Behold the New GM! (An Amerikan Revolution)

Newsweek Editor: Obama Is "Sort Of God"

Evan Thomas said, "Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama's had, really, a different task. We're seen too often as the "bad guys." And he, he has a very different job from . . . Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is — we are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something, I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above above the world, he's sort of God."

Catholic mother launches legal battle after son placed with gay foster parents

The mother of a 10-year-old Catholic boy has launched a legal battle after a council placed him with homosexual foster carers.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has told friends she is worried about the environment in which her son will grow up in, and would rather see him fostered by a man and a woman.

The child, who attends a faith school and is due to take his First Communion soon, is due to arrive tomorrow at his new foster home, a hotel in Brighton run by a middle-aged male couple.

Described as "bright and lively", he was placed in care a year ago by Brighton and Hove Council after his mother had a mental breakdown, suffering from an abusive marriage.

The Thomas More Legal Centre, a Catholic legal charity, are representing the mother, who wants to see him placed with a family that reflects traditional Catholic values. . . . (continue reading)

Gerald Celente: TEOTWAWKI Coming Soon

Human Events had the opportunity to interview forecaster extraordinaire Gerald Celente, President of Trends Research Institute, several days ago -- and the future he predicts looks bleak indeed.  In fact, as Mr. Celente sees it, the Great Depression will seem like a mild recession as what waits for us in 2011 hits with the force of a Katrina financial hurricane.

In case you’re wondering who Mr. Celente is (if this is still possible), he’s appeared -- along with his predictions -- on Oprah, CNBC, Reuters, NBC, PBS, BBC, the Glenn Beck Show -- the list goes on an on.  His Trends Report has been successfully predicting the major future trends impacting our lives for 3 decades, including calling the dot com crash back in the 1990's.

Mr. Celente's forecast on our impending future is based on his study of history.  He says we are bent on destroying our currency, bankrupting our government, and unleashing a violent citizen-against-citizen eruption as the economy collapses into chaos and martial law fascism.  

Quite a claim.  And God help us if he is right -- again.

“We’re sounding the alarm about the ongoing downward economic cycle”, Gerald told Human Events.  “In 2002, we predicted that the collapse of the American empire would fall like the World Trade Center in a thunderous crash -- in slow motion before our eyes.  And now it’s happening.”

Mr. Celente follows over 300 trends:  family, crime, war, education, consumer & business patterns which TRI synthesizes to predict the future.

“The US is becoming a shadow of what it used to be.  Take education for example.  The OECD group of developed countries ranks quality of life, education, health care of its member nations.  The US is now falling down the table as one piece of data after another shows America is in decline.  We’re no longer Win, Place or Show in quality of life, education, longevity… all the essentials where we used to be #1.  And our economic underpinnings are failing.” . . .

[ . . . ]

"How will it all end?," we queried.  Will the dollar survive?

"The dot com bubble should have burst and gone away in a short sharp recession.  But the boys at the Fed re-inflated the economy by lowering interest rates to a 46 year low -- and in turn created the real estate bubble -- much bigger than the dot com bubble. "

"Now they’re creating the bailout bubble -- which will ultimately dwarf the real estate bubble.  It will cause the implosion of the global economy world wide -- which will not be able to be repaired by creating yet another bubble.  Every time the government fails, it tells a bigger lie and then a still bigger lie."

"These previous bubbles were not allowed to pop -- but they didn’t destroy the infrastructure of the country.  This bailout bubble will."

"But this bubble will be the last one.  After the final blowout of the bailout bubble, we are concerned that the government will take the nation into war.   This is a historical precedent that’s been done over and over again."

"So, it’s not that the dollar will survive.  We may not even survive.  Look at the German mess after WWI.  It gave rise to Fascism and WWII. 

The next war will be fought with weapons of mass destruction." (source)

What C.S. Lewis thought about Mormons

C.S. Lewis was not LDS. He may, in fact, not have even liked The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But Mormons love C. S. Lewis.

Authors Marianna Richardson and Christine Thackeray looked at the famous Christian apologist in their book "C.S. Lewis: Latter-day Truths in Narnia." They wrote about the letters Lewis sent to many of his readers.

"(T)here is no record that Lewis had any contact with the Church but he did correspond regularly with a woman who lived in Salt Lake City," the authors write. "Although we do not have the original letter, Lewis's reply to her inquiry was as follows, 'I am afraid I am not going to be much help about all the religious bodies mentioned in your letter of March 2nd. I have always in my books been concerned simply to put forward "mere" Christianity, and am no guide on these (most regrettable) "interdenominational" questions. I do however strongly object to the tyrannic and unscriptural insolence of anything that calls itself a Church and makes teetotalism a condition of membership.'"

