Good Christian, WAKE UP!!!

Little Catholic Bubble ^ | July 3, 2016

[NYer]

Five years ago I warned readers that folks on the left do not care one whit about your religious liberty.

Four-and-a-half years ago, Pope Benedict voiced particular concerns about "certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion".

Four years ago, the US Bishops launched the first annual Fortnight For Freedom,  running from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day. This event, once unnecessary but now imperative, seeks "to highlight the importance of defending religious freedom" in America.

Unfortunately, the situation for Christians has not improved, but is getting worse by the day.

Laws and lawsuits demanding that Christians violate their consciences and their faith have led to the closure of Catholic charities and adoption agencies, ruinous fines for many mom-and-pop bakers, florists, and photographers, and B&B owners, a years-long federal lawsuit pitting President Obama against the Little Sisters of the Poor, and in the past few days, the rulings against Christian pharmacists and Christian online dating sites, suddenly no longer "allowed" to operate according to the dictates of their Christian faith.

Make no mistake: Secular progressives (who are as fervent about their secular religion as any Christian is about Christ) are not bringing these lawsuits because of any lack of access to gay dating sites, or wedding cakes, flowers, or photographers, nor is there any lack of access to abortifacient pills and devices (all these things are easily accessible to all those Americans who desire them).

No, they are bringing these lawsuits specifically to make you comply to their worldview, specifically to force "acceptance" without dissent, specifically to publicly shame you, specifically to "fundamentally transform America". "Tolerance" was never enough, because it was never the goal. If you've noticed, the forces against religious freedom and conscience rights for Christians are only getting more angry, more fierce, and more unyielding.

If you think that I and others, or perhaps even the bishops, are simply overreacting, you'll want to know that three of the highest judges in our land are themselves explicitly sounding the alarm. Here's the dire warning from Supreme Court Justice Alito in his recent dissent -- which was signed by Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts as well -- regarding the Stormans case (Christian pharmacy owners who did not wish to stock and sell abortion-inducing drugs):

This case is an ominous sign.

At issue are Washington State regulations that are likely to make a pharmacist unemployable if he or she objects on religious grounds to dispensing certain prescrip- tion medications. There are strong reasons to doubt whether the regulations were adopted for—or that they actually serve—any legitimate purpose. 

And there is much evidence that the impetus for the adoption of the regulations was hostility to pharmacists whose religious beliefs regarding abortion and contraception are out of step with prevailing opinion in the State. Yet the Ninth Circuit held that the regulations do not violate the First Amendment, and this Court does not deem the case worthy of our time. 

If this is a sign of how religious liberty claims will be treated in the years ahead, those who value religious freedom have cause for great concern. 

[all emphases mine]

In other words, we are coming to a day when you may have your "religion" and your "conscience" -- but only in your head, your church building, or your home. You may not bring or live your faith anywhere else, including your own business. If you do, you will be fined, ruined, shamed, and, well, we can look to history to see the next steps.

And that brings us to St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher, and why they mean so much to US Catholics today. In honor of the Fortnight for Freedom activities, the relics of these two martyrs of conscience were brought from England to several American cities, including Phoenix. Local Catholics were blessed to be able to venerate these precious relics of two holy and courageous men.

St. John Fisher's ring on the left (the image is of Aristotle). Fisher was the only Catholic bishop in England at the time who stayed loyal to the Church. He was imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately beheaded, his head stuck on a spike on London Bridge. Two weeks later, St. Thomas More was beheaded, and his head replaced St. John Fisher's on the spike. St. Thomas' beloved daughter retrieved his head, and we see here part of his jawbone and half of his tooth (two of only three first-class relics of his in existence). 

We were also able to attend Holy Mass with our two bishops beforehand. Since the whole world couldn't be there, I'm bringing part of it to you.... Enjoy the inspiring homily of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, which is so profound that it has been shared far past the borders of the Phoenix Diocese (the video can be seen here):

Neither Thomas More nor John Fisher wanted to be martyrs. They wanted to be friends of God and to be faithful to those whom God gave them to love: as a husband and father, lawyer and chancellor of England, or as a bishop and servant of the flock entrusted to his care. Both of them sought to be, as Thomas More put it, “the king’s good servant but God’s first.”

