was forbidden, on pain of death to touch either map, ephemeris, book of astronomical observations, sextant, time keeper, or any of my surveys or drawings.
The mutineers now hurried those they meant to get rid of into the boat.When most of them where in Christian directed a dram tobe served to each ofhis crew . I now unhappily saw that nothing could be done to effect the recovery of the ship; there was no one to assist me, and every endeavour on my part was answered with threats of death.
The officers were called and forced over the side into the boat, while I was kept apart from everyone, abaft the mizen mast, Christian, armed with a bayonet, holding me by the bandage that secured my hands. The guard round me had their pieces cocked, but, on my daring the ungrateful wretches to fire, they uncocked them . Isaac Martin, one of the guards over me, I saw, had an inclination to assist me, and, as he fed me with shaddock[ my lips being quite parched with my endevours to bring about a change] we explained our wishes to each other by our looks; but this being observed, Martin as instantly removed from me; his inclination then was to leave the ship, for which purpose he got into the boat, but with many threats they obliged him to return.
The armourer, joseph coleman and the two carpenters, McIntosh and Norman, were also kept contrary to their inclination; and they begged of me after I was astern in the boat,m to remember that they declared they had no hand in the transaction . Michael Byrne, I am told, likewise wanted to leave the ship . It is of no moment for me to recount my endeavours to bring back the offenders to a sense of their duty; all I could do was by speaking to them in general; but my endeavours were to no avail, for I was kept securely bound, and no one but the guard suffered to come near me.
To Mr Samuel I am indebted for securing my journals and commission, with some material ships papers, without these I had nothing to certify what I had done, and my honour and character might have been suspected, without my possessing a proper document to have defended them. all this he did with great resolution, though guarded and strictly watched. He attempted to save the time keeper and box with all my surveys, drawings, and remarks for fifteen years past, which were numerous. When he was hurried away, with'Damn your eyes, you're well of to get what you have'.
It appeared that Christian was some time in doubt whether he should keep the carpenter, or is mates; at length he determined the latter, and the carpenter was ordered into the boat. He was permitted , but not without some opposition, to take his tool chest. Much altercation took place among the mutinous crew during the whole business, some swore ' I'll be damned if he does not find his way home, if he gets anything away, damn my eyes, he will have a vessel built in a month'. While others laughed at the helpless situation of the boat being very deep, and so little room for those who were in her. As for Christian, he seemed meditating instant destruction on himself and everyone.
I asked for arms, but they laughed at me , and said I was well aquainted with the people where I was going , and therefore did not want them; four cutlasses, however were thrown into the boat , after we were veered astern.
When the officers and men with whom I have suffered to have no communication, were put into the boat, they only waited for me, and the master at armsinformed Christian of it ; who then said -'Come, Captain Bligh, your officers and men are now in the boat , and you must go with them; If you attempt to make the least resistence you will be instantly put to death', and without any farther ceremony, holding me by the cord that tied my hands, where they untied my hands. Being in the boat we were veered astern by a rope. A few pieces of pork were thrown to us , and some cloaths, also the cutlasses, I have already mentioned; and it was now that the armourer and carpenters called out to me to remember that they had no hand in the transaction. after having undergone a great deal of ridicule, and kept some time to make sport for these unfeeling wretches we were at lrngth cast adrift in the open ocean.
Not withstsanding the roughness with which I was treated, the rememberence of past kindesses produced some signs of remorse in Christian. When they were forcing me out of the ship, I asked him , if this treatment was a proper return for the many instances he had recieved of my friendship? He appeared disturbed at my question, and answered with much emotion, 'That - Captain Bligh, _that is the thing;-I am in hell-I am in hell'.
Fletchers powerful admission that he was in hell, gives us a picture of the iron grip that desire can have on our hearts. 'Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart'. Despite the use of his reason , his duty and his friendship he chose rebellion. How many of us , daily choose to do the same?
It is at this stage that the subject of this book can be first acknowledged. John Adams had signed aboard the Bounty under the assumed name of Alexander Smith, he only returned to the use of his real name much later. He is recorded as having been asleep during the opening of the mutiny and when drowsey in slumber he stumbled upon deck he had a musket thrust upon him. It must be assumed therefore that Adams had been present during the conspiritorial discussions the previous night. Blighs description of Adams is as follows
Alexander Smith, alias John Adams.Able seaman, aged 22, 5 feef 5 inches high, brown complexion, brown hair, strong made, very much pitted with the small pox, and very much tatooed on his body, legs , arms and feet; he has a scar on his right foot , where it had been cut by an axe.
Adams was born in Hackney , London in 1768. He was an orphan and his early years were spent brought up in the local poorhouse.
To return to the Mutineers. Having rid themselves of Bligh, a new commander had to be recognised. Rather than simply assume this role, Christian sought the consensus of the rest of his fellow Mutineers, and this he unanimously recieved. What to do now? They had on board men who were not part of the rebellion, men who might , given the opportunity attempt a counter-mutiny. Surprisingly the mutineers first choice was not to head straight back to Tahiti, drop off the potential threat, and re-establish the idyllic lifestyle that they had so recently become accustomed to . The reason is unclear , perhaps to return too soon would be a difficult one to justify to the chiefs of the Island , who up until recently had been firm friends of Captain Bligh . Such was the firmness of that friendship that Tinah, one of those chiefs, had allowed the 'sacred portait' of Captain Cook to be venerated aboard the Bounty during her stay. This portait , a gift from a previous expedition to the Islands, was used as an object of religious worship during the Tahitian religious festivals. Cook had it seems taken on deification. Little did the Islanders know that the man God Cook had been murdered by fellow polynesians some years before. A fact Bligh took considerable steps to obscure from the Tahitians , for obvious reasons.
Could it have been that Tahiti was no longer safe , eventually the royal Navy would send out a search party, regardless as to whether Bligh reached safety or drowned in the attempt. And Tahiti would be the first place they would look. The decision was made, they would sail 400 miles south of Tahiti , to the Island of Tubai.
Now Tubai was an Island quite different to the one they had just left behind, and their reception would be quite different, as we shall see.
