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MORMONISM IS IN LOCKSTEP WITH FREEMANSONRY,OCCULT MYSTERY SCHOOLS AND ISLAM BUT AT THE HIGHEST CONTROLLING LEVELS...

Adoration 2.0 – A Unique Insight Based on the Teaching of a Spiritual Master Msgr. Charles Pope • October 28, 2015 • When we think of the word “adoration,” we think of a high form of love, perhaps the highest. Theologically, we equate adoration with latria, the worship and love due to God alone. In the vernacular, to say “I adore you” is to indicate an intense and high form of love.Liturgically, adoration of the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament indicates a period during which one enters into the experience of loving God and gazing upon Him in that love....

In 1985 Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a letter that eerily addresses the questions raised at the family synodThe recent relatio at the end of the family synod was, it was hoped, going to provide some resolution to the vigorous debate on the best means of pastorally accompanying couples who are divorced and civilly remarried, and specifically address the so-called Kasper proposal of admitting them, on a case-by-case basis, to Communion. The space to manoeuvre between the concepts of doctrine and pastoral practice was hotly contested, with some suggesting that the decision about whether or not to receive Communion was a matter...

On Humility in Prayer Msgr. Charles Pope • October 27, 2015 • Perhaps like you, I have to see people I love and care about through some difficult periods in their lives. One neighbor and parishioner recently lost her eight-year-old daughter to cancer. A number of my parishioners are seeking work and praying daily for it, but no employment offers have been forthcoming. Still others cry out for relief from any number of different crosses. I, too, have lots of things for which I pray; sometimes I get discouraged or even angry when God seems to say, “No” or, “Wait.”There...

The evidence of Joseph Smith's close connection to occultism and Freemasonry, and how this influenced the origin and development of the LDS Church is not well known outside of scholarly circles. This article summarizes the evidence for Joseph's personal involvement in both Freemasonry and occultism, and their influence on the Mormon religion. "There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Mormon ceremony which came to be known as the Endowment, introduced by Joseph Smith to Mormon Masons, had an immediate inspiration from Masonry." — Dr. Reed Durham, LDS Historian Mormonism's Link to OccultismBoth Joseph Smith and his father...

A stained glass portrait of St Augustine After Mary Beard's list of important Romans, here's mine...Mary Beard has done more than anyone else, I think, to bring ancient Rome alive, and over at the Guardian she provides us with her list of the ten best ancient Romans. Lists are very personal things, and everyone will have a rival version, so I cannot resist submitting my own. Here are ten people we call all learn from, indeed need to learn from, in the order in which they popped into my head.1. Aurelius Augustinus, better known as St Augustine of Hippo,...

A Simple Directive from God in Times Like These Msgr. Charles Pope • October 26, 2015 • Beginning in 721 B.C., after repeated warnings from the prophets, terrible waves of destruction came on the Jewish people. The Assyrians invaded and conquered the ten northern tribes of Israel. The survivors were exiled and in a certain sense were not heard from again. (They are often called the “Ten lost tribes of Israel.”)Small, feeble attempts at reform in the south for Judah and the Levites were mostly unsuccessful. Again, despite repeated warnings from the prophets, 587 B.C. was witness to another wave...

Evil Spirits from the spirit prison and from Hell. Elder Parley P. Pratt described the difference in appearance between these spirits and the righteous spirits which dwell in paradise. Persons who have departed this life, and have not yet been raised from the dead are spirits. These are two kinds, viz.--good and evil. These two kinds also include many grades of good and evil.The good spirits, in the superlative sens of the word, are they who, in this life, partook of the Holy Priesthood, and of the fulness of the gospel.This class of spirits minister to the heirs of salvation,...

People who have died are very important to members of the Mormon Church. The dead are a very important aspect of the Mormon gospel. The sixth President of the Church, Joseph F. Smith, taught, “We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us; for we are to become saviors upon Mount Zion, as well as Christ. We are called to this mission. The dead are not perfect without us, neither are we without them [see D&C 128:18].” (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church, Joseph F....

Calling Men to a Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality October 25, 2015 "Catholic men are destroying themselves by their own free-willed choices," says Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, whose book "Behold the Man," focuses on Christ crucified, covenantal love, and fatherhood CWR Staff Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, author of "Behold the Man: A Catholic Vision of Male Spirituality" (Ignatius Press, 2015) Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, known worldwide as the Dynamic Deacon, is a powerful speaker who has presented talks on marriage, family, and men's spirituality all over the world. He is a passionate evangelist and preacher with a no-nonsense approach to living and proclaiming...

