I don't think Huckabee would say the things the parody mentions about immigration (and neither would I, because it's wrong to think that way), but Huckabee's unlikely to say such things because his shifting immigration policies have always leaned in the direction of amnesty and providing government benefits and scholarships for illegal immigrants and their children. The rest of the commercial is just about right in terms of the way Huckabee seems to hope voters will perceive his competitors.
The parody may (or may not) amuse you, but the reality is this: Mike Huckabee is not a conservative. (Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and John McCain aren't conservatives, either.)
The video above is one of many Life Teen videos on You Tube. It's titled "Life Teen Praise & Worship Fall 2003". The About This Video section says, "Our Lady of Lourdes Life Teen Praise & Worship lead by the Life Teen Band".
This type of Life Teen liturgy, designed to bring lots of teenagers to Mass and involve them in other types of ministries, was the fruit of Monsignor Dale Fushek's priestly ministry.
From Wikipedia:
Life Teen is a Catholic youth ministry organization and movement originating in the United States. It was established in 1985 at St. Timothy's Parish in Mesa, Arizona. Pastor Fr. Dale Fushek, Youth Minister Phil Baniewicz, and Music Minister Tom Booth came up with the plan aimed to revolutionize youth ministry and bring the message of Jesus Christ to teenagers in a way they could understand it. It was decided that a new approach was needed to evangelize the Catholic youth in their area. According to Life Teen sources, they now have over 1000 individual programs in the United States and around the world. Life Teen programs are typically established in individual parishes.
The former pastor at a Mesa Catholic church who faces seven misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct has started a new worship center and conducted his first services.
More than 500 worshippers gathered to hear Dale Fushek conduct a service at a Mesa hotel Thursday.
Known as "Monsignor Dale" during his 20 years at St. Timothy's, Fushek co-founded the national Life Teen program and served as vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
But all that came tumbling down in late 2005, when he was arrested on one count of assault, five counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of indecent exposure. He is accused of engaging in sexually related discussions with teenagers during confessions and exposing himself to teens as he got into his hot tub.
Fushek was suspended by the diocese and is now resigning from the priesthood. He is tying to win the right to a jury trial on the charges and a hearing is pending on that issue before the Arizona Supreme Court.
On Thanksgiving Day, he said he was happy to be back before a group of worshippers.
"I feel alive again," he said after the two-hour morning service. "This was inspiring and beautiful. I thought there was a really good spirit among the people here."
Fushek said he started the nondenominational Praise and Worship Center as a place where people can come to worship between regular services, not as competition for the Catholic Church.
Another quote comes to mind:
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.
"Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'" (Matthew 7:15-23)
This has been a bad week for liturgical innovators and people with appalling musical taste.
Now we learn that Dale Fushek, the founder of Life Teen, who has been indicted for predatory homosexual acts with minors, thinks it's okay for priests who resign in disgrace to officiate at non-denominational worship services.
It's another blow to insipid liturgies everywhere.
After reintroducing the Latin Tridentine Mass, the Pope wants to widen the use of Gregorian chant and baroque sacred music.
In an address to the bishops and priests of St Peter's Basilica, he said that there needed to be "continuity with tradition" in their prayers and music.
He referred pointedly to "the time of St Gregory the Great", the pope who gave his name to Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant has been reinstituted as the primary form of singing by the new choir director of St Peter's, Father Pierre Paul.
He has also broken with the tradition set up by John Paul II of having a rotating choir, drawn from churches all over the world, to sing Mass in St Peter's.
The Pope has recently replaced the director of pontifical liturgical celebrations, Archbishop Piero Marini, with a man closer to his heart, Mgr Guido Marini. It is now thought he may replace the head of the Sistine Chapel choir, Giuseppe Liberto.
The International Church Music Review recently criticised the choir, saying: "The singers wanted to overshout each other, they were frequently out of tune, the sound uneven, the conducting without any artistic power, the organ and organ playing like in a second-rank country parish church."