Lewis is apparently referring to the LDS Church and its "Word of Wisdom" prohibitions against drinking alcohol.

Richardson and Thackeray do not discuss another possible reference to Mormons in Lewis' works. In his Narnian fantasy book "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," he writes about the family of a rather unpleasant character named Eustace Scrubb: "They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotalers and wore a special kind of underclothes."

Because of this description, some have speculated that Lewis was saying that the Scrubbs were Mormons -- although such a conclusion requires ignoring other descriptions of the character and his family. The adopted son of Lewis, Douglas Gresham, has also been quoted as saying the Scrubbs were "simply faddists." . . . (Continue reading)

How Would You Introduce Christ to a Room Full of People?

Episcopal Diocese Elects Ex-Catholic turned Buddhist as Bishop?

Here's one take on this very odd happenstance of a Catholic-turned-Episcopalian-turned-Buddhist "practicioner"-turned Episcopal "bishop." Then, here's the odd-as-a-three-dollar-bill background info, and then here's the "official" version:

EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
2-21-09 — For Immediate Release

(Escanaba, MI) --The Diocese of Northern Michigan created an Episcopal Ministry Support Team and elected Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop at a Special Diocesan Convention on Saturday, February 21, 2009 at St.Stephen’s Church, Escanaba. Thew Forrester was elected on the first ballot and satisfying the Diocesan Constitution and canons, received 88% of the delegate votes and 91% of the congregational votes. Thew Forrester has been serving the diocese since 2001, first as MinistryDevelopment Coordinator and later in 2007 as Rector/Ministry Developerof St. Paul’s Church in Marquette and St. John’s Church in Negaunee.

Following the death of Bishop Jim Kelsey in an automobile accident inJune 2007, an extended time of reflection and discernment ensued. As result, and after 27 years of living into “baptismal ministry,” theDiocese decided to apply its extensive experience of developing local,shared leadership to the ministry of episcopal oversight. Bishop Kelsey’s initial experiment with a “Core Team” paved the way for the concept of an Episcopal Ministry Support Team (EMST), in which the bishop will focus on pastoral, relational and canonical tasks while serving as one of twelve members, which also includes compensated ministry developers, a diocesan staff person and regional representatives.

The Discernment Team, composed of twenty-one members (representing 70%of the congregations of the diocese) worked closely with Jo Gantzer(Diocese of Michigan) as its Companion and three Reflectors from the wider church: Bishops Bruce Caldwell (Wyoming) and Tom Ely (Vermont) and Fredrica Harris Thompsett, recently retired professor at the Episcopal Divinity School. They worked for nearly a year before presenting a single name for bishop as well as identifying EMST members who where affirmed during the Special Convention.

Prior to the naming of the EMST and bishop-nominee, the Discernment Team presented its work-to-date and its proposed process to the Annual Diocesan Convention last October. It received an overwhelming vote of confidence, with 94% of the delegates voting to affirm. 
Upon the successful completion of the consent process, the Episcopal Ministry Support Team will be commissioned and the bishop ordained on October 17, 2009 in Marquette, Michigan.

"Answering Atheism and the Culture of Doubt" Summer Conference, July 10-12

Speakers List:

• Edward Feser, Ph.D.
• Msrg. Stuart W. Swetland, S.T.D.
• Héctor Antonio Molina
• Benjamin Wiker, Ph.D.
• Dawn Eden
• Ken Hensley
• Patrick Madrid

Who: Some of today’s top Catholic leaders, gathered together to help the Church build a culture of life.

What: A very special 3-day Catholic conference on answering atheism and the culture of doubt.

Where: Belmont Abbey College campus, 15 minutes from downtown Charlotte, NC.

When: Friday, July 10, through Sunday, July 12, 2009.

Schedule: The conference begins at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 10, and ends at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 12.

Cost: (Register here)

"Up Close" Pictures of an Anti-Christ

Wishing you weren't here.

Two Words You Should Become Familiar With: "Prolonged Detention"

A Double Tragedy for a Catholic Family in Phoenix

I am stunned by the terrible news I just read about the death, due to complications in childbirth, of Kerry Martin, wife of the Treasurer of the State of Arizona, Dean Martin. The child she was delivering, a boy, also died.

