Peace means far more than the absence of War

 

 

by

 Damien F. Mackey

 

 

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“The indispensable presupposition of all these” – the Pope said – “is peace, which, even more than an end to all wars, is the fruit of heartfelt conversion”.

 

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS

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The Universal Desire for Peace

 

Every normal person yearns for a life of peace and one free from constant painful dramas. People chalk the word, ‘peace’, on footpaths, write it on walls, wear it on their T-shirts. The word ‘peace’ has been much bandied about since the Lindt café siege in Sydney (Australia) and the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. Former Australian Idol winner, Wes Carr, who quickly penned a song about the Sydney siege, I Pray, recently made this comment: “I am so deeply humbled my song I Pray has resonated with so many ... we all need to find peace within ourselves and speak more of LOVE and HOPE than to live in fear and anger”.

Even Man Haron Monis, the Islamic terrorist responsible for the Lindt café siege in Sydney, was a self-professed “peace activist” who in 2011 registered with [New South Wales] Fair Trading, an association the objects of which were: “To provide humanitarian assistance to mankind especially children and women. To promote peace and spirituality in the society and to encourage people to live in harmony”.

And the brother of the police officer Ahmed Merabet who was gunned down during the Charlie Hebdo rampage, and who was Muslim, said. “Islam is a religion of peace and love”. Thus we could all probably say, with the prophet Jeremiah (8:15):

 

“We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror”.

 

Now Pope Francis, too, has spoken masterfully about our same subject of peace in his Angelus Address of January 2015, getting right to the nitty-gritty of this vital matter (http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-renews-call-for-peace-at-sunday-angelus). In the course of his address the pope would take up the theme of humankind’s universal desire for peace: “Each person, and every people hungers and thirsts for peace; therefore, it is necessary and urgent to build peace!”

But what exactly is peace?

Well, according to Pope Francis’s definition: “Peace is not only the absence of war, but a general condition in which the human person is in harmony with himself, in harmony with nature, and in harmony with others. This is peace”.

Obviously the removal of all war is necessary for the attainment of peace:

 

First of all, to silence arms and to extinguish the outbreaks of war remain the unavoidable conditions to begin a journey that leads to the achievement of peace in its different aspects. I think of conflicts that are still shedding blood in too many regions of the planet, of tensions in families and in communities ….

 

But Pope Francis then immediately moves on to identify the less obvious and more personal and deep-seated ‘wars’, asking: “-- but in how many families, in how many communities, in how many parishes is there war! as well as the sharp conflicts in our cities and towns between groups of different culture, ethnic and religious backgrounds”.

Now to the crux of it all.

 

The heart of the matter: Do we really know how to find peace?

 

People today talk much about peace, and light, and freedom. For instance, the massive crowd of marchers in Paris constantly chanted “liberté” (“freedom”) at their rally. They were only proclaiming their Voltairian rights. The Charlie Hebdo situation certainly resonates with “Voltaire”, as according to the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaire):

 

In a 1745 letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam, Muhammad as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet." Voltaire wrote that "Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy?".^[91][92] His view was modified slightly for Essai sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations, however they remained negative.^{[93][94][95][96][97]} In 1751, Voltaire performed his play Mohamet once again, with great success.^[98]

 

Whilst people today talk persistently about the much-desired pathways to happiness in life (peace, love, freedom-liberty), are they actually prepared to ‘walk the talk’ along these very same pathways?

Often they are not, according to the recent assessment of Pope Francis in consideration here of “light”, and “peace” (Angelus Address, my emphasis):

 

In the Gospel that we read today, Saint John says, “In Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (Jn 1:4-5, 9). People speak a great deal about the light, but they often prefer the deceptive tranquility of the dark. We speak so much about peace, but we often resort to war, or choose complicit silence, or we do nothing concrete to build peace.

 

 

The reason being that these same reject the very Author of these life qualities, Jesus Christ, who - as in the case of the first Christmas - gets completely left out in the cold (Angelus):

 

In fact, St John says that "He came to what was His own, but His own people did not accept Him" (Jn 1:11); because "“this is the verdict, that the light -- Jesus – came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed” (Jn 3:19-20). So says the Gospel of St John. A person's heart can reject the light and prefer the darkness, because the light lays bare their evil works. The one who does evil hates the light; the one who does evil hates peace. 

