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Have you ever given it much though about the phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�? Quite often you will here a pastor use this phrase as he instructs you to give glory to God though His Son. But have you ever really consider what the phrase means to you and and the significance of it? Give me a moment of your time and allow me to introduce you to something very few Christians have actually ever considered when hearing this phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�. Most people know the verse John 3:16 , many have even memorized it....

An Ignorant Jesus?  Rev. William Most, Ph.d              Was Jesus confused? Did He know He was Messiah? or divine? Did He know much  about the afterlife? Did He have at least one superstition? Did He have only the mentality of a Jew of the first third of the first century? -- Wild as it may seem, some prominent scholars charge Him on all the above counts, and more too.              But: What does the Church teach on these things? Pope Pius XII, in his great Encyclical on the Mystical Body, on June 29, 1943, rejected all such charges. He taught:...

"You Are Not Your Own" "Do you not know that . . . you are not your own?" —1 Corinthians 6:19 There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for...

Persecution 1062. Does the dictatorship of the Pope refer to spiritual things only? We cannot use the word dictatorship of the Pope in the ordinary sense of the word. The Pope has supreme authority according to the laws dictated by Christ in the constitution He gave to the Church. The authority of the Pope extends to both spiritual matters and to temporal matters in so far as they have connection with spiritual things. The Catholic Church is not a society of angelic beings, but of human beings who are composed of a spiritual soul and a material body. As...

Featured Term (selected at random):MUSICAM SACRAM Instruction on music in the liturgy of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. An extensive document giving general norms and applying them to every important aspect of liturgical music. Among other provisions there should be choirs, at least one or two properly trained singers especially in churches that cannot have even a small choir. The distinction between solemn, sung, and read Mass is retained; Gregorian chant should be given pride of place; adapting sacred music for regions having a musical tradition of their own requires "a very specialized preparation by experts"; and those instruments which...

Ratzinger's Faith Ratzinger's Faith By Dr. Jeff Mirus | October 30, 2009 4:36 PM I've just finished reading Tracey Rowland's Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology Pope Benedict XVI. Rowland is Dean and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy and Continental Theology at the John Paul II Institute in Melbourne, Australia. She is also on the editorial board of Communio, the theological journal founded by Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger. She had already written a critically-acclaimed book, Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II, as part of the Oxford University Press Radical Orthodoxy series. The book carries cover blurbs from...

Haunted houses, ghosts, demons—our Western culture can’t seem to get enough of the spirit world. The latest Gallup poll indicates that 42% of Americans believe in demon possession, 37% believe in haunted houses, and 32% believe in ghosts. (Not just Americans are enthralled—40% of the British believe in haunted houses, too.) Though interest in the paranormal is widespread, the majority of people are skeptical. They discount all spirit activity, going so far as to deny the existence of Satan and demons. Atheists stated this view succinctly in a sign they planted next to a manger scene last Christmas at the...

The Healing Power of Exorcism Oct 30th 2009 An Interview with Father Gary Thomas by Paul CiarciaThe day before I spoke with Father Gary Thomas was probably a typical weekday for most priests. For Father Thomas it was a typical weekday as well, except it involved a two hour-long, emotionally and physically draining battle with a horde of demons seeking to claim another person’s soul.“(The demons) operate in packs,” said Father Thomas. “The more powerful ones are over the less powerful ones.”“These demons have put up big fights,” Father Thomas said, recollecting the episode. “I think now we are...

The Trial of Faith "If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you" —Matthew 17:20 We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a...

English is the language of America. America brought the internet to the world. Thanks to Obama we will probably be the country that finances the start of the New World Order. I can't quote any statistics but my guess is that more Jews speak English than any other language in our present day. So using basic English I practiced a little gematria using A=1 and B=2 up to Z=26. I came up with this 666 Holloween message. The generation that sees an Israel reborn will see the coming of Christ. In numbers that's 33+108+49+48+15+64+72+56+29+33+61+21+77 = 666 That's thirteen words. 13...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace The Eucharist Table of Contents     The Holy Eucharist is unique among the sacraments. Even the variety of names by which it is called emphasizes the central position which it occupies in Catholic Christianity. It is the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord’s Supper, the Holy of Holies, the Table of the Lord, the Body and Blood of Christ, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, Viaticum, and the Real Presence – to mention only a few of the titles by which the Church has identified this central Mystery of Faith. Yet among...

