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Dizzy Girl / Flickr Satan cannot drive out Satan. A house, or a kingdom, cannot be divided against itself.The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this profound event in the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. After healing a demon-possessed man, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees, the pious religious leaders of the time, who question what authority Jesus has to cast out demons. They suggest, since Jesus certainly can’t possibly be working through the power of God, that it must be Satan, the devil, that’s given Him the power to drive out the demonic.I think it’s safe to...

ABSTRACT: Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged, and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripelike lacerations and appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar (patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion his wrists were nailed to the patibulum, and after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post, (stipes) his feet were nailed to the stipes. The major pathophysiologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death resulted primarily...

WASHINGTON — Was the resurrection of Jesus Christ an anti-scientific event? This question was discussed at a March 13 conference on science and religion hosted by The American Association for the Advancement of Science's Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion.At the end of a panel on "Science Engagement in Congregations," an audience member who identified himself as a rabbi said "the elephant in the room has not been discussed," which he identified as, "that the fundamental basis of Christianity is a violation of nature."He began his remarks by recalling another event he attended at a Presbyterian church. An audience member...

The Sudarium of Oviedo is by most accounts the best validation of the Shroud of Turin as the true burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. The ark that contains the Sudarium of Oviedo (Wikipedia) I have followed with great interest the response to Catholic World Report's recent article on the Shroud of Turin by Jim Graves, which now has well over a 150 comments. Many are statements and counter-statements that attempt to prove or disprove the authenticity of the Shroud as the burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. This is as it should be—a mystery for our era that calls...

Shroud of Turin negative. Vatican City, Mar 26, 2015 / 12:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Vatican has released the schedule for Pope Francis' upcoming pilgrimage to Turin – home to what is believed to be the burial shroud of Jesus – with a program that largely centers on young people. The pontiff's June 21-22 visit to the northern Italian city also marks the bicentenary of the birth of Saint John Bosco, founder of the Salesian order and patron saint of youth. According to the Vatican, which released the schedule during a March 25 press briefing, the Pope will venerate the...

“One of my favorite testimonials as to the authenticity of the Shroud,” says Barrie Schwortz, an expert on the Shroud of Turin, “actually came from my Jewish mother.” People view the Shroud of Turin on display at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, in this April 26, 2010, file photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) This June, Pope Francis will be making a pilgrimage to Turin, Italy, home of the famous Shroud of Turin, which many believe is the 2,000-year-old burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The pope’s June 21-22 visit will include time venerating the Shroud at the...

ROME — It won't be long before two women can have a baby of their own, with no biological contribution from a man at all. So says Carter Snead, director of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. Snead, who once served as general counsel to the President's Council of Bioethics under George W. Bush, said that at the current rate of developments in reproductive technology, sperm and eggs may soon be created from human skin cells. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says Snead, who together with the Center is trying to re-inject...

Here’s a post for our Catholic friends. Apparently the Popester has super miraculous turn-dried-blood-fresh powers in his lips because that’s the unnatural act he committed after chowing down with the gays and the transgenders.Watch below: More on his lunch date: While on a visit to Naples, Italy, Pope Francis visited the Giuseppe Salvia Detention Center in Poggiorale, outside of Naples. According to the Religion News Service, the pope insisted on the visit including lunch with inmates, though it was not on his original schedule. Around 90 inmates, randomly chosen by lottery, attended the lunch, and that group included 10 inmates...

The last time Richard III was at Bosworth Field the outcome proved less than satisfactory for the King. The battle, which was the last significant skirmish in the War of the Roses, saw Richard not only lose the English throne but also his life.

This past week has seen the outrage generated by parents of donor and invitro-fertilization children following a now-infamous Panorama magazine interview conducted with the fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana, wherein Domenico Dolce proclaimed, “You are born to a mother and a father — or at least that’s how it should be. I call children of chemistry, synthetic children.” Immediately, Elton John advocated a boycott of the designers’ products in retaliation for the perceived offense against his two sons, who were conceived via an egg donor and surrogate mother. Speaking as two donor-conceived young women—alive because of reproductive technologies—we felt an...

