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Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

Incarnation or Reincarnation? The “no crying” chubby little thing in the manger, captured with Hallmark brilliance, fails to express the essence of the event that took place in human history two millennia ago. That event profoundly impacts our idea of human identity, about which we hear so many theories two thousand years later. Backed by “deeply researched progressive” laws, we now proudly affirm our right to self-identify, changing or creating our identity by the slightest whim or fantasy. Some now claim to be animals. The “otherkin” community, for example, believes they have a non-human or animal soul or ancestry, inherited...

The Chinese government has banned all depictions of gay people on television, as part of a cultural crackdown on “vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content”. “No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.” The ban also extends to smoking, drinking, adultery, sexually suggestive clothing, even reincarnation. China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television told television producers it would constantly monitor TV channels to ensure the new rules were strictly adhered to.

Syrian rebels have surrounded a Druze village close to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights strategic ceasefire line Wednesday, prompting the Israeli government to offer protection to refugees who cross into the territory it occupies and vow to prevent a massacre at the border. The insurgents, among them Islamist fighters, surrounded the village of Hader following heavy fighting with pro-government forces in the region that left at least seven rebels and 10 regime soldiers dead, British-based monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Hader is now totally surrounded by rebels, who just took a strategic hilltop north of...

A bizarre dispute involving the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Communist Party has broken out at China's annual meeting of parliament. Tibetan Buddhists believe the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death. But the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has suggested he will not be reincarnated when he dies, prompting atheists of the Communist party to demand the tradition must continue. The message was conveyed at a meeting on the sidelines of the China's National People's Congress in Beijing. The head of Tibet's regional congress, Padma Choling, said that the Dalai Lama...

The 33-year-old freelance cameraman who contracted Ebola in Liberia is fighting for his life at the University of Nebraska Medical Center this week. He’s also racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. According to a GoFundMe campaign launched Monday by his friends, Ashoka Mukpo’s medical bills could run in excess of $500,000.

Michael Hathaway, author of 10 books on psychic development, past lives, regression, hypnosis and spirituality, and a board certified Past Life Regression Therapist is one of the most respected hypnotists in the country. He published a book entitled, “It’s Time to Simplify Your Soul’s Code”, an easy how-to guide for discovering our unique special purpose and to enrich our life experience by delving into the aspects of higher self and soul contracts. In this book, Mr. Hathaway emphasizes the source energy of the loving universe as a means to connect to our divine purpose as incarnated souls. He brilliantly describes...

Two months after a 2008 horseback riding accident left her with a concussion, Sharon Campbell-Rayment, of Canada, developed a strange accent, the National Post reported. But it wasn’t until a recent trip to Scotland, where her daughter had begun attending school, that Campbell-Rayment discovered that her new accent was native to the Scottish Highlands. Though Campbell-Rayment has Scottish ancestors, she’d never before visited the country or met any relatives who spoke with the same Scottish accent she developed after her accident.

"Through a Glass, Darkly" General George S. Patton, Jr. Through the travail of the ages, Midst the pomp and toil of war, I have fought and strove and perished Countless times upon this star. In the form of many people In all panoplies of time Have I seen the luring vision Of the Victory Maid, sublime. I have battled for fresh mammoth, I have warred for pastures new, I have listed to the whispers When the race trek instinct grew. I have known the call to battle In each changeless changing shape From the high souled voice of conscience To ...

The True Story of The Patton Prayer by Msgr. James H. O'Neill (From the Review of the News 6 October 1971) Many conflicting and some untrue stories have been printed about General George S. Patton and the Third Army Prayer. Some have had the tinge of blasphemy and disrespect for the Deity. Even in "War As I Knew It" by General Patton, the footnote on the Prayer by Colonel Paul D. Harkins, Patton's Deputy Chief of Staff, while containing the elements of a funny story about the General and his Chaplain, is not the true account of the prayer Incident...

RATANPUR, Nepal — The teenage boy revered as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed beneath a tree. Where is your Obama now ...