Ten years after publication of Who Was Adam? by Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross, 13 new chapters detail the new scientific evidence on the origins of humankind in a second edition.Rana and Ross are scholars affiliated with Reasons to Believe, which also published the new edition of Who Was Adam? RTB works to spread the Gospel by showing how science supports the truths found in Scripture. Rana and Ross both have doctorate degrees in the physical sciences, biochemistry and astronomy, respectively. Unlike most second editions, this one leaves the original edition alone and adds the new chapters onto the original.During an interview...

Compare and Contrast! Two Pictures from Different Ages – Which Age Looks Healthier? Msgr. Charles Pope • October 25, 2015 • I was recently in Burgos, Spain and saw the splendid cathedral there. My first views of it came at night and I took the photo at the upper right. What a magnificent building; such proportion and symmetry! To me there is the echo of tall trees in a forest, majestically reaching up to the heavens. There is also evident a great advance in building technique in the flying buttresses that support the soaring walls and towers.These were the skyscrapers...

A Man Who Saw by Hearing Msgr. Charles Pope • October 24, 2015 • Today’s gospel features the well-known story of the healing of the blind man (Bartimaeus). As when listening to any familiar story, we are inclined, upon hearing its opening lines, to think, “Oh, that story,” and just sort of tune out. But if we do so, we may miss many important details. The story of Bartimaeus is also our story; we, too, must let the Lord heal our blindness and give us sight. One paradox of this gospel is that the man receives his sight as the...

Students and faculty at the University of Notre Dame who go to the university’s chapel on Sundays may be hearing something different from the usual Mass opening of “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”“Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever,” Father Khaled Anatolios recently chanted, as he made the sign of the cross with the book of the Gospels lifted high above the altar.He faced the altar, away from the congregation, and there were icons on either side. Those in the congregation sang...

If you have not been following the art and architecture comentariat of late—and after all, that’s what you read me for—then you may be unaware of a tempest brewing around the restoration of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Chartres, France. Universally considered to be one of the greatest works of architecture on the planet, the Medieval architecture of Chartres and its magnificent stained-glass windows have inspired writers, artists and composers, as well as many imitators. Beginning in 2008 the French government began to restore the building and in the process has removed much of the soot, dust and...

Understanding Fatima Evidence supporting the apparitions is strong, but devotion to any private revelation is not required November 1, 2015 10/21/2015 Msgr. Charles Pope Question: A friend of mine is forever mentioning Fatima. What am I, as a Catholic convert, to make of this? Am I required to accept it?— Name withheld, Austin, Texas Answer: There is probably no other prophecy so well attested and verified as that of Our Lady of Fatima. That said, the Church has never required Catholics to believe private revelations as a matter of faith. The Church, however, does hold up for the faithful certain...

Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: Great and Yet Terrifying Blessings Msgr. Charles Pope • October 22, 2015 • Some of God’s gifts come in strange and terrifying packages. The book of Job says,The earth, though out of it comes forth bread, is in fiery upheaval underneath (Job 28:2).It is a fact that we live just above a fiery cauldron separated from us by a thin membrane of earthly crust rife with cracks through which fire routinely flares in volcanoes in fissures, a crust that is always shifting and even shaking violently in earthquakes.And yet were it not for this violent...

In Jewish tradition, the vision which the Prophet Ezekiel has in the first chapter of his book is called by the Hebrew word “merkabah – a chariot”, even though this word does not occur in the text itself. The ancient rabbis placed the study and interpretation of this chapter, which is difficult to understand in any language, under a special restriction; St Jerome knew of this, as he writes in the prologue of his commentary on Ezekiel: I shall undertake (a commentary on) the prophet Ezekiel, whose difficulty the Hebrew tradition proves. For among them, unless one has completed the...

His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk Voice of the Family is delighted to continue to share further powerful statements made by representatives of the Catholic Church in Eastern Europe during the Synod on the Family. Below we reproduce interventions by His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, Ukrainian Catholic bishop in London, UK (texts courtesy of Fr Athanasius McVay). These interventions speak for themselves and therefore need no introduction. We would simply say that the doctrinal clarity and pastoral love shown by these and similar contributions from the Church in the East are teaching...

On the Relationship Between Light, Time, and the Mystery of God Msgr. Charles Pope • October 21, 2015 • I was meditating on time today, precipitated by some mysteries I’ve recently learned about the light of the Sun that reaches this earth.I have long known that to look up into the night sky is to look far into the past. Looking up at the star Sirius, I am seeing 9 years into the past. Looking over at the star Antares, I am seeing 250 years into the past. And when I look the star Rigel, I am seeing 600 years...