My Kind of Biker Chick

Folks,

Here is one of my favorite ladies: Palin Kick-Starts Bus Tour on Back of Motorcycle. She can kill and gut a moose, catch and clean a salmon, hike and camp out with only a knife and a gun, rides snow mobiles and Harley Davidsons, bear children and raise a family, and show more Christian virtue than all the social justice fruit cakes and nuts put together. It's enough to drive the liberals into fits of apoplexy.

P.S., Unlike Barak Hussein Obama whom some pro-nuclear bloggers adore and worship if for no other reason than he is black, she also supports safe, clean nuclear energy.

US & NC Legislative Bills for Which the Bishops Have Issued Alerts

Folks,

I received the following message from the Respect Life Coordinator at the Parish where I attend Mass:

May 27, 2011

Dear Catholic Voice NC Participant,

The Bishops of North Carolina would like to keep you informed about legislation that is under consideration in Raleigh and Washington. Below is the first legislative update. Catholic Voice will continue to issue Action Alerts when a vote is pending.

Active Issues – Bills for which the Bishops have issued alerts.

A Woman’s Right to Know HB 854

A vote on this bill in the state senate could come during the week of May 30 -June 3.

On May 19, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services approved legislation that would ensure that women considering abortion are given complete and accurate information about the procedure and their unborn child. The measure, HB 854—Abortion-Woman’s Right to Know, was approved by a 6-4 roll call vote.

The measure will now go to the House floor for consideration.

This bill requires a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion could be performed in North Carolina. During that time a woman who is considering an abortion would be provided with the following information to make an informed decision:

• The name of the physician who will perform the abortion
• Medical risks associated with the procedure, including psychological risks
• The probable gestational age of the unborn child
• The medical risks associated with continuing the pregnancy to term
• Information about the opportunity to view an ultrasound and hear the heartbeat of her child
• Whether the abortionist has malpractice liability insurance
• The location of the hospital that offers obstetrical or gynecological care within 30 miles where the abortionist has clinical privileges, should hospitalization be necessary

Read the Bishop's Alert

Choose Life License Plate HB 289

On May 18, the House Transportation gave approval to HB 289—Authorize Various License Plates, a bill that would authorize numerous new specialty license plates for North Carolina drivers. Included among the list of new license plates is a Choose Life license plate, which proponents of the measure have tried to get authorized for nearly a decade.

The Choose Life license plate would cost drivers that opt to purchase the plate an extra $25 per year, with $15 going to the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, a nonprofit group that will distribute the funds to the state’s Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs). PRCs are non-profit, pro-life organizations located around the state that provide compassionate alternatives to abortion and help for women facing unplanned pregnancies, including counseling and other free-of-charge services.

After debate concluded, HB 289 passed by a voice vote, marking the first time the Choose Life plate has been able to receive a vote in committee since the legislation was first proposed. If HB 289 becomes law, North Carolina would become the 25th state to offer a Choose Life plate.

As with all bills seeking to authorize a specialized plate, HB 289 goes to the House Finance Committee for further consideration.

The bishop's first issued a Choose Life alert in 2009. Read the latest information on Choose Life license plates.

Issue that Catholic Voice NC is watching in the state legislature:

Marriage Protection Amendment S 106

Several thousand North Carolinians gathered outside the Legislature on May 17 to urge legislators to pass Marriage Protection Amendment legislation that would allow citizens to vote on whether to include the traditional definition of marriage in the State Constitution.

Participants urged legislators to pass S 106—Defense of Marriage, which would put a Marriage Protection Amendment on the 2012 ballot for voters to decide whether to amend the State Constitution to read, “marriage between a man and a woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”

Issue that Catholic Voice NC is watching in the United States Congress

No Taxpayer funding for Abortion - HR 3

This federal legislation passed the U.S. House of Representatives in early May by a vote of 275 to 151. The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate on May 5 where it is identified as S 906. It was referred to the senate Committee on Finance. Several published reports indicate that the bill is not likely to be considered by the full senate.

Read the Bishop's Alert

Thank you for your continued participation in Catholic Voice North Carolina.

Rise of Egyptian Nazi Party After Fall of Mubarak

Folks,

US President Barak Hussein Obama surrendered Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the Islamic fundamentalist fanatics which rose up in rebellion in Egypt. We now have the following: After Fall of Mubarak, Group Announces Intent to Form Nazi Party. In the meantime, anti-Semitic Obama has told Israel to return to the indefensible 1967 borders. I wonder if Obama realizes that the Nazis would as soon slit his throat (him being a non-Aryan black man) as the throat of any Jew. Given the fact that he supports abortion which disproportionately murdered 39 million black babies out of 60 million total babies in the US since Roe v Wade in 1973, we can conclude that his are the actions of a man bent on suicide for his entire race. But those who point that out are called racists for opposing him.

The False Five

Folks,

Yesterday Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV gave us a most timely video entitled, "The False Five." Here he discusses (a) False Liturgical Reform, (b) False Ecumenism, (c) False Social Justice, (d) False Inclusivity and (e) False Earth Stewardship. Each of these is summarized below.

False Liturgical Reform has resulted in a disbelief of and disrespect for the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. So-called Catholics - even many of those who attend Mass on Sundays - no longer believe in what Jesus declared in John 6:26-69, specifically verses 53 through 56: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him."

False Ecumenism has resulted in generations of people who see no real difference between the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and Protestantism. While I have nothing but respect for my dear Protestant friends, what Martin Luther, John Calvin and the other so-called Reformers did in the 1500s was to split the Body of Christ into parts that now number 33000. Yet today we are now told to compromise the principles of 2000 years of the Faith once delivered unto the Saints in a misguided attempt at unity. Thus does the liberal progressive infestation within the Church seek to nullify the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane as recorded in John 17.

False Social Justice has completely inverted the natural hierarchy of God first and then Man, as a result of which much of what the Church teaches has been perverted for the sake of advancing a political agenda (i.e., Marxism) cleverly disguised as something authentically Catholic. That political agenda pushes abortion, contraception, sterilization and euthanasia - in short, the culture of death. Jesus made the correct hierarchy very clear in John 6:27, "Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal." It is NOT the gospel of social justice and the common good; it is the Gospel of Conversion and Repentance.

False Inclusivity is the code word for radical feminism and homosexuality within the Church and the world at large. This agenda pushes for the ordination of women as priests and for the accomodation of the filth of homsexual sodomy as a civil right. St. Paul's position on inclusivity is very clear in 1st Corinthians 6:9-10: "Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God."

False Earth Stewardship is supported by a crowd woefully misled or miserably deceitful, intent on sizeably reducing the population through contraception and abortion. Here the creatures over whom God gave to Man dominion (Genesis 1:28-29) are elevated above God and Man even to the death of the Man Christ Jesus on the Cross, and this adoration of the creature rather than the Creator is exactly as St. Paul described it in Romans 1:19-23.

Truth Divides

Folks,

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV has some hard words to say, but they are remarkably consistent with the topic discussed this past week at this blog site.

Truth Divides

Now in this discussion he notes the position of the Church with regard to the Holy Eucharist - that the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity are made present under the appearances of bread and wine during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I note with interest that as I was reading Josh McDowell's Protestant book, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, he quotes what St. Justin Martyr (100 - 165 AD) says about the reading of the Word at Mass, but then cuts off from the quote any mention by St. Justin Martyr about the Holy Eucharist. Apparently what the New Testament Church and the Fathers of the Church who came directly after the Apostles practiced and believed is not what Protestant Josh McDowell practices and believes, and certainly not what the liberalism in the Catholic Church teaches the Faithful. Chapter 67 of St. Justin Martyr's First Apology describes what the early Christian Church really believed and practiced, to which Michael Voris refers in his video.