Four Blood Moons: Michael Savage Interviews Pastor John Hagee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfuUBKWRo_c

The 'Gospel of Judas' 4/6/2006 Interview With Father Thomas Williams, Theology Dean ROME, APRIL 6, 2006 (Zenit) - The National Geographic Society has announced its intentions to publish an English translation of an ancient text called "The Gospel of Judas" later this month. The 31-page manuscript, written in Coptic, purportedly surfaced in Geneva in 1983 and has only been translated now. We asked Legionary Father Thomas D. Williams, dean of theology at the Regina Apostolorum university in Rome, to comment on the relevance of the discovery. Q: What is the "Gospel of Judas"? Father Williams: Though the manuscript still must...

Evolution of a Creation Scientist by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D. * Unlike many researchers working in the field of creation science, I was not raised in a strong Christian background. The occasional trip to some nominal church with my parents—my father, a successful research chemist for a large corporation, and my mother, a school teacher—was simply something we did to round out our social experience. For the most part, my secular upbringing was steeped in evolutionary science and philosophy. During high school in Vancouver, Washington, I became very interested in biology and especially plant science. My school had an excellent two-year...

First Things has a great little post by a dejected Lutheran convert about how Catholic liturgical singing is like “plaintive squeaks from depressed marmosets.” This is a permanent pet peeve of mine. And yes, this is something parish priests should do more about. You know the phenomenon of how a church will be crowded–except the two front pews. I knew a priest who often wouldn’t start Mass until those pews were filled. He would go out in front before Mass and ask people to move to the first pews. One of the few 70s-style liturgical tics I wouldn’t mind at...

Somewhere along the line of modern history, the idea has taken root, spread, and become commonly held among seculars that religious people hold to a Faith that is separate from, and at odds with, natural reason. Modern science, following the lead of modern philosophy and modern secularized religion, has fallen for the heretical notion that there are two separate tracks of history: a material track, which many assume to be the true one and to which many attach all their trust, and the spiritual one, which is reduced by many to mere fantasy; a delusion held by believers to bring...

You are probably aware of the Four Blood Moons, but there is some related info that might be new to you. Between the 2nd and 3rd blood moons, there will be a significant total solar eclipse. Here are some of the strange facts for everyone to consider. (By the way, I am not a Bible scholar, by any means. The facts might have prophetic meaning, or they might be just celestial poetry.)

All four gospels mention the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The Shroud of Turin is believed by many to be that burial cloth. It is etched with the image of a man that was scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified, and lanced in the side. If it is real, it provides archeological evidence of the most consequential event in human history—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.Pope Francis plans to venerate the Shroud this summer, just as his predecessors, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict did. The Pope has called for it to be displayed in Turin from April 19...

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?” The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.” The first...

Disappointing progressives yet again, Pope Francis has now condemned contemporary gender theory as denying “the order of creation.” In an interview published in a new book, Pope Francis: This Economy Kills, by Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi, (portions of which were also published last month in the Italian daily La Stampa), Pope Francis appears to reject the postmodern conceptualization of gender as a moveable point along a spectrum that is fluid and changeable. He does not accept the progressive claim that gender is socially constructed rather than God-given and instead appears to embrace gender in a traditional “binary” category of...

CHAPTER 4 The Six Days of Creation Were they days or ages??? There are those who believe that the days in Genesis chapter 1 were normal 24 hour days (just as Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are normal 24 hour days). There are others who believe that the days in Genesis chapter 1 were not 24 hour days, but that each day represented an age (a long period of time). They believe that each "day-age" lasted thousands or perhaps even millions of years. This is called the "day-age" theory. WHAT DOES GOD SAY? EXODUS 20:11—"For in ______    ___________ the LORD _____________...