 

US Catholic educator, Sherry Weddell, puts it like this (“Beyond great silence: an interview with Sherry Weddell”: http://www.australiancatholicnews.com.au/?article_id):

 

 “Jesus is ‘He who must not be named’,” Weddell says, remembering a favourite quip of one of her close friends; one likening the situation of Christ to that of Voldemort in the Harry Potter films and novels.

“There’s a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ culture going: ‘I will never ask you where you are in your relationship with God and you’re never going to have to talk about it,” Weddell says.
“We’ll just pretend that topic is not even on the table; that it’s all taken care of somehow.
“We’ll talk about things we do, about institutions and our next committee meeting and how we’re going to organise this, and our finances, and our budget, but we never talk about the heart of the matter.” ….

 

Weddell’s description, ‘He who must not be named’, reminds me of a type of scary movie in which the cowering inhabitants must not name, or ever speak of, an evil force lurking in the shadows of their remote village.  

At the very time of my writing this article,

has come also to light with an appropriate blog piece about what it considers to be the true meaning of ‘peace’ and the indispensability to it of Jesus Christ (“Peace I Leave with You”: http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/blog/peace-i-leave-with-you):

 

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

 

 

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

I was there above in the pictures you see... you will probably only be able to see my Jews for Jesus hat, because we were so squashed against each other that I felt like saying, "Je suis... Sardine"! The famous slogan has been toted the world over. "Je suis Charlie" means: "I condemn the attack", "I am for free speech" "I want a democratic nation at peace with all religions, thoughts and views to the exclusion of all fanatics and fundamentalists." Jesus' statement, therefore, seems very a propos, because he offers "Peace", but he immediately adds "not as the world gives". In other words, what people want is not what Jesus is offering. Jesus is not Charlie, if you will.  When He says, "My peace" His peace is not what we understand as Peace, necessarily. Jesus used the word "Shalom". Shalom comes from "Shalem" which means "wholeness" and "spiritual harmony" filling every aspect of our lives…not merely "Je suis Charlie". It is much more. It is the fullness of God's presence. ….

 

This article, which seems to resonate extremely well, in part, with Pope Francis’s comments on the matter of peace, has elicited comments such as these:

 

I agree 100%.....peace without Jesus is an empty peace. Repent because Kingdom of Heavens is coming.

Jesus ....The Messiah is the solution to the worlds problems ...Pray for our Jewish Brothers and sisters and the Christians of the Middle East who live with terror and hate on a daily basis

Shalom

 

I am sad that we are so supportive of Charlie Hebdo. We oppose bullying because of the often tragic consequences. Mocking someone's religion is bullying. Why are we surprised at the results?

 

The ‘God’ of the atheists

 

One has to wonder exactly to whom singer Wes Carr is praying in his song, I Pray:

 

There ain't no God,

That will play,

With your fear, evil and hate

There ain't no God, That will discriminate,

You can't fight hatred with hate.

….

We are all Love

Got to remember love

Unconditional love

We are all love.

….

Etc.

 

One is reminded to some extent of Isaiah 45:20: “They have no knowledge who carry around the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that cannot save them”.

This is the ‘wisdom’ of the world, all love and peace and happiness, but entirely without God.

Wes is simply echoing here Beatle John Lennon’s anthem to atheism:

 

"Imagine"

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

 

According to the Apostle James (3:15): “Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic”.  

 

Selective Condemnation

 

Rightly has, and does, Charlie Hebdo condemn Islamic terrorism. And rightly did the anti-terrorism crowd in Paris - some say ‘the largest in French history’ - march in protest against the barbaric massacre of twelve people, including the editor Stéphane “Charb” Charbonnier, other Charlie Hebdo employees, and two National Police officers.

Journalist Jessica Reed, The Guardian, has this month (8^th January, 2015) also praised the weekly magazine for what she considers to be its “tireless commitment to defending women” (http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/07/charlie-hebdos-spirit-will-endure-):

 

Charlie Hebdo partly shaped my political views as a teenager. I especially remember the delight I felt when it called for a huge mobilisation in my hometown, Tours, before Jean Paul II’s visit, damning the Catholic church for its position on condom use. I remember the grace and humanism of a column it gave to Patrick Pelloux, an ER doctor working in a poor suburb, detailing how the healthcare system was failing the poorest among us. I remember its tireless commitment to defending women, especially to the right to have an abortion and the right to have a sex life without shame.

