Learning the Lessons of Chile

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Fr. Gerald E. Murray writes that the resignation of Chile’s bishops reminds us that removal of abusers from the priesthood is a necessary and unmistakable rebuke.

The surprise announcement by all the bishops of Chile of their submissions of resignations to Pope Francis is a stunning development. I did live television commentary for the Brooklyn Diocese’s NET TV of Pope Francis’ January apostolic voyage to Chile and Peru. At that time, we discussed, at length, the pope’s strong rebuke of people who accused Bishop Juan Barros of having enabled the sexual abuse of minors by his friend and mentor Fr. Fernando Karadima.

Five months later, the entire Chilean Bishops’ Conference, after a three-day meeting in Rome with Pope Francis, concluded that their collective departure would please him, and would allow him the greatest freedom to rebuild the confidence of Chilean Catholics by installing new bishops throughout the country. How did we arrive at this point?

At the press conference announcing the mass resignation, Bishop Fernando Reyes, the Secretary General of the Chilean Episcopal Conference, said:

In this context of dialogue and discernment, various suggestions were presented as to how to deal with this great crisis, and furthermore the idea developed that, in order to be more in tune with the will of the Holy Father, it was appropriate to declare our absolute readiness to place our pastoral charges in the hands of the pope. In this way, we were able to make a collegial gesture of solidarity to take responsibility – not without sorrow – for the grave things that occurred, and so that the Holy Father could freely decide how to proceed regarding all of us.

The Chilean bishops seem to have thought that the pope wanted their resignations. This turn of events was unthinkable back in January. What happened? Outrage by victims of sexual abuse and by ordinary Catholics exploded in Chile, combined with persistent media coverage of this conflict.

The pope took to heart the vehement reactions to his dismissive comments. He sent two outside investigators to Chile to gather evidence and report back. Then he called the Chilean hierarchy to Rome.

He then laid out the evidence gathered by his investigators in a letter (later leaked to the press) given to the Chilean bishops when they arrived in Rome. The manifest wrongdoing cited by the pope rings true, given similar experiences in other countries: destruction of evidence; transfer of accused priests without concern for the minors who would come under their influence; delaying tactics and superficial or non-existent investigations of complaints received, pressure put upon those carrying out the canonical investigation of alleged crimes; and the placement by bishops and religious superiors of priests suspected of being active homosexuals in seminaries and novitiates.

The investigators, it’s no surprise, discovered this familiar pattern in Chile. The self-reporting to Rome by the Chilean hierarchy in these matters was gravely deficient and even deceptive.

The lesson here is clear: if the Holy See wants to root out the sexual abuse of minors by clergy, and also put an end to the associated cover-ups by senior clergy and bishops, then it must use the same means in other places that it used here. Vatican designated investigators with no ties to the local church under investigation should be sent to gather evidence when complaints of sexual abuse and cover-ups are received.

The self-policing and self-reporting system has been shown to be completely inadequate in the Chilean case. The effectiveness of canonical provisions governing the handling of accusations of sexual abuse of minors by priests depends on the full and vigorous cooperation of the local hierarchy. Absent that co-operation justice is not done. Such co-operation is often absent.

The sad reality is that the exposure of the crime of sexual abuse of minors and the widespread efforts by bishops and religious order superiors to hide the facts from the public was not the result of actions initiated by the Church herself. That exposure came by way of the police, the courts, and the media in various countries.

In the case of Chile, victims of sexual abuse only got a fair hearing in Rome by insisting on the truth of their claims in the face of both episcopal and papal rejection. Pope Francis decided to have another look at the matter and what he discovered is that he had not been given the complete story.

He should also review the record of the various Roman curial departments that were involved in monitoring the situation in Chile for the past thirty years. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found Fr. Karadima guilty in 2011 of the sexual abuse of minors. He was forbidden to exercise priestly ministry and commanded to lead a live of prayer and penance. He is reported to still claim his innocence. Was this enough?

By not removing him from the priesthood and returning him to the lay state, the gravity of his crimes was not sufficiently recognized. As in the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel, who also was not removed from priesthood despite his multiple and grave crimes, a life of prayer and penance becomes the functional equivalent of forced retirement and does not deprive the sexual predator of the state of life that allowed him to have easy access to his victims.

Removal from the priesthood unmistakably rebukes him for the grave offense he has given to Christ and to Christ’s little ones, and also clearly communicates to the whole world that the Church considers him to have completely forfeited his right to exercise the office of the priesthood that he so badly misused.

Roman action on Chile was necessary and purgative. The Church’s mission is to uphold the Gospel. That includes doing all that is possible to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. This is not vengeance. This is justice.

And now is the time to take a similar look at other countries where there remain similar questions about the proper handling of accusations of sexual abuse and cover-ups.

Fr. Gerald E. Murray

Fr. Gerald E. Murray

The Rev. Gerald E. Murray, J.C.D. is a canon lawyer and the pastor of Holy Family Church in New York City.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Pope Francis with the Chilean bishops. © 2018 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

Democrats and Hollywood Mainstreaming Pedophilia

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The Official Democratic Store sent out an email on May 23, 2018 introducing it’s “Democratic collection” of Gay pride shirts, lapel pins and campaign buttons.

