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Why Orthodox Christians Prefer the Septuagint Third Edition By Metropolitan Ephraim Preface All told, there are some 300 textual differences between the Masoretic and the Septuagint texts, some of them important and some of them insignificant. These articles will explain why Orthodox Christians prefer the Septuagint, despite some admittedly beautiful and eloquent passages found in the Masoretic text. The articles by Metropolitan Ephraim were originally published on the internet in the Spring of 2009, and they appear here in a slightly edited and augmented form. ONE - HONOR THE PHYSICIAN In the Wisdom of Sirach, it says: “Honor the physician...

Morning - "Yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant."—2 Samuel 23:5. THIS covenant is divine in its origin. "HE hath made with me an everlasting covenant." Oh that great word HE! Stop, my soul. God, the everlasting Father, has positively made a covenant with thee; yes, that God who spake the world into existence by a word; He, stooping from His majesty, takes hold of thy hand and makes a covenant with thee. Is it not a deed, the stupendous condescension of which might ravish our hearts for ever if we could really understand it? "HE hath made...

In the course of the appeals, her lawyer said the Caulfields no longer had a sexual relationship but could not divorce on religious grounds, as all three worship the Norse gods, including Odin and Thor. Odinists claim to follow the beliefs practised by Vikings in Britain and Scandinavia, and some Anglo-Saxons in Britain, before Christianity became the sole religion in the course of the Dark Ages. Followers worship Odin, the chief god of Norse mythology and worship in groups known as Hearths, performing ceremonies called Blothars in which their gods are honoured by drinking mead – an alcoholic drink made...

In colonial times Christmas was frowned upon in New England and observed mostly as a private feast in mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies. The strait-laced New England Puritans, partially motivated by anti-Catholic sentiment, banned Christmas in 1659 under the guise that the holiday was pagan and that it encouraged decadence. Colonial Americans celebrated a Christmas that contained both religious and secular elements thus establishing a uniquely balanced American approach to faith. Christmas harkens back to the ancient Roman celebration of the Saturnalia, a day in which all Romans, Emperor and slave, addressed each other on a first name basis. Christmas was...

It is no surprise to learn that, as land values continue to rise, space for cemeteries gets scarce. I have seen more and more mausoleums be built at the local cemeteries, and they are getting taller as the years go on. But the picture to the right really takes the concept to new heights! The picture is The Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica III, a vertical cemetery in Santos, Brazil. It is the world’s tallest cemetery, with burial spaces on 32 floors. There’s also a restaurant, chapel, lagoon and peacock garden. It has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in...

What a display of heathen craziness. Crass commercialism as a huge tree is celebrated by wild-eyed fascination with pop singers. All supposedly done in the name of our Savior. Now some misguided soul is singing "Beautiful" the Christina Aguilera song. What a mockery. God help us all.

The U.S. Air Force Academy has pulled out of a Christian-sponsored children’s toy drive after commanders were accused of religious intolerance. Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the academy’s participation in Operation Christmas Child is inappropriate because of its evangelical Christian roots. Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham — the son of evangelist Billy Graham. It packs toys and other items into shoe boxes and sends them to needy children around the world, along with a Christian message in each gift. “This is arrogance beyond measure,” Weinstein...

Burning Man, the arts festival and experimental community that blooms once a year for a week on a dry desert lakebed outside Gerlach, Nev., starts Monday.

Northern Nevada will host one of the largest and most innovative art and cultural events in the nation this week, yet most local residents have never experienced the weeklong Burning Man Festival. Western Nevada College offers a fascinating glimpse into the Burning Man culture of self-expression and self-reliance through a photography exhibit that portrays the art, costumes and energy of the event. “The Culture of Burning Man,” showing through Oct. 15, is made possible by the Black Rock Arts Foundation, and is curated by local artist Maria Partridge.

For the first time in the event's 25-year history, tickets to Burning Man have sold out. With more than a month left to go before the gates to Black Rock City open at midnight on Aug. 28, burners have already started a mad scramble for spare tickets through various message boards and online networks.