 

With this last statement in mind, I think it safe to assume that Charlie Hebdo has never ever thought to condemn abortion, which Lord Nicholas Windsor has rightly described as a terrorism even greater than the Islamic one. Abortion, which Windsor nails as “the single most grievous moral deficit in contemporary life”, is discussed here particularly in relation to Europe (http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/blog/2010/12/abortion-greater-threat-to-europe-):

 

Abortion Greater Threat to Europe than Islamic Terrorism

 

Legal abortion is “the single most grievous moral deficit in contemporary life” and its proliferation will exact an as-yet unknown social price for the countries that have adopted it, said Lord Nicholas Windsor, the son of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, this month.

“The granting to ourselves of the right wantonly to kill, each year, millions of our offspring at the beginning of their lives: This is the question of questions for Europe,” he said.

“The practice of abortion is a mortal wound in Europe’s heart, in the center of Hellenic and Judeo-Christian culture.”

With legal abortion all but ubiquitous, Lord Windsor wrote in the U.S. religious journal First Things, mothers have the power of the emperor’s over the lives of their children: “Caesar’s thumb is up, or Caesar’s thumb is down. And when it comes to exporting this idea, we do it with zeal and determination through such institutions as the United Nations and the European Union.”

He asks what the ultimate cost to a society that has “placed this fearful act at its center – consciously approving, even celebrating, its own most egregious moral failing” will be.

The great irony, he said, is that Europe’s highly “rights” conscious political and social atmosphere, “is in favor of one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of human rights that human society has ever tolerated.”

“Didn’t Europeans think they could never and must never kill again on an industrial scale?”

Lord Windsor points to the reduction of poverty in the 1st world, the growth of women’s and minority rights, the end of colonialism and the relatively peaceful end to the Cold War, but says the threat of abortion has “taken us unawares” and overshadowed these accomplishments. Even the threat of Islamist terrorism does not qualify as so deep an “existential” threat as abortion.

“All else that we concern ourselves with in the lives of human beings derives from the inescapable fact that first we must have human lives with which to concern ourselves.” In disregarding the right of the unborn to be born, he said, “humanity’s deepest instincts are trampled and shattered.”

Windsor compared abortion to slavery as a great moral and social evil that calls for a “new abolitionism for Europe” before it is too late. Britain’s birth rate is higher than most European countries, but remains below replacement level at 1.9 children born per woman. Recent statistics have shown, however, that the country has one of the highest rates of abortion in the EU, especially among younger women.

“This is a historically unprecedented cascade of destruction wrought on individuals: on sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, future spouses and friends, mothers and fathers – destroyed in the form of those to whom we owe, quite simply and certainly, the greatest solidarity and duty of care because they are the weakest and most dependent of our fellow humans.” ….

 

How can humankind even pretend to be striving for peace whilst allowing this ‘Herodian slaughter of the innocents’ to proceed! Are we really serious about peace, or just hypocrites? Recall John 3:20: “The one who does evil hates the light; the one who does evil hates peace”. 

This is the whole crux of the matter.

 

Blasphemy

 

Voltaire would be pleased. Now-deceased Charlie Hebdo editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, had vowed that his cartoonists would keep poking fun “until Islam is just as banal [or humdrum] as Catholicism”.

Far worse than that, the staff of Charlie Hebdo have horribly mocked Jesus Christ and his holy Mother in various of their publications.

For those interested in learning about Heaven’s fiery displeasure regarding blasphemies against Mary, see my:

 

The Five First Saturdays of Our Lady of Fatima

 

http://www.academia.edu/3731625/The_Five_First_Saturdays_of_Our_Lady_of_Fatima

 

 

 

Je ne suis pas Charlie.

“Slavery makes us believe we can’t dream, can’t fly and can’t hope,” Pope Francis said.

ROME — In his final public appearance of 2014, Pope Francis on Wednesday invited believers to a serious “examination of conscience” about sins both personal and communal during the past year, especially whether “the poor, weak, and marginalized are the center of our thoughts and daily actions.”

“We need a great daily attitude of Christian liberation,” the pope said, “to defend the poor rather than defending ourselves from the poor, and to defend the weak rather than defending ourselves from the weak.”

In his homily for a New Year’s Eve vespers service, Pope Francis set up a contrast between what he described as the liberation offered by Christ and the slavery imposed by sin.

“Paradoxically,” he said, “often more or less unconsciously we prefer slavery,” he said, arguing that the responsibility implied by freedom “frightens us.”

“A great Italian artist recently said that it was easier for the Lord to remove the Israelites from Egypt than to remove Egypt from the hearts of the Israelites,” the pope said, referring to a recent program on the Ten Commandments by Italian comedian and actor Roberto Benigni broadcast on Italian television.

