4-17-07
Greetings!
Remember the "Prayer of Jabez" by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, from a few years ago? It was a best-selling book and product series. In short, it was based on a short Biblical verse from the Old Testament:
"Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: 'Oh, that you may truly bless me and extend my boundaries! Help me and make me free of misfortune, without pain!' And God granted his prayer." -1 Chronicles 4:10
According to Wilkinson's book, God has all these blessings stored up for you, all you have to do is pray for them and you'll be healthy, wealthy and wise. No mention of the Cross, no mention of suffering, no mention of God's sovereign Will. It's a feel-good message that has wide appeal, but fell short of the full message of the Gospel.
Now the new-age version of this ideology seems to have come out. I recently saw a review for a new book "The Secret." According to the author, "the universe" is just waiting to fulfill their desires. Note that "the universe" has replaced "God."
According to this book, you only need to think positive thoughts and it will come true. My personal favorite was the part where you can go to their website and draw a blank check from "the bank of the universe" and soon you'll be on the Forbes 500 list.
As usual there is some thread of truth here. Thinking positive thoughts is beneficial. After all, what type of a person would you rather be around, a sourpuss or one filled with joy? However, I doubt the mortgage company would accept my check from the "Bank of the Universe." One has to be grounded in reality.
Apparently there are some 3.75 million copies of this book in print. The great shepherd of so many, Oprah, has even spent 2 shows on this stuff.
All of which calls to mind G.K. Chesteton's famous line: "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing; they believe in anything."
Phil's Tidbits:
The Teri Schiavo case continues to echo. Judge grants temporary restraining order for "little Emilio"
AUSTIN, April 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A probate judge Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order so that a toddler named Emilio at Children's Hospital of Austin can continue to receive medical treatment while his lawsuit moves forward. The judge set a new hearing date for April 19, when an
Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney will help defend the boy's right to life.
"We are very pleased that the court today has agreed that little Emilio should continue to receive the treatment he needs to live while this case moves forward," said Joshua Carden, the ADF-allied attorney working on the case along with lead counsel Jerri Ward. "The Children's
Hospital of Austin should do the right thing by Emilio. Instead, the hospital made the wrong decision by attempting to subject this little boy to 'death by vote.'"
Though doctors are not certain in their diagnosis, they believe Emilio has Leigh's Disease, a condition that is treated primarily through vitamin therapy. But on March 12, an "ethics" committee at the Children's
Hospital of Austin voted behind closed doors to end treatments for Emilio, deeming his life "futile." Without the treatments, the boy will likely die in a matter of hours.
The hospital had intended to cease Emilio's treatments Tuesday, but because the probate judge granted the temporary restraining order for Emilio, the boy will continue to receive his treatments until the new hearing date. On April 4, a federal judge had refused to issue such an order.
Under Texas law, a hospital is required to wait only 10 days before discontinuing treatment, to allow for a transfer to another hospital willing to admit the patient. Due to litigation, the 10-day window in Emilio's case had been extended until April 10.
The Probate Court of Texas issued the temporary restraining order in the case Gonzales v. Children's Hospital of Austin.
Head of Italy's Bishops under Police Protection after Threats from Homosexual Activists
By Gudrun Schultz
GENOA, Italy, April 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Genoa's Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, president of the Italian bishops' conference, has been placed under police protection after homosexual activists spray-painted death threats against the senior church official across the city, the BBC reported April 10.
Archbishop Bagnasco recently issued a strongly-worded condemnation of the government's proposal to give legal rights to unmarried couples in civil unions, including homosexual pairs.
"Why not say no to various forms of living together, to the creating of alternative forms of the family?" Archbishop Bagnasco said, warning that legalization of homosexual unions would make it difficult to prevent the further breakdown of family life and sexual morality, reported Spero News. "Why not say no to the incest of a brother and a sister who live together and have children in
Great Britain? Why not say no to the party of pederasts in Holland?"
Following his remarks, "Shame on you, Bagnasco" was scrawled on the doors of his cathedral, and last weekend the words "Death to Bagnasco" were spray-painted on nearby churches, along with insults against Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the previous head of the Italian bishops' conference.
The Communist hammer and sickle and the five-pointed start of the left-wing Red Brigades terrorist group accompanied the threat.
The police posted an officer at the Bishop's offices and increased the number of armed patrols in the area. During Easter Sunday Mass, plain-clothes officers stationed themselves among parishioners in the cathedral.
A new report from the British Royal College of Obstetricians laments that more doctors are opting out of programs that teach abortion procedures. The quote is very telling:
Richard Warren, honorary secretary of the RCOG and a consultant obstetrician in Norfolk, said, "In the past, abortion was an accepted part of the workload. People did not like it but they accepted that it was in the best interests of the woman concerned."
He added, "There is an ethos that people go into medicine to save lives and look after people. Usually, a decision for termination is taken reluctantly even though it is recognized that it is in the best interests of the woman. It is difficult and upsetting work and it is done with obvious reticence. We are seeing more doctors who are reluctant to be involved in the process and this is happening in the context of growing demand."
Source: Lifesitenews.com
4-16-07
A MODERN PSALM TAKEN FROM "The New International Unchristian Perversion."
The TV is my Shepherd, I shall not want anything else.
It Maketh me to lie on the sofa. It leadeth me away from scripture.
It destroys my soul. It leadeth me in the paths of sex and violence
for the sponsers sake. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will enjoy the evil, for blood and sex excite me. Its cable and remote they comfort me.
It prepares a commercial before me in the presence of my children.
It anoints my head with humanism. My coveting runeth over.
Surely laziness and ignorance shall follow my family all the days of our lives,
and we shall dwell in the house watching TV forever.
No Greater Joy Ministries
Actual Church signs:
GOD DOES NOT BELIEVE IN ATHEISTS THEREFORE ATHEISTS DO NOT EXIST.
FORGIVE YOUR ENEMIES. IT MESSES WITH THEIR HEADS
FREE COFFEE. EVERLASTING LIFE. YES, MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES.
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE DID NOT SEND A COMMITTEE.
READ THE BIBLE – IT WILL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU.
WALMART IS NOT THE ONLY SAVING PLACE.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NO MATCH FOR NATURAL STUPIDITY.
God bless you! Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter's, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
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