THE PATIENTS HAVE TAKEN OVER THE ASYLUM

Imagine walking to the roof of the apartment building you reside in, on a bright clear day with a light breeze. When you open the door to the roof you see a blue sky. All seems right in the world. Then you notice a young woman standing at the edge of the building looking down.

Your first thought is to make sure she is alright. As you approach she notices you and you see tears in her eyes. You realize she is distraught and about to end her life.

You could just turn your back on her, thinking to yourself, it should be her right, it's none of my business, if she wants to kill herself. But then you realize she must not be thinking clearly. So, you try to help draw her away from the edge of the roof.

Then you hear faint shouts from below. As you focus you realize people are telling her to jump.

She jumps to her death ending her life.

You hurry down to the street to confront these people. They say it is her right to do what she wants with her life.  You are amazed that anyone could think this!

You try to reason with them. You share that instead of letting people hurt themselves, even if they think that they will feel better, the loving, courageous option would be to help them see reality and live a better life. It is better to be a support and help them out of their misguided thinking than to just turn your backs on them.

PART II
Some time later, sitting at home, you see in the news that the Law of the land now says people who wish to jump off a roof are allowed to do so. Unbelievable! The Law goes further than to give people the right to jump off any building they choose. The Law states that all buildings need to allow access for people desiring to jump off. Regardless of how you feel, people must be allowed access to each building or you will be fined, imprisoned and labeled a bigot.

You sit in your cozy living room thinking this new Law is awful, but then you realize it doesn't really affect you personally. You do not own any buildings. So the Law can not force you to allow people to jump off your roof.  An odd thought comes to mind... you should look up more often when walking down the street.

Think of this scenario in light of the most recent decision of The Supreme Court on Same Sex Marriage.

There are people in this world that care so much for others, even total strangers, that they would rather attempt to help them then allow them to hurt themselves. I pray everyday for God's Grace to be one of these people.

WHEN DOES CHRISTMAS START & FINISH?

Each year I get a bit perturbed by the Christmas 'holiday'. We all have the good and bad memories of Christmases past. However that is not my present beef. I get upset with Christians, in general, and Catholics in particular, because no one, seems to know when Christmas actually starts (Christmas Day) and when it is over (Baptism of the Lord).

Most people; including Christians, seem to think Christmas starts on "Black Friday" the day after Thanksgiving and it ends the day after Christmas. The time people think is Christmas is actually closer to Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the Christmas Holy Days. Years ago Advent, as a time of preparation, was more like Lent in fasting, alms-giving and prayer. Instead society has convinced everyone that Advent is a time for partying and is the actual Christmas Season. We Christians just bow to the merchandising and the goodies and celebrate for roughly a month before Christmas, ending on the day after Christmas.

I admit I am also responsible. I used to put up my tree and decorations a day or two before Christmas. Now I cave in usually a couple of weeks before. I try to do some Fasting, but truth be told, I do not accomplish much. So, in this article I am not trying to point a finger. I am merely trying to inform.
One year I was thinking about the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I started thinking there must be, at least, Twelve Days to Christmas. That would bring us from Christmas Day to The Epiphany (January 6). With a little research I found the liturgical season of Christmas ends with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Now to my beef. If I, or anyone for that matter, say  'Merry Christmas" to you the day after Christmas or even the week after Christmas you should not look at me like I just stepped off a spaceship, rather you should say a hearty Merry Christmas in return.

More importantly, we should not just skim over Advent with no effort. I always tell people who come to our Annual Catholic Charismatic Conference in Orlando (www.orlandocharismatic.net), that you get out of it what you put into it. Advent is part of our Liturgical Calendar for the Reason for the Season, that being Christ. To help draw us closer to Jesus Christ. Give an effort, attend daily Mass, a Parish Mission, receive The Sacrament of Reconciliation or give up something, maybe fruitcake for Advent. I hope your smiling. Make an effort and God's Grace will Anoint you.

Can I Stand For Obama AND For Gods' Word?

Can I Stand For Obama AND For Gods' Word?

Hello, I was hoping that the subject line would get your attention!

My conscience has been bothering me lately.  It has been asking me what have I done to encourage others to vote in a manner consistent with the standard of God’s Truth.   Sadly, it seems clear that I have bitten into that lie that religion and politics do not belong in the public arena.  Yet if I am a Believer, I must be compelled to share the Good News and stand up for Truth.  This email is one of the things I can do.  I am sending it to all on my contacts list who know me as willing to stand for what I believe.