After a month of sailing , the Bounty came in sight of her destination. Anchoring in a bay , the mutineers attempted to establish contact with the local natives . Apparantly this proved no problem and an enterprising local appeared with a large number of local beauties, whom he duly brought aboard. While the Bounties crew were entertaining down below , a warning alarm was sounded. War canoes had been sighted and were heading straight for the ship. A battle ensued. There were up to 50 of these lage , well manned canoes, crewed by muscular tubuains armed with an assortment of stones and spears. Protected by the height of the ships hull, the mutineers attempted to rebuff the attacks with their fire arms and even the ships cannon came into use. As the enemy attempted to swarm up the sides they would have been reppelled by a tattood arm holding a ships cutlass or the butt of a heavy musket. The fight cannot have lasted long , as the match would have been unequal . The Europeans with their technological and strategic advantage very soon put the attackers to flight leaving nearly a dozen dead, including it seems one native woman. So much for a south seas welcom!. There seemed now little reason to stay any longer and it was decided that the Bounty should sail immediately to the welcoming haven of Matavani bay, their previous anchorage in Tahiti.
Another month an they arrived full circle back in Tahiti. Slight problem, how could they explain away the absence of Bligh and nearly half the ships crew . A rather ingenious explanation had been decided upon during their return journey . Tinah, the 6ft4' chief was told that en-route to the West Indies [ the final resting place for the bread-fruit plants ] they had actually bumped into Captain Cook, who very generously offered to take not only the cargo of bread fruit trees off their hands and transport them to their destination, but had also agreed to take Bligh and that potion of the Bounties crew that were absent to help them with their endeavour. The only problem that Cook had, was that he needed supplies. The invocation of the sacred name of Cook worked surprisingly well , and under his intercession 460 island pigs, fifty goats, plus chickens and an assorted number of cats and dogs were loaded aboard, along with a full hull of provisions in the form of cocoa-nuts, plantains and bread fruit , room having been made previously by the unceremonious dumping overboard of the bread- fruit trees. There were many Islanders that would have given much to accompany the crew on their voyage and in the end the ship left Tahiti carrying nine men, eight boys and ten women. Amazingly, despite the ' battle of bloody bay', in Tubuai, Christian had persuaded his fellows that that was the place to build their future.. Maybe he had picked up intelligence that convinced him that one of the many warring Chiefs of Tubuai might assist them in return for their help and military expertise. [Many times in the course of history it seems that invaders are welcomed by some portion of the invaded, who then seek to use the muscle of the invaders to their own advantage in their desputes with their neighbours, that is until they themselves become the victims]
So back to Tubuai; One of the three chiefs of the Island did indeed offer the newcomers land in return for sevice and no doubt gifts, the problem was that the land he offered them was not deemed suitable to Christian , who decided on appropriating a far more suitable one , unfortunately this land was under the juristiction of another chief, who was none too happy having initially been rebuffed in the courtship proceedings that must have tentatively taken place upon arrival. Another problem was that despite being quite happy with the mutineers having liasons with the native women , they drew the line at having them moved to the permanent residense of ' fort George', which was the patriotically named stockade that had been built by Christian and his fellows upon settling on the Island. It was an impressive accomplishment , 50 yards square, 12 ft walls, a 20 ft wide ditch and one huge gate at the front. The ships cannons were hauled from the bounty all the way through the jungle and positioned for defence, and the fort even had the Union Jack fluttering over it's sharpened battlements!
The local chiefs must have increasingly viewed the interlopers as a common enemy, however experience had taught them that attrition rather than all out warfare was the way forward. One of their first implementations was to restrict the Europeans access to native women. The effect of this embargo was to draw out individuals of a less continent disposition. John adams, Mathew Quintal and John sumner all attempted night time forays , Adams being held captive overnight although subsequently released. Christian, in an attempt to enforce his authority held a pistol to Quintals head and threatened to blow his brains out if he or any others refused to obey orders in the future. The men risked being stripped and beaten if they were caught walking or working alone , this no doubt led to them spending more and more time close to the cantonement of fort st george.
The turn of events seem to have esculated when some of the Tahitian men that came to Tubuai with the mutineers decided to approach the tubuains with the proposal that they join forces in a surprise attack against their former friends. The promise of a share in the spoils that a victory would bring quickly brought assent , that and an end to the colonial activities of the Europeans.
An account of the proceeding events was later given by ' Jenny', one of the Tahitian women attatched to the mutineers.
'One of the Otaheitians , who belong to the bounty, proposed to the Tabouai people, that incase the Englishmen should settle on the island, they should unite and take the ship, murder the crew, and share the property. this coming to the ears of Christians wife, she informed him of the plot, but did not tell him that an Otaheitian was the contriver of it. The secret having transpired, led to a battle between the mutineers and the Tubuai people, in which the latter were defeated with considerable loss.'
This was the first recorded time when a Tahitian woman would choose he european lover over her own people, and it would not be the last!
Christian seems to have taken the initiative upon hearing the news . And launched a pre-emptive strike upon the Islanders , The mutineers seem to have had by far the better of the following exchanges with just one wounded casualty to sixty six Tubuains dead. Maybe the ships cannons went into action, or maybe it was the musket power that one the day. However despite this victory , the disposition of the tubuains was set , and this made many of the crew of the Bounty unwilling to countenence a further prolongation on the Island.
Christian for his part seems to have been even more determined to stay, especially when he saw the ease with which they conqured their adversaries. So much so that he ordered the Bounties mast ,timbers and cordage be brought ashore to add to the settlement. That was the final straw and the concensus of the majority of the men was to leave the Island immedietly. It must be remembered that many of the Bounties crew were not actually mutineers and therefore had no need for hiding places. In the face of this challenge Christian, as delegated head, chose to go with the majority, however it was decided that those loyal to himself would keep the ship after it's returning once again to Tahiti. Those who were innocent of implication in the mutiny, along with those disposed to taking their chances would remain on the Island, along with half the arms, ammunition and ships supplies. Incidently two native Tubuains Oha and Titahiti , a chief and his nephew, were taken off the Island , perhaps because they had such dealings with the mutineers that meant it would not be safe for them to remain
And so for the third and as it proved final time the Bounty returned Tahiti. It was Christians intention to stay for three days, however the night after those who wished it were ferried ashore along with their supplies, the Bounty slipped anchor and silently left Matavani bay . It was the last time that the Bounty would be seen afloat.
On board the Bounty remained nine mutineers , the remnant of the forty five who originally left Spithead those many months ago.
Blighs description of them reads as follows [ minus Adams of whom we have already heard]
Fletcher Christian , Masters Mate, 24 years of age, 5ft 9' high, very dark brown complexion, dark brown hair, strong made, a star tattooed on his left breast.