On the same day the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) reported:

The producer of the children’s film, “Show Dogs,” has pulled the film from theaters around the world and will recut it, removing two scenes that seemed to groom children for sexual abuse. This film is about a dog that goes undercover at a dog show competition – harmless enough except for the story arc where the only way for him to win and save the day was to allow unwanted touching of his genitals, while his coach practiced it with him and encouraged him to just go to his “zen” place. Yes…I know…it is hard to believe this was in a children’s film, to begin with. [Emphasis added]

You may read more about the film “Show Dogs” on the NCOSE website by clicking here.

What does homosexuality have to do with child abuse?

PubMed.gov is a resource on research done on homosexuals and child abuse. PubMed.gov lists a 2001 study by the California School of Professional Psychology titled “Comparative data of childhood and adolescence molestation in heterosexual and homosexual persons.” The abstract reads:

In research with 942 nonclinical adult participants, gay men and lesbian women reported a significantly higher rate of childhood molestation than did heterosexual men and women. Forty-six percent of the homosexual men in contrast to 7% of the heterosexual men reported homosexual molestation. Twenty-two percent of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women reported homosexual molestation. This research is apparently the first survey that has reported substantial homosexual molestation of girls. Suggestions for future research were offered. [Emphasis added]

The following is a graphic from a CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) online slide presentation, “HIV Surveillance in Adolescents and Young Adults”  breaks down the incidence of HIV among young men ages 13-24. In 2011, an astonishing 94.9 percent of HIV diagnoses among teenage boys (13-19-years-old) were linked to homosexual (“male-to-male”) sex. And 94.1 percent of the cases among young men ages 20-24 were from “gay” sex:

HIV-Young-Adult-Males-2011-CDC

How pedophilia is becoming mainstream

We have reported on efforts by groups such as B4U-ACT and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to indoctrinate children into believing that sex with men by children is not only normal but encouraged (watch the two videos below for a history of these groups).

Dr. Judith Reisman in her 2016 column “They’re mainstreaming pedophilia!” wrote:

Alfred Kinsey’s ongoing sexual anarchy campaign has no end in sight.

Matt Barber, associate dean of the Liberty University School of Law, and I attended the “B4U-ACT” pedophile conference Aug. 17 [2015]. To eliminate the “stigma” against pedophiles, this growing sexual anarchist lobby wants the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to redefine pedophilia as a normal sexual orientation of “Minor-Attracted Persons.”

Adhering to the Kinsey principle of lulling “straights” into a false sense of security, pedophile dress was largely conservative – short hair, jackets, some ties and few noticeable male ear piercings.

Matt Barber and I sat in the back of the meeting room among roughly 50 activists and their “mental health” attending female enablers. “Pedophilia, Minor-Attracted Persons, and the DSM: Issues and Controversies,” keynoted “Fred Berlin, M.D., Ph.D., as founder, National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma; Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic.”

However, the sex clinic was initially founded by John Money, Ph.D., to give judges “leeway” to keep child molesters out of jail. Money (deceased), a pedophile advocate, also called for an end to all age-of-consent laws. Dr. Berlin was his disciple.

The Guardian’s Catherine Shoard reports:

On Tuesday [May 22, 2018] a new report from advocacy group GLAAD found only 12.8% of mainstream films featured LGBTQ characters. They have called for the number to rise to 50% by 2024.

Democrats and Hollywood are focused on fundamentally transforming our children into gender confused targets for pedophiles.

Time to stop the sexual exploitation of our most vulnerable, our underage children.

RELATED ARTICLES: 

Learning the Lessons of Chile

CDC: 94 to 95 Percent of HIV Cases among Boys and Young Men Linked to Homosexual Sex

Goal of “gay” programs in schools: Persuade kids to “come out” early as homosexuals. Here’s how they do it —

Perverts, pedophiles and pederasts in high offices

RELATED VIDEOS: 

Controversy Over Push to Redefine Pedophilia.

Homosexuality

Good News: God Didn’t Make This Mess

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Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek writes that God does not make us sin, although He permits us to choose sin. And our sins are the reason for the Incarnation of Christ.

Pope Francis is reported to have told a homosexual, “God made you that way and loves you.” In the last six months, I have responded to the miscarriage of a three-month-old baby, the sudden death of a hospice nurse due to an aneurism, and the terminal diagnosis of a middle-aged husband and father. In these situations, I have continually insisted on God’s love and providence. I have never said God made it happen.

One of the most astonishing features of the Biblical creation account is that the entire cosmos is declared “very good.” This flies in the face of human experience. In fact, the creation myths of many cultures hold that good and evil are inherent elements of human nature and the world order. It is the way things are made.

Genesis corrects this error by revealing that evil is not rooted in creation, but in humanity’s abusive decision to turn away from God, one another, and God’s created order through sin. At the same time, the account of the Fall of Adam and Eve unfolds in the context of God’s continual love and providential care in the face of sin and the evils unleashed by it.