This is Richard’s Condensed Version of Truth: God is Love.  Before time, space or matter existed, He conceived in His mind the life of every human that would come into existence.  And from that moment, He loved us!  Then out of this love for us, He created the cosmos that there may be a place and time for us to come into being –that we may come to know and love Him, that we may be loved by Him, become like Him, and then, love one another.

This is the reason of all that is.  Everything else is just part of the mix, part of the mystery of God’s Plan.  God’s love for His Beloved is the foundation of Truth, the Universal Purpose.  It is the cause of our being; what holds us in existence, and is the fullness of our destiny –if we choose to love Him (For love always demands a choice.)  Love demands freedom, therefore, we must be free to be unloving.  Free Will comes at the cost of an All Loving God allowing evil to exist.

Thus the stage is set.  Good will be at war with Evil until the end of our time, when Christ will return, and all will be judged on how we fought in this war, on the choices we made in God’s grace of freedom.  “¹⁵ If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice.  ¹⁶ He has placed before you fire and water; stretch out your hand for whichever you choose.  ¹⁷ Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” (Sirach 15:15-20)

War is hell, and politics is both.  To dismiss politics, because it is dirty, is to leave the fight.  We are all needed & called into battle, but we must keep our focus.  Distractions are everywhere & most are legitimate battles in need of attention, but the real war is between Good & Evil, Life & Death. 

Today, our nation is in the throes of a battle that is unprecedented.  Our nation is in danger of losing its soul, of spurning its Judeo-Christian heritage in an attempt to embrace death and depravity.  [Warning: If you read beyond this point, you may be in danger of losing any warm & fussy feelings that might have been associated with me.]  Our 2-party system is in critical condition, both parties have potentially fatal injuries, but one of them appears to be mortally wounded.

Here’s the scenario: You find yourself in a vast open field and there is a raging bull 3oo yards in front of you.  100 yards on your left and right is a person calling to you saying they can help you.  The one on the right doesn’t appear like much of a super hero.  The one on your left is waving a huge red flag.  The bull is charging.   How much time do you want to take to ponder the plusses and minuses of your decision?  My friends, I believe our Democratic Party has gone AWOL.  Not only do they seem clueless about being exposed, but they are waving a red flag to get our attention.

Why would a party seeking to represent what is best for America nail down as a foundational plank, the call for the right of a woman to kill the baby in her womb?  (Obama went even farther by voting to kill the baby that was born from a botched abortion.)  Or why lay down as a plank the call to treat the homosexual lifestyle as a protected status in our society?  Or fight to redefine marriage which is the foundation of the family which in turn is the foundation of life and society?  Why would the majority of its representatives fight to have God removed from its platform?  Why would this party be one of the biggest drivers of racism by insisting on segregating humanity by the color of their skin, by relentlessly using terms like “Black” or “People of Color”, when in Truth there is only one race –the Human Race?   Can our real world get any Crazier?   Yes we can!  And the bull is charging.

I am a Catholic, so I say this with a deep sense of pain,  54% of the Catholic vote chose Obama, the man who is the champion of this insanity.  Our faith says that God’s Word is the Unchangeable Truth.  It unambiguously calls out murder and  homosexuality among the darkest sin, an abomination, yet, over half of us voted for an Obama Nation.  What is even more scary to me, is the number of our priests who still are registered as Democrat.

I can understand voting for a Democrat because they are a person of integrity and competence.  But in today’s world, I cannot understand how one could vote for a person because that person is a democrat.  And given the brazen identification of the Democratic Party with values diametrically opposed to those revealed in Scripture, I cannot see how any Christian can now identify themselves with as allied with them.  In fact, we should be actively exposing those heretical planks with such a fury that the Democratic Party will renounce them and return to nurturing values that all faiths can embrace.   And I am sick of the lame justifications referencing issues like Republicans are for war, or capital punishment or against immigration.  Are these part of the Republican party’s plank, is this what they identify as foundational?  No!  Even if they did, how would that override the injustice of killing 50 million innocent babies since Roe vs Wade?  Or of undermining family, the foundation of society?   And now, they are even attempting to take away our religious freedom and force us to pay for what we believe to be evil.  The time is upon us where every vote must be based on whether the candidate is a person of integrity, whose life mirrors what he says, and says what is compatible with the Mind of God.

This is a pivotal election.  One man is now in the position to take us into a darkness that will take generations to recover from, if it is possible at all.

