Harnessing Halloween Horror in Catholic-Themed Novel

Today on Beliefnet.com, John Kennedy reviews my Catholic-theme release, Wizard Clip Haunting: A True Early American Ghost Story

If the link is broken, here's the article:

Author Stanley D. Williams

harnesses Halloween horror

in Catholic-themed

"Wizard Clip Haunting"

True terror? A filmmaker, author, and screenplay consultant, Stan D. Williams is known for his book The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success defining a clear sense of morality as an essential ingredient in developing stories that will not only be financially successful but will stand the test of time. Should Wizard Clip Haunting, his new novel based on an actual early American ghostly legend be adapted to film, an opening around Halloween would seem appropriate.

 

John W. Kennedy: I understand your novel is actually based on an actual legend. Can you tell me about it?

Stanley D. Williams: The Wizard Clip haunted house affair of 1794-1797 in what was then Smithfield, Virginia (today Middleway, West Virginia) is cited as the best documented ghost story in American history. A simple Internet search will reveal hundreds of references, many reaching back to the 1800s.  

My novel, Wizard Clip Haunting, is a historical fiction novel that attempts to weave together the many well-documented and disturbing events and exorcism into a cogent, entertaining and informative tale.

The novel chronicles the historic, tragic and adventurous lives of four characters. The first is the focus of our story, Adam Livingston, an innovative Pennsylvania flax farmer vexed from early childhood with vague premonitions of tragedies. Adam’s first wife, Esther, was a devout Presbyterian who cared for her family and used her talent at the loom to help clothe the poor. She believed their good but meager life was God’s blessing. But, although Adam deeply loved Esther, he was pretty sure any success they had was due to his hard work.

Suddenly, during the harvest, Esther mysteriously dies and Adam loses their small farm. Thereafter, he and his two children migrate to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia where he acquires a much larger farm with great potential – but tragedy strikes when he rebukes Virginia’s culture of slavery. A couple years later, when Adam remarries, he takes revenge on God for Esther’s death and marries a woman who hates all religion; the results are unwelcomed and tragic.

Woven into Livingston’s story is that of Denis Cahill, who dodges death in Ireland, becomes a renegade Capuchin priest, lives through the catastrophic New Orleans Fire of 1788, and after, sails past storms and pirates into the young United States in search of his calling, a destiny he could never have planned.

The third character, who historically has come to be known as the Wizard Clip, or the Clipping Wizard, is an impatient and murderous Babylonian spirit who is tasked with Livingston’s and Cahill’s downfall by edging them closer and closer to the gates of hell.

The fourth character is the cursed plot of land that absorbs the blood of a murder…and serves as the stage for the Wizard’s hauntings. After lying fallow for over a hundred years, the land finally finds redemption as the Priest Field Pastoral Retreat Center in Middleway, West Virginia, which today you can visit.
 
At the halfway mark in the book, what in Narrative Theory is called the Moment of Grace, a mysterious sojourner lodges at the Livingston’s home and in the middle of the night realizes he’s going to die. He asks his hosts to fetch a Catholic priest to hear his confession and give him last rites – but the Livingstons refuse, having promised themselves, in keeping with the times, that no Catholic priest would ever cross the threshold of their house. Before the stranger dies, he curses the Livingstons, their house and farm. 

Immediately, the haunts begin: strange noises, black vapor, wraiths of horses and wagons, china flies off shelves, logs fly from the fire to orbit the gathering room, crops fail, animals die in bizarre ways and most peculiar, the sounds of scissors and the physical clipping of crescent moon shapes from anything made from flax linen.

Adam soon realizes that the noises and the clippings are not practical jokes put upon them by neighbors but by a demon their young daughter Eve calls “The Wizard.” When Adam finally decides to fight fire-with-fire, he recruits a variety of ministers to come to the house and exorcise it – but all fail and the farm becomes the curiosity of the region with folks just dropping by with both tragic and comedic results. The haunts escalate, especially when a minister shows up…and when a Catholic priest appears all hell breaks loose. For reasons they don’t fully understand, the Livingstons and friends are catapulted along to a final and cataclysmic conclusion.

JWK: What drew you to this story?

