The Fall of the Knights of Columbus

This is so disappointing to my husband and I. We were so looking forward to his joining the Knights soon.

Being Good

Little Richard, the fifties rock idol, came to the Dallas First SDA Church when I was a preteen and gave a titillating conversion testimony mostly recalling his wild and exciting fall from grace, which secretly inspired a desire in me to have such a theatrical repentance story. 

But then again... I would have to be that bad first! Something seemed wrong to me in the scenario that to have a really good testimony for the Lord, I would have to first ruin my life. 

Today, I see the American Christian culture, because of its fear of the “righteousness by works” mindset, concentrate exclusively on the negative salvation formula of:  God’s amazing grace saving a “wretch like me.” Of course, all of us find ourselves captive to sin and can rejoice greatly in a gospel that promises, “God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," (Rom. 5:8). 

We seem totally oblivious to a positive and less destructive method in which a human can discover the love of God. 

It is not only through failing and repenting that one can grow in grace, but it is also through the struggle of winning over sin that we can come to a deep insight into what Christ went through on the cross for us.

Let me give an example. A husband, who has never been such a good guy, commits adultery and is truly repentant. He asks his wife for forgiveness and comes to know Christ’s love for him through his deep sorrow for this wicked act. An understanding seizes upon his soul of what Jesus did to save him from the eternal consequences of sin. And that is wonderful, praise God! 

But what about the wife who choses to freely forgive? Her agonizing humiliation by receiving back a husband who doesn’t deserve a second chance may be the experience where she gains an even deeper revelation of Christ’s sacrifice. By picking up her cross and following Him, she may grasp a penetrating first-hand cross experience. And what way to identify with another who has been through the fires of hell than by going through them yourself? 

Again, I wish to stress, I am not speaking of earning salvation, only becoming aware of Christ’s love for you. 

Both the act of selfish sin and the act of selfless love can be used to bring us to the Cross, flooding us with insights into the character of God.

May I suggest being good has gotten a bad reputation by Christians because we run from the idea that we can even be good and the fear of works-righteousness. But in the end, our lives will be a lot less miserable if we can find God in being good. 

Climate Change and Christianity

[The Lord] is about to deprive Jerusalem and Judah of resources and provisions -- all reserves of food, all reserves of water-  of hero, warrior, judge ... People will be ill-treated by one another, each by his neighbor; the young will insult the aged, and the low, the respected. For Jerusalem has collapsed and Judah has fallen, because their words and deeds affront Yahweh and insult his glorious gaze. Their complacency bears witness against them, they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not conceal it, all the worse for them, for they have hatched their own downfall. ... O my people, their oppressors pillage them and extortioners rule over them! O my people, your rulers mislead you and efface the paths you ought to follow!       Isaiah 3: 1- 9 selected (NJB)

Global warming a myth? Who really knows. But for Christians convinced that they will plunge the world into a new ice age or scalded desert from drinking bottled water, take a look at this text. Maybe it is not our overuse of natural resources that is causing weather catastrophes. 

Sounds as if God takes away our resources, not because we don't separate our aluminum from our glass trash for recycling, nor from failing to compost for our organic gardens.

Could global warming be directly related to our complacency? Our sin? 

Perhaps the problem stems from that fact that we have disdained God's original command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Satan has twisted our science and used it to promote fear of overpopulation, defying God's instructions to procreate--so now we think we are doing the planet a favor by using contraceptives and murdering our children through abortion? 

The world is on the verge of collapse alright, but the earth is groaning and wrenching from its forced ingestion of toxic sin, not toxic waste. True Environmentalists need to break the yoke with which they have joined with Planned Parenthood and the radical left. If you want to save Mother Earth, love your neighbor, respect your parents, appoint judges who will bring justice, that our sins will no longer affront and insult our Holy God. The creation is crying out because of our sins, our complacency. The Creator is hearing..... 