How can one president control the destiny of our country? Try this on for size:   Cause a furor by grid locking legislation, with the simple strategy of insuring that his party's majority leader of the senate, by merely not bringing up to the floor for a vote, any legislation that is contrary to the President's agenda; while simultaneously ensuring his minority leader in the House pushes legislation that promotes his agenda, and resist everything that does not, but whatever is passed by the house is condemned to failure just by Senator Reid not bringing it forward for a vote!  The president then issues executive orders that bypass congress, all under pretense of protecting America, using the "Urgency of this Emergency".  This is sealed, by doing whatever is necessary to survive into the lame duck term, where he can appoint a majority of liberal activist Supreme Court justices, who will for their entire life, will hand down decisions that will redefine both, the meaning and limits of our constitution, of what our country deems worth protecting.  This is not a conspiracy theory, this is in play already.

Anyone who says this president has been ineffectual in his 1^st term, has been just watching the news and not watching what irreparable changes are being inflicted upon our nation -all without the consent of the majority of our elected legislators, not to mention, the majority of American values.

And to blame Obama for what is happening is about as smart as blaming a starving dog for eating our steak when we turned our back on it. That dog was just being a dog.  We knew it was not in his nature, to not eat what did not belong to him, when we turned our back on that steak.  You see, WE THE PEOPLE knew what Obama stood for (what his record was, what his ideology was, who his friends were, how he was intrinsically intertwined with a radical socialist community committed to values alien to our founding fathers, and to our Judeo Christian roots) when we voted him into office. A dog will be a dog because that is his nature. Obama will be Obama, because that is what the nature of his character is.

It is WE THE PEOPLE who are responsible for putting into office the people we choose to represent us. Yes, we may be fooled sometimes, but Obama, Reid & Pelosi had a clearly established record (which is the unbiased reflection of their character and values.) The 54% of Catholics who voted for Obama had no responsible excuse for not knowing that he was an activist committed to the pro-choice agenda. Or, that he was in league with the current forces to undermine the family unit by redefining marriage and by redefining the depravity of homosexuality into a constitutionally protected status. Nor was there any reason not to know that his pastor of 20 years, who he considered his mentor, was a racist who espoused hatred for America and the Jewish nation. Nor was there any reason not to know the extraordinary disconnect between what he, Obama, said and what he did. All of this was a matter of history.

God gave us a steak, when America came to be founded as a nation, where its people could freely live their lives within the context of their Judeo-Christian values. We live in a present darkness, where what is good is being called bad, and what is bad is being called good, and where only the silly would entrust their lives into The Way of a personal and loving God. There are dogs waiting to eat our steak  -our gift from God, when we turn our backs on His Values and elect people to represent us who openly support what is abhorrent to Him.

WE THE PEOPLE need to take responsibility for the sins of our nation. We need to become a people who are committed to His Truth, to never compromising it for what is expedient, but rather demanding it the more so as it comes under attack.  Let us fervently pray for the gift of repentance, personally and nationally.  Let us vote with the Mind Of God.   May His Spirit lead us to a vote that is not blinded by words, but rather, is based on His Word.   –Richard Swiderski

IAmOnetruth Catholic Church Apologetics

IAmOnetruth Catholic Church Apologetics

Senator Obama Is Not A Catholic Voter's Choice

Senator Obama Is Not A Catholic Voter's Choice

"Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." John 7:24

Senator Barack Obama is not a loving, caring Christian. His voting record and his stance on important issues show his true, selfish, nature.

from Senator Obama's web site:
http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060628-call_to_renewal_1/



"I think that we should put more of our tax dollars into educating poor girls and boys. I think that the work that Marian Wright Edelman has done all her life is absolutely how we should prioritize our resources in the wealthiest nation on earth. I also think that we should give them the information about contraception that can prevent unwanted pregnancies, lower abortion rates, and help assure that that every child is loved and cherished." (This statement shows a lack of caring and love for the poor. For more informatio: Physicians For Life)



"But the reason the doctor was considering not voting for me was not simply my position on abortion. Rather, he had read an entry that my campaign had posted on my website, which suggested that I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose.""
(Again, showing a lack of love for women.)

(This is a man who cares for... what(?), certainly not love of his fellow man.)
---

also from page: http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/



"But what they didn't understand, however, was that I had to take Mr. [Alan] Keyes seriously, for he claimed to speak for my religion, and my God. He claimed knowledge of certain truths.



Mr. Obama says he's a Christian, he was saying, and yet he supports a lifestyle that the Bible calls an abomination.



Mr. Obama says he's a Christian, but supports the destruction of innocent and sacred life.

