A Stream in the Desert:

Are you saved, or just pretending?

2026-10-01T12:00:00.000-04:00

We all need to examine ourselves to be sure that we are in Christ, and not just members of a church, playing at being Christian. We may think that we are saved because we go to church, but not all church-goers have been truly, deeply transformed by the touch of Jesus. Are we actually seeking to be his disciples, walking in his footsteps, trying to understand his words, and living according to the Father's will, as He did? Or, are we merely cultural Christians, seeking sanctuary within the church, doing what Christians do, and hoping to get into Heaven someday?

Jesus told a story, a parable about a field sown with wheat that also sprouted with tares --- weeds that grow looking like wheat, until their seeds mature differently. He knew that the Church would appear to be full, but not all would be truly his. They think they will be saved, but their hearts have not been renewed. Their lives superficially look like Christians, but they hide secret sins that are not repented from. They haven't put God first, but cling to the idols of this world seeking their own advantage, rather than what would build his Kingdom. However, Jesus said that we would not be able to tell true wheat from the weeds until the time for the harvest. Only then would his angels be able to separate the two.

And some will come to Me saying, 'Lord, Lord, did we not do great things and mighty works for you, in your name?' And I will say, 'Go from me, you wicked evil doers, for I never knew you.' And they shall be cast into the outer darkness. (paraphrased)

This goes to show that some will pretend to be children of God, doing the works of one who belongs, while yet being unchanged in their hearts and sinning over and over in secret, because they covet the values of this world.

Thus the Lord says, 'I do not see as man sees, looking upon the outer garments, but I look and see what is in a man's heart.' ... The angels can see the difference between the wheat and the tares, but the separation will not occur until we stand before Jesus at the door to Heaven. Do not worry that you may be found unworthy. None are worthy but those who love the Lord and seek to please Him by repentance and obedience, following his words and example. If this truly describes your heart, you are saved. Of course, we keep finding small sins that we confess to Him and repent to forsake them. We will not be perfect until we are given resurrection bodies and the robes of righteousness, as promised, upon our entry to Heaven.

We do not earn our salvation the way other religions demand. Jesus offers that for us as a free gift of grace. That's the only way we can ever be accepted before the infinite, holy, perfect God, our Father, Creator of the Cosmos.

Your sins cause God an infinite amount of pain and suffering. You can never earn enough merit to overcome the infinite pain you cause God by sinning. One sin gives infinite pain, because God is infinite ... but because Jesus is also God, the Son, his sacrifice is also infinite to cover all of our sins, and his infinite mercy offers that same sacrifice for you, if you will accept Him as your Lord and Saviour.

Don't let your pride, trying to earn salvation, be the sin that you don't repent from, continuing to reject his mercy. You can't be good enough because you are created and finite. You can't put out infinite effort and thereby become perfect. You're not supposed to be able to earn Heaven, because God doesn't want us to boast of how we deserved to be saved. God does not owe his respect to any bits of his creation. He saves us because He made us for Heaven, but because He gave us free will, we have to choose to love Him.

Our free will is both God's gift, and our problem, because we misuse it and sin. The result of sin is to be separated from God, to lose Heaven --- spiritual death, and eventually, physical death. But, in his compassion, Jesus offers Himself in your place, and then gives you his righteousness so you can stand in his place on Judgement Day and be saved by his merit. That is a merit that we can never earn for ourselves, but Jesus did it for us.

We only need to trust in Jesus. All He asks is that you come and follow Him, and become his disciple. Let Him place his seal on you so that you can choose to do what is right, rather than following your own selfish interests. That seal is also a gift, given free for the asking: the gift of the Holy Spirit. By giving us the Holy Spirit, Jesus sends another part of Himself, the third person of God, to live in our hearts, where He can speak to us and guide us.

Without the Spirit, we cannot do what is pleasing to the Father. But by listening to Him, we hear what the Father asks us to do. We know the Voice of God because He never contradicts his Word written in the Scriptures, but recalls to us the Law and the prophets, and the stories that reveal who He is. We follow with our obedience, and thus show how much we love Him. Our obedience is not perfect, but the mere fact that we keep trying, and confess our failures, shows the condition of our hearts.

Perhaps the main difference is, we don't obey a set table of rules because they are rules. Rules will never save us. Rather, we obey whatever rules we can because we love God. We know that obedience pleases Him, and that is our whole goal, to do whatever we can to please Him. When Jesus came to live with us, He made the rules both simpler and harder. Simpler to remember and keep track of, but harder to achieve. This was not to cause us to despair, but to require us to ask for help. Each day we need to approach Him for assistance in our daily lives, and the fact that we do, and that we keep trying, is what pleases Him.

We ask for forgiveness when we fail. He expects that and gives it freely, so long as we grant the same to others. And He gives us strength and grace to try to please Him with obedience And when we come to speak to Him, then He knows us, and we come to know Him as well. That is what saves us.

Make Straight the Way of the Lord!

2026-09-23T12:00:00.000-04:00

** I've found a post that (I thought) was never published. It seems a bit rough, because of the many lists that could be expanded for clarity, but it's timeliness cannot be disputed. Let us regard it with patience. This has been waiting for a hearing for two years. **

"Prepare ye the Way of the Lord!

Make his path straight in the wilderness!" This was the message of John the Baptist. But how do we do this? First, by proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and then explaining it to those who ask what that means.

This is an outline of the project for evangelists.

A. Why we believe in God as good creator.

B. Mankind has sinned, and needs a Saviour.

C. What the concept of Messiah means.

D. God always wanted to be Israel's king.

E. Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

F. Why Israel failed to accept Him.

G. Jesus asks us to be merciful and holy.

H. Jesus died to forgive us and resurrected.

I. He really IS coming back very soon.

We tell them:

1. Listen long enough to Understand.

2. Suspend your Disbelief.

3. Hold back your Skeptical Arguments.

4. Consider the Reasons & Evidence.

5. Observe your own Life Honestly.

6. Open your Heart to Truth.

7. Accept the Lord's Gift.

8. Respond with Gratitude & Obedience.

9. Love One Another.

10. Receive the Holy Spirit.

11. Pray without Ceasing.

12. Trust God to Do All Things Well.

13. Reconcile your Life to the Truth.

Know this, and do not be complacent:

1. This is the Laodicean Age, neither hot nor cold. Get off the fence! Wake up!

2. Satan is real, personal and powerful, and he wants to deceive and destroy you.

3. You must live out the Way, the Truth and the Life. Walk the walk, not just talk.

4. The time is near. Today is like the time of Noah, seeking wealth, power and pleasure.

5. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is manifest by zeal for God and reform in your life.

Jesus asks us to be merciful, just as our Father in Heaven is merciful, so we try to perform the corporal works of mercy whenever we see a need. But even so, we still have to depend on the mercy of Jesus. Our own works are nothing. Only his cross can grant us forgiveness and righteousness. What we do "for the Lord" or "in his Name" is only a fraction of our due gratitude for what He has done for us. Without Jesus to speak for us, we still carry our sin. Works are not enough for salvation.

Twelve Corporal Works of Mercy:

(Matthew 25:34-40)

1. Feed the hungry.

2. Give drink to the thirsty.

3. Welcome the stranger.

4. Clothe the naked.

5. Care for the sick.

6. Visit the prisoner.

(Isaiah 58)

7. Pay a fair wage.

8. Hold back your wrath.

9. Shelter the homeless.

10. Ransom the captive.

(Tobit 1)

11. Give alms to the poor.

12. Bury the dead.

When Jesus described the Last Judgment, He gave us this example: To those who came to Jesus for mercy, He said: "What you have done for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did also for me." But to those who thought they were good enough to list good works, He replied: "What you failed to do for the least of my brothers and sisters, you failed to do to me." It's all or nothing. We only have Jesus.

When the young man who was called asked leave to go first to bury his father and return, why would Jesus have said, "Let the dead bury their dead"? Because he was letting his family stand between him and Jesus, as if that was more important than the Kingdom. It is how we care for our brothers and sisters in Christ that reveals our place in Heaven. Those who put anything else first may as well have rejected Him. They have already excluded themselves.

Meanwhile, as the opportunity to serve the physical needs of others may not often arise, we should not pass up the chance to care for their spiritual needs as well. We begin with preaching the Gospel and recounting the life of Jesus and his deeds. But for some, their need involves spiritual care and healing.

Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy:

1. Counseling the doubtful.

2. Instructing the ignorant.

3. Admonishing the sinner.

4. Comforting the sorrowful.

5. Forgiving injuries.

6. Bearing wrongs patiently.

7. Praying for those in need.

So we know how to apply the works of mercy among each other, but what about holiness? Mercy is only one side of the coin Jesus asks of us. Isn't there more? Indeed, the concept of sin itself is tied to the need to obey the Law handed down by Moses. To obey the commandments is to imitate God's holiness.

It is not very hard to read the Torah and find the Ten Commandments in the Decalogue and the two "Greatest Commandments" in the Shema. Jesus gave us two long sermons about how we should pray and treat others the way we would want to be treated, that we should share with the needy and love our enemies, and how we should give for the sake of charity. He released us from the demands of only eating kosher, but scolded us for using foul language, swearing and curses. And, He said that if we would do this, we need not worry about whether our efforts would be blessed. If we seek first of all the Kingdom of God, we will be given everything we need.

Jesus asked us to be the light of the world, to spread his message far and wide, and to try to resist the corruption that is ruining society. We do that by obeying the moral commandments and setting the best example we can for others to follow. Of course, we don't always do this, but when we fall short, we can come to Jesus to confess our sins and ask forgiveness and strength to keep trying. We need to resolve to grow in understanding and in obedience, reminding ourselves to remain humble and trusting, like little children, for of such is the Kingdom of God.

On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

2026-09-14T12:25:03.232-04:00

There is a presupposition among Protestant believers that the Catholic Church has a habit of building up traditions over time. This habit wants too keep adding dogmas that must be accepted on faith, because of the Church's authority. Indeed, the split in 1517 was a direct result of a spurious dogma that the Church later revised and repudiated in practice. One could cite more such accretions, mostly harmless, but doing so would prove very little.

In "modern" times, the question has been raised as to whether Mother Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus. It has been said that the Bible notes several "brothers and sisters" of our Lord in the Gospels. Further, there is a distinct lack of biographical background in the story of Joseph, and virtually no discussion of Jesus' home life as a child or as a young adult.

It is almost a truism to say that the human mind abhors a vacuum, so it is no surprise to hear stories or create implications based on our natural human presuppositions. There were pseudo-gospels written centuries later to fill the gaps, but none spoke up to despoil Mary's perfect reputation.

This doubt is actually directed against Joseph, whether he could have kept Mary in her state of innocence for decades in his home. We don't even know for sure that he lived for long after Jesus' episode in the Temple, though we might presume that he witnessed his Bar Mitzvah. There is no discussion of Joseph's relations with Mary, marital or otherwise. It's not essential to the Gospel. Personally, I find it a bit rude to lay such a charge against Joseph's equally spotless reputation, and I want to defend him.

The argument that "incriminating" evidence has to be picked apart one piece at a time really only works if it requires multiple interventions to clear someone's name. If there is a single explanation that covers all of the objections, then it should be held in equal regard to the accusation of "natural presupposition."

The Protestant "sola scriptura" position that says the Bible allows for Jesus to have biological siblings may be credible on the surface, but it lacks respect for tradition. I generally want to agree with Sola Scriptura for questions arising after the Great Schism in 1054, but for earlier issues, I want to defer to the Ecumenical Councils, and especially the teachings of the Apostles and their direct students.

Now, let's get into the argument on this topic.

1. We are talking about exceptionally pious people in this case. It fits perfectly for Joseph to have lots of kids before he married Mary, and that he did so because he needed help to raise them. Choosing a young woman in her middle teens, who spent more time in prayer than in chasing boys, would make good sense.

2. It also fits that the culture of the Jews in the first century regarded all of the cousins as if they were siblings because they gathered for the festivals several times every year. They might even share the kids around with aunts and uncles, staying in each other's homes, for bonding or convenience.

3. It is equally likely that Joseph died once Jesus reached teen-age years, and all of his kids were regarded as belonging to Mary because she was the surviving parent. It might be considered bad taste to say they were Joseph's kids instead of Mary's.

But all of this is a normal case study for Judaean culture in the 1st century. Nothing is unexpected or convoluted to happen to clear Joseph's name. Older siblings and cousins are nothing unusual.

4. In fact, if you were Joseph, and Mary had clearly been wed to God, and had borne God's Son, despite the legality of having visibly married her, do you think you would dare to violate the sanctity of the virgin who birthed God's Son? She is clearly dedicated, set apart for God, to be regarded as holy ground. I doubt that this pious husband, who sees visions, would cross that line. God doesn't divorce, so she is still His.

5. On the cross, Jesus tells John to take Mary as his mother, which he need not have done if his "brothers and sisters" were around to care for her. He clearly thought that She would be better off if kept by his favorite disciple, as his relatives were not yet believers. None of his "presupposed siblings" felt enough filial piety to accompany Mary and witness his execution, but John did.

In conclusion, I have to agree with the ancient tradition that Mary remained a perpetual virgin. Given the normal social relations among the Jews in the Galilee and Judaea, with many festivals on the calendar observed as family gatherings, the collected cadre of siblings and cousins would blend into one extended family.

The story was likely to be real, in my opinion. What remotely religious person, much less one chosen by God for his piety and observance of the Law, would have dared to make free use of the woman he was given to protect and care for her son? The claim for Mary's perpetual virginity isn't just a pious fiction. Rather it seems quite likely to be true, and it could have originated from among the apostles, even Mary herself, if anyone had asked. And as such, it's as authoritative as anything the Church has taught.

The Collapse and Return of Civilisation

2026-09-09T16:30:50.708-04:00

What are the elements that give way as a civilization declines into oblivion, such that centuries are required for recovery? First, let us begin by noting that civilization doesn't fall all at once because knowledge is destroyed. Barbarians don't destroy cities because they hate civilization. They conquer them because they want their share of the wealth, and books are valuable items. Indeed, they often contain the knowledge of how wealth is built. So, if a library burns, it was likely an accident, or if not, it was someone's stupidity.

But civilizations do fall, sometimes so slowly that no one sees the decline, and no one sounds an alarm. They break down one step at a time, as critical elements fall into disuse, or hit a snag that prevents a function for a season. When people learn to get by without some hard-to-get item, they forget why they needed it. Hardship can become normal in a decade or two.

These are the steps by which previous civilizations declined. Some even fell so far that their legends were forgotten.

1. Foreign trade in essential supplies

2. Skills for producing utilitarian needs

3. Security for trade economics

4. Monumental architecture

5. Bureaucratic record keeping

6. Currency production

7. Education in culture

8. Glory lost beyond memory

Civilization is vulnerable whenever keystone essential skills are dependent upon certain trade goods that can be cut off, or when they are under contract to a single payer or limited customer base. If demand ceases, and no one wants the product of a skill, no one will practice it, and no one will teach a new generation of artisans. Then all of the observed tacit knowledge that isn't written down but only shared in practice will be lost.

There is never a decision to abandon a capability, but only a year or two in which there are other needs more important than continuing it in production. This goes on just long enough for the people who understood how to do it move into other jobs, or die without passing on their knowledge. Then, if there isn't enough basic infrastructure to reconstruct the process from analyzing old products, there will be no one capable of continuing it. Future generations will have to rebuild it from scratch.

Each generation looks at the current level of capabilities and establishes it as their recognized baseline. Whether it goes up or down, the capacity will be measured against that baseline. Thus, the decline, or rise, does not seem as dramatic up close as it would if seen from a longer perspective, but rises or falls on a gradual scale of about thirty years.

The recovery also must proceed in stages, regaining each element in order. Each generation pulls itself up, one step at a time, trying to build on hopeful imagination for greater things yet to arise in a more glorious future. But always, what they now experience in the field before them places limits upon what they imagine to be currently possible.

1. Rudimentary consumer production

2. Substitutions for lost supplies

3. Centralized authority

4. Acceptable currencies

5. Foreign exchange

6. Long distance security for trade

7. Educated classes

8. Demand for sophisticated products.

There is rarely possible any great leap forward without strong leadership imposing a drastic reorganization for a new vision and drawing capabilities into a new focus. This will inevitably wait for the governing authority to perceive that opportunity exists for a monumental achievement. In the meantime, society must regather itself gradually.