SDW: I’m a professional story consultant and filmmaker. Since 2006 when my Hollywood story-structure book (The Moral Premise) was released, I’ve worked for writers and producers in the film industry – and a few novelists – helping their stories connect with audiences. On the side, I also produce and distribute Catholic apologetic media. In 2012 a Filipino man living in Australia, knowing my work, called me and pitched the Wizard Clip story to me as a film idea. I didn’t have the money to make the movie, so I wrote a screenplay. It got some interest in Los Angeles but no funding for the movie.

In 2014 I got curious about one of the character’s disposition after the exorcism, Fr. Denis Cahill. Research trips to New Orleans, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Maryland convinced me that the story was not a movie but a novel, a long one. It had all the elements of a major Hollywood movie but it was deeply imbedded in American history and involved a number of historical characters from America’s founding. It was just too interesting to pass up.

JWK: Do you believe the haunting was real?
 
SDW: I completely believe the hauntings were real for a number of well-documented reasons. Middleway, West Virginia today still celebrates the hauntings with badges on the front of the homes that existed at the time depicting the disturbances. The badges depict a pair of scissors, a crescent moon and a magician in a top hat that stands in for the clipping demon. The town is nicknamed “Clip.” There are thirty-some versions of the story from various perspectives with basically the same record of events; some are eye-witnesses.
Four Catholic priests investigated the events, including America’s first bishop, Rev. John Carroll…All the priests were initially skeptical. Fr. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin was sent by Carroll to investigate. Gallitzin later wrote “After three months of investigation, I was soon converted to a full belief of them. No lawyer in a court of justice did more than I, nor procured more than your unworthy servant.”

And then there’s a existence today of Priest Field Pastoral Retreat Center which sits on the 35 acres of land given to the local Catholic society by the former agnostic Adam Livingston in appreciation for what Fr. Denis Cahill and Fr. Gallitzin did in ridding his property of the demon.

JWK: What’s the message you hope readers take from the story?

SDW: The main message behind the true story of the events is the authority of natural law in human relationships. Based on my book The Moral Premise, all success stories must deal with a conflict of values – a vice versus an opposing virtue – that is true to natural law principles. Thus, every character in Wizard Clip Haunting is challenged to acknowledge and live by the authority of Natural Law. Some do, some don’t. Natural consequences follow.
The story also underscores the validity of the Catholic priesthood, the Mass and the Sacraments – even when priests are not in a perfect state of grace.

Lastly, and perhaps most obviously, the original story and the novel underscore the reality of the demonic world with cautions to take evil seriously and project one’s life with truth.
 
JWK: Do you see a movie here?

SDW: The story came to me originally as a movie and I wrote a screenplay – but as the Hollywood adage goes: “Write the book first…and sell a million copies.”  I would love to see a movie made.

JWK: Any ideas for casting or who you’d like to see direct?

SDW: I have not thought of casting. By the time this might get made potential actors would be too old and new actors would be on the market. I would direct, of course. LOL!

Roman Map of the Roman Empire 33 A.D..

https://www.stanwilliams.com/NINEVEHSCROSSING/BCInfo.php

On this map notice the extent of the main Roman roads connecting cities. Imperialistic as it was, Rome's grip on civilization allowed far-reaching and safe travel throughout the known Western world. This is the world of Christ and St. Paul. And it was on these relatively safe and far-reaching roads, protected by Roman legions, that the Gospel spread. From the Middle East and North Africa, to Spain, France, and England, mighty Rome on the banks of the Tiber held the known Western world in the grip of her power. Ruler of the Western world though she was, pagan Rome, in the 1st century, was already a victim of religious syncretism—a bewildering hodgepodge of unknown divinities and arbitrary religious practices- which spread throughout the empire. This of course, made the empire ripe for Christianity where God was known, up close,  personal, and in the flesh.

#ChristianHistory #RomanHistory #Roman Empire #Jesus Christ #SpreadofChristianity #BasicChristianity #NinevehsCrossing.com #ChristianApologetics

The Surrender Novena is a Misnomer

There is a ubiquitous line in the Catholic medication world that says:

Surrender to God and he will do everything for you.

It's bad theology.