3 Characteristics of the Diabolical....

This is truly interesting:

The video at the bottom of this post is of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. It is a fascinating excerpt from a longer video he did, where he analyzes the diabolical (anything of or relating to the Devil), from several different perspectives. In the excerpt I present, he identifies three characteristics of the diabolical by examining the story of the Gerasene demoniac, depicted in the synoptic gospels. Here is the story as Luke presents it:

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.  Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.. (Luke 8: 26-30)

You will then recall how Jesus drove the demon(s) out and into the herd of swine.

From this story and also based on an insight from a psychiatrist of his time (the talk was given in the mid 1970s), Bishop Sheen sets forth characteristics of the diabolical:

1. Love of Nudity – For the text says: For a long time this man had not worn clothes.
2. Violence – For the text says: though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains. Mark 5:4 more vividly adds: For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
3. Division (Split Personality and divided from others) – for the text says, many demons had gone into him.Mark’s version has the demoniac reply My name is Legion, for we are many. (Mk 5:9). Further all the texts say the demoniac lived apart from others, in solitary places.

So here are three characteristics of the diabolic.

It does not take much analysis to see how these three characteristics of the diabolic are alive and flourishing in the modern world, at least the Western branch of it. Let’s consider them

1. Love of Nudity - This is clearly manifest at several levels. First there is the widespread tendency of immodest dress. We have discussed modesty here before and ought to note that modesty comes from the word “mode” referring to the middle or to moderation. Hence, while we want to avoid oppressively puritanical notions about dress that impose heavy burdens (especially on women) and regard the body as somewhat evil, we must also critique many modern forms of dress at the other extreme. These “fashions” reveal more than is reasonable and generally have, as their intent to draw attention to aspects of the body that are private and reserved for sexual union in marriage. Too many in our culture see little problem parading about in various stages of undress, wearing clothing that are more intended to disclose and call attention to, than to conceal the private areas of the body. This love of disclosure and titillation is surely an aspect of the Evil One’s love of nudity, and he has surely spread his obsession to many in the modern West.

Pornography, though nothing new in this fallen world, has surely reached epidemic proportions via the Internet. Any psychotherapist, counselor or priest will tell you that addiction to pornography is a huge problem among people today. Pornographic sites on the Internet outpace all others tenfold. Multimillion Americans are viewing enormous amounts of pornography and the “industry” is growing exponentially. What was once hidden away in adult bookstores is now one click away on the Internet. And the thought that browsing habits are easily discoverable matters little to the addicts of this latest form of slavery. Many are on a steep slope downward into ever more deviant forms of porn. Many end up at illegal sites before they even know what has happened to them, and the FBI is knoocking on their door. Satan’s love of nudity has possessed many!

The overall sexualization of culture also ties in to Satan’s love of nudity. We sexualize women to sell products. We even sexualize children. Our sitcoms chatter endlessly about sex in a very teenage and immature sort of way. We are, collectively, goofy and immature about sex, and our culture giggles like horny teenagers obsessed with something we don’t really understand. Yes, Satan loves nudity, and everything that goes with it.

2. Violence – We have discussed here before how we, collectively, have turned violence into a form of entertainment. Our adventure movies and video games turn violent retribution into gleeful entertainment and death into a “solution.” Recent Popes have warned us of the culture of death, where death is increasingly proposed as the “solution” to problems. In our culture violence begins in the womb, as the innocent are attacked and it is called “choice” and “rights.” The violence and embrace of death continues to ripple through culture through contraception, violent gang activity, easy recourse to war and capital punishment. The past Century was perhaps the bloodiest ever known on this planet and untold people in the hundreds of millions died in two world wars, hundreds of regional wars and conflicts, horrific starvation campaigns in the Ukraine, in China and elsewhere, genocides in Central Europe, in Africa and Southeast Asia. Paul Johnson, in his book Modern Times estimates that over 100,000,000 died in war and violent ways in the just the first 50 years of the 20th Century. And with every death, Satan did his “snoopy dance.” Satan love violence. He loves to set fires, and watch us blame each other as we burn.