Of the Eucharist

And this food is called among us Eucharista [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.

For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.

For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, This do in remembrance of Me, this is My body; and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, This is My blood; and gave it to them alone.

Weekly Worship of Christians

And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost.

And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.

Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen:

And there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.

Either we believe the words of Jesus Christ in John 6:26-66 or we don't. Either we accept the whole and entire Bible as the Church has received and interprets it or we don't, for 2nd Peter 1:20 states, "Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation..."

The Rebellion of John Allen and the National 'Catholic' Reporter

Folks,

St. Paul knew well how to deal people like John Allen and the rest at the National 'Catholic' Reporter who openly support the infanticide of the unborn and the filth of homosexual sodomy:

"Some, by rejecting conscience, have made a shipwreck of their faith, among them Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." (1st Timothy 1:19-20)

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman at Lifesite News provides an excellent and sobering discussion on the same:

John Allen's Strategy for Legitimatizing Catholic Dissent

People like John Allen should simply move on over to the fruits and nuts within Episcopal Church USA run by Bishopress Schori who legitimatizes all manner of murder and sexual deviancy. Once there they can stand in awe of the Bishopress' rainbow mitre of diversity and tolerance.


Thanks go to Jim McCrea for pointing out this article.

Is Catholic Prayer Vain Repetition?

Folks,

The other day I was discussing prayer with someone who asserted that Matthew 6:7 forbids repetition of prayer as vain. The Catholic Answers web site has a rebuttal to this assertion that is well worth the reader's review:

Is Jesus Against Catholic Prayer?

Matthew 6:7-8 states, "And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Concerning this, a few excerpts are noteworthy:

"That is an interesting text, but why did you [the objector) stop at the end of verse 8? In verse 9, Jesus says explicitly, 'Pray then like this.' He then goes on to teach us to pray the Lord’s Prayer (the Our Father). If Jesus was against standardized prayers, why did he give us one to pray? And I presume you (the objector) would agree that he wanted us to pray this on many occasions."

"Not all repetition is vain. Consider the prayers spoken of in Revelation 4:8 offered day and night without ceasing: 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!' Another repetitious prayer pleasing to God is contained in Psalm 136: 'For his steadfast love endures for ever.' This phrase is repeated over twenty-five times. Finally, Matthew 26:44 tells us that Jesus himself prayed the same prayer three times in the garden in Gethsemane."

Another type of valid repetition that both Protestants and Catholics engage in without violating Jesus' stipulation above is hymn signing. Hymns are often nothing but prayers that are being sung, and verses are verbally repeated through conclusion of the prayer, i.e., song. If Jesus never intended us to repeat prayers, then aside from the obvious question as to why it's OK to pray the Lord's Prayer that He gave us, why do Protestants sing their prayers, calling them hymns?

For me, one of the greatest treasuries of prayer includes the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and the Holy Rosary. In the case of praying the Rosary, the entire practice is a meditation on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the case of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the practice is a meditation on the Passion and Death of our Blessed Lord and Savior. But because Protestants don't know the meditations behind the prayers, to them it is vain repetition. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the Rosary, we pray the Our Father (i.e., the Lord's Prayer which derives from the Gospel of Matthew) and the Hail Mary (the words for which derive from the Gospel of Luke) as we progress along the five decades of beads. Each day of the week has a different set of meditations that come from the New Testament. On Mondays and Saturdays the meditations are the Joyful ones, including the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel, Mary's Visitation with Elizabeth, the Nativity, Jesus' Presentation to Simeon and Anna, and the Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple. On Thursdays the meditations are the Luminous ones, including the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, the Turning of Water into Wine at Cana, the Preaching of the Good News, the Transfiguration and the Last Supper. On Tuesdays and Fridays the mediations are the Sorrowful ones, including Jesus Praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (where He repeats His prayer three times), Jesus Being Whipped, Jesus Being Crowned with Thorns, Jesus Carrying the Cross and Jesus Being Crucified. On Wednesdays the meditations are the Glorious ones, including Jesus' Resurrection, Jesus' Ascension into Heaven, the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (prefiguring 1st Thessalonians 5:17), and the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (as recorded in Revelation 11:19-12:1).

In the case of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy a similar breakdown of meditations can be used while progressing along the Rosary beads during conduct of the prayer sequence: the first decade is a meditation on the nail piercing Christ's right hand, the second a mediation on the nail piercing His left hand, the third a mediation on the nail piercing his right foot, the fourth a mediation on the nail piercing his left foot and the fifth a mediation on the sword that pierced His side when He hung dead on the Cross. True, we do repeat the "Eternal Father" prayer on the large beads and the "For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion" prayer on the small beads, but the repetition is designed to focus the mind and spirit on what Jesus did for us as He hung on that awful tree so long ago.

As for prayer of vain repetition that sounds like babbling (i.e., the Greek word Battologeo translated as "vain repetition" in the King James Version), that was what the false prophets of Baal uttered in 1st Kings 18:25-29. St. Paul also addresses anarchy in prayer in 1st Corinthians 14:23 where people in the assembly are all speaking in tongues and an unbeliever, on arriving and seeing this, declares the assembled ones to be out of their minds (St. Paul's words, not mine). Now no, that doesn't means the speaking is tongues is always battologeo; but it does mean that it can be abused and become a scandal just as Protestants assert that the Rosary can be abused and become a scandal. Prayer and speaking in tongues should be done with the rules of order that St. Paul gave in chapter 14 of his first letter to the Church at Corinth.

But to return to the point at hand, in attending Twelve Step Meetings, I have been told that I have what is called a "built-in forgetter," that is, when left to my own devices, I will tend to forget what is important while focusing on what feels good. I suspect that most people (alcoholic, addicted or otherwise) suffer from a similar affliction. Therefore, the repetition is invaluable in reminding us of who and what is important. And when I don't know what to pray for, yet need to pray, the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy provide focus, direction and comfort. Thus does Romans 8:26 state:

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

I love my Rosary. When my wife took the children and left me back in 2007, it was praying the Rosary that bought me enough time till I could get to a good Catholic priest and to a 12 Step Meeting. When I had to show up a divorce court, it was praying the Rosary that gave me the peace of mind I needed to make it through. Whenever I have had to face some seemingly insurmountable crisis or problem, praying the Rosary saw me through to the end. It provided me with focus and direction that mere spontaneous and extemporaneous prayer didn't provide. That statement, however, in now way is intended to denigrate spontaneous and extemporaneous prayer. Rather, the Church encourages that. All I am saying is that Protestants mis-identify the repeating prayers Catholics use as the battologeo referred to in the Gospel of Matthew, and often fail to identify and correct when they commit battologeo (e.g., 1st Corinthians 14:23).

Refuting an Attack on the Deuterocanonicals

Folks,

There is a great discussion defending the position of the Catholic Church with regard to the Deuterocanonical Books in the Old Testament at the following web links:

Refuting an Attack on the Deuterocanonicals

Catholic vs Protestant Bibles by Greg Witherow

This is a followup to Tuesday's post, Incorrect Protestant Doctrine on the Deuterocanonicals (Apocrypha).

Here is a summary of the facts:

1. The Canon of the Old Testament is revealed to the Church which holds the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, NOT the Jewish pseudo-council at Jamina or any other Jewish group.

