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Switch Over Today's Scripture Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation Habakkuk 3:17-18, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria We all face challenges and obstacles in this life. We all have dreams in our hearts, and at times, it looks like they’re not going to come to pass. During these difficult seasons, we have a choice. We can get negative and discouraged and talk about how things are not going to work out, or we can switch...

The Habit of Recognizing God’s Provision ". . . you may be partakers of the divine nature . . ." —2 Peter 1:4 We are made “partakers of the divine nature,� receiving and sharing God’s own nature through His promises. Then we have to work that divine nature into our human nature by developing godly habits. The first habit to develop is the habit of recognizing God’s provision for us. We say, however, “Oh, I can’t afford it.� One of the worst lies is wrapped up in that statement. We talk as if our heavenly Father has cut us...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 40 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 1. I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD. 4. Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not...

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus Traditional True Holy Mass Propers † Dominica Quinta Post Pascha ~ Fifth Sunday After Easter † Anno Dómini 13 May 2012 Commemorating † The Ascension of Our Lord, Christ Jesus † † The Presence of The Blessed Virgin Mary at Fátima, Portugal † † Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament † Color : Albus/White Vestments II Classis ~ Second Class Semi-Double Observance Vocem jucunditátis annuntiáte, et audiátur, allelúja: annuntiáte usque ad extrémum terræ: liberávit, Dóminus pópulum suum. Allelúja, allelúja.... ( Declare it with the voice of joy, and make it known, alleluia: declare it...

Presbyterian church representatives refuse to rebuke former San Rafael pastor in gay marriage dispute In an unprecedented defiance of a church judicial commission, representatives of Northern California Presbyterian churches Tuesday refused to rebuke a retired pastor for marrying 16 same-sex couples when gay marriage was legal in California in 2008.The 74-18 vote on a motion opposing the censure of the Rev. Jane Spahr came at a meeting of the Presbytery of the Redwoods at the First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo."Love and justice have come together here," Spahr, 69, said after the vote. "I think this is going to help...

It is time for the children of God to be partakeers of his divine nature. When Adam sinned he disconnected from God and connected to Satan. He exchanged his nature of being righteous in exchange for the nature of sin. And everyone born after him was born with that sin nature. But, as soon as Adam sinned God had a plan to get things back. Just as you were born in sin God came up with a plan for man to be born again. In your sin nature you are connected to Satan and the things of that nature- the...

May 16, 2012   Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Reading 1 Acts 17:15, 22-18:1 After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens,they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothyto join him as soon as possible. Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:"You Athenians, I see that in every respectyou are very religious.For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.'What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.The God who made the world and all that is in it,the Lord of heaven and earth,does not dwell...

New You Tube Video on Addiction. Basically I am sick and tired of the so-called "experts" spouting off nonsense regarding drug and alcohol addiction. The most current one I found was a licensed Clincial Psychologist "enlightening" (tongue in check) us that addiction is a "brain disease". You can find his link here: http://tinyurl.com/d7h5c6q The problem with these so-called experts is that they understand nothing. They do not recognize the spiritual realm so they reduce these problems to a physiological level. They do not recognize the existence of demons or evil and the role it plays in addiction. As a consequence...

My previous articles [1] commenced a series on the rapture of the church. We began with the question, "What is the Rapture?" This question can best be answered by noting ten truths about the rapture from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. In previous articles, we saw that the rapture is an important doctrine and not something that can be marginalized or explained away as a secondary doctrine. We also noted that the rapture is an event that is distinct from the Second Advent of Christ. We further observed that the rapture will involve the catching up of every...

President Obama has hired Michael Wear,an apostate Catholic who belongs to a ‘nondenominational,evangelical-style church in Washington’,to counter the Bishops campaign to protect religious freedom in the US. CNN reports: ‘Michael Wear,who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,will join the Obama campaign in Chicago as faith vote coordinator,a campaign official said.’ Wear,who was raised a Catholic but now attends a nondenominational,evangelical-style church in Washington,has spearheaded White House outreach to evangelicals and has focused on policy issues like adoption throughout Obama’s first term. A source close to the campaign...