The Scriptures tell the story of God opening a path to salvation that frees us from the effects of personal sin and the evils that befall us so that we might fully share His divine life through nuptial union with Christ. In Jesus, we discover that God foretold this saving union when He created the human race as sexually differentiated persons united in indissoluble marriage. (Mt. 19:56, Gen. 2:24, Is. 62:5, Eph. 5:31-32)

Despite the fallen nature of the human race and the cosmos, therefore, we can still affirm that God created us and loves us. But we cannot simply say, “God made me this way.” If “this way” refers to the image and likeness of the Trinity and the calling to be a member of the body and bride of Christ, then the statement is true. If “this way” refers to the ill-effects of the messed-up world or of our personal sin, then the statement is false.

God loves sinners, the handicapped, the sick, the mentally ill, the imprisoned, the enslaved, the abused, the starving, the doubting, the grieving, the dying, etc. In some cases, these people contributed to their situation, in others they did not. God loves them all, but He has not made them that way.

It can be said truly that God tolerates these situations since, evidently, He chooses not to enter into history to prevent these particular wrongs from happening. The nature of this toleration, however, warrants our careful attention. It is not indifference, acceptance, or welcoming. It is a “bearing with” (Latin: toleratio) or a “suffering with” (Latin: compassio).

The full revelation of God’s compassionate toleration of sin and the effects of evil is found in the passion, death, and glorification of Jesus. Precisely because Jesus loved us with the Father’s love, He carried in his humanity the burden of all the ill that we do and that we bear. In doing so, He made our innocent and culpable sufferings a place of encountering God and his love, that is, a place of conversion, healing, and communion.

God brings about our salvation, our “well-being” (Latin: salus), not by preventing, denying, or eradicating evil at each moment, but by fundamentally altering our relation to it through our union with Christ. He thereby enables us to carry and suffer every form of evil that afflicts us and others without entering into further sin.

This is the Good News we have been sent to live and to proclaim: “God did not make us the way we are and He loves us. That is why He carried the burden of the sins and evils that distort our lives and invites us to carry that burden with him. He wishes to espouse us to himself so that we might share his divine life now and forever. And I love you enough to tell you this.”

Experiencing same-sex attraction, being divorced by a spouse, feeling a compulsion to abuse others, having an addiction, and the myriad of other troubles of body, psyche, and soul that we face as members of the fallen human race are not made better by being declared the handiwork of God. Nor, of course, are they helped by being treated as sins if we have not deliberately willed them or if we have repented of the sin that gave rise to them.

What is helpful, indeed the only thing ultimately able to sustain us, is the truth about our fallen, sometimes sinful, condition and the union that God offers us in Christ. That union requires, as Jesus said, that we take up the Cross daily. We do so by acknowledging our sins, our distorted inclinations, the burden of evil in our lives and the lives of those we love, and by carrying those with Christ who first carried them for us. Because of this union, we can carry these burdens without yielding to sin.

That is the Gospel. It is not something to hide or to evade. We are called to announce it unambiguously to the world. Consequently, when our witness to Jesus is misunderstood we are obliged to take reasonable steps to offer a correction.

Were a priest to be misquoted about the Gospel in the local paper or by a parishioner publicly recounting a private meeting, the priest would need to remedy the error. I have myself faced this situation.

The solution is simple and involves no accusation of deception or violation of confidence. A priest need only say, “The position attributed to me is mistaken. It mischaracterizes (or contradicts) the Gospel of Christ that I profess. I regret any misunderstanding and am happy to clarify the matter.”

To do less would harm those misled by the report. Besides, my brother, a priest, would charitably but firmly insist on it.

Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek

Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek

Fr. Timothy V. Vaverek, STD has been a priest of the Diocese of Austin since 1985 and is currently pastor of parishes in Gatesville and Hamilton. His doctoral studies were in Dogmatics with a focus on Ecclesiology, Apostolic Ministry, Newman, and Ecumenism.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is titled “Go and sin no more.” The Woman Taken in Adultery by Lorenzo Lotto, c. 1528 [Louvre, Paris]. © 2018 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

Church Resources for You to Share!

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My Faith Votes sent out an email stating:

I need your help with something important while we are still in the primary election season for most states.

There are over 10,000 critical elections taking place at the local, state, and national level that will decide issues related to life, religious liberty, family values and how we care for those in need.

Yet, millions of Christians will sit on the sidelines and fail to vote. We can’t afford for this to happen this year. You can do something about this!

We want to see churches across the nation take a stand and encourage Christians to vote. We are sending our non-partisan My Faith Votes Toolkit out to as many churches as we can, but we need to reach more. Will you help by sharing this toolkit with your pastor?

Check out these church resources and share them with your pastor!

  • In-Service Church Videos
  • In-Service Slides
  • In-Service Voting Announcements
  • Do’s and Don’ts for Church and Government: Know Your Legal Rights

Primary elections are the best opportunity Christians have to choose Godly leaders who uphold Biblical and Constitutional values to run in the November general elections.  If Christians don’t select strong candidates now, we may be disappointed with our options come November.

Together, let’s work to see 90-million Christians stand united in the public square for Christian values! Thank you for standing with us.

United. We Stand.

Jason Yates
CEO
My Faith Votes

P.S. Click here for the church toolkit.