Give Your Faith a Target Today's Scripture “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1, NLT) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria So many people today get down and discouraged because they only focus on their present circumstances. They’re constantly dwelling on their problems, what they don’t have, and what’s wrong with them. They don’t realize it, but they’re allowing the enemy to steal their hope. This negative frame of mind is what keeps people from moving forward in life. Understand today that faith...

Comparing Christianity and the New Paganism The most serious challenge for Christianity today isn't one of the other great religions of the world, such as Islam or Buddhism. Nor is it simple atheism, which has no depth, no mass appeal, no staying power. Rather, it's a religion most of us think is dead. That religion is paganism — and it is very much alive. Paganism is simply the natural gravity of the human spirit, the line of least resistance, religion in its fallen state. The "old" paganism came from the country. Indeed, the very word "paganism" comes from the Latin...

Haters of God, 2 Tim. 3:2 Our war is against God and the world created by Him, declared Karl Marx, father of the Communist Manifesto. In his poem, "The Pale Maiden" he admits that he has willfully opted for Hell: "Thus heaven I've forfeited; I know it full well; My soul, once true to God; Is chosen for hell." (Marx & Satan, Richard Wurmbrand, p. 22) "The Evil One is the satanic revolt against divine authority....Socialists recognize each other by the words, "In the name of the one to whom a great wrong has been done....Satan (is) the eternal rebel,...

The historical evidence contradicts this popular notion.Anyone encountering anti-Christian polemics will quickly come up against the accusation that a major festival practiced by Christians across the globe, namely, Easter, was actually borrowed or rather usurped from a pagan celebration. I often encounter this idea among Muslims who claim that later Christians compromised with paganism to dilute the original faith of Jesus.

Rome, Italy, Apr 11, 2011 / 05:55 pm (CNA).- A society dominated by moral relativism “fosters the spread of Satanism,” an expert recently explained.Carlo Climati told CNA on April 5 that Satanism “destroys those universal values that are written in the hearts of each human being.” It creates “a society that is turned on its head, in which good becomes evil and evil becomes good.”Climati is the press director of the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome.He said young people become captivated “by the illusion of a life that appears to be free of all rules” and by a deceiving...

Manchester Cathedral is to host a ‘new age’ festival featuring tarot card readers, crystal healers and ‘dream interpretation’. Local Anglican leaders have agreed to throw open the doors of the historic cathedral in a bid to embrace alternative forms of Christianity. Fortune tellers, meditation experts and traditional healers will fill the pews during the day-long festival in May. The Bishop of Manchester, Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, said he wanted to celebrate ‘all forms of spirituality’. The Spirit of Life festival on May 2 will also feature stalls and workshops on angels, prayer bead-making and massage. Fire-breathing vicar Rev Andy Salmon,...

According to an article written by the “guru” of Reiki, William Lee Rand, the popularity of Reiki (and other energy healing techniques) is growing by leaps and bounds and is becoming common in many US hospitals. “At hospitals and clinics across America, Reiki is beginning to gain acceptance as a meaningful and cost-effective way to improve patient care,” Rand explains. “Personal interviews conducted with medical professionals corroborate this view,” (1) he adds. Rand says that the general public is “turning with ever-increasing interest to complementary health care, including Reiki,” and according to one study, one in every three Americans has...

For those truly last-minute Christmas gift givers, Amazon.com is highlighting their gift cards as a gift with same-day Christmas delivery. They've got Kindle books you can send to anyone with an email address -- and who doesn't have an email address these days? And Amazon is pretty innovative in the ways they allow folks to send their same-day Christmas gifts, either via e-mail or by a Facebook friend wall post.

UN Climate Conference (COP16) Cancun, Nov 29 - Dec 10, 2010According to this page: COP16 is the official name of the Cancun summit, which is the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the highest body of the UNFCCC and comprises environment ministers from 192 countries who have met once a year since the 1992 Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro.Once again, the UN brought together many "faith traditions" in the spirit of Religious Syncretism and Interfaith Dreams. And. They. Just. Won't. Ever. Stop. Not until Christianity has...