Edward Young , Midshipman, aged 22 years, 5ft 8' high, dark complexion; strong, lost several of his fore teeth, tattooed, a heart and a dart through it.

William brown , Gardener, aged 27, 5ft 8' high, fair complexion, dark brown hair, slender made, a remarkable scar on one of his cheeks.

John Mills , Gunner's mate, aged 40, 5ft 10' high, fair complexion, light brown hair, strong made and raw boned.

William McCoy , Able Seamen, aged 21, 5ft 6' high, light brown hair, strong made, a scar where he has been stabbed through the belly, a small scar under the chin, is tattooed in different parts.

Mathew Quintal , Able Seaman, aged 21, 5ft 5' high, light-brown hair, strong made, very much tattooed.

John Williams, Able Seaman, aged 25, 5ft 5' high, dark complexion, black hair, slender made, has a scar on the back part of his head, is tattooed, a native of Guernsey, speaks French .

Isaac Martin, Able Seaman , aged 30, 5ft 11' high, sallow complexion, short brown hair, raw boned, tattoed with a scar on his left breast .

The Polynesian Men
Oha
Titahiti
Menalee
Timoa
Nehow

The Tahitian Women
Mauatua [ Christians Isabella]
Mary
Sarah
Susannah
Jenny
Vahineatua
Mareva
Pashotu
Prudence
Paurai
Toofaiti
Teatuahitea
And mary's baby Sarah.
In total eight mutineers, six polynesian men, twelve Tahitian women, a baby girl, and hundreds of animals.
A desicion needed to be made, out of the hundreds of Island near and far , what was to be the criteria that offered a future for this band of fugitives. While pondering , the seriously undermanned ship put in briefly to the Island of Rarotonga some 700 miles south-west of Tahiti. The Island it'self seemed a dream come true, it's size , it's ability to sustain the Bounty community with the necessities of life and it's spectacular beauty, all seemed to make this place an Ideal potential home . However the Polynesians had long ago come to the same conclusions. Rarotonga was densely populated. Christian quickly realised that with his diminished crew their ability to defend themselves in the likelyhood of any hostilities was greatly reduced. Sadly they sailed away from Rarotonga.
Christian needed to find an unpopulated Island, one that would be hard for any pursuers to land, and therefore would be ignored by them as they searched for the mutineers hiding place . It also had to be far enough away from Polynesian inhabitants, word of ' the lost white tribe,' would very quickly bring unwanted guests or hostile aggresors. either of which would eventually lead to their discovery by the admiralty..
While searching Blighs maps and books for inspiration, Christian came across an Island described in 'Hawkesworths Voyages' , albeit far away, that might just fit this purpose, unihabited, difficult access, signs of fertility, named after the sailor who first sighted her, Pitcairns island.
Bounty set her course and began the last leg of her journey ,this journey was also to prove the last one she would ever make.
The charts showed that pitcairn Island lay 3000 miles to the west of her current position . A voyage of this magnitude, with a ship the size of the Bounty and a crew the size of the mutineers was an accomplishment i it'self.
It proved a hard voyage, especially as the ship had recourse to go much farther south then the tahitians aboard her had ever experienced before. Also the degree in error of the clocks and navigational devices that they were using would make pinpointing an Island as small as Pitcairn a very difficult task indeed. Almost two months of sailing and still Pictairn eluded them.
It was just when they were nearly decided to give up and return to Tahiti, that a lump in the ocean was sighted in the far distance.
Pitcairn Island was infact over 200 miles distant from it's position on the charts, that fact made it the near ideal hiding place, who could possibly follow them here?
Pitcairn Island itself must have presented a stark and foreboding appearence. The pounding seas broke insessently on the wall of rock that surrounded her. Cliffs rising to nearly 1000 feet seemed to protect her from any attempt to gain access to the heavily forested interior. However one small rocky bay appeared to offer some hope of entry. It would be difficult, only a ships boat could hope to chance it , and that boat could only attempt it with precision timing aided by calm seas. Rather than put them off this degree of danger must have only added to the Islands suitability.
On the third day after anchoring off ' Bounty bay', an opportunity presented itself, during the calm Christian, Brown, Williams , McKoy and three of the Tahitians attempted, and then made a landing. Because the seas were by then building the Bounty decided to stan out to sea, and returned the second day. When the landing party returned to ship reports were most favourable. The Island abounded in cocoa-nuts and sea fowl, plaintans and bread fruit . Over half of it's acreage seemed able to be cultivated in some or another. The sea-weed on the shore line could be used as fertizer. And although having no fresh water source it'self, it's jagged and pitted volcanic rock facilitated many fresh water pools, and ponds, that regularaly refilled with water from the heavens.
There is a temptation to write ones own account of what happened to the settlers in the years that followed, perhaps I could construct a more entertaining and lurid version, however I will leave that telling in the hands of Admiral Beechey who arrived at Pitcairn on Dec 20 1825.
'Where every thing that could be of utility was landed, and where it was agreed to destroy the ship, either by running her ashore, or burning her. Christian, Adams, and the majority, were for the former expedient, but while they went to the fore-part of the ship ............................................................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................................................
....
Young and Adams were now the sole survivors out of the fifteen men that had landed upon the Island. Young , being of a literate nature and respectable family proceeded to teach the semi- literate and certainly un-schooled Adams how to read and write. The only materials they had with them were the Holy Scriptures and the book of common prayer which had been removed from the Bounty before she went down. However their partnership in governence of the Island was not to last , and young who suffered from severe asthma died only a year after the death of Quintal.
John Adams, of the fifteen men that had landed on the Island was now the sole survivor. Alone with the horror of the preceding events, alone with his nature and the sum total of his past experiences. But not alone on the Island, there were the last nine remaining Tahitian Women and the twenty children that between them the mutineers had fathered during their short period as masters of Pitcairn. Up until this time the actions and outcomes on the Island had been moved and shaped for the most part by the human players involved. It was now to witness the hand of God.
A period of peace albeit aimless peace, now decended upon the Island, however the instruction started by Young does not seem to have been extended by Adams. It seems that Adams began to seriously engage in a new partnership, that of the alcohol of the Ti-root. No doubt in an attempt to escape the bloody memories of the past and to dim his conscience in the face of the duties of the present. It might be well to dwell on the condition of the children on the Island. They would have been born into this nightmare, and it cannot be doubted that their condition would have been of the most wretched and barbarous nature, as wild any ferral children inhabiting the slums, on the margins of civilisation. Fatherless, loveless and Godless. Their only hope a semi literate, alcoholic, murderer and mutineer of an able-seamen who himself had been orphaned and abandoned some thirty six years earlier.
At the age of thirty three , the good lord deemed that the sinner John Adams was 'ripe for resurection'. The age is significant , perhaps, because it was the age our Lord himself rose from the dead.
It seems that Adams recieved a series of two dreams, first from the angel Gabrial and second from the arch angel Michael.. He later recounted, ' I had a dream that changed my life. There seemed to be standing beside me an angel who spoke to warn me, warning me of my past life, and then he called me to repent and go down and teach the children in the way of Christ'. In these dreams he was presented in vivid colour his past transgessions and the awful nature of the punishment that awaited him.
The true state of his soul as God sees it was being visited on adams in an act of divine mercy Not only his sins of the past but the consequences of those sins in the future. He was being given a glimpse into the book of life, a book whose contents when opened on the day of judgement would decide his souls final destination.
Rev20;12 And I saw the dead , small and great stand before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according their works.
The sea of blackness that swept over him must have felt like night seeping into his very being , however he would later understand it was dawn breaking, he was the recipient of an illumination designed to purify his attatchment to his sins. It was the begining of the dark night of the soul.

