By Charlie Johnston
Miracles
I am a realist. Partly because of this, miracles have always struck me as a matter of course. If God IS, of course He is not bound by the normal laws He has instituted to govern the universe. If He is not, it is perfectly natural that there are things we do not understand. The whole course of our lives, if lived seriously, is a progression from lesser to greater understanding – and the ultimate understanding that there are some things that may ever remain a mystery to us.
It is baffling to me that so many moderns, confronting a phenomenon they do not understand, stubbornly insist it cannot exist at all. Weirdly, they consider this a sign of their intelligence! If that type of intelligence governed the world, we would never have gotten past club and cave. In college, my astronomy professor was J. Allen Hynek, head of the US Air Force Project Bluebook, which examined the striking phenomenon of UFO’s. He would never discuss Project Bluebook in class, but frequently did public talks on it open to all students. He would ridicule those who insisted that because they believed there was no intelligent life on other planets, there could be no such things as UFOs. He said UFOs were a well-attested, but mysterious phenomenon, so the proper scientific approach was to examine the phenomenon without preconceptions. It had nothing to do with aliens – except that aliens were one possible explanation for them. In one of the most delicious phrases I have ever heard, Dr. Hynek contemptuously said that those who could not separate a particular phenomenon from their preconceptions were not scientifically minded at all, but were in the grips of a debilitating “temporal provincialism.” The modern world is filled with people who think they are smart but are just suffering from temporal provincialism.
On the other hand, I am equally taken aback by those who seem to depend on miracles to sustain their faith. A seeming miracle has three possible sources that I am aware of: a) it 
can come from God, b) it could be one of the devil’s imitative parlor tricks or, c) it could be a natural phenomenon we don’t yet understand. A miracle can be a useful goad to get someone to re-examine their own impoverished belief systems or to contemplate more seriously the claims of God. It can only be an introduction, a doorway, to faith, though – not a foundation. In the Gospels, every time Jesus performed a miracle, it was to illustrate a larger truth of faith. Go back and check it for yourself. He did NOT cure all the sick, He did NOT feed all the hungry. He used His miracles as a sort of visual aid to help direct us to the foundational truths that, if embraced, WOULD feed all the hungry and direct all to eternal life. Authentic miracles are gold, but it is the altar of authentic faith which sanctifies the gold rather than the gold sanctifying the altar.
Some get so enthused at the idea of miracles they get obsessed by imputing miraculous qualities to perfectly mundane events. This debases the very point of miracles – and leaves the real thing in disrepute as dodgy superstition. In modern times, the phenomenon at Fatima, Lourdes…the tilma of St. Juan Diego…more than a few Eucharistic miracles…and the healing described in the coming movie, “Breakthrough,” are clearly miraculous. There is a great wealth of real miracles. Imputing miraculous qualities to perfectly normal events, though – or creating soothing urban legends that fall apart under examination, just makes it easier for skeptics to dismiss all reports of miracles as hokum.
The devil, then, makes use of two powerful weapons that men give him as a pure gift: the refusal to examine anything not immediately understandable, a form of pride that the ignorant count as intelligence; and a credulous enthusiasm to impute miraculous qualities to perfectly ordinary things – that saps credibility from the real thing.
Faith and Reason
It is not because of miracles that I believe, nor do I accept miracles simply because I believe. After the Resurrection, Jesus showed Doubting Thomas His wounds. Because he saw, Thomas believed. Jesus told him, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” (John 20:29). Given that I have had visitations since my earliest memories, I can’t count myself among those who Jesus calls blessed in this passage. On two important occasions, I have shown my willingness to forego such things entirely in favor of having the Church. I believe because Christianity, seriously examined, offers the only consistently coherent and stable explanation of life and the universe. Science, you say? Which science? That of today, that of 50 years ago, or that of 500 years ago? Science is a
shifting desert: what was accepted as true a few years ago is revealed as false today, and what is true today will be revealed as false a few years from now. The scientific method is a stable, powerful tool for discerning truth, but the conclusions of science at any given point in history are transient, subject to further examination. There is no such thing as “settled” science. In Christianity, specifically in Catholicism, we are called to seek truth through the twin tools of faith and reason. Most of the greatest historical defenders of reason have been men of faith. This is because we are to seek God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.
Often, the people who are most faithfully devoted to God are the last to receive the benefit of miracles. St. Bernadette Soubirous, who uncovered the miraculous spring at Lourdes, died of tuberculosis, borne of her childhood cholera. She reportedly told her superiors that the healing from the miracle she uncovered was “not for her.” What, then, is the purpose of miracles if it is not to confirm the faith of the most faithful? None of us can know the mind of God, but we can observe the circumstances and learn from them. Though there may be more, I think there are three main purposes that prompt God to perform and reveal a miracle:
- To assure us of His tender love.
- To bolster the faith of the timid and uncertain.
- To manifest Himself boldly to an unbelieving age.
Times of Tribulation
The greatest profusion of miracles seems to come at the times of greatest crisis – of apostasy and disbelief in salvation history. Contrary to popular belief, most of the Old Testament prophets were NOT miracle workers. Only four routinely performed miracles.
The first was Moses. He was sent to free the captive Jewish people from their Egyptian masters. God performed miracles through Moses to demonstrate to Pharaoh that He IS God and is all powerful – and to force the issue of releasing the captives. Once the journey out from Egypt began, the Jews proved incredibly recalcitrant and faithless despite the prodigy of miracles they had seen and benefitted from. Again, God performed a multitude of miracles through Moses to hold this ill-tempered, ungrateful people together through their 40-year journey. (It is largely their continual appetite for apostasy 
and grumbling that persuaded me that miracles are not sufficient to sustain faith. Faith is an act of the will, an entire turning towards the living God. Miracles happen whether one has faith or not. Faith just makes them easier to accept. To the faithless, they are a rebuke.)
It fell to Joshua to lead the Israelites in occupying the land which was promised. The process of inheriting the land involved, again, a multitude of miracles. While the people delighted in these, there was a clear, cautionary warning inherent to them. God was giving them victory, but in ways calculated to remind them that it was by His power, not theirs, that they were favored. It was a goad to fidelity, a goad that was often and quickly unheeded.
Perhaps the most prodigious miracle workers were Elijah and his successor, Elisha, who dominate the two books of Kings. The united Davidic Kingdom reached its Zenith early on in Kings, with Solomon’s dedication of the Temple. After that, corruption and rot set in quickly. (Prosperity and peace seem ever to be a much greater challenge to faith and fidelity than hardship and trial). The kingdom, rent by internecine strife, soon split in two, between the larger northern nation of Israel and the smaller southern kingdom of Judah. The northern king almost immediately set up idolatrous shrines – including a reappearance of golden calves. The northern kings were overwhelmingly idolatrous, tyrannical and wicked. While the Temple was in the southern kingdom, Judah, it was not long before it, too, tolerated idolatrous shrines and chased after strange gods. Both the political systems (the kings) and the religious authorities (the priests) had become deeply corrupted. The pillars which faithful people wanted to count on had crumbled. It was in this setting that God sent two major prophets, first Elijah and then his successor, Elisha, to comfort and give hope to His people. Both were prodigals of miracles, that the Jews might be reminded who the true God IS. Elijah was a prophet of judgment, while Elisha was more a prophet of mercy. Even so, their efforts were not enough to preserve the kingdoms – Israel was ultimately decimated by foreigners and Judah taken into the exile of the Babylonian captivity. It was enough, however, to preserve a remnant faithful, even in exile, so that the godly Jewish people did not perish from the earth.
Signs of the Times
Now, in an echo of the books of Kings, all the political, social and religious pillars upon which we have relied are in deep crisis, if not complete collapse. In the American political system, a large anti-God faction presses for the end of civil rights and equal justice under law, determined that it shall rule or ruin. Actually, this ethos is entrenched throughout the world, largely under the guise of globalism. The rule of law in the west is in tatters. In England, a Christian street-preacher can be arrested…and Christians can be arrested for objecting to Muslim street-preachers. The beautiful land of Australia, which I have long dreamed of visiting, is off my wish list now. Giving rein to a toxic anti-Catholicism, it convicted Cdl. George Pell when the evidence showed not only that Pell did not do what he was accused of, but could not possibly have done it. I know few American judges so corrupt they would not have ended this trial when the evidence showed the accusations were a literal impossibility. But law is just another crude cudgel of power in much of the world now. It has no more to do with justice than Soviet show trials did.
Socially, we are given to absurd enthusiasms that have never been heard of in history. Gender can now be anything you want it to be, completely divorced from genetics and reality. Of course, the cudgel of law is now being mounted to any who insist on staying connected to reality. “Social (In)justice Warriors” style their preferences as “rights” while denouncing actual civil rights as bigotry or some ‘ism that must be stamped out. Religious leaders often try to appease the mob rather than proclaim Christ. It was right of Christian leaders to denounce a recent slaughter of Muslims in New Zealand…but I would have been heartened if those same leaders had even bothered to notice the double number of Christians who had been systematically slaughtered by Muslims in Nigeria the same week.
A host of Bishops busy themselves explaining why Jesus and the Apostles didn’t mean what they actually said. A cabal of homosexual clerics has infiltrated the highest levels of the Church – both abusing the faithful and protecting themselves from any consequences for such abuse – while simultaneously attacking Scripture and Magisterial teaching as stuff for chumps. At the Vatican, it is the faithful chumps who are purged and the faithless predators who are promoted. Few who are not morally compromised and theologically suspect are promoted in a Vatican that increasingly resembles an ongoing criminal enterprise.
Yes, we are in a reprise of the books of Kings. Does it portend an advent of a new age of miracles? Personally, I think it does. God has been hinting at His new advent with signs in the skies and in the lands, with convulsions and boomings…but a hard-hearted people determined to chase after their own pleasures has been blind and deaf to these signs. I think it is prelude to an extended and large-scale manifestation of His power, that God IS. Should this be the case, it will hearten many of the faithful, it will give pause to many who have lost heart – and many who have wallowed in decadence, thinking there would be no accounting. But it will enrage some, including more than a few who wear clerical robes. Some men just will not accept any power greater than themselves – and will react in violent rage to proof of it. So, the time of trial is upon us. It will wax and wane, sometimes giving false hope that all is well and at others, false fear that all is lost. But it will burn until it has burned itself out, like the French Revolution, the Third Reich, and the Rwandan Genocide. Depraved disorder cannot help but ultimately consume itself. The fundamental question, as it always is, is when Jesus looks to earth, will He find faith here?
A True Remnant
I hate using the word, “remnant,” for it is so often abused in self-congratulatory vanity. A true remnant does not look at all those other poor sinners with prim disapproval – or glee at their destruction. A true remnant recognizes its own sinfulness, its own reliance on God, and the implacable Divine command that it minister to all even as it defends the faithful against depredations. Like its Father in heaven, it yearns for the reclamation of souls, rather than their destruction. With that said, God responds quickest to a remnant which keeps actual faith with Him, a people who keep His commandments – and trust His word without perverting it. (I speak not of genuine disagreements here; we literally have clerics and theologians now who argue that the command to sexual fidelity in marriage actually means that if it’s consensual, it’s okay. Never thought I’d live to see the day when some high Church authorities would adopt the occultist Aleister Crowley’s dictum to “Do what you will” as doctrinal truth). We are called then, like Joshua, to resolve that we will serve the Lord, whatever the world – and trendy, worldly clerics – choose. To be a remnant for Christ; to be Gideon’s 300 (Judges Chapters 6-8); to be Christ’s yeast in the dough of the world (Matthew 13:33).
These Things Must Come
I take it as a given now that war will come, both to America and to the world. I deeply appreciate the work Donald Trump has done to give us time to gird our loins, but he is like the Dutch boy with his finger in the dike. Unfortunately, we have a lot of holes in this dike, with more bursting forth each day. Many malevolently ambitious types are busy poking more holes, while most officials who aren’t actually malevolent just want to keep from getting wet – so this little Dutch boy is getting little help. The dike is going to burst and we will be flooded – until God intervenes.
Christians are under siege throughout the world, whether in the hard martyrdom of execution in the Middle East and Africa or the soft martyrdom of bankruptcy, silencing and imprisonment in the West. The late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said, back in 2013, that he “…would die in his bed, his successor would die in jail and that man’s successor would be executed in the public square—after which the martyr’s successor would, as the Church had done so often in the past, help pick up the fragments of a broken civilization and start again.”
Given these assumptions, my mind turns to practical matters – how to endure with fidelity until the Lord’s appointed time?
I ponder the Old Testament Book of Tobit. While most people know the story well enough, few note that Tobit and Tobias lived in the Northern kingdom of Israel, which was completely apostate and corrupt almost from the start. Except for rare trips to the Temple in Jerusalem in neighboring Judea, they had no faithful priests or licit places of worship in the northern kingdom. And yet, God sent the Archangel Raphael to aid and guide them. What is made clear in Tobit is that even when surrounded by corruption –
even when you physically have no place you can go to worship licitly – you can remain close to God by doing the corporal acts of mercy (feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, burying the dead, ministering to the prisoner, the widow, the orphan) and living traditional piety (prayer, fasting and almsgiving). And God will abide with you. People worry about what they would do if they can’t receive communion. Tobit directs you to the answer – corporal acts of mercy and traditional piety. God does not abandon you because others oppress and harass Christians. It is not what goes into a man that defiles him in God’s eyes, but what comes out. Ensure, then, that what comes out; truth, honor, courage, devotion to the sacred, are your lodestones.
There is no question that God keeps faith with those who keep faith with Him, even when the corruption of society, government, and the clergy is almost universal. Fortunately for us, the corruption of the clergy is nowhere near the extent it was in the northern kingdom of the divided Davidic kingdom. But when the ordinary faithful are beset by aggressive persecutors and the top levels of society, government, and religion have become rife with corruption, they are badly shaken. They need support and encouragement to keep faith AND to live their evangelical call. As Cardinal George said, they need some help “pick(ing) up the fragments of a broken civilization and start(ing) again.”
A Clan of Christian Soldiers
This has dominated my thought since late last year. A people under siege by cultural barbarians need encouragement and mutual support systems, especially when their top leaders have abandoned and betrayed them. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of Priests and mid-level Bishops have not betrayed the faithful or Christ – though many, even of these, are cowed by the growing snarls and howling of the mob. They, too, must be cared for in our mutual support systems that they become true pillars of that system of caring for the faithful.
