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I have a confession.  When I was in college, I read a book by a prominent megachurch pastor. The author told me to live like a child of God. He told me God wanted to bless me. He also mentioned that if I only believed, God would give me the nicest house in the neighborhood. That seemed to make sense. The author explained that he once wanted the nicest house in the neighborhood, and God gave it to him. Here was a man with evidence. Not only did he have the story about the house, and other anecdotes, he also had a very nice set of white...

Abortion Absolutist Democrat Canon 915!From CNS: SF Archbishop on Pelosi: No Catholic Can Dissent from Church Teaching on Abortion(CNSNews.com) – Responding to statements made by House Minority Leader Nancy [the Theologian] Pelosi [more HERE] — who would not say at her press briefing last week if a 20-week-old unborn child is a “human being”–Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said that it is a “scientific fact that human life begins at conception” and that “no Catholic can dissent in good conscience” from Church teaching on the sanctity of life.[…]CNSNews.com asked Archbishop Cordileone about Pelosi’s comments on human life, particularly in...

MADRID (Reuters) - Ten Spanish priests were charged with child sexual abuse on Tuesday, in a case brought after Pope Francis telephoned the victim to offer the Church's apology, court documents showed. The victim, now 24, wrote to the pope to say he had been molested when he was an altar boy. The pope called the man in August to apologize, Spanish news site Religion Digital reported in November, a report later confirmed by the pope himself.

ROME, 25 January 2015: Comments made by Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri have further undermined Church teaching on the indissolubility of marriage says Voice of the Family, an international coalition of pro-family groups. An international conference, organised by the Pontifical Council for the Family from 22-24 January, was addressed by Cardinal Baldisseri, organiser of the upcoming Synod on the Family. The expressed purpose of the conference was to provide opportunity for around 80 lay groups to assist the PCF provide input into the synod to be held in October 2015. Baldisseri defended the right of Walter Cardinal Kasper to assert that divorced...

Featured Term selected at random:GIFT OF FEAR Infused gift of the Holy Spirit that confirms the virtue of hope and inspires a person with profound respect for the majesty of God. Its corresponding effects are protection from sin through dread of offending the Lord, and a strong confidence in the power of his help. The fear of the Lord is not servile but filial. It is based on the selfless love of God, whom it shrinks from offending. Whereas in servile fear the evil dreaded is punishment; in filial fear it is the fear of doing anything contrary to the...

Sober Scriptural Wisdom on Avoiding the Whirlwind of Lust By: Msgr. Charles PopeThere is a marvelous chapter in the Book of Proverbs that ought to be studied by every young person who must live in this lustful world. Its sets forth plainly the stance that any son or daughter of God should have regarding the lust so often celebrated by this age.Many preachers and teachers wince at the Book of Proverbs on this topic since it tends to portray seduction and lust as coming from women.However it must be recalled that Proverbs features a father speaking to his son....

Violations of religious freedom in Cuba increased in 2014, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a UK-based organization that advocates on behalf of persecuted Christians. “Week after week, scores of women affiliated with the Ladies in White dissident group, most of whom are Roman Catholic, were violently dragged away by state security agents to stop them from attending Sunday morning Mass,” the organization reported. “Many were beaten in the process and most were arbitrarily detained until after the conclusion of religious services.”

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Character Studies From The Bible Moses New International Version (NIV) 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who...

When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. . . This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust without a fear. Psalm 56:3; 9-11

More than “theoretical discussions,” what unites Christians is encounter, and a willingness to “challenge one another,” said Pope Francis as he marked the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. “Christian unity will not be the fruit of subtle theoretical discussions in which each party tries to convince the other of the soundness of their opinions,” the Pope said during vespers at Saint Paul Outside the Walls Basilica on Jan. 25. “To plumb the depths of the mystery of God, we need one another, we need to encounter one another and to challenge one another under the guidance...

January 27, 2015Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Heb 10:1-10 Brothers and sisters:Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect those who come to worship by the same sacrifices that they offer continually each year.Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have had any consciousness of sins?But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins, for it is impossible that the blood of...