Bishop Paul P. Chomnycky of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Stamford, Conn., concelebrates Mass with U.S. bishops from Eastern Catholic churches at the Altar of the Tomb in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome May 15. Bishops from Chaldean, Ruthenian, Maronite, Ukrainian, Armenian, Melkite, Syriac and Romanian Catholic churches were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses. (CNS/Paul Haring) VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While their numbers are small and their material resources are few, members of the Eastern Catholic churches in the United States have much to offer the...

What do you do when you have created 18 extra IVF embryos and you don't want to destroy them or give them away to just anyone?  You put them on Craigslist of course!  From WhoTV.com: After struggling for years to have children the McCrea family had their prayers answered, and then some, thanks to In Vitro Fertilization. Now the family is sharing their extra blessings.... Deb had nearly signed on the dotted line to donate those leftover 18 embryos to a fertility clinic, but something just didn’t seem right. “When my daughter was born, I went months and months just...

The patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church presided over the baptism of hundreds of babies in a Tbilisi cathedral on Sunday as part of an effort credited with helping raise the birth rate in this former Soviet nation. Patriarch Ilia II has promised to become the godfather of all babies born into Orthodox Christian families who already have two or more children. Since he began the mass baptisms in 2008, he has gained nearly 11,000 godchildren. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said the patriarch deserves much of the credit for the rising birth rate, which in 2010 was 25 percent...

16 churches closed in Indonesia in Sharia run province

Tony Blair has disclosed that he once wanted to end an address to the nation with the words “God bless Britain”. However, the former Prime Minister said his suggestion provoked such strong concern from civil servants that he was forced to drop the idea. Mr Blair said he had intended to echo the traditional closing remark of Presidents in the United States, who typically sign-off television broadcasts by saying, “God Bless America”. For much of his time in office, Mr Blair was accused of adopting a “presidential” style of leadership, and became close to former American presidents Bill Clinton and...

The Catholic Church and other right-wing groups in France have given notice that they intend to resist the newly-elected President's progressive social agenda. Francois Hollande – who will be sworn in as president today – was greeted last weekend by a demonstration of 1,500 extremist Catholics who marched through Paris threatening opposition to his proposals to introduce same-sex marriage, cut the Government's funding of religious schools and legalise assisted suicide. Using the familiar overblown rhetoric that has become familiar when the Catholic Church goes on the warpath, the march's organiser Alain Escada, said: "We must act to stop the destruction...

Featured Term (selected at random):SIRACH See: ECCLESIASTICUS All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Is there anyone who hasn’t heard the phrase “Random Acts of Kindness”? The phenomenon became popular in American culture in the 90’s and has since spread globally, inspiring movements, school projects, even a movie. Buying the coffee for the car behind you at the Starbuck’s drive-through, giving someone your parking space at the mall, or leaving an encouraging note at a restaurant are small gestures that can mean a lot to the recipient and foster a sense of community among our fellow passengers to the grave.But the concept of doing kind works is not new. It’s as old as, well,...

“If you like your health care coverage you can keep it. ”In various phrasings this was one of the more oft-repeated reasons we were given to support, or at least not to oppose, Obamacare. But like so many other things that have come out of this administration, it also turns out not to be true. To be sure, the President and HHS are not forcibly kicking anyone off their health insurance plan. Yet. But we knew before the ink was dry that companies would very likely have a financial incentive to drop health care coverage altogether and dump their employees...

