Green Acres.

My husband turned to it and it's not one of his favorite shows. But sometimes a body just gets in the mood for silliness.

hi. i have an appointment this afternoon and need prayer... feeling stressed

Out of curiosity, is the 2019 BCP mandated in ACNA, or are there still dioceses or parishes where the 1979 BCP, or the 1928 BCP, or the officially sanctioned traditional language version of the 1979 BCP, the Anglican Service Book, etc, are still allowed?

I would assume the Reformed Episcopal Church would continue to use their distinctive BCP version?

Now, I have warmed up a bit to the 2019 BCP, but I really wish it was entirely public domain like the Episcopalian tradition indicated, and likewise, that ACNA had followed the tradition of publishing a Standard Edition, which sadly there hasn’t been one since D.B. Updike’s typographical masterpiece of the 1928 BCP. Speaking of which, I desperately want to see first hand one of the high end versions of the 1892 Standard Edition, also by Updike, with the Art Nouveau / Arts and Crafts / Late Victorian border artwork, a scan of which is here: The 1892 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book

Also on this page you can find fascimiles of the less expensive, but still incredibly expensive 1892 Standard Edition, the 1928 Standard Edition (which only had one design, but each diocese was issued one printed on vellum, whereas the subscribers got high quality paper stock), and the very elegant design prospectus prepared for a planned Standard Edition of the 1979 BCP, which sadly never made it into production (that said, the regular 1979 BCP copies in the pews have very elegant typography).

Speaking of which, I actually like the 1979 BCP, in particular because it allows for Rite II services to be translated into traditional ecclesiastical English, which the Anglican Service Book basically is, and also because of the range of daily offices it provides for, in contrast to earlier editions. Also the contemporary language is not that bad; the only aspect of it I think could be improved would be replacing the response ”And also with you” with the more semantically correct “and with your spirit”, but this was an error resulting from the 1979 BCP drawing heavily from the Novus Ordo Missae. However the Novus Ordo Missae I would like quite a bit more if it included the Tridentine liturgy as a Rite I, like the 1979 BCP. The 1979 BCP also has the advantage of “Rite III” which allows for the occasional use of other liturgies such as that of St. John Chrysostom provided just a few specific phrases are present.

I am greatly disappointed by the fact that the Episcopal Church reversed its earlier decision not to replace the 1979 BCP for fear of repeating the schism that resulted (which could have been avoided by allowing continued use of the 1928 BCP, and for that matter the 1892 BCP, which is a very good and very underrated edition), and is now working on a new one. The documents about the process suggest that it will be very much in line with the prevailing theological direction of the Episcopal Church, and I also fear that if its use is made mandatory, it could interfere with, among other things, the liturgy at St. Thomas Fifth Ave., whose boy’s choir (an increasing rarity in the Anglican community) and dedication to the choral heritage of the church make it something of a national treasure - it is also noteworthy as T. Tertius Noble served as an organist there before going to York Minster, and indeed many accomplished Church of England musicians have had a stint at St. Thomas Fifth Ave. Of course, this probably won’t happen, given the permissiveness of the Episcopal Church to liturgical variation, but what would happen would be use of Rite II and the 1979 book becoming quite rare, which would be a pity, especially from an Anglo Catholic perspective, in my opinion. Basically I am dreading something like the 2006 hymnal which replaced the Lutheran Book of Worship in the ELCA, which I actually like quite a bit, and which is a direct relative of the 1979 BCP.

Thus, I am very interested if there are places in the ACNA where the 1979 BCP still survives, because of course, while I greatly love the Continuing Anglican churches, they are committed to the 1928 BCP, which is good, because the 1928 American BCP is in my opinion one of the three best editions ever compiled, the others being the 1928 Deposited Book approved by the C of E but rejected by Parliament, and the exquisite 1929 Scottish BCP (I suppose if I were asked to name my three favorite editions that actually made it into print, it would be the 1892 and 1928 American books, or the 1549 English book and the 1928 American book, and in either case, the 1929 Scottish book). Still, I very much like the 1979 BCP, for the reasons stated above.