Most Learned President, Father Joseph McShane, Esteemed Members of the Board of Trustees and Beloved Brothers of the Society of Jesus, Most Learned Professors and Students, Your Eminences and Graces, Distinguished Guests, Beloved children and people of God, Introduction: The Ecumenical Imperative It is with sincere gratitude that we accept this invaluable honor of being received into the doctoral college of this esteemed Jesuit school. We welcome this privilege as a recognition of the sacred ministry of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, an Apostolic institution with a history spanning seventeen centuries, throughout retaining its See in Constantinople. Yet, our Church is no...

"This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad." Your All Holiness, in the name of Christ our Savior, I welcome you to the University Church, this historic house of prayer that has stood at the center of the University's campus and mission since it was built by our founder, Archbishop John Hughes, in 1844. Your All Holiness, your Eminences, your Graces and your Excellencies, Mr. Tognino, members of the Board of Trustees, the faculty, the administration and student body of the University, and faithful and devoted members of the Orthodox Christian communities of America,...

DULUTH, Ga. (BP)--When Southern Baptist pastors huddle together, whether at Starbucks or Cracker Barrel, the conversation these days generally gravitates toward the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force and the work it has undertaken. Consequently, there is a lot of speculation that has surfaced as a result of these coffee klatches. A certain amount of speculation is good. It shows keen interest in the denomination, its leadership, the impending report of the task force and the future of the convention. Since members of the task force have been asked to keep their deliberations a secret and since the meetings are closed...

DALLAS (BP)--Following an Oct. 27 dialogue with 22 executive directors of Southern Baptist state conventions, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force chairman Ronnie Floyd addressed several issues on which he felt the record needed to be "set straight." Floyd, pastor of First Baptist Church in Springdale, Ark., listed those issues in a statement released after the task force meeting adjourned: 1) The Great Commission Task Force is not considering any abandonment of the Cooperative Program. "We are asking questions about how the Cooperative Program can remain our central system of missions funding, not whether it will remain so," Floyd said in...

As the saying goes: “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” But taxes you can avoid and evade; death — not so. Therefore, the only logical response to death is to embrace it…or at least accept it. After all, it’s not like we have a choice.While traveling back from dropping off a son for college in Oregon last week, we attended Mass in Missoula, MT at St. Francis Xavier church. During the prayers of intercession, one prayer caught my attention: “For all who have died, for all who are going to die and for all who are afraid to...

ALL SAINTS & ALL SOULS We are approaching the end of the liturgical year which will culminate with the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe. At this feast we celebrate what we read in Scripture, that God will be all in all. As we move toward this feast during this month of November, as a church we focus on the four last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The thought of death may bring discomfort to non believers who are healthy, wealthy, and wise in our own estimation. It can mean the loss of power, prestige, and possessions...

Featured Term (selected at random):PASCENDI Encyclical letter of Pope St. Pius X condemning Modernism. Its full title is Pascendi Dominici Gregis, published September 8, 1907. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Growing in Faith Today's Scripture "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Did you know that your faith in God can grow and increase every single day? Notice today's scripture doesn't say, "Faith comes because you have heard the Word of God one time." No, it says that "faith comes by hearing"–in the present tense. Sure, God's Word can transform us in an instant; but most of the time, we need to hear God's principles over and over again before they become active in our lives....

Faith "Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . ." —Hebrews 11:6 Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Confirmation Table of Contents     “If there was ever a time when the Sacrament of Confirmation needed to be explained carefully, that time is now. All too many members of the Church neglect it altogether; and those who have received it or who plan to receive it, see it as something minor in their lives. There is need, then, for instruction on the nature, power, and dignity of this sacrament. Far from being neglected or received in a mere perfunctory way, Confirmation must be restored to the reverence and devotion it deserves.” These words introduced The...

A resolution pending in the United Nations in one form or another since 1999 is being pushed again by the Islamic nations that originally proposed the plan they called "Defamation of Islam," which would ban criticism of the beliefs of Muhammad worldwide...

Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. It's easy to forget sometimes that being a child of God, having the privilege of calling God our Father is itself a gift -- that you and I have no personal claims, no right to be called a "child of God" apart from the grace that comes to us in our Lord Jesus Christ.  The fact that you and I have been made sons and daughters of our heavenly Father is pure gift.  As it says in...

<p>All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.</p>

Line up Your Heart Today's Scripture "…The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (I Samuel 16:7, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When the Lord looks at your heart, what does He see? Every one has an outer life and an inner life. The outer life is our public life that people around us see. The inner life is made up of our thoughts, attitudes, and motives. Only you and God know what's going on inside of you. Too many people...