ABOUT MYFAITHVOTES

MYFAITHVOTES exists to inspire and motivate Jesus followers to vote.

Dem Gun Confiscator Tacitly Admits Gun Control Wouldn’t Work

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One of the more despicable Congress-critters is Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), a man with utter contempt for Truth. He was on Tucker Carlson Tonight Monday evening pushing for confiscation of AR-type rifles and spinning like a dervish with rocket boosters. But let’s forget that while Swalwell wrote an op-ed calling for gun confiscation, it’s not really confiscation, according to Swalwell. Let’s forget that what he labels “assault weapons” are just semi-automatic rifles that happen to have a military-style appearance (much like putting a Porsche body on a Hugo chassis). Let’s forget that he claimed his AR-species confiscation plan would “keep kids safe,” ignoring that the most recent shooting, in Santa Fe, was perpetrated with a .38 pistol and a shotgun. Most significant is that, amidst his pseudo-Machiavellian babbling, he contradicted himself and refuted his own argument.

Pointing out the congressman’s more-equal-than-others status, host Tucker Carlson repeatedly asked Swalwell if he would restrict his own bodyguards, the Capitol Hill Police (CHP), to the same weapons to which he’d limit Joe Six Pack. Practice what you preach, right?

Aside from using the spurious diversionary argument of saying that Carlson was “denigrating” the police by likening them to bodyguards (hmm, in doing so, wasn’t the congressman denigrating bodyguards?), Swalwell also repeatedly said that he wouldn’t agree to limit the CHP because he, the man passionately proclaimed, doesn’t want our cops “outgunned.”

Did you get that?

Question: If outlawing AR-type rifles actually could get them out of bad guys’ hands, then how could the police be outgunned without them?

Perhaps Swalwell knows in his heart (and head?) that his proposal wouldn’t suffice to deny these weapons to criminals. It’s as if he’s tacitly admitting that he’s just a lying, power-hungry sack of excrementitious ambition and hot air. Below is the Tucker Carlson Tonight segment with the congressman.

Of course, another explanation is that such contradictions inevitably occur when, instead of seeking Truth while formulating opinion, you play games and just disgorge whatever sophistic argument you think will work at the moment. And as the above segment evidences, Swalwell is the epitome of this demagogic practice.

In reality, gun grabbers have completely departed from reality. I’m old enough to remember when the Left’s gun-control obsession involved banning handguns. I disagree with doing so, but at least that proposal has some relationship to crime: Handguns were used in 19 times as many murders in 2016 as all rifles combined.

Amazingly, even the Swalwellian New York Times admitted this in its 2014 piece “The Assault Weapon Myth.” The paper pointed out that in 2012, only 322 people were killed with rifles of any kind and that even prior to the 1990s Assault Weapons™ ban, such firearms were used in only 2 percent of the nation’s gun crimes (this hasn’t changed). Moreover, credible studies show that the ban did not serve to reduce gun violence, the Times also informed.

The point? Do you think leftists would stop at banning a class of weapons (AR-style ones) used in almost no crimes and not move on to a class (handguns) used in most gun crime? As admitted by Esquire editor Dave Holmes in a recent article titled “Okay, Now I Actually Do Want to Take Your Guns” and by former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens when he proposed in March repealing the Second Amendment, the Left ultimately wants all firearms banned. They just plan to accomplish this via incrementalism, stealing away our freedoms inch by inch.

They generally don’t admit this, though, because they’re Swalwellian — which is another way of saying they’re liars.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com

Podcast: Former Obama Voter Antonia Okafor Explains Why She’s Now Conservative

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Antonia Okafor is now a gun rights supporter and political commentator. But in college, she found her political beliefs shifting from left to right. She explains what happened. Plus: A new study indicates that political correctness may have helped President Donald Trump win the election.

PODCAST BY

Portrait of Katrina Trinko

Katrina Trinko

Katrina Trinko is managing editor of The Daily Signal and co-host of The Daily Signal podcast. She is also a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors. Send an email to Katrina. Twitter: @KatrinaTrinko.

Dear Readers:

With the recent conservative victories related to tax cuts, the Supreme Court, and other major issues, it is easy to become complacent.

However, the liberal Left is not backing down. They are rallying supporters to advance their agenda, moving this nation further from the vision of our founding fathers.

If we are to continue to bring this nation back to our founding principles of limited government and fiscal conservatism, we need to come together as a group of likeminded conservatives.

This is the mission of The Heritage Foundation. We want to continue to develop and present conservative solutions to the nation’s toughest problems. And we cannot do this alone.

We are looking for a select few conservatives to become a Heritage Foundation member. With your membership, you’ll qualify for all associated benefits and you’ll help keep our nation great for future generations.

ACTIVATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY

Stay ‘Off Target’ for Summer Shopping

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After a long, cold winter in many states, Americans are ready for summer, anxious to start the season. With picnics, cookouts and pool parties on many calendars, shoppers will be headed to stores to pick up last-minute items, barbecue fare and summer supplies.

AFA is reminding shoppers this Memorial Day week to steer clear from Target, which remains committed to its dangerous and misguided bathroom and fitting room policy.