2. The objection that since the Deuterocanonicals were written in Greek vice Hebrew and Aramaic, they shouldn't be included in the canon is fallacious for two reasons: (a) the New Testament is written in Greek and on that logic shouldn't be a part of the canon, and (b) fragments of many of the Deuterocanonicals have been found in Aramaic among the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the late 1950s.

3. Contrary to the false assertions of many Protestant scholars, Jesus, the disciples and St. Paul all use and quoted from the Deuterocanonicals. In fact, the Bible used by the early Church was the Greek Septuagint of which Tobit, Judith, Barauch, Wisdom, Sirach and 1st and 2nd Maccabees were an integral part. A listing of where the Deuterocanonicals are quoted within the New Testament may be found at the following web page:

Deuterocanonical Books in the New Testament

4. The objection that since the Deuterocanonicals are not written with the same "feel" as what some derive from the other Scriptures, they must not be Scripture is equally fallacious if only because of its resort to the subjectivity of the reader's opinion. Scripture is Scripture regardless of one's personal feeling.

5. The assertion that what is written in the Deuterocanonicals contradicts other Scripture is false for all the reasons given at the aforementioned web pages whose content the reader is encouraged to review and study.

The bottom line is this: there are 73 books in the Canon of Sacred Scripture, NOT just 66. The Roman Catholic and Easter Orthodox Churches did NOT add these books; rather, they were in the Canon since the beginning of the Church and were removed in the 1500s by mere mortal men in rebellion against the Church, the Bride of Christ, and hence the Holy Spirit. The reason why they were removed is because of their distinctively Catholic and Orthodox flavor which men of ego and hubris found abrasive to their self-seeking and self-promoting pride. Only the Church that Jesus Christ founded on the Rock that is Peter has the authority to tell us what is in the Canon and what isn't - not Martin Luther, not John Calvin, not John Knox, nor any of the others. Perhaps in this instance Revelation 22:18-19 may be applied to the rejection of the Deuterocanonicals, considering that upwards of 900 million Christians have been misled:

I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book.

Red Church, Blue Church

Folks,

You can't be liberal and be authentically Christian. Period. It is possible to be conservative, but it is better to be Constitutionalist, and it is best to be Catholic. Jesus told Pontius Pilate, "My Kingdom is NOT of this world."

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV offers the following explanation: Red Church, Blue Church

The Liberal Mind Explained

Folks,

The American Catholic blog site on May 23rd offered an excerpt from Andrew Klavan on the Culture, entitled The Liberal Mind Explained. Please take the 4 minutes and 26 seconds necessary to listen to Mr. Klavan. Once again he is right on the mark.

Incorrect Protestant Doctrine on the Deuterocanonicals (Apocrypha)

Folks,

As I have been reading Josh McDowell's work, "The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict," I came across the following paragraph (and succeeding ones) concerning the Deuterocanonical Books which Protestants call the Apocrypha.

"In the fourth century AD, Jerome was the first to name this group of literature Apocrypha. The Apocrypha consists of the books added to the Old Testament by the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants reject these additions as canonical Acripture."

First, the books in question are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, and the Greek portions of Daniel and Esther.

Second, the Roman Catholic Church did not add these books; rather they were removed by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the other so-called reformers on their own recognizance in defiance of 1500 years of acceptance by the Christian Universal (i.e., Catholic) Church.

Third, the books were an integral part of the Greek translation of the Old Testament used by the Jews from 200 BC to 90 AD, and by the Apostles and early Church Fathers from the very beginning.

Fourth, a Jewish pseudo-Council at Jamnia rejected these books in 90 AD because the early Christian community used them; thus, the Protestant so-called reformers defaulted back to the anti-Christian sentiment of the Jewish pseudo-Council of Jamnia.

Fifth, contrary to Josh McDowell's later claim that the New Testament writers never quoted from these seven books, examples abound where in fact they did (e.g., compare St. Paul's discussion on the Armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-20 with Wisdom 5:17-21). Protestants who make ludicrous claims like these have likely never read and studied the Deuterocanonicals.

Now the reason why this quite frankly irritated me is because of the lie inherent in the statement, "...added to the Old Testament by the Roman Catholic Church." The fact of the matter is that the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches have accepted these books as canonical from the earliest Church Councils well before St. Jerome's translation into Latin, and rebellious men in protest against the See of St. Peter, the Rock upon which the one universal Church is founded, rejected the Holy Spirit's inspiration for a man-made canon designed to meet their man-made doctrines and traditions. More on this subject may be found at the following web links:

The Council That Wasn't: The Myth of Jabneth and the Old Testament Canon by Steve Ray
http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2004/0409fea4.asp

The Old Testament Canon at the Catholic Answers Web Site
http://www.catholic.com/library/Old_Testament_Canon.asp

I don't like disinformation, particularly from a scholarly man like Josh McDowell whose work I have quoted extensively before here at this blog site. Indeed, for all their protestations against tradition, Protestants do more to hold onto their man-made traditions than to study history and understand the facts as they are. The only one to whom Jesus gave the authority to bind and loose, the only one to whom Jesus gave the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, is the One Holy Catholic (i.e., Universal) and Apostolic Church. I have great respect for my Protestant brothers and sisters. The evangelicals and Pentecostals among them often do more with one and a half sacraments (Baptism and Communion as a mere remembrance) than most Catholics do with all seven. But the fulness of grace and truth reside with the See of Peter.

Indeed, when Martin Luther was removing the Deuterocanonicals from the Protestant "canon," he also tried removing the Letter of St. James (because he didn't like its teaching that faith without works is dead), the Letter of St. Jude (because he didn't like its reference to the truly Apocryphal Book of Enoch) and the Book of Revelation (because of its extensive use of eschatological symbology). So why do Protestants think that Martin Luther in the 1500s (and, by the way, the anti-Christian Jewish rabbis at Jamnia in 90 AD) was right about the Old Testament canon and wrong about the New Testament canon? What gives him, a "Protestor" against the See of Peter (i.e., a Protestant), more authority than what Jesus gave to the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? If the Church was wrong in the 1500s, then for how long was it wrong, and why doesn't that invalidate Jesus' promise to St. Peter in Matthew chapter 16 that the Gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church? Indeed, if Protestants are correct, then Jesus is a liar and the entire edifice of Protestantism falls on its head.

Now to my dear Protestant friends, I apologize if that offends you, but you have to start thinking about the logical implications of what you believe. Jesus founded ONE Church, not 33 thousand splinter groups each claiming to be THE way. Nevertheless, NO ONE is saying that the Holy Spirit doesn't move among our Protestant brethren, nor is anyone saying that you aren't "saved." Rather, what is being said is this: all salvation derives from Jesus Christ through His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is like a massive ocean going vessel, and the closer the littler boats of Protestantism are to its wake, the greater the likelihood that they'll make it through the storms of the centuries.

A few statistics are appropriate mentioning here. There are 2.2 billion Christians on Earth. 1.1 billion are baptized Roman Catholics. The Eastern Orthodox Church has another 200 million adherents. The rest (some 900 million) are divided among 33000 different Protestant Denominations (each claiming to be THE way) ranging from Episcopal and Lutheran to Baptist and Methodist to Pentecostal and Fundamentalist to Mormon, Jehovah Witness and Christian Science. If what Protestants claim is true, then Jesus prayer that we all be one was in vain.

What Is a Liberal?

Folks,

I got the following short description from a comment by someone at a different blog site.

A liberal is a person who is:

Valiantly fighting the injustices
Caused by the last generation of liberals
Thus providing injustices
To be valiantly opposed
By the next generation of liberals

The Agnostic World

Folks,

In continuing our discussion from Josh McDowell's work, "The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict," the following excerpt on agnosticism merits consideration.