And so what would my supporters have me say? How should I respond? Should I say that a literalist reading of the Bible was folly? Should I say that Mr. Keyes, who is a Roman Catholic, should ignore the teachings of the Pope?



Unwilling to go there, I answered with what has come to be the typically liberal response in such debates - namely, I said that we live in a pluralistic society, that I can't impose my own religious views on another, that I was running to be the U.S. Senator of Illinois and not the Minister of Illinois."


(So, Senator Obama admits that he is for a "lifestyle" that is opposed to the "Bible" actually a lifestyle opposed to LOVE and that he is opposed to the teachings of the Catholic Church.)

---
http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm


from Source: 2008 Democratic Compassion Forum at Messiah College Apr 13, 2008:



"Undecided on whether life begins at conception
Q: Do you personally believe that life begins at conception?
A: This is something that I have not come to a firm resolution on. I think it's very hard to know what that means, when life begins. Is it when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs? So I don't presume to know the answer to that question. What I know is that there is something extraordinarily powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates."
---
http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm

Expand access to contraception; reduce unintended pregnancy
AT A GLANCE
Reproductive Choice: Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and will make preserving a women's right to choose under Roe v. Wade a priority as president. Obama also supports expanded access to contraception, health information and preventive services to reduce unintended pregnancies.
OBAMA'S PLAN
Protecting a Women's Right to Choose: Obama will make safeguarding women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority. He opposes any constitutional amendment to overturn that decision.
Reducing Unintended Pregnancy: Obama will work to reduce unintended pregnancy by guaranteeing equity in contraceptive coverage, providing sex education, and offering rape victims accurate information about emergency contraception.
OBAMA RECORD
Throughout his career, in both the Illinois Senate & the US Senate, Obama has stood up for a women's right to choose, consistently earning 100% ratings from pro-choice groups.
Source: Campaign booklet, "Blueprint for Change", p. 35-36 Feb 2, 2008

Rated 100% by NARAL on pro-choice votes in 2005, 2006 & 2007
Sen. Obama received the following scores on NARAL Pro-Choice America's Congressional Record on Choice.
2007: 100 percent
2006: 100 percent
2005: 100 percent

Voted against banning partial birth abortion
---
on Homosexuality
(He actually misuses the Bible!)

While, on his own web site, he states that people should use non religious support for their stance and then he changes his own stance by using, excuse me, I mean he changes his own position by "MIS"using the Bible to prove his point!
from his web site: "This brings me to my second point. Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all."
(It is a hard thing for me to trust a man who can not follow his own advice.)

from Catholic news agency:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11991

""I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama. "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.""



(ME - Philip Turgati - www.iamonetruth.com)
If the Senator cared at all about those that consider themselves homosexual he would tell them the truth, in a loving, caring way. That being, that while a man can love a man and a woman can love a woman, erotic love between them is unnatural by simply looking at nature. While the bodies of men and women were naturally meant to compliment one another... that isn't the case with the gay orientation. It is simple "common sense". Something that seems to be sadly lacking in a selfish world.

Is Tolerance Love?

“So you must realize that the LORD, your God, disciplines you even as a man disciplines his son.” [Deuteronomy 8:5]

“for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” [Hebrews 12:6]

I just read in an article about Dion DiMucci, some of you remember, Dion and The Belmonts, “The Wanderer” & “Run Around Sue”, about him coming home to God in The Catholic Church.

I quote the article and Dion;

“The story of DiMucci’s rise and fall, conversion and return to the Catholic Church is rare in American popular culture in that on the way back he didn’t stop at the celebrity church of tolerance.

Some of these people worship at the altar of tolerance. They say that means you love people. But it’s not love. To me, the grown-ups tell you what’s wrong. Real grown-ups will disapprove of something their kid does but loves him totally,” DiMucci said.”

(end from article in “The Catholic World Report” March 2008)

People will say on hearing the Scripture; “for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines”, “I want the love but not the discipline”. However, they are mistaken the love is the discipline… they are one and the same… inseparable.

Discipline leads to “obedience”.

I hear all the time how people have a “problem with the Catholic Church”, they claim that their problem isn’t with God, because The Church gives them God’s Laws in easy and not-so-easy to digest sound bites. I hear this from those within The Church and those outside equally.

St. Paul would disagree, when he uses the term in his Letter to the Romans chapters 1 & 16, “obedience of faith”. He starts his Letter with this term and to make sure his children do not forget ends his teaching with it. [Romans 1:5 & 16:26]

Faith in God means that we believe He loves us and it means that we are disciplined.