Last month, AFA marked two years of the highly successful and effective #BoycottTarget initiative, which has garnered the signatures of more than 1.5 million Americans who say they won’t shop at the retailer until it makes restrooms and changing areas safe for everyone, including women and children. After a dismal downturn in revenue, stock prices and foot trafficover the past 24 months – and, more importantly, many traumatic and criminal incidents in Target restrooms – the retailer refuses to change the policy.

Target executives still won’t acknowledge that the powerful #BoycottTarget movement has anything to do with waning business. But we know better. Millions of shoppers and thousands of families no longer spend their hard-earned money at Target. There is strength in numbers and this significant community is making a difference. The refusal of shoppers to patronize Target sends a message to shareholders and Target executives that morals mean more than convenience and safety outweighs personal preference when it comes to shopping at what once may have been their favorite store.

Just as important, besides not shopping at Target for Memorial Day or anytime this summer, we remind shoppers to steer clear from shopping online at Target as well. Clicking through purchases may seem ‘safer’ than entering stores with dangerous bathroom policies, but shopping online still drives revenue to Target. It’s clear that families who have chosen to shop elsewhere – both in-store and online – are making a huge difference.

Help us push the numbers to 2 million! You can take action in several ways:

  • SIGN—If you haven’t already, sign the #BoycottTarget pledge. If you have signed, keep the commitment not to shop at Target stores or online.
  • SHARE—Ask family, friends and church members to sign the pledge. One effective strategy is to voice concerns politely but firmly on Target’s Facebook page and other social media sites using #BoycottTarget.
  • VISIT—Go to afa.net/Target to keep up with news and to read some of the frightening incidents that have occurred at Target.

If our mission resonates with you, please consider supporting our work financially with a tax-deductible donation. The easiest way to do that is through online giving. It is easy to use, and most of all, it is secure.

Tim Wildmon, President
American Family Association

Pope Okays ‘Gays’; Calls Bible ‘Very Dangerous Book’, Worships Lucifer [Google]

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“Pope Francis reportedly told a gay man from Chile who was visiting the Vatican that God made him that way and loves him the way he is. Juan Carlos Cruz, was reportedly a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a priest.” 

Rome is “Babylon, the Great, the Mother of Harlots (other false churches) and Abominations” in Revelation 17 with clues that can only fit the papacy in the city of seven hills as a harlot in bed with kings and riding the beast that represents the UN–New World Order, says Dr. Richard Ruhling, author of The Alpha & Omega Bible Code and other books on Amazon.

The Bible calls homosexuality an abomination, Lev 18:22, and it calls Babylon (Rome) “the habitation of devils” (worship of Lucifer who was cast out of heaven, seen here–

It is no wonder that the pope calls the Bible “a very dangerous book” (Google) because it unmasks the papacy as a false religion that millions follow in ignorance. “The times of this ignorance God winks at” but a time of judgment is impending when everyone should make their choice in light of the Bible, Acts 17:30. Why not share a link to this article with your email list, it might save a soul

Yes, God loves everyone—gay people included, but He cannot change the rules—He will save those who repent and ask His help to live right, but He cannot overlook or excuse sin as the pope does. This is why the Bible condemns the system so plainly for those who wish to know.

The papacy was foretold as the ‘little horn’ that grew out of the Roman Empire (4th beast in Daniel 7) that changed times and laws (verse 25) For example, the 7th day is no longer the Sabbath in half of the world where Monday is the first day. Sabbath as the day of worship in the 4thCommandment (Exodus 20) This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Daniel 7:25 also shows the little horn (papacy) persecuting the saints. The “auto de fe” (act of faith) was to burn “heretics at the stake”—they claimed it took faith to do the right thing. Christ said, “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it to Me,” Matt 25:40. God forces no one—Christ died to save all, and He will do so for those who ask Him for help to repent and live well. Paying the priest and seeing him again a week later for forgiveness brings no victory, as the lives of those priests testifies re pedophilia.

Daniel is the only book that Christ recommended when asked about the end of the age in Matthew 24. The book of the Revelation of Christ had not been written yet. For a better understanding of these books, the reader is invited to get a free copy of The Alpha & Omega Bible Code that has mostly 4-5 star reviews–this Saturday, May 26th.

If Saturday, May 26 has an earthquake in the news, it is likely a warning of a larger one to hit May 31 as explained here.

If it occurs, the reader will want to consider The Earthquake & 7 Seals also.

Freedom from Facebook — Sign the FCC Petition to Breakup FB’s Monopoly

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Citizens Against Monopoly sent the following petition to those frustrated with Facebook:

Today, the European Parliament confronted Mark Zuckerberg with our #ImNotYourProduct demand to let users opt out of targeted advertising.

He refused to answer.

He was also asked to explain why his Facebook-Instagram-WhatsApp-Messenger monopoly shouldn’t be broken up.

He didn’t have any answer for that, either.

Sign our petition to tell the Federal Trade Commission to break up Facebook and protect our data and democracy.

Most of us use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. They’re important ways for us to communicate and connect with each other.

But Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have amassed a scary amount of power. Facebook unilaterally decides the news that billions of people around the world see every day.

It buys up or bankrupts potential competitors to protect its monopoly, killing innovation and choice.