The Agnostic World

Because of the difficulty of defending an atheist position, most irreligious people adopt the position of agnosticism.

Once again this term is made up of two Greek terms. "A" meaning "no," and "gnosis" meaning "knowledge." So the term simply means "no knowledge." An agnostic person is not sure if there is a God.

The philosopher's concept of agnosticism is often different from the popular conception of it. Kant and others held that we CAN NOT know if God exists. Most agnostics would say that they are agnostic because they DO NOT know of God's existence. The first group has ruled out the possibility of knowing God altogether. The later is still waiting, knowing only that they do not currently have a knowledge of God. So there are two different ways of defining "no knowledge." The first is that there is no knowledge possible. The second is that there is no knowledge obtained.

Kant's epistemology results in agnosticism, the claim that nothing can be known about reality. Norman Geisler comments: "In its unlimited form [agnosticism] claims that all knowledge about reality (i.e., truth) is impossible. But this itself is offered as truth about reality." (Geisler, CA,135). Geisler and Peter Bocchino summarize the self-defeating nature of the claim: "The fundamental flaw in Kant's hard agnostic position is his claim to have knowledge of what he declares to be unknowable. In other words, if it were true that reality cannot be known, no one, including Kant, would know it. Kant's hard agnosticism boils down to the claim: 'I know that reality is unknowable.'" (Gesiler and Bocchino, WSA, n.p.)

Most people, however, limit agnosticism to the belief that you can't know whether God exists, not other forms of reality."

Whichever way one slices it, both agnosticism and atheism are dead ends in logic, and the people who wilfully hold onto such dead ends in spite of the evidence to the contrary will sadly find themselves just as dead. "For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse..." Romans 1:19-20

The Atheistic World

Folks,

The following text is an excerpt from Josh McDowell's work, "The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict."

The Atheistic World

The word "atheism" comes from two Greek words. "A meaning "no" and "theos" meaning "God." An atheist, then, is one who claims there is no God, which is a most difficult proposition to defend. An atheist, to be consistently assured that his belief is accurate, must also claim to be omniscient, for there is always the possibility of the existence of God outside his knowledge. And considering the fact that most people would claim to possess only a small fraction of all the knowledge in the universe, the odds of God existing outside of one's knowledge are extremely high.

Many people I meet have never even heard, much less considered, much of the evidence presented in these notes. I hadn't either until I set out to refute Christianity. And this is why I have pulled this evidence together: to give everyone, especially atheists, an opportunity for a new life based on the truth of Jesus' claims. For if there is truly no God, the future is dim for society and the individual. Consider Dostoyevsky's brilliant portrayal of culture without God in The Brothers Karamazov: "But what will become of men then?...without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like? Didn't you know?" (Dostoyevsky, BK, 312)

Dostoyevsky continues:

It's God that's worrying me. That's the only thing that's worrying me. What if He doesn't exist? What if Ratkin's right - that it's an idea made up by men? Then if He doesn't exist, man is the chief of the earth, of the universe. Magnificent! Only how is he going to be good without God? That's the question. I always come back to that. For whom is man going to love then? To whom will he be thankful? To whom will he sing the hymn? Ratkin laughs. Ratkin says that one can love humanity without God. Well, only a sniveling idiot can maintain that. Life's easy for Ratkin. "You'd better think about the extension of civic rights, or even keeping down the price of meat. You will show your love for humanity more simply and directly by that, than by philosophy." I answered him, "Well, but you, without God, are more likely to raise the price of meat, if it suits you, and make a rouble on every copeck." (Dostoyevsky, BY, 314)

But it is more than just the idea of God that is important. There must be a reality of God and His ability to actually and substantially change a person from the inside out.

If you look at how atheists typically feel at the end of their lives, there is motivation to investigate the possibility that God has revealed Himself to us in Christ.

"Sartre found atheism 'cruel,' Camus 'dreadful,' and Nietzche 'maddening.' Atheists who consistently try to live without God tend to commit suicide or go insane. Those who are inconsistent live on the ethical or aesthetic shadow of Christian truth while they deny the reality that made the shadow." (Geisler, BECA, 282)

Not long before his death Sartre said, "I do not feel that I am a product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God." (Scharwz, SS, as cited in Varghese, ISOGA, 128)

My prayer is that all who read these noted will come to know the One who has literally "expected, prepared, and prefigured" us for a life of meaning and purpose through Jesus Christ.

Tonight's Humor - The Kitler Cat

Folks,

In response to yesterday's post "Lenin Obama", a reader pointed out that not only are there Lenin cats just as there are Lenin politicians (e.g., Obama), there are Kitler cats just as there are Hitler politicians (e.g., Mahmoud Ahmadinejad).

I am truly in amazement, and yes, there is a You Tube video on the same:

♥☺ Cats That Look Like Hitler ♥☺ Sieg Heil Kitler 8-11

Now lest anyone think I have gone off the deep end, Hitler's Nazism and anti-Semitism is as deplorable and tragic and evil as Obama's liberalism and infanticide of the unborn. And unlike Obama with his recent statement against Israel that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has courageously faced down, I hope Israel puts all the Islamic fascists into their rightful place - back in the stone age. Indeed, the comparison of Obama with Hitler instead of with Lenin is perhaps more appropriate given Obama's obvious anti-semitism.

Whatever the case may be, the Kitler cat is certainly not Hitler or Obama. And the video, while perhaps offensive to the thin skinned, I found to actually be quite funny.

How Many Will Be Saved?

Folks,

The following video from Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV is most sobering:

How Many Will Be Saved?

It is a tragedy that most of mankind would willingly chose hell - the absence of God - over the love of His Son for them. The time grows short. Now is the day of repentance, the time for salvation. I don't want anyone to go to hell: not my atheist ex-wife, not my liberal detractor Salvage who frequents not comment boxes of this blog site, not any liberal however much I loathe liberalism, not President Obama, not Nancy Pelosi, not even my worst enemy, and certainly not myself. But there is only one way to Heaven and that's through Jesus Christ.

Lenin Obama

Folks,

There is resemblance between the puss jutting Lenin cat and the jaw jutting Obamessiah in the following pictures. How anyone - especially a certain blogging nuclear engineer - could vote for this godless man of sin and be proud of having done so is beyond understanding. Thanks go to Catawissa Gazetteer for finding the Obama photo. I was looking high and low last night for such a photo to match Lenin cat.

Leading Korean Prelate Rips Nuclear Energy

Folks,

Catholic Culture has an article entitled, "Leading Korean Prelate Rips Nuclear Energy." The prelate in question is Bishop Peter Kang U-il of Cheju. His statement was made following a visit to Fukishima Daiichi.

As I have commented on a pro-nuclear power blog site whose blog meister adores Obamamessiah, while I think the Bishop's sentiment is wrong, I will not engage in a correction of or rebuttal to his statement. Why? Because too many pro-nuclear energy bloggers (1) worship the works of man's hands (i.e., nuclear energy) and that is idolatry (think Tower of Babel when considering Fukushima Daiichi), and (2) support the most wicked Administration to yet occupy the Oval Office, an Administration that advances infanticide of the unborn as the right to choose and the filth of homosexual sodomy as civil rights.