last Call For Alcohol

Up and down the country , in every city and town the same grim tableau is being ennacted. On Fridays and Saturdays the night is given over to madness.
This article is not aimed at those who appreciate a little drink, who have a discernment for old malt, fine wine , real ale or Belgian organic lagers. Nor for those who can use and enjoy alcohol in an ordered and sensible fashion, but for those millions who just want to get drunk.
Drunkeness is a scourge, it is a scourge that affects not just the individual but the family and indeed the nation.
The church teaches that to voluntarily drink an excess of alcohol ie being drunk, is infact a mortal sin that removes sanctifying grace from the soul .
I am not going to be able to write this article unless I come out of the closet and admit that for well over twenty years I was a drunk, I have plummed the depths of this 'culture', to the n'th degree. I know the people , the places, the times, the prices and have felt the weight of the cost.
I became initiated into the drinking culture from a very early age, I think my first serious taste was about the age of twelve. I visited pubs from around fifteen and became a regular drinker at about seventeen. My Dad , uncles , cousins my friends all drank and so did their Fathers before them, so guess what ? I drank. Believe it or not, the first grip that alcohol has on you is bliss, it is a joy like unto flying. Did I really say that? Did I really do that? Did I really do the things that for ages I was simply to scared of to even try?
Dr Jeckyl becomes Mr Hyde and guess what? Mr Hyde is great company, he is Mr Popular, Mr Fun to be with, he is superman!
Alcohol releases the genie from the bottle and straight into the blood stream , the hidden man that most people never see can finally be revealed. Those inhibitors that are connected to the conscience become steadily disabled as the night progresses, indeed one of the goals of a heavy session is to do exactly that . When those failsafes have been overidden you get to claim your get out of jail card . 'Sure it was'nt his fault he was well drunk last night',' he is'nt really like that when he's sober', ' he was so smashed last night he didnt have a clue what he was doing'.
The mild mannered young white van man who delivered you your new freezer at noon becomes a raving lunatic at midnight. If you bump his elbow at the bar he is quite capable of shoving a glass in your face. The quiet family man that barely talked to a soul throughout the working day has people in head locks and is blabbering complete rubbish during his night shift. The stiff self-conscious youth becomes John Travolta on the club dancefloor [ or at least he thinks he has] His shyness that he thought a crippling disability is spirited away , almost as if he has shed his old skin and everybody just loves the new version, one small problem , he needs the potion and that potion only seems to work through continuing to increase the dose until he has to rely on a four pack a day just to be the shy young man again. Sadly that modern day Frankensteins monster the ' female lad', has surfaced. She drinks, she smokes, she has a tatoo or two, she shows her builders bum and can swear and sleep about just as 'good', as any man. It is almost as if equality can only be achieved by aping mans dark side in all it's ugliness, only for her the price is higher. The morning after for the girl before is one of desolation. The one who she thought she was using , was in reality using her, the things that she thought bought her equality with man only brought her contempt from him . I have seen over the years of people watching from the bottom of a pint jar, young girls become ghouls in a few short years. The morning after pill and multiple abortions cannot efface the carnage of her actions. No amount of make up can disguise the pain the sadness or the ugliness that mark her face.The wages of her sins show death in her eyes. What she thought she wanted she spends the rest of her life regretting.
A drunken girl has an effect on the drinking pack similar to that of wolves at the sight of wounded deer. They see she is vulnerable , they see she is prey! And when she is acting and dressing in a manner that says ' open for business', then she has put herself in very real and serious danger.
Most young men, young bucks on a drinking night out are after two things, a girl or a fight. And those who have found the girl slink off into the darkness while those who havent found one find each other outside the kebab house . The A&E departments of the local hospital bare witness to this ritual late into the night. Broken faces, broken limbs, blood and stitches and sometimes the hospital morgue are the deposits that fill the night-safe of the casualty department .Drunken violence is epidemic. After 9 pm on a Friday or Saturday night Most town centres are no go areas for the sane. The only sign of law and order can occasionally be seen hiding furtively behind a shop doorway radio in hand, terrified that his mere presence might cause a riot. The sight of hordes of seriously drunk or drugged up young people roaring shouting , scrapping and acting in the most foul and bestial way is a truly terrifying sight, unless of course you are one of them., for them this is normal.. Indeed their minds soon lose the ability to think that there are any other options available to them . If I dont do this what else can I do? Nearly everyone of those trapped on the alcohol merry go round cannot think of a single answer to this question and because they cannot think of an answer they buy their ticket to ride every single weekend. The week end becomes the only rationale for the working week. This is fun is'nt it ? And I aim to enjoy it no matter how much it hurts
The cost to the family is another almost unquantifyable price paid . So many families are suffering. If there is love in the family than that love feels the pain. Dads leaving the children ophans and their wives widowed as they put the counterfiet fraternity of their drinking partners above duty . However slowly but surely those comrades in arms start to disappear until the drinker finds that the only company that will tolerate him are those who are prepared to be bored by him for the price of a free pint . Indeed I know of Fathers whose only drinking partners are underage sons who are forced to keep their Dad company late into the night because no one else can stand being near him.
As the drinking habit becomes more and more regularised and the quanitties increase what began as a voyage to escape the bounds of normality becomes the only way to hold onto the appearence of normality. The crushing lows , the panic attacks the waves of neurosis and phychosis . The debilitating bouts of depression that can only be escaped when the very cause from whence they came is shakily administered. alcohol then becomes a deadly poison as well as a vital medicene. When you reach that stage it is almost as if it were not you drinking the pint , but the pint that is drinking you.
Steadily the self that you thought you knew becomes progressively more and more a stranger to you. Your ability to deny yourself becomes steadily weakened until the mere thought of a day without at least a few drinks brings on a cold sweat. A functioning alcoholic is a pitiable creature, like the lukewarm he cannot be spat out. He manages to creep along for years despite the regular morning soul desolation that follows on the heels of each bender .Every promise he makes he breaks not only to himself but to those who he curses for being concerned about him. Indeed if he could but realise it is that very soul desolation that the Good God uses as a spark to convince the despairing alcoholic to seek out his hand . however time and time again that hand is knocked away only to grasp at the next can or bottle.
The hounds of heaven are constantly on the trail the alcoholic and it is their baying that he try's to drown out , but they will never give up on him no matter how far away he thinks he has got from them. It is the weeping of his guardian Angel that has released them for the pursuit.
The pages of the Hib are perhaps not the best place to share personal and painful story of ones twenty year captivity with that old cell mate the demon drink and my eventual release under the parole of God's grace, however I would like to finish on a positive note. Hope . Most alcoholics hope, they hope someone will save them from themselves.Like a drowning man flailing about in the water threatening to take down all who might attempt a rescue. He hopes that someone will be stronger than him and win for him the victory that he has been unable to win for himself. That hope has a name and a name that you can trust and that name is Jesus Christ.
Could I leave you with the last part of a poem that I feel has real power in it's pages, because those pages were written by a down and out Victorian opium addict as he battled with his addiction. He was a Catholic and his name was Francis Thompson . The poem ' The Hound of Heaven'.
' Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit
that voice is round me like a bursting sea
'And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard ?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest me!
Strange, piteous futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart ?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught
and human love needs human meriting;
How hast thou merited-
Of all mans clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
Save Me, save only Me

All which I took from thee I did but take
Not for thy harms
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms
All which thy childs mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home
Rise, clasp My hand, and come.
Halts by me that footfall
Is my gloom after all
Shade of his hand, outstretched caressingly?
'Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I Am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou drovest love from thee, who drovest Me'

It seems as if I can't get away without a scripture quote and this is one that I say regularily throughout the day , especially when tempted .
Luke9;62
' once the hand is laid to the plough anyone who looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of heaven'

Lord keep me your ploughman

key

My body is ruled by my heart,

My soul cannot control the flesh and the mind of the flesh until it first binds the heart.

The war between my members can only be won in the heart and by the soul.