It tracks us almost everywhere on the web and, through our smartphones, even where we go in the real world.

It uses this intimate data hoard to figure out how to addict us and our children to its services.

And then Facebook serves up everything about us to its true customers — virtually anyone willing to pay for the ability to convince us to buy, do, or believe something.

And it is spending millions on corporate lobbyists, academics, and think tanks to ensure no one gets in their way.

Enough.

We’ve joined a new coalition to fight back, to demand the Federal Trade Commission take necessary action to give us freedom from Facebook.

The five members of the FTC can make Facebook safe for our democracy by spinning off WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger into competing networks, requiring interoperability so we have the freedom to communicate across networks, and imposing strong privacy rules.

Tell the Federal Trade Commission to break up Facebook and protect our data and democracy.

Thank you,

Sarah Miller
Citizens Against Monopoly

RELATED VIDEO: Nigel Farage Challenges Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook Censorship of Conservative Content

The Two Faces of the United Nations

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The United Nations was against sodomy before it was for it.

On April 11, 2014, the BBC reported:

The UN has accused the Vatican of “systematically” adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.

Pope Francis has said that dealing with abuse is vital for the Church’s credibility, and that “sanctions” must be imposed against perpetrators.

But the Church has been accused of failing to address some allegations properly.

Read more…

On June 22, 2018 Emilie Kao and Grace Melton from The Daily Signal reported:

UN Bureaucracy Run Amok

One of the most egregious examples of bureaucratic overreach occurred in the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Rather than focus on the U.N. General Assembly’s mandate to “promote and protect” the effective enjoyment of fundamental human rights that are in the texts of treaties, this U.N. office launched the Free and Equal campaign.

This highly visible and well-funded global campaign aims to socialize same-sex marriage, criminalize so-called “hate speech,” and normalize transgender ideology, even though the terms sexual orientation and gender identity are not in the text of any U.N. treaties.

This campaign is not only a massive overreach by U.N. bureaucracy, but it threatens to silence public debate on controversial topics like marriage and sexuality throughout the world.

So is sodomy bad when Catholics “systematically” adopt policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children, but it is perfectly fine when the United Nations “systematically” does the same?

Kao and Melton note:

The United States Supreme Court is currently considering the case of a Christian cake artist whom Colorado ordered to endorse same-sex marriage by designing a custom wedding cake despite his religious objections.

The U.K. Supreme Court is hearing a similar case. None of these individuals turned someone away because they identify as LGBT; rather, the conflicts were all the result of disagreement over the definition of marriage.

No state, much less the unelected U.N. bureaucracy, should compel a person who believes that marriage is between one man and one woman to endorse something they believe is untrue because of pressure from a politically powerful identity group.

Emilie Kao and Grace Melton warn:

Unfortunately, this campaign is just the beginning. Charles Radcliffe, Free and Equal’s founding director, has stated that a dozen U.N. agencies have made public commitments to advance sexual orientation and gender identity policies in individual member states and that more than 100 countries have implemented changes in their domestic laws in response to U.N. sexual orientation and gender identity recommendations.

Should the United States “sanction” the United Nations for its policy in the name of equality to allow the sexual abuse of children globally? You be the judge.

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The Pope’s New Clothes

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What the Bible Really Says on Homosexuality in 5 Quotes

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EDITORS NOTE: Reading Galatians‬ ‭6:7-8‬ ‭ASV‬‬:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.”

The Pope’s New Clothes

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As a Catholic I have been following the travails of Pope Francis. The phrase “the emperor’s new clothes” came to mind. The phrase is a “label given to any fictional item that viewers have been induced into believing as real.”

Since becoming the Bishop of Rome and Holy See, Pope Francis has worked to turn fiction into Biblical reality.

Every Christian, is commanded to wear the full armor of God. Ephesians 6: 10-18:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

The Pope has taken off the full armor of God. The Pope is wearing new clothes.

In April 2014, the BBC reported:

The UN has accused the Vatican of “systematically” adopting policies allowing priests to sexually abuse thousands of children.

Pope Francis has said that dealing with abuse is vital for the Church’s credibility, and that “sanctions” must be imposed against perpetrators.

But the Church has been accused of failing to address some allegations properly.

Pope Francis’ papacy began on March 13, 2013.

When asked about Juan Barros, the bishop of Osornos, Chili, and reported sexual abuses of under-aged children, Pope Francis in January, 2018 said to reporters:

“You, in all good will, tell me that there are victims, but I haven’t seen any, because they haven’t come forward. No one has come forward. They haven’t provided any evidence for a judgment. This is all a bit vague. It’s something that can’t be accepted.” [Emphasis added]

Pope Francis recently met with Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean gay man who was a victim of clerical sexual abuse under Bishop Juan Barros 30 years ago and has become one of Chile’s leading spokesmen for abuse survivors. According to Mr. Cruz Pope Francis said to him,

“You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way and loves you this way, and the pope loves you this way.” [Emphasis added]

What made Juan Carlos Cruz a homosexual was a Catholic priest, not God.