I also pointed out the following. While nuclear energy has been around for 60 years or so, the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church has been around for 2000 years and the gates of hell have NOT and will NOT prevail (Matthew 16:18). Man's hubris will lead him to heights of fancy, but one ripple on that great pond we call the Pacific can render his mightiest works in total ruin. And lest anyone think that the Sendai earthquake and tsunami of March, 2011was God's punishment, consider well how Jesus' words in Luke 13:1-5 can and will apply to a nation whose godless President of sin and perdition glorifies in the infanticide of the unborn and the filth of homosexual sodomy:

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them -- do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"

Buckle up, folks, especially you pro-nukes who are liberal. You're worse than the anti-nuke greenie-weenie eco-wackoes because (being so educated in science) you should know better. The fact is that no amount of nuclear energy can save a nation whose people and President refuse to repent. "Make no mistake: God is not mocked, for a person will reap only what he sows..." (Galatians 6:7)

Is Hell Real?

Folks,

There is a heresy among liberals within both Protestantism and Catholicism that Hell isn't real. The heretics who make that claim will sadly find out one day how wrong they are. Please watch this video from Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV.

Is Hell Real?

Marxopoly - Otherwise Known as Obamopoly

Folks,

A blogger by the pseudonym of American Knight made the following comment at a different blog site which deserves to be reprinted here:

I prefer to play Marxopoly. It is a neat little game. I am the banker, no one else can be the banker. I print as much money as I want and I let some of the other players have some, of course, they owe me. I sit back and let them buy property, collect rent, etc. They have to make interest payments to me on the money I loaned them. I am always wealthier than all of them combined and every so often I will bankrupt one of them and take their property by crashing the market, of course I only take the choicest properties and I bail out some of the others so that they are even more indebted to me.

They think they are engaged in a free market game and I just sit back and control everything through debt. if any of them catch on, I have the others wage war on the recalcitrant. Of course, they have to borrow more from me to wage the war and I make sure it lasts for a long time by funding both sides.

We should play sometime. I always get to be the shark.

The entry that inspired this comment may be found at the American Catholic blog site:

Why Doesn't Warren Buffet Pay Extra Taxes?
http://the-american-catholic.com/2011/05/16/why-doesnt-warren-buffet-pay-extra-taxes/#comments

The Irony of Modern Atheism Masquerading as Science

Folks,

Someone at a different blog site made the following observation:

What is ironic about the trend of modern science is this: on the one hand we have a physics that uses the most sophisticated and subtle models to describe what are after all tiny artifacts (much smaller than an atom), and whose experimental verification requires the labours of legions of highly educated physicists, engineers and administrators. And on the other hand we are assured that the human mind that attempts to comprehend all this is nothing but the product of random Darwinian evolution.

Then another responded equally correctly:

Most of us expect scientists to have open minds so they can be receptive to unexpected findings, so they can grasp nuanced possibilites, so they can interpret complex data. I think what we often get - even from our respected science "lions" is geared for grant writing and personal gain.

Whenever an atheist talks about science having disproven God, what he really wants is the money for money, power and self ARE his gods.

More on Atheism and Steven Hawking from the American Catholic Blog Site

Folks,

Once again it appears that physicist Steven Hawking, however great his brilliance in quantum mechanics and relativistic physics may be, has delved into the world of philosophy with the disastrous results entirely understandably and typical when coming from an atheist. The reader may learn more at the following web link for the American Catholic's blog entry, "Once Again Real Life Imitates South Park:"

http://the-american-catholic.com/2011/05/17/once-again-real-life-imitates-south-park/

The article quotes Msgr. Pope as pointing out:

When asked what is the value of knowing why are we here, Hawking replied, “The universe is governed by science. But science tells us that we can’t solve the equations, directly in the abstract. We need to use the effective theory of Darwinian natural selection of those societies most likely to survive. We assign them higher value.” This is so limiting. It is also philosophy, not science to say this. Mr Hawking is entitled to have a philosophy, but when he says the world is “governed by science” and then goes on to philosophize, that looks pretty silly and contradictory. Further, Mr. Hawking, if you ask me, is edging dangerously close to eugenics in what he says here. What exactly assigning a “higher value” to certain societies looks like as a practical matter is uncertain in what he says, but I sense a growing darkness here, not light. Margaret Sanger and Adolph Hitler may well be smiling as he says this. BEWARE!

Someone in the comments section, however, gave a different twist:

Hawking's first wife, the one he had his three kids with, was and is a devout Christian and they apparently were in conflict about religion, and many other things, quite a bit. Never ignore the personal factor when someone’s “scientific” theories just happen to mesh perfectly with what they want to believe or disbelieve.

As usual, an atheist isn't an atheist because logic or reason or science or mathematics leads him to be atheist. An atheist is an antheist invariably because of deep-seated feelings of anger and resentment, and thus do people like Josef Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Jong and the rest come to power. They start in anger, migrate to resentment, and grow to full blown murder and mayhem. Upwards of one hundred million people were murdered during the 20th century in the name of Steven Hawking's atheism, and in these United States 60 million unborn babies have been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency since SCOTUS's decision on Roe v Wade in 1973 all because the unborn aren't fittest to survive, atheism's chief slogan of Darwinian Natural Selection. I don't know if it's fortunate or unfortunate, but with this mindset, atheists will breed themselves out of existence.

We may note with irony that if society were completely fashioned in the philosophy of Darwinian Natural Selection as Dr. Hawking advocates, then he with his Lou Gehring's disease would not be fit to survive and would have to be "put down" as a useless drain on society's resources. I am certain Dr. Hawking hasn't followed through on the logical conclusion of his atheist philosophy, and he really is incapable of so doing because his sentiment originates in his opposition to his first wife and her religion.

Atheism is always personal and stays so until it kills off everyone. It's Satan's tool and Satan wants nothing more than for people to NOT believe.

Contraceptive Sex by Jim McCrea

Contraceptive Sex by Jim McCrea

Contraceptive sex denies pro-creativity, but it is not properly unitive as well. For in such a sexual act, one is withholding one's fertility, so one is holding back one's whole self.

Does one have sex with one's spouse to unite with him or her, or does one do so to get pleasure?

That is a subtle but crucial distinction.

Unadulterated sex between spouses fosters true love, whereas contraceptive sex fosters selfishness.

Turning the Tables on Atheism

Folks,

The Zenit News Agency has two great articles on atheism that basically together constitute an interview with Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid on a book that he and Kenneth Hensley wrote, entitled, "The Godless Delusion: A Catholic Challenge to Atheism." A few excerpts are noteworthy:

A significant incoherence in atheist thought becomes clear when atheists insist, on the one hand, that the natural order is governed by the blind, random forces of nature, resulting in the "survival of the fittest" evolution of species and yet, on the other hand, they complain about the problem of evil, or decry violent acts of Muslim jihadism, or excoriate those who engage in "immoral" behavior, especially among those who believe in God (and most especially among Christians).

But if, as atheists claim, God does not exist and all of us are simply the byproducts of natural selection’s "survival of the fittest," why shouldn’t the strong among us dominate and kill off the weak? Why shouldn’t we adopt an "every man for himself" attitude and get what we want from whomever we want it by whatever means we can get it? Atheism can offer no meaningful, much less plausible, answer to that question.

Atheists cannot justify, according to atheist principles, why they believe it is "wrong" to pollute oceans, cut down rain forests, or hack into someone’s bank account and steal their life savings. If the stronger members of the human species engage in such behaviors in their pursuit of dominating the weaker members, and if there is no God and therefore no transcendent, prescriptive moral law given by God to guide us into knowing what is right and what is wrong, then on what grounds can atheists legitimately oppose such behaviors?