I cannot recommend The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England enough for Prayer Book versions, as it is masterfully curated, and I would note that among the prayer book versions hosted there, the 1938 Melanesian BCP and the early 20th century proposed Mexican BCP, which is an English and Spanish translation of the Mozarabic Rite still celebrated in the cathedral in Toledo, Spain, in a dedicated chapel, but alas nowhere else, which is a spectacular liturgy of the Gallican family which was for a time predominant in Spain during the Islamic occupation. Also of great interest for supplementary liturgical material such as the classic 19th century Anglo Catholic Ritual Notes and the Directorum Anglicanorum, and the brilliant Parson’s Handbook by Rev. Percy Dearmer, is this site: Anglican Liturgy

Can you recommend any YouTube channels for developing faith, following Church matters, or general inspiration/devotion? Thanks!

JUNE 27, 2018

Stinkbombs & Stench Warfare



In 1943, towards the end of WWII, Stanley Lovell, head of research and development for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) recruited chemists Ernest Crocker and Lloyd Henderson to design one of its most creative weapons—a military-grade stink bomb that could be distributed to resistance groups and used to make its target “a source of derision or contempt,” according to declassified OSS files.

…documents reveal that the researchers were asked to create a cocktail of noxious odours that could be inflicted on an individual or used to clear out Axis meeting spaces and storage facilities. The substance should be persistent, “produce unmistakable evidence of extreme personal uncleanliness,” and, ideally, induce nausea. But its real purpose was psychological—to destroy morale through embarrassment. The project—cheekily code-named “Who, Me?”—would require Crocker’s team to create a universally repulsive smell.

The British were already on the case. By the time Crocker was recruited, British intelligence had extensively researched the aromatic composition of excrement—one declassified document called “Facts About Faeces” provides details right down to the chemical distinctions between alkaline excretions associated with meat-based diets and the “voluminous stools” produced by diets rich in milk. The Brits had also developed a concoction called “S Liquid” (S being short for “stench”), which contained skatole, a compound formed in the intestines that gives faeces their aroma.

Crocker spent months testing combinations of the world’s most vile odours, and by March 1944 he had settled on a mixture of skatole, amyl mercaptan, and butyric, valeric, and caproic acids that together assaulted the senses with smells of vomit, rancid butter, urine, rotten eggs, foot odour, and excrement. In late 1944, Crocker also developed a second formula to use against the Japanese. Concern that Japanese people might be accustomed to open sewers and the racist Western belief that they might even be immune to the stench of human waste led him to remove skatole and incorporate alpha ionone to add cadaverous notes.

(Unfortunately (or fortunately) the war ended in 1945 before the deadly Aromatic Armaments could be deployed. I have no doubt that somewhere in the foetid bowels of the Pentagon there exists a secret research facility we will call the ‘DSW’ – the Department of Stench Warfare. OB)


SOURCE
The stench of war | MIT Technology Review

Hello. Please pray for my dad, his name is Lance. Hes very sick, please pray the Lord will heal him. Thank you.

“No one should ever be discriminated against based on their height and weight. We all deserve the same access to employment, housing, and public accommodations, regardless of our appearance,” said Mayor Adams. “It shouldn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh when you’re looking for a job, are out on the town, or trying to rent an apartment. This law will help level the playing field for all New Yorkers, create more inclusive workplaces and living environments, and protect against discrimination. the Commission looks forward to working with all stakeholders to cultivate an equitable city for all.


Not so sure about this one...I would say it depends on the form of the "discrimination".

Certain forms of "discriminating" based on physical attributes is pragmatic.

If it's purely optics kind of discriminating they're trying to prevent IE: "I don't like that person because fat people = yucky", and there's a major problem with that, then okay, I get passing a measure preventing that.

However, if it's a case where they may go after an employer (who's hiring a person for a physically demanding job) for hiring a strapping 6'1" 190 pound fit 20 year old over an obese 44 year old, and hit them with a fine for "discrimination", then I may take some objection to that. Even a case where a somewhat new business owner is trying to offer company funded healthcare plans, and having concerns about adding people to the staff who they know will end up needing a lot of resources...I can sympathize with the business owner on that.

Or perhaps a local restaurant owner who's operating out of an old building, if a morbidly obese person complains because their entranceway doesn't accommodate a motorized cart or doesn't have a bathroom stall that's 4 feet wide, are they gonna get in trouble?