I have been thinking of establishing clans – or tribes – around the country and, perhaps, the world, for people of faith to encourage, uphold and defend each other in the midst of tribulation. While I usually think in terms of regions (which is how I organized states politically), that will not do here. It is senseless to spend as much time trying to organize inhospitable areas as it is growing enthusiastic ones. When boundaries are regional, it focuses on geography rather than fidelity and courage. I am looking for a coalition of the willing. Even when I was politically establishing regional coordinators, I spent my time where I found eager enthusiasts, reasoning that their enthusiasm was more likely to spill over and ignite a neighboring region than wasting efforts trying to push the unwilling into action. If you work from clans, they can grow organically depending on their effectiveness.
There are a number of areas that such clans must be concerned with. Among these are shelter, food, security, child care, education and communication – all of which I have begun work on. Do not think I am speaking of some impotent refuge or withdrawal movement. Rather, I speak of a network. We are to be yeast in the dough of society, not refugees in the catacombs. Every clan should have some provision for sheltering Priests, Preachers and Religious. Two decades ago, it was unthinkable that pastors could be fined or jailed for preaching the ancient faith, yet today it is happening in almost every western country save the United States. And in the States, laymen are routinely fined and prosecuted for simply living their Christian or Jewish faith with fidelity. If the anti-God leftist mob gains pre-eminence for a time (and it is almost certain they will press violently for it), it is entirely likely that faithful religious leaders are likely to face the sort of purges that have, at times, become raging infernos in France, Spain, Mexico, Russia, China and other countries – but this time throughout the world at the same time. We need to uphold faithful clerics as they uphold us. If a clan has a central location where people can gather in times of crisis, that is good. But they can’t go just to hunker down: they must always be focused on how to go forth and evangelize the world.
The Apostolate of the Laity
What is clear is that, this time, the world will not be renewed by great heroes and elite knights. It will be renewed by ordinary people, working together in mutual faith with God and with each other. Renewal of the Church will not come through top officials. St. Paul VI said, in 1972, that the smoke of satan had entered the Church. I wonder if he knew then that, just over four decades later, the Vatican, itself, would be blazing merrily away. This is the moment for the ordinary man.
My plans for this year are fluid. If the world does not blow up in the interim, I plan to hit the road in late May. I will go, giving presentations wherever I am asked – starting first in the north and eastern parts of the country and then, after a sabbatical in late summer and early fall, going off to the southern and western parts of the country. This time the presentations will focus on how to create a network of mutual aid in trying times and how to keep vibrant faith in faithless times. Even more, it will be about how to convey the joy of that faith to a weary, bleeding world. Keep in mind that many who are eagerly pulling down the pillars that hold up a stable, peaceful world think themselves idealists – with no idea that they are summoning chaos, violence and darkness. Oh, how they will suffer! But for many, it will be a blessed suffering, for it will be the gate back to the joy and peace that vibrant faith brings. Many of them will see the fruit that their depredations bear – and will, first in agony, then in despair, and finally in chastened humility, look once more for truth rather than just for power and pre-eminence. Some will not: some men just want to watch the world burn.
These plans could change in a heartbeat. I always keep my hiking gear close at hand. If I hike it will not be to escape, but to confront the aggressors and hearten the faithful. I don’t know how God intends this should all unfold. What I do know is that this is not the end. God is calling each of us to choose – and when we choose Him to be fruitful and multiply, to bring many back with us to present as an acceptable offering to Him. He calls us not just to talk about courage and fidelity, but to live it fully in uncertain times, trusting that He will give us what we need IF we keep faith with Him, trust in Him, and act as His hands and feet to call His prodigal children back to Him. That means we must serve with all our hearts, all our mind, and all our soul – to be faithful unto death (which for the truly faithful is just our birth to heaven).
My pilgrimage taught me many things. Each day, I did not know where I would sleep that night. Many days, I did not know what I would eat – or whether I would have anything to eat at all. I never knew when I would be able to be in a Church to worship (except when I approached a sizable town) or what church it would be. If Christ was authentically proclaimed, that was sufficient for me under those circumstances. I spent over a year going forth into the unknown each day. Along the way, my little, simple journey touched thousands of people and gave them new heart – and in doing so, gave me new heart. What a glorious time it was! Now we are all on the outskirts of the unknown – and the world will not be at peace again until we have chosen to make our pilgrim journey through this dark valley. God is sufficient to us. If we walk with charity, fidelity, firmness and resolve, we will look back and realize that never were we closer to God in each minute than when we walked with confidence into the unknown in trying times – by His side. There is cause for fear, no doubt. Walk with fidelity, though, and you will be stunned to find a sublime joy deeper than any you have ever known in the very midst of trial. The King calls us to be His fishers of men even as we keep faith with each other.
Peace and justice are established by making prudent choices – in policy and in faith. I will write more on some simple truths about issues that have become viciously snarled and tangled through the vanity and hubris of worldly temporal and spiritual leaders. Even now, I have begun work to build these networks and help them establish independent action, in communion with each other when and where possible. Remember, as I have constantly said, that all faithful Christians and Jews are equal partners in the work before us – and all people of good faith are to be treated as true neighbors. For those of us who are Catholic, we are working to recollect the hierarchy to what they are called. In the midst of massive hierarchical corruption, I echo what Jesus said about the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:2,3, “…practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do, for they preach, but do not practice.” And in this, I note that what the Church authentically tells us is contained in Scripture and the Magisterium, not the vain and mindless ramblings and revolt of faithless leaders. If any should preach to you seeking to correct the “errors” of Christ and His Apostles, “let him be accursed” to you. (Galatians 1:8).
St. Patrick and the Snakes
St. Patrick entered the pagan land of Ireland to universal hostility. Amazingly, there are no well-attested miracles attributed to him, save the banishment of the snakes. Even the pious legends about him make for thin gruel when it comes to miracles. Yet in the midst
of this universal hostility, he founded some 300 Churches and baptized over 120,000 people. Until its recent reversion to pagan sensibility, Ireland had been the most reliably Catholic country in the world for over 1,500 years.
Whether God opens a new age of miracles or whether your fidelity unto death is, itself, the miracle, it is through the laity and the mid-level clergy that the world and the faith will be renewed, an era of peace will settle over the world, and the Immaculate Heart will triumph.
That is what the apostolate of the laity is. Though your leaders abandon faith, though those you should be able to count on abandon you, though the world attacks and despises you for your goodness and charity, keep faith and live the prayer of doing. When you do this, you are not alone. The people of the kingdom and the people of heaven will rise together and God will re-establish His kingdom among us.
Convert what snakes you can and banish the rest. Be the miracle.
A Sign of Hope 
What a glorious, elegantly written piece, Charlie! Rooted in faith and blooming with choice words, phrases and ideas, it cultivates new hope, rallies zeal, calls forth new vigor, cements persistence, and invigorates new resolve to stay the course with God in all the whats, whens, whos, wheres and hows of His Master Plan for us in these times.
This one is to be contemplated, again and again and again…
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Truly an inspired piece!
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THat’s the feeling I got too Judith Rabel – Mclaine… I just knew Our 3 in 1 God gave Charlie all those wonderful heartening words!!!! Pitter Patter of the heart! wow
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Amen! ❤
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… and again. I’m going to be chewing on this one for quite while.
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Gerber would love this piece when we are all done chewing on it!! lol
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Charlie:
Please consider coming to the American Chesterton Society meeting to be held in Kansas City this year first weekend in August. Rod Dreher will be there as a speaker. He is the author of “The Benedict Option”.
His book speaks to so many of the thoughts you have expressed here and also much of the great man GKC and his writings.
You will find a place as Belloc opined…“That wherever the Catholic Sun doth shine you will find friendship laughter and good red wine”.
Hope to see you in KC.
Jasconius.
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I am familiar with Dreher’s fine work and the fine work of the Chesterton Society. But when I hit the road, it is to go to speak to and work with people of this community, not to attend conferences (except when I am asked as a speaker). In any case, the first week of August I begin my sabbatical…and will be attending the St. Thomas Aquinas Conference in Colorado Springs. This year two Priests who are friends that I don’t get to see as often as I like are among the presenters…and the founder and organizer of it is a dear friend, as well.
I do appreciate the heads up, though. That is my kind of conference you speak of.
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The reason I brought the Chesterton Society up is because what you have been describing as forming non-geographic clans has been happening organically among folks globally devoted to the thought and writing of GKC.
Chesterton Academy schools are springing up all over the country. Study groups in every state and in many countries.
There is an excellent group in your part of Colorado.
ACS is a good model in organization on a shoestring. It would be good for groups like this organized around various Christian or Western Intellectual giants to know about each other. Your travels might help to make the connections between groups for mutual support.
May St. Raphael accompany on your journey,
Jasconius
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Thanks Rena…that is a very thoughtful approach, and I appreciate you suggesting it.
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Amen, brother. No retreat. Rather we need to keep walking forward through the arrows that will be fired at us, and be actively lifting up all those around us, especially those who have succumbed to the lies of the evil one. “They will know us by our Love” 🙂
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Yay…new piece to read…Very grateful to God for Charlie…my (and many) special sign of hope😇
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Charlie, Just as an aside–what a small world. The year before Hynek passed, I was attending a conference in San Fran and seated myself for an evening banquet. Someone seated himself next to me, and I immediately recognized him from tv appearances. I asked if he still felt the UFOs were most likely explained away as he said at his famous tv news conference. He said that he had shifted, because there were just too many reports that could not be explained as natural phenomena. I mentioned an incident I had experienced near Sundance ,WY circa 1967, with a high up moving light that could not have been aircraft, helicopter, or satellite, and had reported it to the AF for Project Blue Book. Without hesitation he said that it had never been reported to him.
Fast forward circa 30 years, when I had gotten to exploring how Creation might be explained by science. While writing my paper on Frozen Time Theory, I had gotten into email discussion with the prolific writer on paranormal phenomena, Brad Steiger (who later published my two papers, Frozen Time Theory and Universal Consciousness with his wife Sherry–who it turned out has served as Hynek’s secretary).
And you may be aware that just a few days ago I concluded in a paper, now posted on NDERF (under Jack Philosophy), that it is impossible in principle for scientists to ever be able to acquire the observation necessary to learn how our world came into being, based on a hard rule I termed The Principle of Interior Unknowability.
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I tried recently to watch episodes of that series on TV that involves him, but I just couldn’t get through a complete one. While the actor who plays him does look the part (could be a close cousin) he gets downright chirpy at times. Hynek was NEVER like that. Intense dry…and wry…wit. In class, he was the epitome of the absent-minded professor – and played it for all it was worth. The series gets good ratings, I hear. The difference between the character on TV and the real man were just too jarring for me, though. Fortunately for the producers, few around now ever knew the real man. You know, he makes a cameo at the end of the old movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” I was tickled over that at the time.
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Do not forget the Pentecostals, Messianic Jews, 7th Day Adventists and believing Latter Day Saints, among many others as you resume your pilgrimage.
________________________________
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I have been witness to miracles in my work with teenagers. One was like the multiplication of the loaves and fishes but, with our group, it was spaghetti and meat sauce. With just ten pounds of ground beef and four small boxes of spaghetti, Jesus, after hearing the beseeching prayers of the 7 adults who were running the Legion of Mary retreat, fed over 200 hungry teenagers who had spent the morning evangelizing door-to-door. I was in charge of ladling the meat sauce, and each time I did, I just smiled and praised God all the more. It was a slight struggle not to try to fathom the depths of the sauce and to trust that Jesus didn’t need me to try to ration it as I thought would best serve the most. When everyone had been served a plateful, some of the bigger boys came and asked for seconds and I giggled to myself as I looked at the woman with the spaghetti and saw there was still more pasta so there MUST be more sauce. Nothing was wasted. There were a few platefuls left to feed the homeless that one of the male chaperones had encountered. So much joy!
The teens wanted every last detail of the event afterwards. I submitted to all their questions but then reminded them that the greater miracle would occur when the priest would change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.
Yes, miracles are ordinary in that they happen everyday while the world walks by, so sure that the idiots inside the Church are beneath their contempt. I am so happy to think of the day when Jesus will turn their ears to His voice and turn their steps to the other side of those doors and, may He be pleased to allow, to find me, the biggest, smiling idiot you’ve ever seen. Peace and blessings to all here.
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Beautiful, Marisa! Love this witness story. May God ever bless you and your wonderful work with kids.
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Love it, Marisa! My mother once was going to fry some chickens for company after they had moved back to the farm in Alabama. Dad was nervous, because the sort of chickens they had were NOT good for frying…tough old birds that needed to be boiled for a good long while to be edible. Ma chuckled and said earnest prayers over them after she chose three and set about plucking and prepping them. To Dad’s amazement, they had some of the tenderest, tastiest chicken he had ever had. Ordinary little miracles abound.
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thatss lovely Marisa
Christus Vinci
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Hokey Buckets! Lots of meat in this one and will have to reread.
The clan system sounds interesting. Count me in.
(A little tidbit-I am in the Kane Irish clan.-They have their own sweater pattern as do they all.- Pretty neat.)
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Ha! Cool…perhaps each clan could make its own sweater pattern – and all would include squirrels!
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Hahahaha -love it with squirrels on top.
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Oh my word, just caught the typo-Holy Buckets! Can there still be a bing in that? How funny!
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Hello Charlie
Love this post!! I’m a long time follower of The Next Right Step and A Sign of Hope.
Many of us here in Australia are completely shocked over Cardinal Pell’s ‘trial’.
It is being said that the story of the two choir boys started out as a ‘joke’ that has gone totally out of control – and a ‘joke’ has caused the imprisonment of Cardinal Pell. May the truth be revealed and judgement reversed.
I am concerned because a priest said from the pulpit recently that the Catechism of the Catholic Church was a snapshot of what the Church believes at this time. He said it twice so I am sure of what I heard. It did not seem to register with other people. Am I wrong in thinking this is false teaching – and that it is possibly opening the door to more ‘changes’ that are being prepared to what the CCC teaches? I intend to stay away from him. I am not an apologist who can respond quickly to his erudite pronouncements. Please tell me if I am interpreting his words incorrectly.
The true faith will be preserved in the cottages of the little people we have been told in the past.
We will keep the Scriptures, the CCC and our rosary beads firmly in our hands come what may.
Best regards
Mary
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I, too, are hoping his words were not meant in the way they can easily be taken. Snapshots suggest that the faith is malleable and can contradict itself. Strange…those who hope that do NOT seem to realize that if that were so, the Church would not be true and it would all collapse within a generation. But it is they who will repent or collapse.