Perhaps the most vividly convincing evidence of what happens to a society when atheist principles are put into practice on a grand scale are the repressive, totalitarian, genocidal horrors wrought by atheists during the 20th century. Avowed atheists such as Stalin and Mao systematically imposed atheist principles as state policy, and in the processes liquidated more than 100 million men, women and children.

As we discuss in "The Godless Delusion," the atheist claim that there is no God entails the claim that there is no absolute standard of morality. And if there is no absolute standard of morality, then what is "right" and "wrong" is simply what the individual or groups of individuals decide is "right" or "wrong." In this scenario -- as countless doomed Russians, Ukrainians, Chinese, and others discovered -- what is expedient, what promotes the consolidation of power and privilege, what facilitates the elimination of resistance and ideological competition (Christianity, for example) is "good."

The remainder of the interview may be found at the following links:

Turning the Tables on Atheists (Part 1)
Turning the Tables on Atheists (Part 2)

Psalm 37 - Fret NOT Yourself Because of the Wicked

A Psalm of David.
1 Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers!
2 For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will dwell in the land, and enjoy security.
4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your vindication as the light, and your right as the noonday.
7 Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over him who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the wicked shall be cut off; but those who wait for the LORD shall possess the land.
10 Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there.
11 But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
12 The wicked plots against the righteous, and gnashes his teeth at him;
13 but the LORD laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows, to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those who walk uprightly;
15 their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.
16 Better is a little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken; but the LORD upholds the righteous.
18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will abide for ever;
19 they are not put to shame in evil times, in the days of famine they have abundance.
20 But the wicked perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures, they vanish--like smoke they vanish away.
21 The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;
22 for those blessed by the LORD shall possess the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a man are from the LORD, and he establishes him in whose way he delights;
24 though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD is the stay of his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.
26 He is ever giving liberally and lending, and his children become a blessing.
27 Depart from evil, and do good; so shall you abide for ever.
28 For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. The righteous shall be preserved for ever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall possess the land, and dwell upon it for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip.
32 The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him.
33 The LORD will not abandon him to his power, or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
34 Wait for the LORD, and keep to his way, and he will exalt you to possess the land; you will look on the destruction of the wicked.
35 I have seen a wicked man overbearing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.
36 Again I passed by, and, lo, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found.
37 Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright, for there is posterity for the man of peace.
38 But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their refuge in the time of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

The Lesson America Has Forgotten

Folks,

The excerpt from the Psalms in today's Scripture Readings is Psalm 117:

Praise the LORD, all you nations! Give glory, all you peoples!
The LORD'S love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Hallelujah

The footnote accompanying this brief hymn within the Catholic New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) points out the following:

[Psalm 117] This shortest of hymns calls on the nations to acknowledge God's supremacy. The supremacy of Israel's God has been demonstrated to them by the people's secure existence, which is owed entirely to God's gracious fidelity.

This is the lesson that America has forgotten. In placing the pursuit of social justice and the common good before righteousness and holiness before the Lord God Almighty, we have in place of the Adonai Yahweh made nanny government our god and Barack Hussein Obama, murderer of unborn babies and sanctifier of homosexual filth, the messiah. As a result, because we have placed government over God as supreme, we will reap the full lesson of 1st Samuel chapter 8. As Thomas Jefferson said so long ago:

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.

And John Adams confirms this in the following statement of October 11, 1798:

The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity...I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God. We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other...Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.

Freedom and prosperity do not come from liberal Demokracy (which is nothing other than two wolves and one sheep voting on what's for dinner, which in our case is the corpses of 60 million murdered babies since Roe v Wade was decided on by SCOTUS in 1973). Freedom and prosperity come from obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. As Benjamin Franklin declared at the Constitutional Convention of 1787:

God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel...In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered...do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

Liberal Demokracy will fail, and every godless liberal progressive Demokrat with it just as before them their Nazi forebearers (who murdered Jews in the 1930s and 40s just as today Demokrats murder unborn babies) have perished. I pray, however, that God in His mercy will prevent our Republic itself from perishing. There is yet hope, as Solomon prayed in 2nd Chronicles 7:14:

And if my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my presence and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land.

Why Do Liberals Complain When They Get What They Voted For?

Folks,

One more time a liberal complains that he has received exactly and precisely what he voted for. This time the blog meister over at Atomic Insight (http://atomicinsights.com/) complains about the idiocy that is Gregory Jackzo, the current Chairman of the US NRC, in the following blog posts:

Gregory Jackzo - Example of Public Hazards of Political Appointments
http://atomicinsights.com/2011/05/gregory-jaczko-example-of-public-hazard-of-political-appointments.html

Jackzo Decided to Halt Yucca Review by February 2010, NOT October 2010
http://atomicinsights.com/2011/05/jaczko-decided-to-halt-yucca-review-by-february-2010-not-october-2010.html

Now the man who made these blog entries writes in the last one that he voted for and supports Barack Hussein Obama. Well, dear reader, it was Barack Hussein Obama who appointed Gregory Jackzo as Chairman. So let's review a little history concerning of which the blog meister at Atomic Insights appears to be in denial.

President Bush wanted John Roberts as Chief Justice on SCOTUS, but Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, said not unless his science advisor against Yucca Mountain, Gregory Jackzo, was put into the US NRC as a Commissioner. So Bush compromised. The US Nuclear Energy Institute, realizing that Jackzo was an extreme anti-nuke kook who had also worked with Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey against the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, put up a fit about this. So Senator Pete Domenici of Arizona offered pro-nuclear Peter Lyons for the other vacant position on the NRC. Both got put into the NRC as recess appointments and Harry Reid allowed John Roberts nomination to go through the Senate. Then that godless man of sin, Barack Hussein Obama, got elected. Obama demoted pro-nuclear Dale Klein as Chairman and appointed anti-nuclear Gregory Jackzo in his place. Then when the terms of pro-nuclear Klein and Lyons expired, he let them go so that he could put his own people into the NRC. Now I don't have a problem with the other appointments Obama made, but there is an obvious problem with Jackzo. So when the blog meister as Atomic Insights complains, I can only regard the complaint as sour grapes.

This is what happens when people vote for a murderer of unborn babies and a sanctifier of homosexual filth. My only response to them is to fill up on the full measure of the wickedness, iniquity, sexual promiscuity and idolatry that they voted for. And this is exactly why America is going down the tubes: we have replaced our God with nanny government, so the promise of 1st Samuel chapter 8 is fulfilled within us as a nation.

Liberal. Progressive. Democrat. Those are the three dirtiest words in the English language, for such people are murderers of unborn babies and sanctifiers of homosexual perversion. That they oppose safe, clean, pollution-free, low cost nuclear energy is merely incidental. This is why I do not mince words and have no regard to tender feelings: the best liberal progressive Democrat is the defeated, muzzled and emasculated liberal progressive Democrat:

Defeated: has no more power or authority to affect anything with liberal progressive Democrat horse manure.
Muzzled: can't spread any more liberal progressive Democrat horse manure.
Emasculated: can't reproduce any liberal progressive Democrat horse manure.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Folks,

I received the following explanation about President's Day (normally celebrated on the third Monday in the month of February) via e-mail from a friend today:

I was eating lunch today with my 10 year old grandson when his mom asked him "What is tomorrow?" He said "It's President's Day"

She asked "What does that mean?" I was waiting for something profound.

He said, "President's Day is when Obama steps out of the White House and if he sees his shadow, we have 2 more years of unemployment."

I almost snorted my iced tea...

I note with amazement that certain otherwise very knowledgeable and intelligent pro-nuclear energy activists nevertheless continue to support that man of iniquity, idolatry, murder and sexual perversion. That he borrowed three billion dollars on a cash for clunkers program when the money could have been better spent in building a new 1600 MWe nuclear power plant that would have provided real wealth in terms of high paying jobs and low cost, pollution-free electricity is merely incidental.