I'm staunchly opposed to discriminating against people over circumstances of birth...I'm less sympathetic toward circumstances of choice. And obesity is something that falls almost exclusively in the latter (with very few legitimate exceptions).

I don't know if Eric Adams actually believes what he's saying with this one, or if it's a position he's been "coached" into taking by advisors.

Mr Adams said: 'We all deserve the same access to employment, housing and public accommodation, regardless of our appearance, and it shouldn’t matter how tall you are or how much you weigh.'


Him, being a former police officer...certainly he doesn't believe that. There's no way he believes that a person who's either 4' 11" and 90 pounds, or 375 pounds would be as an effective of a law enforcement office as a person who's a average height and healthy body weight. (and that's just one profession that he happened to be in). When he was on the force, if given the choice of who his backup would be, it's unlikely that he would see a morbidly obese person as equal to a healthy person.

I got my own Apologetics for this that I think is quite good covering early types in Judaism (8th day feast, offerings and rituals, as well as Pentecost) , that are present in Christianity and the fact we know the Church worshipped on Sunday and it's meaning in light of the Resurrection. Pentecost, and when saint John the Divine received his Revelation for the book of Revelation all of which happened on Sunday. As well as the fact that Sunday was instrumental in proclaiming the Faith in early times. The Church just did not preach the Resurrection, but making Sunday the primary day for worship was another way of emphasizing and preaching and bearing witness to that truth that is the most important truth for humanity (The Gospel that is the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us).

As well as other issues that I probably will include later.


This morning I listened to Thunder Lauriston give a very good presentation that hit other things, or made other points I wouldn't make and I really enjoyed it. So I intend to relisten and take notes on it and post them.


Cheers and have a happy sabbath.

​

This is a trial balloon post. Seeing if there are any others that have honestly investigated the possibility that the Greek text in the New Testament was actually originally written in Aramaic. It seems a ridiculous notion. But there was actually a lot of scholarship in the 1700's to early 1900's looking into this. I find it fascinating the more I research this topic. Looking at one evidence doesn't prove much. But when you investigate the hundreds of examples that exist it becomes hard to ignore. That is, unless you pretend to be an ostrich.

One expert linguistic scholar of the early 20th century was Torrey. He said of the thesis that Aramaic was the original language:

"As for the Gospels in particular, every possible proof that could be asked for has been furnished. In Our Translated Gospels, the evidence is presented in a form that must convince even the layman who is willing to examine it. Anyone with thorough knowledge of the language will testify that the Aramaic words presented are in fact what they are claimed to be, the natural and customary equivalents of the Greek, not ingenious creations. The reader can see with his own eyes, in more than 1oo typical and classified cases, how bits of pure nonsense in our [Greek] Gospels resulted naturally from translation of a Semitic text. All four Gospels, in all their parts (excepting Luke’s prologue and John 21) are rendered from Aramaic." (Our Translated Gospels, p. xvi)

Click to expand...

Here's just a single example concept. This is found in "John Wrote In Aramaic" by J. De Zwaan, Journal of Biblical Literature, 1938 pp. 161-163. It's his review of one of Torrey's books of the time.

The verses examined are John 12:11 and John 15:16.

[Jhn 12:10-11 LSB] 10 But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

[Jhn 15:16 LSB] 16 "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and [that] your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

Do you see the strange wording? John 12 says that many were going away and were believing. Going where? John 15 says Jesus told the disciples to go and bear fruit. Go where? We've gotten used to these strange phrases. But it's really from a Aramaic idiom which the Greek text doesn't recognize. And therefore the English translators have not recognized it either. I have not seen a single English version translate these passages in a way that recognizes the Aramaic idiom being used.

Zwaan states "In both places a well-known Hebrew and Aramaic idiom is mistranslated by a literal and stereotyped rendering. It is the idiom "to go and...." for "to grow, to become, to do more and more".