I had lunch with Dean and Kerry at an intimate Catholic gathering in Phoenix last year at which I gave a talk about the work of the Envoy Institute. What a delightful and happy couple they were! The three of us chatted for 15 minutes or so about his career, and in particular how his strong Catholic Faith and equally strong Pro-Life convictions affected, for better or worse, his work in the state government. I have a vivid memory of also talking one-on-one with Kerry for a little while about homeschooling. She was beaming and sweet and clearly very much in love with her husband, proud of his burgeoning career, and happy to be a busy young mom of a young family. And now she's gone.

Receive, Lord, your servant Kerry into the place of salvation, which she hopes to obtain through your mercy. Amen.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Kerry Martin liked to play a game with the child she was carrying.

She set a remote control on top of her stomach, and waited for the baby to kick it off. He always did.

"They did this every night," said her husband, state Treasurer Dean Martin, at the funeral Wednesday for his wife and infant son. "And it was so much fun to watch."

Martin talked about his wife and their only son, Austin Michael Martin, before a large and somber crowd at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Phoenix. Hundreds of mourners packed the pews and lined the back walls as Father John Greb celebrated a funeral Mass for the Martins.

Kerry Martin died at 34 on May 25, hours after delivering Austin, as a consequence of the rupture of a benign tumor on her liver. Austin died two days later as a result of complications from the birth. . .  (continue reading)

The Murder Story the Mainstream Media Refuses to Cover

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch discusses the glaring double standard in the MSM regarding its heavy coverage (on the one hand) of the murder of that abortion doctor and its virtual silence and lack of coverage (on the other hand) of the murder of a U.S. soldier by a Muslim "jihadist" fanatic. The first murder has been widely associated with Christianity and the Pro-Life Movement, even though inumerable Christian and Pro-life leaders have publicly condemned that deplorable act while, on the other hand, there has been no similar outcry of condemnation by Muslim leaders regarding the murder of a solider by that Muslim.

As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise."

"Care for an Entrée With Your Entrée?" Gluttony, the Forgotten Sin

Catering to gluttony is big business these days. Practically every restaurant — including all the popular chains that you and I and every other American dines at, now and then —  goes way overboard in the super-sized portions they dish up and the bad-for-your-health ingredients in the food. For example, check out what one recent scientific study discovered about some dishes served at a very popular Italian food restaurant chain. 

And if you really want the gory details of what you're packing into your gullet when you sit down for lunch or dinner at just about any other chain restaurant (I'm not talking fast food here, by the way. I'm talking those nice sit-down restaurants), feast your eyes on this "Xtreme Eating 2009" report which explains exactly how much fat, sodium, and calories you'll ingest the next time you order.  And if you tend toward items on the menu that fall into what is commonly thought of as the "Mediterranean diet," you may want to pick something else, once you've read about that in the Xtreme Eating report. 

But aside from the physical damage that gluttony does to the body, Many no longer understand that gluttony is a sin and have lost any comprehension of the spiritual damage it causes.  Check out this snippet of what St. Thomas had to say on the subject: 

Gregory says (Moral. xxx, 18) that 'unless we first tame the enemy dwelling within us, namely our gluttonous appetite, we have not even stood up to engage in the spiritual combat.' But man's inward enemy is sin. Therefore gluttony is a sin.

[...] gluttony denotes, not any desire of eating and drinking, but an inordinate desire. 

"As long as the vice of gluttony has a hold on a man, all that he has done valiantly is forfeited by him: and as long as the belly is unrestrained, all virtue comes to naught." But virtue is not done away save by mortal sin. Therefore gluttony is a mortal sin. (Summa Theologiae, II-IIae, Q. 148, a. 1 & 2).

The Catholic Encyclopedia contains this entry:

Gluttony

(From Latin: gluttire, to swallow, to gulp down), the excessive indulgence in food and drink. The moral deformity discernible in this vice lies in its defiance of the order postulated by reason, which prescribes necessity as the measure of indulgence in eating and drinking.

This deordination, according to the teaching of the Angelic Doctor, may happen in five ways which are set forth in the scholastic verse: "Prae-propere, laute, nimis, ardenter, studiose" or, according to the apt rendering of Father Joseph Rickably: too soon, too expensively, too much, too eagerly, too daintily. Clearly one who uses food or drink in such a way as to injure his health or impair the mental equipment needed for the discharge of his duties, is guilty of the sin of gluttony.

It is incontrovertible that to eat or drink for the mere pleasure of the experience, and for that exclusively, is likewise to commit the sin of gluttony. Such a temper of soul is equivalently the direct and positive shutting out of that reference to our last end which must be found, at least implicitly, in all our actions. At the same time it must be noted that there is no obligation to formerly and explicitly have before one's mind a motive which will immediately relate our actions to God. It is enough that such an intention should be implied in the apprehension of the thing as lawful with a consequent virtual submission to Almighty God.

