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I’m not one of those twelve million readers who bought the book “Heaven is For Real” and torpedoed it to the New York Times’ Bestseller List. But I did check it out from the library and enjoyed both the story and the accounts of heaven. “Heaven is for real” is, in fact, only one among the many testimonies of near death experiences I’ve heard about from both Christians and non-Christians. With some suspect exceptions, most of the descriptions of heaven are fascinating and inspire me to work hard to aim for the ultimate prize. But that’s just the good news.On...

Protesters against SB175 gather outside the Colorado State Capitol in Denver on April 15, 2014. Credit: Peter Zelasko/CNA. Denver, Colo., Apr 16, 2014 / 12:32 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Archbishop of Denver on April 15 rallied opposition to a Colorado bill he says is “both extreme and dangerously ambiguous” in its ban on all abortion regulations and other pro-life laws. “Coloradans are not against common sense regulations on abortions, and they should have the opportunity to be able to debate and pass those regulations,” Archbishop Aquila Samuel J. Aquila said to a crowd of hundreds at an assembly and prayer...

Teaching the truths about homosexuality, chastity, adultery, and how God wants us to live our lives is not always an easy thing to do. Nor is living that life. But God asks that we do our best nevertheless, for our ultimate goal is eternity with Him. We cannot plead ignorance. We cannot justify that we chose otherwise. God's word is the truth, and though some may try to silence those who tell the truth, it doesn't change the facts. April 11, 2014 (ALL.org) - Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, a Dominican nun who has recently come under fire for a presentation...

Today I saw on the front page of the Holy See’s daily that the Holy Father reconfirmed Msgr. Guido Marini as Master of Ceremonies for another term. Good sign. Pope Francis is keeping certain of Pope Benedict’s people pretty close.

The Muslims Will Invade The Vatican, And Try to Destroy The Roman Catholic Church By Ted on April 12, 2014 inFeatured, General SHOEBAT EXCLUSIVE By Theodore Shoebat I remember a few years ago spending time with an Evangelical friend of mine. Within our conversation, somehow, the subject of the Crusades came up. Of course, I defended the Crusades, explaining that they were fighting off Islamic invaders in the Middle East. He, on the other hand, vehemently condemned the Crusaders as evil and barbarous people. I asked him, “Who would you rather win, the Muslims or the Crusaders?” He said,...

VATICAN CITY, April 11, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Human life is “sacred and inviolable” and “every civil law is based on the recognition of the first and most fundamental right, the right to life,” Pope Francis told an Italian pro-life organization today. The pope thanked the Movimento per la Vita, one of Italy’s leading political pro-life groups, for their work, urging them to continue “with courage and love” for life “in all its phases.” “It is therefore necessary to reiterate the strongest opposition to any direct attack on life, especially innocent and defenseless, and her unborn child in the womb...

BERKELEY, CA, April 7, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Oakland Bishop Michael Barber, Pope Francis’ first U.S. episcopal appointment, has drawn ire from Catholic progressives after replacing the priests serving the University of California at Berkeley campus, one of whom is “openly homosexual.” Newman Hall Holy Spirit Church, which functions as the parish church for Catholic students at the university, has been led by its pastor, Fr. Bernard Campbell, for the past seven years. Fr. Bill Edens, a self-identified homosexual, has served as student chaplain for the last five. Both are members of the Paulist order, which normally appoints priests at the...

"Have you not read?" The Authority behind Biblical InterpretationBy Robert SungenisDriving in my car the other day, I turned on the radio and came across one of the local Protestant stations. A preacher was expounding on John 3:5 where Jesus says, "Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."In his exegesis, he was absolutely sure that John did not mean physical water. Instead, he proposed that John’s water referred to the "word of God." He cited Ephesians 5:26 and claimed that because Paul referred to "washing her with water by the...

As Star Trek: Voyager Captain Kathryn Janeway, Kate Mulgrew knew her way around a solar system or two. So there was a certain irony to the actress’ voiceover work in the upcoming documentary The Principle, which focuses on the notion of geocentrism: the idea that the sun revolves around the Earth. But Mulgrew has dispelled the notion that she buys into the documentary’s central premise, writing in a post on her Facebook page that she is “not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism.” “I was a voice for hire, and a misinformed one, at...

Fears that a public Catholic baptism ceremony for a Argentinean lesbian couple’s child would amount to little more than a media stunt to promote the Church's acceptance of homosexuality appear to have been borne out Saturday at the Archdiocese of Cordoba’s cathedral. After the celebration of the sacrament, the couple, Karina Villarroel and Soledad Ortiz, kissed while posing for photos with the child, Umma Azul, at the front of the Church. Villarroel, the non-biological “mother,” told local press the Catholic Church’s decision to grant the baptism was important “because it signifies that there is a real social change and acceptance"...