The Greek can be verified here:

Both texts use the Greek word "hypago" G5217 - hypagō - Strong's Greek Lexicon (kjv)
It has 2 meanings:

1. to lead under, bring under
2. to withdraw one's self, to go away, depart

However, looking at the Aramaic Peshitta (here: Analysis of Peshitta verse 'John 12:11'
and Analysis of Peshitta verse 'John 15:16')

The word used for "go" is described here: Word 't)zlwn'
It has 2 similar meanings:
1. to go, move along
2. to go away

BUT....it also has a very common 3rd meaning:
3. as a co-verb: to go ahead and do something, to continue, go on and on doing something

There it is. The Aramaic idiom that hasn't been recognized in the Greek or English translations.

Should be rendered:
John 12:11 - because on account of him many of the Jews were believing in Jesus more and more.
And this makes it much more clear as to why the chief priests wanted to murder Lazarus. It's because his influence were causing more and more people to believe in Jesus which threatened their hold on people.

John 15:16 - You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would bear more and more fruit, and [that] your fruit would abide, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

These verses have nothing to do with people going anywhere. It's the particular way the Aramaic language uses to describe increasing results of the particular verb being used.

Musk’s response came after prominent Twitter users, including progressives, grumbled over the DNC’s commitment to supporting the Biden 2024 re-election, to the point of not planning primary debates, even though Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have announced their candidacies.

In addition to Williamson and others blasting the decision, "The Young Turks" host and far-left commentator Cenk Uygur called out the move, claiming that the DNC is making everyone in the party "fall in line" behind Biden.



Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launches his unlikely bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Wednesday with the support of 14% of voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020, an exclusive USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

That is surprising strength for a candidate who has a famous political name but is now known mostly as the champion of a debunked conspiracy theory blaming childhood vaccines for autism.

In the survey taken Saturday through Tuesday, only 67% of Biden's 2020 supporters said they would support him for the Democratic nomination over his current challengers. Kennedy stands at 14%, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, a quixotic candidate for the nomination last time, is at 5%. Another 13% are undecided.


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I tried to find a more "neutral" source than Fox News...they're not one I like to link very often just because that outlet comes with baggage (obviously), but couldn't find any moderate sources talking about it.

The article published in the journal Nature suggests that modern humans may have originated from multiple populations in Africa, rather than a single population. The study's authors analyzed genetic data from present-day African populations and found that there is more genetic diversity within these populations than previously thought. This suggests that there may have been multiple waves of migration out of Africa, each with its own unique genetic makeup.

The findings challenge the traditional view of human evolution, which holds that modern humans originated from a single population in East Africa. The new study suggests that human evolution may have been more complex than we thought, and that modern humans may be a product of multiple populations mixing and interbreeding.

Additional details:

• The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Cape Town, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• The researchers analyzed genetic data from 2,500 present-day African individuals.
• The researchers found that there is more genetic diversity within African populations than previously thought.
• The researchers suggest that this diversity is the result of multiple waves of migration out of Africa.
• The study's findings challenge the traditional view of human evolution.
• The study's findings are still preliminary, and more research is needed to confirm them

The findings while still preliminary are a significant step forward in our understanding of human evolution. They suggest that our species may be more diverse than we thought, and that our history may be more complex than we imagined.

if you had to define the Grace of God to a 10 year old child - how would you define it.

30 words or less.

Hey, something I just noticed- I have a cousin in-law from Iran that married into my family, this has made me interested in Iran and I have been watching YouTube videos about the country. There are many new videos that have just been produced in the last few days. I had a look and noticed something amazing, Iranian women are no longer wearing their hijabs (muslim head scarves) out in public! Not a single one was wearing one! They are very brave, they could be arrested by the secret police and be tortured for doing this! The Iranian government had agreed to review the hijab laws, I am not sure what the final verdict was but I have been praying for freedom for Iranian women and that the hijab laws would be struck down.

I have other subtypes of OCD - I've had health OCD, scrupulocity, and others in the past. Struggled most of my life with it but have just recently understood what it was. That said, I am in a new relationship with this guy and I am terrified that God is telling me to break up with him. To the point that I don't pray because I'm afraid of God speaking to me or impressing on me that He wants me to break up. The thing is, I've been on the receiving end of that about 6 years ago when my fiance left me suddenly because he felt that God told him I wasn't the one for him. So I don't know if this is the trauma causing me to feel this way or if God really wants me to give up my relationship. I love this guy so much and feel sick at just the thought of not having him. Can someone help?