That there is a cost to fidelity to God did not come as a surprise to Thomas More and John Fisher nor should it come as a surprise to you and me. Jesus tells us quite bluntly (Mt 10:34f), “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.” The Kingdom of God clashes with the kingdom of darkness. God’s word is a two-edged sword. It requires each person either to accept it or to reject it. Earthly loyalties, even those within the family, are put to the test. “For I have come,” Jesus says (Ibid), “to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

In the last months of his life, Thomas More was called a traitor by King Henry; and his successor as Chancellor of England labeled him “a foolish scrupulous ass.” Far more painful were the words of his own family. His wife Lady Alice disagreed with his “scruple of conscience” and even his beloved daughter Meg, his closest and dearest confidante during his last days in the Tower of London’s dungeon, failed to understand her father, and repeatedly tried to convince him to change his mind so as to save his life in this world. Certainly her words but especially her tears broke her father’s heart.

Jesus goes on to say, in our Gospel, that (Ibid) “whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.” When Jesus first spoke these words, crucifixion was the most horrifying form of execution employed by the Roman government. Not only was it excruciatingly painful, it was intended above all to be publicly humiliating. Public shaming was a political ploy to secure the grip of control by Rome. Shame was also a primary tool of torture in the days of Thomas More and John Fisher. Public shaming remains a popular tool today, used not only by ISIS terrorists but even by forces within our own country set on destroying the Church’s witness to the Gospel, aimed at silencing voices that uphold the dignity of every human person, that proclaim God’s plan for marriage and that insist on the first of all human rights, that of religious liberty.

In the daily administration of his duties, Thomas More was keenly aware of his own shortcomings and of his constant need of the mercy of God. He knew, too, of the need for reform among the clergy and religious in his day, and the need to restore honesty and civility among the powerful and those seeking positions of political influence. Both he and John Fisher resonated with the wisdom of our First Reading today where St. Peter writes (1 Pet 4:12), “Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you.” It is not strange that followers of Jesus should face hard times, unfair criticism, public shaming, outright persecution and even death for the sake of the Kingdom of God. It is strange and foolish to think that you can be a disciple of Jesus without sharing in the cross.

The irony of the martyrdom of these heroic Englishmen is that both of them had faithfully served the King for many years and were among those he trusted most. Moreover, he knew their loyalty; in fact, he had depended on it constantly. He even appreciated their impeccable integrity—that is, until one day when he asked them to do something that their very integrity did not allow them to do. Even then, Thomas More and John Fisher refrained from speaking out against the person of the king. Still, they refused to tell a lie. They refused to act like false prophets who play with the truth, rather than shape their lives in accord with it. They would not say what the king wanted to hear because they knew it was not what he needed to hear, for his own good on earth and in eternity. They refused, in other words, to say that the king could pretend to be head of the Church in England instead of the Successor of St. Peter. No matter the cost to themselves, they would not betray a well-formed conscience, would not act contrary to the truth they knew by faith in Christ. Thomas More wrote, “When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short road to chaos.”

Since Thomas More is my patron saint, I trust you will understand if I focus a little more attention on him than on John Fisher, although the only bishop in England to remain loyal to the Catholic faith at the time of Henry VIII is certainly worthy of our veneration.

More important to Thomas More than his political influence and public office of Lord Chancellor were his wife and family, his Catholic faith, his daily pursuit of holiness, and his well-trained conscience.  Pope St. John Paul II said of him (Cf. Motu Proprio), “Thomas More witnessed the primacy of truth over power…He died as a martyr because of his passion for truth…for him his moral conscience was a defining voice, the voice of God in his soul.”