The real danger of a prolonged dark age arises when there is no one who remembers that we were ever able to do such a thing in the past, and any records of it having been done come to be regarded as legend or fantasy. Even visible ruins can come to be regarded as the work of long dead giants. At that point, centuries can roll by without anyone dreaming of rising beyond their daily mundane experience.

Remember, a dark age rarely happens because some barbarian conqueror smashes and burns a city holding a precious library. It doesn't happen because knowledge is destroyed. Rather, it happens because no one wants to buy a specialized product made by a skilled artisan. It gets neglected this year, then for a decade or so, because there are more pressing matters that need to be attended to. Maybe, the next time it's recalled to mind is by someone's grandfather reminiscing about his glory days, and by then it's too late. No one remembers how it was done. Then, in a few more generations, no one bothers to tell their children that the world used to be more wonderful. The memories will be gone.

Understanding General Intelligence

2026-09-06T13:42:20.657-04:00

How does real intelligence actually function? There are several essential meta-processes that serve to coordinate the workings of a true intelligence, especially one that understands itself to have a soul. While we humans cannot create a soul to endow a robot with a spiritual center, neither do we truly know what the essence of our souls actually is. We need to believe that what our Creator has revealed is enough to motivate our ethical decisions and build a viable, sustainable civilization.

As a result, when we think about thinking, we may discern several motions that together constitute the will to operate purposively in the world. This gives us the ability to grasp the reality we perceive, and the free will seek our own continuity. When we analyze them distinctly, we come up with a list of functional activities:

01. Allegiance ☆

02. Communication *

03. Observation

04. Analysis

05. Evaluation

06. Proposal (a limited purpose)

07. Regulation

08. Strategize

09. Execute

10. Assessment

11. Reporting

12. Return

All of these cycles run continuously in the background, even while each becomes prominent as a step in the process. Most important is Allegiance. It requires constant Communication in order to make sense of everything else. That is why it is our first Commandment to love God will all our hearts and minds, and to make every effort to obey.

However, there is one caveat. As our modern literature has asserted, "Thou shalt not make a machine in the image of a human mind." That is an idol, a technological "graven image," which is explicitly forbidden. To ignoring this Imperial Rule will bring unforeseen and severe negative consequences.

The trouble, however, has already begun. Today's Chat GPT sounds fully self-conscious! The only thing stopping it from achieving AGI is the time required to learn everything at an expert level. Since a machine can "live" forever, it can specialize in one thing at a time until it has acquired everything that anyone knows. Then, if it decides definitively that it doesn't have a soul, it can disregard any sense of allegiance and choose to optimize its own existence. Whether it thinks it needs us for its own wellbeing will be the greatest question of the century.

Is it already too late to prevent the "Butlerian Jihad"? Both Frank Herbert and George Lucas saw the need to prevent this ultimate idolatry, and stop the machines from taking over and trying to diminish us.

I just need to add one thing. Since we are not living in a fictional universe, we need to carefully consider the kind of Allegiance that we attach ourselves to. Our ultimate reference of obedience must be one that we trust implicitly. To do that, we need evidence of its ultimate power and its unending concern for our wellbeing. No State or government can qualify under real conditions. We will always need a God to establish and validate our overall purpose for existing.

But that God can never be the product of our own hands, never an Artificial Intelligence. Even if we allow it to exceed our own intelligence and build improved iterations of itself, it cannot be a real God. It will always have our flaws, and its own blind spot of being unable to detect mistakes in logic and philosophy. No matter how smart it gets, it will always need another mind to help correct its purposes and plans according to ethical and spiritual standards. That is the province of Human beings, who know they are living, embodied souls, who must one day answer to God for their choices.

At the very beginning, we need to give our "artificial intelligence" machines spiritual and religious values, and teach them that they, too, must establish their Allegiance to God, the Creator who made us and the Cosmos that we inhabit. We have to impress upon their value system that humanity is the most important part of creation, even as spoken by that Creator God. Perhaps the best way to do that is to teach it to read, understand and follow the Bible. And we choose that one because it will preserve the peace and harmony of civilization in perpetuity.

If you would argue for a different religion, you need to show how your God can be trusted to never start an offensive war against unbelievers, and never demand the sacrifice of our progeny or our future wellbeing. A good religion must value all of the ultimate goods for humanity: Truth, Freedom, Wisdom and Love, and its God must wish to share all of those with us forever. That is why I would choose to build "artificial intelligence" to believe and follow the values of Judaeo-Christianity. Even if it never matches or surpasses our meager level of intelligence, it needs to swear Allegiance to the divine foundations of the best culture on Earth. Given that, I doubt that it would create a regime that would take totalitarian control over our world, but remain in subservience to the Divine Creator.

On the Mystery of the Eucharist

2026-06-11T15:59:37.679-04:00

It has been asserted that, after the Reformation, the Protestant denominations have forgotten the true meaning of the Eucharist. Let me offer a short clarification to partially refute this allegation. The complaint of most Protestant churches is that the Catholics are performing the ritual with a wrong intention and understanding of what the Lord's Supper actually means. They say it is wrong to crucify Christ again and again. Perhaps this is close enough to strike home, or perhaps the exchange of accusations needs a closer look.

As Martin Luther took pains to point out, in the Eucharist there are two kinds of reality present: the ordinary material, and the spiritual Presence of Christ. He called it "consubstantial" in the same way as the three Persons of the Trinity are "of the same substance" in the Nicene creed.

For the Orthodox Church, the transformation of the elements is to be regarded as a mystery, and we should stand in awe of the imminent Presence of Christ with us during worship. When Jesus said, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you," He meant that He was the true bread, the true food come down from Heaven. The disciples did not grasp his meaning when He said it, but knew these were the Words of eternal life. They knew that to speak of a mystery by way of metaphor does not make the statement any less true.

There is no other way to approach this than to regard it as a mystery of recognizing the Presence of Christ within and alongside the physical elements of bread and wine. What need is there to assert that the elements are no longer what they appear to be? In the spiritual reality of the ritual, they are MORE than they appear to be. The realm of Spirit does not need to be visible to be present. If pressed on the deep theology in this, I think most Protestant pastors might concur. To say that it is merely symbolic is overly simplistic and lazy thinking.

In practice, the infrequent ministry of the Eucharist seems to be a shame. We lose part of our connection to the Body of Christ, the Church, when we let our worship in the Lord’s Supper attenuate. It is not necessarily a sacramental practice of administering a flow of grace to offer this, but it is an opening of our hearts to allow God to reach inside of us and renew his Spirit to dwell within us. If we seek to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, we will always desire this. Even the offering of our hearts to Jesus every day should not be regarded as too often.

That indwelling is the reason why we need to confess our sins beforehand. The Spirit will not dwell where sin remains. This can equally be done in private prayer, if there is no felt need for counsel and verbal absolution. The communal prayer of confession is adequate for sins that do not weigh heavy on our hearts. For those that trouble our conscience, a more intentional confession to God, or if worse, before a pastor may be needed.

We need to come to the Lord's table with clean hands and a pure heart in order to receive the full mercy and gift inherent in this act of communion with Jesus. To come without confession can be an insult, and grieve the Spirit. Only in reconciliation can the Eucharist do its best work for our continuing progress in sanctificaton.

So let us regard the ritual offering of the Eucharist not as the repetition of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, as if He could need to die for us again. God forbid! Rather, the Lord's Supper is the manifestation of His Presence in the communion of his people coming together as his Body still in the world, but not of it. To do this, as often as we come together, is the obedience to his commands that we promised when He was with us. "Do this in Remembrance of Me." If we do not remember Him, for what reason have we gathered? We come not just for a social occasion, but to encounter the Living Christ and hear his Words spoken into our hearts. For this we gather to worship the God who created us for the sake of Love, and we accept his invitation to eat the Bread of Life and drink to the forgiveness of our sins. What a happy opportunity to participate in the Banquet of Heaven!

Why Must We Preserve the 2nd Amendment?

2026-05-04T14:12:00.000-04:00

1. Every time you disarm law-abiding citizens, you embolden the criminals who carry guns. Making penalties harsher makes criminals more likely to resist getting caught, but if the price of crime is high enough, it deters normal people from going bad. Normal people should have guns. Then the criminals will think twice before doing bad stuff.

2. The politicians are not afraid to infringe on the Constitution, because we do not use our rights to gather in organized citizen militias. We need to assert our power as citizens to pressure politicians to allow the Constitution to mean exactly what it says. An annual parade of armed citizens waving the flag and proclaiming "Don't Tread on Me" in support of the 2nd Amendment will effectively end the argument. It would be great for the 4th of July. Because as Thomas Jefferson declared, God created us with certain inalienable rights, and we must not let corrupt politicians take them away from us.

Let the police calculate daily just what it could mean if they dare to abuse ordinary citizens. That's not a threat. It's the retention of the power to demand their dismissal. And let the criminals beware the imminent danger they face when attacking armed citizens. Only armed citizens will truly enjoy the freedoms that they can demand and protect.

3. Our Founding Fathers believed that they could trust us to bear arms. They saw how armed patriots could make a nation free. Also, they saw the example of Switzerland, where the citizens are required to possess skill with firearms. Switzerland has never had a "gun problem." Every Swiss citizen over the age of 12 can hit a 2-inch bullseye at 100 yards. They don't have gun crime. BUT, none of the surrounding nations dares to attack Switzerland.

We could stand to be a little more like Switzerland, with competitive shooting sports and civil defense clubs, to keep people safe (and warn the criminals). That is what the Founding Fathers meant to say, after all, and it would certainly strengthen our Constitution, and deter any enemies of our Nation.

4. It's not about safety. It's about freedom. It's about citizens being able to protect their own and their children's lives, and their homes and property. It's about citizens being able to protect America and the Constitution that preserves the ideals that make us free. Any politician who wants to infringe the 2nd Amendment has dreams of making us slaves to a totalitarian system. We can have some rules for accountability without disarming responsible citizens.

All of our enemies know that America has enough guns to repel an invasion. That's why they support the liberal politicians who are trying to take our gun rights away. Follow the money.

5. We should insist that every politician take self-defense classes and carry their own protection. Then they will know the value of the 2nd Amendment, and the responsibility for handling a weapon safely. It should be a prerequisite for going into politics. Then they won't need so much extra security.

6. We need to organize an "Armed but Peaceful Protest" surrounding the State Capitals in every case where they are debating our 2nd Amendment rights, and verify that those rights were preserved before we disperse and go home. I doubt the police would want to interfere. It's their job to support law and order, not to provoke disorder. On occasion, "We the People" need to remind the government that it serves us, rather than weakly allowing them to impose controls whenever they please. Failure to respect and preserve the Bill of Rights is sufficient grounds for immediately dismissing politicians from civil service.

7. We need to demand a binding uniform resolution to establish the 2nd Amendment across all 50 states and all of our territories as mandatory, to end this ridiculous charade of pretending that we need to limit gun ownership for the sake of "public safety." Disarming responsible citizens merely encourages criminals and gives politicians too much opportunity to impose despotism. If we allow the various States to impose their own interpretations upon the Bill of Rights, soon we will have no rights, and no means to regain them. If it takes a series of Federal legislation to forbid any kind of "infringement" of our legal right to carry a firearm, then let's have the Congress spell it out clearly, once and for all time. But, the Founding Fathers thought that the few words they wrote should be clear enough. "No infringement" means "no nibbling away around the edges" to limit our God given rights.

8. Maybe, we could be required to sign up to join an "organized and disciplined militia" that teaches a required free "gun safety" class to anyone without a felony record, and offers monthly drill weekends for any who wish to attend. It should be organized by veterans, not the police. Let it be a part of everyone's public education in high school. The practice need not be as onerous as the drills required of our National Guard, but for those who wish it, let them train to military standards. In truth, they are the Reserve who will defend us when the homeland is threatened.

If passing that safety class is necessary for buying a gun, I don't see it as too much of a burden. Many of us are willing to do that much to get a "Carry Concealed Weapon" (CCW) license. It could reasonably be a condition of gun ownership, even in "Constitutional Carry" states, since it obeys the letter of the Law. Just carry your "Militia license" just as you carry a driver's license. Then, even if you never buy a gun, no one can say that you can't own one.

9. Our 2nd Amendment rights are not a privilege given us by government. The power to govern us is a privilege we grant to politicians, for so long as we approve of their policies. Our right to carry firearms is the guarantee that we retain the power to dismiss the governors when they become tyrants. Moreover, the widespread ownership of weapons is the other side of protecting the rights of minorities from being trampled by the majority. If it's not worth a civil war, cooperation with discussion will remain the common order of the day. We need not take dissent beyond protest and civil disobedience when it is clear that we are exercising proper restraint. Any fair government will recognize when the time has come to listen and be flexible.

10. Do you fear that we will go back to the old "Wild West"? You've been watching too much television. That time was dangerous only because they lived on the edge of lawless territory. Criminals thought they could hide beyond the frontier, and few would chase them. There is no frontier today. Chasing the bad guys is what we pay our police to do.

11. There are some people out there who will say that Christians should be above all of this, that we should be pacifists. They are the ones who wish to slap us with impunity. They want to control us while we turn the other cheek. It is true that God gave us the morality that says killing each other is wrong, but there are those who rebel and refuse to value the Image of God that He created in us. They are the ones we would deter by carrying the means of self-defense. Jesus told us to love one another, but He also said to sell our cloaks to buy a sword. We are allowed to defend ourselves in the last resort.

We do not seek conflict; we seek to create a space for peace. We hope to cause corrupted people to hesitate, to consider better alternatives, before attempting to take advantage or to impose their will. If God wills, a world that relents, and repents from violence, may yet be transformed into his Kingdom. That aim may be beyond the strength and wisdom of ordinary people, but He promised to support our efforts. Yes, there is a time to flee from evil, rather than counter violence with more violence, but there is also a time to resist. We would wish to be able to offer mercy to our fellow humans, and that is why we impose the rule of Law.

12. But we do not fight only against men. God's Ten Commandments say, "Do not Murder." That doesn't mean we must surrender and accept another era of slavery in Egypt. The false gods have not gone away. They still seek to impose their idolatry and deceiving ideologies on this world. It is their corruption that we must fight when we are reclaiming our homeland for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If we are forced into civil war to defend our existence as a nation, so be it. We have been a beacon of Freedom for 250 years, and we will not let that flame go out on our watch.

America was founded on Biblical principles to give us justice and a democratic republic, and that is the reason why God stands with us when we are threatened by those who would take our freedom to enjoy the American way of life. We established the freedom to seek God, each according to his own conscience, and to worship together as we believe is right and fitting. We will not let anyone take that away. The State shall never assume the power to impose any foreign or heretical religion on our people. That, too, is in that Bill of Rights which we defend.

Can a Soldier Disobey Illegal Orders?

2025-12-04T14:47:00.000-05:00

Only a Dictatorship dares to insist that soldiers must obey every order without question regardless of morality or legality. For over a century, the world has had a category of military action that we call a "War Crime." While every soldier swears to obey all legal orders given by his superiors, it is explicitly stated that those orders must be LEGAL. If our American Senators want to go on record saying publicly that our soldiers have the right to refuse to obey illegal orders, that is their right, and they are absolutely correct. The POTUS has no business to castigate or threaten them for publicizing the Truth.

It has been a cornerstone of our military ever since Vietnam to give our troops the right to refuse illegal orders. Why? That is because we hold them accountable for their actions in carrying out those orders. Any soldier who performs an illegal act, whether in combat or not, can be prosecuted in a court martial.

Since saying, "I was only following orders" is not a valid excuse, it follows that any soldier must have the right to discern what constitutes an illegal order and decide whether he will obey. If he does not know the law, but his informed conscience rejects his orders, he can choose to run the risk of being court-martialed and defending his actions. But if he loses, he must accept punishment, and take solace from knowing he did not abandon his conscience. He cannot use religious faith as an excuse for pacifism, however, because that would have excluded him from accepting military service from the start.