Mgr Valentin Miserachs Grau, the director of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, which trains church musicians, said that there had been serious "deviations" in the performance of sacred music.
"How far we are from the true spirit of sacred music. How can we stand it that such a wave of inconsistent, arrogant and ridiculous profanities have so easily gained a stamp of approval in our celebrations?" he said.
He added that a pontifical office could correct the abuses, and would be "opportune". He said: "Due to general ignorance, especially in sectors of the clergy, there exists music which is devoid of sanctity, true art and universality."
Mgr Grau said that Gregorian chant was the "cardinal point" of liturgical music and that traditional music "should become again the living soul of the assembly".
The Pope favoured the idea of a watchdog for church music when he was the cardinal in charge of safeguarding Catholic doctrine.
I always enjoy Gerald's posts on this topic at The Cafeteria Is Closed. Here are a couple gems:
One can only hope that such a purge will eventually save Catholics from the banal music heard in so many parishes.
It's time to put the ubiquitous "Here I Am Lord" (words and music are by Daniel L. Schutte, S.J.) out to pasture.
Incidentally, has anyone else noticed that a section of the chorus sounds exactly like a slower tempo version of the Brady Bunch theme?
Is it I Lord?/of a lovely lady
I have heard You, calling in the night/Who was bringing up three very lovely girls
This quote sums things up nicely:
“Two thousand years of music for the Christian church, including some very fine recent contributions, and all of it gets shoved aside for The Brady Bunch.” - Thomas Day, Why Catholics Can’t Sing, on “Here I Am, Lord”
Schutte is a leader of the dreadful movement in modern liturgical music that has changed the emphasis of our hymns from adoring, praising, and glorifying God to pridefully asserting how wonderful and faithful and loving and marvelous We ourselves are. A discerning eye will note how often these new hymns mention "I" and "My" and "Us" and "Our" far more often than the Holy Trinity, the Blessed Eucharist, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the angels and saints, or even the wages of sin or the grace that saved a wretch such as "me."
More troubling is the fact that Schutte is no longer a priest but is now publicly identified as a partnered gay man. He is best known for his song, "Here I am, Lord, " a song that has become the anthem for the dissenting gay rights movement within the Catholic Church.
There should be, and probably are, Church laws against Catholic dioceses and colleges sponsoring workshops by former priests living what most Catholics consider a scandalous lifestyle. But as one of our local pastors quipped, when asked why his parish was making a liturgical change that violated Canon Law, "In this diocese, we don't obey Canon Law. We obey the bishop."
Warning: Some language in the clip is inappropriate, particularly the use of the Holy Name of Jesus in vain.
I happened to see this episode of South Park on television the other night. It's from Episode #108 from the 7th season. The episode is titled, "All About Mormons".
I liked the background vocals interspersed throughout the narrative.
Although some Mormons have complained about minor details, the story appears to be a fairly accurate basic representation of the origins of the Mormon religion.
You can read a more detailed examination of the episodes' examination of the history of the Mormon religion here: South Park Mormons - Examination
The splits in the Worldwide Anglican Communion over the church’s secularising trends and growing enthusiasm for homosexuality has led some to seek reunion with the Catholic Church after nearly 500 years apart.
The bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC)are reported to have met in Plenary Session in Portsmouth, England, in the first week of October 2007 and “unanimously agreed” to send a letter to the Pope seeking full, corporate, sacramental union” with the Catholic Church. The group has agreed not to give interviews until the Vatican has responded to their request.
The TAC boasts of some 400,000 members worldwide with at least 100 parishes in the US. It has been estimated that the TAC could have as many as 500 parishes supporting its goals in the UK.
TAC has been seeking for some years to establish some agreement with Rome that would see the entire body into the Catholic Church. In 2005, shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the TAC, Archbishop John Hepworth of Adelaide, Australia, said, “We are looking at a church which would retain an Anglican liturgy, Anglican spirituality and a married clergy.” The TAC has retained a positive relationship with Pope Benedict since, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, he was head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
In related news, a group of traditionally minded members of the Church of England has warned Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, that they would continue to resist the slide of the church towards secularisation. The group, called Reform, said that dozens of Anglican parishes in Britain will start ordaining their own clergy in defiance of their bishops who are overwhelmingly in favour of normalising homosexuality in the church.
