Our Lady of Guadalupe

It goes without saying that religion is a very touchy subject.  Maybe that is because it is the essential subject of who we are and where are we going.  I think the nature of God has a lot to do with it as well.  If He were the kind of God who charges through the sky thundering commands and demands of adoration, well then I would think we would all, fearfully, be on the same page.  As He is though, He teaches through specific and limited revelations and miracles.   In His quiet way He waits for us to search Him out, to love Him simply because He loves us.  Up to His Incarnation as the Christ, these events were scattered over a long ribbon of time making human understanding of the divine plan incomplete to say the least.

Following the Incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, things got a little more organized.  For a period of fifteen-hundred years there was the Roman Catholic Church.  For two-thirds of the time since Christ walked the earth there was one organization fighting heresy, evangelizing pagan cultures the world over, preserving the Truth, preserving the scriptures and handing down through times the stabilizing precepts of tradition.  For eleven-hundred years there was one bible, the Latin Vulgate.

Then came the protestant revolt.  From this revolt there came thousands of organized churches.  With the invention of the printing press there came many different and conflicting versions of the bible.  It is weird how the technical ability to print many different versions of the bible became the basis of the invented dogma of Protestantism that "the" bible is the sole source of instruction.  As a result of the revolt 500 years ago we now have thousands of different churches teaching as many different ideas and the result has been, predictably, confusion and error.  How can a person tell truth from lies?  How can we reconcile the prayer of Christ, "that they may be one, Father, as You and I are one."?

Firstly, one must understand that there can only be one church, teaching one Truth.  One must understand that each denomination exists because it proclaims all the others to be erroneous. Look at the following logic sequence:

A is the only truth.
B is the only truth.
C is the only truth.
A, B and C are all equally true.
A, B and C are all false.

A, B and C are the different denominations.  They each claim their supremacy.  However, when there are unanswered questions many people default to the forth premise, that all are equally true.  Unfortunately that won't work because the fourth premise wipes out the first, second and third which self destroys the forth.  That leaves the fifth which cannot be true do to our assurance by Christ that He would not abandon us and that He would be with us until the end of times.  He also stated the the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (singular).  So, we are back to sifting between A, B or C. to find the true church.

It is my belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the One, Holy and Apostolic Church.  I did not always believe that.  I waded through A, B, C and the forth premise for years before arriving firmly at Catholic.  It was a journey of learning.  It was a journey of letting go of pride, that is trying to find a religion that suited my desires, and searching with an objective attitude.  Truth is real even though Pontus Pilate didn't recognize It as he was standing in the room with Him.  I am convinced that to study Christian history is to become Catholic.

Sadly, with the severe division of Christianity, when God allows a divine, teaching event to occur, no one pays attention, or very few do.  Such a remarkable event happened in 1531 near present day Mexico City.  It was the appearance of the Virgin Mother to a peasant Indian.  We do not have to take anyone's word for it because she left behind physical proof which can be viewed today.  She left her image on the peasant's tilma.

If you really want to learn the Truth, to learn which church can help you attain heaven, you must search out this remarkable story.  Warning, it will lead you towards Catholicism, as I pray it will.

Happy Eighteenth!

Happy Eighteen Trillion Dollars of debt day America.  Eighteen Trillion Dollars works out to about $56,300 dollars for every man, woman and child in our country.  That equals about $153,000 per tax payer.

Here is another scary fact.  Ever since President Nixon severed the U.S. dollar from the gold standard and let it "float", our money is also simply a debt instrument.  Since paper money has no intrinsic value, using it to purchase a good or service is actually an I.O.U.  The transaction is not complete until we provide goods and services to the rest of the world as they attempt to spend (redeem) our money back with us.  So, as a practical matter, we are officially destitute.

It is a shame.  When President Kennedy was in office we had no significant debt.  Our money was sound.  President Johnson ran with the idea of deficit spending as a method rather than a temporary, necessary evil.  Johnson also initiated the idea of spending the money withheld by the Social Security program and replacing those moneys with Treasury Bonds (debt).  Our country went from financial strength to today's weakened state in a short fifty years.

The Federal Government will not face this problem.  They cannot.  No senator or congressman will run for office on a platform of cutting benefits and increasing debt payments.  They will drive this vehicle off the cliff at full throttle.  We must do it!  We must refuse their empty promises and their worthless handouts.  Of all the programs that they have foisted upon us, three are breaking the bank.  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid together account for over twenty-five percent of the annual expenditures.  A forth liability is growing rapidly, the interest on the eighteen trillion.  If we shut those three down, the debt would stop growing.  If we stopped lining up to sign-up for their stupid gimmicks such as Obama Care, stopped angling for "rebates" (someone else's money), stopped looking for a free ride, we might just pull ourselves out of a dangerous spot.  Otherwise, the day will come when the rest of the world will refuse to take any more of our worthless promises (money).  On that day we will collectively see mind boggling inflation (devaluation) of our money and chaos will erupt.

So, the next time a bureaucrat offers you money, spit in his eye. 

...Minding My Own Business When...

I pray for the day when everyone in this remarkable country starts working in harmony and for the good of each other.  Imagine what that would be like.  There would be civility in our streets, families staying together and giving their children love and encouragement as they grow into adulthood.  Best of all there would not be the searing pain of losing loved ones to death by murder.  Please Lord, let it stop.

In the meantime, we must be ready to defend ourselves and the innocent around us.  In the meantime we must face reality and understand that there are people among us who have no respect for life and certainly no wish for order.  In the meantime we, the citizens who care, must stand strong.  In the meantime we must be armed.

Zemir Begic was senselessly attacked and killed in St. Louis last Sunday morning while driving his car.  He was unarmed.  May our good God grant him peace and ease the suffering of his wife and family.  May the young boys who committed this crime come to grips with the horror and beg God for forgiveness.