How many times have you received a letter, email or text message asking you to forward it to your friends and loved ones?
BEWARE! These seemingly innocent chain messages may, pardon the pun, chain us to the devil.
One important thing that we must realize is that the devil is the master of disguise. Satan hides under the veil of things that seem good in order to lure us to his side...
The Catholic Church actually considers chain letters (letters circulated by mail or email that carry with them a blessing and a curse. If a person fails to forward the chain letter, the curse can be the threat of bad luck. If the person continues the chain letter, he is promised good luck or other forms of prosperity.) as OCCULTIC and therefore AGAINST Church teachings.
To the unaware Catholic, sending out prayers to friends seems a good thing to do. What we often fail to realize is that the pretext of the "prayer" (or whatever religious stuff is being circulated) might make it an abomination rather than a blessing.
Many of these chain messages, upon careful examination vis-a-vis Church doctrine, are in fact unholy.
For example, a common chain mail warns the reader of bad luck if he doesn't pass it around. No matter how seemingly holy the content of the mail is, the CONTEXT is very evil. It undermines the justice, charity and love of God for mankind.
Others are more subtle-- like the email with a picture of Jesus which "encourages" the reader to circulate the email so that "something good" might happen to him and his friends. The reader is "enticed" to send it in exchange for personal reward. This makes it clearly not a blessing. The pictures and the words that sound like genuine prayers are just pictures and words-- the way they are used make neither of them holy.
So, next time you receive a chain message, I hope this helps you determine whether or not behind it is the devil luring unknowing victims to sin.
And if you spot an evil chain message, pray, pray, pray! Again, this short prayer to St. Michael will help:
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell satan and all the evil spirits
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