My thoughts:
This is good news. It's also a wake-up call to deluded Catholics who want to follow the same disastrous course as the Anglicans and reject authentic Christian doctrine, rooted in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, on matters such as sexual morality (especially in regard to homosexual activity) and the ordination of women.
Earlier this summer, Smith called pro-life House Democrats “heroic” for their willingness to buck their party’s pro-abortion leadership and vote against a House bill that authorized the provision of taxpayer money to groups that promote abortion overseas.
So what is it like serving as a pro-life Congressional Democrat in the current Democrat-controlled Congress?
Casting Out The Money Changers by Carl Heinrich Bloch (May 23, 1834 – February 22, 1890)
I have noticed that, from time to time, liberals attempt to claim that Jesus was a liberal. I think the claim stems from the notion that Jesus was "anti-establishment" (which isn't entirely true), that Jesus preached about forgiveness and encouraged leniency (primarily because of the severity of the punishments meted out during His public ministry, not because He didn't believe in punishment; he mentioned the reality of the threat of hell far more often than He spoke of heaven), His concern for the poor, and His teaching that we would be judged on whether or not we practiced the corporal works of mercy (To feed the hungry; To give drink to the thirsty; To clothe the naked; To shelter the homeless; To visit the sick; To visit the imprisoned; To bury the dead).
“Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart,” the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.
“Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us,” the Illinois senator said.
“At every opportunity, they’ve told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design,” according to an advance copy of his speech.
These words from Senator Obama annoyed me. I'm tired of this error. It's rooted in a lie.
Compare Senator Obama's words with the words of Christ:
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34-39)
"Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law." (Luke 12:51-53)
Jesus knew His doctrine would cause division, and He demanded that each Christian be willing to choose Him over the love of any human person who refuses to choose Him and be conformed to His doctrine.
The myth of the all-accepting Jesus whose only doctrines were tolerance, love without judgement of external conduct (which is different than the judgement of interior disposition), charity without the courage to lovingly admonish sinners for fear of offending them, and peace at any cost (even the rejection of Christian doctrine), has long been used as a wedge to blind Christians into accepting, condoning, and even defending sin.
It's a natural progression from these errors to conclude that purpose of Christianity isn't to save our souls and help us get to heaven, it's supposed to "unite us".
Unite who?
Sin is fundamentally opposed to goodness, virtue, and truth. The darkness hates the light. Darkness and light cannot coexist peacefully. They cannot have unity.
How can those who hate and oppose every Christian moral teaching and fight those teachings tooth and nail, along with all those who call themselves Christians, but who water down Christianity or deny important doctrinal or moral teachings in order to please those who hate and oppose every Christian moral teaching, be united with faithful Christians who realize that matters of Christian faith and morality are not up for debate or issues on which there can be compromise without essentially denying Christ, rejecting His teaching, and replacing Christ and His teachings with a counterfeit Christ and a counterfeit doctrine?
Those who hate and oppose every Christian moral teaching and fight those teachings tooth and nail generally refuse to compromise (unless they experience a road to Damascus type of conversion). So Christians are the ones expected to compromise by watering down and/or denying the teachings of Christ while those who hate Christianity persist in their obstinate rejection of Christianity and their total opposition to any effort made by Christians to share Christian doctrine.
Incidentally, a conversion like St. Paul's is unlikely for those who hate the idea of God or those who hate and oppose every Christian moral teaching and fight those teachings tooth and nail. Yes, all things are possible with God, but God will not violate anyone's free will and force them to believe. Faith is a gift of grace, and everyone is extended sufficient grace to save their souls. However, not everyone accepts that gift of grace, and those who reject it are free to do so because our freedom is what allows us to merit the gift of salvation through cooperation with God's grace (without which salvation is impossible to any fallen human being).