I do think you do well to avoid him for now. I avoid clerics who have convinced themselves that the faith is a transient thing. I will suffer them no longer.
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Hi Charlie and Mary,
As a fellow Aussie, I was also troubled by Cardinal Pell’s trial and sentencing. But that should not be a reason for you not to come to Australia Charlie. In fact, I would like to see you again. My trips to the USA are not as often as I would like. (:
I spoke to our local priest a few weeks back about the issues we are facing here and around the globe. It is refreshing that this priest cares and sees what’s going on (I have been keeping him well informed of all the new infanticide laws and the farce that Mr Trump is facing).
Among the things that disturbed me most is that our diocesan has not had an exorcist for several years (the Archbishop obviously does not consider this a priority to send some local priests for training). Also more disturbing, is that among the priests themselves, there appears to be “an emu’s head in the sand” approach among themselves.
In any event our parish is thriving, with lots of families and young children. For that may God be praised. I just pray that the children are being brought into a living faith that will sustain them beyond high school, where we lose most of them.
Happy to contribute towards the network you are building Charlie. There is a lot of hurting in the world and we are not called to stay in our bunkers.
Very best regards.
Lilibeth
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Thanks Lilibeth and to Mary Haddow’s comments above on Cardinal Pell. I clicked on the link CJ provided in his commentary above on Cardinal George and Pell’s case was referred to in that link. I have for years had an interest in all things Australian mainly because of my father who in 1951 delivered 3 diesel rail cars to your country for his company. My sister and I have communicated extensively with a group who purchased and renovated one of those rail cars and featured it in the recent anniversary (I think it was the 150th) of the Tea and Sugar Route. We were able to provide historical documents to them from my father’s collection from his trip. I grew up on stories of Dad’s stay there. In any case I had already read about Cardinal Pell’s trial and the injustice of the conviction. It seems Australia is further along the leftist route of untruth that is now being uncovered here in America. You both have restored my appreciation of your country and I would have never known that faith and truth continues there on some level at least.
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church is absolutely breathtaking! Every Catholic should own a copy and read it in its entirety, going back to it frequently to be refreshed by the truths it contains.
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Mary I had not heard previously that the story of the two choir boys (on the basis of which Cardinal Pell was convicted) started out as a joke. Can you tell me where you heard that (I am in Sydney, perhaps you are in Melbourne?). Like you, I was devastated at this extraordinary conviction and pray for Cardinal Pell in my daily rosary. Lets hope common sense prevails and the court of appeal overturns the conviction in June
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Mary Haddrow: Referred to you below at Lilibeth, another Australian. Thanks to your comment. The why is mentioned below.
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The link ended up above in stead of below.
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Do you believe in or have been told about the 3 days of darkness – blessed candle, staying inside, covering windows, etc.? Should we prepare for this too?
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Yes, Ern. It is a pretty common subject of conversation among some Catholics. There are great saints who have spoken of it – but there have also been a lot of extravagant claims made about it by the excitable, too. It could be a literal three days of darkness. It could be a time of disorientation for people who thought they had everything figured out. The blessed beeswax candles could be blessed beeswax candles…or it could be a pure faith burning steadily (beeswax is widely regarded as the purest form of wax).
The thing is, there are some very faithful Christians…and other good-hearted people who have not heard of it. God does not play gotcha games – and He would not leave people who live His word bereft. So the bottom line is, live the ordinary way of acknowledging God, taking the next right step, and being a sign of hope…do the corporal acts of mercy and live traditional piety and you are fully prepared for whatever happens even if you don’t know what it is (and most times you will not know ahead of time). On the other hand, if you prepare in precise detail for what you think it means without living the faith, you will be entirely unprepared. Trust God and all will be added. Try to get a step ahead of Him and all will be lost. God just never plays to the scripts we prepare for Him in our minds. Live the faith and you will be fine.
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count me in the clan, but I’m not much of a knitter!
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Ha, Madkat! 🙂
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The “Remnant” can also be called the Predestinate. No one can be sure of being one of the Remnant a Predestinate but there are “signs” that we are told we can look for that give us a hint that we are on the right track.
On a previous blog, Desmond Birch gave us markers for discerning authentic prophets. One was that they usually do not know what the message they are given means and are very simple people given great mysteries too far above thier paygrade. I believe most of the Remnant fall in this category too, I know I do. Like Job, I speak of mysteries far to lofty for me and wonder at them like a simpleton. I also work out my salvation with fear and trembling and more often the not, put my hand over my mouth. (Maybe not enough though!).
As far as whether we are one of the Remnant or not one Scripture passage gives us this clue: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” (Jhn 13:35). By this I can HOPE that I am one of the Remnant, but I cannot KNOW that I am. So, like Joan of Arc, I pray that if I am one of the Remnant that God keep me there and if not, God put me there.
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Will have to have a closer read later as much here. Clans etc…..great…if you live in America. ! you ate on the move again….in America! And the rest of the world…..??
All I can see is to surrender to God and live a moment at a time holding onto the Hand of Jesus and Hand of Mary. I have to focus on Him …or I will fall into fear. Not easy when so much is happening. Jesus I trust In You.
I have no idea of tomorrow…. Let alone coming days. Things may be total ly different than what any of us can imagine.
Just my two cents worth.
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Anne, you surely don’t need my physical presence to form a clan. You just have to have a group of unified people willing to live mutual support and assistance. The materials we generate to form these clans will be available to all good-hearted people throughout the world. I do not expect to be in Australia, but everyone who wants to may share in the fruits of our mutual labor.
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My ‘clan’ formed with the 40daysforlife prayer campaign in front of an abortion clinic. My love for this community solidified in that I purchased a grave plot for myself in the local Parish cemetary. I have a love of a community sixty miles to the north west, but when I am brought back to life, I desire to do so in communion with the fellow Saints whom I lived.
Over the last few years, I have often thought of the skills people bring to the table. We have such passionate, caring people who are generous in their gifts and loving in personalities. Skills such as hunters, fisherman, cooks, opera singers, military logistic’s, police etc. The ‘clan’ has been brought together several times and are well aquainted yet, as a clan they don’t formally realize it…
They are all faithful prayer warriors with their families who live their lives as Charlie says…. devoutly acknowledge God, taking the next right step and being a sign of Hope.
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What a blessing, Sean!
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Charlie, I do so hope that your travels bring you to/ through my new hometown. I wish to be able to help further the TNRS and ASOH mission. I am still struggling to connect and find my place here though we have been here over two years. Two of our three children live in the area with their families and it is wonderful to be close to them! I would not move back to our former home if given the opportunity. We are needed here. It was the right move. I am grateful. But I feel a void that is desperate to be filled.
There is an emptiness no matter the busyness of each day. I don’t quite feel like I belong ( here) yet.
But each day is filled with whatever God places on my platter and I clumsily stumble forward in hopes that my feeble efforts will be honored. Borrowing a line from Forrest Gump, that’s all I have to say about that.
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I know what you saying charlie….but getting enough unified people…that’s a battle in itself. ..unified when opinions and busyness reign. I tried to get a couple to pray the rosary together…
You would think I was asking the world!
Americans have a passionate spirit….either for or against.not lukewarm.
I admire that!
.
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Thank you, Anne. I have known a lot of Australian ex-pats living in this country – and I have long admired their wit, good nature, and boldness. I think if you look, you will find many down under with the same passionate spirit. You strike me as a patient people, but one whose patience should not be pushed beyond the limits of endurance. I rather think your elite leadership will ultimately find that Christian Aussies are not the pushovers they think you are. And then what a delight it will be for this Yank to travel to Australia!
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Anne, I know that if you prayed for companions on this journey the Lord would answer that prayer. A PMT going up for this very intention while sending St. Maximilian Kolbe to assist you in every way.
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Praying a PMT along with you Beckita, for Anne.
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Amen, Sheralyn. If you agree, let’s also offer a PMT for the Lord to fill the void which Kristen describes as she continues to settle in her new hometown… in God’s perfect timing and ways. Sending you the Holy Family, Kristen.
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Will do, Beckita!
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Awesome, Sheralyn!
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Thank you to you both…beckita and Sheralynn….so thoughtful of you both.
Things over the last 7 months have taken its roll….and last week was joy and deep sadness together!
So thank you both.
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Happy to lift you, Anne. God bless you.
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You’re very welcome, Anne!
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Yes I love Australia and Aussies. Many wonderful qualities…..just have found lots of lukewarm lately. could be just here at the moment!
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Thank you Charlie. I’ve been following you for a long time. Just want to let you know that Wayne Dyer is a new age teacher, although I agree with that statement.
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Thanks Margaret. I’m disappointed to hear a man who made such an insightful statement is otherwise so misguided. Perhaps if we worked harder to make the Mass an encounter with the Living God rather than an encounter with Oprah, otherwise shrewd people would not go off looking for meat in strange places.
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Being of Scottish descent, I love the idea of clans. I am from clan Ranald Mac Donald and the clan’s motto is “My hope is constant in thee.”
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Love your motto, Tina.
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Tina M., the very first thing that came to my mind when I read your comment is that when I was a lot younger, I was a member of Clan Ronald McDonald, and our motto was “More Happy Meals, please!” Ahhh, those were the days… One Billion served. I must be really old. 😀 😀 😀
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You ARE really old (and I declare this even as I’m a mere 6 months your junior)… and really, really funny, SteveBC. Honestly, I, too, thought of “Clan Ronald McDonald” when I read Tina’s comment yesterday. 😉
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Our clan motto is, “54 Billion Served.”
Interestingly, the Johnston clan in Scotland is where we get the phrase, “you must set a thief to catch a thief.” The Johnstons were notorious brigands and brawlers – and thieves. A Sheriff came up with the idea of appointing a Johnston to police a particularly volatile area – using the reasoning of that statement. Wonder of wonders…it worked! The region was pacified and became quite law-abiding, as that Johnston would not tolerate the sort of nonsense he had routinely pulled just before his appointment.
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Cool stuff, Charlie. If you’re in the same Johnston Clan with this motto: “Nunquam Non Paratus” which means, “Never Unprepared,” how fitting it is with the addition, “to follow where the Lord leads.”
It’s my maternal line which includes the Scottish Wilsons with the motto,” Semper Vigilans” (Always watchful) – another one brought to perfection with, “to follow where the Lord leads.”
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“Go forth against your enemies, have good fortune, and return with captives.” Sounds like something you’d get from Conan the Barbarian, but such is my clan’s motto.
I take the latter part to mean “return with captives… for the Lord.”
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Would “Release the Hounds!” be too provocative?
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Ha! Not at all. For my part, I’ve quite literally released the hounds on numerous occasions. Most recently the tiny, but fearsome chihuahua on the unsuspecting young fella sneaking through the backyard to meet with with my daughter. Ah, puppy love… took on a whole new perspective with the wee pup running him down. Can’t say that I took him captive, but he certainly got a good look at what a father is all about. Hopefully, in a positive way.
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Too provocative? Mmmm…not compared to my clan’s motto.
– What doesn’t kill us has made a grave tactical error –
😉
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Oh, I LOVE that one, Christopher!
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Christopher J, you win the prize with this one! 😀
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“If it doesn’t fit, force it.
If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway”
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Returning with captives for the Lord suits you very well, MP. 🙏🔥
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I envision a joyful line of trekkers returning the the Homeland. But the more I watch the course of things, the more I’m prepared to take them kickin’ and screamin’ if needs be.
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Concur, MP. And it always costs. So that’s a lotta prayin’, fastin’, offerin’ and prayer of doin’ to be done. So be it. Onward for the Kingdom.
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Laughing my fool head off, SteveBC! 🙂
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NEWS & MILINET: Articles for Christians – 30 March
===============
Choices Have Consequences: A Lenten Meditation on a Warning From Moses
http://blog.adw.org/2019/03/40887/
Pope Francis issues child protection laws for Vatican City State, Roman Curia
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-issues-child-protection-laws-for-vatican-city-state-roman-curi
Archbishop Chaput’s Address at the Pontifical College Josephinum–Facing the Future with Hope and Joy
http://archphila.org/archbishop-chaputs-address-at-the-pontifical-college-josephinum-facing-the-future-with-hop
DOLAN’S HAND FORCED – Finally does what he should have done.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/video/episode/vortex-dolans-hand-forced
THE POLITICS OF TRANSPARENCY
https://www.catholicleague.org/the-politics-of-transparency/
The Black Pro-Life Leaders Who Condemn Planned Parenthood–Hugh Reynolds
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/03/the_black_prolife_leaders_who_condemn_planned_parenthood.html#ixzz5jZ6DZr00
‘Heartbeat’ abortion ban heads to Georgia governor’s desk
https://www.apnews.com/262b1b933e374db3970d192385155892
Trump administration awards $1.7 million family planning grant to anti-abortion clinics
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/436526-trump-administration-awards-17-million-family-planning-grant-to-anti
Pope Francis explains ring-kissing snub, says he pulled hand away to prevent spread of germs
https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/pope-francis-explains-why-he-pulled-hand-away-from-worshippers-who-tried-to-kiss-ring-he-didnt-want-to-spread-germs
PRO-GAY CATHOLIC-BASHING FILM HITS CINCINNATI
https://www.catholicleague.org/pro-gay-catholic-bashing-film-hits-cincinnati/
Mom pleads with Notre Dame female students to stop wearing leggings, sparks backlash
https://www.foxnews.com/us/mom-pleads-with-notre-dame-female-students-to-stop-wearing-leggings-sparking-backlash
Detailed images of baby heart inside the womb
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-47638608
Spygate: The Inside Story Behind the Alleged Plot to Take Down Trump
https://www.theepochtimes.com/spygate-the-inside-story-behind-the-alleged-plot-to-take-down-trump_2833074.html
Mueller’s Probe Comes At A Cost: Lost Faith in The Justice System
https://townhall.com/columnists/brettvelicovich/2019/03/29/muellers-probe-comes-at-a-cost-lost-faith-in-the-justice-system-n254396
The Media Have Done Tremendous Damage to the Country and Themselves
https://townhall.com/columnists/davidharsanyi/2019/03/29/the-media-have-done-tremendous-damage-to-the-country-and-themselves-n2543923
Sexual Politics in the Age of Trump
https://townhall.com/columnists/suzannefields/2019/03/29/sexual-politics-in-the-age-of-trump-n2543920
Rich Liberals in Nancy Pelosi’s District Launch GoFundMe to Stop Homeless Shelter
https://freebeacon.com/blog/san-francisco-homeless-gofundme/
Whistleblower Leaks Google’s ‘White Privilege’ Diversity Training
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/techwatch/alexander-hall/2019/03/28/whistleblowers-leaks-googles-white-privilege-diversity
Rush: The Liberal Media ‘View Life as a War,’ ‘Every Day Is a Battle’
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2019/03/28/rush-liberal-media-view-life-war-every-day-battle
Collusion ‘Coup Plotters’ Must Be Smoked Out
https://townhall.com/columnists/willalexander/2019/03/30/collusion-coup-plotters-bust-be-smoked-out-n2543997
Taxpayers Win With New FCC Proposal
https://townhall.com/columnists/thomasaiello/2019/03/29/taxpayers-win-with-new-fcc-proposal-n2543921
Hungarian Official Defends the Country’s Stance on Immigration, Says Upcoming Elections Will Be a ‘Decisive Moment’ in EU History
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/laurettabrown/2019/03/28/hungarian-official-defends-the-countrys-stance-on-immigration-says-upcoming-elections-will-be-a-decisive-moment-in-the-history-of-the-european-union-n2543919
Highest Percentage Of Households Reporting Income Gains Since 1966
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/timothymeads/2019/03/29/highest-percentage-of-households-reporting-income-gains-since-1966-n2544013
Dana Loesch Exposes The Anti-Gun Kangaroo Court That Was CNN’s Parkland Town Hall Event
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2019/03/29/dana-loesch-exposes-the-anti-gun-kangaroo-court-that-was-cnns-parkland-town-hall-n2543985
American Legion to Congress: Don’t Replace POW/MIA flags with Transgender Banners
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/29/american-legion-congress-dont-replace-pow-mia-flags-transgender-banners.html
HEADLINES:
Pope Francis enacts new legislation requiring Vatican officials to report abuse
Trump Says ‘Very Good Likelihood’ He Will Close Mexican Border Next Week Over Immigration
Red Cross Granted Access to Deliver Aid in Venezuela
Trump has not been ‘soft’ on Russia. He’s been tougher than Obama–Dan Sullivan
The United States must help Taiwan resist Chinese dominance–Josh Rogin
Trump’s free speech order for colleges gets support across political spectrum: Poll
‘You can’t get three-quarters of Americans to agree on too many things’
Gay dating app Grindr declared threat to military personnel by US government
92 percent of illegal immigrant families ignore deportations, Lindsey Graham says
How enhanced border security succeeds: It discourages illegal immigrants and prevents them from being preyed upon by criminals–Paul Davis
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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“Pope Francis explains ring-kissing snub, says he pulled hand away to prevent spread of germs”
LOL!