This country cannot and will not prosper until that man of sin in the Oval Office is ejected such that his behind bounces on the concrete sidewalk outside 1611 Pennsylvania Avenue, and we repent before the Lord God Almighty for ever thinking that we could have social justice and serve the common good at the expense of the corpses of unborn babies and with the sanctification of godless homosexual filth and disease. Things are about to get a whole lot worse unless and until liberalism, progressivism and the Demokratik Party are trampled into the dust bin of history as the spiritual forefathers of the same - Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin - have been trampled (though sadly at the cost of many, many lives which abortion exceeds in sheer numbers).

Thought for the Day

Folks,

An Evangelical group posted the following acronym on Facebook.

B.I.B.L.E.

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

Any questions?

Tonight's Humor - Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Cats of War

Folks,

The new solution to the war on terrorism. Automatic weapons plus twenty switchblades per fighting cat is perhaps something that no Islamic fanatic will dare face. (And you thought that it was Obama that brought down Osama! Silly you!)

Mother's Day: Prayer to the Mother of the Lord

Folks,

The following prayer is from Catholic Online:

Prayer to the Mother of the Lord for All Mothers

Mary, on this day when we honor all mothers, we turn to you. We thank the Lord whom you serve for the great gift of motherhood. Never has it been known that anyone who sought your intercession was left unaided by grace. Dear Mother, thank you for your “Yes” to the invitation of the angel which brought heaven to earth and changed human history. You opened yourself to God’s word and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Dear mother, intercede for all of our mothers. Ask your Divine Son to give them the grace of surrendered love so that they could join with you in giving their own “Fiat.” May they find daily strength to say yes to the call to the sacrificial love- the very heart of the vocation of motherhood. May their love and witness be a source of great inspiration for all of us called to follow your Son.

On this Mothers day, Mother of the Word Incarnate, pray for us who have recourse to you.

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Irony

Folks,

Woodrow Wilson, a Demokrat, stated the following in his War Message to Congress on April 2, 1917:

The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a league of honour.

Thus were laid the seeds of the Cold War that would threaten the world a half century later.

Barack Hussein Obama, another Demokrat, stated the following in his speech, Obama Bin Laden Dead, on May 2, 2011:

As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not –- and never will be -– at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.

Not much has changed in the false hope and change promised by liberal Demokracy in the past one hundred years. Indeed, Demokracy is every bit as murderous towards life as radical Islam. Those who do not remember the past are forever doomed to repeat it.

Rejoicing Over Osama's Demise

Folks,

There are a great many people who decry the rejoicing shown by many over the demise of one of the world's worst murderers, Osama Bin Laden. Their objection is that it isn't Christian to take pleasure in or rejoice at the death of another. However, I am reminded of the song that Israel's Judge Deborah sang at the demise of another murderer called Sisera by the hand of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. Judges 5:24-31 records what Deborah sang about Jael and Sisera:

24
Blessed among women be Jael,
blessed among tent-dwelling women.
25
He asked for water, she gave him milk;
in a princely bowl she offered curds.
26
With her left hand she reached for the peg,
with her right, for the workman's mallet.
She hammered Sisera, crushed his head;
she smashed, stove in his temple.
27
At her feet he sank down, fell, lay still;
down at her feet he sank and fell;
where he sank down, there he fell, slain.
28
From the window peered down and wailed
the mother of Sisera, from the lattice:
"Why is his chariot so long in coming?
why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?"
29
The wisest of her princesses answers her,
and she, too, keeps answering herself:
30
"They must be dividing the spoil they took:
there must be a damsel or two for each man,
Spoils of dyed cloth as Sisera's spoil,
an ornate shawl or two for me in the spoil."
31
May all your enemies perish thus, O LORD!
but your friends be as the sun rising in its might!
And the land was at rest for forty years.

Truthfully, folks, I don't know what to think in this topsy-turvy world where it's wrong to praise God that an enemy of Western Civilization in general and Christianity in particular has been vanquished, and where it's right to praise a President who sanctifies the murder of the unborn. I much prefer the honest simplicity of Deborah's song.

Now yes, to my detractors, Ezekiel 18:33 does say, "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the LORD God..." But let's read ALL of chapter 18: the ONLY way to prevent such a fate is to repent and convert. Osama Bin Laden did not do that and so the Lord allowed him the fate he chose. In like fashion could we say the same of that man of the infanticide of the unborn, Barak Hussein Obama. It is better that he repent for that's what God wants, but if he doesn't and the Lord choses a different fate for him because of his obstinancy, then praise be to God. Deborah's song stands.

On Three Degrading Influences and How to Overcome Them

Folks,

Jim McCrea has also kindly pointed out another noteworthy article, this one by Msgr. Charles Pope entitled, "Three Degrading Influences and How to Overcome Them - A Meditation on Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical on the Holy Rosary." His essay may be found at the following URL:

http://blog.adw.org/2011/05/on-three-degrading-influences-and-how-to-overcome-them-a-meditation-on-pope-leo-xiiis-encyclical-on-the-holy-rosary/

Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical "Laetitiae Sanctae" referenced by the Monsigneur may be found at this URL:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13ro3.htm

The three degrading influences that the Monsigneur discusses include the following:

The Distaste for a Simple and Laborious Life
The Repugnance of Suffering of Any Kind
Forgetfulness of the Future Life

I encourage the interested reader to first study Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical and then read the essay by the Monsigneur. And as always, pray the Holy Rosary daily. It takes 20 minutes, and many of us spend at least that amount of time in the bathroom every day, and vastly more watching TV and playing mindless games on the internet.

The Four Cardinal Virtues of Secularism

Folks,

My friend Jim McCrea sent to me the following web link on "The Four Cardinal Virtues of Secularism (or the problem with moral relativism)"

http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/?p=773

These so-called virtues include:

Pluralism (a relativistic attitude toward truth, religion and morals)
Tolerance (a non-judgmental approach to contrary opinions and “lifestyles”)
Equality (giving equal value to any individual or cultural differences)
Freedom (emphasis on individual autonomy in moral decision making)

Pope Pius IX discussed something similar in his Encyclical "Quanta Cura" which may be read at the following web link:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9quanta.htm

Paragraph 4 in this Encyclical is particularly illustrative of the point Pope Pius IX made in 1864 - which point is still applicable today:

And, since where religion has been removed from civil society, and the doctrine and authority of divine revelation repudiated, the genuine notion itself of justice and human right is darkened and lost, and the place of true justice and legitimate right is supplied by material force, thence it appears why it is that some, utterly neglecting and disregarding the surest principles of sound reason, dare to proclaim that "the people's will, manifested by what is called public opinion or in some other way, constitutes a supreme law, free from all divine and human control; and that in the political order accomplished facts, from the very circumstance that they are accomplished, have the force of right." But who, does not see and clearly perceive that human society, when set loose from the bonds of religion and true justice, can have, in truth, no other end than the purpose of obtaining and amassing wealth, and that (society under such circumstances) follows no other law in its actions, except the unchastened desire of ministering to its own pleasure and interests? For this reason, men of the kind pursue with bitter hatred the Religious Orders, although these have deserved extremely well of Christendom, civilization and literature, and cry out that the same have no legitimate reason for being permitted to exist; and thus (these evil men) applaud the calumnies of heretics. For, as Pius VI, Our Predecessor, taught most wisely, "the abolition of regulars is injurious to that state in which the Evangelical counsels are openly professed; it is injurious to a method of life praised in the Church as agreeable to Apostolic doctrine; it is injurious to the illustrious founders, themselves, whom we venerate on our altars, who did not establish these societies but by God's inspiration."5 And (these wretches) also impiously declare that permission should be refused to citizens and to the Church, "whereby they may openly give alms for the sake of Christian charity"; and that the law should be abrogated "whereby on certain fixed days servile works are prohibited because of God's worship;" and on the most deceptive pretext that the said permission and law are opposed to the principles of the best public economy. Moreover, not content with removing religion from public society, they wish to banish it also from private families. For, teaching and professing the most fatal error of "Communism and Socialism," they assert that "domestic society or the family derives the whole principle of its existence from the civil law alone; and, consequently, that on civil law alone depend all rights of parents over their children, and especially that of providing for education." By which impious opinions and machinations these most deceitful men chiefly aim at this result, viz., that the salutary teaching and influence of the Catholic Church may be entirely banished from the instruction and education of youth, and that the tender and flexible minds of young men may be infected and depraved by every most pernicious error and vice. For all who have endeavored to throw into confusion things both sacred and secular, and to subvert the right order of society, and to abolish all rights, human and divine, have always (as we above hinted) devoted all their nefarious schemes, devices and efforts, to deceiving and depraving incautious youth and have placed all their hope in its corruption. For which reason they never cease by every wicked method to assail the clergy, both secular and regular, from whom (as the surest monuments of history conspicuously attest), so many great advantages have abundantly flowed to Christianity, civilization and literature, and to proclaim that "the clergy, as being hostile to the true and beneficial advance of science and civilization, should be removed from the whole charge and duty of instructing and educating youth."

The section, "Conclusion", in "The Four Cardinal Virtues of Secularism" thus explains the following:

Beyond all the intellectual confusion and indolence that makes the Cardinal Virtues of Secularism so attractive and hard to dethrone today there is a major moral reason for their popularity. These “virtues” give permission for the individual to live his life on his own terms, according to his own whims and desires. It is a warping of social standards in order to indulge oneself. No credence is given to an objective moral standard by which one’s actions can be measured, judged and regulated. Therefore no one can judge you and you in return judge no one. Recognizing other’s “values” to be just as personal and subjective as one’s own you look tolerantly on their behaviour and expect them to reciprocate. You will keep an open mind to their values and recognize their freedom to live accordingly. All you ask in return is that they extend the same courtesy. It’s a “live and let live” — or more accurately a “sin and let sin” — attitude. It came into vogue with the economic boon and sexual revolution of the sixties. It is all very convenient and self-serving.

Such an attitude is about feeling good without necessarily being good. It is about avoiding condemnation by refusing to condemn in return — unless, of course, the other person is a “judgmental hypocrite” (usually of the Christian variety). It is about alleviating the guilt of one’s conscience without the conversion of one’s character. It is the easy road to self-righteousness. It elevates one’s self-esteem by marginalizing the importance of virtues one lacks while exaggerating the significance of virtues, or pseudo-virtues, one has. This is facilitated by a selective understanding and application of moral principles according to one’s own self-interests. Privileged amongst these are the Four Cardinal Virtues of Secularism.

In a recent book, Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation (Henry Holt, 2002), caustic essayist Joe Queenan seems to have come to a partial realization of the underlying self-conceit that promotes these virtues. He describes how venal and self-centred much of modern (“baby-boomer”) culture is. Even in himself he discovered that underneath the “lovingly crafted façade of charm, wit, sophistication, and class that masqueraded as a personality, I was a basically worthless person.” Being “a prototypical product of the Me Decade, I only knew how to respond to the world insofar as the world responded to Moi.” While he believes his generation began with some promise they quickly decided to replace their social conscience with a general, and ill-founded, feeling of superiority. Queenan seems quite surprised and appalled to discover how self-absorbed he and his peers have been and the effect it has had on our culture. I might add on our children. Queenan’s insights are very limited. Yet he does touch on a truth that T. S. Eliot more profoundly observed and eloquently enunciated by in his play, The Cocktail Party:

Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm — but the harm does not interest them, or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.

The ideas we have investigated did not originate with the self-absorbed baby boomers. The baby boomer generation did, however, become their ardent supporters and promoters. Believing in nothing beyond themselves they ended up acting like they believed in everything (ala relativism and pluralism). Essentially theirs is a hollow culture: bustling and enticing but, to paraphrase Shakespeare, much sound and fury signifying nothing. The baby boomer culture is rapidly being replaced by that of their progeny — one even more degraded, coarse and shallow than their own.

Yet even the most ardent relativist cannot escape the Absolute. Illusion and denial are always possible in this life but this life must end. There is no escaping death.

Though you forget the way to the Temple, There is one who remembers the way your door; Life you may evade, but Death you shall not, You shall not deny the Stranger. (T. S. Eliot)

Once upon a time the baby boomers thought themselves immortal as they still think themselves immune to the moral law. But both have had their effect. Their bodies grow decrepit just as their character and culture have grown decadent. They absolutized the self and freedom at the cost of relativizing truth and goodness. To this end they co-operated with forces that sought to undermine the authority of the family and church, while increasing the power of the state and corporations. The end of the twentieth century has given birth to a new morality that is facilitating the formation of a new society. The twenty-first century will bring it to maturity and shall, with the help of the new technologies, give birth to a new humanity.

As the reader can see, the problem of 1864 is the problem of 2011. It was the same problem that sent Jesus to the Cross - SIN. And the wages of sin are still death.

Meditation on Today's Readings - Pentecosts by Fr. Al Lauer

Folks,

I encourage one and all (especially my Pentecostal Assembly of God readers) to please listen to a 13 minute meditation given by the late Father Al Lauer on the Bible readings for the Monday of the Second Week of Easter, in particular the reading from Acts 4:23-32. The audio recording for Father Lauer's miniature homily may be found by copying and pasting the following URL address into the address field of your web browser:

http://www.presentationministries.com/player/playerPopup.asp?mp3ID=1796&player=wmpqtime&incAC=False

Just follow the on-screen instructions when the web site appears.

The careful reader will note that Pope John XXIII, Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II all advocated daily and unceasing prayer to the Holy Spirit - the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity - for an outpouring of what happened on that first Pentecost Day so long ago.

Today's Scripture readings for the weekday (which are repeated on alternate years) that inspired this homily may be accessed by copying and pasting the following URL address into the address field of your web browser:

http://www.usccb.org/nab/050211.shtml

The reader may find out more about Father Lauer and the Presentation Ministries which he founded by copying and pasting the following URL address into the address field of his web browser:

http://www.presentationministries.com/home/home.asp

I have obtained much blessing from the audio recordings that Father Lauer has left to posterity, and I hope that you will, too.

Osama Sent to the Judgment Seat of God Almighty

Folks,

The news media is awash with reports that Osama bin Ladin has been given his just reward. As I have commented on seeing a photograph of the mad man's dead head, this reminds me of what Jael wife of Heber did to Sisera who was persecuting the children of Israel in Judges chapter 4 (albeit that God allowed this because of rebellion - I see lots of parallels here). Verse 21 says, "Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and hammer, tiptoed toward him, and drove the tent peg through his temple and all the way into the ground. He convulsed and died."

I am told that Osama was offered a chance to surrender during the attack and didn't, so a single bullet to the head (presumably through the eye) took him to God's Judgment Seat. That's what reminded me of the story from Judges 4. God always does the same thing the same way because God always does it rightly.

I am proud of our Special Forces.