St. Paul's conversion was only possible because his heart wasn't opposed to God and fixated on the renunciation of the moral law. Saul of Tarsus loved God and his zeal for the God of Israel combined with his genuine ignorance of the truth about Jesus Christ prior to his conversion were the reasons for his persecution against Christianity. Jesus appeared to Him because He knew St. Paul would love Him. He knew his heart and He gave St. Paul this extraordinary grace for the good of the whole Church.
I'm not saying that heretics, apostates, and obstinate sinners who habitually commit mortal sin cannot be reached by God's grace and experience conversion. I am merely saying that the interior disposition of such people renders such conversion difficult and unlikely because their inward orientation is turned against God. They have (to one degree or another) heard the teachings of Jesus Christ, but for some reason, they have recoiled in hatred at the sound of these teachings. Although it is possible the messenger or messengers who presented some of these people with these teachings scandalized them in some way (through hypocrisy, a distorted presentation of Christian doctrine, physical or mental abuse, etc.) such people aren't the ones I'm talking about, since God's justice will recognize the obstacles that hinder their faith and if there is the smallest crack in their hardened hearts that remains open to the truth, He can reach such people through grace and work the miracle of conversion. However, if a person loves themselves more than God to the point that they exclude God, or in essence, want to be God, wanting to be (themselves) the final authority on what is good and what is evil, it is very hard for such a person to have the capacity to be receptive to God's saving grace, and God will not force it on them. He will not save them in spite of their own rejection of Him and opposition to Him. If such people are also attached to and habitually commit mortal sin, their intellect is further darkened and their will is further weakened, making it even more difficult for them to accept God's grace.
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:15-20)
If someone rejects the notion of sin, how can they turn to the Savior? If someone refuses to admit they are sick, how can they turn to a doctor to be healed?
That is why it is why the side of darkness, namely the demons (the enemies of all human beings who are ultimately behind the campaign to lead us all away from God and into hell) work so diligently to instill doubt in our minds as to God's existence, instill a false sense of comfort and security that God will not condemn us if they can't convince us He does not exist, constantly distract us with the cares and concerns of this life, and with vanities, entertainments, and other ephemeral things, distorting our perceptions of the good things that God has created so that our weakened, warring, concupiscent passions will ignore the voice of reason and deny that we are fallible, flawed, fragile, weak, earthen vessels who must consider everything in the light of eternity and constantly pray and keep our eyes fixed on God if we hope to avoid the snares and entanglements along the straight, narrow, and difficult road to salvation which cannot be found without God's grace and which we will wander from if we fix our gaze on anything but Him for any length of time.
That is why Jesus taught that we must pray without ceasing:
And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1)
"Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:7-11)
"Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'" (Matthew 7:13-23)
Why some people freely choose to reject God and others choose to turn to Him and repent is something God understands, but we cannot fully understand in this life. There is a reason the Church speaks of "the mystery of iniquity".