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I and I’m sure many in this community who feel guided in their lives have been guided in the directions which you Charlie put into words that most clearly make the less than obvious happenings in this world make sense in an increasingly challenging political and cultural scenario since we are guided by the same source. We who are given less clarity must practice more trust that what we are inspired toward is indeed coming from God when it aims toward submittal to God’s will and less to our own desires. In the simple guidance we are given, we must rely more on God and not focus on knowing and figuring out what is going to happen, especially when. We must, as Charlie constantly must remind us to “acknowledge God, take the next best step and be prepared to be a sign of hope to those around us.” Since we can only take one step at a time, we must always be prepared to reassess what that right next step is when we get to it.
After having read Charlie’s latest posting just before retiring for the night, I was blessed with dreams throughout the night of the crowds of people coming forward to join Charlie’s call to form clans and join the good fight. May it be so in God’s will and direction.
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Speaking of taking the next right step, this dad is being a sign of hope with his impromptu rendition of Ave Maria in a hotel lobby… (in negative news, Twitter just suspended @UnplannedMovie ‘s twitter account during this weekend of its theatrical release. Let’s pray for a reversal )
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Charlie, thank you for this wonderful article. I do have to take exception to one part of it.
You said, “I believe because Christianity, seriously examined, offers the only consistently coherent and stable explanation of life and the universe. Science, you say? Which science? That of today, that of 50 years ago, or that of 500 years ago? Science is a shifting desert: what was accepted as true a few years ago is revealed as false today, and what is true today will be revealed as false a few years from now. The scientific method is a stable, powerful tool for discerning truth, but the conclusions of science at any given point in history are transient, subject to further examination. There is no such thing as “settled” science. In Christianity, specifically in Catholicism, we are called to seek truth through the twin tools of faith and reason.”
As you say, Science is a tool for discerning truths, but it is not a shifting desert of supposedly proven ideas later disproven. Christianity is an excellent *process* for discovering spiritual and moral Truth. Christianity starts with a basic deposit of discoverable truths and builds on those truths and on constant questioning and searching in order to refine old truths and discover new ones that increase our understanding of the underlying deposit. Science starts not with a desert of shifting sand but with a view into a luxuriant jungle of physical phenomena and works to pull out from apparent chaos a sense of order and understanding.
Yes, many older scientific theories and assumptions are often proven wrong by later work, but it is also true that many of the most solid old theories are not proven wrong but later *evolve* into a larger understanding that includes the old theory by incorporating it as a special case in that larger understanding. The evolution of the science of physics from Newtonian Mechanics as tentatively true to Newtonian Mechanics as a special case of more modern (still tentatively true) physics is an excellent example of this process. The best scientists view their work as uncovering tentative but stable and useful truths about God’s Creation. The dross is tossed, while the semi-accurate is made more accurate. So, too, does our understanding of spiritual truths and Truth evolve over time as people such as St Thomas Aquinas appear and delve deeply into and clarify what was amorphous before he came along.
Both Science and Christianity are processes for discovering truths of various kinds, with one (Science) necessarily subordinate to the other (Christianity). Both use what should really be considered a form of scientific process that uses Faith and Reason to discover truth through ever finer understanding of our reality, both spiritual and physical. We could not have developed our modern world without a process that evolves tentative truths into more accurate tentative truths about the physical world, and we won’t be able to keep our current world from destruction unless we continue to build our understanding of spiritual truths to guide our use of scientifically developed physical truths. Christianity and Science are necessarily joined at the hip. Neither one is a desert of shifting sands. Neither one is fully clarified yet. Our understandings inside each area continue to evolve toward clarity.
In Christianity much has been settled, but as you have often said, many things are still debated, and as we move forward into new situations, new debates will arise to refine our understanding. The same holds true in Science. In your article here, you make Christianity and Science out to be quite dissimilar. To me, they are certainly not the same, but they are far more similar than not. Older and younger siblings perhaps! 🙂
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Steve, your comments are valid as far as they go–science has now reached a critical point where it cannot perform its basic function of keying principle development to observed phenomena with the establishment of quantum mechanics (QM). Consider that the basic units of QM function on the Planck scale which defines phenomena as far too small to ever be directly observed. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle sanctified this limitation to observation, but also added the impenetrable issue that whatever is going on at the QM level of reality is random as its rule for prediction– essentially baring prediction. Quantum Mechanics further insults our understanding of reality with it’s empirically validated phenomena of particle entanglement which has particles instantaneously communicating regardless of their separation distance, e.g., two particles at the opposite “ends” of our universe know what each other is doing instantaneously. Recently, I’ve also defined a principle that explains that we cannot possibly ever observe how our material world came into existence, whether or not any Big Bang were true (send an email to my address and I will email the paper to you).
Ordinary science is valuable for engineering technology products, but fails to produce certain knowledge beyond ordinary human sense-perception. In mathematics, upon which science relies to define its principles, Godel established that theorems may exist that cannot be proven or, worse yet, there may lurk inconsistencies that may only be found by trial and error, such as bugs are discovered in computer programs even after they seem to be running perfectly well (the Turing Halting Problem defined this predicament).
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Jack, I’m afraid I find your comments largely beside the point. None of us can know the mind of God. Does that make theology a waste of time? No, clearly not. Nor does a theory with some evidence “insult our intelligence.” That’s a bit of fun with anthropomorphizing. 🙂
Your comments about QM indicate you are of the belief that it is the overarching explanation for all things Physics, but saying or assuming that is not scientific. The fact is that we do not know now whether QM will stand the test of time or will become a special case of a larger and more inclusive understanding that gets around some or all of your cited current limitations. I’m not saying we *will* find such an understanding. I’m saying we can’t rule that out just because we think QM exposes an inability to know beyond a certain point.
Even if QM does stand the test of time, that does not end science as an approach to truth and beauty, just as our inability to know the mind of God does not end the progress we make in theological research and development. Understanding and appreciating the beauty of God’s Creation is surely a noble aim of any good scientist.
Nor do I view ‘outliers’ in a data table as bugs or random events. They *could* be, but to me they often act as pointers saying my understanding is lacking. What is a random bug to one person is a goad to expand another’s box of understanding. It’s the outliers that often truly teach us. Further, much of science has sprung first from indirect observation, and there is no reason to believe we can’t continue to do that even with QM. After all, QM started as a hypothesis that explained certain facts better than other hypotheses and not much more than that. A great deal has been learned since, even though QM tells us there is much we cannot see. Bell’s Theorem was “spooky action at a distance” until it was proven true and a whole new area of science and engineering opened to us.
I’m looking forward to holding my quantum-entangled phone in my hand and talking with Doug in real-time while he is out in the Horseshoe Nebula cruising with a bunch of TNRS’ers in his Red Wagon. In this one sentence I’ve created the possibility of a significant expansion of our understanding of QM and the possibility of a new understanding that includes QM but is not limited by it as we now understand QM. If I can conceive of these, is it only because I have an ability to dream that outpaces reality, or because these are actually possible if we just continue to seek knowledge using the principles of science?
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Steve, Your comments demonstrate that my cryptic characterization of science mislead my point about its worth. Science is valuable, as I attempted to indicate with reference to technology development, but it is also inherently incapable of penetrating to Truth as only God can know.
Elements of QM theory are defined to be too small to observe.
What differentiates good science from speculation and unfounded mythology is the insistence of science on attention to phenomena relevant to observation of falsifiable propositions. QM lost part of that ability when it determined the Plank constant as a fundamental parameter of the Uncertainty Equation, given that it’s far too small for direct observation ( A colleague and I had a chat a few years ago with Brian Greene over the fact that super string theory loops and strings are Planck length, and thus unobservable–and he agreed, hoping only for eventual testable implications). Quantum entanglement defies our common sense of the world (and Einstein’s Relativity Theory), and no plausible explanation has been proposed, except rather far fetched worm hole tunneling that would not work, because commo would still not be instantaneous.
Non trivial math systems may contain lurking inconsistencies.
All of our important theories in physics are embodied in math models, but math was shown by Godel (and later Turing in a variant relevant to computer programming) to possess potential inconsistencies, that may not be proven, but only stumbled upon. No certainty here.
Knowledge about how the world came into being requires observation of creation.
But we cannot in principle observe what happened if there were a Big Bang, and there is no proof that there was a beginning in the Big Bang. Hawking’s explanation for the Big Bang states there was a “spontaneous eruption.” Well, that’s an arm wave that simply reiterates there was a Big Bang.
In sum, science is immensely valuable for developing knowledge, but limited.
I do not come at this topic casually, as my own PhD concentration and predoc fellowship were on experimental design and associated applied statistics.
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Jack, I respect your background and emphasize that, like you, I am completely aware that Science may help us know God indirectly through His Creation but cannot delineate God nor know all of His Creation in detail, and it never will. How could that not be true when Science is a tool wielded by imperfect people who are much less capable than God in so many ways?
I have the exact same opinion and belief about theology, which again is an imperfect tool incapable of helping us fully delineate or know God.
Where I disagree with you is in your apparent belief that the extreme smallness of QM means we cannot understand Creation better. That is too fixed an evaluation on your part. Yes, QM explains many things that other theories of physics cannot explain. However, that does not mean that it is a fully accurate understanding of our creation. Science says *all* knowledge is contingent, subject to proof of error or inadequacy. This means that you can say that it appears to be the case, based on QM, that we cannot know the universe beyond this point unless and until a more inclusive understanding of the universe is developed that does not suffer those limitations.
So I have two disagreements with you, or rather with what I am reading your words as saying.
First, you appear to be placing theology on a different plane than Science. I don’t see any difference. We are less than God and cannot know God fully ever, no matter what tools we use to try to know Him – or to know His Creation. No tool (nor even direct experience) can take us there. What I have come to call objective science helps us know God indirectly through study of His Creation. What I call subjective science helps us know God directly through theological study of Him or even direct experience of some aspect of Him. Neither type of science will ever enable us to know God fully. They are both imperfect tools, as are we in how we use or benefit from them.
Second, your comments about limiting our ability to know because QM relies on things so small they are impossible to access in any way isn’t necessarily wrong and may in fact be true, but at the moment we do not know that QM is in fact a fully accurate explanation of that part of Creation it is believed at this time to explain. Your opinion may prove ultimately to be wrong, and so your opinion must be couched in contingent language. “If QM is true and not superseded by a better explanation, then it currently appears that we have reached the end of our ability to penetrate into the finer aspects of the universe for the following reasons: x, y, and z.” This gives scientists several ways to move forward: Find a better explanation that either disproves QM or incorporates QM as a special case, Find a way to get around “x” limitation, Find a way to get around “y” limitation, etc. Just like our theological knowledge of God, which has not been fully expanded yet, QM has not been fully fleshed out yet and much remains to be unfolded and tested.
I’m not saying you are wrong. I’m saying you are not stating what you are saying in a properly scientific manner and so are only stating an opinion. That is Scientism, not Science. It closes off discussion and research (‘we cannot’) rather than helping us to focus on where we can learn more and expand our knowledge if we choose to work at it and are creative and insightful enough. I prefer leaving things open to further possibilities, which is ultimately why I reacted to your statements about QM, which I did not think were formulated with the required precision.
We don’t have to pursue this any more deeply if you don’t want to. We have each now had an opportunity to say our piece in one comment and clarify our piece in a second comment. Our fellow readers and visitors may be getting fed up with our back-and-forth. Perhaps we should simply agree to disagree. No matter, you’ve given me much to think about and have forced me to clarify my thinking, which I appreciate. Thanks, Jack! 🙂
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I like seeing science at work on the shroud of Turin or on the Tilma. It leads to some conclusions that indicate a transcendent phenomena was at work.