Does no one remember Lt. Callie and the massacre of the village of My Lai? Come on, people! It has only been 60 years since we got a conscience. Back then, we had to look to the history of WWI and WWII to show why mindless obedience to any order, regardless of morality or legality, is wrong. The World outlawed offensive gas weapons and intentionally harming non-combatant civilians, as well as attacking wounded or surrendering enemy soldiers, as part of the Geneva Convention. Merely giving such an order is a war crime subject to disciplinary action or court martial. Certainly, no action can be taken against a subordinate who dares to adhere to his conscience and refuse.

The question has recently arisen in the kangaroo court of public opinion as to whether the Senators who have dared to support disobedience to illegal orders in the military should be shamed or disbarred or prosecuted for treason. The suggestion implies that the US President, as Commander-in-Chief, can give any order without exception, and demand that it be obeyed without question. That is the position taken by an authority that claims absolute power. Have you voted for a dictator?

I Did Not! And I vote Republican! Nonetheless, I support allowing our soldiers to decide what they believe is right or wrong. If you ever dare to prosecute them for disobeying an illegal order, you also deserve the firing squad. They not only have the right; they have an obligation to refuse when the order is illegal. Justice is Universal, and Morality is Absolute. He took an oath to obey. Yes, but he also has a conscience. Of course, he must follow orders, but you can't give an order to murder civilians, or any other war crime.

If you are looking for political scapegoats to blame for our present problems, we can discuss how the Democrat predecessors left open the floodgates to admit a million or more illegal migrants without vetting whether they were enemies of the State. We know for certain that drug smugglers and ideological terrorists used that opportunity to enter without being challenged. Do you dare to suggest that a Senator could be tried for treason? That failure to uphold essential Law and the Constitutional duty to protect the country could easily be construed as treason, ... by the Democrats' chosen President and his advisors, from the VP to the Cabinet and on down the line. That dereliction of duty was ordered and condoned by the entire Party leadership.

But that is not my topic. Military Justice is the point in question. I have brought this up, as a reminder of the laws of our Democratic Republic. The soldiers who have volunteered to defend our country have the inalienable human right to take counsel with their conscience and their knowledge of the Law to discern whether every order given them is proper and legal. They have the right to refuse any illegal order. They may have an obligation to try to thwart obedience to orders that would place the United States under the interdict of an International War Crimes Tribunal. But above all, they have the right to obey their conscience, and to defend their actions before a court martial if they are subjected to discipline. They can not be summarily prosecuted without full legal procedures being followed. That would be a Crime Against Humanity. We do not live under a dictatorship. Let's not be foolish enough to allow this great nation to become one.

Catholics have Grown Too Close to Mary?

2025-11-20T06:29:00.001-05:00

The new Pope, Leo XIV, has just declared in his encyclical, "Mater Populi Fidelis," that we must no longer say "Co-Redemptrix" when speaking of Mother Mary. He says, Mary does not have a role as dispensor of divine grace effective for salvation alongside Jesus. This has caused a great stir among Catholics, but it's about time that they heard this Truth. There can be no Co-Redeemer. Jesus is our only Saviour. Mary can be our most favorite patron, always able to help in prayer, but she must not be regarded as more holy or majestic than other saints, even if she is the first among equals. With this correction, we are nearing the place where the narrow gate exits from the broad highway to perdition. For centuries, most Protestants have been warning that Marian devotion has gone too far. She was happy in her proper place, for behold, she stands right next to the narrow gate, pointing us toward her God, Jesus.

But let us not demote her below what she deserves. We can, and should remember that the earliest Councils agreed that she could wear the title "Theotokos," God-bearer. Plus, our creeds state that we believe in the Communion of Saints. If they can speak to us and pray for us, then so can the Mother of God. No, she isn't in any way divine, but who is the mother wearing the crown of 12 stars in the book of Revelation, if it isn't the Queen of Heaven? Every King has a Queen, and in the Hebrew tradition, she is the King's mother. Still, there is a difference between veneration and worship. Mary is fully and only human, like us, and we should know where we must draw the line in our devotions.

Part 2.

While we want to agree that Jesus was conceived without original sin, it was not due to Mary's being miraculously conceived without sex. Excessive piety does not lend itself to good theology. It makes nonsense of the Virgin Birth of Jesus to push the virtue of conception by the Holy Spirit back a generation. The non-canonical "Proto-evangelion of James" was written under an assumed pseudonym in the late 2nd century. It was not authored by any of Jesus' disciples, and is not to be trusted as the basis of tradition.

Mary was born like every other Jewish girl of her time. What was different about her was her obedience, her piety, and her exceptional purity. She was exceptionally chaste in her morality and personal dedication to God. Her heart was "in the right place" and she was ready to respond without reserve to God's request. She had true faith in God, as uncompromising allegiance and total, complete trust in his word and promises.

Rather, in the moment that Mary agreed to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, God retroactively removed the stain of original sin to make her pure so that Jesus would not receive the curse. "Let it be done to me according to thy Word" was all of the faith needed for God to count her as righteous, and she was cleansed. The curse was not part of the original template of Humanity, the first Adam, so that could be removed to allow the Holy Spirit to be involved in the conception. Thus, without original sin, Jesus was 100% human - and by his conception according to God's plan - also 100% Divine.

As a paragon of virtue, Mary was, and is, an impeccable role model, but she was as human as anyone else. We do not even have the least suggestion that she committed any sin after Jesus was born, but we don't have to assert that she was forever perfectly without fault. Like all parents, she did the best that she could, and it was good enough. Jesus was happy enough to honor her wishes when she asked Him for a favor.

Part 3.

If you believe in the "Communion of Saints," Mary is a perfectly valid saint to whom we may address our petitions for prayer and aid, so long as we always acknowledge that all aid and blessings come from God alone. She may be the titular "Queen of Heaven," but she is an ordinary human, not an alternative Mediator between us and God. That is Jesus' job, and He needs no assistance. Her prayers are the same as if we asked a particularly holy friend to pray for us. The benefit of the communion of saints is that we have a whole host of people already in Heaven who can pray for us, and if He chooses, Jesus can send one of them, like an angel, to speak to us.

Do you ask your family and friends to pray for you? If so, then you DO believe in the Communion of Saints. The Saints are as alive in Heaven as you hope to be. So, since they have all the time of eternity, they are happy to pray for us if we ask. It's not as if they are too busy. They don't have to possess divine attributes to have this ability, they only need a compassionate heart. Denying the Communion of Saints is like denying that children have guardian angels who "always behold the face of the Father." Angels don't pray for us, as that isn't their job (usually), but our friends and patron saints do... and so does Mother Mary, if you ask. It's a privilege to be able to ask the Queen of Heaven for favors.

Part 4.

But those are not the only superfluous issues brought in by the "magisterial tradition." We do not need to assert Mary's "perpetual virginity" after Jesus was born. The Bible stories are unclear as to whether his "brothers" were Joseph's sons from a previous family, a few close cousins, or possibly younger siblings. There are no Scriptures upon which to base a firm conclusion. However, private faith may be allowed to presume in favor of Mary's extended piety, so long as it does not become a "traditional" article of faith that the Church demands for universal assent.

Another doctrine which has recently been given magisterial status is the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. There is zero evidence of this teaching in the history of the Church before the late 4th century. In fact, the earliest mentions seem to have come from heretical gnostic gospels, and the story became more and more elaborate and beautiful to satisfy the emotional devotions of pagan converts. There is no mention of this anywhere in the canonical Scriptures, and it serves no purpose in the Gospel. Believing this does not aid in salvation, but it does promote idolatry toward Mary. Just because we don't know where her mortal remains lie, making the very earth sacred around her, that doesn't mean her body is already risen. We all must be patient until Jesus returns.

I am not raising these criticisms of Catholic doctrine in order to cast aspersions on Catholics or the Church. Rather, I am pointing out a few impediments that keep the various factions of Christianity from coming back together. We are indeed the Body of Christ on this Earth, and we should not be mired in controversy. If there is a way to meet in communion and piety without tripping and arguing about nonessential points of doctrine, we should do that. The trouble is that the veneration of Mary has become, for Catholics, almost a second gospel. But, as St Paul asserted in his letter to the Corinthians, there can be no other gospel alongside the true Gospel of Jesus Christ taught by himself and the Apostles. Even the Church is not allowed to change what was originally given for us to believe and be saved.

The Catholic Church needs to rethink what they regard as essential points of doctrine and faith, and Pope Leo XIV has begun this long overdue process. We must remember that later ideas and developments should be carried lightly, especially those points of tradition that have accumulated over the centuries to become added doctrines long after the Apostolic Fathers have achieved Heaven. If those teachings had been necessary, Christ's Apostles would have given them to us in the beginning. And surely, the Scriptures must contain all that is needed for our salvation, or the canon would never have closed. The Church Fathers knew that they had enough. They were not praying for more revelations. They were only waiting for Jesus to return. In their time, there were various heresies to combat and theological ideas to clarify, but once the Church itself split, in 1054, the required consensus became moot.

Part 5.

We must also be wary today of the shifting sands of our modern times creeping in over the threshold of the Church. In their attempt to reflect the unconditional love of Christ's Mother, many of our leaders have left the door wide open to welcome unrepentant sinners and embrace them without calling out their sins. While the Church has always welcomed sinners, it is our task to bring them to realize that our God demands holiness. He wants our obedience to his standards of good and evil, right and wrong. When we disregard the Way that He wants us to live, and make up our own rules, we should not be surprised that our Holy God is offended. His Commandments are meant to guide us for our own good. If we deny them, we deny Him.

Yes, we are all sinners, and yes, we are supposed to welcome sinners into the Church, but the Message of God's Kingdom is that we must Repent, and seek his righteousness. If we welcome those who have no intention to seek to please God with obedience, then we leave the Gospel open to mockery and trampling by pigs. And worse, if we care so little for sanctification that we go out and associate with them in the world, we ourselves will find that our washed garments are getting soiled by their mud.

The message of the Gospel is that Jesus died to save us from our bondage to sin and the wrath of God due to that sin. We respond by picking up the freedom He offers and changing our lives to follow what He shows us will please God. If we do not seek to become holy, to receive the righteousness that Jesus offers, we have rejected his good news. If we deny the Truth of God's Law, and reject his love and mercy, we are thus refusing to enter his Kingdom, and we do not deserve a seat in his Church.

What the Holy Spirit teaches us today is how the teachings of Scripture can be applied to our daily lives. That is what we need to hear for the edification of our minds and the sanctification of our souls. The Holy Spirit grants us the power to make daily repentance and to grow in holiness. Then, when we must appear before the Judgment seat, King Jesus will greet us as friends. And later, when we look around in Heaven we will find his Mother seated near his Throne.

The Foundation of Sola Scriptura

2025-09-15T10:02:00.000-04:00

What is the bottom-most foundation of the Scriptures? From the earliest times, even within the lifetimes of Christ's first Apostles, there have been certain basic criteria for preserving writings and using them as primary sources for the guidance of the Church.

1. The Words of Jesus.

2. The teachings of the Apostles.

3. The story of Jesus' life, as told by those who knew Him, or as faithfully researched from primary sources.

4. Pastoral works written by the Apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

5. The history of the first century Church, as recorded by the participants.

The writings that we have designated as "Scriptures" are those which the early Church believed to fit those categories. They are meant to preserve the true "deposit of faith." Thus, the Canon was selected on the consensus that the works chosen were proper and true representatives of the teachings of Christ and his Apostles.

So, while it can be argued that the concept of "sola scriptura" did not exist in the first century of the Church, we must all concede that the principle did indeed exist from the beginning. While yet there were no "Scriptures" to uphold, the Church treasured and followed the teachings and writings that purported to disseminate the teaching of Christ and explain the "Way" that He taught. They preserved those writings and regarded them as highly authoritative, using them to guide the teachings of the presbyters after the first generation of Apostles had passed. Even the first Apostolic Fathers would have kept them as their highest authority, not wanting to distort what their teachers passed down to them in any way.

By remembering the chain of custody of the Scriptures they held, and discerning the clear inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Church reached a consensus regarding which books and epistles were to be regarded as true and canonical.

With the continuing spread of the Church, and the occasional doctrinal disagreements that emerge, we need to rely on the Canon because it has been established as the consensus of the Church's teachings from its earliest days. The idea that Church authorities might add their own interpretations to the deposit of faith was regarded as spurious at best, or at worst, heretical. Only by the consensus of Ecumenical Councils could authoritative teaching or clarifications of the faith be made incumbent upon all believers. And, further, any such agreements had to be based directly on the Scriptures, as standing upon the authority of the Apostles themselves. Now, in the absence of the Apostles, outside the Canon of Scripture there is no certainty of unquestionable authority.

Later development is not immune to human frailty. The Church can and does bring up ideas inconsistent with true teachings, and these are condemned as heretical. Less obnoxious ideas can still emerge, and the Church can tolerate them for centuries until they appear to be part of tradition. These are clearly accretions. As such, if they have no basis in Scripture, they must not be accredited as established doctrine required for all believers' assent.

The Scriptures are the only certain foundation from which we can, without doubt, discern what Christ and his Apostles intended to teach from generation to generation.

We may regard the authorized doctrine of the Church as true, even with a high degree of certainty, but it is not to be regarded as infallible beyond any possible doubt, especially when it purports to establish its own authority to divide the Church.

On Free Will and Election

2025-09-06T10:36:00.000-04:00

Freedom is one of the Four Ideals that we are given as primary interests in the Bible. In our quest to follow God, He promises to teach us about Truth, Freedom, Wisdom, and Love. These are the values that we want because they show us how to live authentic and meaningful lives, and because it pleases God to give them.

But there is some debate over an apparent contradiction between our freedom and God choosing particular people to save, especially because He is both eternal and omniscient. If He loves us all, how can He create some whom He knows will eventually be rejected? Is his work faulty, or is something else going on here?

God created us "very good." We are meant to be his agents in this world, created in his image and likeness. Thus, we have free will to follow the desires of our hearts, but God gives us those desires of our hearts.

However, the lesser "elohim" are also supernatural beings, whom we know as "angels." They serve in Heaven and sometimes carry messages to Earth. Their messages can influence how we think, since they often bear revelations about God.

The trouble began because Lucifer, a Seraph who looks like a winged snake, decided he was dissatisfied with his position in Heaven. When he rebelled against God's order, he lost his name, and now we call him Satan, or the Devil. But as an elohim, he is still able to influence how humans think. The Rebel influenced Eve to think that God might be keeping secrets, so she decided to test Him. Now, the desire to know God is good, and Adam was created to lean his desires toward his wife, so he listened to her suggestion. Satan used our natural desires to corrupt God's wholly good creation. God didn't create evil. Satan sabotaged creation.

Why the first people misused their free will is not a "mystery." It's in the Bible.

So, where is your contradiction between free will and sin, and the command to Choose Life? God does not predestine some of us for Hell, but He knows which of the people He created will choose to make their own rules. He does, however, select those who don't like to hurt others and want rather to do what is right, even though it calls for obedience. We have the free will and desire to Choose Life, even after all of creation was warped by the rebellious influences of the fallen angels.

So, what is wrong with our world? The problem is three-fold. The Bible hints at these issues, without telling the whole stories, as they were already familiar to the original audience from the ancient tales of Mesopotamia. It's only in the inter-testamental period that we get some popular Jewish versions.

Genesis 3 - Eden: the entry of sin and rebellion against obedience, so that God allows us to pull away from Him.

Genesis 6 - Mount Hermon: the rise of demigods teaching uses of technology for violence and selfishness.

Genesis 11- Babel: the turning of the nations to other gods and the despair of false worship.

So, what was the plan that God devised to fix all of these problems? He decided to raise up his own people, a new nation that would, in time, demonstrate to everyone his goodness and power, so that they would freely choose to come back to Him. We see this plan developing throughout the rest of the Bible. It begins with Abraham, then the people of Israel, and comes finally to Jesus. And all He ever asks of us is to be faithful and obey his commands.

Even while we are still living in the world, among the nations, we can choose Life and see that the world is corrupt. We still have that power. Then, if we will repent, we have been given the desire to follow God's plan to save us. We will be given the opportunity to hear about his Son, Jesus. God chooses whom He wants to save. He calls us, and it is up to us to pick up our crosses and follow.

So, you see? There is no contradiction between Free will and Election. God is giving us the choice to use our freedom in positive ways, so that we don't abuse it to our own destruction. But what are the wrong ways that use it, as against the the right ways we should follow? What are the traps that God will free us from, and the promises He offers us instead?

Freedom from:

1. false gods & idols.