“Liberty frightens us … [while] slavery reduces our sense of time to the present moment,” the pope said. “We live these moments disconnected from our past and our future, rather than being fully and really present facing eternity.”

“Slavery makes us believe we can’t dream, can’t fly and can’t hope,” Francis said.

As the Bishop of Rome, Francis placed special emphasis on the need for Romans to live up to their heritage as citizens of a city based on the “witness and martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul,” calling on them to fight corruption and to build “a more just city based on solidarity.”

Referring to traditional New Year’s fireworks displays, the pontiff said “they last only a few instants,” and called on people not to be seduced by “the fascination of the moment.”

It was another somber performance from Francis during the holiday season, after a Dec. 22 address to the elites of the Vatican cataloguing a series of “spiritual diseases” with which he believes they’re at times infected, and a Christmas Day message in which the pope lamented the suffering of children and of refugees in Iraq and Syria.

As is customary for popes on New Year’s Eve, Pope Francis led a vespers service followed by the traditional Te Deum hymn of praise in thanksgiving for the preceding year. The title comes from the Latin opening of the hymn, Te Deum laudamus, which means “Thee, O God, we praise.”

In his final tweet of 2014, Francis dispatched the simple message, “Thank you, Lord.” The pope’s Twitter feed, @Pontifex, is translated into nine languages and reaches some 17 million followers.

The Wednesday evening liturgy also involved a Eucharistic blessing by the pope and an exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, capped by singing the traditional Christmastime hymn Adeste Fideles, or “O Come, All You Faithful.”

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would likely return to his residence afterward to watch a traditional year-end address by the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, who is in the final year of an unusual second term for Italian presidents.

Earlier on New Year’s Eve, Francis sent a message of closeness and support to survivors and the families of victims of a 2004 fire at the República Cromañón nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which took place on Dec. 30 and killed 164 people and left more than 600 injured.

The fire was considered a symbol of government failure in Argentina, since the nightclub had received a permit despite lacking basic safety measures such as fire extinguishers, and the future pope had developed close relations with the survivors.

On Thursday, Francis will celebrate a morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. Since 1968, at the direction of Pope Paul VI, Jan. 1 has also been marked by the Catholic Church as the World Day of Peace.

During his noontime Angelus address tomorrow, Francis is expected to ask the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square to listen to the ringing of a famous Italian bell in the province of Trent erected to commemorate the fallen of the First World War, and which has since become a national symbol of peace.

Pope Francis released his message for the World Day of Peace on Dec. 8, devoting this year’s observation to the fight against human trafficking and slavery.

“Even though the international community has adopted numerous agreements aimed at ending slavery in all its forms, and has launched various strategies to combat this phenomenon, millions of people today — children, women and men of all ages — are deprived of freedom and are forced to live in conditions akin to slavery,” the pope wrote.

The pope listed exploited laborers, migrants, people forced into prostitution, people trafficked for the sale of organs, forcibly enrolled soldiers, and kidnap victims by terrorist groups as examples of modern slaves.

“I invite everyone, in accordance with his or her specific role and responsibilities, to practice acts of fraternity towards those kept in a state of enslavement,” Francis wrote.

“I urgently appeal to all men and women of good will, and all those near or far, including the highest levels of civil institutions, who witness the scourge of contemporary slavery, not to become accomplices to this evil,” he said.

The Vatican’s holiday period closes Jan. 6 with a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis for the feast of the Epiphany, which commemorates the visit of the Magi, or wise men, to the Christ child, and thus the revelation of God as a human being.

Then the pope resumes a busy working schedule, with his annual address to the diplomatic corps set for Jan. 12; later that day, he’s scheduled to depart for a week-long visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
 

….

 

Taken from: http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2014/12/31/pope-ends-2014-with-an-examination-of-conscience-above-all-on-the-poor/

A Conspiracy to End all Conspiracies

 

Geocentrism, Esther, Madonna, the Kabbala, NASA …

 

That conspiracies exist, even major ones, can be of no surprise to anyone who believes in the Bible, considering the first Great Revolt of Lucifer and his angelic forces against God, Lucifer’s irrevocable Non Serviam (‘I will not Serve’),and again – but obviously on a lesser scale, cosmically speaking – the conspiracy of the wicked Haman against the Jews as recorded in the Book of Esther. For our historical argument on behalf of the latter, see:

 Is the Book of Esther a Real History?