Safe Havens

By some miracle of grace you may just have noticed that for you the end times have become the now times. Simply by standing still for just a few short decades you have become a dangerous thought criminal .
So fast is this pace of change that what was once considered by humanity for millenia as perfectly normal is now percieved by the majority of mankind as the haunt of the lunatic fringe . The things that were once sacred for the people of the past are now trashed by the herd as they move ever faster with the tide that sweeps away even the deepest and surest pillars of Christian civilisation.
Never, not even at the heights of the industrial revolution has the effect been so swift, pronounced or as deeply felt . The eternal patterns of life that could once be recognised by all the peoples of the planet have exploded!
Change used to be imperceptable, and because these changes were slow they could be checked . Things for the bad usually died during this organic process, because it was just that, organic . If over time the changes were proven to work they were accomodated as tradition and passed on in custom, if not they survived briefly but were ultimately consigned to the scrap heap of fad, fashion and novelty . The difference today is that fashion itself has become the modern custom . Each new change is accepted immediatly, the only gold standard being expedience . Does it please me ? Is it easy ?and can I have it now ? After surviving this intensive scrutiny the stamp that confirms that the newest novelty has met all the requirements of modern man is the word 'MORE'.
After having been thoroughly doped and sedated by this self loving addiction, the evil one can move in and begin his work of dismantling the reef of religious belief that for so long has protected man from himself.
Well advanced he is, and each waking day those with eyes to see can witness this demolition . Each day pandoras box releases a new demon and each day a guiding angel is imprisoned . Some, not blind but only squinting in fear of catching the full glare of this carnage say to themselves, 'If it gets any worse I'll , I'll , I will I'll do something . After a brief head scratch he continues as before accepting each new final straw as a bed to lie on.
Abortion, contraception , homosexuality, homosexual marriage, adoption and indoctrination, cloning, human/animal hybrids, euthanasia, if someone suggests that paedophilia , incest and bestiality will never join the ranks this monstrous hit parade, maybe, just maybe they should get to the front of the queue and make that same assertion to the first born head of this ever growing hydra that appeared and was accepted and worshipped less than a brief generation ago.
The breaks are off, things are bad and they are going to get far worse . That assertion may depress some but I encourage them to examine the recent past as proof of the veracitity of that statement . Without a break to apply the pressure to slow down and stop civilisation from it's carreering down hill, how on earth can a reverse or u turn ever be expected . Now this break that we need humanly and politically speaking will never shut the lid to this sewer completely , because that lid is infact the gates of hell.
The tool that God uses time and again to convince man to return to him and be saved is the rod of chastisement . The current state of mans iniquity shames the times of Noah, soddom and Gommorah and caligula by it's depths of sheer universally accepted depravity. The wages due for those sins is crying out to be paid.
While trusting in his intervention and petitioning him with prayer we must fill the time in waiting . How does one do that today?
The terror of this particular atheistic experiment, this capitalist/socialist nightmare that we are living today is only visible by those who can see the junction of the past and the present and the future . Those who can see , can evaluate, they can weigh the value of each new change, based on what was gained, what was lost and at what cost.
Whom do you serve? The choice is becoming clearer each day . Do you serve the lord of the world and his new emperors that have crowned themselves in God's sanctury or do you serve Christ the king Lord of your total life. Follow this sequence and weigh its probability if you would . Society continues as it is , the sheer volume of ever increasing occassions of sin and the complete abandonment of the guidence of the good God damns more and more souls to hell .The strong medicine that would be required to avert this and to save souls will have to be of an order that because of mans pride levels would need to eclipse anything seen previously . To re-orientate man he will need to be levelled first .
The collapse of this system could come in many ways and from many directions, war in the east, plague, natural disaster etc, perhaps even all three together . The direction of the collapse is fairly academic because from what ever direction it comes it will come for the same purpose . Like the scourges sent to Egypt to obtain the freedom of Gods chosen, these scourges will come to free man from himself and to reach out to God as saviour . Those few who can see the thunder and lightning of this spiritual storm can rest assured that the physical whirlwind will follow close on it's tail . Spiritual preparedness is obviously paramount in the obtaining the gift of eternal life, and that spiritual tribulation is here today . But what does one do physically to prepare to survive the tribulation that inevitably will follow from it ?
Man is totally dependant on the state for everything from food at the supermarket, water through the taps and heat and light via the utilities . He is in affect a baby, he has made himself so in an attempt to release himself from the responsibility to survive. He has given that responsibility to the state as parent.
So what happens when through an emergency that parent can no longer cope? If we dare use our imagination on this one it is not difficult to see . First an eruption of anarchy and disorder where the strong trample the weak . The days when Christian men accepted the self sacrifice of ' women and children first' are long gone . The first will be the strongest . The weakest will be trampled to death in the mad scrum as the vineer of civilisation is ripped from the brutish animal that man has willed to become . A glimpse of this terror was brought home during the recent hurricane katrina, where the weak trapped in the super bowl were preyed upon mercilessly by the strong . Murder, rape and robbery were the wages paid out . Looting and barbarity will be the immediate response to the breakdown.

Luke23;28
'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; rather weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when people will say ' Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never bourne , the breasts that never suckled'. Then they will begin to say to the mountains ' fall on us' to the hills ' cover us!'