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling...

Opening Worship Processional - 219th General Assembly (Presbyterian - PCUSA)

Kagan The Pagan "Among Jewish People There Is A Type That Jews Themselves Call A Bagel And Lox Jew. Kagan The Pagan Is A Bagel And Lox Jew. What Does This Mean? It Means A Person Of Jewish Descent Who Mocks Her Own Religion. ...."

Decrying as “missionaries of hate” U.S. Christians who preach in Africa against homosexual practice, a former bishop of the Anglican Church of Uganda spoke June 8 at a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C.Christopher Senyonjo was hosted by Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, the first openly gay bishop to be consecrated in the Anglican Communion. Robinson has served as Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) since March. The two spoke about anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda, which they blamed upon U.S. evangelicals. They also called for a broader effort to decriminalize homosexual practices...

America as we see it today is not the same nation as the America in which my parents grew up. It is certainly not the America that was founded over 230 years ago by a group of patriots who had just won a war of liberation against the most powerful monarchy in the world at that time. These changes, this degradation of America, has accelerated in the last 40 years, however, as a moral sea change swept over this land, driven by the purposeful rejection of America's Christian foundations and the system of government that was influenced and established under...

The Consecration of Mary Glasspool as an Episcopal bishop on Saturday was incredible. They had odes to Mother Earth, random pagan rituals, a smudging ceremony to increase their relationship to plants or something, a smidge of ancestor Worship thrown in, and don't forget the dancing Girls. And, of course, there's guitars. There's always guitars. And by the way there didn't seem to be a whole lot of Jesus at least in the first hour or so that I saw. You can see the video here. AFP reports:A 56-year-old lesbian was ordained as a bishop by the Episcopal church here Saturday,...

We are about to witness a worldwide pagan rite – the worship of the earth, the worship of Gaia, (Earth Mother). Earth Day is the worship of nature -- rather than Nature’s God. Though touted as, somehow, NEW, worship of the earth is likely the oldest religion on earth. Born of child-like ignorance, it has survived centuries and is, once again, robust and thriving among those people of earth who have lost their way and have reclaimed this form of paganism at the risk of their eternal souls. I must tell you, I question whether one who subscribes to the...

Witches, Druids and pagans rejoice! The Air Force Academy in Colorado is about to recognize its first Wiccan prayer circle, a Stonehenge on the Rockies that will serve as an outdoor place of worship for the academy's neo-pagans.

Pagan Pride at Syracuse U Bethany Stotts, February 15, 2010 This month Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel installed its first pagan chaplain, Mary Hudson, “in line with its goal of being more inclusive of all religions on campus,” reports The Daily Orange on Feb. 14. “Syracuse University may be only the second university in the nation to have a pagan chaplain, Hudson said. The only other one she was aware of is at the University of Southern Maine,” writes Rebecca Kheel for The Daily Orange. She continues, This is the first new chaplain since the appointments of the Buddhist and the...

A large wooden cross was placed at an Air Force Academy worship area for pagans and other Earth-centered religions, prompting an investigation by academy officials, though some caution that it’s hardly “destructive behavior.” Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said an Air Force Academy staffer spotted the cross — erected with railroad ties — lying against a rock at a worship area for pagan groups at the academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Jan. 17.

Witches, Druids and pagans rejoice! The Air Force Academy in Colorado is about to recognize its first Wiccan prayer circle, a Stonehenge on the Rockies that will serve as an outdoor place of worship for the academy's neo-pagans. Wiccan cadets and officers on the Colorado Springs base have been convening for over a decade, but the school will officially dedicate a newly built circle of stones on about March 10, putting the outdoor sanctuary on an equal footing with the Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Buddhist chapels on the base. "When I first arrived here, Earth-centered cadets didn't have anywhere to...