By the way, thank you for reading my blog and web site and I would like to wish everyone a

On Senator Barack Obama & Race

March 20th, 2008
A good friend sent me an email with a link to Sen. Obama’s speech on Race in America.

I sent the following reply.



Hi! It is always good to hear from you.



I appreciate the email. It takes some courage to stand up for what we believe is right.
While I listened to the whole speech as best I could, I could not help seeing the direct correlation of Senator Obama’s issue on race and that of abortion.



He started his speech with our Nation’s “Founding Father’s” and the drawing up and signing of The Declaration of Independence. Declaring our Nation’s freedom from the oppression of the mighty power of England. We had no voice, under their yoke.



He mentioned, something that I didn’t know, that being, at the drawing up of “The Declaration” our Founding Fathers put off the question of slavery for 20 yrs. Many hearing his remarks would think that was a mistake.



That reminded me of the signing of Roe Vs. Wade. The Supreme Court put off the question of when human life begins.



Common Sense would dictate that the Justices should have answered that question first. Then, once the issue is clear, they can make an informed decision.



His speech was on Race in America. I found many of his remarks “fit” the abortion issue. I will only share a few here. Sen. Obama stated; “Race is an issue that we [America] simply can not ignore!”



Common Sense would say; “Abortion, that is, the plight of the unborn, is an issue that America can simply not afford to ignore!”
Just because Americans have the POWER to claim that a whole “class” of human beings are not human and do not deserve to live, that fact, does not give us the right to do so!



Sen. Obama draws his speech to a close by quoting a teaching of “the religions of the world”; “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!”



I agree.

It's That Time of the Year Again!

The After Christmas “No Money Blues”.

Luke 4:12 Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”



Years ago, when I came to “know the Lord” as an adult or maybe it would be better to say; “When I had my ‘metanoia‘ experience”. I had some very immature ideas of my relationship with God. I needed to be “mature” in my Faith, as St. Paul refers to our Christianity [Eph. 4:13; Phi. 3:15; Heb. 5:14].

For example: I used to tell people that if I walked out in the middle of a busy street and expected God to protect me from danger He would. I would give that as an example of my Faith.This way of thinking is at least a very immature way of Faith… at worst it goes against Christianity [Lk. 4:12].

And so… we come back to the verse from The Gospel of St. Luke; ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”

I recently shared with a friend that it would be wrong to expect God to ‘bail you out’ of an imprudent decision. I used the following scenario.

[What you are talking about is like someone going out in front of a speeding car and believing that God will protect them… THAT WOULD GO AGAINST THE VIRTUE OF PRUDENCE.

There would be no need to put yourself in danger.

Now, it would be different if you ran out into speeding traffic to save a child that is in the road and as you go, you ask God to help you… THAT WOULD BE BOTH LOVING, PRUDENT & COURAGEOUS.] (CCC 1808 FORTITUDE or COURAGE = It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause.)

I can easily see, as I hope, you the reader will also see, that one way of maturing in the Christian Faith is to grow in the Cardinal Virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, Fortitude.

The following is an excerpt from a prayer of St. Thomas; “give me prudence to avoid the snares of the enemy”.

Prudence: “Its function is to point out which course of action is to be taken in any round of concrete circumstances.” (New Advent)

I ‘chalk up’ my ‘earlier’ way of thinking to my immaturity in The Catholic Faith. However… from the Scripture verse quoted, one can readily see that to think the way that I did (that being; unreasonably expecting God to protect someone from an imprudent decision), might actually be a temptation from Satan!

Let me now go to another scenario.

I occasionally have a Christian say something to me like; “I just spend my money and God gives it back to me”. (Many at Christmas do this). Hopefully, the reader can see where I am leading on this point.

Spending/handling money imprudently, is a temptation from Satan, not an act of Faith.

Luke 4:9 Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and: ‘With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’”
Luke 12:42 And the Lord replied, “Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time?




For more info. on The Four Cardinal Virtues:
New Advent

Catechism of The Catholic Church

Christmas - It’s that time of year again!

Christmas - It’s that time of year again!

I received an email from a ”well meaning” Christian, expressing the opinion that as loving Christians we should not defend our right to “public displays” of our Faith. The email was set as a “Letter from God”. I believe the “letter” came from further “south” of “heaven”.


The Letter said, among other things that Christmas, while being a celebration of the Birthday of Christ was originally set on the date of a “pagan holiday”. As though that makes it alright not to defend our right to public displays of our Faith. I ask; “How so”?