The Catholic Standard, the newspaper of the Washington archdiocese, gives Georgetown University a well-deserved editorial thumping for inviting HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to speak at commencement. The Standard rightly notes that the invitation from Georgetown to Sebelius—who has taken the lead role in enforcing the noxious contraceptive mandate—is “a disappointment but not a surprise.” It’s not a surprise, the editorial notes, because in recent years Georgetown has not shown much interest in defending Catholic teaching:

Symphonic-Catechetical Initiative Part of Way's Efforts to Foster Dialogue With JewsNEW YORK, MAY 14, 2012 (Zenit.org).- On May 8, the Orchestra and Choir of the Neocatechumenal Way performed in New York’s prestigious Avery Fisher Hall "A Symphonic Homage Prayer to the Victims of the Shoa, the Jewish Holocaust."The symphony interlaces the Word of God with music, through the reading of the prophet Ezekiel, the Gospel of Luke and the background of the Symphony, “The Suffering of the Innocent."There were some 3,000 people in the audience, the majority Jews, among whom were more than 30 rabbis, and some 12 bishops and...

BOSTON — The widow of U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy will be giving a spring commencement speech at a Roman Catholic college in Massachusetts after all. Boston College Law School announced Friday that Victoria Kennedy will give the keynote address at its May 25 commencement. Kennedy had been scheduled to deliver this year’s commencement speech at Anna Maria College in Paxton. But last month, the college withdrew the invitation under pressure from Bishop Robert McManus of the Diocese of Worcester (WUS’-tur). McManus objected to Kennedy’s public support for abortion rights and gay marriage, which are against church teachings.

The Superior of the Society of St. Pius X was received by the Ecclesia Dei commission last weekendOne more step has been taken towards a resolution of the crisis, which the Pope has been pushing for. Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Superior of the Society of St. Pius X was in Rome this weekend, for a meeting with Pontifical commission Ecclesia Dei. Vatican Insider has learnt that during the meeting, attendees discussed some of the modifications Fellay had proposed for the doctrinal preamble. The outcome seems to have been positive. In the morning of Wednesday 16 May, the Feria Quarta meeting...

And whosoever shall give todrink unto one of theselittle ones a cup of coldwater only in the name of adisciple, verily I say unto you,he shall in no wise lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42

Israel's Masorti (Conservative) Movement decided to approve the ordination of homosexual rabbis, in a dramatic vote on Thursday. The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, affiliated with the movement, will admit gay and lesbian students for training as spiritual leaders as of the upcoming school year. In doing so the Israeli Conservative Movement is joining the American branch of the movement, whose rabbinical seminaries have been admitting gay students for some years. The question whether or not to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis has been rattling the Conservative Movement in Israel and the U.S. for the past decade. Unlike the Reform movement that...

From the mouth the heart speaks. From our eyes our actions trigger. From our emotions our imaginations peak. From our thoughts we must figure. Jesus is the way that's what we must seek. Follow HIM every day and life gets bigger.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 37 A Psalm of David. 1. Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. 3. Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6. He shall...

Easy and Light Today's Scripture For My yoke is easy and My burden is light Matthew 11:30, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God doesn’t want you to go through life constantly struggling, always burdened down, or always fighting against something. Yes, we know that trials and tribulations will come in this life. There may be seasons that are more difficult than others; but, we can’t just settle where we are and accept that it’s always going to be this way. Just like God led the Israelites into the Promised Land, He wants to lead you to a...

The Habit of Rising to the Occasion ". . . that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . ." —Ephesians 1:18 Remember that you have been saved so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in your body (see 2 Corinthians 4:10). Direct the total energy of your powers so that you may achieve everything your election as a child of God provides; rise every time to whatever occasion may come your way.You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. You must “work out...

May 15, 2012   Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter  Reading 1 Acts 16:22-34 The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas,and the magistrates had them strippedand ordered them to be beaten with rods.After inflicting many blows on them,they threw them into prisonand instructed the jailer to guard them securely.When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost celland secured their feet to a stake. About midnight, while Paul and Silas were prayingand singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened,there was suddenly such a severe earthquakethat the foundations of the jail shook;all...