Thomas More’s ultimate stand in defense of the truth was determined long before his imprisonment and execution. It was the consequence of seeking, day after day and year after year, to know God’s will and put it into practice.

Already at the beginning of his public career, Thomas More knew that the greatest threat to freedom of conscience did not come from outside a man but from within his own heart. No one can force you to betray your conscience. Freedom of conscience requires freedom from self-deception, freedom from pride and freedom from fear. It has to be won anew through a daily examination of conscience, sincere contrition for any failures and sincere renewal of commitment to Christ. That is what Thomas More did.

It is highly instructive to recall that the first book he published was not about the law or the legal profession but about the spiritual life. At about the age of 25, he wrote, “…if you desire to be secure from the snares of the devil, from the storms of this world, from the hands of your enemies; if you long to be acceptable to God; if you covet everlasting happiness—then let no day pass without at least once presenting yourself to God in prayer, falling down before Him flat on the ground with a humble affection and a devout mind; not merely with your lips, but from the innermost recesses of your heart, crying out [to God].”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, the heroic witness of Thomas More and John Fisher is needed today more than at any time in our nation’s history. We Americans are facing an assault on religious liberty from forces within our own country that is unprecedented and constantly on the increase. For this reason, Pope Francis spoke about it more than once during his historic visit last September. In the presence of President Obama at the White House, the Holy Father said, “[Religious] freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions… All are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”

When speaking at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pope Francis said, “Let us preserve freedom. Let us cherish freedom. Freedom of conscience, religious freedom, the freedom of each person, each family, each people, which is what gives rise to rights. May you defend these rights, especially your religious freedom, for it has been given to you by God Himself.”

We Americans must also take care not to close our eyes to far worse violations of religious freedom happening in many other countries around the world. We have refugees coming to Arizona as a result of these violations of conscience, and we have much to learn from their words and courageous example.

In its 2016 Annual Report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated, “By any measure, religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault since the release of our commission’s last Annual Report in 2015…” The 2016 report said that the number of those held as prisoners of conscience, those imprisoned for reasons of religion, “remains astonishingly widespread;” and harsh conditions are faced by many millions of believers around the world. We must not close our eyes to these human rights violations or our ears to their cries for help.

In 1929, G.K. Chesterton wrote, “Thomas More is more important at this moment than at any moment since his death…but he is not quite so important as he will be in about a hundred years’ time.” May the Lord give us the grace to imitate John Fisher and Thomas More. Let the words of St. Peter resonate in our minds and hearts (1 Pet 4:12f), “Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when His glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly.”




As we Americans celebrate this Independence Day, may we never forget that religious liberty was the impetus for the founding of this beautiful nation, and may we never be complacent. May the Lord safeguard our religious freedom and freedom of conscience in this difficult time for our country. God bless America!

[NYer]

Catholic ping!

[Steve_Seattle]

When I stay with my mother, I occasionally thumb through the local Catholic diocesan newspaper that she subscribes to. It is complete fluff, all nicey-nice and NEVER, EVER wading into the growing conflict between Christianity and popular culture, or the increasing threats to Christian civil liberties.

[Robert DeLong]

Wandering Christians, wake up. The good Christians are awake.

[Arthur McGowan]

The Catholic bishops in the U.S. have bent themselves into pretzels trying to keep Catholics voting for pro-abortion Democrats, including committing the mortal sin of giving Communion to pro-aborts.

ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT of the politicians who are persecuting the Church are pro-abortion Democrats.

And who appointed these pro-abortion bishops? Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

[NYer]

When I stay with my mother, I occasionally thumb through the local Catholic diocesan newspaper that she subscribes to. It is complete fluff, all nicey-nice and NEVER, EVER wading into the growing conflict between Christianity and popular culture, or the increasing threats to Christian civil liberties.

The defense of the faith is now in our hands, not those in leadership. It is incumbent upon us to stand up and speak out or be crushed by the weight of the encroaching secular culture.