"As a district, we support and care for all of our students as they learn and grow. Events such as this are consistent with the goals of our community-developed strategic plan, and in line with District policies," Superintendent Jennifer Gillis told Newsweek in a statement. "It's important to note that West High School has been hosting a Pride event since 2018, and the agenda for this event is similar to other years.​

The use of federal tax funds for such a purpose is outrageous, but more importantly the government pushing of gay and trans behavior on children is morally wrong. It is an attack by evil against our country.

Quince Jelly is the best jelly!

We were getting on a certain flight. We were the first to board the plane and found ourselves in the middle rows, away from the windows. Instead of stowing away my luggage overhead, I actually put it on a seat next to me and put the seat belt on it and myself. Then I quickly fell into a nap. In a short moment, I woke up and the plane is almost full and about to depart.

I noticed it was so hot and finding it difficult to breathe. I noticed the plane's A/C is off. Then I something else really really strange is going on. The passengers have almost emptied the middle seat rows and now leaning towards the windows to catch a glimpse of what is going on outside.

And because all the passengers are crowded at the windows, I can't see what is going on and what's attracting their attention like a magnet, they have all ignored the "fasten the seatbelt" sign, even the flight attendants have taken to the windows and ignored their duties!!

The plane has been taxiing the entire time as well getting to the runway to take off. However, I can also feel the plane is taxiing at a speed way above taxiway speed limits! I can hear the engines roaring even though it's not at the runway yet! and we're getting pushed sideways hard as the plane hits the turns at recklessly high speeds.

By now it's become so obvious, something's really wrong going on. The pilots seem in a hurry to leave the airport and get airborne, probably the reason it's hot inside the plane - they forgot to turn on the A/C trying to take the plane as quickly as possible to the air. And then the really strange climax of the dream. I noticed a yellow glow has penetrated the dark cabin of the airplane coming from the windows. Something bright and yellow is outside the plane and it's NOT the Sun, no kidding! Because the faces of the passengers looking at the windows have turned to absolute terror!

At this point, the pilots have set the power to full, we're going to take off but could feel the plane's movements even getting more violent. It's all over the place as if the pilots are evading something while bearing down the ground at full engine power and I get this feeling, we're not at the runway yet and the pilots are simply taking the chance to get airborne trying to take off from the taxiway!

I never saw what's outside the plane. I woke up shortly during the plane's take off attempt.

I can't say I am as terrified as the other passengers in the plane. For one thing I never saw whatever gave them the looks of absolute terror in their faces. Nevertheless, I felt their terror and that very strong, very ominous atmosphere in the plane.

Though I'm thinking, the whole dream could have been an epic teaser trailer for a blockbuster sci-fi / horror film!. It's not been over a month since I had another similar dream. Me flying a helicopter and found our city completely abandoned in a hurry. They left the lights running and something's going on that forced everyone to evacuate. Again, I was never shown what's causing all these.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie plans to announce his candidacy in the 2024 race on Tuesday, according to three sources familiar with his plans.

Christie, who also ran in 2016 and has been outspoken against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, will make the announcement at a town hall at Saint Anselm College.

News of Christie’s announcement comes after his allies recently formed a super PAC to support his expected GOP presidential bid.

As the nation plans to celebrate ‘LGBTQ’ inclusivity during ‘Pride Month,’ Muslim and Christian parents contend that their beliefs about family life and sexuality need to be respected.

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Amid a growing backlash against the adoption of “LGBTQ”-themed books for children in public-school classrooms, a group of Maryland parents just filed a federal lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Education, alleging it had improperly reversed its policy of allowing parents to opt their children out of sensitive reading materials.

“The basis of the legal challenge will start with the First Amendment, which protects the right of parents to direct the religious upbringing of their children,” William Haun, senior counsel for the Becket law group, a public interest group that filed the lawsuit on behalf of three Muslim and Christian families.

“That right has always included the ability to opt your children out of religiously objectionable curricula on sensitive matters going to the core of who a person [is] and what their religious beliefs are.”

Haun told the Register that the federal lawsuit will address the Montgomery School Board’s alleged violation of both its own policies and those of the state of Maryland.

“Like 32 other states nationwide, Maryland allows parental opt outs for family-life and human-sexuality instruction. Every parent in this case got an opt out from these ‘Pride’ story books, and then the school board decided without any explanation to flip the script,” he said.