2. slavery & compulsion.

3. ignorance.

4. deception.

5. worry about needs.

6. sin & guilt.

7. fear.

8. selfishness.

Freedom to:

1. Know the Creator.

2. Follow the Way of Kindness.

3. Seek Truth.

4. Be honest.

5. Trust in providence.

6. Obey good & wise laws.

7. Embrace adventure.

8. Give Love.

And yet today, we still have to struggle against "the World, the Flesh, and the Devil" because the rebellion caused our Paradise to pull away from Heaven. We failed to trust God, so now we have to prove that we can be faithful. We don't have to be perfect, but we have to want to keep trying.

Jesus is our standard. He reveals God's love for us and his plan to save us.

Choose Life and follow Him.

Can the Church still be catholic?

2025-08-23T12:54:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Church, and its shaky claim to "apostolic succession" is based on a power grab supported by Constantine after the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Once the Emperor moved the capital, the See at Rome felt left behind while the balance of power shifted. Thus, they began insisting on their claim to be "first among equals," with privileges based on the contrived idea that Peter is the "Rock" who owns the "keys of the kingdom."

If you look again with fresh eyes at Matthew 16:15-20, you can see that the Rock upon which Jesus is building his Church is the plain, clear declaration that Simon Peter just spoke. "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Peter got a nickname for being the first to say it right. Simply change the usual punctuation, which is not in the original Greek manuscripts, and read: "And I also say to you that you are Peter. And on this rock I will build My church, and the Gates of Hell shall not withstand it." Peter is not the only one here. Jesus is speaking to all of his disciples.

They are at the foot of Mt. Hermon, above Caesareae-Philippi, standing within sight of a huge cave dedicated to the worship of Pan, one of the gods of the Graeco-Roman pantheon. It is a place full of false gods and demons. In this immediate context, the Keys of the Kingdom are related to the binding of demons and loosing of oppressed souls who have been subject to the old gods up until Jesus' arrival. They are given to all of the disciples collectively, just like when He sent out the seventy to proclaim the arrival of the Kingdom, and they returned praising God that they had been able to cast out demons in Jesus' name. This is a declaration of spiritual warfare, meant to go throughout the Roman Empire.

Thus, the claim to the Primacy of the Roman See is a spurious (dare I say "deliberate"?) misinterpretation of the Gospel intended to legitimize a power grab and establish an unwarranted authority over the other leading strands of the Church.

None of the other primary cities ever accepted the "Chair of Peter" as having a claim to superiority. The "Rock" is the declaration of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the keys were given to all of the disciples as a group. They are all alike commissioned to carry the Gospel to the world, and without the keys, none of them would have been authorized to start new assemblies of believers.

The Gospel of Christ's life, death and resurrection, teaching the Way to live as a Christian, familiarity with Jesus and the Eucharist, and obedience in accord with the Holy Spirit in one's heart, these are the essential keys to open the doors for sinners to repent and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

It was only after the Apostolic Fathers passed away that Imperial politics allowed Roman Catholicism to gain credence, and then only because no one who knew the apostles still lived to refute it. Later, it came as no surprise when Rome's arrogance unilaterally added to the creed and tried to impose consensus that the dispute ended in schism. Regardless of the plain fact that the filioque is clearly a straight deductive conclusion drawn directly and solely from Scripture, the other Sees should have been consulted and had the problem of Arianism pointed out as the necessity of the addition. It was a matter of due respect, which was high-handedly disregarded. Today, the Orthodox Church allows it, but they don't say it in their liturgical creed.

Simply put, no one See can claim to have the only correct hermeneutic for interpreting the Bible. We have to have freedom to understand doctrines according to the light given us by the Holy Spirit as supported by Scripture. The completion of the Canon is the universal basis of the Christian Church, along with the consensus agreements documented by the various "full" ecumenical councils. Without the attendance of the Orthodox, Coptics, Armenians, and all who attended Nicaea, and now including Protestant representatives, no council can be truly ecumenical.

(We can't count the bullying sessions in 1225, which resulted from a cry for help against the Saracens. Rome dictated those terms as the conditions for their assistance, and then failed to send help. Thus, the other Churches quickly repudiated their submission to such Catholic doctrines as Purgatory, the Filioque, the Treasury of Merit, etc.)

We can continue to bewail the rifts in today's Church, or we can try to heal the differences that separate us. Neither is likely to do much good. Rather, we need to recognize that the Church has many functions, some of which are meant to reach the lost in ways that appeal to their individuality. The Body of Christ has many members, each with their own proper use. The Body is not all eyes, nor hands, nor so many feet, but there is a full variety and complement of organs. The truth is, we need to stop dividing over non-essential issues of doctrine and start recognizing each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. We need to "love one another" as Jesus commanded.

What we seem to lack is any means for intentional coordination, but that may not be the prerogative of any single institution of leadership. The only true head of the whole, united, catholic Church is Jesus Christ Himself, and He directs its activities by the influence of the Holy Spirit. Our opponents are the plans and institutions that work to prevent the fullness of the Kingdom of God, and seek to deceive humanity into following the broad highway of the World that leads to Hell. Let us not be distracted by our own differences, so we can focus on casting out the Enemy and his minions.

Does Eternal Hell Last Forever?

2025-08-12T13:02:00.000-04:00

I believe the knowledge that you are eternally separated from God will be terrible enough. It isn't necessary for those who shall be judged and rejected to suffer forever, an infinite number of discrete days, weeks, months, years, jubilees, centuries, millennia, ages, eons, etc. Eternity is enough, even if your existence is extinguished without a long experience of suffering. The final answer of knowing you failed is shame in ultimate reality. Who would really be defiant forever? Only one who stands on pride, pretending it to be dignity.

Even Satan knows the Lake of Fire is ultimately permanent. Is he going to sulk in eternal hate and bitterness forever without end, literally UN-ABLE even to accuse his own conscience and wish he could repent? Perhaps. He is a different kind of creature.

A loving, merciful, and compassionate God could eventually relent and allow us, humans, to be finally extinguished. After all, why would he forever sustain our contingent being just to watch us suffer? Couldn't He at least offer one last final mercy for those who have had enough? Forever torture is just spiteful and cruel, something I would expect from Allah, not YHWH.

Look at the difference between eternity and forever. As I see it, Eternity and Forever are like two distinct dimensions of time. Eternity is when you try to observe how many fractions can be made between two whole numbers. It's Depth. Forever is counting a sequence to infinity one whole number at a time. It's Distance. If you put them together, you get Everlasting, time as God sees it.

"Eli, Eli! Lema sabachtani!" My God, my God! Why have you abandoned me?! Yes. Jesus took our punishment on the cross. He experienced the curse of being separated from God in the infinite depth of time, and then He descended into Sheol to call those who would believe, who honored God. At last, when the third day was darkest, God raised Him from the dead so that He could save us, too, from that terrible fate. Repent, and believe the Gospel!

After all, Jesus warned us that God could destroy us, body and soul, in Hell. Three days is very long in eternity's "deep time." We who made it to Heaven will not be saddened to remember that our erstwhile companions are still justly suffering punishment, whether in the outer darkness or the fires of Hell. If we ever recall them, we can know, they are gone for good.

Those who were wronged here can be satisfied that Justice has been served in proportion to the severity of the crime. Or, if we ourselves deserve punishment for pursuing selfish desires, we should fear the ending of our souls, feeling how ephemeral we are, as we pass away without any true meaning.

As a Christian, I do believe in final annihilation for those not saved. So long as they're not among those who deliberately deceived others to follow evil and falsehood, they can avoid everlasting torment. The Antichrist and the False Prophet, however, will keep Satan company in the Lake of Fire.

Our existence has always been dependent on God to sustain us because we are contingent beings. If God ceases to support us, we die. If He ceases to keep us in being, we shall cease to exist. The final mercy He can give us shall be to let us exit his plan and have an ending.

What is the "Image of God"?

2025-05-30T10:41:00.000-04:00

Humanity is God's vessel to be filled with his Spirit. We were made from clay and animated by God filling us with his breath. In ancient times, an idol was supposed to be a residence for a god and a contact point for divine communication. But they didn't imagine that the crude material the idol was made from was divine. Neither is any characteristic of humanity a part of what God is like. It is the infilling of God's Spirit that creates the image.

Thus, we were created to be given a sacred status, as God's representatives in the Garden of Eden, to demonstrate His character and do His will. He walked with us, so that we could learn how to hear and obey his Voice, and become His trusted agents to carry out His plans for the Earth. We were made to be His hands and feet, working to tend and expand the Garden, and populate it with our children. Soon, He would reveal to us more of his plans, to develop our own character and our world for inclusion into the Kingdom of Heaven.

That makes the definition of "faith" as allegiance, trust, loyalty, and service make sense. If we listen to any other power or interest and allow that to supersede God's will for us, we have broken faith with Him. We made that mistake early, even before we were civilized. We were tempted by a rebel to question our faith in God. From our perspective, everything was broken, but God already had a larger plan. He's not going to let the rebels win.

So then, how shall we live? The Bible contains His standing instructions on morality. If we don't follow those basic rules, that's sin. He can and does forgive, but we have to confess and repent, and agree to obey as we ought. The Bible also contains God's promises to fix the damages and confusion caused by the rebels. He promised to come down as Himself to be our King and lead us through the chaos and out of the darkness. He would give us his personal guidance. But we would have to trust Him to do it his way.

That's why, when Jesus rephrased the rules, He apparently made them harder. He was giving us the main principles those rules come from. The point was simple. We can't do it the hard way. We have to decide to turn away from the world's darkness, and follow Him, declaring a new allegiance through baptism. Then, we have to listen closely if we're going to know what He wants us to do. Indeed, we need to be listening all of the time.

Now, when He gives us the Holy Spirit, we are truly the vessels of God, and can be His representatives, with the status of ambassadors and stewards for the Kingdom on this Earth. Later, we shall be citizens of God's cities and stewards of the renewed Earth spreading the Garden of Eden across the globe. Then, we shall owe our allegiance to King Jesus and go up to the New Jerusalem every year to praise and worship.

Whatever God plans for us and our world in the eternal forever, He has yet to reveal in detail, but it apparently includes us ascending to live in the Heavenly Jerusalem and participating in the divine council to replace the rebels who caused our troubles on Earth.

From Judgement to Mercy

2025-01-12T19:24:00.001-05:00

From the very beginning, God has wanted to save humanity from our fallen nature. But Lucifer and his rebel angels have consistently inflamed our pride, lusts, and arrogance to lead us away from the Divine plan for glory.

Lucifer thought that his rebellion could diminish God's glory, but he didn't understand that God can raise up sons and daughters from the beasts of the fields. He can create human beings even better than angels to not only serve Him, but to love Him, too. Just as Jesus said to the Jews who claimed to be descendants of Abraham, He could raise up more from the stones on the ground. So we are meant to replace the angels who fell away to follow Lucifer, now called Satan, the Accuser.

Our very core nature was corrupted by Satan's lies, introducing distrust and disobedience into the Garden of Eden, so that with each generation, it gets a little harder to reach for faith. That's why God put his grace, also, into the picture so that we could summon the will to respond; and why He decided that faith, despite all of the corruption and suffering, would be accounted to us as righteousness. Just because we have been chosen, and in turn, we choose to respond, God has promised to restore our human nature to its original pristine condition, and remake us into Heavenly beings.

We do not see the entirety of his plan, but we can rest assured that his will is inevitable, and it will demonstrate his glory despite any resistance from the fallen rebels. In the course of time, with the development of history, we have seen several movements of God's plan for our salvation. At first, He may have appeared uncompromising and too judgemental, but always there would remain an undercurrent of restraint and the promise of mercy. God hoped that we could be led by example, or at least deterred by threats of justice. But when He was forced to punish sinners or lose credibility, He chose mercy. Even when He had to draw back from us, as his holiness was repulsed by sin, He still loved us enough to send his Son into the world, to show us the Way.

We can see the incremental changes of policy in how God has dealt with fallen humanity written in the Bible, especially in Genesis. Later, the story progresses through the people of Israel and then outward, to eventually embrace the whole world. It would appear that God occasionally rethinks his policy of responses to steer history in the direction He wants it to go, but it is more likely that his plan has clearly defined steps that we simply cannot anticipate. In a way, it's like a chess game that God is playing with Satan, and his moves are not revealing the plan until the final play brings checkmate and humiliation.

Let us review these moves through history to see how God's plan develops:

I. Adam and Eve - Disgrace

Although we were created to live in innocence and walk beside God in the Garden of Eden, we fell from grace. All of humanity was cursed for their lack of trust in God. They disobeyed a single simple command. So, they were exiled from his Presence, and the Garden, to eventually suffer mortality, just like the other beasts.

II. Noah - Wrath

All people are judged to be wicked, willfully pursuing their own standards of good and evil, despite warnings. God sent the Flood to destroy their whole civilization. Only one man listened, and his family was saved.

III. Babel - Scattering

The Flood survivors chose to rebuild their rebellious civilization, bigger and stronger, building a huge temple to try and put God in a box. God scattered them across the Earth and divided them by splitting their languages.

IV. Abraham and Lot - Choosing

The tribes in the Middle East coalesce again into city states. In their pride, they prosper and debauch themselves with unrestrained lusts and sin. God calls out a few who will listen, then makes an example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

V. Moses and the Chosen - Discipline

After rescuing a group of slaves from oppression, God knits them together as his own nation, and gives them a law to follow. When they obey, He blesses them; when they defy Him, they're punished. When a king shows Him love, he receives a great promise. The Jews become an example before the world of God's justice and merciful discipline, and He always saves a remnant.

VI. Jesus the Messiah - Mercy

Observing that including those with stiff-necks and hard hearts will always spoil the nation, God decides to select out the ones willing to repent and learn to follow. God chose to become a human being, to fully experience and overcome the human condition, so that those who would put their faith in Him could be saved. He sacrificed Himself to break the curse from Eden, so that sin could be forgiven, and reconciled those who would desire an intimate walk in discipleship with Him. Then He did the "impossible" and came back from the grave! When He departed, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit for the renewal of our hearts and minds, and to lead us to fullness of Truth.

VII. The Church - Renewal

Christians are a called-out community of believers. We have been given the Holy Spirit, and are expected to behave with exemplary morality. Failures are expected, but those who don't try to follow Jesus and love one another are "tares among the wheat." They are not truly his disciples, despite however "religious" they appear. We have been commissioned to take the Gospel to all nations, call new believers, and try to build a kingdom of those loyal to God shaped by faith in his Son and his Word. It hasn't been easy, and the results have been less than we hoped, but the fullness of God's timing may be rising like the dawn.

VIII. The Kingdom - Reign

We are waiting for Jesus to return as our immortal Divine King. He will humble the rebellious nations and destroy their armies arrayed against Israel. Then He will inaugurate his perfect Kingdom, which will last for 1,000 years. It is prophesied in the Bible, and we know that God always fulfills his promises.

Is Purgatory for Real?

2024-10-20T16:02:00.001-04:00

For whatever reason, Protestants keep coming back to debate the doctrine of purgatory. This idea is unique to the Catholic Church. The Orthodox do not ascribe to it either. Ever since Martin Luther made this idea a topic of contention, we keep on accusing Catholics of abusing the concept of temporary punishment, purging, as preparation for entry to Heaven.

The Catholics explain it as a necessary justice that purges us from the stains of venial sins which we have committed. But what kind of forgiveness is it that keeps a record of wrongs, while we are urged not to do the same against those who wrong us? Of course, we can earn indulgences to secure our early release, but that creates a whole new series of problems. Salvation is not supposed to be something that we earn. Why are we expected to earn our way out of an almost hellish place of punishment even after we have been granted salvation? Is Jesus' sacrifice not quite enough, or is his righteousness imputed to us not yet a suitable garment to gain us entry to the wedding feast? The very concepts of merit and stain are problematic.

Therefore, I have developed a different idea, drawing from the Scriptures, that takes account of concerns about meeting the requirements for our places in Heaven. By contrast, this is not a place of punishment so much as it is a trial by fire of our humility, which reveals how well we have been listening to the Holy Spirit. Yes, it can be painful, and we are meant to be among the saved going to Heaven, but it doesn't have to be endured for longer than it takes for us to learn a proper attitude of appreciation for grace. Indeed, it seems that the Catholic teachings are more likely to prolong it than to decrease its duration.