Rome, Italy, May 10, 2012 / 11:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Three of the four senior staff members at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome are stepping down from their posts after a Vatican investigation concluded Ireland’s seminaries are not doing enough to promote Catholic orthodoxy. “In colleges there is a constant changeover, maybe after the Apostolic Visitation it is not a bad idea to bring in new people, new ideas and move forward,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told CNA on May 10 in Rome. Today’s announcement comes in the wake of the March 2012 publication of a two-year investigation...

The purpose of this document is to provide quotations from famous theologians who have affirmed some form of a future for the Jews or national Israel. We have also included statements from historians who have made comments about how theologians of a particular era or group viewed Israel's future. (Please note that we are not asserting that all these men believe the same thing about Israel.) Thomas Aquinas "It is possible to designate a terminus, because it seems that the blindness of the Jews will endure until all the pagans chosen for salvation have accepted the faith. And this is...

Second death fatwa been issued in Iran against German based rapper born in Teheran

There is much speculation that the proposed accord with Rome and the SSPX will result in two radical factions leaving the SSPX. The two groups are the French faction of the SSPX, noted by their devotion to the ideology of Charles Maurras and represented by Bishop Tissier de Mallerais, and the fascist faction of the SSPX, represented by Bishop Richard Williamson. While this event would have the good result of removing the extremists from the SSPX before its reunification with Rome, I am not certain this will occur. It is very possible that these radicals will come into the established...

COLONIE — The Episcopal Church must embrace change and diversity if it is to move forward, the presiding bishop of the 2.4 million member church said Friday. "We need to discover ways to engage in the outside community," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said, in urging the 125 delegates attending the Province II Synod of the Episcopal Church to recognize that while many believe the church is an unchanging rock, it too slowly evolves. "'We are beginning to discover a way forward into a new chapter in the church's history," Jefferts Schori said. "If we are going to save the...

Christianity Today asks three contributors whether Christians should shut down their social service programs when the state commands them to act against Christian belief. In line with my advice in response to Obama’s gay marriage announcement, Ryan T. Anderson offers a stirring “no�: Christians should not stop their adoption and foster-care programs, but neither should they comply with laws that would force them to place children with same-sex couples. Christians should continue operating their charitable organizations according to their principles, and they should continue serving the least among us until the state coercively shuts them down. But why should Christians...

In a recent post, I slammed black pastors for failing to stand up for their Christian faith in the face of attack by Nation of Islam supreme leader Louis Farrakhan. So, in fairness, I must applaud members of the black clergy who have put Biblical principle above racial hegemony in their public criticism of President Obama for his ungodly support of homosexual marriage. “I love the president,” said Rev. Emmitt Burns, pastor of Rising Sun Baptist Church in Baltimore, “but I cannot support what he has done.” He told CNN that the president’s failure to defend traditional marriage between one...

In a recent post, I slammed black pastors for failing to stand up for their Christian faith in the face of attack by Nation of Islam supreme leader Louis Farrakhan. So, in fairness, I must applaud members of the black clergy who have put Biblical principle above racial hegemony in their public criticism of President Obama for his ungodly support of homosexual marriage. “I love the president,” said Rev. Emmitt Burns, pastor of Rising Sun Baptist Church in Baltimore, “but I cannot support what he has done.” He told CNN that the president’s failure to defend traditional marriage between one...

The Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Washington, Bishop Barry Knestout forwarded the following editorial from the Catholic Standard, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese. He asked the we priests share it in any way we deem appropriate with the people of the Archdiocese. In this matter.Many of you write me and ask when and if the Archdiocese will speak out on this or that matter. In this matter, I am able to report that it has. And frankly the editorial pull no punches, as you will see. The original text is below in bold black italics. My comments are...