Pope Francis lied first to the press about the long and ongoing sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Chile and then to Juan Carlos Cruz. Dummies.com writes this about Catholicism and the Ten Commandments:

According to Exodus in the Old Testament, God issued his own set of laws (the Ten Commandments) to Moses on Mount Sinai. In Catholicism, the Ten Commandments are considered divine law because God himself revealed them. And because they were spelled out specifically with no room for ambiguity, they’re also positive law. Hence they’re also known as divine positive law. [Emphasis added]

Divine positive law is the law given by God to man in addition to the natural laws.

Dummies.com goes on to state this about the Eighth Commandment of God’s divine positive law “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor”:

The Eighth Commandment condemns lying. Because God is regarded as the author of all truth, the Church believes that humans are obligated to honor the truth. The most obvious way to fulfill this commandment is not to lie — intentionally deceive another by speaking a falsehood. [Emphasis added]

Sadly, Pope Francis lied to not only all Catholics, but to the entire world when he told Cruz that he “should be happy with who you are.”

Twice Pope Francis violated God’s divine positive laws by not telling the truth. Pope Francis took off the belt of truth and with it opened himself and his sheep to “the devils schemes.”

God’s truth is clear. Galatians‬ ‭6:7-8‬ ‭ASV‬‬:

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap eternal life.”

God is especially hard on “those who follow their own twisted sexual desire.” If God made Juan Carlos Cruz a sodomite, then the moral boundaries on human sexual desires has been torn asunder by Pope Francis. We are seeing the Pope’s new clothes.

Pope Frances has shed the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation and dropped his shield of faith. The Pope is naked.

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FLAT. OUT. WRONG. A fallible, personal opinion.

Can a pope change moral truth?

What the Bible Really Says on Homosexuality in 5 Quotes

AP Exclusive: 2015 letter belies pope’s claim of ignorance

Pope Francis: World Government Must Rule U.S. ‘For Their Own Good’

CRITICS: Pope Losing Credibility in Abuse Cases

UN Poses Danger to Free Speech, Parents’ Rights. Here’s How Trump Administration Can Fight Back.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Pope Francis celebrating the Assumption Day mass in the Castelgandolfo’s central square on August 15, 2013. AFP PHOTO / POOL/ ALESSANDRO BIANCHI.

‘Party Like It’s 1776’ Theme Too Offensive for New Jersey School Prom

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A New Jersey high school principal apologized Friday for a “Party Like It’s 1776” theme at prom.

Dennis Perry, principal of Cherry Hill High School East, posted on his Twitter feed an apology for the theme printed on prom tickets, calling the decision “insensitive and irresponsible,” reported Fox News.

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“I especially apologize to our African-American students, who I have let down by not initially recognizing the inappropriateness of this wording,” Perry wrote in a statement.

To make up for what he deemed an indiscretion, the principal said students would not need to bring their prom tickets in order to get into the event—they would instead only need to state their names to be matched up with a list of who bought tickets. Cherry Hill High School would also give every student attendee a “commemorative” ticket displaying a new design at the prom. Perry stated that a “diverse group of people” would review information distributed by the school prior to its dissemination in the future.

Lloyd Henderson, president of the Camden County NAACP East Chapter, saw the incident indicative of a school culture “where African-American students’ needs are not considered along with the rest of the school,” but mentioned that he appreciated Perry’s speedy response.

Cherry Hill High School made headlines in February when it suspended social studies teacher Timothy Locke after Locke told students to remember him if he died defending them during a school shooting.

COMMENTARY BY

Rob Shimshock

Rob Shimshock is a reporter for The Daily Caller News Foundation. Twitter: @ShimshockAndAwe.

RELATED ARTICLE: Only in America’s Schools Could ‘Partying Like It’s 1776’ Be Offensive

EDITORS NOTE: Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities for this original content, email licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. The featured image is by debbiehelbing/Getty Images.

Santa Fe, the Human Heart, and the Need for God

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It was one of the last pictures ever taken of Christian Garcia. With the sun on his face, the Santa Fe teenager leaned his head on the wooden slats that would one day be his bedroom. On the framing of the house he’ll never live in, Christian had taken a sharpie and written Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.”Today, those words echo across a Texas town in desperate need of the reminder that God is still there. For the 10 families who never dreamed they were saying their last goodbyes Friday morning, the pain of another school shooting is a raw and profound reminder of how desperately our world needs the Savior. Wrapped in a grief familiar to too many communities, a heartbroken Santa Fe turned, as it always has, to faith. Moments after the first shots rang out, phones started buzzing. “Please pray,” came one text after another. Cars started to pour into church parking lots; prayer chains sprang into action. In a city that just survived the worst of Hurricane Harvey, everyone knew what direction to look in tragedy — up.Now, as the first bodies of those eight students and two teachers are laid to rest, America returns to the question burned on everyone’s mind: why? Angry outsiders demand gun control. Others lay the blame at the feet of the NRA. And while the rest of the country debates what our country could have done differently, Texas’s top officials try to return the conversation back to the heart of the problem — the heart. “We have devalued life in this country,” Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said plainly. “We threw God out of school… We have families that are broken apart, no fathers at home. We have incredible heinous violence as a game, two hours a day in front of their eyes. And we stand here and we wonder why this happens to certain students.”