Spanish periodical Hoy reveals the private meeting in the Vatican of "Diego" Neria Lejárraga, a woman from Plasencia, Spain, and her "wife". Excerpts: The Blessed Encounter between Francis and Diego The Pope welcomed Saturday in the Vatican a Plasencia native who has felt outside the Church since he [sic] was submitted to a gender-reassignment surgery ... "I would have never dared before, but with Pope Francis, yes; after hearing him in so many interventions, I felt that he would listen to me." Diego Neria Lejárraga is a 48-yearold native of Plasencia [Western Spain], who was received on Saturday [January 24]...

The Conversion We Think We Want Stephen BealeLet’s face it. Given a choice, most of us would choose to have the conversion experienced by St. Paul.Here’s how Acts 22 describes the sudden conversion of the great apostle, which we celebrated on Sunday:On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you...

SF Archbishop to Pelosi: 'No Catholic Can Dissent' on Abortion 26 Jan 2015 By Courtney Coren San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, responding to recent statements made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, says there is no debate in the Catholic Church about life beginning at conception and no room for Catholics to "dissent" on the principle. During a press conference on Jan. 22, the same day the pro-life group "March for Life" was holding its annual rally in Washington, Pelosi would not answer whether she believes life begins at 20 weeks, saying that "it's not up to politicians to" make...

Satan hates the Blessed Virgin Mary. In fact, he has been doing everything in his power to discourage devotion to her and instill hatred for her for two millennia. Have you ever noticed that it is Marian dogmas and devotions that stir the strongest reactions in those who reject the Church? Even some good Catholics are embarrassed by devotion to our Lady, and they feel we should not be too extreme in our veneration of her. Perhaps you, too, have wondered why the Church holds the Immaculate Virgin in such high regard. Perhaps you have wonder why God has chosen...

prominent Republican delivered a direct request to Mitt Romney not long ago: He should make a third run for the presidency, not for vanity or redemption, but to answer a higher calling from his faith. Believing that Mr. Romney, a former Mormon pastor, would be most receptive on these grounds, the Republican made the case that Mr. Romney had a duty to serve, and said Mr. Romney seemed to take his appeal under consideration. Three years ago, Mr. Romney’s tortured approach to his religion — a strategy of awkward reluctance and studied avoidance that all but walled off a free-flowing...

An Inverness minister has announced he will leave the Church of Scotland over a series of "unbiblical" decisions by the Kirk. Rev Andrew McMillan, 38, will depart Dalneigh and Bona at the end of February and plans to establish a new church in the west of Inverness with the Free Church. The former Royal Marine said the Kirk is setting itself on a "fatal course" with a series of "unbiblical" decisions, including proposals to change religious observance rules in state schools, and criticised its divided stance on assisted suicide. It is understood Rev Andrew McMillan will become the eleventh former...

Even though pro-lifers were criticized for saying that "Obamacare" funds abortion, some liberals, including House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, are now complaining about Obamacare abortion funding that the U.S. House voted to remove Thursday. The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which passed 242-179, would require that insurance plans that receive government funding no longer cover elective abortions. In reaction, some liberals have argued that the bill would increase taxes on small business. "Republicans Include Tax Hike In Latest Abortion Bill," announced the headline of a Huffington Post article by Jennifer Bendery.

Full title: Christian Blogger Veronica Partridge Says She Is 'Under Attack From Satan' After Post Claiming Leggings Tempt Men Draws Criticism A Christian blogger under fire for saying women who wear leggings inadvertently risk tempting members of the opposite sex, says that she and her husband are under attack from Satan. Oregon resident Veronica Partridge, 25, sparked a firestorm of criticism earlier this month when she said she had chosen to stop wearing leggings as pants in public to honor her Christian faith in a candid blog post that went viral. "I've had a lot of both positive and negative...

1Peter 5:11 To Him be Glory and Dominion Forever and Ever, amen.