3. Division - Satan loves to divide. Archbishop Sheen says that the word “diabolical” comes from two Greek words dia+ballein, meaning “to tear apart.” My own study of Greek, poor that it is, does not yield this result.  Rather dia means “through” or “between” and ballein means “to throw or to cast.” Nevertheless, the Good Archbishop was a learned man and I ask you Greek Scholars to set me straight and defend Bishop Sheen.

But, even still, it is clear that the devil wants to divide us, within our very own psyche and among each other. Surely he rejoices at every division he causes. He “casts things between us” (dia+ballein)! Diabolical indeed. And thus, we see our families divided, the Church divided, our culture and Country divided. We are now divided at almost every level: racial, religious, political, economic. We divide over age, race, region, blue and red states, liturgy, music, language, and endless minutia.

Our families are broken, our marriages are broken. Divorce is rampant and  commitments of any sort are rejected and deemed impossible. The Church is broken and divided into factions, so too the State, all the way down to the level of school boards. Though once we agreed on essentials, now even appeals to shared truth are called intolerant.

And within too, we struggle with many divisive drives and forms of figurative and literal schizophrenia. We are drawn to what is good, true and beautiful and yet what is base, false and evil also summons us. We know what is good, but desire what is evil, we seek love, but indulge hate and revenge. We admire innocence but often revel in destroying it or at least replacing it with cynicism.

And Satan dances his “snoopy dance.”

Three characteristics of the diabolic: love of nudity, violence, and division. What do you think? Is the prince of this world working his agenda? Even more important: are we conniving? The first step in over-coming the enemy’s agenda is to know his moves, to name them and then rebuke them in the Name of Jesus.

Thank you Archbishop Sheen. Your wisdom, God’s Wisdom, has never aged.

Pay attention to What the Good Archbishop has to say:

http://blog.adw.org/2011/07/three-characteristcs-of-the-diabolic-and-how-they-are-manifest-in-the-modern-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=three-characteristcs-of-the-diabolic-and-how-they-are-manifest-in-the-modern-world

Written by Msgr. Charles Pope Archdioceses of Washington

My Prediction

I think that within the next half-century Poland is going to be the country where persecuted Christians from all over the world will flee...

I See Naked People...... In Church!

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” Mark Twain

Note: Everything I write and for that matter do, offends the vast majority of people, so just know that going into reading my blog. I don’t do it on purpose.... Within that humble, apologetic spirit--a note of full disclosure:  In 1997 when a Seventh-day Adventist, after reading Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, I began wearing a veil on my head--for the sake of the angels (at home during my personal worship at 5:30 am), therefore this zealotry wasn’t born in Catholicism, just redirected! So, yes, at mass I wear a hat or veil and I LOVE IT!  Viva la tradizione!

___________________

I SEE NAKED PEOPLE.... IN CHURCH!

When I was a Protestant, I honestly didn’t care, within reasonable modesty guidelines, what people wore for corporate worship. I figured it was better to have people in church wearing street clothes than wearing church clothes on the streets.

At the Assemblies of God we attended in Fort Myers, Florida, the elders and deacons distinguished themselves by wearing bright floral Hawaiian shirts. The casualness matched the atmosphere of theater seating and two huge screens on the platform.  When the church deliberately creates a casual atmosphere, I think it is fine if Protestants show up for church appropriate to the style of the environment. 

When I taught the youth at one church, my righteous indignation would flare hot whenever some judgmental, straitlaced deacon or deaconess would comment about how the young people were dressed.

Jeans and t-shirt? “Come on in... you’re welcome!” We loved everybody here! I thumbed my nose at the old gossipy, interfering biddies.

But one day a group of college girls came in with silk teddies (or what looked like it) for blouses and one wasn’t wearing a bra! I gulped. Uh-oh, I bit my lip and checked my watch to see how old I was getting. 

