With a Subtitle: A Mirror to Our Idols, Our Silence, and Our Spiritual Decline

A brief Excerpt: The Epstein files reveal a concerning state of affairs, highlighting the church’s idolatry and spiritual decline in America. The author urges mothers to become spiritual gatekeepers in the protection of their children.

The Author is: Ogo Cathern

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Trigger warning: This article contains content that some people may find disturbing.

I am not one who listens to the news. Partly to preserve my sanity, and partly to remove myself from the subtle brainwashing that often comes through propaganda.

And yet, every so often, a story refuses to be ignored.

The Epstein files were one of those stories. They followed me. Quite frankly, they haunted me. So I had to turn aside and look.

Let me be clear from the beginning: I am not writing about this topic because of what the files reveal. We have long had the privilege of knowing that such detestable things happen in America. So, the files themselves did not shock me. What shocked me was something deeper — the willful blind eye many Christians are turning to the name of their most beloved son, Donald Trump — whose name reportedly appears in these files 38,000 times.

That is no small number.

Some unsightly interactions have also been discovered and pointed out. Must I, for formality’s sake, insert “allegedly” about things the emails plainly spell out?

Before you conclude that I am a Democrat writing to malign the president, I am not. In fact, I was once a die-hard fanatic during his first election — until God revealed how He felt about the entire situation, and I had to abandon the cause.

And it is precisely because I once stood there that I can now speak plainly.

This brings me to my first point.

The Church Is Full of Idolaters

If the files reveal anything, they reveal what has already been forming in our hearts.

My local church is going through a transition. Our pastor is retiring, and a new pastor is being sought. In the meantime, an interim pastor has been selected to serve until another is hired.

This interim pastor has not been very well received — not because of his political views, but because of his lack of them.

Last Sunday, he reminded the congregation that we should not look to the White House for salvation. A silence fell over the room — not merely the absence of noise, but the kind of silence where you can almost hear people’s thoughts.

And the silence did not end there.

If you think this was only in my imagination, it was not. Concerns have already been raised in our small group discussions about how the pastor “brings politics into church.”

But here is the irony: what he said was neither new nor wrong. They knew it. They know it is true. But how dare he take a jab at America’s favorite son?

The “Cyrus of our time,” according to many — the one anointed by God Himself. I suppose some believe he has taken God’s place, because that is certainly where some Christians have positioned him.

God is not a politician. He is King. He does not run a democratic regime. He is sovereign. His words are final. He consults no one and takes counsel from no one.

He sees every heart and knows the intentions of all flesh.

He cannot be deceived — especially not by the words we speak.

How then dare we reduce Him to the level of a man — or worse, exalt a man to His throne by the subtle idolatry of our devotion?

And before anyone exempts themselves, let me widen the lens.

Perhaps someone reading this thinks it does not apply to them because they favor neither political party. But idolatry extends far beyond politics. It includes anything you place more importance on than God — no matter how innocent it may seem.

This is how I define Idolatry: it is anything that stops a person from serving God faithfully and continually according to God’s prescription for that individual.

If this is you — if you recognize that an idol has been sitting quietly in your heart (as they often do in all of us until revelation exposes them), and this message has caused you to see it — then this is not judgment but a call to repentance.

The Church in America Is in a Comatose State

Every time we gather as a church here in the West, I am amazed at how little we mention the Holy Spirit.

So I made a conscious effort in our small group to bring the Holy Spirit into our conversations. I was in disbelief at how tactfully He was avoided — whether deliberately or out of ignorance. To me, both looked the same.

Suddenly I realized; a church has been raised that believes the Holy Spirit should be avoided because He is too controversial — or perhaps because we simply do not know Him.

In that moment, I felt the grief of the Holy Spirit.

We have locked out the very Person sent to help us.

Which leads to a necessary question:

When did we forget that Christianity is a spiritual faith?

I have never read in Scripture that resisting the enemy requires endless mental analysis and physical activity. As a church, we simply talk too much.

Everyone has an opinion. The Word of God is never enough.

At what point do we just say, “Yes and amen. As it is pleasing to the Lord, let it be so”?