[SubMareener]

Time is really short! The “great sign in the heaven” described in Revelation 12:1-2 will literally happen on September 23-24, 2017 according to the star charting program Stellarium.

Mostly because it came in the middle of the Book, Bible Scholars used to call it a mid-Tribulation event. It is only fifteen months away, so if that is true, then the Four Horsemen are out and about.

However, it is the first set of verses that contains something that provides a definite, sort of, date. So it could signal the start of the whole seven year period.

The point is that the turmoil in Christianity, the increase in lawlessness, etc. are all signs of the end. The organized Churches are going to turn into the Harlot riding the Beast. There is nothing we can do about it but “hold fast” to what Jesus taught us and try to teach as many as will be saved about the Gospel.

[lee martell]

This theme of awakening inspired a composition by JS Bach called “Wachet Auf Ruft Uns Die Stimme”,or Sleepers Awake!

[heartwood]

I looked up Stellarium and “the great sign”. I really don’t see why the great sign would refer to constellations and assign sex and kingship to planets based on pagan stories about Greek gods.

[Flavious_Maximus]

The New York Times is ground zero for Christian hatred.

The militant homosexual agenda starts and ends at 620 Eighth Ave, NY.

All the evil perpetrated on Christians in the USA comes from the satanic masters at the New York Times.

[Arthur McGowan]

What is the “sign.”

What is “Stellarium”? Is it a website?

[SubMareener]

Stellarium is an open source application. You can get it at http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Download

See the image at: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/_1y_hLqVXf4/maxresdefault.jpg

Graphic says 23 September 2017, as it depends on where you say Virgo’s feet are. Besides, no one knows the day or the hour.

Here are the details:

Revelation Chapter 12:
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 1193). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Previous Bible commentators have taken this as a symbolic vision about Israel (Mary) giving birth to Jesus, and marking the start of the 3 1/2 year Great Tribulation.
However, since “knowledge had increased”, we can use star charting programs such as Stellarium to see that this could be a literal “great sign” in heaven.

The constellation “Virgo”, the Virgin, has always been identified with Mary the Mother of Jesus. The nine stars of Leo, the Lion (of Judah), form a “garland” above her head.
Jupiter has always been identified as the “King” star. It is striped (by His stripes we are healed) and has a large, red spot (they pierced His side).

Here is the sequence of events regarding the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Virgo, Leo, Mercury, Mars and Venus

Mon, 21 November 2016 = 20th of Cheshvan, 5777
Jupiter enters Virgo crossing line from Spica to Porrima

Sat, 28 January 2017 = 1st of Sh’vat, 5777
Jupiter retrograde motion begins inside Virgo. “Gestation” begins??

Sat, 10 June 2017 = 16th of Sivan, 5777
Jupiter prograde motion resumes inside Virgo

Thu, 17 August 2017 = 25th of Av, 5777
Total Solar eclipse across America (from Portland to Charleston)

Sun, 10 September 2017 = 19th of Elul, 5777
Jupiter crosses Heze — Spica line. Virgin gives birth? Conjunction Regulus and Mercury

Wed, 20 September 2017 = 29th of Elul, 5777
New Moon, Venus — Regulus conjunction

Sun, 24 September 2017 = 4th of Tishrei, 5778
Sun at Virgo’s shoulders (clothed), the Moon is at her feet, Mercury, Mars, Venus are added to Leo’s nine stars as Virgo’s 12-star ‘garland’

The great sign in the heaven is complete. This formation has not happened in the past 6000 years and won’t happen again for at least another 2000 years.

Luke 21
25 “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;
26 “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
27 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
28 “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

Nelson, Thomas (2009-02-18). Holy Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) (p. 1023). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I don’t know for sure if Daniel’s 70th week has started. Sir Issac Newton’s calculation, which required Israel to be back in the land with control of Jerusalem (June 1967) worked out to September 2015. We don’t know if the Anti-Christ confirmed a seven year treaty back then, but it is possible. The colors of the Four Horsemen are White, Red, Black, and, while it is translated as “Pale”, the Greek can be translated as “Green”. These are the colors of the Islamic Nations that are going up against Israel.