Substitution "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" —2 Corinthians 5:21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was "made. . . to be sin. . . ." Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace Baptism Table of Contents     Baptism was already prefigured in the Old Testament. Some of the ancient rites or events that anticipated Christian Baptism were circumcision (Colossians 2:11), the march of the Israelites through the Red Sea (I Corinthians 10:2), and across the Jordan (Joshua 3:14). What the church considers a formal prophecy of baptism was the oracle of Ezekiel regarding the New Israel. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed. I shall cleanse you of all defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart and put...

On Theology in the 12th Century "Knowledge Grows Only if It Loves Truth" VATICAN CITY, OCT. 28, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address today during the general audience in St. Peter's Square. * * * Dear brothers and sisters, Today I pause to reflect on an interesting page of history, regarding the flowering of Latin theology in the 12th century, which came about by a providential series of coincidences. In the countries of Western Europe there reigned then a relative peace, which assured society of economic development and the consolidation of political structures, and fostered a...

Two weeks ago I mentioned in my sermon that God grows Christians by feeding them his Word. One way he does this is by providing the church with teachers and preachers. This means that if we are going to grow we need to be sitting at the feet of reliable carriers of God's truth. This, however, begs the question: how can we identify a reliable carrier of God's truth? The Bible makes it clear that there are many unreliable carriers of so-called truth. Satan masquerades as an angel of light seeking to deceive. So we need a lot of biblical...

A Sabbath Resurrectionand Wednesday Crucifixionof Yeshua the MessiahDaniel Gregg     This article begins with concessions to the traditional Friday afternoon crucifixion and Sunday morning resurrection point of view.   Why concede points to the Sunday resurrection?  Because whatever you heard or studied about this before, you've most likely studied an incomplete version of the Wednesday crucifixion and Sabbath resurrection that neglects these points.   These neglected points may serve as reason to reject the Sabbath resurrection.   On the other hand, the Wednesday scenario was always viable in spite of these difficulties, because the Friday arguments has problems of its own.   What is needed...

Featured Term (selected at random): INEFFABLE That which is inexpressible. Only God is ultimately ineffable because only he cannot be fully comprehended by the finite mind. Since knowledge determines expression, the divine ineffability is a result of the divine incomprehensibility. In the words of St. Augustine, "More true than our speech about God is our thinking of Him, and more true than our thinking is His Being" (De Trinitate, VII, 4, 7). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The following message (though not this picture) was posted yesterday on the Mormon Church's public affairs blog. It explains the group's unhappiness with recent news reports that refer to "splinter groups" which hive off from the Salt Lake City-based "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (AKA "the Mormon Church") as "Mormons." These splinter groups (AKA "Mormon Fundamentalists") assiduously devote themselves to the practice of the doctrine of polygamy (which was renounced by THE Mormon Church in 1890) and around whichever Viagra-addled alpha male has set himself up as the prophet, seer, and revelator for that particular harem.

The devil, so the saying goes, is the ape of God. And so one of his standard methods for deceiving is to create parodies of good things and send them into the world in pairs.Why parodies? Because he cannot make, he can only mock. So instead of love, he offers lust. Instead of justice he offers merciless vengeance. Instead of dignity, he offers pride. Instead of contentment with the world’s goods he offers greed.Why does he send errors into the world in pairs? So that, in fleeing one lie, you will embrace the opposite lie. And so, for instance, he...

A Vital Necessity Today's Scripture "Set your mind and heart to seek (inquire of and require as your vital necessity) the Lord your God." (I Chronicles 22:19 AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria What things do you consider a vital necessity in your life? In other words, what can't you live without? Most people would immediately think of food, water, and shelter; but in reality, we can't really live unless our minds and hearts are set on seeking the Lord. Sure, you can exist without seeking Him, but you are called to more than just existence. You are...

Justification by Faith "If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" —Romans 5:10 I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It...

ChristiaNet.com, the world's largest Christian portal with nine million monthly page loads, recently asked, "Can salvation be lost?" Bill Cooper, president of ChristiaNet, states, "I believe our focus should be on spreading the Gospel and gaining new salvations." Out of 1,200 Christians surveyed, 54% believed that Christians can not lose their salvation. Some surveyed in this group felt that, "Once you have accepted Jesus, no one can pluck you out of His hand." One poller responded, "I am kept by the power of Christ not my own works." "It is a free gift from God. There is nothing we did...

Saints Simon and Jude                      SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES From a commentary on the gospel of John by Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishopAs the Father sent me, so I am sending you    Our Lord Jesus Christ has appointed certain men to be guides and teachers of the world and stewards of his divine mysteries. Now he bids them to shine out like lamps and to cast out their light not only over the land of the Jews but over every country under the sun and over people scattered in all directions and settled in distant lands.   That man...