Gluttony is in general a venial sin in so far forth as it is an undue indulgence in a thing which is in itself neither good nor bad. Of course it is obvious that a different estimate would have to be given of one so wedded to the pleasures of the table as to absolutely and without qualification live merely to eat and drink, so minded as to be of the number of those, described by the Apostle St. Paul, "whose god is their belly" (Philippians 3:19). Such a one would be guilty of mortal sin.

Likewise a person who, by excesses in eating and drinking, would have greatly impaired his health, or unfitted himself for duties for the performance of which he has a grave obligation, would be justly chargeable with mortal sin.

St. John of the Cross, in his work "The Dark Night of the Soul" (I, vi), dissects what he calls spiritual gluttony. He explains that it is the disposition of those who, in prayer and other acts of religion, are always in search of sensible sweetness; they are those who "will feel and taste God, as if he were palpable and accessible to them not only in Communion but in all their other acts of devotion." This he declares is a very great imperfection and productive of great evils. (source)

 

That Sound You Hear Is Francis Schaeffer Rolling Over in His Grave

Lifesite News is reporting that Frank Schaeffer, son of the late, prominent Calvinist theologian Francis Schaeffer, has "apologized for his involvement with the 'hate-filled rhetoric' he associated with the 'religious right.'" 

My sole personal contact with Frank Schaeffer was a single phone conversation with him, back in the mid-90s. We spoke at some  length about why he had left Evangelicalism for the East, his father's legacy, and his own writings (the first edition of Portofino had recently come out, if I recall correctly, and he was kind enough to send me an inscribed copy). While I didn't agree with some of his positions (e.g., his enchantment with Orthodoxy) he seemed to me then to be reasonable, very pleasant, and level-headed. But the report I quote from below gives me the impression that he has gone off the deep end in the meantime.

Before I get to that, here's a snippet of a recent opinion piece he wrote for the execrable Huffington Post, which should provide a sense of where his head is at these days: 

The same hate machine I was part of is still attacking all abortionists as "murderers." And today once again the "pro-life" leaders are busy ducking their personal responsibility for people acting on their words. The people who stir up the fringe never take responsibility. But I'd like to say on this day after a man was murdered in cold blood for preforming abortions that I -- and the people I worked with in the religious right, the Republican Party, the pro-life movement and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to this killing by our foolish and incendiary words. (source)

Foolish and incendiary words, indeed. 

I can't tell if they are the words of a man who has lost his moral bearings altogether (he now says abortion should remain legal and demonizes the Prolife Movement, and in particular, the Catholic Church, as a "hate machine"), or if he's just a coward who has abandoned his convictions because, had he remained faithful to them, he would earn only opprobrium and rejection from the fashionable, "progressive" Huffington-Post crowd he consorts with now.

As an aside. Let's not forget that Christians who want to remain popular and "in" with the "In Crowd" will be tempted to sacrifice their allegiance to the truth for the sake of human respect. Tragicaly, some give in to that temptation and make a wrong turn, gambolling down that wide and well-travelled road which Christ warned us away from, a road that leads directly toward a dark horizon. 

Here is the LifeSite report about Schaeffer's latest comments:

Earlier this year Frank Schaeffer, who has joined the Greek Orthodox Church but is still considered a leader of the Evangelical movement, abandoned the strong pro-life position of his father and told an interviewer that he believes abortion should remain legal. Schaeffer said that thirty years of attempts to overturn the US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade have failed and that the “black and white” pro-life position is counterproductive.

"The same hate machine I was part of is still attacking all abortionists as 'murderers,'" wrote Schaeffer this week. "And today once again the 'pro-life' leaders are busy ducking their personal responsibility for people acting on their words.

"The people who stir up the fringe never take responsibility," he continued. "But I'd like to say on this day after a man was murdered in cold blood for performing abortions that I -- and the people I worked with in the religious right, the Republican Party, the pro-life movement and the Roman Catholic Church, all contributed to this killing by our foolish and incendiary words." (Continue reading)

Me at Six

Signs Signs, Everywhere Are Signs

One Way to Answer an Atheist

"Dear Mom, I Have Some Difficult News to Share With You . . ."

January 22, 2023

Dear Mom:

Can you believe it is already the year 2023? I'm still writing '22 on everything! It seems like only yesterday that I was sitting in the first grade and celebrating the change to a new century.

I know we really haven't chatted since Christmas, Mom, and I'm sorry. Anyway, I have some difficult news to share with you and, to be honest, I really didn't want to call or talk about this face to face.