http://www.academia.edu/5176235/Is_the_Book_of_Esther_a_Real_History

And we find that talk of conspiracies can be obsessive in certain pious Catholic circles.
The problem is, however, that, if one is not actually in some way an ‘insider’, then generally speaking it is well nigh impossible to speak meaningfully about, or to expose, a conspiracy. Having said that, there is a most interesting site called Fair Education Foundation, Inc., basedon four decades of research by now-deceased founder,
 
Marshall Hall (1931- 2013)
Founder of Fair Education Foundation, Inc.
Author of The Earth Is Not Moving
that, in seeking to identify the real structure of the universe, along biblical lines, claims to have uncovered a mighty conspiracy – modern, NASA-promoted cosmology is a product of old Kabbalistic thought. We thoroughly recommend perusal of this most gripping site, whilst not necessarily agreeing with every interpretation given therein.
One reads this of Marshall Hall:
For the last 40 years of his life, Marshall devoted countless hours researching very controversial topics such as Evolution and a Non-Moving Earth.  His sole purpose driving him was his search for Truth.  His strong faith in God kept him on this quest and he knew that one day soon the TRUTH would be revealed to all.  He wrote in a conversational manner so as to appeal to the everyday man and his use of various colors, underlining, bold face, etc were very simply to add emphasis to his writing.  Every word has been thoroughly researched and based entirely on the Scripture.
Not everyone agrees with the findings that Marshall wrote about, however, his mission was to present the material and Scriptures.  It was left up to the readers to make up their own mind.  As you read through his material, please do so with prayer and an open mind in order to see the material for what it was meant to be — two sides to the same story.  In Matthew 7:7-8, God says “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.…  Clearly, God is wanting us to seek answers to these important questions. 
 
The following is the site’s rivetting discussion of this conspiracy, including the heavy involvement in the Kabbala of Madonna, who has – interestingly in light of what we wrote above – taken the new name of “Esther”:
 
(http://www.fixedearth.com/madonna-kabbala.html
 
Madonna And The Kabbala: A Copernican Connection
There is a lot of celebrity-level excitement being stirred up by Madonna’s now full-blown embrace of Mystic Kabbalism. So, naturally–because of the central importance of Kabbalism to the main theme of this web page [See:  Kabbala 6, Kabbala 7]–we need to explore this elevated spiritual focus of mega-star Madonna just a little bit…
One of the first things to note is that Madonna says she isn’t just dabbling in Kabbalism. “I’m very serious about it,” she says flatly, and her actions seem to back up those words. Consider, for example, some of the things she has done to show that she means business:

1. She recently took on the name of the Jewish heroine “Esther”.
2. She doesn’t schedule shows on Friday nights, the Jewish Sabbath.
3. She wraps tefflin, the straps used in Jewish prayer, around her arms.
4. Hebrew words for the names of g’d are part of the backdrop in her shows.
5. She wears a red string around her wrist as a symbol of her Kabbalic connections. It is said to ward off the evil eye.
6. Madonna, er, ah, Esther is reported to have donated over $6 million to build a [Kabbalah] Centre in London.
7. She has written children’s books based on the Kabbala.
8. She is planning a feature-length documentary to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005 which will be a testimonial about the Kabbala….Etcetera.So, whatever else one could say, “Esther” puts her money where her mouth is and gives every impression of being just as serious about Kabbalism as she says she is. Indeed: “…in an interview with Larry King two years ago, she explained her attraction to cabala. ‘I was looking for something…I mean, I’d begun practicing yoga and, you know, I was looking for the answers to life. Why am I here? What am I doing here? What is my purpose? How do I fit into the big picture? I know there’s more to life than making lots of money and being successful and even getting married and having a family.’” (http://www.worldmagblog.com/archives/005744.html, p.2 of 7)One might as well take her at her word here too. She was good in that movie role where she was on a woman’s baseball team. And it is hard to imagine anyone portraying “Evita” with more honestly and depth than she did. But those questions to Larry King were not part of a script (or were they?!). She posed those serious questions to let it be known that she has been trying to find real meaning in her life and–for seven years now–she believes that the religion of Kabbala is the answer. “Esther” is not alone in this belief. The names of rich and famous people who have sought or are seeking surcease in Kabbalism includes, but is not limited to, the following: Britney Spears, Demi Moore, Paris Hilton, David Beckham and wife Victoria, Mick Jagger and ex-wife Jery Hall, Roseanne Barr, Sandra Bernhard, Winona Ryder, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbra Streisand….
   Though some Rabbis (such as Dr. Johathan Sacks, the Chief British Rabbi) give warnings against Madonna-style Kabbalism, others say it a positive thing. Most everyone seems to agree however that it is a profitable enterprise; at least the celebrity supported part run by the founder of the Kabbbalah Centers, i.e., Philip Berg (formerly Fivel Gruberger, a former insurance salesman) and son Rabbi Yehuda Berg.
   In addition to courses of ten lessons costing 180 British Pounds (c. $325 U.S.), the Bergs and Madonna have “….created a branded range of Kabbalah accessories. The essential “Red String” goes for $26 U.S. Kabbalah water is a big seller. Anti-stress candles, $20 U.S. Also offered are jewelry, headache relief ointment, astrological charts and baby accessories. A copy of the Zohar from the Centre’s website goes for $415 U.S. Containers selling for $22 U.S. are available from Madonna’s “Secret Closet Company” and are labeled: Power of Prosperity, Sexual energy, Spiritual Cleansing, Happiness, Passion, Evil Eye, Dream State, DNA of the Soul….
   By far the most important thing about this phenomena is that it is making Kabbalism Kool amongst high profile celebrities and thereby causing the long-held dark secrets of anti-Bible,  anti-Christ Talmud-Zohar-Kabbalism to be made public as never before.
   As demonstrated throughout this web page, [See:  Kabbala 1 (p.6), Kabbala 2 (p.2), NASAs Spirit.Roots)] the most important, most sacred, and best protected secret of Kabbalism is its methodical establishment of a 15 billion year long evolution-based “creation scenario” which has virtually replaced the Bible-based “creation scenario” in all aspects of modern man’s knowledge. [See:  Knowledge Impact] That phenomenal accomplishment has been achieved through incredible manipulation in the media and academia and through out-and-out fraud operating through a theoretical science establishment. [See:  Virtual Reality Fraud, NASAs Hanky-Panky, Redshift Fraud,  Size-Structure Pt 6] This Establishment is universally billed as–and universally believed to be–a strictly “secular” operation with no hint of religious control. History knows of no more grandiose and successful deception!
   As further demonstrated historically, scientifically, and Scripturally [See:  Kabbala 2, Kabbala 6] at this site: In the 1st century Kabbalist HaKanna set the age of the universe as being over 15 billion years. [See:  Kabbala 2 (p.2)] Then–in the 13th century–the venerated Kabbalist Raban Nachmanides wrote–for Kabbalist’s eyes only, of course!–of the other four essential components of today’s evolutionary cosmology that have been brought to pass, namely: 1) A Rotating Earth Orbiting the Sun; [See:  Kabbala 2 (p.3)] 2) Relativity; 3) A “Big Bang”; 4) An Expanding Universe. [See:  Kabbala 2 (p.2)] Following that–in the 16th century–the highly venerated Kabbalist Isaac Luria turned the evolutionary cosmology of HaKanna and Nachmanides into Kabbalist dogma. [See:  Kabbala 2 (p.4)] [again for Kabbalist’s eyes only]
   After centuries of establishing those four secret principles as “scientific fact” in today’s science textbooks globally–it can be said that 20th Century Kabbalist theoretical scientist demigods, Einstein, Bohr, Gamow, Pensias, Sagan et al have done their job well. [See:  TSE Pt 2-Hist.BigBang] Now Kabbalist Physicist Gerald Schroeder–in his book The Science of God  [See:  Kabbala 6]–has brought the whole cabal together with his claim that the six days of the Biblical Creation were really the 15 billion years now accepted as an essential feature of the ruling Big Bang Paradigm.
   Details and documentation for all this can be found in the seven links of the Kabbala Series [See:  Kabbala 1]…and in the other links already supplied in this paper.
   Now–given the global attention being further drawn to the heretofore secret teachings of mystic Kabbalism by Madonna/Esther and other celebrities–the door is being opened wider for the exposure of today’s knowledge-controlling evolutionary “science” as being nothing more than the fulfillment of the “creation scenario” of the anti-Bible, anti-Christ Pharisaic religion of Kabbalism.
   Confirmation of the beginnings of that very exposure can already be detected in the same writings that are covering the general Madonna-Kabbala phenomenon. Here are a few examples:
   “The material girl [Madonna]…has gotten into Cabala, a form of Jewish mysticism that began with an extremely high view of God, developing into a veneration of its very words and its Hebrew letters, [See:  Kabbala 1 (p.1)] degenerating into a superstitious attempt to manipulate the cosmos by a sort of divination with the sacred text….”
   “…pop stars and celebrities have embraced a retooled version of the teachings of Jewish mystics, as a lifeline, and energy booster, an ego-dimmer, a self-improvement tool and a key to unlocking the secrets of the universe.”
   (http://www.rickross.com/reference/kabbalah/kabbalah83.html)
   “…Now with the renaissance of Kabbalah the formula has finally been revealed to the world” Berg wrote in his book The Power of Kabbalah where he tells about the formula for understanding subtle teachings in the Kabbala. (Ibid. p.3)
   The Kabbalah Centre link to its Astrology message board reveals the cosmic paganism roots of this religion that has now deceived the world–and the churches!– with its “secular science” masquerade.
   If Madonna/Esther et al become aware of the fact that all of the major components of today’s Big Bang cosmology are really the fulfillment of a pagan astrology-based, Bible-destroying strategy of the Christ-hating religion of Kabbalism (deceptively using theoretical science to win this ultimate spiritual battle), then we will know how sincere are Madonna’s and the other celebrities search for Truth and meaning in life.
   One can hope that she and the others will find out what a diabolic enterprise they are really into, and then turn around and blow the whistle on the whole millennia-long scheme. And–if they really mean business!–let their next “cause celbre” be one of calling attention to the vulnerable Copernican Keystone [See:  Assumptions] now holding up all Kabbalic Kosmology. That keystone is nothing more and nothing less than a diabolic mathematical model for establishing extraterrestrial and terrestrial evolutionism–along with a useless or non-existent g’d–in a vain attempt to destroy Biblical Creationism and the Almighty God Who invites everyone to be a part of His eternal plan.
   By making such a turn-around (like that great Jew, the Apostle Paul) they will redeem themselves and find the peace and truth they seek. More, they will also be in a position to persuade others to join in exposing the Kabbalic root of faith-killing evolutionism. That “ism” is responsible for the global spiritual confusion now gripping not just rich and famous celebrities, but the whole world….
   We shall see….

