The Roman Catholic Church needs to modernize very badly. They need to modernize right back to the beginning, with humility and service as the marks of all Priests. They need to go back to practicing what they preach, and preaching what is in the Caonons. Enough with the revisionism already! Look to Africa and Asia and look at what works. Servant communities, that's what. Get rid of the ostentation. Enough already with choosing the chief seats at the dinners. Enough with the elaborate embroidery and grand palaces. The fire won't start again until its leaders understand that the fire will come for them first, and that outward observance of the law is not enough!

There really was a Star of Bethlehem. Go read up on Balaam. His prophecy was direct and unambiguous, and accounted for the Wise Men. The Star was to appear in the sign of Judah, which was the Lion (Leo). So it did. In Babylonia, on August 12, 3 BC, Venus and Jupiter appeared to merge at sunrise. And again, in Israel, on June 17, 2 BC, Venus and Jupiter appeared to merge at sunset. These data are from Jean Meeus, from the JP4 ephemeris. This was published years ago, in Sky and Telescope, by Roger Sinott. Such mergers are extremely rare.

Bah. Humbug. It is sin. We are sinners. Face it. Get with the program. Repent and be baptized. Never known to fail. Of course you have to confess your sins and reject them. Of course you have to clean up your act and stop sinning. But it is a small price to pay for eternal life. Of course you have to believe that Jesus died for you, but is that really so hard? The hard part is getting on your knees and really meaning that you repent. Try it. It really works!

Of course Christianity has been rejected. The 200 proof item is not presented. Consider today's Gospel: "You brood of vipers...". You can't say that! Nevertheless John the Baptist said it. His remarks hit home, and folk headed for the water for the baptism of repentance. You can't get well until you admit you are sick. When the Gospel is proclaimed it is radically effective. See Africa for details. Where the Gospel is watered down to the ratio 10,000,000 to one and is made homeopathic, it is useless. Just try it. REPENT! Confess your sins and Jesus will forgive them. And THEN see what happens!

Thank you, BH. It is time that SOMEONE got brutally honest about abortion. And who better than Bonhoeffer? Abortion is a cynical debasing of marriage, sexuality, human life, and the whole issue of ethics. Fact: if a woman keeps her legs together, she will not have a fetus to abort. Fact: if a man keeps his pants zipped up, he will not father an unwanted child. Fact: just because it feels good, you do not have automatic permission to do it. Fact: self-control is hated by liberals. If you have self-control, you do not need Government to control yourself for you. Again, thank you!

The ruling is significant because of the thorough way in which the ruling treats the history of the subject: the Constitutional authority of Congress. Obamacare would make us all into subjects of the Royal House. We would lose the freedom to decide how to spend our money. With mandated insurance a done deal, there would soon be endless other mandates, requiring us to purchase endless numbers of things which Congress decided were important to us. No, thank you. I like the limited Federal power just fine.

How unutterably sad. Frank Schaeffer, growing up in his family, missed the whole point of Francis Schaeffer's teachings. He is now a member of the "blind leading the blind" society. He has nothing to contribute to the discussion, so he flaps his jaw. By what right does he declare himself an expert on the United States? I suppose, because I read and believed what I read in his father's books, that I am one of those unlearned and ignorant people he vilifies. Poor me, with a Ph.D. in mathematics. I'm so dumb. Given the chance to fill the role of prophet, instead he chooses the role of hack. Ugh.

I met Jim Wallis a long time ago. I can no longer give you an exact date; it was probably 1970 or 1971. My wife and I were looking for a church; the Sojourners were meeting in a local center and had a rowhouse in NW DC. At the time that we met them, they were organizing protests. They were being schooled in how to get arrested: how to go limp, what to say, how to block access to public places, how to get observers to be inflamed at their treatment; how to carry no ID so as not to be identified; and other such enlightening instructions. Their moral basis was the imposition of their opinions by public relations, claiming a relationship to historic Christianity while in fact working the Alinsky community organizer model. Jim Wallis is one of the best obfuscators around today. Unless you listen most closely, you will think that he agrees with you; it is necessary to record his words and parse them in order to really understand what he says. He knows all the right words to say; he quotes from all the right authorities; he has the blessing of many in the NCC and the WCC. He remains a charlatan and a fraud.

Naah. The ObaMessiah can do no wrong. ObaBoob (CBUH) changes direction without notice and without warning. He has an internal compass which runs on Alinsky time. This is unshakable faith, based upon the quest for a Messiah and the hope for the Utopian Socialist State. It is just words. What is the meaning of the word "is", anyhow? He has no authority to mobilize the National Guard. He has no authority to impose universal purchase of health insurance. He has no authority to nationalize GM, nationalize banks, or nationalize anything else. Since he has no authority to do anything he is doing, and since he is flagrantly unwilling to exercise that authority which he has, I must conclude that he is not President. He is something else.

I hate to see this happen. The Herndon Climb has been a vital tradition of the Naval Academy since I was a kid. And to place a "no injury" shield on the activity? Will they ban the carrying of weapons by cadets? Will they abolish weapons training? The whole idea is nuts.

Shame on you, and shame on Seraphic Secret. You are presenting the truth. Your truth is not Politically Correct. Islam is "the religion of peace,", according to its defenders. In truth, Islam means submission. One submits to Allah, as expressed in the Qu'ran. The Prophet expressly presented Jihad as obligatory on all adult male followers of Islam, which meant bringing all infidels into either submission or death. Convert or die, was the war cry for a thousand years. According to Wahab (ca 1830), and after him Qutb (ca 1930), Islam will only flourish when its followers return to the one true path, which is the rule of the Twelfth Imam under universal Sharia. The Peace of Islam is betrayed daily, as one follower of Allah butchers another follower of Allah, all in the name of Allah. Remember: these guys (the girls have nothing to say in the matter) still have not resolved a little controversy about Muhammad's grandson (look up Sunni and Shi'ite). And that issue dates back, oh, 1200 years or so. Go figure.