Are we not meant to be God’s representatives on earth, enforcing His will — “Let Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10)?

And yet, how can we enforce Heaven’s will if we refuse the very Spirit who carries it? Without the Holy Spirit, we are left with form but no power, structure but no strength.

When Jesus said, “On this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), He was not describing a passive posture. He was describing an advancing body — offensive against the schemes of the devil.

The Church is meant to represent God — His law-enforcement agents at a territorial level — engaging the enemy in warfare so that he is too busy and too restrained to touch our children.

Instead, we host Super Bowl parties at church. Prayer boards + pizza parties. Bible studies where we talk about everything except God. Intercessory meetings where donuts and coffee are essential.

We have lost our way.

And when the Church loses its way, the nation eventually follows.

Instead of repentance in proverbial ashes and sackcloth, we insist that a man can save us — idolizing him when he himself may be entangled in the unsightly underbelly of the United States.

God is not pleased.

And the evidence of His displeasure is not abstract. It is visible.

The War Against Our Children

If you want to see the fruit of spiritual negligence, look at what is happening to our children.

This point is both seen and felt. Many parents are taking physical action to protect their children, especially in the area of schooling — and that is commendable.

But once again, we reduce Christianity to a mental and physical religion.

The Bible says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

What we are witnessing in America is not merely moral decline — it is the consequence of sin. And sin is spiritual long before it ever becomes visible.

Hence, when a nation indulges and entertains sin at the level this country does, it opens its doors to a horde of demons. And debauchery is given room to thrive.

The result? A descent into madness.

And eventually, destruction — for even the land will vomit out its inhabitants when their cup is full (Leviticus 18:28).

Children are being sodomized left, right, and center. And before you assume this is limited to elites, think again.

There is an African proverb that says: the rot of a fish begins in its head. When those in high places open doors to darkness, it is not merely policy that shifts — it is the spiritual atmosphere of a nation that is altered. What is permitted at the top becomes empowered in the land. What leaders give themselves to gains legal ground to operate through the people.

The demons of sexual immorality and perversion have been unleashed, and America has become sex-crazed.

These heinous crimes are often committed by members of your immediate circle — fathers, mothers, uncles, aunties, pastors, teachers. They come in every form, shape, and size. And they do not have to be rich.

Plain, everyday Americans.

Yet there is nothing plain about individuals used by the enemy to fracture the souls of innocent children — planting seeds of trauma so they can be manipulated for years to come.

And this is where I want to speak directly to you.

I am writing this article to wake mothers up — not to paranoia, but to spiritual alertness.

If the Church will not engage satan at a territorial level, then it is time for you to suit up, Mom, and engage him at the gate of your home.

Wake up. Become the gatekeeper of your house.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).

So let me ask you:

How is your discernment?

Can you sense when something is off, even without physical evidence?

While the Church debates whether speaking in tongues is for today or only for the early Church, you must open your Bible and read it for yourself.

There is no more accurate way to pray than in the Spirit. “For we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).

If you are not baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, go to God sincerely and ask Him to fill you and grant you this gift.

And if you can already speak in tongues, praise God. It is time to exercise your spirit by praying in the Spirit for at least an hour a day — whether in one uninterrupted block or broken into more manageable segments throughout your day.

Jesus told His disciples, “Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Matthew 26:40–41). That is where I get the hour from.

Please stop waiting for external motivation.

I received the gift of speaking in tongues without anyone laying hands on me. I was alone in my room, in intense prayer. My heart was full of desire — desire to love and please God. As I prayed in my understanding, the room became charged. It felt as though an electrical current ran through my body, and suddenly I burst into unknown tongues. This continued for some time.

Since then, I have prayed freely both in tongues and in my understanding.

I share this not to elevate my experience, but to show you that you do not have to depend on any person to receive this gift — you depend on God alone.

My dear sister, as Scripture makes clear, we will pray amiss when we do not know the mind of God regarding any matter (Romans 8:26–27).

So I urge you: take this seriously. Go directly to God for the safety of your children — even if they are grown.

Anoint them regularly. Plead the blood of Christ over them.

Some things may slip past your discernment as you are growing. But nothing bypasses the blood of Christ.

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