Haun noted that the Montgomery Board of Education has continued to maintain opt-out provisions for other curriculum issues that pose concerns for religious parents and that the “Pride” books were the only exception to that rule. That inconsistency could trigger a higher standard of judicial review and so pose a greater challenge for the board to defend its position.

Continued below.

How the witness of a holy boy changed more than one heart.

The following is an adapted excerpt from the new book Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers by CNA Rome Correspondent Courtney Mares.

Blessed Carlo Acutis inspired the son of a Brahman Hindu priest to be baptized as a Catholic through the young boy’s joyful witness to Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist and his love for the poor.

In an interview, Rajesh Mohur shared the story of his spiritual journey and how he came to know Acutis, the computer-coding teen who was the first millennial beatified in the Catholic Church and a patron of the upcoming World Youth Day.

Mohur grew up on a small island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, about 500 miles east of Madagascar. Like most of Mauritius’ population, Mohur was a Hindu. He grew up speaking Creole and studying Sanskrit, the ancient language used in Hindu scriptures.

Continued below.

COMMENTARY: Christian virtues, like Christian doctrines, turn menacing when taken in isolation from each other

A high school in Canada recently canceled Mother’s Day (as well as Father’s Day) because it is not “inclusive.” The celebration of Mother’s Day in Canada goes back to 1915, only seven years after it was founded in the United States by schoolteacher Anna Jarvis as a special tribute to her late mother. When President Woodrow Wilson made it an official holiday in 1914, he introduced the apostrophe so that on Mother’s Day, each family would honor its one and only mother. In so doing, no doubt without thinking about it, he ensured that Mother’s Day would not be “inclusive.”

The notion of mother is both personal and specific. It is not an enigma. It does not include anything that is not a mother. And yet, the powers to be have decided to cancel something because it is not what it is not! Using this method of canceling something because it is not what it is not, by logical extension, would justify canceling anything that is not what it is not. And since nothing is not what it is not, then, by employing this violation of the principle of contradiction, everything should be canceled.

Dostoevsky claimed that human stupidity is “stupendous.” Yet, canceling Mother’s Day because it is not inclusive (which it never claimed to be) goes beyond stupidity. There must be another explanation why people, especially those in education, would rule in such a hare-brained manner. For well over 100 years in North America, people celebrated Mother’s Day for exactly what it represents — a way of honoring and celebrating one’s mother.

The inclusive strategy is essentially unrealistic — if used, it will inevitably backfire. A marketing official for Bud Light decided to be more “inclusive” and authorized a controversial transgender activist to appear on one of its beer cans. The result was catastrophic. The company lost more than $5 billion in sales within a few days and suffered an overall consumption drop of 26%. In being more “inclusive,” Anheuser-Busch lost, and therefore, “excluded,” a good percentage of its loyal beer drinkers. Meanwhile, two other brands of beer, Coors and Miller, have enjoyed sales boosts of 20.5 and 21%, respectively. Bud Light’s “inclusive” strategy worked very nicely — for its competitors.

Continued below.

SHREWSBURY — The Archbishop of St. Louis will close 35 parishes and reassign 155 priests in the most sweeping reorganization of the Catholic church in St. Louis history.

After 18 months of waiting, Catholics learned on Saturday the fate of their priests and parishes in the downsizing of the archdiocese called “All Things New.”

The changes, which will reshape the archdiocese from 178 individual parishes into 134, were announced Saturday by Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski in a press conference and in a letter read by priests during vigil Mass.

“I wish these changes were not necessary, but it is what we are called to do at this moment,” Rozanski said Saturday.

The archbishop maintained that the plan affects the entire region, although nearly half of the closures are in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County and only one, St. John Bosco in Maryland Heights, is west of Interstate 270 in St. Louis County.

Continued below.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV


Several years ago I listened to a Q&A of a famous preacher who said that he got his sermons from “dead men,” meaning from the theologians of old. And he holds a great deal of stock in Calvinism and reformed theology. He does not accept all the gifts of the Spirit as being valid today, he sometimes mocks those who do, and he doesn’t believe we can be led by the Spirit in any way other than just by reading the Scriptures.