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Doug, you hit the indirect way to know God quite nicely. Even pursuing God indirectly can open a person to knowing God more directly, although never fully.
All of my awareness of God is indirect, but that has been enough to confirm to me that He exists and takes a personal interest in me. And that is all I need.
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That is wonderful Steve! It just shows the diverse beauty in which our heavenly father operates to reach his children. Science is a love story of the Creator and his children. My soul magnifies the Lord.
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Here is my quick science input for the month. Space and Time. As our Universe continues to expand onward while we maintain the same position, this video describes Albert Einsteins Theory of Relativity.
https://lasthabit.com/einstein-theory-of-time-travel/
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Yes, Steve, I was engaging in a bit of hyperbole. My larger point was that the scientific method is a true gold standard…but most people (certainly laymen) who call themselves “pro-science” have contempt for the method while idolizing conclusions that in most cases are not certain and, often, are even counter-factual. I had to chuckle at this, though, for even as I wrote it, I thought that, okay, some things are largely settled – and in many ways, a true scientist is like a true theologian…never quite getting it complete, but clearing away more uncertainty a little at a time as they go. I don’t often use hyperbole, but sometimes it is the only thing that will do. Then I count on people to give the more complete, nuanced explanation that, were I to have made it, would have badly disrupted the flow of my piece.
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But your point Charlie is this: Jesus (God) came to testify to the truth. Within this is established the base of reality. St JPII said that the “theories” of evolution have truth in them but must be based on the revealed truth of Christ. What he ment was that scientific truths cannot trump revealed truth. Now, the argument comes up between science and faith that they are two different philosophies and therefore can have contradictions. Sounds like how some mafia member who are Catholics declare freedom from moral responsibility by saying “it’s just business”. This supposes a “choice” in faith but a “fact” in reality, that somehow faith is fluid but reality is fixed. It is actually the other way around. God, the guy who fixed reality in its place, came and gave us the formulas. Science therefore cannot take some reality and describe it against He who created it. It’s like someone telling the author of a book what the book REALLY means or the chef which ingredients he REALLY used. Because of our concupicence we see everything very dimly in this life-spiritual and temporal. We are wishy-washy at best and down right evil at worst. Science does not have the promise of Christ that the gates of hell shall not
prevail over it. This means it can and will fail us. But God’s truth never will.
And that is your point.
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Well, Charlie, I guess I would say that in this case your hyperbole may have fed those who misunderstand science. I’m actually surprised that you would use something that strictly speaking is not accurate in order to make a point, when before you have always said you demand accuracy and facts in writing. I would think when pondering a desired bit of hyperbole that you might take inaccuracy to mean you need to think harder about your analogy or drop it for a different approach. This is a little bit of criticism but more to the point, I’m just curious why you would think this approach you adopted was worth its cost. Perhaps if you had thought harder about it, you would have developed a better article – an even better article, I should say. I guess I’m a scientist at heart and don’t like to see someone run down one of the loves of my life! 😀
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I do not like the idolatry with which many people treat unscientific nonsense as actual science. It is used as a form of authority with which to end discussion rather than to extend it. There are several scientists here. And I DID properly note the value of the scientific method. On the other hand, if you used anti-clerical hyperbole to emphasize a point, I would probably be as aggravated at you as you are at me. So I get your point.
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I love Science, but I will admit most of the discussion on this thread has gone over my head. I do want to pipe in on what Charlie said about “I do not like the idolatry with which many people treat unscientific nonsense as actual science. It is used as a form of authority with which to end discussion rather than to extend it. “…..this happens constantly with my college attending granddaughter. It’s frustrating and sad that we can’t discuss anything, because everything is settled Science! Ugh.
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Issue with many on the left, which includes scientists, is they are treating theory as fact without definitive proof. That violates a basic principal of logic and the scientific method. The thought that Global warming is man made is a classic example of this.
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Charlie, I am totally in agreement with you about scientism, which as you say is deadly to worthwhile discussions and to learning.
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Steve and Jack,
Knowledge (scientia) has two general routes, Platonism and Aristotelianism. Theology has two route apophatic and cataphatic. It is not surprising that the West, informed by Aristotelian thought developed a cataphatic theology and this approach allowed the great scientific achievements that marked western society. In the east, the platonisitc approach and apophatic approach did not lead to the same developement, but rather a culture of preservation. Obviously, this is all a great over-generalization, but I often look at things such as quantum mechanics in a platonistic fashion, back to Plato and the shadows in the cave. Then, they seem small to me. I am very grateful, however for many of the scientific achievements that have blessed our lives – personal computers, running water, indoor plumbing, heating and cooling systems and so on.
There is the old story that makes the rounds in the eastern church. A monk decided that since Plato was a pagan, his works must be destroyed. That night, as the monk was in his cell, Plato appeared to him and told the monk that when Christ came into that section of hades that had the pagans, He (Plato) was the first to believe and run to Christ. Aristotle was saved too, according to Plato. Both, according to Plato had done work that helped man and brought glory to God. Both found in Christ the blessed fulfillment of their search for truth. So, the monk did not destroy the works, but preserved them.
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J.I.M., I really like this story, as it lets me imagine how many non-christians did so much good work for us all. I like being able to include them in the Fold for such a wonderful reason. Neat!
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WOW!!!! Charlie this is an amazing piece! Gonna print this one out as soon as i can get some yellow ink for my printer!! ugh…
When I read this I can surely tell that this piece, as is all of your pieces, inspired by God to give us all hope!
Funny thing, yesterday, I was not feeling good and needed to clean a house and I wasn’t looking forward to it, so I asked God for a little lift.
I pulled out my little red pocketbook bible, you know…the ones you pick up at goodwill, and opened to this scripture passage of Hebrews 11.
It was all on faith!!!
It really inspired me to go on, despite my troubles of that day, in Faith knowing God will sustain us even in our difficult days.
Your piece did the same for me too last night and I can only imagine how many more times I will read it to gain strength!
How eagerly we all wait for them, Charlie!
I hope this has lifted your spirits today too!
Thank you for all you do for us! Passion of Christ, strengthen Our Charlie! As CrewDog says: “God save all here!” TNRS ASOH xoxoxo
Hebrews 11 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Meaning of Faith
11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old received divine approval. 3 By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking. 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.[a] 7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.
The Faith of Abraham
8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 11 By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” 19 He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence he did receive him back, and this was a symbol. 20 By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. 21 By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial.[b]
The Faith of Moses
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them.
The Faith of Other Israelite Heroes
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,[c] they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
(there may be more to this, if anyone desires to read on…It was all I could copy at one time)
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Please add Sebring to your list of visits. Our doors are always open to you!
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I LOVE Sebring. It was one of my favorite stops…and still ranks, in my mind, as the archetype of Mayberry. Just don’t go their folks without charging the air conditioner in your car first!
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Ha! You may want to pack an extra can of r22 Freon!
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Thank you for a great post, Charlie. I like the idea of forming clans.
I know Dr Hynek and Project Blue Book are not the main focus of this article – but regarding UFOS, what is your personal take on what they are? I seem to remember you writing in the past that they could be demons. Or, am I remembering incorrectly?
Thanks again, Charlie. I do appreciate this website. You have helped me keep the Faith.
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I don’t know, Dr. Rae. Certainly, demonic entities throughout the ages have taken forms that are most likely to be accepted by people of a particular age…so you have had fairies, leprechauns and such…demonic entities are opportunistic, they go where they can best get a foothold.
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The below is worth reading and I’m guessing that a very similar article cold be written about the very same sort of “Elite”, arrogant & corrupt people who have infiltrated into the hierarchy of the Catholic Church … Worldwide. Corruption, Cover-Up, Pay-Offs, stifling of Truth and the destruction of those who don’t agree with their perverse Agenda!
What’s In The Full Mueller Report?…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/03/30/whats-in-the-full-mueller-report/#more-161894
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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Surely was well worth the read, Crew Dog, and exactly what Charlie and so many in the secular press have been writing about. Victor Davis Hanson’s “ “Autopsy of a Dead Coup” is another gem: https://amgreatness.com/2019/02/17/autopsy-of-a-dead-coup/
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Beckita, that was a fantastic article by Hanson, I agree.
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Right, Briana?! Through Charlie, I discovered Victor D Hanson and he has such a brilliant intellect and has been a voice of reason, erudite and true, squarely naming what we have been experiencing. While others scream out talking points, Hanson – with calm and confident demeanor – delivers insight rooted in historical depth.
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B, not only was that an eye-opener, but after clicking on the home page of the article, realized it’s a great website overall to bookmark, (esp. the commentary, ‘Cut Off Those Baby Factories’,)
https://amgreatness.com/
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It really is a great one, Maggie.
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Pondering…
Is is better to live in a state where the politics are pro- life and pro-family and your vote actually counts? Or is there worth in living in a state where you know your pro-life vote has no chance, in hopes that some day the tide will turn?
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Hi Kristenreh, I believe that God puts us where He wants us to be His arms and legs.
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Yes, SanSan, you are right. I am to bloom where I am planted tho I find it difficult to put down roots in such rocky soil.
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https://www.motherofallpeoples.com/blog/the-darkness-of-the-times
Read this today and as I digest and re-read Charlie’s post, I thought this was a good companion to it from Dr. Mark Miravalle. It is some of Ida’s vision that I had not previously read.
Hope everyone is recovering. My “once in 20 years” flu/cold or whatever it has been is finally winding down. God bless all!
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One of my most favorite pieces you’ve written. It was worth the wait!
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Thank you for an uplifting post. The clan idea sounds awesome.
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Lord have mercy.
The following article is very disturbing. After reading the entire article, I came to the conclusion the pope is pro-choice. Please someone, prove me wrong.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/massive-annual-march-for-life-in-lima-postponed-without-explanation-by-new-francis-appointed-archbishop
Massive annual March for Life in Lima postponed without explanation by new Francis-appointed archbishop
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It’s a mess, HttP. You can find a LOT of pro-life statements made by Pope Francis during his pontificate. Then you look at individuals who are not pro-life, yet have been appointed by him to pontifical councils; you see Fr. James Martin and his ilk prancing around, peddling their anti-Gospel stance on human sexuality at the Synod on Young People (and in any diocese which will receive him and his poisonous presentations); you see prelates appointed, such as this Bishop in Peru and it all demonstrates there is a definite dichotomy between what Pope Francis says and what he does.
In his piece, Is the Pope Catholic?, Charlie speaks to this problem. But I especially say, take note of Charlie’s own actions in response to Pope Francis’ troubling actions, especially as described in the opening paragraph of the piece and summed up in Charlie’s closing: So I continue to regard the Pope with filial devotion, even when I wonder what, in heaven’s name, he is thinking.
Yes, the Church is a mess and the truth is, all our sins have contributed to where we find ourselves. I cannot deny that mine certainly have. We could dwell on these kinds of problems pointed out by Life Site and other news reports – and I have read and shared many such pieces here – or we can dwell on what we might do, the very topic of this current piece – as an antidote to this current state of affairs. Here’s another shout out for the tremendous work which Sonja Corbitt does in her online Scripture studies presentations. I love her and her work for many reasons. I particularly love how she’s been deep into studying the Scriptures since her childhood when she was raised as a protestant. It was her discovery and reading of the Church Fathers while in seminary which first infuriated her that her teachers had withheld these primary sources concerning the Christian Faith and then compelled her to convert to Catholicism.
Amazingly, her current series for Lent (It’s never too late to jump in, besides, this study will continue into the Easter season.) is none other than: Highway of Holiness Healing Corruption in the Church. Check out these sub-title questions:
It’s reported in the headlines, admitted in Confession, and hidden in the pews. But we’re always shocked when the truth comes to light.
How do we arm ourselves in the age of seduction?
How do we heal corruption in the Church?
The first presentation in the series, The Summons, is here along with the two newer segments. Charlie mentions that much about these times in which we live reflect the two Books of Kings. At his suggestion, I’ve been reading them. I was delighted to discover that Sonja uses these books and additional Biblical sources (including Job which, since TNRS days, Charlie has encouraged us to read) to lay out a healing path for every Catholic and non-Catholic to embrace… and it will ripple and redound to holiness abounding in and out of the hierarchy again.
In this series, Sonja, also, richly addresses the trials most everyone here has been through and/or is going through now. These times of being in the wilderness are absolutely necessary, times of testing, tempting and tribulation. We need it all to be purified, for in this process, we come to know who we truly are and acknowledge fully Who God is. I have often considered that entering the period of Peace promised by Our Lady at Fatima – where God’s Love shall flourish in His people again – is akin to entering Heaven where God’s Love reigns. Before we’re fit for Heaven we must grow in Love via purgatory where our selfishness and vanity are extinguished in healing flames; before we enter the time of the full Triumph of Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart, we must be purified, via this process in which we find ourselves, that our selfishness and vanity, consumed in repentance and mercy, may become nothing but ashes of the past, giving rise to the lush vibrancy of living True Love.
“Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
SO grateful to be alive in this glorious time! God bless us, one and all.
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Thank you for the links. You are such a treasure. Downloaded the app and will be working on it throughout the week. Boy, that sifting isn’t a lot of fun! Kind of painful.
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Agree, HTTP, sifting ISN’T too fun. But I am convinced that suffering pre-sifting is much worse than suffering during and post-sifting. The sifting actually builds inner strength IF we choose to become better rather than bitter.
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Hmmm. Is my life a miracle or a gift? I think maybe both. I am grateful!
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I see some good parallels with the book of Kings here. First, there was David’s Kingdom (John Paul II). Then there was Soloman and his wisdom (Pope Benedict and his masterful theological insights) and then came the divided kingdom after Soloman (Pope Francis). Good news is the church belongs to Jesus. There are some bad actors, but God will right the ship at the right time by sending the right saint. History shows this. God us actively moving even though it may not be publicly apparent. I endeaver to do my part to be faithful to the magistarium.
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DOUG,
Spot on: “…and then came the divided kingdom after Soloman (Pope Francis).”
The betrayal and reversal of the great victory of Christianity in the Battle of Lepanto, Catholicism, vs Islamic terrorism, Pope Francis in Morocco:
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Well, Gang!