1012 Beginning of al—Hakim's oppressive decrees against Jews and Christians http://www.americanthinker.com/2005/11/the_truth_about_islamic_crusad.html Fustat on the Nile: the Jewish elite in medieval Egypt - Page 2 Elinoar Bareket - 1999 - 295 pages ... repression and the edicts issued by al-Hakim against the Christians ( starting from about 1007 AD), and against the Jews (evidently beginning in 1012 AD), but also against other Muslims. These acts of oppression reached their climax ... http://books.google.com/books?id=yRhWOPGV_WIC&pg=PA2 Documents of the Jewish pious foundations from the Cairo Geniza - Page 9 Moshe  Gil - Brill Archive, 1976 - 611 pages That the period was one of reconstruction...

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Washington has weighed in on Georgetown University’s invitation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as a commencement speaker in clear terms, saying that the school has unmoored itself from Catholic identity and chosen a stance against the country’s Catholic bishops. Secretary Sebelius is the primary figure behind the HHS mandate forcing religious groups to provide free sterilizations, abortifacient drugs, and other forms of birth control to employees under the new health care law. She is also known for her extreme pro-abortion record, most notably her close ties with...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYqWFvIBo7k

Featured Term (selected at random):BLOOD OF ST. JANUARIUS A famous relic in the Cathedral of Naples. The blood of this martyr (d. about 305), preserved in a glass phial, liquifies some eighteen times each year when the reliquary is exposed and placed near the saint's head. No natural explanation has been found for the phenomenon. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Recently, a group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) ran a full-page ad in The Washington Post cast as an “open letter to ‘liberal’ and ‘nominal’ Catholics.� Its headline commanded: “It’s Time to Quit the Catholic Church.�The ad included the usual criticism of Catholicism, but I was most struck by this paragraph: “If you think you can change the church from within — get it to lighten up on birth control, gay rights, marriage equality, embryonic stem-cell research — you’re deluding yourself. By remaining a ‘good Catholic,’ you are doing ‘bad’ to women’s rights. You are an enabler....

May 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to a spokeswoman of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Kevin J. Farrell, is “communicating with the sisters” of the Ursuline Academy of Dallas, following statements attributed to the nuns that appear to support billionaire Melinda Gates’ campaign to inject millions of of impoverished women with contraceptive drugs. Diocesan spokeswoman Annette Gonzalez Taylor told LifeSiteNews.com that she could not make further comments regarding the situation, but that a statement would soon be posted on the diocesan website. The communique, which appeared on Friday at approximately 6 pm central time, speaks for Farrell, stating that...

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."(John 14:27) "Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God, and I am trusting Him."(Psalm 91:1-2)

Moscow, May 14, Interfax - Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia and other Eastern Christian countries are meant to change the entire humankind together, the head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin has said. "Our Christian Orthodox, Eastern Slavic civilization is not the most numerous but it is central because it is it that knows today how to open doors to a better life for the whole world, especially for Europe," he said during a Moscow-Kiev-Minsk video linkup on Monday. The linkup was dedicated to international public hearings that are due in Kiev on July 28, the...

Moscow, May 14, Interfax - The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed concerns about the encroachments on the rights of Christians in the UK. "The situation with human rights in the UK is characterized by considerable manifestations of racism and xenophobia and encroachments on the rights of Christians," Russian Foreign Ministry envoy on human rights, democracy, and supremacy of law Konstantin Dolgov said in the State Duma. Specifically, Dolgov recalled the recent ban on wearing crosses in the UK. Speaking about other human rights issues in the UK, Dolgov mentioned the encroachments on the rights of immigrants, illegal phone-tapping, and torture...

Your prayers are needed for a leukemia victim. Please pray for Matt a member of my extended family. He and his wife have six sons and he is a hard working God loving man. He finds out the extent of his illness today at 11AM Eastern. Thank you

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Psalm 62 To the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. 1. Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. 2. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. 3. How long will you attack a man? You shall be slain, all of you, Like a leaning wall and a tottering fence. 4. They only consult to cast him down from his high position; They delight in lies; They bless with their mouth, But they curse inwardly. Selah...