Then the letter goes on to say we should rather live a life of love, again, somehow suggesting that we do not need to defend our rights to a public display because we are living the Christian calling. Which, of course, every Christian should be doing regardless of this issue.


This brings up a “sore point” among Christians, that being, whether Christians need to love at all? Actually, Jesus, St. Paul and the early Church stated love is necessary for salvation… [see: http://www.iamonetruth.com/all_you_need_is_love.htm ]


The “letter” finally states that as God He does not need our help.
[Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. ]


This statement reminds me of a statue in New York City. The statue is in front of St. Nicholas of Tollentine Catholic Church in The Bronx, it is of Jesus Christ with His hands outstretched. The statue has been vandalized and the hands of Christ were broken off. Some enterprising person placed a sign around the neck of Jesus that read: “I have no hands but yours”.


Think about it! God can take care of Himself, but He expects us to do His work here on earth.
Be careful… we can be loving… caring Christians and still stand up in the public arena for Christ!
Pope John Paul II said; “today religious freedom must be upheld and defended against those who would remove religion from the public domain and make secularism America’s faith” [Homily at Oriole Park, Baltimore, 1995] [ENVOY Magazine]

Halloween - It's that time of year again.

The following is my 'reply' to a misinformed 'post' on myspace.

You are a loving Christian lady and I respect that... but "Halloween" comes from the term "All Hallows Eve" or "All Saints Eve". The original celebration of All Saints Eve was in honor of all the Christians that have led exemplary lives and gone before us... you know, the "cloud of witnesses" [Heb. 12:1] that St. Paul speaks of.

Yet, it is true, that satan has taken it over [a Christian practice] and made it something evil. So, I agree that we can find other things to do at that time. For example, there is a Catholic tradition [small 't'], that suggests children and even adults dressing up as figures from the Bible and play acting that others can guess who they are supposed to be. This is quite fun as I have done the same myself.

Excerpt from This Rock online magazine
Can Catholics Celebrate Halloween?
Q: Some families in our parish don’t allow their children to celebrate Halloween. Should Catholics celebrate Halloween?
A: The word Halloween is a contraction for All Hallows Eve, which, before the reform of the liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council, was the vigil of All Saints and All Souls Days. As such, Halloween can be considered a Christian holiday. As with many Christian holidays, the secular world has attached its own traditions to the day (costumes, trick-or-treating, parties) that are not intrinsically wrong but can become problematic when the religious meaning of the holiday is set aside or forgotten.

For more information:
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Halloween/

Christianity has started many traditions that have been handed from one generation to the next. Secular society tries to take them and make them non-Christian, such as we can see with taking "Christ" out of Christmas. Should Christians give in to this approach?

I am sure you would agree that Christians need to, "test everything, holding to what is good", 1 Thess 5.

Christianity saw a pagan festival and decided to end the practice and replace it with something good and holy. That 'held' for centuries, until modern society decided to uproot the good tradition and make it bad... with satan smiling the whole time... as Christians oppose each other.

Christians should not oppose each other on this... just hold fast to what is good. Remember Christ's prayer for the 'unity of the believers' the night before He died. [Jn. 17:21]

I am sorry this is long, but just giving you a small amount of information didn't seem the right thing to do.

Your friend in Christ;
Philip

Contempt for human life, acted on, is a Mortal Sin.

June 20th, 2007
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Tuesday issued a “Ten Commandments” for motorists to keep them on the road to salvation, warning drivers against the sins of road rage, abuse of alcohol or even simple rudeness. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070619/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_road_rage

I had a discussion with a friend of mine on the preceding article.

When I read the article I sent him a, little known, teaching from the Catechism of The Catholic Church (CCC), that speeding can be a mortal sin. http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a5.htm#II

2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.

Here is what he sent me, in reply.

“BUT to drive recklessly is a mortal sin??? that is sick! all my life i thought a mortal sin was an XTRTEMELY serious infraction like nothing short of murder. u know something that only the worst of the worst could ever possibly commit. But thanks to your quoting of the catlic chrch “rules” i feel “mortal” sins have been cheapened to the point of making them meaningless. i mean to put murder, & rape in the same category as reckless driving and adultry is to me just ridiculous and further degrades the chrches credibility in my book.
sorry but i had to say it after u said it was a mortal sin…… all i asked was if ya think the popes driver always obeys the limit and not speaking of emergencies,”

This is what I have to say to anyone who may think as my friend does. When mankind holds the lives, health and welfare of other humans in contempt that is a “grave” - “mortal” (as the Bible puts it, 1 John 5:16-17; James 1:15), sin. If I through my own lack of respect for another person’s dignity and welfare, use that person’s body in a sinful contemptuous way then it is a Mortal Sin. If some one has a contemptuous attitude for those around him and drives recklessly so as to endanger their lives needlessly, then it is a Mortal Sin.