“Strong and brave young women.”That’s what former U.S. Secretary of State and potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the members of Pussy Riot, a Russian anarchist punk band whose members have been convicted in Russian courts of “hooliganism” and inciting religious hatred.Clinton posed with two members of the band while in New York for the Women in the World Summit. On Friday, she posted the photo on Twitter, saying,Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina served nearly two years in prison after their unauthorized performance February 21, 2012, in Moscow’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The two were stopped by...

Welcome to The Reign of “Gay” April 08, 2014 Make no mistake, it has nothing to do with fun and games, and everything to do with the forced rationalization of grave depravity Carl E. Olson In the summer of 1992, I took my first real job, working as a graphic designer for the venerable Meier & Frank department store chain in downtown Portland, Oregon. Those three years proved to be quite educational for a fairly naïve young man fresh out of Bible college and figuring out the ways of the world in the very beautiful, exceedingly secular Northwest. Within...

The Maryland Catholic Conference counts the boost in minimum wage and full funding of two programs benefiting nonpublic schools among its successes as the General Assembly adjourned April 7. Legislators passed a bill April 7 raising the state’s minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $10.10 incrementally by 2018. The final bill does not require, as earlier drafts did, that the wage be indexed to inflation. It also extended by one year the original proposal’s timeline for the full wage increase to take effect. The MCC, which advocates for public policy on behalf of the state’s Catholic bishops, supported a general...

"The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny — and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," British graphic novel artist David Lloyd, the man who created the original image of the mask for a comic strip written by Alan Moore, told BBC. At the top of Reddit today is somewhat ironic image of this icon of rebellion being mass-produced in a factory in Sao Goncalo near Rio de Janeiro. Reuters notes that the masks are...

From The Times November 7, 2007 Ron Paul raises $4.3m in a day on the back of notorious terrorist Tom Baldwin in Washington Guy Fawkes, a 17th-century English mercenary and terrorist who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, is an unlikely figurehead for a US Republican presidential candidate. But Ron Paul is neither a run-of-the-mill Republican nor a typical presidential aspirant. His supporters announced yesterday that they had smashed Republican fundraising records by hauling in a total of $4.3 million (£2 million) for his campaign from more than 37,000 donors over the previous 24 hours. And they...

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has praised church workers in Africa who promote chastity as a key way to prevent the spread of HIV. Francis was speaking Monday at the Vatican to bishops from Tanzania. Many non-Catholic health care workers advocate condoms as an important weapon to fight the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. The Vatican opposes condom use because church teaching forbids contraception. Francis praised church health care workers in Africa who care for those with HIV/AIDS and "all who strive diligently to educate people in the area of sexual responsibility and chastity." In 2010, Pope...

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer is more than vaguely "pro-choice."  He penned the majority opinion in the Stenberg v Carhart decision in 2000, striking down state laws banning partial-birth abortion.  In fact, the abortion procedure he supported is so barbaric that the United States Congress called for its outright prohibition in 2003: "A moral, medical, and ethical consensus exists that the practice of performing a partial-birth abortion.... (usually the puncturing of the back of the child’s skull and removing the baby’s brains) is a gruesome and inhumane procedure that is never medically necessary and should be prohibited.” As...

In an article which may be found here, Dr. William Oddie notes that, "Pope Francis has now once again (though to judge by the so far sparse coverage, you’d think he’d never said or done anything before) expressed his abhorrence of clerical sex abuse. Previous popes—indeed most senior clergy—are normally too reticent, however, to do what he has now done as well, that is to say, he has defended the Catholic Church’s record on tackling the sexual abuse of children by priests, by declaring what is now the simple truth: that “no one else has done more” than the Church...

From the moment Jorge Mario Bergoglio stepped out onto the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and asked the world to “pray for me,” a persistent theme has resounded in the mainstream media. Pope Francis, as the popular narrative would have it, has singlehandedly set a “new tone” for the Church after decades, if not centuries — or millennia! — of crankiness and stagnation. Consider these headlines:

Shepherds & Kings: A Look at the Papacy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnNo2LgnnyI(Music used available for purchase here: http://www.amazon.com/Cantiones-sacrae-II-Exsurge-Domine/dp/B00B9E18Y8) There is to be one Shepherd here. It was first King David (Ezekiel 34:23), then Jesus (John 10:11), and now is the Pope (John 21:17). This role is tied to the role of King. As David was King (2 Samuel 5:12) and Christ is King (Matthew 27:11), so the Pope is (as the Vicar of Christ) "father of princes and kings". Historically, the Pope has been the unifier of everyone: emperors, artists, the religious, and so on. Whenever emperors would abandon the Faith, they would...