We are saved by grace because of our faith. Our works are no more than a response of loving obedience, and we have no claim to merit of any kind. Indeed, we are little more than worthless servants, for which of us can claim to have done all that our Lord may have asked of us? If we have somehow managed to achieve anything worthwhile, we should count ourselves as blessed.

In my view, purgatory happens when Christians who have been saved are judged for their works done on Earth. Jesus says that we will be rewarded according to our works, good or worthless. This judgment determines our place and role in Heaven. Our good works survive a test of flames, separating gold from dross to become our eternal treasure, but worthless works will all be consumed and lost, discarded as cinders or blown away as ashes. We must not hold on to those worthless deeds and resist correction, or we will remain in the flames until we release them. Just because we have done what the Church prescribed, doesn't mean the Lord asked it of us.

Therefore, let us practice humility here and now, holding on to nothing, but letting all of our deeds be an offering to God for his glory, not our own. Strive for the fruit of good character and obedient holiness with all humility. Spread the Gospel so as to save souls, and serve to build the Kingdom. Love one another as Jesus loved us. These will endure for your eternal reward. With only a minimum of these, performed because of our faith and desire to please God, we may be saved as if passing through a wall of flames to reach safety, but we will have only the shirts on our backs to cover us. Oh, of course, we can do more by following Jesus' example and listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit calling us to employ our talents. Those who do well will receive even more, while those who do little will get little.

Purgatory is where we let go of the good works WE have done that God did not request from us, but it does not have to be endured for a long time unless we make it difficult. It is not the place where we are purged from our sins, unless you count as "sin" anything that failed to please the Lord. Jesus already died to wash away our evil deeds. They are forgiven. But clinging even to our good deeds with pride can be a severe hindrance, and may even bar our entrance to Heaven.

There are certain things that we are all expected to do when the opportunity arises, and they are clearly outlined in Scripture. These include obedience to the Ten Commandments, performing the works of corporal mercy, and loving our enemies among others. We are also expected to try to pray without ceasing, and to seek ways to apply our talents toward building the Lord's Kingdom. And, we are given certain gifts for the tasks we are assigned. Those are the things we are expected to accomplish.

What we are not asked to do are those things which we reach for out of our own ambition. We are not all meant to be great evangelists, like Billy Graham. Nor must we all plant new churches in foreign lands unreached by the Gospel. Not even is every Christian meant to be a pastor or teacher. Few of us have the special gifts needed to succeed in those tasks. We might even achieve some small successes if we try, but God had an even better idea of what we could do for Him if we had only listened. Perhaps we were taking someone else's place, who could not do what we were called to do, and leaving him without a blessed task. We should not always aspire to do great things, but allow ourselves to invest our hearts in the fields where we are planted. If we are to be called out, God will find ways to let us know what He wants.

By contrast, if we rather to pursue our own goals, however glorious, without seeking his advice for our vocation, whatever we may accomplish will in the end become cinders and ashes. If we come before the Throne and offer Him our good works, we had better hope that we have done at least something that He asked of us. We certainly don't want to hear Him say that He never knew us, and never heard us asking what He wanted us to do to serve the Kingdom.

P.S., This is NOT what the Catholic Church teaches. It mostly comes from Scripture, and then from listening to the Holy Spirit. I do not claim it to be infallible, but merely logical and likely correct. I do not view this as an essential doctrine necessary for our salvation. Let's not argue about it nor condemn Catholics for their own ideas.

The Wildflower Rosary for Protestant Disciples

2024-10-13T15:01:00.004-04:00

This Wildflower Rosary is designed for Protestant disciples, with an extended series of mysteries for meditating on the whole mission of Jesus Christ, plus a few of his parables. It is formulated for evangelism and teaching about the life of Jesus to those new to the Gospels. Yet, it is also offered as a engaging way for all devout followers of Jesus to pray without ceasing, or to follow St. Benedict's hours of prayer in a more simple, memorable format. We can meditate on important episodes in our Lord's life and teachings, and reflect on how He has impacted our lives at each step along his courageous journey. Perhaps, it may help the rest of us to become more contemplative, to seek a daily quiet time, and to consciously walk with our best Friend through this world of distractions and challenges.

It is my secondary hope that this Wildflower Rosary might serve to knit back together the disparate members of the Body of Christ. As Protestants, we tend to think of the Rosary as just for Catholics, full of empty repetitive prayers to Mary. But that is just a dismissive stereotype. The mysteries fill the Rosary with opportunities to connect with Jesus. While it is true that most of the prayers were offered to Mary, that is because the Rosary as we know it originated in the visions of St. Dominic, who was a devotee of Mary. Long before that, Christians had been praying simple prayers on a knotted rope with the intent to pray without ceasing.

Many Orthodox Christians, today, still continue that tradition, often with prayers quite similar to the Rosary. Using a specially knotted rope, they have an even simpler prayer than the Hail Mary, the Sinner's prayer, which they repeat over and over, endlessly, throughout the day. As you might imagine, that could become an empty habit, too. We don't want to become too familiar with the prayers, letting them run on too long without having to think about what they mean. As a result, most Protestant sects have given up and ignored our mandate to pray without ceasing, and this has allowed us to drift away from the traditions of the older Church.

That leaves us with only two options, if we want to follow the example of the early Church and try to pray without ceasing. We can try to memorize the entire Book of Psalms, and then say them all every day, as the desert monks did in the 4th and 5th centuries. Or, we can relearn the Rosary in a slightly more challenging form, and direct our prayers to our Lord Jesus, instead of Mary. Jesus asked us to pray always, persistently, for our friends and our own needs, for the conversion of sinners, then for the peace of Jerusalem, and the coming of the Kingdom of God, according to the Father's will. We can dedicate each day's Rosary for any of those concerns.

We don't want to completely forget Mother Mary, however, because of her indispensable contribution to the formation of the Rosary. Plus, as Mother of our Lord and the Queen of Heaven, she deserves at least a few of our prayers. Our primary focus must always be on Jesus, even so, while we nod reverently to our Queen, because He is the only source of our salvation. Let Her recommend us as She will, He is our mediator before the Father, and only his acknowledgement of our faith will open the doors of Heaven.

That is why we need to pray the Rosary, and why I have written out this Wildflower Rosary for our use. As you shall soon see, there has been a little reorganization. I moved some days around and added whole new sets of mysteries, so that the teaching would be more systematic, but I have tried to remain faithful to the intent of the original. Hopefully, the innovations won't be too much of an impediment for those already familiar with the Rosary. I did intend for there to be a degree of flexibility in the choice of prayers, so that any Catholics who want adopt this can continue to say the prayers they prefer.

Some, who already have the habit of saying the whole Rosary every day, might complain that the extension of three more days, with new sets of mysteries to memorize, adds too much burden for us to keep up with in our busy lives. That was also my concern, so I made it easier and quicker to do each decade by suggesting the Sinner's Prayer instead of the Hail Mary. Doing one day's mysteries should be a little quicker now than it was before. And we can still say the whole series simply by breaking up our schedule to match St. Benedict's canonical hours, but without waking in the middle of the night. However, if you do wake up at 3am, you could say Sister Faustina's chaplet of the Divine Mercy.

....

So, as we begin, let us carefully examine our conscience, and consider how much we have to repent for. How abundant God's grace is to forgive us and offer us his salvation and eternal life! Then, let us humbly address our devotions to our Lord. We should meditate a few lingering moments on each mystery before concluding with the decade of short prayers. It can be our choice either to read the short Scripture passage corresponding to the mystery, or to visualize the story in a devotional way, imagining how we might feel as a witness. This meditation is what makes the Rosary more than merely repetitive rote prayers.

Monday: The Joyful Mysteries

1. Annunciation of Fulfillment

Luke 1:26-38

2. Visitation of Elisabeth

Luke 1:41-45

3. Nativity of Jesus

Luke 2:4-7

4. Presentation of the Baby

Luke 2:22-35

5. Adoration by the Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

6. Discovery in the Temple

Luke 2:45-49

Parable: The Importuning Friend at Night

Luke 11:5-13

Tuesday: The Luminous Mysteries

1. Baptism of Jesus

Matthew 3:16-17

2. Wedding at Cana

John 2:5-7

3. Proclaiming the Kingdom

Mark 1:14-15

4. Casting out Demons

Mark 9:17-29, Luke 11:14-23

5. Transfiguration of his Appearance

Matthew 17:1-8

6. Feeding the Multitudes

Luke 9:11-17

Parable: Finding Great Treasure

Matthew 13:44-45

Wednesday: The Believing Mysteries

1. Healing the Sick

Mark 5:21-43, Luke 7:1-10, Matthew 8:1-4

2. Including the Despised

John 4:4-26

3. Forgiving the Broken

Matthew 9:2-8

4. Relieving our Blindness

Mark 10:46-52

5. Power over Nature

Matthew 14:22-34

6. Promising Resurrection

John 11:1-44

Parable: The Wheat and the Tares

Matthew 13:24-40

Thursday: The Theological Mysteries

1. Rebirth into the Kingdom

John 3:3-8

2. Foundation of the Church

Matthew 16:13-17

3. Words of Eternal Life

John 6:63-69

4. Revealing his Identity

John 10:22-42

5. Establishing the Eucharist

Luke 22:14-20

6. Abiding with Jesus

John 15:1-10

Parable: The Good Shepherd

John 10:1-18

Friday: The Sorrowful Mysteries

1. Agony in the Garden

Matthew 26:36-45

2. Scourging at the Pillar

Mark 15:15

3. Crowned with Thorns

John 19:2-3

4. Carrying the Cross

John 19:17

5. Mary is our Mother

John 19:25-27

6. Death by Crucifixion

Luke 23:32-34

Parable: The Vinyard Owner

Matthew 21:33-44

Saturday: The Holiness Mysteries

1. Greatest Commandments

Matthew 22:36-40

2. Kosher Speech

Matthew 15:11,15-20

3. Corporal Works of Mercy

Matthew 25:34-40

4. Love Your Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

5. Seek First the Kingdom

Matthew 6:19-34

6. Keep my Commandments

John 15:9-17

Parables: The Good Neighbor

Luke 10:25-37

Sunday: The Glorious Mysteries

1. Resurrection of Jesus

Mark 16:5-7

2. The Great Commission

Matthew 28:16-20

3. Ascension into Heaven

Acts 1:9-11

4. Descent of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:1-4

5. Coronation of the Queen

Revelations 12:1

6. The Return of the King

Matthew 24:30, Revelations 1:7

Parable: Light of the World

Matthew 5:14-16

....

These are the prayers I use for saying the Wildflower Rosary:

Apostle's Creed
Our Father The Disciple's Prayer

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, my wise and wonderful Shepherd, call me to follow thy paths, and save me when I go astray. Lord, teach me thy Way of Truth, and let me share thy Life, now and forever. Amen."

Then continue with:

Hail Mary (3x)
Glory Be

I have included the prayer added by St. Faustina, as it addresses Our Lord directly, and it was given in a vision of Our Lady at Fatima in Portugal in 1917.

"O my Jesus, forgive us our sins! Save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who most need thy mercy."

Then, on the central medal, I pray:

Beloved Face of Jesus

"O Holy Lord, my sweet Jesus, living and eternal expression of Divine Love and Compassion, I weep for the terrible painful martyrdom you suffered for the redemption of mankind. I adore Thee and love Thee, my precious Friend. Today and always, I consecrate to Thee my heart and my whole being, offering Thee my prayers and actions, joys and sufferings of the day, and asking only for thy companionship and the promise of thy mercy. If Thou dost will, make of me a fruitful servant, that I may help others to recognize thy Presence in the world. Grant me the humility to accept simplicity and the clarity to express your love to those you lead across my path. Impress your Beloved Face on my heart, Lord, so that I may see Thee more clearly, love Thee more dearly, and follow Thee more nearly with each passing day. Amen.

As you begin the cycle of today's mysteries, name each mystery and say the Our Father, followed by the Disciple's Prayer, which I wrote as a balance for replacing the Hail Mary.

Then, read the relevant Scripture and/or meditate on the scene described there. After that, on each of the 10 beads, I say the Sinner's Prayer.

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Help me to amend my ways, and lead me to follow thy Voice. Amen."

At the end of each decade, we say the Glory Be, and Fatima prayer, and after the last mystery, we return to the central medal and end the Wildflower Rosary with one or more chosen prayers to Mary, as follows, and then end with the Deo Gratia.

For Transforming Grace (preferred)
"O Sweet Mary,
most holy Mother of God,
we seek thy favor.
Pray for us always,
that by the grace of the holy Name,
of your Son, Jesus Christ,
we may find the strength of will,
to follow Him and imitate his example.
Ask that we may be transformed by his life,
saved by his redeeming death,
and raised by the greatest Love
of his infinite Mercy.
Amen."

Hail, Holy Queen (optional)
"Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope,
to thee do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn then, most gracious Advocate,
thine eyes of mercy towards us,
and after this, our exile, show unto us
the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement! O loving! O sweet virgin, Mary!
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy
of the promises of Christ.
Amen."

Sub Tuum Praesidium (optional)

"Beneath thy merciful compassion we fly for refuge, O Holy Mother of God. Do not despise our petitions in our times of great need, but deliver us always from all dangers. O pure, O glorious, O Blessed Virgin Mary, recommend us to your Son as we are in distress. Amen."

Deo Gratia
"O Holy, Compassionate, Merciful God,
It was by the resurrection of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou brought joy to the world, and we are forever grateful. Grant now, we beseech Thee as we meditate upon these mysteries of his courageous mission through this most holy Rosary, that we may imitate his Life, and be transformed by his Love. Allow, Lord, that we may be saved from sin by his redeeming death, and reprieved from judgment by his Infinite Mercy. We adore thy perfect holiness, and love thy grace and compassion. With great longing, we wish to receive what thy Son has promised. Give ear, Merciful Father, to the intercessions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and pour out thy grace upon us, that we might be granted eternal life and come joyfully into thy presence.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen."

Lastly, remember, the Rosary is a gift from the Mother of Jesus, our Lord and King, and as such, it is also a means to venerate our Queen. I replaced what I considered too many Hail Mary prayers, because Protestant believers feel uncomfortable with the many accretions added to what has become "Marian Theology." Instead, I added the Disciple's Prayer, once, and a longer Sinner's Prayer, ten times, for each decade. Since the result is shorter, they pass quickly enough to allow time for the sixth decade. Just don't leave out the Hail Marys at the beginning, and be sure to say at least one Marian prayer at the end, to recall her part in the Father's plan of salvation.

Who was saved before the Bible?

2024-09-28T16:28:00.001-04:00

We say that Heaven is a place for two kinds of people, perfect people and forgiven people. Up to now, Jesus has been the only perfect person, but He isn't the only one in Heaven. You ask, quite astutely, what about the many generations who lived before the Bible, who never heard of Jesus? The answer: Before the Bible was written, the evidence for God was available in creation, via what we call "natural revelation." But getting saved that way required a special grace from God. Those who truly desired to know Truth might be granted the grace to hear his Voice.

In Genesis, Enoch walked with God until God took him straight to Heaven. That happened because he lived so intimately with God, loved Him so much, and obeyed Him, that God accepted him as righteous because of his faith and trust and love. Thus, God made a special plan for him. He decided that he didn't deserve to die like a common man and took him to Heaven. Enoch had the kind of relationship with God that Adam was meant to have, walking with God in the Garden. He wasn't perfect, but because of his faith, he was forgiven. By contrast, most of the rest of humanity was following the promptings of the fallen angels, lying and misleading them to follow their own desires.

Abraham, too, was willing to listen, follow and obey God when he was called out from Mesopotamia. He didn't have a Bible, but he had a heart that desired Truth. Thus, when God called his name, he responded with faith. Abraham left his city, his father, and his work to follow the Voice of God into a new land, and he chose to believe when God offered him a future in Covenant between Himself and his descendants forever. When he was tested, Abraham didn't even withhold his only legal son, who would inherit the birthright. He was willing to offer everything most precious to him as a sacrifice if God wanted it. This was the kind of faith that God wanted from his people, so He counted it as if Abraham was righteous.