To take human life or to use human life with contempt is a “grave” offense against God!

To quote my friend again: “all my life i thought a mortal sin was an XTRTEMELY serious infraction like nothing short of murder”

Treating those around you as though they were nothing more then a rag to sop up the dirt on your garage floor, is an “extremely serious infraction”!

Here are some other statements from the CCC that may help to clarify God’s teaching.

2269 The fifth commandment forbids doing anything with the intention of indirectly bringing about a person’s death. The moral law prohibits exposing someone to mortal danger without grave reason, as well as refusing assistance to a person in danger.

Unintentional killing is not morally imputable. But one is not exonerated from grave offense if, without proportionate reasons, he has acted in a way that brings about someone’s death, even without the intention to do so.

The Son hurt’s the eyes of those who wish to remain in Darkness!

New museum says dinosaurs were on Noah’s Ark

May 27th, 2007
A ‘pet peeve’ of mine is the teaching of ‘evolution’ as fact when,


IN FACT

it has never been proven!

It has never been proven! Don’t get me wrong… I am not a ‘dyed in the wool’ creationist either, but I think it an abomination that so called ’scientists’ can teach as fact something that is only a theory, that being, “evolution”. Any realistic, honest person who has studied both sides knows that evolution has, not only, never been proven, but many leading evolutionists totally disagree with each other. Evolution is a theory that should be taught as such!I am speaking here of public education, of course. What is taught in a private school is up to the teaching staff of the school.

”$27 million museum near Cincinnati has drawn snickers from media…” click here.

[Opponents argue that children who see the exhibits will be confused when they learn in school that the universe is 14 billion years old rather than 6,000.”Teachers don’t deserve a student coming into class saying ‘Gee Mrs. Brown, I went to this fancy museum and it said you’re teaching me a lie,”‘ Dr. Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, told reporters before the museum opened.]



I actually like this part… teachers shouldn’t lie to the children!



It should be against the law for teachers at a public school to be able to say that the earth is 14 billion years old when they can’t prove it! I think there should be a public debate with qualified people presenting both Creationism and Evolutionism. Then people would see the truth! Which is that they are both ‘theories’ that can’t be proven. If either should be taught in public schools, they should both be taught or niether and then as theories. To be fair, there probably isn’t enough Evolutionists or Creationists that agree (with each other), to form 2 teams for opposing views.

Big Pharma will be back, but today we can do a victory dance!

Good News Travels Fast!
Your activism just saved supplements from being turned into “untested drugs”! Big Pharma will be back, but today, we can do a victory dance!
Click here for complete article…

Death by Medicine
By Gary Null, PhD; Carolyn Dean MD, ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; and Dorothy Smith, PhD

Summary of Codex Alimentarius

Read & sign Before April 30th!

FDA Regulators Using Legal Trickery to Kill Alternative Procedures and Products

The FDA is using legal maneuvering to end your access to natural health products (like vitamins, minerals and herbs) and natural health therapies of all sorts. Again. This time, their ploy is to declare the therapies are "Medicine" so any non-physician who uses them will be practicing medicine without a license. Since these practices are "Medicine", any products used would be untested drugs and therefore forbidden.

go to the link & sign the petition at the bottom of thepage.

http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc copy and paste into the browser.

philip turgati

I did....'takes 30 seconds and may be the best - nip it in the butt- you ever did.

The Odd Saint? Dean Koontz

It has been years for me since I stopped reading Dean Koontz and, for that matter, any horror novels, but I always liked the fact that he had some “Catholic” aspect in his books.

Here is a link to an article about his “Odd Thomas” series, that you might find interesting.

St. Odd? TIM DRAKE

Is Global Warming Real?

”environmentalism-as-religion”

I just wanted to share some interesting information on Global Warming
that many people might not know…

David Suzuki vs. Michael Crichton
BARBARA KAY

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
February 12th, 2007

Valentine’s Day has become so commercialized, like Christmas, that it has lost most of its original meaning. Many are aware that it is a day that is all about “love”. But they believe it is a day that is all about sexual love. Which, although our sexuality can be expressed in love, many times it is not.
The love that Valentine’s Day is meant to express is “Christian Love”, “Perfect Love”. It is an expression of the “Royal Law” which Saint James speaks about it his Letter in the Bible, James 2:10.