RATANPUR, Nepal (AP) — The teenage boy revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never said a word. The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes...

RATANPUR, Nepal – The teenage boy revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never said a word. The followers of Ram Bahadur Bamjan, 18, believe he has been meditating without food and water since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005, when believers say he spent months without moving, sitting with his eyes closed...

Crowds are flocking to Indian temples to see a Muslim baby with a 'tail' who is believed to be the reincarnation of a Hindu god. The 11-month-old boy has been named Balaji or Bajrangbali, another name for monkey-faced Lord Hanuman. He is reported to have a 4in 'tail' caused by genetic mutations during the development of the foetus. Iqbal Qureshi, the child's maternal grandfather, is taking Balaji from temple to temple where people offer money to see the boy. Mr Qureshi says the baby has nine spots on his body like Lord Hanuman and showed them to journalists, reports Indian ...

Crowds are flocking to Indian temples to see a Muslim baby with a 'tail' who is believed to be the reincarnation of a Hindu god. The 11-month-old boy has been named Balaji or Bajrangbali, another name for monkey-faced Lord Hanuman. He is reported to have a 4in 'tail' caused by genetic mutations during the development of the foetus. Iqbal Qureshi, the child's maternal grandfather, is taking Balaji from temple to temple where people offer money to see the boy. Mr Qureshi says the baby has nine spots on his body like Lord Hanuman and showed them to journalists, reports Indian ...

People who believe they live only once are compelled to compromise their hopes of perfection. Orthodox believers may try to conduct their lives in such a way as to avoid hellfire after death, but most I think, even so, are inclined to ask themselves pragmatically, "How bad can I be and get away with it?" Belief in the principle of rebirth helps one to view progress joyously, without fear and self-doubt. "Is there any end to evolution?" a visitor once asked Paramhansa Yogananda. "No end," the Master replied. "Progress goes on until you achieve endlessness." At Mt. Washington, reincarnation was...

"Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."1 In these words to John the Baptist, and in asking John to baptize him, Jesus was acknowledging the divine rights of his guru. From a reverent study of the Bible from an Oriental viewpoint,2 and from intuitional perception, I am convinced that John the Baptist was, in past lives, the guru of Christ. There are numerous passages in the Bible which infer that John and Jesus in their last incarnations were, respectively, Elijah and his disciple Elisha. (These are the spellings in the Old Testament. The Greek translators spelled the names...

A founder of a religious cult glorifying Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin believes that the powerful premier is the reincarnation of Saint Paul, the Russian tabloid Sobesednik reported on Wednesday. The sect, founded by one Mother Fotinya, is based in the Bolshaya Elnya village in the central Russian Nizhny Novgorod region. Fotinya was quoted by the paper as saying that there were certain parallels between the life of former president Putin and St. Paul. "According to the Bible, Paul the Apostle used to be a warlord and the fierce persecutor of Christians, and then he began preaching the Gospel. Putin...

Dr Eben Alexander, a Harvard-educated neurosurgeon, fell into a coma for seven days in 2008 after contracting meningitis. During his illness Dr Alexander says that the part of his brain which controls human thought and emotion "shut down" and that he then experienced "something so profound that it gave me a scientific reason to believe in consciousness after death." In an essay for American magazine Newsweek, which he wrote to promote his book Proof of Heaven, Dr Alexander says he was met by a beautiful blue-eyed woman in a "place of clouds, big fluffy pink-white ones" and "shimmering beings".

Death, it seems, is no longer Shakespeare’s undiscovered country, the one “from whose bourn no traveler returns.” Not according to contemporary bestseller lists. Dreams and visions of the afterlife have been constants across human history, and the near-death experiences (now known as NDEs) of those whose lives were saved by medical advances have established, for millions, a credible means by which someone could peek into the next world. Lately a fair-sized pack of witnesses claim to have actually entered into the afterlife before coming back again to write mega-selling accounts of what they saw and felt there. Afterlife speculation has...