A writer for TIME magazine reports that the president and his family are not attending Christmas services. Gee, what a surprise! Barack Hussein Obama has consistently shown his lack of understanding of the Holy Bible, his disdain for the spiritual meaning of Christmas (no Nativity crèche in the White House), and his propensity to bow to Muslim leaders. But the fact is that NO TRUE CHRISTIAN can support abortion and the federal funding thereof. Don’t give me the “representative of the majority” nonsense. Here we sit on the precipice of the massive mountain of federal control of the health care...

Because modern life is so marked by prosperity for the greater portion of the earth, we rarely grasp the full impact of our spiritual position as a people, nation, or global family. Tragedy and evil seem so removed simply because it does not dwell in our own homes, or does not seem to.The reality of evil is eerily similar to the reality of holiness. It is hidden in the clothes of daily life, so that its horror is disguised, and the evil that seeks entrance is casually allowed and even ignorantly embraced by those who would resist it if they...

Kooky, Sexy, Cool – The Rise Of The New Witches [Pics in URL] Forget Kabbalah – paganism is the hot new religion, and thousands of young British women are embracing it By Eimear O'Hagan, 06/09/2009 Witches, covens, dancing around bonfires by the light of the moon and making offerings to goddesses - all the stuff of folklore and fairy tale, right? Wrong. Welcome to the world of paganism. Walk into any high-street bookshop and, alongside the usual chick-lit best-sellers, there's another set of books flying off the shelves, all about how to find your inner witch. Yes, really. Hot on...

POLICE who worship heathen gods will get eight days off a year to celebrate pagan festivals. They are also in line for thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money in recognition of their status as a “community” of pagans.Home Office chiefs this week gave their backing to the Pagan Police Association which will be entitled to public funding, along the lines of that given to other rank-and-file organisations like the National Black Police ­Association.Once recognised as a minority, officers will be given time off for the eight annual pagan festivals, including Halloween and the summer solstice.Last year the Home Office introduced...

What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? How Christians elevated culture What did the Christians cherish from the pagan traditions, and what did they change? They raised the status of women. It's dogma in our public schools today that women in ancient times were oppressed, because women had no voting rights, women had not the same opportunities as men, and so forth. You will be mocked if you deny that this spells oppression. If you're a college professor and you deny it, get ready for the stake. But the charges are anachronistic and...

A witches' coven leader has accused the Roman Catholic Church of prejudice after her group was banned from a parish social club. Sandra Davis, 61, high priestess of the Crystal Cauldron group, booked Our Lady's club in Stockport, Greater Manchester for a Halloween Ball.

A group of British witches is claiming religious discrimination after a Stockport Catholic church banned them from using its social club for their Crystal Cauldron Witches Ball. Sandra Davis, High Priestess at the Crystal Cauldron, had reserved Our Lady's Social Club in Shaw Heath, Stockport for her Pagan group's Annual Witches' Ball, the UK Telegraph reports. But when she rang to make payment arrangements she was told the event could not be held there and, despite already having printed tickets, another venue must be found. The Diocese of Shrewsbury have since confirmed witches are not "compatible with the Catholic ethos."

“Paganism” is a term fraught with all sorts of connotations. It originally meant something like “country dweller”, “rustic”, or even “hick”. That’s because (contrary to popular myth) Christianity did not spread among the Hee Haw-watchers of antiquity, but among the city dwellers and urban folk. The very last people to receive the Faith were the rural folk who clung to the worship of the old gods and the customs of their ancestors long after Christianity had become thoroughly established in the cities. So the term originally referred only to “country folk”.However, because the country folk were devoted to the various...

The media is a abuzed about this, and the lefty blogs are acting as though this being some nuance of the right. Wrong. Let’s not forget that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, both antisemitic and neither considered spokesmen for the right. But after some research it appears the shooter, James Von Brunn is in fact - despite the protestations of the Kos Kids - a registered democrat from Maryland. So much for the “Right Wing Conspiracy”. Fact is that most of the Holocaust Denier crowd is from the left. Many of the groups follow the writings of Naom Chomsky, the...