I awoke in de wee hours, as Old People often do ;-(, with my mind was wondering about on current USA/World events, Trump/Deplorables, Frantic/Angry/Violent Fringe Left Activists & Their Democrat Party …. and China & all the essential everyday stuff that ain’t Made in USA anymore …… Venezuela …. Russia …… Latin America Drug/Sex Cartels & Alien Invader “Caravans” ….. Old Christendom/NATO in shambles … a worn-out US Military (Personnel & Gear) ….. 50+ Years of Political Correctness, Abortion and The Lord removed from “Public Life” ….. Old Generation Folks (like me & older) dying off ….. and Our Church …. Vatican Intrigue ….. with Pope Francis flitting about doing his best to Stir de Pot of …Ah ….. Ya Know ;-(
……. AND the three Kelly Turnbull novels by a retired Army officer, lawyer, writer and FOX commentator, Kurt Schlichter, that I recently finished. These novels are about the possible near future and Break-Up of the USA along Red/Blue Lines … with lots of , near comical, jabs at current Democrats/Fringe Left Lunatic Policies.
At first, I considered these possible future events as a bit far fetched until I realized that I’m watching it unfold on a daily basis in our USA … NOW!! …. and the Break-Up of the USA has been on my mind for 20 years but in different scenarios ….. and long after I’m gone.
Then it hit me!! … with just a dozen or so powerful DC figures “Out of de Picture” due to tragic circumstance, unforeseen scandals, unexpected resignations (think black mail, extortion, pay-offs or ???) …. and/or unknown assassins ……… we could have President Pelosi and a Democrat Senate …. House …. and Fringe Left Activist Judiciary in a very short order.
After the past three years of US History, (Russia, ANTIFA, Unhinged Left, BLM, Herr Mueller and his Band of Angry Democrat Persecutors), would you consider such a chain of events out of the realm of possibilities? … Eh!!!??? …. especially after the reaction of The Usual Suspects to the Mueller NO Russians under Trump’s bed conclusion. Oh! By the By! Just where were those Chinamen with pockets/briefcases filled with Campaign $$$$$?? Ya know!? Like we witnessed during those “Glory” years of Billary & AlGore… Remember?? I guess the PLA Bagmen all became choir boys or decided to hang out at the Christian Science Reading Room? I’d bet de farm that there was plenty of China Cash floating around in Election 16 but our corrupt DOJ, FEC and Media chose to do their usual Three Wise Monkey Routine when it comes to Democrat Malfeasance.
We have, thankfully, Trump/Deplorables who are nothing less than a Global “Bull in de China Shop” … and the word China has much significant meaning than crockery!! ……. Trump has “upset apple cart” and “kicked over rice bowls” …think China …….. and gotten powerful& sinister bowels in an uproar WORLDWIDE!! …. including Marxist Lavender Bigs in Our Church!!! ;-(
Human History is filled with “Unexpected & Massive Unpleasantness” …. except that it was predicted/expected by those with the mind, eyes and ears to ……………………. Pray for Our Church, The Faithful, Trump, Pence and Patriot Deplorables!!!
NEWS & MILINET; Articles for Christians – 31 March
======================
Philadelphia Archbishop: ‘Predatory Homosexuality’ Cause of Abuse Crisis
https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2019/03/30/philadelphia-archbishop-predatory-homosexuality-cause-abuse-crisis/
HullyGee!! I wonder if Pope Francis would support the Jews rebuilding the Temple on Temple Mount?
Pope, Morocco’s king, say Jerusalem must be open to all faiths
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-morocco-jerusalem/pope-moroccos-king-say-jerusalem-must-be-open-to-all-faiths-idUSKCN1RB0IK
Can an Archaeological Dig Change the Future of Jerusalem?–Bari Weiss
HOUSE GOP PUSHES FOR FLOOR VOTE ON BORN ALIVE ACT
https://freebeacon.com/issues/house-gop-pushes-for-floor-vote-on-born-alive-act/
Macron’s France: Average of Three Church Attacks Per Day
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/30/macrons-france-average-of-three-church-attacks-per-day/
Thirty men sentenced for Egyptian church attack plot
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-court/thirty-men-sentenced-for-egyptian-church-attack-plot-idUSKCN1RB0AH
Agencies Can’t Cite Religious Belief to Bar Kids From Gay Adopters, Rules Michigan’s Lesbian AG
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/alex-madajian/agencies-cant-cite-religious-belief-bar-kids-gay-adopters-rules-michigans
I’m thinking it’s Past-Time for Patriots of Church & Country to be Outraged!!!
Beware of Obama’s Outrage Trap – Susan Rice’s “By The Book” Memo…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/03/31/beware-of-obamas-outrage-trap-susan-rices-by-the-book-memo/
Maxine Waters: ‘We Have Seen Enough’ — Trump ‘Needs to Be Impeached’
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2019/03/31/maxine-waters-we-have-seen-enough-trump-needs-to-be-impeached/
Jesse Jackson: Outrage over Jussie Smollett ‘Is Fake News’
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2019/03/30/jesse-jackson-outrage-over-jussie-smollett-is-fake-news/
Pelosi: Banning Transgenders ‘Would Undermine Our Military Readiness and Make America Less Strong’
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cnsnewscom-staff/pelosi-banning-transgenders-would-undermine-our-military-readiness-and
Democratic Bitter-Enders’ Battle Cry: ‘Collusion or Bust!’
https://www.newsmax.com/murdock/democratic-party-collusion-mueller-trump/2019/03/29/id/909288/
SHALLOW STATE: HOW CONGRESS PROTECTS ITS OWN
https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/30/shallow-state-congress-protect/
EXCLUSIVE – NSA Whistleblower: Page FISA Warrant Likely a Gateway to Spy on Entire Trump Campaign
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/31/exclusive-nsa-whistleblower-page-fisa-warrant-likely-a-gateway-to-spy-on-entire-trump-campaign/
Mexican Migrants Arrested near Canadian Border
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/03/31/mexican-migrants-arrested-near-canadian-border/
‘We’ve never seen anything like this’: As Trump threatens to close border, migrants overwhelm Texas cities
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/30/migrants-overflow-border-federal-facilities-local-strain-wall-trump/3309462002/
Open-Borders CNN Promotes ‘Sanctuary’ Activist Who Shielded Illegals from ICE Agents
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/brad-wilmouth/2019/03/31/cnn-promotes-sanctuary-activist-who-shielded-illegals-ice-agents
JAKE TAPPER: CNN DIDN’T GET ‘ANYTHING’ WRONG IN RUSSIAGATE REPORTING
https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/31/jake-tapper-cnn-trump-russia/
Yup! In Chicago … or is it Newark, Memphis, LA, NO, Atlanta, St Louis, Baltimore or ……
Cory Booker: We Have a Mass Shooting Every Day
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/31/cory-booker-we-have-a-mass-shooting-every-day/
Too little too late???
This Colorado sheriff is willing to go to jail rather than enforce a proposed gun law
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/31/us/colorado-red-flag-gun-law/index.html
LONG OVERDUE ACTION ON EMP
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/03/long-overdue-action-on-emp.php
HEADLINES:
Ya think these headlines might make The Democrat/Media Left more unhinged? … is that even possible?? …………….. We could hope that their Heads Explode 😉
Rudy Giuliani Vows to Uncover ‘Criminal’ Evidence of DOJ ‘Fraud’
Rudy Giuliani: Andrew McCabe, Christopher Steele & Bruce Ohr Should Be in Prison
Mulvaney: Closing Border Next Step If Migrant Flow Doesn’t End
Trump Cuts Aid to Central American Countries as Migrant Crisis Deepens
Jordan: Build the Wall and Finally Secure Our Border Against Gangs, Drugs and Human Trafficking
Trump Pushes to Jump-Start Completion of Keystone Pipeline System First Proposed in 2005
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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Charlie,
This excellent article was, as Brianna Elizabeth said, well worth the wait. How long – almost two years, as I know that a form of this article was promised back on the old site. This is the steak with sizzle!
I helped my mom butcher and pluck chickens, too. Hardest thing about plucking were the pin feathers!
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Great to see you again, James.
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Ha! I left it to Mom. I think it impressed all of us how casually she could wring a chicken’s neck without missing a beat and smiling at us. Not someone to trifle with.
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Hi, all! You realize, I’m sure, that I speak SSL (Sarcasm as a Second Language). But today I’ve got nothing. I just got home from seeing the movie, “Unplanned”. There are no words. Go see it and spread it. There just are no words.
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I went yesterday. It was a silent ride home.
Holy Spirit please remove the scales from people’s eyes to see the horror that abortion is.
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Lambzie and I went Friday, but it was sold out. It was worth to miss it hearing it was sold out. So just got back from seeing it tonight. It was well worth it. Reinforces the miracle of my wife’s life given her biological mom got pregnant when she was 16.
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My husband and I watched it yesterday. Saw a woman there with what looked like preteen or young teen children. Admired the mother for educating them instead of the school system.
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Heart warming Audie!
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We went to see it Thursday night. Kind of felt like a mouse in the corner, witnessing it all. 😢
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Stats on Unplanned:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/unplanned-box-office-anti-abortion-pic-opens-strong-6m-1198369
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Going to see it now with Lambzie
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Hello all,
I have often requested prayer for my son, who is now 22 yrs. We have just become aware that he is struggling with gender dysphoria. He is starting to dress in a feminine manner…but he is clearly hurting and confused. Please pray for wisdom for my husband and I as we seek to help him. If anyone has any suggestions for us, we are open to hearing from you!
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Hi Lin, there is a good book called “When Harry Became Sally” by Ryan Anderson. This is a good book for you to read. A nook that your son can read “Dont get on the Plane. Sex change will ruin your life” by Rene Jax. I have done much study on the subject as my son has also identified as a female. It slaps in your face as a parent. Lastly, feel free to reach out to me at: stormnewhampshire@gmail.com. We can share contact info there and I can point you to additional resources and support. Hang in there and God bless you!
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Prayers for your son and your family, Doug.
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Thank you Sheralyn!
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Doug and Lambzie, your family are in my prayers, too.
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Thank you Jules!
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Lin: Praying for your son, you and your husband.
JT
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This is not an area where I have much to offer, but I know more than a few a families who have been grappling with how to navigate the waters of gender dysphoria. Continued prayer for you and your family, Lin. Praying, too, that the Lord will lead you to local support as well.
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Lin praying for you, your husband and your son. I will pray a PMT for you all, and I will email lourdes@ewtn.com and leave a prayer request for the healing of your son, (and Doug’s son also.)
They place the prayer requests in the grotto weekly, and pray the rosary for those intentions.
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Lin, I have offered a prayer for you and you entire family. ❤
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Lin, I will pray for you, your husband, and your son;.
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Lin, Prayers for your son and family. May the Holy Spirit guide you through.
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Thank you to all for your kind words and prayers! Doug, thanks for sharing about your son. Prayers for him and for all here at ASOH!
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Lin, you are welcome. Seriously, my wife and I are here to help. We are actually flying to a conference today at Franciscan University that is dealing with the subject. The main thing is to stick to your values and do not let your son force you to accept that he is a girl. Do not use female pronouns and female name. He could possibly use emotional black male saying if you do not affirm me in this, I am liable to commit suicide. This is what you should not give in to. Facts are suicidal ideation goes up if they go down the transgender path. My other recommendation is to get a good summary book on theology of the body. Read it yourself and if your son is open, have him read it. Do a Google search on Sister Helena Burns. She is a nun who has great talks on this. Her web site (funny as it sounds) is hellburns.com
Lastly, do you subsidize his college? If so, pull the plug immediately if he does not desist. Kids need money to transition and he is forced to pay his own way and also pay for his own food and rent, he will not have money left to pay for hormones and surgery.
Most of all, hang in there and cling to your faith in God!
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Doug, Just now seeing this reply from you. I appreciate your comments and will be in touch with you soon! In response, though, I wanted to mention that he’s not in college. He works and is getting food stamps and Medicaid. I recently learned from the website of Walt Heyer,(www.sexchangeregret.com) a man who went through “sex reassignment surgery” in order to live as a woman before realizing his error, that anyone can easily get sex hormones at their local Planned Parenthood Clinic–I”m assuming either for free or for cheap. I checked the website for our closest clinic(which is in the town where my son lives) and PP does indeed have work with “LGBTQ health issues”. I had no idea. How grievous. This detail is especially pertinent to me because of something that happened this weekend. My son came for a visit; when I patted his chest as I hugged him, I realized with shock that he is developing breasts. 😦 So, somehow he has been able to get ahold of hormones, even though he has very little in the way of monetary resources.
Even more reason to pray against PP.
Thanks again; and I’ll definitely check out Helena Burns.
Below is a link to the news story about PP and hormones. You”ll need to scroll down to find it. I’ll also include the pertinent excerpt.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/03/04/in-their-own-words-moms-of-5-kids-who-think-theyre-transgender-speak-out/
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Excerpt:My daughter spent her childhood happily engaging in what one would call typical, “girly activities,” with no gender-stereotyping encouragement from us at all. Everything changed after she went to college.
The environment of her new city and university celebrated transgender identities. She began speaking to us by phone of being “nonbinary,” which I naively took to mean something like bisexual.
Anxiety and depression then overwhelmed her. She dropped out and moved back to our home town, where she resumed psychiatric care for pre-existing mental health conditions.
Her appearance, always feminine, changed dramatically. A shaved head, boys’ clothes, and obvious unhappiness were now her camouflage from the world. She went from nonbinary to claiming that she was really a boy.
She parroted online advice: “I always knew something was wrong but didn’t have words for it until I started watching videos on Tumblr and YouTube. When I was little, I was afraid to tell you that I didn’t feel right.”
This narrative matched nothing about her past, but I was still naive. Because her psychiatrist did not consider her to be transgender, I assumed she would be unable to get a referral for the testosterone she was determined to start.
I was wrong. In only one visit, and with just a little bit of bloodwork, Planned Parenthood will cheerfully enable young women and men to pursue their “authentic” selves through cross-sex hormones. All that’s needed is a few bucks and signing a form that the risks have been disclosed and understood.
That is the route my daughter took at the tender age of 20, bypassing her psychiatrist altogether.
My husband wrote to Planned Parenthood, explaining her mental health history and providing her doctor’s name and telephone number. Planned Parenthood’s lawyer wrote back curtly that they presume anyone over 18 is capable of giving informed consent.
No matter what anyone thinks of Planned Parenthood’s other services, the fact that they will instantly prescribe powerful hormones with many unknown long-term effects—especially to people with underlying mental health issues—should shock one’s conscience.
People need to know that this is Planned Parenthood’s new line of business.
*******************************************************************************************************************************
LORD, MAKE HASTE TO HELP US!