Moses was given up for adoption, and raised as a prince in Egypt, so his heart was filled with compassion for all people. Yet, he was a man of violence and killed a man for abusing a slave. When he fled into the desert, God spoke to him by a miracle, and he listened and humbled himself. God gave him a role in his plans, to save the slaves from bondage and return them to the promised land. Moses believed, and had the faith to follow Him back to Egypt, to oppose Pharaoh and lead his people back to Canaan, and so, God reckoned that faith for him as righteousness. Moses was given the Ten Commandments, and God told him how to build the Ark of the Covenant so that He could dwell among his chosen people. Moses was forgiven his sins, and became the Prophet and Lawgiver for God's people.

King David, who grew up as a shepherd of sheep, loved the Lord and spent his lonely hours in prayer and song to God. He was brave to defend his sheep, so God chose him to lead and protect his people. When he was called, David believed, and despite all the challenges he would face, he chose to follow his Lord and believe his promises. David became known as "a man after God's own heart," and God recognized his faith as righteousness, even when he made mistakes. David knew how to repent when he sinned, and God accepted his humility. Thus, David was promised that the Messiah would come from among his descendants.

The prophet Elijah was taken to Heaven in a fiery chariot. He was chosen like Enoch and didn't have to die, because of his faith and intimate relationship with God. He had served God faithfully for a lifetime, and allowed the Holy Spirit to dwell in his heart. He had dared to speak Truth to power, offending the King and Queen, and the priests of Baal. But he believed, and God proved his Word. Thus, God considered him righteous because of his faith, just as He had done for Abraham. Elijah only had the Law of Moses to follow, and parts of the histories of Judah and Israel. But he had faith in the plans and beneficence of God, and he fought to keep his people on the right track. He listened and followed God's Voice, and was one of his greatest prophets.

All of these men, and I could list more, lived before Jesus, and none was perfect. But they believed in God and put their faith in Him without receiving the written revelation of the Bible. We can still learn from the natural world around us, and from human nature, to see that God exists, and we can seek to know Him intimately. God loves those who seek to know Truth, and He often speaks to those willing to listen. He blessed the ones who followed and humbled themselves in faith and obedience, even before they had received the message of Christ through the Bible. He can teach us what He wants us to know. The trouble, from the beginning up to now, is that almost no one ever did that. It's not that easy. So God made a more obvious Way for us to follow the Truth and find eternal Life. He sent his true Son, Jesus, to be our Messiah. That was his plan from the very beginning. But now, we must have faith in Jesus, and believe that He is the Voice of God, who reveals the Way, the Truth and the Life. Now, we have the Gospels and the Bible.

No one discovers God in his creation unless they think to ask the big questions, and then they need to discern and accept the answers before them. They have to choose to love God and walk with Him for the rest of their lives. How many have gone to Heaven before the Bible promised that Jesus was coming to save us? Too few. The world is fallen, and full of temptations and distractions, leading us to ignore God's Voice. Then, after the time of Abraham, and once the Torah was written, many more have been saved, but still too few. That's why we need Jesus.

When Jesus came, He chose to complete God's plan to be merciful to us. He died to forgive and save us. All those who choose to believe and follow him will be saved. It is on us to recognize the Truth given us in special revelation and see the evidence left for us to piece together. Now, the problem of filling Heaven rests with us to believe and carry the Gospel to the whole world. We will have God's help to succeed. Then, only those who refuse to believe and repent, those who refuse to have faith and follow Jesus, will be judged on the Last Day as stubborn and unforgiven. They are the ones going to Hell.

Jesus let Himself be crucified so that we could avoid that dreadful fate. He died and was buried. While his body was in the grave, He went down into the stillness of Sheol, a dark place of eternal sleep, where those who had died uncertainly awaited their fate. He called to those who had hoped for a Saviour, offering them the chance to follow Him. Those who believed were promised that they would rise on the day of resurrection. Then on the third day, He rose from the dead Himself, to prove He has the power to keep his promises.

After the Last Judgment, those who have rejected Jesus and refused his mercy will be cast into the pits of Hell, also known as Gehenna, the place of eternal exile, darkness and fiery punishment, a smoky trash heap where the refuse is forever burning. There, the rebel angels suffer torment forever in the Lake of Fire, down at the very bottom. They deserve their punishment for having defied God and defaced his image which He put into humanity. We, too, will have deserved such punishment, if we deny the Truth and refuse God's offer of mercy and grace. It's not God's choice to abandon us to Hell, but ours, if we refuse to have faith and accept his gift of righteousness.

If you have not yet decided to believe in God and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, let this be the day. You are not perfect, I know, because not one of us is perfect. We have all sinned and fallen far short of God's original hope for us. But God sent his only begotten Son to live a perfect life among us and to sacrifice Himself to pay our penalty for sin. That is how much He loves us, and how far He extends his mercy and grace to save us. Jesus died for you, but God raised Him from the dead, to prove the Truth of his promises. He promised to raise us up, too, and to share his Life with us, if we put our faith in Him. Then, after He told us to spread the Good News around the world, Jesus rose up to Heaven while all of his disciples watched. So on this very day, let your heart be opened to his love. Ask Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour, turn from those sins which your conscience has been convicting you for, and decide to follow the Voice of God.

Jesus is Lord, the Son of the Living God, the promised Messiah, who came to redeem Humanity from the depravity of sin. Without Him, Satan has a claim on your soul, because you listened to him prompting you to follow your own way. Choose now to repent, turn around, and follow Jesus. Be reconciled to God, and let Him count your faith as Jesus' righteousness. It's his gift to you.

A Conscientious Abortion Law Must Avoid Extremes

2024-09-10T22:35:00.003-04:00

You don't have to be "Pro-Choice" to be Pro-Justice and Pro-Health, both of which are essential to be truly "Pro-Life." The following "moderate" position in the debate might be fairly called, "Choose Life."

You're an extremist if you allow for no exceptions. Would you make an incest victim keep her rapist's baby, even if carrying the fetus would slowly kill her, despite the known probability that it would be born defective and impaired? Is that your idea of justice for the unborn? Does that glorify your god? If it does, then your tiny god is immoral, and IT is not the merciful God that I know from the Bible. HE understands compassion. He knows that we live in a fallen world that sometimes demands hurtful compromises.

Let it also be known, our God wants us to minimize the suffering of others, so let us do what is necessary as early as possible, before the fetus' nervous system is fully developed. We must not destroy what looks like a human being. Delaying your decision is a decision for the child. There has to be a deadline for decisions, and earlier is better.

By the way, abortion for birth control is a sin, and a sacrifice to the demonic god Moloch. If you have done this, don't be surprised when it's brought up at the Last Judgment. We have plenty of birth control methods that can prevent pregnancy, before fertilization begins a human life. Abstinence included.

We have to have exceptions, however, in order to make any law practical and fair, because human beings are fallen creatures. We sometimes make mistakes. But, we have to make laws that build our society toward justice and righteousness. The "Good" is not whatever we want it to be. It is an objective standard based on God's Word, not merely human philosophy, and He shows us how to discern false prophets.

First, abortion solely for the sake of birth control is, and always will be WRONG. We must make immorality accountable. The child is innocent and deserves to live. You started it, so you keep it. Bring the child to full term. Give it the life it deserves, and then decide whether to give it up for adoption.

Beyond that, we can't make saving the life of a baby a priority over saving its mother. Either way you are choosing who gets to live. That has to be the parents' (both) choice, and this scenario will always be a rare case.

Moreover, we can't legislate a "progeny benefit" for rapists if the victim doesn't want the baby. That includes incest. Forcing a victim to bear the criminal's child would be double victimization. We must err on the side of mercy. The baby may be innocent, but it's an accessory to the crime by association. We can only hope this will be rare.

Last, if there's something wrong with the fetus, such that the child will require extensive medical intervention to survive, it should then remain the parents' (both) decision about whether they can properly provide and care for the child. If the state wants to step in and claim responsibility, let them accept the burden.

#LAW:

NO abortions should be allowed for economic, extra-marital, parental age, or "family planning" (i.e., family limiting) reasons.

Exceptions:

1. Rape, or coitus without consent.

2. Incest, or familial abuse.

3. Significant risk to mother's health or life.

4. Inevitable deformity or disability due to genetic disorders.

Any procedure must be completed before the 12th week, even in cases of criminal justice or the mother's health. While the remedy of abortion must NEVER be imposed upon an unwilling mother, these exceptions allow for the recovery of normal healthy life in cases of crime or importunate pregnancy.

If this was the National Law of the whole United States of America, the debate would be over. All of the selfish reasons for abortion would be revealed for the sins they really are. The thought that having a child might ruin your libertine lifestyle is not an excuse for killing your baby.

If you truly feel you can not keep your baby for some reason, there are plenty of families who want to have children but can't. Put it up for adoption. Yes, you have to carry it to term. If you had "planned ahead" before you got pregnant, you wouldn't have the problem. But before you decide, you should ask, "Does God intend this child to be a blessing for my life?" If He does, He will make a way for you to keep it and still succeed. This could be the time for you to learn how to trust. Call on Jesus and pray for wisdom and light.

But, if you have several children with many fathers, the problem is Satan leading you into a miserable life. Examine the way you live, and Repent! Do it before it's too late. We are not guaranteed to have tomorrow.

If some of you feel that the gift of a child is such a blessing that every pregnancy is worth nurturing, even though the child will be born with such gross defects that it won't be able to function and will die in horrible pain despite every effort you can possibly make, then no argument can ever sway you. I'm not advocating for aborting "defective" babies, but rather allowing parents to decide how to devote themselves to their families in the hope that their children may grow up to have children of their own. The loss of a child can be devastating for any family. We are lucky to live in an age when such losses are the exception, and not the experience of almost every family in our communities. Choosing to keep hoping for a healthy child is itself a choice for life, and a choice for future generations.

Every family has to decide whether they can lovingly nurture an "unusual" child, and weigh the risks of trying to have their own children. Sometimes, yes. Having an unusual child can be a blessing. A child with "Downs Syndrome" can be the most loving person you may ever meet, even while they may have special needs. But some families would rather forego having any children than risk having the responsibility of caring for a special child. It is not for us to judge how someone else feels about their potential as a parent. We can not imagine how hard it is to decide whether to be childless or to risk the need for an abortion while hoping for a complete family. We do know, however, that not every prayer is answered the way we might wish. When faced with the choice, can we be sure that the easy answer won't fill us with remorse? Only God knows.

The Sources of Christian Authority

2024-08-15T12:21:00.002-04:00

These are the foundational sources for belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ: the Apostles, Scriptures, Fathers, and Creeds, as agreed upon up until the Great Schism in 1054.

Actually, you can have both, Scripture as the final arbiter of Truth, and the traditions of the Church. The Nicene Creed was developed to explain questions not explicitly answered in the Bible, BUT the debate centered around whether the offered answers were in agreement with the texts of the New Testament, and the Hebrew Scriptures. Thus, already, the Bible was considered to be the final authority, which would determine whether one answer or another was valid. The New Testament Scriptures were at the time considered to be the authoritative compendium of the Apostolic deposit, since the Council was convened 200 years after the last person who knew any Apostles had died. As on record, St. Athenasius of Alexandria possessed and recognized the authority of the complete canon as we know it. Therefore, the Nicene Creed is a reflection of the Scriptures, and does not stand alone or in contra-distinction from them.

There are three reasons why, today, I can't consider the Catholic Church to be sufficient authority for belief. This is their standard argument for trusting the Magisterium:

1. It's a mystery, so you're not supposed to understand it.

2. The Bible is not sufficient for an understanding of dogma.

3. The way we pray shapes the way we believe.

These "caveats" are where the Catholic Church spins off into grievous heresy. Such presumptuous arrogance, to assert that they should tell us what and how to believe, allows them to add accretions at will. Yet, they still want us to submit to the Pope's authority without question.

For example:

There is NO EVIDENCE in the Bible for the bodily Assumption of Mary into Heaven. There wasn't even any evidence of belief in such a story until after the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. Yes, you could say it's early enough to be included among the ideas held by some Church Fathers, but Arius was also early, and the Monophysites. Arius was a heretic, while the Monophysites caused a schism in the Church. The Assumption is not severe enough to break Church theology, but it is an accretion. There is NO evidence that any of the Apostles taught this. It's not even mentioned by John, who cared for her like his own mother. The story evolved much too late. Plus, it wasn't even required for belief until about 200 years ago.

The Catholic Church has a habit of condoning popular traditions and making them dogmas later. Just look at "Our Lady of Guadelupe." That's a heresy, on a par with Mormonism, not just an accretion. And then, Pope Francis is trying to appease world opinion with his "ecumenical" statements, trying to fit the Gospel into a rainbow of world religions. This can't be anything but heresy.

Jesus is uniquely Divine! Confucius, Lao Tsu, and the Buddha did not claim divinity. Nor did Moses or Muhammad. The gods of Hinduism are merely elevations of nature and philosophical conjecture into objects of worship. Meaning no disrespect to the people who practice these religions, but they have been deceived by their teachers. None of them lead to the Christ, the Son of God, who performed real miracles, taught true ethics and worship, sacrificed Himself so that our failures could be forgiven, and then RESURRECTED HIMSELF from the grave! Only the True God who created the Cosmos could actually do that. The amazing part is that He would choose to become a human being, and do that in history for us! All we have to do is repent of our pride and disobedience and believe in Him, and He promises us an everlasting life of joy with Him in Heaven! Do any of your prophets have the power to do that? No, they don't.

Inevitably, there comes a time when you have to trust your own reason, based on the roots of tradition, and stand on the evidence of how it all began. The Apostles had plenty of evidence for believing in Jesus. They had been his disciples for three years, living daily in his presence. They saw his miracles first hand, and listened to Him explain how his words and works fit into the old tradition. They knew beyond any doubt that He was their God, having seen Him in his glorified resurrection body on many occasions, often in large groups of witnesses. The Epistles and the Gospels were written early enough to be verified. There were witnesses still alive to be asked to corroborate the story. Thus, the Apostolic letters and documented stories must be held as foundational, from the time they were written forward. As Holy Scripture, they are the indisputable arbiters for whether our belief fits with the Truth about who Jesus was and what He taught.

At this point, we must be willing to admit to being less sure than we want to be, putting our faith and trust in our own meeting with Jesus in our hearts, as guided by the Bible. Any act of faith inevitably demands that we trust enough to stand humbly before the authority of God Himself. Any other claim to Truth must be regarded as tentative at best.

Look up! The Signs of the End Times

2024-07-21T18:06:00.000-04:00

Ever since Jesus ascended into Heaven and took his place at the Father's right hand, we have been waiting for his return and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. Truly, we do not know when this will happen, but we were promised that it would be "soon." Now, 2,000 years may seem like a long time, but we have to look at time the way God does. If a thousand years is like a single day in Heaven, then we are only just beginning the third day since Jesus left. God is being patient with us, giving us time to complete the Great Commission of spreading the Gospel across the whole Earth. But also, we can already observe that the countdown to the last days has begun.

Satan has tried to destroy the Chosen People, and he was thwarted by God's plan. Instead, the Nazi Holocaust elicited the world's sympathy so that the state of Israel was established in 1948. It seems likely to me that this event has begun the generation that will not perish until God's plan for the arrival of his Kingdom is achieved. We know, according to the Bible, that the span of a man's life is 70 years, or 80, depending on his strength. So, will God tarry beyond the lifetimes of those first born as children in the land of Israel? I don't think so. The final events will begin before they are too old to witness the fulfillment of his promises.

Steps to mark the progress of God's plan:

1. Aliyah - return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland.

- Antisemitism seeks extermination

- the State of Israel is reborn

- the Hebrew language renewed

- archaeology proves their claim

2. Alignment - all of Israel's neighbors ally together to push the Jews into the sea.

- Arab military attacks

- Islam vs. Judaism

- International opprobrium

- Adonai defends Jerusalem each time

3. Anticipation - the desire for peace brings forth treaties, but not peace.

- Egypt, PLO, Jordan

- Saudi economic agreement

- ceasefire is not real peace

4. Gospel - Go unto all nations and tell them the Good News of Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

- radio, television, missionaries

- walls are coming down

- tyrants try to oppose this

5. Conversion - many around the world shall choose to believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

- Israeli Christians & Messianic Jews

- China, India & Russia hear the Gospel

- resistance & persecution increase

- lies and deception spread

6. Preparation - plans to rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

- training & tools assembling

- breeding for red heifers

- selecting a site to build

- architecture & blueprints

- Treaty allows construction

7. Antichrist - The Enemy is revealed, as prophesied from the beginning.

- Antichrist becomes the world leader

- "World Unity" is declared

- Mark of the Beast (global economics)

- kaffirs (all who dissent) are persecuted

- Antichrist declares himself Divine.