It was thus for Babylon, Greece and for Rome before they fell and it will be the more for this order because it is that much more all pervading and controlling in it's grip of our individual lives.
Fortunately rural Ireland is still a long way from being Louisiana, outside of the big cities and towns familial ties still hold . The neighbourhoods that provide the parishioners for the local churches might react differently to the way they would in Bradford, the bronx or broadwater farm or even Dublin.
An emergency is due, reacting to it before it arrives would be prudent . Embracing the past before it kicks in the door would be the best defence in mitigating it's effects. Detatch yourself from Babylon.
The word 'separatism' confuses and alarms many . 'Arnt we meant to be a light in the world?' they ask . Undoubtedly, however that light must shine not just in this generation but in those to come . That is why the small lambs and the tiny flames that are the children given into each Christian family must be protected and gaurded from both the wolves and the hard winds . When candles are burning strongly and when they are standing together, their light is that much brighter and reaches so much further into the darkness.
Lets say you are not convinced that the privations you would have to accept today are proportionate to the threat that might or might not happen tommorrow . That is certainly something worthy of consideration. Do you have to sit in the storm shelter months before the storm hits? Perhaps not, but what I am proposing here is that we prepare the storm shelter in advance of the storm.
Since the begining there have been attempts to secure a safe haven from both the disorder and chastisement that inevitably followed it . Many nations seeking independence from the tyranny of imperialism have built nations within nations, while in modern times various indiginous peoples rights have been afforded plenty of largesse from big brother and have had specific areas accorded to them so that they could continue as seperate entities. There have been many third ways, and most of those ways have been wrong ways. The true way between the constant tensions of conserve on the one hand and progress on the other is Christs way.
The Catholic church and its hidden treasure of social doctrine are the only blue print for human existence that should interest us . We will have to do everything ourselves and ignore repressive and unrepresentative govenments almost entirely, they will fall and rise as they have always done while we must attempt as best we can to avoid their continued encroachments into both our adult lives and our childrens worlds .To be authentically free from babylon is as simple as ceasing to use it and by degrees our journey should be just that. And when those who scoff at the privations that you accept as part of the price for that freedom finally run for cover what they will be trying to find you will not only have found but have ready . Please God like the loaves and the fishes and the heavenly manna , divine multiplication will help you assist those whom the Lord will most assuredly send in your direction.
The most natural and most effective safe haven in the midst of this chaos would be a cluster of families and individuals of a like mind, living in close proximity to each other in a rural situation . Far from being an abnormal or synthetic construct this is infact the ideal that has sustained and supported the flowering of human civilisation since the begining . Leaving the city is the most important move you could make . When the Jews left the city of Egypt they left in such a hurry that even the dough for the morning bread remained unleavened . Now we might not have to leave overnight as they did but if we plan for our journey today, if we could but spend a few tears now we might save buckets of tears tommorrow. When the flood waters reach your doorstep take yourself your wife and your family to higher ground . It is by no accident that the fertile ground that supports the health of the physical life at the same time nourishes the spiritual life.
Colonising an area of countryside and living in an alliance of clustered homesteading families is something that the amish of America are and have been doing for centuries . It would not be in imitation of the amish that the Irish Catholic adopted this lifestyle but in imitation of his Grandfather! In Ireland that way of life continued preserved from the claws of advancement and progress right up to less than half a century ago. To be in the world but not of it , to inhabit a parallell society, a real society standing in the same time and space as this virtual society but independant from it. Whether we do this now or later it is inevitable that the 'covered wagons ' of these new pioneers will continue leaving the metropolis in search, not of a new life but of the Old life . In search not of material gain but as an escape from the worst excesses of material tyranny . If you move house, make sure that one of the most important criteria in your re-positioning is that you move closer to another christian family . It does'nt matter if they ar'nt your 'type' or whether they believe this or that prophecy or visionary. You are not marrying them and you are not going to set up house with them . Whether you see them a lot or rarely is not going to be the most important issue . What will be important however is that you will have made a committment to each other. 'If you need me I will be there for you, I might not hang around for a cuppa afterwards but you have got me if you need me'. The peace of mind that this commitment buys should transcend any of the minor differences that so bedevil the confused but scincere Catholic today . Trusting must always take presidence over liking in times of emergency . Now, if you can both trust and like someone then you have already moved closer to them . The enemies of Christ have such a unity of hate towards him that it seems to nullify any of the thousand differences among them, not surprisingly because like the the demoniac their name is 'legion'. For the many catholics that seek but have no absolute understanding of the whereabouts of the orthodoxy they all aspire to, the rebuilding of the chuch remains fixed on arguments on where to place the first brick, and who should lay it . The oneness of the true faith has become shredded to pieces while the devil and all his minions become united in their onslaughts.
If families truly understood the perilous state of affairs in this increasingly hostile territory they might better appreciate their jeopardy and their need to respond with others in the face of it . Any of these future settlements should be places not of huddled besieged neurotics but of clear sighted faith inspired realists who so value the primacy of the next world over this passing world that they are willing to make sacrifices, not continuing compromises in the face of the world the flesh and the Devil . So many today think that accepting ever increasing doses of sin into their family life is the only way that they can show others that they are 'normal' . The safety of your wife and your children are paramount , Your job is to rescue them from the lions not throw them to the lions. To be able to sally forth from your fort to stike a blow at the enemies surrounding you, you first need to build your fort ! . It is a contest between the Christ instituted Kingdom of the family versus Satan in the form of the individualist man centered super state. Of Mary's children and the Dragon.
There is no directory for the countless like minded souls and many hermit families that live scattered across this fair nation . However God is moving them , they are meeting, sometimes passing like ships in the night, but the movement is afoot.
Whether you meet them lighting a candle at the back of church, at a holywell, a shrine like Knock or at the summit of a mountain like croagh Patrick dont loose the moment, make contact.
This magazine the Hibernian is like a small radio signal , the voice of the resistence bringing hope to those besieged in occupied lands . How long it will keep going is anybodies guess but while it is there share it with others , buy some extra copies and give them to members of your family or workmates , leave some in the doctors surgery amongst the filth that is so readilly tolerated, or in the library. The powers that be have already attempted to bring the Hibernian down but thank God those committed to it are still beating out the distress signal.
First build your own small piece of 'Free Ireland' and then go join the resistence!

Old Gods Rising

Although the names have changed , the old Gods are back .
There existed in antiquity a temple, it was called the Pantheon of the Gods . It is being rebuilt, the false Gods are being reawakened just as the true God is being put to sleep . This Pantheon was like a great ecumenical super dome . In it were found not just the God's of the Romans but also the deities that the Empire had aquired through it's contact with the rest of the Pagan world . All were found acceptable, all were authentic as all were real . The reason that they could co-exist was because none of these Gods claimed he was the only God. The modern political system of ' Big Tent ' inclusivity follows a similar pattern where all relative philosophies are on the inside while the objective ideas of men who actually believe in anything are today relegated to the cold outside .
Jesus Christ was not crucified for claiming to be any old God, indeed the Emperor himself along with Alexander the great before him claimed that title . It was because Christ claimed to be true God that he could not be accomodated into the Pantheon . Those same dark idols are being raised again , readilly worshipped and sacrificed to by a re-paganised people who again like the pagans of old see Christ as their only obstacle . Indeed this is the same motivation of the masonic New order who encourage the worship of all Gods but the one true God as manifested by our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.
In there own words ' Masonry while religious is not a religion, but within it's precepts and professions are contained the truths and universal morality of all recognised creeds and religions'
Although as previously mentioned some of the names have changed but their cults are visible and the same sacrifices are being demanded and freely offered from a new generation
Athena/Ishtar is being worshipped as Goddess by an evergrowing legion of predominently young girls drawn into the booming Wiccan earth mother religion and NewAgism . Unfortunately a concerted attempt is being made to co-opt our blessed lady into this abomination .
Knock shrine has chosen to stock material by the self proclaimed spiritual midwife and 'nun' Joyce Rupp.
Author Rupp claims to have learnt a lot from Eagle Crux a native American spiritualist and feels that she resonates with mystical islamic suffism . She tells us that everything is made of stardust including ourselves and that stones have as much right to be here as we have, infact more so because they have been here longer. Her books include how to draw sacred mandela dancing circles and even have the rites for the blessing of the sexual organs!
On Ireland she says that the Irish love of learning was first fostered by the wise druids and in the same article goes on to extoll NewAgism as valuable and that some in the church are envious of it because it draws people toward spiritual growth.
Here is an exerpt from 'Cosmic Dance' which so sadly had a big promotion by the management of the bookshop a while ago.