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Amen! ❤
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Very much agree with your remarks, Charlie, about the vital importance establishing a “clan of Christians”. In my mind also similarly described as a local home group-type fellowship of Christian believers.
“I have been thinking of establishing clans – or tribes – around the country and, perhaps, the world, for people of faith to encourage, uphold and defend each other in the midst of tribulation.”
If anything appears certain, it is that we, those who love the Lord Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul, are rapidly approaching a prophesied time of troubles and persecution. President Trump is undoubtedly a man sent by God, quite possibly of the same genre as Cyrus the Great (1), king of the vast Persian/Median Empire. King Cyrus II (c. 600-530 BC). He wasn’t a believer in the Judeo/Christian God, yet He used him to decree the rebuilding of the Temple (the 2nd) in Jerusalem.
Similarly, President Trump is at minimum questionably a Christian at heart (2), yet he’s quite obviously being used to bless Israel, as well, of course, as our own nation. In Israel, and with the support of the US, a 3rd Temple is also close to becoming a reality (3). Yet, from the multitude of signs that we see around us, it’s clear that when our President is forced to give up his position, or unfortunately even during his term(s), we may well be hit by some form of cataclysmic event. It may be a engineered global financial disaster, a major war involving our country abroad and/or domestically, or possibly some form of natural catastrophe.
Although my wife and I can claim no credit for pre-planning creating a clan, nonetheless, when God told us to move to Kansas over 30 years ago – we followed His guidance. He had many steps prepared in advance for us to walk in, including the moving of our two best friends 1,500 miles across the country to live directly across the road. Over the years, several other families that we knew also moved out to live in Kansas, and there were many Kansas friends who came to know the Lord, at least in part through the working of the Holy Spirit within us and them.
Consequently, there are at least 50 Christians (or perhaps more) that we know closely and who live within our immediate area. We are proud to call them all our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Should any of the above mentioned catastrophes occur, we would at least have a cohesive group around us. I have little doubt that we would gather together for mutual support, should the occasion call for it.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
(2) https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-on-god-i-dont-like-to-have-to-ask-for-forgiveness-2016-1
(3) Video runs 4 minutes. Not many are aware how far advanced are the 3rd Temple plans;.
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It’s going to be so beautiful and interesting, Dave, to discover the ways God will unify us all. God bless you and your community. May the numbers in your clan grow exponentially as people awaken to their need for the Living God!
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Thanks, Charlie. We have a strong contingency of faithful Catholics here, too– I think you tend to gravitate to those with whom you share the same beliefs.
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I read a book last summer which contained a brief psychological examination of crowds in sudden disasters. Denial and confusion were the true enemies, not panic, in the cases the book examined. The author stressed that individual preparedness, mental preparedness, is essential to a society being truly prepared for a crisis. In the world trade center catastrophe, some people were able to move through the denial stage more quickly and were able to help those who were unable to react to the gravity of the situation in time to save their own lives. The book examined a subway fire in which several people died . . . perishing precisely because the kind of preparedness the government gave was to instruct people to remain in the subway car in the event of an emergency and wait for further instructions. In the event of an earthquake, those who are buried cannot wait for emergency crews, the only chance they have for survival is really if the people who are already there, on-site, get together and dig through the rubble. The book also examined a catastrophe long ago in Nova Scotia, I believe, ( I wish I could check that, but I lent the book out) where a docked ship exploded and blew up most of a town in the middle of a blizzard. It wasn’t the emergency crews who made the biggest impact, it was individual people who took it upon themselves to do what they could. A pastor made a shelter/hospital in his house, people organized themselves at the urging of just a handful of individuals who seemed to be able to see through the disaster to what to do next. This principle applies not only to swift, devastating events, but also to comparatively slower moving but much more widespread struggles. Charlie is trying to help us to become those people who can see through disaster to the next step, and also see a bit farther so as to help establish the bones of a new community. You know, true holiness is found in the details of life. We must live with hope and trust in God and work with a sort of holy exactitude which will be its own kind of evangelization. I have no idea what I’ll be doing. I’m the lowest rung on the social ladder: the stay at home mom. I don’t mean the least important, I just mean that I’m the base. My first priority is the well being of my family and to be a support and help to my husband. That doesn’t mean that I will settle in to do nothing or put on blinders and not help my neighbor or not bother to work on issues outside of my home. It means that if I can perform my essential God-given role really well right now and also through a crisis, it will have a big impact in the end. Living that way will naturally open up avenues of influence and impact in the confusion and turmoil to come. Jesus said that he who can be trusted in the little things can be trusted in bigger things, or words to that effect. I bet if we each do what we can with prudence and love, we’ll find ourselves having a much larger impact than we would have imagined. Living a holy, industrious and thoughtful life right now is the very best kind of mental preparedness we can have for the possibly long struggle ahead, and it makes us good instruments for God to work with.
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Thanks for this wise counsel via stories of real events and people, Katherine.
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This is marvelous, Katherine. Several times in unexpected emergencies, I have seen this play out just as you describe.
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Amen! ❤
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Oh, Katherine, this is wonderful.
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Awesome thoughts, Katherine! Disasters are much worse when people sit around waiting for the government to come and rescue them.
Lowest rung on the social ladder? Maybe in the opinion of our upside down world, but in reality? You are the top rung– nurturing your family– the foundation of society.
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Awsome Kathy! The at-home mother is certainly the most important job imaginable, and I believe is the root and retainer of civilization.
I’m still loving the book! Ya know, denial isn’t just a river.
I was working in a skyscraper in Boston, 18th floor, when the power flashed off and on, and smoke could be seen outside the office window. You could see and hear the denial, and thoughts rushing around;
“is that really smoke? can this be happening? it never has before”
“everyone will think I’m foolish if I start running out the door, even though I’m thinking I should”
…
But not everyone handled it this way. My boss, a very short middle-aged Italian woman didn’t hesitate. Seeing the flash and the smoke, she took off her shoes (so she could go faster), yelled out for everyone to ‘get out’, and headed for the door – I followed her, never saw her move so fast.
Down 15 flights we flew, no-one else was in our way – at many floors someone with the door open would see us, and they would then lead thier group behind ours.
Fifteen flights, barefoot, and we were the First to exit the building, because our leader didn’t deny the facts in front of her.
Note, the fire was contained and no one was hurt.
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I love that. Shortly after a NYC subway bombing, the hospital my sis and I both worked at issued an emergency protocol that stated if we saw an unusual package, we are to report it and go back to our work stations. I immediately called her on the phone with my own version and told my sister, we will report the package, immediately exit the building and meet at an intersection blocks away. ;)Fortunately is was never an issue.
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Love this, Jen.
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Amen, Katherine. Amen.
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Did I miss the title of that book? If you remember, could you share? Thanks!
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A Good-One for April Fools Day 😉
Psalms 14:1
The fool says in his heart there is no God.
Thoughts on today’s verse:
We have raised an angry fist to fate, cursed the darkness, and denied there is a God. Each of these is equally ineffective. To rob heaven of God is only to rob ourselves of grace, hope, and a future. How foolish indeed to forget that behind a creation of wonder, order, variety, beauty, ferocity, and pattern is the Creator who is far greater than his handiwork.
Prayer:
O Lord God Almighty, Creator and Sustainer, thank you for being there, but for being with me today. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Visit heartlight.org for more
NEWS & MILINET: Articles for Christians – 1 April
===================
High School Teen Suspended for Speaking Biblical Truth and Love
https://christianlifedaily.com/high-school-teen-suspended-for-speaking-biblical-truth-and-love/
Banning Chick-fil-A is not only bigoted — it’s illegal
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/banning-chick-fil-a-is-not-only-bigoted-its-illegal
Glenn Beck on Dark Agenda: Threat to Christians Real
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/davidhorowitz-darkagenda-glennbeck-christians/2019/03/30/id/909433/
Europe’s War on Christianity
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/europes-war-on-christianity
Unplanned—A Pro-Life Film That Doesn’t “Play It Safe”
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/unplanned-a-pro-life-film-that-doesnt-play-it-safe
‘Hail Mary’ at Disney World?
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2019/03/hail-mary-at-disney-world/
Pope Francis urges religious communities to charity and dialogue in Morocco
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-urges-religious-communities-to-charity-and-dialogue-in-morocco-37215
The Anti-Christian Bigots Continue Their War on Chick-Fil-A
https://stream.org/the-anti-christian-bigots-continue-their-war-on-chick-fil-a/
Preventing Genocide is My World War II
https://stream.org/preventing-genocide-is-my-world-war-ii/
Ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone: ‘It’s not anti-Semitic to hate the Jews of Israel’
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/ex-london-mayor-ken-livingstone-its-not-anti-semitic-to-hate-the-jews-of-israel
The Conservative Case For Conservatism
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2019/04/01/the-conservative-case-for-conservatism-n2544032
‘Blue-Slips Are Dead’: Trump To Change Left-Leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
https://saraacarter.com/blue-slips-are-dead-trump-to-change-left-leaning-9th-circuit-court-of-appeals/
Historian and author Victor Davis Hanson makes ‘The Case for Trump’
https://video.foxnews.com/v/6021057265001/#sp=show-clips
Democrats Failed To Remove Trump, Now They Must Face Their Worst Nightmare
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2019/04/01/democrats-failed-to-remove-trump-now-they-must-face-their-worst-nightmare-n2544058
DIA Officer Spied for Chinese as Part of ‘Resistance’
https://www.theepochtimes.com/dia-officer-spied-for-chinese-as-part-of-resistance_2852521.html
The Many Unanswered Questions About the Trump Investigation
https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-many-unanswered-questions-about-the-trump-investigation_2853788.html
Senate Banking Chair Warns Banks Against Targeting Gun Industry
https://freebeacon.com/issues/senate-banking-chair-warns-banks-against-targeting-gun-industry/
Alt-Left Protesters of Family Congress Force Verona into Lockdown
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/30/alt-left-protesters-family-congress-force-verona-lockdown/
Satellite Photos Show Chinese Anti-Satellite Laser Base
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/satellite-photos-show-chinese-anti-satellite-laser-base/
HEADLINES:
Punishing Christians – WASHINGTON TIMES
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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PS:
Mark Levin Interviews John Solomon and Sara Carter….
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/04/01/mark-levin-interviews-john-solomon-and-sara-carter/
President Trump Questions How The “Fraudulent Investigation of the Trump Campaign Began”…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/03/31/president-trump-questions-how-the-fraudulent-investigation-of-the-trump-campaign-began/
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/
GOD SAVE ALL HERE!!
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What an eye-opener regarding Mark Levin’s interview above.
eg re. General Flynn, start at the 9:00 minute mark.
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Re Science. On the whole Science is a pretty good thing. Think of all the “miracles” Science has bequeathed us. Have a heart attack some day and if you make it to the hospital you’ll see what miraculous things Science can do. And who would like to live without air conditioning? Miracles lots of miracles.
The problem with Science is attitude. It is said of Pope JPII that he didn’t have a problem with Communism. It was the communists that he had a problem with. Take a real close look at Solidarity and tell me the difference.
Science doesn’t have an attitude. Scientists do. Not all of them but a lot of them. I guess it is because Scientists, like Lucifer, have usually got very high IQs. Not only do you have to be able to observe it … see it, hear it, taste it, touch it, smell it … but you have to be able to replicate it. Do a little experiment over and over again and get the same result. Test it. A lot. Talk it over with the boys and girls who are your colleagues and intellectual equals or superiors. Peer review it. Publish it. Then it’s real. If you can’t do that it’s not real.
Gives you a real appreciation for Albert Einstein and Galileo and Isaac Newton and Marie Curie. How did they ever slip through?
Science is a bounded system of thought. You better stay within the bounds of Science “reality” or you are going to have a real hard time being a Scientist.
Scientists, not all of them but a lot of them, have a hubris or conceit or attitude. It binds them. Pity.
A lot of scientists that I have encountered in life really were/are pretty boring. Get a bunch of scientists or engineers at a cocktail party and you will be bored to tears as they are consumed, or bound, by the language and math and limitations of Science. Bounded minds.
What Scientists, not all of them but a lot of them, cannot bring themselves to believe is that REALITY exceeds the bounds of Science.
The Supernatural falls pretty quickly into the category of tin foil hat superstition and ignorance. To a Scientist, not all of them but a lot of them, the unknown is never permanently unknowable. It is merely a matter of time before Science figures it out. Observes it. Measures it. Tests it. Replicates it. See AI for instance. See immortality for instance. It’s just a matter of time. More evidence. More research. More grant money. More fellowships. A lot more grant money. See Global Climate Change.
To all the Scientists out there I say this: Keep the “modern miracles” coming. Humanity benefits from your efforts to understand and apply reality in new and useful ways. Even if it takes a lot more grant money. A whole lot more grant money.
I never was and never will be a Scientist. Two reasons. First, not a high enough IQ. Second, I know God loves me and has a Plan for me and became man and was crucified to redeem me from my sins.
Regrettably or fortunately, depending on your attitude, I live outside the bounds of Science. Call it superstitious ignorance if you must. Call it an attitude if you must. Call it Faith. I live by Faith.
One thing: Unlike Science, Faith makes for very interesting cocktail party chatter. The best. I’ll take a roomful of Christians every time.
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Science is a great blessing, until abused. Interesting… I was getting some tires first thing this morning and spotted this historic Caddy waiting for tires too. Check out that plate. Talked to the fella driving it and discovered it was actually one of the cars in the Austin Powers movies. So I asked him (deadpan), “Are you evil?” “Nope,” says he. Just a classic car aficionado apprently.
I am disturbed that too many could fly under the Dr. Evil banner in these times. Or maybe they’re just getting all the press. We need good science, but something tells me that in the days ahead, we’ll have need of a humbler, simpler science. Less fiddling with DNA, more practical know how. Say, if the radio breaks down or the batteries die, we’d have to call on the Professor (SteveBC types) to fix it with the materials at hand… bamboo, coconut shells, jungle vines, seawater…. whatnot.
I can sleep at night knowing that we all have certain talents to keep the thing moving forward. Upward.
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Verso l’alto, indeed.
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When I was a Sophomore in High School I had a young, crew cut hard body Xaverian Brother for my biology teacher. Football coach. Our biology lab had a wall of tall glass windows overlooking the school’s baseball field. Every morning without fail Brother would march into the lab and begin class by walking over to the windows and staring out at the playing fields often covered in snow in silence rubbing his hands. Lost in thought. Lost in prayer.
