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JAG 5000 Writes: I wrote this piece to make ONLY one major point, namely that the Christian Church is now and will forever be HUGE-ENORMOUS in numbers. This makes me happy. Every word in this post will encourage Christians. Its all good news. Bright. Cheerful. Hopeful. Optimistic. Packed with Faith and Hope for the Furure. I am GLAD that the Church of the Lord Jesus is now HUGE in numbers and will grow EVEN LARGER as time goes on. I hope you are GLAD too. Why would you NOT be glad? Do you want the Christian Church to be small,...

"Someone may well say, 'You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?" (James 2:18-20). Even demonic faith is better than dead faith! In recent years there has been an alarming rise in the number of professing Christians who believe that there's no necessary relationship between what they believe and what they do. They say...

Beloved, today is the Lord's Day, rejoice in all that is the Lord! Rejoice FOREVERMORE that Jesus LOVES us and that He is the RISEN ETERNAL RIGHTEOUS KING and SAVIOR of your very soul and that He is GREATER in you than the fallen demonic thug of this fallen world (1 John 4:4)! This fallen world may reject Jesus, but we as His blood brought saints, rejoice in Him truly with thankful hearts as our LORD and KING! REJOICE in the GREAT I AM ALWAYS, and again I say REJOICE! The world and its crisis settings may fluctuate and change,...

June 28 2020 Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 4:8-11, 14-16a One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine. So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Blasts Devout Shepherds Says offering sacraments is 'adolescent' Pope Francis is calling priests "adolescents" for offering the sacraments during pandemic-related lockdown. The pontiff commented from Sala Clementia of the Apostolic Palace on Saturday while addressing health care personnel from Italy's Lombardy region, hit particularly hard by the Wuhan virus.  Speaking of clerics trying to administer the sacraments during lockdown measures, Francis said, "This priestly creativity has scored some 'adolescent' expressions against the [lockdown] measures of authorities who have an obligation to safeguard people's health." He added that the majority of priests, however, have been "obedient and creative ......

(RNS) — A new study examining Americans’ response to COVID-19 shows that with the exception of white evangelicals, a majority of Americans are not comfortable returning to in-person religious services. The results of the survey suggest that despite political pressure to reopen houses of worship — from President Donald Trump as well as leading conservative Christians and religious liberty advocates — Americans aren’t quite ready to take a seat in a sanctuary. The survey from the American Enterprise Institute showed that 64% of Americans said they were “somewhat uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” attending in-person worship. Even among those who reported...

[Catholic Caucus] 21 doctors tell bishops Communion on tongue ‘safer’ than in hand ‘From the point of view of hygiene, it is absolutely incomprehensible to us why oral communion has been banned in Austria. We also consider this form of distribution safer than hand communion.’ June 26, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Twenty-one Austrian doctors have authored a letter appealing their country’s Bishops’ Conference to lift the de facto ban on receiving Holy Communion on the tongue, which has been enforced since Communion in the hand was announced to be the only permitted form of distribution for the consecrated Host. As COVID-19 lockdown...

Genesis 1:27 "God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created them." If you want to know what God is like, go into your bathroom and look in the mirror at yourself, and you will see and know what God is like. You were created in God's image. ( I obviously do NOT mean your physical image or your physical appearance. ) I interpret the "image of God" in Genesis 1:27 to be as follows: (1) God has an Intellect --- man has an Intellect. (2) God has a Free Will (volition) --- man has...

"What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" (James 2:14-17). Dead faith is hypocritical, shallow, and useless. Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in...

June 27 2020 Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 Lam 2:2, 10-14, 18-19 The Lord has consumed without pity all the dwellings of Jacob; He has torn down in his anger the fortresses of daughter Judah; He has brought to the ground in dishonor her king and her princes.On the ground in silence sit the old men of daughter Zion; They strew dust on their heads and gird themselves with sackcloth; The maidens of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground.Worn out from weeping are my eyes, within me all is in ferment; My gall...