But before I get to that, let me report that Ted just got a big promotion, and I should be up for a hefty raise this year if I keep putting in all those crazy hours. You know how I work at it. (Yes, we're still struggling to pay the bills.)

Little Timmy's been okay at kindergarten, although he complains about going. But then, he wasn't happy about the day-care center either. So what can we do?

He's been a real problem, Mom. He's a good kid, but quite honestly, he's an unfair burden on us at this time in our lives.

Ted and I have talked this through, and we have finally made a choice. Plenty of other families have made the same choice and are really better off today.

Our pastor is supportive of our choice. He pointed out the family is a system, and the demands of one member shouldn't be allowed to ruin the whole. The pastor told us to be prayerful and to consider all the factors as to what is right to make our family work. He says that even though he probably wouldn't do it himself, the choice really is ours. He was kind enough to refer us to a children's clinic near here, so at least that part is easy.

Don't get me wrong, Mom. I'm not an uncaring mother. I do feel sorry for the little guy. I think he heard Ted and me talking about this the other night. I turned and saw him standing at the bottom of the stairs in his PJ's with his little teddy bear that you gave him under his arm, and his eyes were sort of welled up with tears.

Mom, the way he looked at me just about broke my heart, but I honestly believe this is better for Timmy, too. It's just not fair to force him to live in a family that can't give him the time and attention he deserves.

And please, Mom, don't give me the kind of grief that grandma gave you over your abortions. It's the same thing, you know. There's really no difference.

We've told Timmy he's just going in for a "vaccination." Anyway, they say the termination procedure is painless. I guess it's just as well that you haven't seen that much of little Timmy lately.

Please give my love to Dad.

Your daughter.

(Author unknown)

Was the Divine Mercy Revelation a Harbinger of the End Times?

I've be been reading the entire diary of St. Faustina these past couple of weeks and discovered, to my surprise, how very apocalyptic the messages are. The Lord repeatedly told her (over 70 years ago, keep in mind) that the Divine Mercy revelation was specifically given to prepare mankind of the 2nd Coming and the end of the world. It's a theme that reappears frequently.

Here are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about:

Write down these words, my daughter. Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy (Diary 429).

You have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for granting mercy (Diary 635).

Tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near (Diary 965).

Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. (Diary 83).

Here's a link to an article that has some of the pertinent quotes displayed in bold font. There's more to it than what's discussed here, but this should give you a sense of what I'm talking about.

 

http://thedivinemercy.org/news/story.php?NID=3034&PLID=75 Also, check out this section at the EWTN website: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/coming.htm

Did you know a solar flare can make your toilet stop working?

That's the surprising conclusion of a NASA-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences entitledSevere Space Weather Events—Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts. In the 132-page report, experts detailed what might happen to our modern, high-tech society in the event of a "super solar flare" followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. They found that almost nothing is immune from space weather—not even the water in your bathroom.

Photo: Auroras over Blair, Nebraska, during a geomagnetic storm in May 2005. Photo credit: Mike Hollingshead/Spaceweather.com.

The problem begins with the electric power grid. "Electric power is modern society's cornerstone technology on which virtually all other infrastructures and services depend," the report notes. Yet it is particularly vulnerable to bad space weather. Ground currents induced during geomagnetic storms can actually melt the copper windings of transformers at the heart of many power distribution systems. Sprawling power lines act like antennas, picking up the currents and spreading the problem over a wide area. The most famous geomagnetic power outage happened during a space storm in March 1989 when six million people in Quebec lost power for 9 hours: image.

According to the report, power grids may be more vulnerable than ever. The problem is interconnectedness. In recent years, utilities have joined grids together to allow long-distance transmission of low-cost power to areas of sudden demand. On a hot summer day in California, for instance, people in Los Angeles might be running their air conditioners on power routed from Oregon. It makes economic sense—but not necessarily geomagnetic sense. Interconnectedness makes the system susceptible to wide-ranging "cascade failures."

To estimate the scale of such a failure, report co-author John Kappenmann of the Metatech Corporation looked at the great geomagnetic storm of May 1921, which produced ground currents as much as ten times stronger than the 1989 Quebec storm, and modeled its effect on the modern power grid. He found more than 350 transformers at risk of permanent damage and 130 million people without power. The loss of electricity would ripple across the social infrastructure with "water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in 12-24 hours; loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, fuel re-supply and so on."

"The concept of interdependency," the report notes, "is evident in the unavailability of water due to long-term outage of electric power--and the inability to restart an electric generator without water on site." . . . (continue reading)