In the course of just one day last week, I ran into a truck with a drawing on the bumper of the devil with sizzling red static over his horns. On the back window was a Harley Davidson sticker.

A few minutes later another pickup that pulled up beside with a lewd silhouette of a woman and a reference -- all in good fun -- to the prince of darkness.

Soon after was a car with a sticker representing the hand gesture of horns.

That was probably in connection with some hip new heavy-metal group. The day before, I saw a vehicle with disturbingly direct profanity in bold letters on the back window (in broad daylight, at the grocery store). 

There is a spiritual war erupting (it's not just a cultural war), and the lewdness, the antagonism, the in-your-face rebellion is part of it.

The spirit is in the general populace and is bursting forth on a medium that few consider part of the media: car windows, side panels, and bumpers. It is a sign of the time.

There are cars with stickers that say "Blessed Be"; this is an expression of witchcraft. There is a popular one that says "Evil Inside." That's more direct -- a spoof but not a spoof. There are pentagrams. I have even seen bumper-stickers alluding to the anti-christ. In most cases, the folks sporting such slogans don't realize the implications. According to one major distributor of bumper-stickers, the biggest seller is one that says "Coexist" -- a message that is good on the surface save for the occult symbols that form the lettering.

Many of those sporting the wrong kind of message do it unknowingly, believing they are promoting world unity while they seem more a tool in the move toward one-world government.

Is war wrong? Yes, it is wrong. But few realize that the famous "peace symbol" -- used in everything from anti-war protests to ecology -- is derived by some reckonings from the upside-down "cross of Nero," (also known as the "witch's foot"). It can be seen as reflecting on the attempt to suppress Christianity (Peter, we recall, was crucified upside-down).

That's not usually meant: In most cases, folks are trying to say something they think is helpful. In other cases, however, the ribald, the heavy-metalish, and the spirit of rebellion (which Scripture says is the spirit of witchcraft), are fully intentional. Too common are skulls and crossbones -- or even "666" numbering. Why so many skulls? Why allusions to the anti-christ?

Most of the spiritual warfare via bumper stickers is fought in pro-life and pro-choice sloganeering, or in bumper-stickers that promote keeping Christ in Christmas. Two slogans, both displayed on bumper-stickers, one quite distastefully, sum it up: "You are here because your mother was pro-life" versus "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries."

Most intensely, it is fought in those "fish" symbols. Christians sport a fish with the Name Jesus in it, or a cross inside, or "ICTHUS," which means "Jesus," while disbelievers and evolutionists have cynically construed a fish symbol with legs and inside the name "Darwin."

It is the battle of the fish symbols, and it would be good for practicing Catholics to join it in a spirited way.

Although there are some who quibble with even the Christian fish symbol (seeing it as associated with the Mother Goddess, when it stands on the back fins, as opposed to horizontally, or even a fish deity known to the Philistines), the general interpretation reflects on the importance of fish in the Gospels -- fishers of men, as well as fish as the key diet among followers of Jesus.

The symbol is seen in the Greek word for fish (ichthus, spelled: Iota Chi Theta Upsilon Sigma). That is an acrostic which has many translations in English, the most popular appearing to be "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior."

In times of old, if two strangers met and were unsure whether each other was a Christian, one would draw an arc in the earth. If the other was a Christian, he would complete the symbol with a reverse arc, forming the outline of the fish.

It is like that now. Get those fish out there! Get those crosses displayed in or on your car. Some take issue with hanging rosaries from the rearview mirror, but if those rosaries are actually used to pray, perhaps they spread blessings, as well as make a statement at this time when Christians better make a statement.

Pray for everyone who has the wrong kind of bumper sticker. Don't despise them. Pray that they see the light and the cause of their bumper stickers will be reversed!

Pray for everyone. Sprinkle blessed salt out the window. Show your symbols -- or bumper stickers. Hide not the Light! On license plates can also be messages, as in the case of one who has written us and uses, "HNR MRY."

One fellow we know who owns a trucking company has the Archangel Michael on his 18-wheelers. Stand up for it!

My own favorite bumper-sticker?

I suppose the one that says, "God Bless Everyone. No Exceptions."

[tell us bumper stickers you have seen]

3/26/07