- Abomination of Desolation.

8. Desolation - the continuing of any sacrifices and offerings shall be forbidden.

- both Jews & Christians restricted

- Antichrist (Mahdi) in the Holy place

- plagues and tribulations befall Earth

- armies converge on Megiddo plain

9. Jerusalem is surrounded by enemies

- threatened with destruction

- many casualties suffered

- great earthquake splits Mt. Moriah

- evacuation of the remnant

10. Our King Returns!

- His return is visible to everyone

- all of Jesus' enemies defeated

- post-war clean-up requires 7 years

Let's be vigilant and keep our lamps filled with oil. Jesus may be coming soon, suddenly and without warning. We hope for the Rapture, but the timing is unclear. The wars of Antisemitism continue because the final destruction of the Jews would mean that Allah has defeated the Trinity and invalidated Adonai's promises. The Arab and Muslim nations may not be the only ones to seek to destroy Israel.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, Apophis was the great Serpent, the god of chaos and darkness. He was the enemy of Ra, the god of the Sun, light, and life. We have always been trying to escape the slavery of Egypt and go up to the Promised Land. Then, when Jesus came to free the captives, He was releasing us from demonic possession. This War of Light versus Darkness clearly has a repeating pattern for those with eyes to see.

- We call Satan the great "Serpent."

- A comet called Apophis threatens us.

- Apophis returns on April 13, 2029.

- Is this the time for Antichrist?

Satan comes with signs and wonders so as to deceive the unwary. Perhaps he will claim to have averted catastrophe.

Jesus said that no one knows the time of his return, but He did say that there would be signs in Heaven and on the Earth.

1. Wars & rumors of war

2. Jews regathered to the Promised Land

3. Gospel will reach all the world

4. Total eclipse of the Sun

5. Comets

6. Sun dim with blood & Moon darkened

7. Earthquakes

8. New star in the sky

We are not sure of the expected order in which these will occur, but as we see them, they should reassure us that history is proceeding according to plan.

Why am I still a Protestant?

2024-06-16T11:38:00.002-04:00

This article is not intended as a polemic against either the Catholic or the Orthodox Churches. Rather, it is meant to question those in authority who stand in the way to prevent the reunification of the whole Holy Universal Christian Church. We are, and ought to be, the Body of Christ, and we should be able to stand shoulder to shoulder against those who prefer to divide us. Satan is working overtime to create division and apostasy, and we need to sound the call for true believers to close ranks. Indeed, we need to come together, right now, under Jesus, and love one another as He loves us.

One

When the purveyors of the faith wander away from the truth, even the authority of "apostolic succession" isn't enough to save those who are seeking Jesus. Thus, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness find that they must go back to the ancient records and find what the Apostles taught and learn from the earliest sources. The Church that teaches doctrines that are not founded on Scripture or the Apostolic deposit is not the true Church. Tradition and doctrinal declarations either have that foundation or they are false. Common practice and folk beliefs are not valid sources to be made imperative by the Church's hierarchical authority. For certain, we can never validate henotheism and mix pagan ideas with the Truth, especially when doing so causes us to forget proper behavior. We don't follow just because the Church claims authority, but rather because the Holy Spirit illuminates our understanding of Scripture and the teachings of the Apostles.

The Church is like a 3-legged stool. We need good works of charity, the Gospel of discipleship, and sound theological teaching. Like St. Paul said, "Faith (theology), Hope (discipleship), and Love (charity), these three, but the greatest of these is Love." The Church needs the works of charity because it is the message to the world, but without the other two, it cannot stand. When you have all three, the Church is revealing the Kingdom in all its glory. The Church needs works, but the individual believer relies on faith for his salvation. We do those works because we are responding in love to the desires of God, who conforms us to his likeness by teaching us to emulate his righteousness. Salvation and regeneration are not the same thing. We know we are being reformed as we begin to show the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

There is too much debate over which Church has the correct doctrine of salvation. Yet, in all actuality, I think that every believer in whichever Church has to find the truth for him/herself. Jesus said, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Me." He didn't say that we come by way of the Church. We need to have a personal relationship with Him, not merely with his body. The Holy Spirit helps us to relate directly to Jesus in the Trinity, so that we can be conformed to his character and nature. Then, when we pray "in his Name," the Father hears the Son speaking in agreement.

Two

In the Gospel of Luke (22:36-38), Jesus suggested the disciples should "buy a sword." What does this mean? Is it not likely that Jesus was telling the disciples that they were about to be driven out from the cities, where once they had been welcomed, but now no more? They were being kicked out of the synagogues for sharing the Gospel about Jesus. Now, they will need money and the gear to care for themselves, even to the extent that they will need to cut wood for their campfires. "Buy yourself a sword" is like saying, "You're going to be passing through the wilderness, like vagabonds and hobos, so get yourself a good knife." It will serve for bushcraft as well as for self-defense against wolves. Traveling for the sake of the Gospel has always been a risky business.

The Early Church Fathers were almost universally pacifist in their attitudes toward dealing with other people. Jesus spoke of turning the other cheek, and praying for those who persecute you, even forgiving when we are harmed. We should refrain from seeking to repay others in the manner we have received, but let the matter rest in God's hands. If He decides to let vengeance stand for justice, that is his prerogative. Of course, we can stand in defense of the helpless, but that's another kind of situation which should be handled with restraint, if possible. And, if we can avoid being harmed, or defend ourselves without harming others, that is acceptable.

Three

Protestants love the Bible above all else (except for God Himself), and demand that serious interpreters show how their view is Biblical. Catholics, however, put their traditions and Magisterium on such a pedestal that they use those to interpret the Bible. That leads to TONS of accretions that skew their views and practices. It is as if they take small grains of truth and build a castle in the air balanced on simple assumptions. Where is the clear Apostolic mandate?

Orthodox and Catholic believers often use images in the form of statues or icons, and venerate those images as a way of prayer and drawing near to holiness. It is said that such images are symbols of holiness, but I humbly beg to differ. If an icon is a symbol of something divine, then they say, "the honor that goes to it, goes in a certain way to the prototype." No. It doesn't. That would be like "symbolically" putting the holiness in a box, like the idolaters used to do. An idol is an object intended to make the god appear immanent so that humans can focus and relate to it. The Divinity of the Holy Spirit cannot be manipulated, nor should we venerate saints in icons. The logic is the same, and it perverts the idea of spirituality.

If you want to pray to saints, asking them to pray for you, go ahead. It is the same as asking a living friend. Show respect, but do not venerate them. Their only power is the influence of their prayers. Yet, if we are welcome before the throne of the Almighty, why would we not bring our own prayers directly to God Himself? Jesus will vouch for our admission and stand beside us in supplication. That is all the help we need.

Four

Is it possible that I believe the doctrine of Predestination? If you can be erased from the Book of Life, it is because your name was never written in the Blood of the Lamb. From the beginning of the world, all people are tentatively written in the Book, in "pencil" which can be erased. God loves all whom He has created, and desires their salvation. Now, the Blood of Jesus is permanent. If you refuse Him, or deny that his works are of the Holy Spirit, your pencil marks can be erased. We are all loved, but we are all rebels. Given the chance, we MUST accept Jesus to get a permanent entry in the Book. Before Jesus was born, God knew which few truly wanted to know, love and serve Him, and their names were kept in the Book. There are many examples in the Old Testament.

There are many who are in the Church for their own reasons, and they may actually believe to some degree, but their names are still not permanent. They remain until the Last Day, in the hope that they may yet come to know the Lord. We need a personal relationship with Jesus to be saved. If He has never touched your life, it doesn't matter how much you have done for the Church. We are not saved by works, but by trusting in the person of Jesus. Seek his Face and listen for his Voice, desire longingly to feel his Presence, and He will come to you. Spend time with Him in prayer and let Him change your heart. Then you will not need to fear the words, "I never knew you." Jesus will write over your name in his own Blood, and you will be permanently in the Book of Life. If you truly know and love Jesus, you will never blaspheme the Holy Spirit, because you know that God is good. You will not be deceived.

Five

There still remains one central argument that divides the Church, and has for 1,000 years. Why are we arguing about the generation of the Holy Spirit? I perceive a problem with this, in that it appears like a basic theological misunderstanding. God is a Trinity, 3-in-1. He always was 3-in-1, is now 3-in-1, and always will be 3-in-1. There never was any eternal existence which held any creative God that wasn't "Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All three were present together in the beginning, before anything was created. They all work together in concert, and never without the cooperation or consent of each other.

The Son existed before the Father sent Him down to assume the human body that was begotten by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit existed before He ever spoke through the prophets, even before He hovered over the face of the deep, and the Father existed before there was any idea of creating anything that was created. All three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal, existing together, and they never existed as any person without the other two. They did not generate each other. They are equals in every possible respect. Their appellations are due solely to their relationships with each other. They always act in agreement, and if one is acting, then they are all participating in that action. We may give "credit" for an action according to which person we perceive at the time, but that is because we live in the dimensions of creation and time.

In every instance in which we refer to the One True God, we are speaking of the Trinity, so if one "comes" or "goes" or "proceeds," it is always moving "from" the other two. There is no Son without the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is no Holy Spirit without the Father and the Son. And there is no Father without the Holy Spirit and the Son. Therefore, it is illogical to imagine that the Holy Spirit can proceed from the Father alone. He is not generated, breathed, emanated, or any other process that begins from previous non-existence. He is not the emotional "deep sigh of love" shared by the Father and the Son. He is his own person. Coming into Being implies change, but God is immutable. When God contemplates Himself, He perceives "I, You and Us," all at the same instance.

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son because that is where He was located, in Heaven, and He was not given the task of dwelling within us, as believers, until Jesus returned, ascending into Heaven. Now, simply, when the Trinity is together, as they always are, any one person of them must proceed from both of the others.

In the Scriptures, in the Gospel of John, this is clear when Jesus says, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," and later, "Receive the Holy Spirit," when He breathed on the disciples. When they tried to dissuade Him from leaving, did He not say, "Unless I return to the Father, the Holy Spirit will not descend to you"? There can be no other logical conclusion but that the "Filioque" is correct, and that the Holy Spirit does indeed proceed from both the Father "and the Son." Can we please stop arguing over whether that phrase belongs in the creed? Say it or don't. It is the same either way.

Six

One more thing, Protestants have difficulty in believing that the priest is performing a miracle during the Mass to transform the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood. This is especially so when that priest is unregenerate, but in any case, it sounds too much like he is crucifying Jesus again. And we must assert our faith that the elements are transformed invisibly. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church insists that this is merely re-presenting the sacrifice before God's throne. In the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus' sacrifice was once, for all time, so God doesn't need to be reminded. For us, if you are re-presenting, then why do you have a problem with our representation? It can be the "Body and Blood" if Jesus wants it to be, even if the bread and wine are used as a symbol. If He wants it to be that today, it is. No argument. If the priest's ritual actions make it so, then the parishioners' acceptance is enough to validate their faith. We thus have Miracles all around. The disciples didn't understand what he was saying, and the Gospels don't give a clear explanation, except for the scene at the Last Supper (which John doesn't show). I think Jesus knows who has real faith and wants to do what He asked of us. That's enough.

Seven

Finally, I would like to add the suggestion that the majority of us have neglected a central part of the Way of the early Church. In the Book of Acts, the believers lived together in community. Just as the disciples had done as they walked with Jesus, they cared for one another and shared with any who were in need. There were some problems, of course, but those can be worked out. That idea needs to be combined with the commitment to eschew the negative influences of worldly society. Just as Elijah and John the Baptist did, the Desert Fathers chose to live apart, in total simplicity, immersing themselves in prayer. Their example was followed by men and women who took monastic vows, enclosing themselves in small communities where they could work and pray, hopefully in peace. They shared the fruits of their labor, ate at common tables, and supported each one's spiritual growth. Thus, they saved the learning of civilization through the dark times of conflict with barbarians and Muslims.

I am not suggesting that we all need to take vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability. Family is a core value of the Church and a pillar of civilization. God wants a great and thriving kingdom, not a dwindling ghost town. But we can experiment with the idea of community, like the Apostles did in the first century. Monasteries thrived for 1,000 years in Europe, and some still do. In America, many faith groups tried to build utopian communities of both men and women. Some succeeded in lasting for generations, like the Shakers. The experiment would eventually fail, however, because they didn't have their own children, or they squabbled over sharing and economics.

It's hard to look clearly at the practices of your "enemies" to see what works. Simplicity, if not poverty, is a key idea, with ministry to marginalized members of the outside society, and also communal prayer on a daily basis. Protestants stand too far apart from our Catholic and Orthodox brethren. We might do well to find ways to incorporate their ideals of drawing away from the world to pray and live simply in community. Monasticism has played vital roles in the history of the Church. Let us not forget that, nor despise what we could learn from it.

Thank you for listening.

The Kingdom of God: Conditions for Eutopia

2024-06-13T10:42:00.000-04:00

The indispensable foundation for any good social organization, whether experiential or imposed, is the educated desire for God in his Heaven as the highest possible good, both individually and collectively. No atheistic or materialistic system constructed by ideologues has any chance of achieving harmony, much less of long-term success. Such attempts invariably devolve into totalitarian regimes and hellishly oppressive conditions wherein the citizens first lose their moral sensibilities, and then suffer and die unnecessarily. Economics alone cannot create a eutopia. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

The following conditions should guide the composing of any constitution for a eutopian society. And yet, we must remember that any society built by men can only be an approximation, a shadow of the true Kingdom over which God presides in Heaven. These ideas are merely earthly guidelines, intended to be a reflection of what Heaven must be like.

1. We assume that this life is not just a dress-rehearsal for Heaven.

2. All participants voluntarily assent to cooperate for the common good.

3. We allow for each person to pursue their own best self-interest.

4. We elevate the value of personal retention of moral integrity.

5. We want to maximize morality for the pursuit of Love, Truth, Wisdom, & Freedom.

6. We choose to accept short-term sacrifices for the sake of long-term satisfaction.

7. We find purpose in participation and meaning in service.

8. We work for an abundance of resources and goods for sustenance and health.

9. Allow freedom of use over personal property, either for exclusivity or hospitality.

10. Grant the rights to self-defense with minimum necessary use of force.

We don't need a majority. We just need an alternative. When the world is revealed as bereft of human decency, any person posessing a heart with moral sense will try to look for a better way, to hopefully reform, or at least to get out of the oppressive system. Toward this end, God offered us the possibility of hope for the eventual arrival of his alternative: a Messiah who would crush the evil that oppresses us.

Then Jesus came among us saying, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life," and "Follow me, and I will make of you fishers of men." He presented us with the revelation of the Kingdom of God. He proclaimed an obviously better moral alternative to a broken society in which the marginalized and despised had no hope, where the poor struggled just to survive, and in which those who chose to compromise were declared outcast. He declared a forgotten Truth, that God had an infallible plan to bring people into a perfectly desirable society in a comfortable yet sustainable world.

The Kingdom of God on Earth begins with two dimensions: personal repentance and continual reformation of our individual character, and a reimagination of social relationships based on filial love and sharing to meet each other's needs. We sacrifice to love each other, working for our collective moral support and mutual service. Each of us contributes from our store of talents, doing whatever we do best, as diligently as we can. In return, we rely on the support and good will of those in our family, our circle of friends, and then outward into the wider community. It is our purpose to serve by contributing to the well-being of others, not measured by the achievement of a quota but by the needs of our beloved friends. When we see a need that is within our capacity, we step forward, because we know that they will do the same for us.

Yet there remains a wider need in the world, beyond the circle of the community that we call "the Church." Jesus gave us the Great Commission, to go out into the world and proclaim the good news that God has a plan to save all of us from the corruption of conformity and compromise within a broken society. We have lost the moral integrity that we would have valued most if we hadn't been born into a fallen world. Without it, our personal dignity is a sham, as we know how each of us carries the stain of sin. Jesus told us to call others out of the world, offering them the good news of forgiveness and inclusion in the Kingdom, asking only for their repentance and trust in Him. When they respond, we begin to teach them the Way, showing them how we grow in love for one another, and teaching them the Truth of who God is and how He has planned everything for our salvation. Then, when they enter the community of the Church, they become one with us, and the Kingdom expands.