For he doesn’t believe that the Spirit speaks to our hearts and to our consciences other than through the written word, and only from the strictest sense of biblical and theological interpretation. But then he says he gets his sermons from “dead men,” i.e. from these dead theologians “from whom we come,” he says. He is a biblical scholar, and he doesn’t teach “cheap grace,” but still he raises up these theologians almost to “God status.”

Now, is most of his theology correct? Probably. And he does have a very large following. But I believe he quenches the Spirit when he denies that we can be led by the Spirit via the Spirit’s voice within us speaking to us and leading us in what to do, and in where to go, and in what to say, and to whom, etc. For we are not to despise the gifts, but we certainly are to test them to make certain that they do agree with the Scriptures.


Now, is there a lot of abuse of spiritual gifts? Absolutely!! Is there a lot of fakery and deception coming from people supposedly “hearing from God”? No doubt! Yes!! Is there a lot of false teaching coming from those who are claiming to have certain gifts of the Spirit? You bet! Is this a serious issue? YES! Do we need to address this? YES! But we must be so careful that we don’t “throw the baby out with the bathwater,” i.e. that we don’t discard the true gifts of the Spirit and the leading and the guidance of the Spirit in our lives along with what is false and deceptive and spiritually dangerous.

For we need to pay close attention to Paul’s words here. For his speech and his message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And yet this preacher holds much stock in the wisdom of men (these theologians of old) from whom he gets his sermons, and from whom he says we come. And this should not be!

So, we are not to deny the gifts of the Spirit nor the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we are to be spiritually discerning, and we are to test the voices we hear in our heads against the Scriptures, in their full context. But we should also be testing the words of these men who say that certain gifts of the Spirit no longer exist and who claim that we cannot hear from the Holy Spirit other than through the written word of God, but then who raise men up as though they are God’s voice to us.

Theologians versus the Holy Spirit

So, what is this saying, in essence? We are not to rely on theologians and Bible commentaries and church denominations to tell us what to believe and what not to believe, for they are not God, and they can be wrong. But we are to be students of the Scriptures who study the Scriptures in their context, and who compare Scripture with Scripture to make certain that our understanding is consistent throughout the New Covenant teachings, in particular, and who are being led by the Spirit of God and not by the flesh of man. And we must be discerning people who test everything we hear.

So, read through the New Testament and see how often the people were led by the Spirit in where to go and in what to say in very specific ways intended just for them personally. And Paul said that his messages were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that our faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, i.e. in the wisdom of biblical scholars and theologians who may or may not have been hearing from the Lord, nor in the wisdom of wolves in sheep’s clothing who are deliberately distorting the Scriptures to teach what they do not say.

Now I will tell you straight out here that I do not choose each day what to write on. I don’t pick the subject nor the Scripture passage nor the song included in the writing. The Holy Spirit leads me to the passage of Scripture and he puts the song in my mind, and I let the Spirit lead me in what to write so that I am hearing from him and not from the flesh of man, and not from my own flesh nor from the teachings of man. Yet, this doesn’t mean I am perfect, so please test what I write against the Scriptures, and if you believe I am in error, then please let me know, kindly.

And I believe the Lord led me today to talk about this preacher. And who he is doesn’t matter. But what he is teaching does matter. For if we rely on the wisdom of man (theologians) to lead us in what to believe, and if we reject the gifts of the Spirit and the Spirit’s voice within us guiding us in what to do and to say, and in where to go, etc., then we are in grave danger of putting out the Spirit’s fire, i.e. of quenching the Holy Spirit and of turning our faith into a dead man’s religion rather than a faith that is daily being led of the Spirit like Paul was, and like the Christians of old were being led.

So, yes, the Scriptures are to be what we follow, and we can follow them strictly, and we can live pure and holy lives, but still we can miss out on the purpose for which we were created by God if we refuse to hear the Spirit speak to us personally and to tell us to “go there” and to “speak to that person” and “I will give you the words to say.” Yes, this requires much spiritual discernment, for we can be guilty of quenching the Spirit, or we can be guilty of misusing the Spirit and his gifts to us. But it is best if we can be guided by the Spirit and to speak in the Spirit under the power of the Spirit.