Think about this…
If God is Love [1 Jn. 4:8, 16], as we know that He is, then our best “connection” to God is to live in Love. When we “live outside of Love”, through sin, we disconnect ourselves from God… from Love! St. James is saying that when we sin and it “reaches maturity it gives birth to death” [James 1:15]. That “death” is our life, our “connection”, if you will, with God. Remember, God does not disconnect from us, it is us who disconnect ourselves from God by our “Free Will” decision to sin.

Read the whole presentation…

Merck Pharmaceutical Caution!

Texas Gov. orders anti-cancer vaccine"Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country."

Merck pharmaceutical strikes again!

Caution! Read more about Merck.

Children of God for Life on Merck
On Vaccines From Aborted Fetuses

"Angel Eyes"

Without a sure knowledge of God's Love for them, mankind may despair and give up hope.
I was watching a movie today and I had an idea of a way of looking at sharing the Gospel message. The movie was "Angel Eyes", with Jennifer Lopez .... as Sharon Pogue and James Caviezel .... Steven 'Catch' Lambert.

The story is about Jim Caviezel's character being involved in a car accident where he was the driver and his wife and small son died. Jim "Catch" as he is known in the movie has shut out the accident from his mind and is living his life without any concrete knowledge of what happened the day of the accident or his life before then.

He meets Sharon, played by Jennifer Lopez, a Chicago Police Officer. They fall in love with each other. Catch doesn't share much about his life and Sharon falling in love and wanting to know more about Catch finds out about the accident.

She decides on her own to try to shock him out of his denial of the truth of his life by confronting him with the truth at the cemetery where his wife and son are buried.

Back to my "idea" on whether we should "evangelize".

Some people watching this movie would think that what she did was the correct thing. Catch was living a good life, yet not a full, vibrant life. He was not living the best life that he could. Sharon could have left him in the "dark", so to speak, about his former life and what many people would count as his "real" life or "reality". Yet others would say; "Who is she to just indiscriminately decide that Catch should be brought to the "truth".

What Sharon did she did out of love of Catch.

In some way this movie demonstrates Christianity and evangelization. It does this by the way the character Sharon brought Catch to the knowledge of the Truth with Love. Catholics become missionaries to bring the "best" life to others. To show those who want to know... "reality", because the ultimate reality is mankind's relationship with God.

CCC 843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as "a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life."332844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them: Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair.333

For more on the subject of Christian Evangelization...

Anti Christian/Catholic/Life Media Bias

Media Bias
February 1st, 2007

I was discussing anti-Christian/Catholic media bias with a friend.

I relaized for the first time - firsthand - media bias, when it comes to Christian/Catholic news reporting. It was years ago at the pro-life rally in the Ocala Town Square, Flroida. It was probably my first year attending this event. The pro-life people had about 300 marchers, they were conservative in their approach, prayerful…

There were also about 12 pro-aborts. They were noisy, trying to disrupt the rally speakers. When all the pro-life people marched around the square at the end, praying and holding signs, the pro-aborts sat on steps near one corner and cursed and spit at people. I saw all this first hand, not ‘word of mouth’.

That night I watched the news, I was still naive in those days and I actually watched news programs but this was an ‘eye opener’ on the veracity of news reporting.

Channel 2 Ocala, the station is right across the street from the square, showed about 12 pro-lifers and 12 pro-aborts. They made it look like equal numbers showed up for both sides and they showed the pro-life people shouting at something one of the speakers said and at the same time showed the pro-aborts talking and standing quietly.

They made it look like there were equal numbers of people on both sides and that the pro-lifers were the rowdy ones!

Not a word on the pro-aborts spitting and cursing people!

That wasn’t the beginning of my disenchantment with the news media but it was a ‘BIG STEP’ so to speak!I figured that if I can’t trust the news media on something I know for sure, then why should I believe anything they say at all? Mt 10:16 “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.”

The following is an article from LIFENEWS.COM http://www.lifenews.com/, on the most recent ”March for Life” in Washington D.C.. The Post is anti-Christian/Catholic.

“The story was illustrated by color photos, but in a far too common tactic, the Post balanced a picture of four pro-life demonstrators … against a photo of four or five feminists,” he explained. “One side turns out tens of thousands, and the other turned out tens.”http://www.lifenews.com/nat2896.html