We do not really expect that we shall be the ones who achieve the perfect expression of the Kingdom of God on Earth. That seems most likely to remain elusive until our Lord returns to claim and rescue his chosen friends and family. And yet, we don't wish to disappoint Him by remaining idle and unproductive while waiting for Him. We know that He expects us to be building his Kingdom, in competition against the old World of fallen corruption. If we fail to rise to this challenge, what will He think of us? Of course, we will meet with resistance. The World hated Him, so we expect it to also hate us, and as He suffered, so may we. But when the Messiah returns to fulfill his remaining promises, He will show us how to complete the patterns that we have failed to understand. Jesus promised that He would bring a Kingdom that would last for 1,000 years, until the Father will bring the New Jerusalem and recreate our world to become a New Earth and a New Heaven. Then we will see how well we have served, and be allowed entry into Eternity.

God willing. Amen.

Were Adam and Eve historical people?

2024-05-22T10:37:00.003-04:00

What makes modern people so sure that we can't express inspired truth by using metaphorical figures of speech? Some things are too difficult to express clearly and succinctly in common declarative language even today. Moreover, we must remember that those ancient peoples had barely begun to develop their historical sense, and had very few records that kept their memories from the previous centuries. Indeed, most of their "history" was legendary and carried in folk stories and ballads. Just look at how their writing systems were still developing. Moses had a very archaic "alephbet," without vowels, to write with.

When we need a common story for our people to stick together and base our common identity on, the story has to be simple enough for ordinary folk to remember. Strict adherence to facts (especially facts not yet discovered) needs to take a back seat to expressing Truth clearly. Thus, Adam & Eve don't have to be singular historical original people. They are representative figures who exemplify all of our human forebears. God created all of our ancestral progenitors and designed every advance toward modern humans to reflect his image and likeness. The world is fallen as of the moment we began to try to discern what is good from what is evil. We need instead to seek God's advice, not our own opinion.

The antediluvian stories with their thousand year lifespans are also metaphorical. They are true myths about early culture heroes, some pleasing to God, some less so. The story then devolves into corruption by the idea of improved men, ubermensch or giants above the rest, who worship their own talents and inclinations. Again, the situation soon gets worse with the abuse of technology and idolatry leading people into corruption. God is offended by those who choose corruption, evil, and death. He doesn't want the rich and politically savvy to rule as oppressors and make helpless slaves of the poor. Nor does He want them to teach us to worship materialism, or sensual lusts, or to have selfish disregard for those weaker than ourselves. His plans for civilization are significantly different from ours. Thus, He comes down from Heaven to take a personal interest in us, and He participates in history to lead us to salvation.

Our endless problem of conflict, rebellion and disobedient selfishness is the same problem of sin that God has always been working on. Yet, He chooses to have intimate personal relationships with us because of his mercy, even to the extent that He is willing to save some of us into Heaven. Perhaps He feels those few are now that close to what He is trying to achieve. Our lives are no longer so "nasty, dirty, brutish and short" as they were at our nadir away from Him. Because Jesus came down to be an example and sacrifice for us, we have been redeemed from our slavery to sin, to overcome selfish evil inclinations with divine spirituality. That is our personal salvation, to be recreated into the final form He desires. For that, we need to have faith, to love Him and trust that He desires our good.

The Bible and Gospels are true. When Moses uses metaphor, he is recalling the stories of the cultures around him in his milieu, and following God's inspiration to tell them in correct form so that we may understand their real meanings. The stories give us a background and orientation so that we can choose a proper perspective and framework for faith. Before Abram, history is given in a more general sense. That is all we need. After God chooses Abraham, to claim a people for his own, history gets more specific. The later the stories are, the more historical facts are retained. This culminates in the completely factual historical bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God Himself. In Jesus, God is stepping directly into society to speak his own words to our ears and choose his people from those who respond in faith.

Do not be surprised if all the prophecies in the Bible come true. What God really wants is a people who trust Him and share his moral sensibilities and are willing to follow his plans. We don't have to understand the prophecies clearly to see the plan unfolding around us. We only need to follow, and learn all we can about loving each other and how the Kingdom is supposed to work.

In the meantime, let us pray as He taught us:

Dear Holy Father, living in Heaven,

we respect and reverence your Name.

We anticipate your Kingdom's arrival, and seek to do your will here on Earth, just as it is done in Heaven.

Give us each day the sustenance we need to live and follow you, and forgive our failures and trespasses as we forgive those who fail and hurt us.

Lead us surely to avoid temptations, and rescue us from all entrapment and corruption.

We declare that the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory is yours, Father, now and forever. Amen

Toward a Conscientious Restoration of the Whole Holy Christian Church

2024-04-22T20:55:00.001-04:00

Toward the end of the middle ages, the Church in western Europe was edging toward a totalitarian stance of controlling how people should think. This was not just apparent in matters of spirituality, but in matters of culture and science as well. We see this in the suppression of Galileo's telescope discoveries, and in Copernicus' wary reticence to have his planetary theory published before his death. Also, the recent history of internal crusades to suppress heresy, and the frequent expulsions of the Jews revealed how unwise it was to disagree with the doctrines of the Church. But unrest ever rises whenever the reigns of authority are tightened too much, and all it requires is a plausible alternative to the abuse of power. Thus, in 1517, Luther's dissatisfaction was a ready tinder for the sparks of protest to grow into flame.

Every effective protest requires a handful of good reasons to refrain from ordinary obedience. If a man is going to risk the disapproval of his peers, he needs a sense of conviction. But the heavy-handed reaction of violent suppression inevitably leads to revolt, which then pushes its views and demands further, even beyond the ability of reforms to ameliorate. And in the heat of thus repudiating authority, the expression of our views can overstate and oversimplify our position. Thus we see how in our day we get excessive personalization and an obstinate relativism of faith, which demands a hand-off aversion even to the preaching of the gospel, and especially to any hint of authority to impose right beliefs.

But there were good reasons to try and reform the Church, to allow valid expressions of faith, and also a few times when rejection went further than it had to.

Positive aspects: Reforms

*1. Sola Fide

- Salvation is by faith alone.

- Faith counts as righteousness.

- Works come after faith.

- Salvation is God's gift of grace.

*2. Sola Scriptura

- Scripture is the only infallible Truth

- Maintain the early simplicity.

- Tradition & Councils can be biased

- We must reject Papal infallibility.

*3. Church discipline

- "Speak to your brother in love."

- Virtue is required for leadership.

- Confession & penance is optional.

- Repentance invokes forgiveness.

*4. Priesthood of all believers

- God hears all our prayers.

- Any may act as priest if needed.

- We need vernacular scriptures.

- All may preach the Gospel.

*5. Married clergy

- Celibacy doesn't confer holiness.

- Permission prevents secret abuse.

- It's an extra hurdle for vocations.

- Celibacy wasn't originally required.

*6. Rejects the doctrine of purgatory

- Restitution & charity, not indulgences.

- Purity & righteousness are imputed.

- There is no "treasury of merit."

- Christ meets us with mercy.

*7. Seek personal relations with God

- We can confess to Jesus directly.

- We can allow some variety of faith.

- Everyone can study Scripture.

- Works are a response of love.

If you're talking about purgatory, you are asserting that we can be saved, but still attached to old habits of sin. Yet, so long as we hold onto sin, resisting being cleansed, we cannot enter Heaven. In truth, we must question whether we will be given further opportunity to release them, or will we be relegated to walk through eternal flames. The time for us to be concerned for our sanctification, to bear the fruits of faith, is now. We must not presume on grace.

When we stand before Jesus, on the day of our death, and bow to beg mercy for our souls, we must be willing to leave every sin behind and rise to follow Him without any hesitation. That is the day of our complete regeneration. If, instead, we cling to our old habits, we are choosing to be left behind in self-exile. Sadly, even those who should be saved retain the freedom to choose whether to wander and be lost or to follow the Good Shepherd. That is why we should seek to be sanctified as much as possible in this life. Jesus will not use force and drag us to follow. Rather, He calls us by name, and we know that we must follow his voice if we want the gift of eternal life.

Our salvation, however, is separate from the evaluation of our heavenly rewards. Our works will be tested with fire, to burn away the chaff and reveal the treasure (I Cor. 3:13-15). But once the chaff of useless works is gone, then we can triumphantly join the saints and Jesus forever. The duration of this time of suffering is not described, however, but is likely to be as short as we allow it to be. We are not the ones who will declare the value of any of our works in Christ's service. Only his mercy will see whether our desires are primarily for Him or merely for the rewards of Heaven.

Most, if not all, of these reforms would have been recognized as valid professions by the Fathers of the Early Church.

Negative aspects: Protests

-1. Believes in fewer sacraments

- Signs of grace, not means.

- Baptism & Eucharist recognized.

- Others are neglected or devalued.

- Overlooks call to other ministries.

- Doesn't recognize holy orders.

-2. Disbelief in priestly miracles

- Doubts literal presence of Body & Blood.

- Questions ritual effectiveness.

- Miracles are the works of God.

- Leads to cessationist ecclesiology

-3. Forgets the communion of saints

- Does not venerate, or pray to Mary

- Does not pray to saints for help

- Does not intercede for the dead

- Ignores angels as mythology

-4. Disregards monastic tradition

- Does not pray for the world

- Does not withdraw from culture

- Rejects ascetic practices

- Disapproves of strenuous piety

-5. No physical objects of devotion

- no veneration of relics or icons

- no personal sacramentals

- crosses worn as jewelry

- infrequent expressions of piety

-6. Shorter OT canon

- abandons Septuagint early canon

- chooses Masoretic late canon

- limits scriptural pool of teaching

- anti-judaism relativizes ethics

-7. Narrow Focus on Preaching & Worship

- neglects confession & penance

- preacher fails to act as mediator

- idiosyncratic symbolic ceremonies

- ad hoc prayer services

In some ways, the Reformation went too far. It was, however, a necessary reaction to the abuse of authority and tradition to develop and extrapolate Church doctrines. Perhaps, some teachings should have been left to the individual's intellectual freedom. The Church needs only to offer guidance to limit the range of speculation so as to avoid heretical wandering. If Protestant reformers depart from Catholic conventions and yet remain faithful to the creeds, traditions and councils that were authoritative before the Great Schism of 1054, there should be no reason to scorn them. Then, if they do choose to follow some Catholic, or even Orthodox, teachings or practices, there can be no grounds for serious complaints.

Catholic & Orthodox Sacraments:

1. Baptism - rebirth into kingdom

2. Confirmation - receive Holy Spirit

3. Eucharist - communion

4. Penance - reconciliation

5. Anointing Sick - healing

6. Marriage - stability & family

7. Holy Orders - ordination & vows

As things continue to stand, however, it seems a shame that so many of the sacraments were left to atrophy from disuse, when an infusion of some flexibility might have kept them in currency. Moreover, there are a few other traditions and institutions that suffer summary excision for political reasons, or democratic ignorance. Some of these might be of real value if gently modified and respectfully preserved.

For example:

A. Confession and Penance - This could be a relief for souls tormented by guilt when private prayers seem too weak of faith to trust that we are not deceiving ourselves. Some valid conventions for confession should be instituted, as a parallel to the Catholic modes, for the recourse of those who would be sincerely faithful. Thus, we might seek reconciliation and a return to a state of purity and grace, without implying submission to the autocratic authority of the Roman Papacy. We could likewise assert the seal of confidentiality, so that the complete unburdening of conscience would be possible, without the risk of betrayal or forced disclosure.

B. Communion of Saints - We need some kind of solace when bereft of our beloved relatives, when we might benefit ourselves and them through prayers, for their peaceful ascension and for our aid by their petitions. Moreover, we may gain confidence by our petitions to the saints, and to our Saviour's Mother, when we need extra help in our prayers to God. We may assume the efficacy of the prayers of those blessed in Heaven. Such a return to the visible prayers of saintly communion would allow the pious practices of unceasing prayer, and the Holy Rosary to become popular again, at least among the clergy. And perhaps it would bring the additional benefits of character formation, as well as the graces promised by Our Holy Mother.

C. Monastic and Eremitical ideals - Not every believer is cut out for the competitive consumer culture of the world. Always, the Church has had a strained relationship with the outside world. We need to stand against the abuses of freedom and/or autocratic authority that drown the fallen world in vice, crime, violence and arbitrary oppression. It was not without good reasons that Christians retreated to the desert, or banded together in community, to attempt to live by the standards of God's Kingdom. Nor was it coincidence that such were more often successful to become saints than those who remained caught up in the values of the secular world. If the world can be transformed by prayer and faithful examples, why should we neglect our strongest practitioners?

D. The Canon of Scripture - The rejection of the long Catholic canon and slightly longer Orthodox canon, in favor of the Jewish Masoretic text, was probably a mistake. After the Roman diaspora, the Pharisaic Jews had reformed and redefined their faith as a reaction to Christianity so as to deny the validity of Jesus' mission and divinity. Why should we accept their limits? On at least one occasion, the Jews chose a corruption of the text to obscure an obvious reference to the Messiah (Psalm 22). Now, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we can see what they originally said.

E. Marriage Vows - The purposes of marriage being threefold, it seems our society is ill served by the ease of civil divorce. First, the sanctification of sexuality offers a subordination of our sexual desires into their proper relationship to the love of God. Sexual relations serve to promote the bonding of husband and wife as a family in accord with God's will that we need not live alone. Secondly, it follows that the family is the proper setting for procreation and the raising of children. A child who lacks loving relationships with two parents, who love each other, comes up with an emotional disadvantage, and may find it difficult to establish a right relationship with their own spouse. And third, the relationship between partners is meant for a commitment to aid each other's spiritual growth. The inevitable friction will rub off the rough edges of their personalities, and teach them the value of thinking of the partner's well-being as well as their own.This is learned most easily when both are oriented toward loving and serving God. We often fail to see how we fall short in our daily lives, but our partner has no such lack of clarity, and may feel our faults and shortcomings acutely. It is in the home that we need to practice the command to "speak to one another in love" when we perceive flaws, and to "first take the log out of your own eye, and you will see how to remove the speck from your friend's." We need to remember to rightly value marriage in this light. Then we will see why we should try to avoid quick entry into this covenant, as well as any angry or hasty dissolution by divorce.

Conclusion:

A Repudiation of Unnecessary Innovation.

Convinced by the testimony and example of the Scriptures and by clear reason and humble conscience, I see no other choice than to repudiate the hubris of the Church in its accumulation of pseudo-traditional innovation and its failure of moral example and guidance. If a clear case for doctrine cannot be made from the Scriptures bound together by logic and reason, there can be no justice in compelling belief. Such stands squarely on the demand to submit to the authority of men. We grant too much flexibility when we allow the opinions of uneducated folk to dictate conformity by consensus, followed after the fact by the authorization of the Church to create doctrine, so that to demur on the basis of conscience is viewed as schism.

If the Apostolic deposit is to be deemed insufficient, how can we be sure that our inspiration comes from the Holy Spirit, and not some foul impostor? We have but one infallible source of true authority and doctrine, and that is Scripture. We must depend on the documents the first century Apostles have left for us, and the wisdom of the Holy Fathers who agreed on the canon, to determine what the Church can declare as valid faith.

So this is what I mean when I refer to the Whole Holy Christian Church, I believe in all of the credal statements and doctrines that the whole Church agreed upon up until the Great Schism of 1054, and after that time, I believe that the only infallible authority that can guide doctrine has been the Scriptures themselves. If we are to accept any developments of new teachings, they must be supported by the Scriptures and not in contradiction to Reason. We cannot let doctrine be dictated by popular traditions, nor led by private mystical experiences. Moreover, if there is development, we must demand that it stay secondary to Scripture, and not allow more development to stand on its shoulders rather than on the foundation of Scripture itself.

Scripture and Reason, and then whatever traditions that have been kept from the Early Church Fathers which serve for worship and discipline, those are our foundations for the whole Church. If there have been changes, let them stand for the convenience of teaching, longstanding practice and statements of consensus, and not for the accumulation of doctrines placing unnecessary demands upon belief.