Category: Religion

Words of the Prophets

“I testify that wickedness is rapidly expanding in every segment of our society. It is more highly organized, more cleverly disguised, and more powerfully promoted than ever before. Secret combinations lusting for power, gain, and glory are flourishing. A secret combination that seeks to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world.
“I testify that the church and kingdom of God is increasing in strength. Its numbers are growing, as is the faithfulness of its faithful members. It has never been better organized or equipped to perform its divine mission.
“I testify that as the forces of evil increase under Lucifer’s leadership and as the forces of good increase under the leadership of Jesus Christ, there will be growing battles between the two until the final confrontation. As the issues become clearer and more obvious, all mankind will eventually be required to align themselves either for the kingdom of God or for the kingdom of the devil. As these conflicts rage, either secretly or openly, the righteous will be tested. God’s wrath will soon shake the nations of the earth and will be poured out on the wicked without measure.”
— Ezra Taft Benson, “I Testify”, General Conference, Oct 1988
 
Source: I Testify 

The Reality War

 

The ancient War between reality and fantasy continues…

As James Lindsay points out, science is “by definition anti-Gnostic,” because – if practiced as intended – it seeks to describe nature as it is through empirical reason. That is, science observes evidence in the physical world, and only then bases its theoretical conclusions – its Knowledge – on those observations of reality. After which we can then use it to achieve some relative progress by “better according our lives with reality as it is and thus doing better in reality.”

In contrast, Lindsay identifies “the general madness of the world at the present” as resulting from the “parasitic bugbear” of Gnosticism, and specifically what he categorizes as “Scientific Gnosticism.” What makes Scientific Gnosticism different from science is that it inverts the above process: it puts the conclusions of Theory (its Gnosis) ahead of empirical observation of the world.…

…And if the world does not accord with Theory, then the world is wrong, and it “must seek to call truths things which are not.”

Source: The Reality War

 

Mystery of Noah’s Ark Solved!

Very interesting. Looks like something got mistranslated over the millenia…

“The measurements—300 cubits, 50 cubits, and 30 cubits—must be in the text of Genesis for a reason. But no one has been able to come up with a shape based on the Biblical dimensions that does not seem intuitively wrong.

“This would be a trivial question if it were not linked to a greater puzzle with profound theological and ethical implications. In the Torah, the strange word tevah is used only twice: once to describe Noah’s Ark, and once to describe the fragile container made out of bulrushes in which the infant Moses was placed in the Nile before Pharaoh’s daughter found him. It has long been a mystery why the same word would be used for the wicker basket that rescued Moses and the vessel that rescued the ancestors of all present-day human beings and animals.

“Until now. I have finally solved the mystery of the shape of Noah’s Ark—and discovered why it matters.”

Interesting theory. I’ll wait for further proof. Like some future Thor Heyerdahl building a replica and sailing it around with a bunch of animals for forty days.

Source: Mystery of Noah’s Ark Solved!

 

On The Feast of Stephen…

Good King Wenceslaus went out
On the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even.

O.K., Christians of the world: Church history for one hundred. When is the Feast of Stephen and to whom does it refer? (Pause for hemming and hawing.)

It’s December 26, the day after Christmas, when the death of the church’s first martyr, Stephen, is traditionally commemorated. Trivial, yes, but most Christians can’t give me the correct answer.

Source: The Feast of Stephen: Christmas Traditions: – John Loeffler – Koinonia House

For over 60 years I did not know this. The reference to the “feast of Stephen” in the carol was lost on me. Therefore I didn’t really understand the carol. Proof (to me) that Western culture and traditions have not been passed down to the younger generations. We are seeing the results of this now. Ignorance is causing societal chaos.

Today is traditionally the “Second Day of Christmas” in the Western church, or St. Stephen’s Day, aka the “Feast of Stephen”, as referenced in the carol “Good King Wenceslas.”
Stephen was the first Christian martyr as recorded in Acts 7:
58. And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
59. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Acts 7:1-57 is basically Stephen bearing his testimony of the risen Christ, which is what enraged the crowd.

Pope says Christians should never seek to convert unbelievers, anyone who proselytizes “is not a disciple of Jesus”

Anti-Christ in the Vatican

In a dialogue with Catholic high school students in Rome this weekend, Pope Francis responded to a question about how to deal with atheists and people of other faiths by saying that Christians should never proselytize — and any who do are not truly Christians.

  • “If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you with proselytism, they are not a disciple of Jesus.”

  • “The Church does not grow by proselytism.”

Pretty sure it is supposed to grow that way. Has the Pope ever read the New Testament? One of the risen Christ’s last orders was…

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Source: Pope says Christians should never seek to convert unbelievers, anyone who proselytizes “is not a disciple of Jesus”