In Sunday services across Texas, teary parents seemed to have the same response. At Arcadia First Baptist Church, one grandmother’s eyes welled up just thinking about her grandson, who was supposed to be in the art room where the shooting started. “We need God back in our schools,” she said. For Santa Fe, where students still pray before football games and some teachers still hold lunchtime Bible studies, “thoughts and prayers” aren’t throwaway words when heartbreak strikes. They’re a way of life. “This is not,” Patrick insisted, “about guns. This is about us, as a culture and a nation. Who are we?”

Who we are is a broken country in dire need of the God we keep pushing away. “The world has never been a nice place,” Matt Walsh pointed out the Daily Wire, “but it got quite a bit meaner when we abandoned religion. That is no coincidence.” It’s human nature to want to blame something, but the problem has never been guns. Are there policies we could strengthen? Absolutely. But mankind has had instruments of destruction dating back to Cain and Abel. The real crisis is the moral vacuum left behind when society kicked religion — and with it, morality — out of the public space. Violence, relativism, promiscuity, and suicide didn’t get their start when God was expelled from school. But they’ve certainly been given a culture in which to thrive now that we’ve removed the Judeo-Christian foundation that anchored the country. Walsh warned:

“The nightmare we have lived since the turn of the previous century has been the direct result of the world’s rejection of God. We fled from His embrace and what we found out here in the wilderness, in our ‘freedom,’ is evil and despair on an unimaginable scale. We have become an empty country, an empty generation, an empty world. ‘They withdrew from me, went after emptiness, and became empty themselves,’ God says through the Prophet Jeremiah. He speaks as much to us as He spoke to the people of Jeremiah’s time.”

Of course, some liberals don’t want to have a discussion about the underlying problem, because it would mean acknowledging the fallen nature of man. That, not stricter gun laws, is what’s keeping us from finding real solutions as a nation. We can talk about limiting access to guns, but if we’re truly concerned about violence, let’s also talk about expanding access to God. Until we’re willing to address both — the instrument and the motivation – nothing will change. A spiritually sick society that embraces violence instead of values needs God.

Maybe a community as deeply sincere about their faith as Santa Fe can help the nation understand that. Looking across the rows of empty school chairs, they know better than anyone — Guns don’t steer men wrong, hearts do.

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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What You Need To Know About The Violent Animals Of MS-13

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WHAT: The violent animals of MS-13 have committed heinous, violent attacks in communities across America.

Too many innocent Americans have fallen victim to the unthinkable violence of MS-13’s animals.

At the State of the Union in January 2018, President Trump brought as his guests Elizabeth Alvarado, Robert Mickens, Evelyn Rodriguez, and Freddy Cuevas, the parents of Nisa Mickens and Kayla Cuevas.  Police believe these young girls were chased down and brutally murdered by MS-13 gang members on Long Island, New York, in 2016. Suffolk County Police Commissioner stated that the “murders show a level of brutality that is close to unmatched.”

In Maryland, MS-13’s animals are accused of stabbing a man more than 100 times and then decapitating him, dismembering him, and ripping his heart out of his body. Police believe MS-13 members in Maryland also savagely beat a 15-year-old human trafficking victim. The MS-13 animals used a bat and took turns beating her nearly 30 times in total.

In Houston, Texas, two MS-13 members were charged after kidnapping and sexually assaulting one girl and murdering another. The two MS-13 animals laughed, smiled, and waved for cameras in court as they faced the charges.

New York communities have suffered tremendously from the abhorrent violence of MS-13. Nearly 40 percent of all murders in Suffolk County, New York between January 2016 and June 2017 were tied to MS-13.

In January 2017, MS-13 members were charged with killing and hacking up a teenager in Nassau County. MS-13’s animals reportedly saw the murder as a way to boost their standing in the gang. In April 2017, police believe four young men were brutally murdered by MS-13 animals on Long Island. One victim was a young man in town visiting family during an Easter week vacation. Just last month, in April 2018, MS-13 reportedly called for its members on Long Island to kill a cop for the sake of making a statement.

WHY: MS-13 is a transnational gang which follows the motto of “kill, rape, control” by committing shocking acts of violence in an attempt to instill fear and gain control.

MS-13 is a transnational gang that has brought violence, fear, and suffering to American communities. MS-13, short for Mara Salvatrucha, commits shocking acts of violence to instill fear, including machete attacks, executions, gang rape, human trafficking, and more. In their motto, the animals of MS-13 make clear their goal is to “kill, rape, control.” The gang has more than 10,000 members in the United States spreading violence and suffering.

Recent investigations have revealed MS-13 gang leaders based in El Salvador have been sending representatives into the United States illegally to connect the leaders with local gang members. These foreign-based gang leaders direct local members to become even more violent in an effort to control more territory.

President Trump’s entire Administration is working tirelessly to bring these violent animals to justice.

VIDEO: Playing the Black Card

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In America, there’s a card more valuable than any card from Visa or American Express. This card is so valuable that entire organizations have been built using it, and many individuals have employed it to acquire both wealth and influence. What is it? How can you get one? Find out in this week’s video featuring Candace Owens, Communications Director  for Turning Point USA.

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