No, this isn’t about my age, but about an emerging and menacing culture that silences all criticism and teaches us that nothing matters. I woke up and realized I had been part of the "nothing matters" crowd. (“It’s all good”, coexist!). Being judgement is the highs of all evils, don't you know?

What I had succumbed to was the anti-christian conviction (masking itself under the smug, self-congradulatory feeling of "love" and "tolerance") that what we do doesn’t matter. After all if we are saved by faith alone, what we do doesn't matter, who we sleep with doesn’t matter, who we destroy, unborn, doesn’t matter... what we wear doesn’t matter.....

However, I am not wanting Protestants to go back to the suit and tie, hat and gloves 1950’s church attire, but for Catholics at mass? Yeah! DARN yeah! 

There is a general confusion in the Western culture that Catholic mass is Protestant church. NO! NO! and again I cry out NO! They are very distinct services and do not correlate in any way but in the fact they are called corporate worship. 

Unlike a Protestant church where you can duck in late, sit on the back row and make a bee line for the exit during the closing prayer so that no one can see you are having a bad hair day, Catholics are there to receive the Eucharist. That necessitates leaving your seat and walking up in front of everyone.

And your clothing does show your respect for the true presence of the Lord, God Almighty, there in your midst and in your mouth! You are standing in front of the CREATOR, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. No one would conceive of arriving at the White House for a state dinner in what they show up to mass in.

Recently, nestled the affluent downtown of a capital city cathedral, the congregation had the horror to behold women in their early twenties wearing t-back tank tops, bra straps fully exposed, and short-shorts. It literally looked like beach attire for many of the people there. One long-legged late teen had jean cut offs so highly folded up that a a hint of her derriere was exposed. 

No, this wasn’t a poverty-stricken third-world country with people surviving no air-conditioning. The place was cool enough for some men to be wearing suits, and the priest was in full mass cassock ensemble without breaking into a sweat. No, no one was rounded up off the streets, this morning it was the chosen and preferred attire of these people to encounter the God of the universe.

Church fashion a la Club St. Croix is becoming ubiquitous in Catholic churches during the summer months. It is common to watch men of all ages walking into mass wearing safari shorts, or casual cargo pocket shorts with t-shirts and flip flops. And it isn’t exclusively in summer as a few months back a late teen girl wearing a mini-skirt and go go boots paraded down the isle carrying the cross. At that same church a different woman, also carrying the cross into church, wore a sleeveless sundress that barely covered her underwear. Granted, holding her arms up did make the dress shorter... but someone should have thought of that.

We have attended churches where female Eucharistic ministers sported nylon spandex knee-length pants or jeans as well as as once a man wore a t-shirt (my husband refers to it as a wife beater shirt) and sweat pants. These are EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS giving us the body and blood of Christ! 

To their credit, as liberal as its reputation, St. James Cathedral in Seattle requires all the Eucharistic minsters to wear a robe with rope belt. 

And yes, I am fully aware that some people really can’t afford to dress up in a suit for church. But there was a time when we were first married my husband found a decent suit at Goodwill. 

At the same St. James Cathedral where we worshipped for a couple years, we watched mentally ill transvestites meandering around the edges of the church and homeless people setting up personal areas in the back pews; this didn’t upset me. It is those who do have the mental capacity to make such decisions and do wear nice clothes every day to work and understand the appropriateness of clothing for business, but they will then stand in front of God Almighty without regard to His Holy Presence!

You think I am old-fashioned, a judgmental legalist? Alrighty then, but I am also correct....  

What we wear does show our respect for ourselves, for others and God. Seems to me that if the Vatican has some dress codes, all Catholic churches could too.

The problem is that nobody wants to be seen as the bad guy complainer. I say, let's all do a little protesting here for the Lord!