The Revelation 12:1-2 Great Sign in the Heavens if September 23-24, 2017, so that would be two years into the Seventieth Week. The Revelation 12:3-4 sign is no where to be seen. However, there are reports of perturbations in the Cassini spacecraft orbit around Saturn, so the “great, fiery red dragon, may be out there as a brown dwarf, which would explain why the Vatican is operating an infrared telescope, called Project Lucifer, here in Arizona.

While there are folks who think that the “called out ones”, usually called the Church, will escape the entire Seventh Week, as I read it we are only offered escape from the final 3 1/2 years if we are counted as worthy, or just before the Anit-Christ is finally revealed, which ever comes first.

So we could very well be in the first half of the Tribulation, or Time of Jacobs Trouble. The thing with Bible Prophecy is that you only really know, for sure, after the event has happened.

So read your Bible and Pray! Do what the Holy Spirit leads you to do in this world, but don’t be too attached to it! Maranatha!

[SubMareener]

Take a look at “The Witness of the Stars” by E. W. Bullinger that was published in 1893. He explains how the Gospel is written in the stars.

http://philologos.org/__eb-tws/

Such are the contents of this wondrous book that is written in the heavens. Thus has God been speaking and emphasizing and developing His first great prophetic promise of Genesis 3:15.

Though for more than 2,500 years His people had not this Revelation written in a book as we now have it in the Bible, they were not left in ignorance and darkness as to God’s purposes and counsels; nor were they without hope as to ultimate deliverance from all evil and from the Evil One.

Adam, who first heard that wondrous promise, repeated it, and gave it to his posterity as a most precious heritage— ground of all their faith, the substance of all their hope, the object of all their desire. Seth and Enoch took it up. Enoch, we know, prophesied of the Lord’s coming, saying, “Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all” (Jude 14). How could these “holy prophets, since the world began,” have recorded their prophecies better, or more effectually, or more truthfully and powerfully, than in these star-pictures and their interpretation? This becomes a certainty when we remember the words of the Holy Spirit by Zacharias (Luke 1:67-70):

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
For He hath visited and redeemed His people,
And hath raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David;
As He spake by the mouth of HIS HOLY PROPHETS
WHICH HAVE BEEN SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN.”

The same truth is revealed through Peter, in Acts 3:20, 21: “He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all HIS HOLY PROPHETS SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN.”

These words have new meaning for us, if we see the things which were spoken “since the world began,” thus written in the heavens, which utter speech (i.e. prophecy), and show forth this knowledge day after day and night after night, the heritage of all the earth, and their words reaching unto the ends of the world.

This Revelation, coinciding as it does in all its facts and truths with that afterwards recorded “in the Volume of the Book,” must have had the same Divine origin, must have been made known by the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit.

We now proceed to compare the two, and we shall see how they agree at every point, proving that the source and origin of this Divine Revelation is one and the same.

[Arthur McGowan]

Thanks. I presume you are familiar with the amazing video about the star of Bethlehem.

[cloudmountain]

The defense of the faith is now in our hands, not those in leadership. It is incumbent upon us to stand up and speak out or be crushed by the weight of the encroaching secular culture.

The secular world dislikes our Church because she stands behind the TEN COMMANDMENTS, not the ten "suggestions." The Church constantly stands for what Jesus preached, not what the secular society WANTS US to believe.

With the sometimes RABID dislike of some Catholics for Pope Francis, it's no wonder the Church has problems. Satan must LOVE seeing some of these Catholic posters dislike/loathing of our Pope.

THIS Pope, like the 2000-years of Pope before him, is merely the VICAR of Jesus' Church, merely an earthly deputy or representative. There were bad popes, good popes and some in the middle...but they were all elected by the council of cardinals. No man of little or questionable faith would have EVER succeeded in convincing all those "red hat" cardinals to make him Pope.