‘Having our cake and eating it, too’ is a mindset that all of us fall into from time to time, albeit in differing degrees. Recently a U.S. Senator discovered that the political party he had been a member of for over 40 years had finally started showing signs that support for him was over. The polls were showing that his challenger in the upcoming primary was going to unseat him and this Senator decided that loyalty to his constituents and his party was secondary to his power. Rather than retire with dignity, this Senator decided to change sides and join...

Sunspots could be seen by the Soho telescope in 2001 (l), but not this year (r) There are no sunspots, very few solar flares - and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time. The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting. The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period. Last...

As volunteers with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) rallied for traditional marriage in Concord, New Hampshire, a pro-homosexual advocate desecrated a Bible, shouting obscene anti-Catholic slurs.

The announcement that the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA, has chosen a lesbian, pro-abortion president to lead the seminary has sent shock waves around the Anglican Communion. The appointment of Katherine Hancock Ragsdale highlights a week that also saw TEC bishop-elect Kevin Thew Forrester replace a reading from the New Testament with a reading from the Quran at St. Paul's Marquette, Michigan. One wonders what Episcopal boundaries and barriers have yet to be crossed that the dying embers of historic Christianity could possibly fan into life. That the Diocese of Massachusetts has a functioning transgendered priest complete with a...

"The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become."

Perhaps you heard about the NC mom, Lisa Pagan, who was recalled by the army and made the case that there was no one to care for her children. Her husband travels extensively for his job, and both sets of grandparents live out of state. Having exhausted the appeals process, she showed up for duty with her two kids in tow. Perhaps sensing a PR nightmare, the army has promised that she will be discharged. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_us/military_mom Now I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this story. In one way I totally sympathized with this woman, having pulled...

Old Town Alexandria, Northern Virginia — Jogging through this gorgeous, historic town the first Saturday after the Tuesday vote, which elected the most leftist presidential candidate in American history, it isn't difficult to see how the typically Republican state of Virginia went Democrat in 2008... ...the vast majority of self-described non-religious voting Americans went for Obama, and they were decisive. CNN exit polls found that 76 percent of those who answered "none" when asked about religious affiliation cast ballots for Obama. They comprised 12 percent of voters.

Ahmedabad, November 1 : A Priest of a Shiva temple in Bapunagar hanged himself to death inside the temple premises reportedly while performing a sorcery ritual in the early hours on Saturday. B J Maharaj (40), who belonged to Uttar Pradesh (UP), was found hanging from a hook on the ceiling of the Lambeshwar Mahadev Temple, near Ajit Chowk in Bapunagar, on Saturday morning. The Bapunagar police have sent the body for post mortem and are investigating the case. According to preliminary investigations, said the police, the victim died accidentally while performing a ritual to get expertise in black magic...

Lately it seems that many of us are living as if we are over-caffeinated hamsters on well-greased exercise wheels. We run and run as fast as we can and still don't manage to arrive at our destinations. At the end of the day there are still a slew of chores undone on the to-do list. We struggle to find time to savor the company of our loved ones, enjoy life and relax. Our physical, emotional and spiritual needs often are abandoned due to the demands of modern life. Spiritual teacher and author Waverly Fitzgerald believes we'd all benefit by changing...

One can only admire the humanity and wisdom of those Christians, like St. Boniface, who chose to Christianize the pagan festival, instead of outlawing it...[b]ut what can be said about those fanatics who today wish to apologize and minimize Christmas out of a misplaced sense of multicultural sensitivity...?

Dear Ellen, Christmas is disgusting. It’s all pagan worship. Even most Christians don’t realize that all their decorations and traditions come from ancient Babylon. Our family doesn’t cave in to all this stuff and I tell friends at church they shouldn’t either. Signed, Ms. Christian Grinch Dear Ms. Grinch, By saying “all this stuff,” I assume we’re talking Christmas trees, mistletoe, hasty pudding, Yule logs, etc.? I grant that Christmas choices are a matter of personal conscience. I had a similar e-mail conversation with another Christian killjoy last month so I retrieve and relate to you my comments to him....