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

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1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ESV


Now today we might relate this to those who follow Arminianism or who adhere to Calvinistic doctrine. And please don’t ask me what those are for I never remember. But you can look them up. Basically they are theologies of men and of their biblical interpretations and leanings. Or we might relate this passage today to someone saying he is Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian or Episcopalian or Church of God (charismatic) or whatever. And this can go to the issue of being followers of man in place of being followers of God and of his word, as led by the Spirit of God.

I can recall that years ago there would be people who would try to identify me with a particular church denomination to which I would respond that I was a Christian. But they weren’t satisfied with my response. For they thought that I had to be Baptist or Methodist, etc. And they would insist on it, for that was their upbringing that we had to be one of these. And then I have had people ask me about my theology, but I don’t adhere to a particular theology, but I just follow the Scriptures and what they teach. But did I use to identify myself with a particular church denomination? Yes, I did.

Now I used to teach women’s Bible studies, mostly in people’s homes, but some in “church” buildings, too. And this one time I was teaching on the deity of Christ, showing in the Scriptures where it taught that he was God and not just the Son of God. And this one woman tried to argue with me that Jesus wasn’t God but that he was only the Son of God, because that is what she thought she had been taught. But then she asked her dad who was a deacon in the church and he told her that Jesus is God, and she believed him.

But many times in these Bible studies I would ask questions and I would attempt to lead the women to learn from the Scriptures themselves and not to rely on what they were taught by another human. But, if what the Scriptures were clearly teaching was opposite of what their pastor was preaching, they would choose to believe their pastor and not the Scriptures, for they believed their pastors were God’s voice to them and that they were correct because they were ordained or because they went to seminary. And sadly that is instilled in many people of church denominations.

So, what is Paul saying here? For one, we are not to raise one servant of the Lord over another as though one is superior to the other unless one is clearly following the Lord and the other is clearly not being led by the Spirit but by the flesh and by the teachings of man. So, just because someone is a man, or he is a deacon or an elder in an institutional church, or just because he holds the title of “pastor” and because he went to Bible college and/or seminary, it doesn’t make him superior in biblical knowledge and in the wisdom of God to a woman or to someone who hasn’t gone to seminary.

For, no matter who we are, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, in truth, and if we are students of the Scriptures who are diligent in making certain that we correctly handle the word of truth, and who are not willfully teaching what is false, but who are adhering to the Scriptures and to the leading of the Spirit, then we are equal, i.e. one of us is not better than the other. And we should not follow one while rejecting the other. For we are all servants of the Lord doing what God has assigned us to do individually, walking in his power and strength. And he is the one who brings the increase, not us.

Now one of the dangers here is that people end up following personalities, and typically they are drawn to people who are more gregarious and witty and charming and who appear to be knowledgeable and who are smooth-tongued, and who know how to draw in large crowds of people from the world. But this isn’t always the case. And some people are drawn to credentials, i.e. if you have a Bible college degree or a seminary degree or if you are a reverend, etc., you tend to get more respect than someone who does not have credentials, and this shouldn’t be our criteria for godly or not.

So, Paul called this kind of thing of the flesh and representative of spiritual immaturity and an indication of professing Christians behaving in a human way rather than in a godly and spiritually mature way. And sadly, so much of what is called “church” here in America is largely of the flesh of man, and they are following after church denominations and theologies of men and personalities and credentials and marketing schemes, and most seem to not be following the Lord and his gospel message and the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And so what is happening is that many professing Christians are following after lies and not the truth because they have put their faith and hope in other humans they admire, who they sometimes worship, and who have become God’s voice to them in place of God’s voice. And many of them are, thus, rejecting the truth of God’s word and of his gospel message because it doesn’t agree with what their pastor is teaching, or because it doesn’t agree with their church denomination or their biblical theology which they got from theologians of old (from dead men).

So, what is the lesson here for us? It is to be followers of God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit – and not followers of other humans, especially not based on worldly qualifications. We are not to be followers of church denominations nor of theologies of men nor should we be followers of personalities nor prejudicial against someone who doesn’t have all that worldly stuff. But we are to be followers of God who listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us in our spirits and who do not quench the Spirit by rejecting what is of God in favor of what is of man (of the flesh).

Testing the spirits: [Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25]

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown
Music by American Melody

“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

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