Part Two:  Channels of Grace The Sacraments Table of Contents     The closing article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in life everlasting,” is also the opening door to the seven sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ. As we have seen, the eternal life that awaits those who believe in Christ is the supernatural life which He came into the world to restore to a fallen human race. That is why the Savior was so blunt in His explanation to Nicodemus about the need for being “born again”. I tell you most solemnly, unless a man is born through water and the...

Featured Term (selected at random):INHERENCE Dependence on another being for its existence. Accidents naturally inhere in the substances they modify. By divine power, in the Holy Eucharist the accidents of bread and wine exist without inhering in their substance, which has been changed through transubstantiation into the substance of Christ's body and blood. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Who Will See God? Today's Scripture "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart…" (Psalm 24:3-4, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Do you want to see more of God in your life? As believers in Jesus, the Bible says that He makes His home in us, but we have to do our part to develop our relationship with Him. We have to choose to submit our hearts to Him and allow Him to purify us on the inside. We...

The Method of Missions "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . ." —Matthew 28:19 Jesus Christ did not say, "Go and save souls" (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, "Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . ." Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, "Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret...

Hello and welcome to another edition of the White Horse Inn as we are thinking through what is means to be Christians in a post-Christian culture. You know, every time a debate comes up on homosexual marriage or on war, a whole host of topics; on one hand conservatives sometimes invoke the theocratic promises, commands, and threats of the old covenant as if they could just be lifted from the context of Israel's covenant with God and apply to any modern country. While liberals and secularists simply dismiss these Old Testament passages as morally offensive "texts of terror." But there...

What Is the Gospel that Jesus Christ Taught? If we are to understand the point of Jesus' teachings, message and mission, we need to be sure we understand the gospel—the good news—that He taught. by Scott Ashley What is the message Jesus Christ brought and taught? It seems like a simple enough question, but most people don't give it much thought. They know Jesus preached a "gospel"— which comes from the Old English godspel, meaning "good news" or "good message"—but what is that message? This is where things can get a little murky. Many think that the gospel of Christ...

There is no doubt that the 16th century witnessed the greatest ever split in Church history. Some view the Reformation as a sad or even an evil episode. Others see it as a time when God restored the one true biblical Gospel back into the hands of the masses. But what exactly were the issues back then? And what are the issues in our own day? Was this a mere tempest in a tea cup? I suggest that the issues then and now are exactly the same - who or what speaks for God, and what exactly is the Gospel?...

First-century believers could have offered tangible evidence that there was little chance for the gospel to have an impact on the status quo of religious and civil oppression in their day. How could a small band of men—led by a fisherman (Peter) and a tentmaker (Paul)—living under Roman occupation ever conceive that their circumstances would change enough so that the gospel message would lead to the transformation of the world? To add to the improbability of a world-wide impact, soon after the victorious ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His disciples, one of their own...

Featured Term (selected at random):CANONICAL PENANCE The specified penance, corresponding to the nature and gravity of the sin, prescribed by confessors in the sacrament of penance. These penances were listed in penitential books. Celtic in origin, the earliest canonical lists are ascribed to St. Patrick and date from the fifth century. In time the practice spread throughout Europe. The best known penitential book is that ascribed to Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury (602-90). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Columnist Maureen Dowd, in Sunday’s New York Times, has weighed in on the Vatican investigation now taking place into the state of American nuns. The investigation, officially called an apostolic visitation, has been met with a fair bit of skepticism because there is a strong sense, among many sisters, that this is an attempt to put American nuns back where they belong: behind convent walls and dressed in the traditional habit. Since Vatican II, many nuns have opted for less structured lives, taking on a range of secular jobs and living on their own instead of in a community. All...

Bible StudyFolks, more and more many of my correspondents and friends share with me their frustrations with the state of the nation, the world, and the Church. We do live in an age trying to the souls of men; the quest for power is the order of the day, a crass form of Paganism disguised as “spirituality” runs rampant. In the Church, ordained clergymen and religious men and women who should know better are either too shy to confront the spirit of the age or, have completely capitulated to it. Too many from among the laity behave with willful indifference...

In Due Season Today's Scripture "I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase and the trees of the field yield their fruit" (Leviticus 26:4, AMP) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God has set up seasons in our lives. It's easy to get frustrated when our dreams aren't coming to pass on our timetable, but every season is not harvest season. There are plowing seasons. There are planting seasons. There are watering seasons. Sure, we would love for every season to be a time of increase left and right, good breaks here...

What is a Missionary? "Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ " —John 20:21 A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of...