Consider these passages from Sacred Scripture on the nature of sin, God's grace, some of the types of sin Christians must recognize as leading to damnation unless there is repentance and conversion, the suffering Christ foretold that faithful Christians would endure, the opposition faithful Christians will experience, the false teachings and philosophies which seek to rationalize and even justify sin presented by people outside and inside the Church that Christians must avoid, the constant call to conversion from God, and the mysteries of the human heart with respect to hearing and answering God's call, to help you discern who is really attempting to hijack Christianity:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it? "I the LORD search the mind and try the heart, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." (Jeremiah 17:9)
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all; also the hearts of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. (Ecclesiastes 9:3)
Why will you still be smitten, that you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. (Isaiah 1:5)
Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:10)
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes. "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Be-el'zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household." (Matthew 10:16-24)
"With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." (Matthew 13:14-17)
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)
"For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man." (Mark 7:21-23)
And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation." (Luke 19:41-44)
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; but Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man. (John 2:23-24)
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But, because I tell the truth, you do not believe me." (John 8:44-45)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:1-15)
"I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me." (John 16:1-3)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameful acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. They were filled with all (kinds of) unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, and malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, implacable, unmerciful. Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Now this I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have given themselves up to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of uncleanness. You did not so learn Christ! – assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus. Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24)
But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure man, or one who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be joint-partakers with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:3-10)
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Phillipians 3:17-21)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomor'rah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. (2 Peter 2:1-10)
Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death. (James 1:13-15)
Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat of any tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:1-7)
There are people whose hearts are fixed in evil. Some are only temporarily lost and they will come to the Lord when they hear him call, but some have heard the seductive voice within them, a voice that has its origins in the spirit of this world, the concupiscence of the flesh, or in temptations from fallen angels (demons), and they have seen real or perceived goods which they know they can take for themselves despite the fact that such real or perceived goods cannot be taken in the manner in which they are considering without offending God, who is the source of all good things. They perceive God's gifts, but ignore the fact that no good thing they consider can exist without God's Almighty power calling it into being and holding it in existence. They ignore the fact that they are not the cause of their own being and that the good that is their own existence is also wholly dependent upon God. They see God's gifts and even their own existence as things that can be had without considering Him, as though all things that exist are independent of Him, or as though the truth about all things must conform to their own desires. They hear the seductive voice within them calling their attention to the forbidden fruit and somewhere, from deep inside them, their heart whispers, "Yes!"
Senator Obama wants Christians to ignore the fact that elective abortion is murder and forget that God has said, "You shall not kill". (Deuteronomy 5:17)
Senator Obama wants Christians to pretend that Jesus never said, "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:17)
[Note: Before the anti-war crowd tries to whitewash the evil of supporting legal, elective abortion by pointing to the Iraq war, remember that "You shall not kill" doesn't mean that we can't kill anything or anyone under any circumstances (otherwise we couldn't eat plants or meat). It doesn't mean that you can't execute the wicked or go to war either, since God commands the execution of wicked people repeatedly throughout the Old Testament and he also commands his people to go to war in the Old Testament. "You shall not kill" means you shall not murder, and murder is the direct and deliberate killing of an innocent human being, which was not the intention of the Iraq war and which is contrary to the mission of the soldiers in the Iraq war, so the Iraq war does not justify or excuse supporting a party that supports legal, elective abortion. Even if you maintain that the Iraq war is an unjust war, you can't justify bad behavior or supporting those engaging in bad behavior (the abortion on demand platform of the Democratic party) by pointing to real or perceived bad behavior on the part of others (such as the Iraq war campaign headed by Republican President George W. Bush an supported by many Americans from both political parties).]
Senator Obama wants Christians to ignore the many, many passages of Sacred Scripture that make it clear that sex is to be reserved to a union of one man and one woman united in marriage until death and which explicitly condemn sexual activity outside of such a union (including homosexual activity).
He wants Christians to ignore these teachings of Christ and His apostles which affirm the moral law described in the Old Testament for the sake of "unity".
The choice is yours, but consider this last passage:
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you that do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:60-69)
Jesus let those who ceased to believe in Him walk away and He did not compromise His teachings to bring them back or promote "unity". He promised suffering and persecution to his followers and the opposition of the world.
That is not the soft message of sweetness, tolerance, acceptance, diversity, and understanding many inside and outside Christianity would have us believe to be the teachings of Christ, but that's because those who present that counterfeit doctrine and counterfeit Christ have had another agenda for a long time.
The truth is: If you are finding it easy to be a Christian, you're doing something wrong.
The Holy See has overturned the declaration of nullity granted to Joe Kennedy of his marriage to Sheila Rauch.
The original declaration of nullity created quite a bit of controversy, as well as accusations that the annulment process is really just "divorce Catholic-style", once Sheila Rauch began an effort to demonstrate the marriage was, in fact, valid.