'Different from me , thousands of them . Holding hands, kissing, arms around each other, stretching me beyond the safe world of hetrosexuality. A gathering of lesbians challenging me to enter a world I never visit'

Infact so enamoured by the works of Ms Rupp the bookshop decided to entirely filled up it's front window with a selection of offerings from this author.
The invention of Mary as God is being attempted theologically as well philisophically by cloaking her in the mantle of Hagia Sophia the goddess Wisdom. Unfortunately Knock bookshop rather than defend our Lady against such enemies has chosen to abet them .'She who is' is one of the titles also stocked there that attempts to perpetuate the growing feminisation/paganisation of the christian faith. How Mary full of grace must weep to see the desecration that parades as choice by even the most senior gaurdians of this most sacred shrine .
The Goddess in new age speak is a representative of all the Goddesses. Lillith , Ishtar, Athena ,Sophia etc.
For todays Satanist Lillith is the star rising. Heres some words from one of the growing plethora of Satanist Web sites.
'Lillith is seen by many as a feminist role model, her worshippers today associate her with sexual freedom, especially non reproductive sex and various traditionally forbidden forms of sexuality, we regard her as the rising Queen of our age'.
The Satanist perspective continues.
' Lillith of all the rising Gods of the modern West is the one that is under greatest attack by Abrahimic fundamentalists and TRADITIONALISTS . Ishtar/Lillith queen of heaven will become the number one competitor for human worship in the West'.
Again to quote.
'Satan is a God who favours science and technology. Technology changes everything. Many things once considered deadly have been rendered harmless, conversly many things once considered reatively harmless are now potentially dangerous.'
Satanism has never been as popular, they even have their own flag of red and black . The Gothic nature of Satan worship is a big hit with the nihillistic outcasts of society . In the main these pale youths are the ones to whom the message of christ would be most needed and perhaps heeded .[ How sad that the promoters of the gospel seem to have little interest in their product nowadays, maybe they no longer have confidence in the manufaturer] .Goths can be seen on the trendy fringes of most large town centres and malls on a saturday afternoon. The pentangles, black biker boots , black trenchcoats and the pewter clawed index finger are the external indicators of their interior disposition .This growing band of societal outcasts become obssessed in their search for lifes meaning making themselves the only goal of their exsistence . In their frustration is it any wonder that this youth group are recorded as being the most susceptible to self harm and suicide.
Libertas was the ancient Roman Goddess of personal liberty . She had a temple atop one of the seven hills and is depicted as wearing a 'pileas' which is a felt cap once worn by freed slaves . Libertas reappeared during the french revolution as Lady liberty, again wearing the felt hat of freedom . In 1793 she replaced the blessed virgin at the alter of the Notre Damme de Paris cathedral when it was turned into the temple of reason . Today Libertas stands at the gateway of the new world and holds aloft the sacred torch of reason proclaiming 'Liberty enlightening the world.' She is the statue of liberty in New York harbour a gift cemented and instituted by a masonic trowel . She is the Light bearer.
'Light bearer' is the latin common noun for Lucifer!!
The Luciferian parallells with the creeds of the new world Babylon again should come as no surprise because they both share a harlot for a mother . Luciferian theology says that ' Lucifer was the real creator of this world and is truly Lord of the World . Lucifer is the angel of mans inner life, he is the angel of mans evolution . One does not walk the path one is the path . Lucifer comes to give us wholeness, if we accept it he is free and we are free.' Indeed for both the luciferian and the enlightened modernist the knowledge of good and evil, the apple of sin offered by the serpent Satan to Eve was not a curse but a gift, offering liberty from slavery to God . It was the gift of illumination the beginning of wisdom and the true acknowledgement of the divinity of Man.
Nature as a diety in herself is becoming more and more attractive to those souls that acknowledge the presence of the spirit but deny it's holy origins, prefering to accept the natural world as the kingdom of now, in preference to the supernatural Kingdom that is to come . The followers of the God Pan seem to fortify their belief in Nature as God by their growing observation that man is fast becoming a beast . Infact the more that man is seen to be fallen the greater they elevate nature as God.
There is a growing attatchement to the Norse Gods of Thor and Odin amongst extreme nationalists who see the Jewish social worker Christ as a betrayer , subvertor and emasculator of the virility of the manhood they believed once existed in the white warrior caste . Valkyries carrying the dead to the perpetual feasting halls of valhalla take the place of angels and the heavenly Jerusalem.
The Babylonian God Molech demanded the sacrifice of infants who were passed through the fire to him as appeasements . This God has sprung back to life with a vengence as the God of abortion . He offers in return for his burnt offering freedom from the burden and male imposed slavery of pregnancy and motherhood.
Bacchus the Greek god of wine and merry making seems all pervasive within the circles of the lukewarm . They live for their stomaches seeing the pleasure they get from feeding it as a means in it'self . They embark on a never ending search for satiation, a voyage that is doomed to never find it's fullfillment or to meet it's journeys end . Carnal appetites are elastic, the more they get the greater becomes their demand , you become like a man dying for lack of water yet the more he drinks the greater grows his thirst and the greater his desire to quench it.
Sex like food, being of the carnal order are bedfellows in this respect . Pornography taking the place of fast food and with it the insatiable appetite for more and greater graphic material . No wonder that the imperial banquet was usually followed by an orgy as it's last course . Mastery of our carnal nature can never be found in constantly giving in to it's increasing demands .The sence of spiritual emptiness and the sheer soul desolation that follows each disordered binge reveals the inadequecy of ever believing you can master something by repeatedly giving into it. Indeed it is by this repeated aquiecence that we become it's slave.
Man again is lost , only this time he has chosen to be lost in a futile attempt to hide from God . His dilema acknowledges the existence of interior life but in his pride he refuses to accept any help from the hands of true God preferring to penetrate his own reflection by staring in a glass darkly and becoming transfixed by his own reflection..
Interestingly unnoticed by the multitudes there was in the Pantheon the answer to their questions and at the same time the fullfillment of all the false Gods promised solutions to the enigma of mans condition.
St Paul as he strolled around Athens during his debating tours with the stoic philosophers[ who actually thought that the term resurrection was a goddess!!] came upon the Greek temple of the Pantheon of the Gods
Acts17;23
..'Because I noticed as I strolled around admiring your sacred monuments , that you had an alter inscribed ;To an unknown God . Well the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it'.

The nature of the Gods is evidenced by the sacrifices they demand. What price does Christ charge for the freedom he offers? It has already been paid on the cross. It's merits available from the temple of the living God , at the Mass.
All he asks in return is a dwelling place in your heart.
Most sacred heart of Jesus I place all my trust in thee.