In the end, Mark Twain was right. When members and visitors attend Catholic mass and find the congregation looking more like they are attending a backyard barbecue, they will not do much to influence them about the holiness of our Lord and His real presence in the Eucharist.

For full disclosure here are the churches I can remember attending since becoming Catholic in 2008 and the extent of my views on the subject were inspired.

St. Paul’s New Bern, NC

Sacred Heart in Winchester, VA

St. James Cathedral, Seattle, WA

St. Martin’s Fife, WA

St. Ann’s Rock Hill, SC

St. Ann’s Charlotte, NC

St. Thomas More, Lynchburg, VA

Holy Cross, Lynchburg, VA

St. Peter’s Greenville, NC

Sacred Heart Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

St. Patrick Cathedral, Charlotte, NC

St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlotte, NC

Others in Waco, Texas and one in Utah... can’t think of any others...

Jews thank the Catholic Church for Rescue Efforts in WWII

http://www.news.va/en/news/the-ambassador-of-israel-to-the-holy-see-recalls-p

Similarities Between Moses and Peter

When you think about it, there are some really interesting similarities between Moses and Peter....

Moses leader of God’s people                      Peter leader of God’s people

Both were part of a brother "team" of God's leaders: 

       Moses and Aaron  
       Peter and Andrew

Both had brothers who sought after them when God called: 

       Aaron sought Moses at Mt. Horeb's desert  
       Andrew went to find Peter (John 1: 41)

Both "shepherds" of God's people:

       Moses shepherd for forty years watching father-in-laws sheep.

       Peter a fisherman called to become shepherd of Christians. ("Feed my sheep.")

Both had a miracle associated with their introduction to God: 

       Miraculous fire in burning bush  
Called with miraculous catch of fish

Both had a miraculous fire associated with their call to lead God's people: 

      Called by angel in burning bush  
Tongues of fire come upon him

Both called to go before secular leaders in behalf of God's people:

       Called to go before Pharaoh  
       Witness before governors and kings (Matt. 10:18)

Both recoiled from God's presence at first: 

      Moses said, "Who am I, that I should go before Pharaoh?"  (Ex. 3: 11)  

      Peter fell at Jesus feet and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8)

Both men represented God to the people and the world: 

      God told Moses that Aaron, "will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were   your mouth and as if you were God to him." And, "Then the LORD said to Moses, 'See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.' "(Ex. 4: 16; 7:1) 

God told Peter, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will beloosed in heaven." (Matt. 16:18, 19)

Both calls were in the context of understanding who God was, the "I AM." 

      Moses asked God's name and He responded, "I AM, who I AM."

      Jesus asked Peter "Who do you say that I AM?" And Peter's answer proved he understood who Christ was. Both were given authority upon the name of the Great I AM. 

After being commissioned, both were immediately rebuked: 

      God sought after Moses to kill him. (Ex. 4: 24)  
Peter was called Satan. (Matt. 16: 23)

Both were given "The Rock": 

      Moses was given the rock in the form of the Ten Commandments, the written Word of God and the Old Covenant. The law was written in stone and given to Moses to implement. 

      Peter was given the title "The Rock" and his authority was in his own flesh. The law was in the church, in humans. 

Both were given the authority to bind and loose doctrine:

      Moses loosened the divorce laws (Matt. 19:8)           
      Peter was given keys. (Matt. 16: 19)

Both publicly betrayed God: 

       Moses by hitting the rock   
       Peter by denying Him three times

Both were given the ability to perform signs and wonders!

It is very interesting to note that these two great leaders of God's people actually met each other while Jesus was on earth. During the Transfiguration, Moses came and stood beside Jesus while Peter looked on. On one side was Moses representing God's people and the Old Covenant and on the other Peter representing God's people the New Covenant. And there is Jesus bringing them together in the middle. Jesus as the center of both men and both covenants!  [Mark 9:2-8pp -- Lk 9:28-36 9:2-13pp -- Mt 17:1-13]