The most controversial "marriage that never was" in recent U.S. political history is back. Sources tell TIME that the Vatican has reversed the annulment of Joseph P. Kennedy II's marriage to Sheila Rauch. The annulment had been granted in secrecy by the Catholic Church after the couple's 1991 no-fault civil divorce. Rauch found out about the de-sanctification of their marriage only in 1996, after Kennedy had been wedded to his former Congressional aide, Beth Kelly, for three years.
The annulment was the subject of Rauch's 1997 book Shattered Faith, which lambasted her ex-husband and was severely critical of the Catholic Church's proceedings, which made the marriage (which had produced twin boys) null and void in the eyes of the church. Rauch argued that Kennedy was able to unilaterally "cancel" nearly 12 years of marriage because of his clan's influence in the church. Kennedy argued at the time that the annulment was the right thing to do in religious terms. Few observers thought the appeal to Rome by Rauch, an Episcopalian, had a chance against the well-connected Kennedy. With women's groups loudly on Rauch's side, the controversy may have contributed to Kennedy's decision to give up his plans to seek re-election to Congress in 1998.
Reached by TIME in her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, Rauch said that she had just recently been informed by Boston Archdiocese officials of her successful appeal. "I am very pleased," she told TIME. "There was a real marriage. It was a marriage that failed, but as grown-ups we need to take responsibility for that. The [annulment] process was dishonest, and it was important to stand up and say that." But Rauch says she worries that the practice, particularly in the U.S., of giving what she called "easy annulments" will continue. "They don't give people a fair defense. The Boston Archdiocese doesn't even tell you that you can appeal to Rome." Reached by TIME, Kennedy's office provided no reaction from the former Congressman.
Erroneously dubbed "Catholic divorce," an annulment in fact holds that a failed marriage was never valid in the eyes of the Church. With divorce strictly prohibited in Catholicism, annulments allow Catholics to remarry before a priest and continue receiving the sacraments. Several years after his 1991 civil divorce to Rauch, Kennedy obtained an annulment from a Church tribunal in Massachusetts so he could have a Church ceremony with Kelly. The couple had already been married in a 1993 civil ceremony, but needed the Roma Rota appeals tribunal at the Vatican to uphold the Massachusetts annulment verdict before they could be married by a priest. Now with Rauch's successful appeal, that cannot happen, unless Kennedy wins a counter-appeal.
The Roma Rota's ruling, written in Latin, was reached in 2005, and had been kept secret while the official written notice was being prepared, said a source in Rome familiar with the case. Rauch's successful appeal effectively reinstates the Kennedy-Rauch marriage in the eyes of the Vatican. The case once again highlights this unique Catholic Church proceeding. Some 75% of annulments each year are from the United States, where there are an estimated 8 million divorced and remarried Catholics. The subject came up in the 2004 Presidential campaign after word spread that John Kerry had obtained an annulment of his first marriage. Another prominent Catholic who has had a marriage annulled is former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is now running for the Republican Presidential nomination.
This decision is a very good thing.
The Holy See under both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI has long maintained that the annulment process has been abused, especially in the United States.
I personally know orthodox Catholic priests and lay people who sit on marriage tribunals where they have witnessed these tribunals declaring marriages that are most probably valid as invalid, despite their own objections.
In the Diocese of Orange, the former head of the tribunal left the priesthood to get married.
Although the abysmal catechesis in the United States has wreaked havoc, it is puzzling how Catholics can frequently enter invalid marriages if they are properly prepared by the priest who marries them (barring dishonesty on the part of one or both parties when entering the marriage).
If so many priests are incompetent in assisting couples in their preparation for marriage, how else might they be failing in terms of transmitting the authentic teachings of the Church?
Apparently Joe Kennedy was initially able to get something King Henry VIII was unable to get, the dissolution of a valid marriage with the official sanction of legitimate Church authority.
That's something to think about.
Thanks be to God that the Holy See has rectified the matter.
The Holy See has overturned the declaration of nullity granted to Joe Kennedy of his marriage to Sheila Rauch.
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