No salvation outside the Church

Fr David Watt 

 

In offering a few thoughts on this well-known dogma, I will be drawing extensively on material from Fr Brian Harrison OS, both published (Living Tradition nos 149 and 150) and unpublished.  Apart from the Magisterial data and classical authors, of all I can remember reading, the work of Fr Harrison has been far and away the most illuminating.  No surprise there, since I know of no finer theologian active in the Church today. 

 

Though we do have our differences.  For example, of catechumens Fr Harrison says they are in porticu Ecclesiae; neither inside nor outside the Church.  I believe Fr Harrison and I are in agreement about the underlying reality here, which of course is far more important than the actual terms we use.  Nevertheless I find his terminology infelicitous.   To the best of my knowledge it has not been employed by any Magisterial document, Doctor or Father of the Church.

 

To justify what, as I say, appears to be novel terminology, Fr Harrison asks ‘When you are in the portico of St Peter’s, are you inside or outside the Basilica?’ – to which he replies Neither, for the boundaries have not been defined with sufficient exactitude for either answer to be accurate.  My reply:  you can be said to be inside or outside, depending on what is meant by St Peter’s Basilica.  One person may take the term as meaning what might be called the greater Basilica, in which case you are inside, whereas for someone else, the Basilica proper does not begin until the doors, in which case you are outside.

 

Fr Harrison however may press the point by saying What if you have one foot inside the building and one foot outside? – then, surely, you cannot be said to be either inside or outside. I agree, in the sense that you are not completely inside or outside.  Or to put it another way, you are partially inside and partially outside.  That is because a body has extension.  But you cannot extend this to set-membership, on pain of infringing the Law of the Excluded Middle.  For example, you cannot be partly a member of a chess-club, or neither inside nor outside the club.  Now the language of Tradition about membership of the Church is surely much more akin to being in a club than to being partly inside a building.  No one ever speaks of being partially Catholic.

 

How then does the Tradition deal with the case of catechumens? 

For eg St Robert Bellarmine and Pope Pius XII, they are outside the Church (though not in the sense excluding from salvation) whereas in Vatican II (Lumen Gentium 14) they seem to be already inside.  The apparent contradiction is resolved by the definition of Church being broader in one case than in the other.  (One traditional formulation is that certain people may belong to the soul of the Church while not belonging to her body.)