[Catholic Caucus] (Archbishop Vigano's) Interview with Phil Lawler Lawler: First, what are you saying about Vatican II? That things have gone downhill fast since then is certainly true. But if the whole Council is a problem, how did that happen? How do we reconcile that with what we believe about the inerrancy of the magisterium? How were all the Council fathers deceived? Even if only some parts of the Council (e.g. Nostra Aetate, Dignitatis Humanae) are problematical, we still face the same questions. Many of us have been saying for years that the “spirit of Vatican II” is in error....

[Catholic Caucus] Why the Latin Mass Matters in the Real World: A Review of Dr. Kwasniewski’s Powerful New Book (A guest review by Fr. William Slattery) In writing this review, I am seeking to pay off a debt I owe to Dr. Kwasniewski. It was largely due to his first Angelico book, Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis (2014), that I converted to the Traditional Latin Mass. As a priest ordained by Pope John Paul II in 1991, my entire liturgical life before and after priesthood had been the Novus Ordo. During my years in Rome, while studying for my...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis belittles as ‘adolescent’ priests who defied COVID lockdowns to give faithful sacraments VATICAN CITY, June 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has indicated that he was not impressed with priests who violated coronavirus lockdown rules to minister to the laity.  In a speech he delivered Saturday to primarily bishops, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers from the Italian region of Lombardy, Pope Francis contrasted priests who violated the ban on public worship with priests who ministered to their flock in “creative” ways, like buying their shopping.  “The pastoral zeal and creative solicitude of priests helped people...

"What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? . . . You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" (James 2:14, 24). True faith produces good works. Many false teachers claim that you can earn your own salvation by doing good works. Most Christians understand the heresy of that teaching, but some become confused when they read that "a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). That seems to conflict with Paul's teaching on...

June 26 2020 Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 12 Kgs 25:1-12 In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it, and built siege walls on every side. The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had gripped the city, and the people had no more bread, the city walls were breached. Then the king and all the soldiers...

US bishop denounces BLM activist’s call to destroy images and statues of ‘white’ Jesus As a shepherd of the Church, I cannot remain silent in the face of this call, said Madison Bishop Donald Hying. MADISON, Wisconsin, June 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, said that “as a shepherd of the Church,” he “cannot remain silent” in the face of a call by a Black Lives Matter activist to destroy representations of Jesus Christ.  “I need to denounce such a call to violence and destruction,” Bishop Hying wrote in a letter dated June 23. Shaun...

"So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:12-13). Showing mercy is characteristic of a regenerate person. Divine judgment has never been a popular topic of conversation. Godly people throughout history have been ridiculed, persecuted, and even killed for proclaiming it. In their efforts to win the approval of men, false teachers question or deny it. But James 2:12-13 reminds us that judgment will come, so we'd better live accordingly. The basis for divine...

Archbishop tells bishops they’ll ‘end up in hell’ for forcing faithful to receive communion in hand Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga said he is 'calling on them to stop, or they’ll end up in hell for doing this' PETITION: Urge U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference to defend Catholic heritage and statues! Sign the petition here. POLAND, June 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A retired Polish archbishop warned his brother bishops and fellow priests that they’ll “end up in hell” for forcing the faithful to receive Holy Communion only in the hand in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Archbishop Jan Pawel Lenga did not mince...

{1} Love must be sincere. {2} Hate what is evil. {3} Cling to what is good. {4} Be devoted to one another in love. {5} Honor one another above yourselves. {6} Never be lacking in zeal {7} Keep your spiritual fervor. {8} Serve the Lord. {9} Be joyful in hope. {10} Be patient in affliction. {11} Be faithful in prayer. {12} Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. (13) Practice hospitality. {14} Bless those who persecute you. {15} Bless them and do not curse them. {16} Rejoice with those who rejoice. {17} Mourn with those who mourn. {18}...

June 25 2020 Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time Reading 1 2 Kgs 24:8-17 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his forebears had done.At that time the officials of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, attacked Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself arrived at the city while his servants were besieging it. Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, together with his mother,...