We students sat and waited and watched him pray in silence. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. Silence. A man in prayer. Every. Single. Day.
When he was done praying brother would spin around suddenly and announce: “All righty, onward and ever upward” with a grand gesture of his hand.
And class commenced.
Onward. And ever Upward. The trajectory of a saint.
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What a great influence your biology teacher was, Ed. Perhaps he, like Pope St. John Paul II, was impacted by the holiness of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a man who loved the outdoor trails and treks, as does our own MP, and Blessed Pier Giorgio’s motto was:
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That is neat Ed!
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MP, it’s always good for me to keep in mind that the hero of Gilligan’s Island was *not* the Professor. 😀
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Well, never underestimate the value of a good radio. Or the ability to make rocket fuel from scratch should a jetpack happen to wash up on shore.
Funny… the crew and passengers of the shipwrecked Minnow spent nearly every episode intent on a rescue from a ‘deserted island.’ Seems that unlikely collection of characters, foibles and all, were really everyday heroes in disguise. Even with the black and white episodes of the early days, didn’t it look like a little bit of paradise? There’s a clan for ya.
Gotta say it: Coconut Cream Pie! Mmmm-mmmm.
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When I was a kid, I wanted to be stranded on Gilligan’s island. Maybe I will get my wish, but in a different way with the storm…..
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Hmmm. After the storm, we will be Mayberry. During the storm, we will be Gilligans island. It is clear that Steve BC is the professor. How would the rest of the cast fit in? Maybe I better not go there…..
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I’m Gilligan, if a grandma can be Gilligan.
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Charlie would be the skipper.
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Of course!
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It is probably very foolish for me to venture into this discussion, but here I go. Ed, I know that you stated several times that your comments did not apply to all scientists. For that I thank you, but I still want to offer some counterpoints to your thoughts.
I have been surrounded by scientists and science my entire life. My father had his doctorate in analytical chemistry. He worked in research and taught at the university level. At the same time, he was a faithful, believing, Catholic who carried his rosary everywhere and prayed it daily. To him the idea of a universe without God was ridiculous. The deeper he moved into the scientific, the more he saw the structure and perfection of God’s creation. He had been educated by the Dominican Fathers and was an avid follower of St. Thomas Aquinas. Discussions with him could flow easily from particle wave theory to the Summa Theologica.
One of my father’s good friends was a scientist that Dad had met in school and ended up working with at the same facility for almost thirty years. This man became one of the early leaders in the Charismatic Renewal in our area and worked extensively with young people, bringing many to know Jesus though activities he ran for years.
My father loved Bishop Fulton Sheen and Billy Graham. He worked with other scientists who were Protestant, Jewish and Mormon. Often, he would talk to us at dinner about the differences in the way Catholics and these others viewed God and practiced their faiths
Being the first in either his or my mother’s families to attend college, and being the only one in his generation to attain any college degree, my father could have easily viewed himself as better than others. I never saw or heard him say a disrespectful word to his immigrant parents or in-laws. He was deferential to the ideas and opinions of his father and father in law. In wild family gatherings where my uncles and male cousins could and would argue about anything and everything, my father would sit quietly watching. He never raised his voice, nor did he ever pull rank by claiming superior knowledge or education.
My younger brother also became a scientist. He has his doctorate in public health, medical statistics. He has worked his entire life as a medical researcher and professor. He is a believing Catholic.
My personal belief is that true science and true Christian faith, based on revelation, can only complement and not contradict each other. It has long amazed me that Jewish scribes, struggling in exile in Babylon, could conceptualize and write down in the Book of Genesis what is essentially the “big bang theory”. Creatio ex nihilo. Out of nothing, it is created. God called forth the universe from non-existence. We are coming to see time and space as fluid, changeable, which is not far from Augustine’s idea that God is “omniscient” because God exists beyond our experience of time. Studies have shown us that all matter is ultimately energy taking on an uncountable variation of forms. Transubstantiation seems far less improbable in a universe where all matter is really energy and is infinitely changeable. The sacrifice of the Mass, as true participation in Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary, is more understandable in a universe where there can be holes in time, and where two points a universe apart can communicate with each other.
In my layperson’s mind (both scientifically and theologically), it seems to me that the latest developments in science are actually moving towards the beliefs handed down to us by revelation. Science and faith will always be separate, essential parts of our lives. For Christians faith is all important, but science does not contradict faith.
I think what Charlie was referring to in this post is the manner in which many scientists and others attempt to use science to reject moral beliefs in an effort to justify their own actions and to influence society. Even worse, is that much of what appears in the popular media is pseudo-science. That is someone’s pet theory or opinion masquerading as science. (Fake news?) Science, or pseudo-science, can be used inappropriately by people trying to win their arguments about moral or social issues. The result is the appearance that one scientific theory contradicts another and that what we accept as scientific truth is always changing and appears to be unknowable. Using science and pseudo-science to justify the abandonment of morals and long held social norms also creates the appearance that faith (from which true morals and true social life flow) is contradictory to the knowledge obtained from science.
I love your posts, Ed. Much of what you said about science and scientists is true in many situations. Coming from my background, I just wanted to show another perspective. (P.S. I am not a scientist. Much to my father’s dismay I could never grasp the necessary math. By God’s grace I became an attorney and my younger brother, whose brain is totally programed for mathematics, fulfilled my Dad’s desire to have someone follow in his career path.)
JT
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So well said, JT. Your reflection here contains some of the thoughts I’ve been mulling as this topic of science has been discussed, so thank you for taking the risk to express yourself. I, particularly, appreciate your paragraph of expounding on how the use of science and references to it are misused and abused today. I also wish to say: WOW! What a wonderful father you have. And while I remember when we prayed for his soul when he passed, back in the days when we had conversations at TNRS, I use present tense for our deceased dear ones because I know those who have left this place of exile are more alive, in many ways, than those of us who continue to make our way Home. May your dear dad intercede for us.
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JT, you may not be a scientist, but your logic and reason screams of one. A core principals of science requires such. You are more your Dad than you may realize. I always love your articulation here and how much your personal life is nixed in.
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JT, I for one appreciated your post. The best of our scientists, for example, Newton, Einstein, and Plank, believed that God had created our world. Recently Stephen Hawking rejected God, but admitted his reason was his biased concern that his infirmities would have reflected he had offended God if such existed.
Science honestly conducted can only do good for well intended users. But science is conducted by humans who suffer the common temptations. Chaired professors whose authority is based on a given theory or perspective actively fight against new theory, as well explained by prof Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Most recently we have seen the distortion of climate science by politicians who fund one side of an argument, notably that humans are responsible for global warming– and when it became generally known that warming has been slight, shifting to Man Made Climate Change.
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I totally agree, Jack. You know, I often wondered about Hawking’s decision, especially when considered against the amazing example of courage and persistence he embodied to so many people around the world and how people gravitated (ha) to him to help him in so many ways. I can see why he might decide as he did, but it seems to me in this case that his vision was simply too narrow to see all the good that came from his difficulties.
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Yes. Suffering can only be understood in love and I the cross. When we love someone, we are often willing to give up or suffer for them if necessary. God shows his ultimate love for us from his giving his life for us on the cross. I have been Catholic since I was 30 and still have not wrapped my arms around the depth of this. Blessings!
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Doug, I’ve read many accounts from folks who had NDE’s in which they report that birth afflictions were selected to enhance the experience of life.
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Jack,
That is the story of my wife’s life. Mom was 16 when conceived, given up at age 1 on her birthday (she was a marasmus baby). Put in an institution for mentally handicapped, genetic predisposition to cancer, many psychological issues.
Would eventually get cancer 3 times . The rest of the story: Found by family visiting institution that something was different about her and the other kids. Foster child till age 16 when adopted. Graduated college with high honors in computer science, met her husband at age 18 who eventually converted to Catholicism. Married with 3 adult children making positive contributions to society. 34 years of marriage and we are closer now than when we met. We both suffered, but experienced unimaginable gift of grace of love from God. She has less body parts, but is more whole than ever. Our bodies will eventually decay, but the love and life will continue through eternity. How could we not be grateful? God has a plan for all of us.
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All Glory to God!
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Doug, Thank you for posting. Wow! God bless her, you, and your family.
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Thanks Jack, I just hope it encourages others going through any suffering to know that it does not mean they are abandoned or being punished by God. Best way to relate is to know how much God suffers for us. God bless you!
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By the way, my wife met her birth mom as an adult and helped bring healing to that family. Her birth mom and adopted mom met a few days before her birth mom’s death. Her birth mom received last rites and passed at 3 AM (hour of mercy) on the anniversary of roe-v-wade. This was a sign for us that God has been there all along.
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Gosh JT, I would love my grandchildren to listen to someone like you. You said everything that I feel but cannot articulate. (I may be cutting and pasting some of this during my next discussions with them)
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Very well said, JT. Thank you.
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Charlie: There is so much in this post. I’ve read it twice and I know I am going to read it again so I can try to soak up all the wisely made points.
I had gotten a little complacent, living in the not yet too difficult present, thinking: “This is ok, God. I can do this.” You words are a wake up call reminding me, and us, that we still need to be spiritually on alert and ready for what is coming next.
Thanks.
JT
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Charlie, I admit, I have not read the entire piece, but what I could get was beautiful. How about strengthening what is already in place around the world…..the MMP. Fr. Gobbi Blue book perfect for these times and MMP have priests all over the globe doing cenacles already.
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Lucy, I do not denigrate any of these wonderful movements – and to get a network of the faithful supporting each other and lifting each other up DOES strengthen existing groups that have a different focus. When St. Francis came on the scene and began the monastery movement, he could have stuck with existing initiatives instead of enriching the whole Church with this movement which strengthened all healthy ones in the Church while giving it new vibrancy. To my own self-understanding, I have been preparing my whole life for these times and have some pretty clear directions on it. The movements you cite do some great work, but are not geared towards the specific needs I speak of here. Thank God for them, but I will continue to work on what I have been directed to since early childhood.
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Aaaand it begins:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-01/twitter-blocking-people-following-anti-abortion-film-second-glitch
Just a *glitch* I’m sure.
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Several tidbits about Unplanned. One of our local folks Mary Schneier atttended an earlier preview screening with the director present, and said the Dr. who played the abortionist is Dr. Levitino a converted abortionist and he wanted the scene to be “right”.
The guy who you see at the end pulling down the PP sign and smiling was a big supporter of the movie, the CEO of “My Pillow”.
And Ashley Brasher who played Abbey was almost aborted but her mom left the clinic after seeing a clinic staff person very pregnant.
So God has his ways doesn’t he?
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Pretty amazing, Bob. And Mr. My Pillow, -er Mike Lindell, invested $1,000,000 into the making of the movie.
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❤ that!!
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Wow!
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Good video. I watched an Abby Johnson one after too. I am speechless.
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Gives me chills, Bob! The movie was wonderful. Of course, cried through a lot of it. It far exceeded my expectations. I was so glad to more fully know the story of Abby’s conversion. And reading that she has 8 children here on earth. What a joy!❤ And she has converted to Catholicism! Oh happy miracles we get to see!
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On a sad note my daughter had a friend named Ashley who dies Saturday either of a drug OD or a suicide. They are still doing toxicology tests. Please pray for her,my daughter Jeanna and for this girl’s family and their friends.
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Praying, Bob, for the repose of Ashley’s soul, for her family and her friends – including your own daughter – and all affected by this sad event.
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Bob, that is very sad. I’m praying for Ashley’s soul, Jeanna, and all who loved Ashley. God bless them all. You, too, Bob, God bless you.
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Bob, I will pray for the repose of Ashley’s soul, as well as for all of those who are grieving her passing.
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Bob, I have offered prayers for Ashley and all who love her in their mourning. ❤
I pray that POTUS and his administration continue to take drastic measures that result in the decrease of supply and demand of deadly illegal drugs that have claimed far too many lives.
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This is such a sad and sorry note of our times…..children taking their lives. Praying for Ashley, your daughter Jeanna and for all of us affected by this tragedy and those in our own families.
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Thank you for such excellent writing, Charlie. It fills me with a strong determination to do the best I can do for God’s people. These are interesting times to be sure. My husband is so angry at what has been and continues to be happening in the church, our pastor has just announced that he is going to retire a year early… I need to walk into the future with Trust in our God and not be swayed by the happenings swirling around me. You pump us up Charlie! We need that. Thank you!
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Charlie, this seems to be an important recap of many things that we’ve been processing for quite a while. It also seems to me that, for whatever reasons, you’ve discerned that now is the time to publish the long-awaited Part III (as James McAuley noted above).
I’ve been thinking about tribes. I literally belong to a tribe ~ more accurately a “nation” comprising “tribes and bands” dwelling in a general geographic region with a diaspora arising from historical circumstances. Those who remain in the traditional lands of our ancestors have more direct intergenerational connections with one another and engage frequently in hands-on projects. Those of us who, like me, grew up and have lived hours or more away from the traditional lands and waterways have a different kind of connection and can contribute in other ways. We are the diaspora.
For me, personally, the diaspora is an apt metaphor for the international TNRS-ASOH tribe to which we-all voluntarily belong and through which we gain mutual support and insight but not necessarily material or in-person support.
But it seems to me, Charlie, that you are now, reading the signs of the times, prompted to go on the road to instruct and encourage communities in physical settings. These communities would form organically with a desire to respond to practical as well as spiritual needs. You write above, “There are a number of areas that such clans must be concerned with. Among these are shelter, food, security, child care, education and communication ~ all of which I have begun to work on.”
You write later, in a comment, “I have been preparing my whole life for these times and have some pretty clear directions on it.”
I am eager to learn more about what you have “begun to work on.” In the forest community where I live, several key neighbors would be, too.
Safe and happy trails, Charlie. God bless and keep you.
Sister Bear
PS I love the REAL Saint Patrick ~ quite a guy, a true and loving man of God.
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Sister Bear, this is my very favorite REAL St Patrick story. It is so funny it just has to be true. I first heard this story in the courtyard of the castle on the top of the Rock of Cashel. The tour guide’s version was even funnier than the supposed eye witness’ recounting of the tale. They have a crozier in the museum there reputed to be the very instrument of baptismal pain that impressed King Aengus to enter the baptismal pool.
You’ll enjoy this story as much as I do.
http://www.markfisherauthor.com/2017/04/king-aengus-baptism-rock-of-cashel/
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Oh, my! That poor but brave king!
I had not heard this. Thanks for educating us! 🙂
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