 

Indeed, much of the confusion surrounding the dictum Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus – no salvation outside the Church – would appear to be terminological.  Take the case of someone validly baptized as an adult into a virulently anti-Catholic sect; let us suppose that, whatever other mortal sins he has committed, his heresy, at least, is material rather than formal.  In the more common acceptation of the word, he would not be called a Catholic, and yet, since there is only one true Church, if he has indeed been validly baptized, he must have been baptized into that Church, and so it must be correct, in a sense, to describe him at that moment as a Catholic, albeit one who is badly-instructed and possibly even ill-disposed.

 

It is clear from the work of Fr Harrison that in the phrase ‘no salvation outside the Church’ the sense of ‘Church’ needs to be quite broad.  Nevertheless, from his writings we can glean cogent reasons for not making the term so broad as to include adults who die without ever explicitly professing faith in Christ.  The reward for obeying the grace to follow one’s conscience is that God will provide, if need be in a miraculous way, the opportunity to make an act of explicit faith in Christ before dying.

 

Not that this should slacken our resolve to share the Catholic Faith.  As Fr Harrison and Dr Ralph Martin agree, we need to be far more active here, knowing that although salvation is just as possible for an adult who dies without ever being consciously Catholic, ceteris paribus it is far more improbable (1 Pet. 4:18). Someone unaware that the Catholic Church is the One True Church will obviously not be able to access all the aids to salvation that are to be found only in her.   It is for this reason that Vatican II promotes the missions with ‘sedulous care’ (Lumen Gentium 16).

________________________________________________________________

Pope Francis’ New Cardinals Reflect a ‘Poor Church'

 

• Christopher J. Hale @chrisjollyhale

Christopher Hale is a senior fellow at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and the co-founder of Millennial.

The appointees follow through on the Pope’s desire to include those who have been excluded from governance and decision-making authority in both modern-day political and ecclesial structures

There few things a Pope does that is more important than picking his Cardinals, which he announced on Sunday. From the college of Cardinals–none from the U.S.–will likely emerge Pope Francis’s successor. And because of the Argentianian Jesuit’s newest picks for the red hat, it’s increasingly likely that the election of the next Pope will surprise us even more than his election in March 2013.

By passing over the traditional Western Catholic powers of Europe and the United States, most of Francis’s newest cardinals come from the ends of the Earth, including Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Panama, Tonga, and Uruguay. Few of us could identify a majority of these countries on a map.

But Francis’s selections are also noteworthy because so many of them come from countries struggling with military violence, political turmoil, and devastating poverty.

Shortly after his election, the pope said he took the name Francis to honor the patron saint of the poor, Francis of Assisi, and to emphasize the responsibility of the Church to protect and defend the poor: “[t]his is what I want, a poor church for the poor.” Francis had early detractors who said the pontiff was all talk and would not bring substantial change to the Catholic Church and its governance. Nearly two years into his tenure as the Bishop of Rome, it’s clear that these prophets of doom were wrong.

By naming cardinals from the geographic and existential peripheries of the modern world, Pope Francis is showing us that’s he serious in his mission to rebuild the Church as “a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcomed, loved and forgiven.” To do this, Pope Francis realizes that he must lift up the voices and experiences of those who have been excluded from governance and decision-making authority in both modern-day political and ecclesial structures.

Even organizations dedicated to global governance, such as the United Nations Security Council, exclude the representatives of the most vulnerable nations and populations in their decision-making processes. With Pope Francis, the opposite is true. Those who were most excluded in previous times will be lifted up in this new era.

There is great precedence for this in Christianity. The Jewish prophets told us that God was the one who turns the world upside down by lifting up the lowly and humbling the most powerful. And it is important to note that Jesus himself was a surprise for the Jewish people. Many in Israel expected the Messiah to come as a mighty king who would use military power to set them free from their political slavery.

But the messiah wasn’t born in royal splendor, but in a cave of obscurity and poverty far from the cultural, political, or even religious centers of the ancient world. The liberation he brought wasn’t just for the Jewish people of his generation, but for all people of every generation. And the means of this liberation wasn’t a victorious war against Israel’s enemies, but a humiliating defeat on the cross.

For Catholics, the pope is the Vicar of Christ. In simpler words, in his life and in his deeds, he is supposed to remind us of Jesus. And with Francis’s newest choices, it’s likely that next Vicar will look even more like the founder of the faith: poor in things of the world, but rich in the things that matter.

Christopher Hale is a senior fellow at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and the co-founder of Millennial.

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Taken from: http://time.com/3660745/pope-francis-new-cardinals-poor-church/