Treasure Seekers

It might surprise you to learn that boys are searchers. It almost seems as if they are hardwired in this respect to go out and find, they hunt and they seek . They will first check out their immediate enviroment, then they will look under the settee and behind it and put their hands down the sides, feeling for what might have dropped down . They will search the cupboard, the wardrobe, the chest of drawers . They will risk life and limb climbing to the forbidden places . They dont know what they are searching for but they certainly know when they have found it . So many Dads seem to have a hidden stash, by stash I mean their little porn heap, their pile of mags, their 'gentlemans' perk.
How many of them are under the illusion that no one could possibly find their secret place or on the other hand just dont give a damn whether it is found or not, almost making their neglect a philisophical stance. They even attempt to justify this neglect by following the 'mature drinking' theory . The idea is that you allow a child the ability to access porn if they choose, so as to encourage the development of a responsible self policing attitude to it in later life . The problem however is that the very nature of porn, it's imbibition and it's consequences are invisible. Pornographic imagery can be brought to mind at any time, it can be mentally played with and chewed on all day long without anyone knowing . You can be thinking of your last delicious dose while your face looks dutifully downcast while listening to the lecture following being caught in the act of trawling the computer top shelf . The hunger for more and more, stronger and graphic imagery occurs when the current set of mental pictures start to loose their flavour and no longer produce the' hit '. It is no surprise that perverts prior to abusing their young victims expose them to pornographic material . This exposure to hard core pornographic material is used to illicict a concensual response to their overtures . Alcohol and drugs are also used in this fieindish process, the alcohol is not in itself the occasion of sin but is used to destroy the inhibition mechanism of the conscience . It is then after having bound their victims in these webs the stalker moves in for the thrill.
While the toxic nature of the chemicals in the alcohol and drugs, through abstinence can be cleaned from your body, the toxic nature of pornography is near impossible to erase from your brain.
For the drug addict or the alcoholic to go back into dependency he actually has to go out and find his panicea whether it be heroin or methadone, buckfast or carlsberg special brew . However for the porn addicted all he has to do is go to his memories and recall pictures or scenes and he has immediatly been re-exposed to his addiction.
The dynamics of sexual addiction have been increasingly well documented by numerous authorities, yet the information is seldom mentioned to teenagers. Few are aware that when one views pornography, powerful biochemical reactions are unleashed which can quickly lead to addiction . When a child is excited by an image , the adrenal gland secretes a chemical called epinephrine into the blood stream . This chemical then travels to the brain and locks in the image . From this point, the mind may recall the image at any time and trigger the feelings of arousal . The effect of this process is why so many adults can still vividly see the first pornographic image they saw as a youngster.
Other biochemicals are also at work which produce powerfull euphoric states in the porn viewer. Children experiencing this self induced chemical thrill naturally wish to do it again, [ this is true also of graphic violent images, where a child who is interested in one goes in search of the other ] The very act of of approaching pornography then creates a rush of expectation and anticipation before the first image is even viewed .
This can so often lead to ritualisation of porn to maximise the 'buzz' . Children who begin with casual viewing may suddenly find themselves consumed by recalled erotic images and be trapped in a cycle that requires ever more explicit imagery to achieve the same response. This childhood pre-exposure sadly often goes on to become a springboard to a future life of impurity and promiscuity .
Pornography, especially when first encountered by children leaves within them a disturbance, the waters that were and should have remained still have had a rock thrown into them . That thing that becomes disturbed goes on to affect not only adult life but relationships in marriage . Pornographic imagery promotes themes that are both degrading and unnatural, fostering expectations that are abusive and sinfull, depicting women as insatiable playthings . The sexual act itself through pornography becomes thoroughly dehumanised and desensitized.
Today we have a situation where internet access brings the filth down from on top of the wardrobe and into the childs bedroom . Parents are immigrants to the computer world, their children natives . If you have internet access in your home and children with the ability and the freedom to use it, then you have porn in your home .
There is an online party forum that estimates say 9 out of 10 teenage internet users have been active on . On that forum webcams are used to send public and private images of young people to complete stangers. Many of these images are pornographic, the childs computer terminal bedroom being the studio. Perverts pay via paypal using the digital mobile phone as an anonymous receiver.
Some children rather than going into town to 'hang out' choose to hang out around the computer terminal . Here they can visit the virtual Soho and enter invisibly any of the millions of ' adult shops' that they wish . They can take down and examine the glossy merchandise to fill up their mental store house, taking home with them the temptation to self abuse and the urge to carry out the distortions and gross perversions that they have viewed there on another person . As they walk blindly around this sexualising computer wonderland they are ever at the risk of propositioning by paedophile groomers who would freely admit that the internet is for them a dream come true.
The secret life of the modern Adrian Mole
'Adrian waited impatiently for his parents to go out and leave him 'master' of the home. After all did'nt they trust him? His first rush of anticipation came as he said a cheery 'BYE!' and the door shut.
The excitement grew as he booted up his computer. While he was loading , he would pull out a CD-ROM that he had hidden up and slip it into the drive. The disc contained hundreds of pornographic images that he had down loaded from his computer.
After viewing a handfull of pictures to feed his excitement he would log onto the internet and proceed to one of his favourte sites to indulge his insatiable quest for new images to add to his 'gold stash'.
It is in this scenario that so often a younger sibling perching at the shoulder finds his first initiation like some diabolical baptism and so the damage spreads . Many children are living a double life, one life the parent sees the other is a private life of self abuse of the body and of self harm to the spirit . This poison that so affects most of todays adults is deadly when administered to a child, there is a time for a child to wake, that time should never be hastened prematurely . Unchaperoned internet use by minors is abuse, period. It is to have abused the brief period of innocence that is the childhood right of all of us fallen adults . It seems that the mechanism by which society forces children to become grown ups sooner is simple, abuse them . The Devil must be delighted that his catch is so much greater by playing on the pride of some parents who feel that they must join in this crusade of extinguishing the light of childhood by educating their progeny with the knowledge of good and evil rather than innocence and purity.
Pope Pius XII put this dilema succinctly and so simply in his encyclical Miranda Porus.
'Everyone knows full well that very often children can avoid the transient attack of disease outside of their home, but cannot escape it when it lurks in the home itself . It is wrong to introduce risk in any form into the sanctity of the home.'
The bible can verify not only the holy Fathers concerns but the veracity of his words
Mathew 6;27
'The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. If then the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be'.
So many parents are oblivious to the content of their childs minds and to the growing cancer affecting their childs soul . They hope, but never ask, and they are never ever told . Like all addictions the addiction to pornography thrives in secrecy, mum and dad become seen not as loving good shepherds, but the patrolling heads of an inner city school playground,. People not to be trusted but people to be hidden from . Incredibly most parents today freely admit that they know little or nothing about what their children look at online! If your earthly guardian angels in the form of your parents are blind to the things taking place within the souls of their children only one person becomes the beneficiary, Satan, and where he guides even 'Angels' fear to tread .
If you suspect even remotely that your child may be being drawn into the web of internet pornography then you must talk with them, listen to them, pray with them . The deep wounds and the mental scars that each and every pornographic image leaves both in the mind, and deeper still in the soul are wounds that can never be completely healed . Like the disease malaria even after what seems an age in remission the symptoms can burst out again and again .
What you can do however is bury them . Every time an image presents itself for inspection it can be resisted, and everytime it is resisted it can be shoved further and further back down into the pit from whence it came . The best form of resistence is not to attempt to tear the temptation out by the root because that is exactly what the temptation wants, it wants attention and it is through that attention that the temptation gains strength . Rather than stand and fight, flee at the first sight . The way to flee each assault is through prayer, petition the good God and keep petitioning him until the presence of sin leaves you, and be assured it will, no matter how long it gives the impression that it is there for life . The futher you have fallen the longer and the harder the road to recovery, but you can by the grace of God be renewed no matter how fallen you had been . When you stand in judgement it will not just be for the things that you did, but also for the things that you failed to do on which you will be judged . Dont fail your children . Because if they are not with you in heaven then there is a strong chance are that both of you will be somewhere else.

Matt18;5
'But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his kneck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea'.
'Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptations comes !'

St Elizabeth Seton had a vision around a hundred and fifty years ago , it was a vision that then could not be properly understood . It was of a black box in the homes of every family , and it as from that box that the devil robbed souls. But perhaps the last word should go to Our Lady of Good Success, who referred in 1610 to events destined for the twentieth century.
..'Woe to the children of these times...In these unhappy times there will be unbridled luxury which acting thus to ensnare the rest to sin, will conquer innumerable frivilous souls who will be lost . INNOCENCE WILL ALMOST NO LONGER BE FOUND IN CHILDREN nor modesty in women, and in this supreme moment of need of the church, those who should speak will fall silent'