I wish whoever writes these meditations, or repeats them, such as the Surrender Novena does, would explain to me how this line in any way, at any time, anywhere, makes any rational sense to the Christian. 

Better still where is it in the Bible or  the Catholic Catechism, or even the teachings of the Early Church Fathers?

If you take the words seriously, it embraces a worldview that rejects personal responsibility, and blames God for the individual's laziness. When you refuse to do what is reasonably expected of you and chaos results, you can blame God, for God didn't do it for you. The line means sit back, do nothing, and your Daddy in heaven will dress you, cloth you, and repair the roof on your house. 

Of course that can't be want it means because Christian teaching and the Bible are full of warnings about being responsible, making good decisions, ad performing good works to back up your faith, and waiting patiently for God to change your mind or to bring it about through natural means, perhaps in years to come. There is an aspect of our will needing to align with God's will. 

But "Surrender to God and he will do everything for you" sure sounds like the Protestant shibboleth "faith alone," which literally means "do nothing but just sit there and mentally believe that God is your servant and magic genie in a bottle." 

Of course "faith aloneites" would distance themselves from such a stupid interpretation. 

Isn't that what the words say? 

What should they say? 

Why don't they say what they should say?

Let's fix this. 

Dave Rubin & Frank Turek Breakthrough Dialogue on Atheism and Christianity

There are indications that society is waking up to transcendent truth. Dave Rubin, former comedian and politically conservative commentator, hosted Frank Turek, a most articulate Christian apologist, on his LOCALS podcast today. It was a breakthrough dialogue.  If you don't know, Dave has changed from being a progressive liberal to staunch conservative over the course of this career. He's respected in politically conservative circles for his determination to engage people of all political walks in respective dialogue on controversial topics. He toured with Jordan Peterson during Jordan's first worldwide book tour for "12 Rules for Life." So, this conversation is fascinating to watch and listen to, especially since Dave is gay...although you wouldn't know it unless you heard him say so, which he rarely does. I suspect that when he hosts a Christian there's a prior agreement to steer clear of Dave's so-called "marriage" for the sake of civility. The consequence is a respectful dialogue about everything else—values, history, politics, culture, and religion—watched by many of his nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers.  

My Motivations for Writing "The Wizard Clip Haunting" Novel

In preparing remarks for book talks that I plan to give in the coming months, you may find this segment (5. Motivations) of historical interest. It is the principle reason for my ten-year effort to finish the novel.  Your comments are most welcome.  (Stan Williams)

5. Motivations

My writing of The Wizard Clip Haunting was significantly motivated by what is generally unknown about the persecution of Catholics in England, Ireland, and how that persecution came to the British Colonies and became imbued into the culture of the United States. Let me review the history of the British contribution to the Protestant Reformation that has so imbued American culture to this day. A great deal of what I’m  going to share is reflected in the novel as the prime motivation, not just for me the writer, but as the deep seated motivation for many of the Wizard Clip characters. My hope is that the novel will shed light on the origins of our culture and encourage us to avoid the prejudices of the past. 

I grew up being taught that America was established as a safe haven for religiously persecuted Europeans; particularly which religious sects were being persecuted and by whom I was unsure. I did know that the Pilgrims and Puritans, for some reason, were at odds with The Church of England, but I didn’t know much more than that. 

As a teenager in the 1960s in the Midwest, I recognized a strong bias against Catholics who lived in our suburban neighborhood. I didn’t understand this completely, except for what my mother inferred...that the Catholics were idolaters, not Christian. That my school chum next door was Catholic had something to do with it, in so far as he took after his Dad who drank a lot of beer, smoked packs of cigarettes, and swore a lot. It didn’t take much to persuade me that my mother was right. 

Penal Laws  - UK & Ireland

But it wasn’t until my college years that I became aware of the 17th and 18th century British penal laws, which outlawed all things Catholic, even to the point of imprisoning citizens, confiscating their land and possessions, animals, heritage rights, and executing priests who refused to be exiled. The penal laws also made celebrating the Catholic Mass and  transubstantiation illegal. Other laws barred Catholics from voting, holding office, owning land, bringing religious items from Rome into Britain, and prohibited the publishing or selling of Catholic materials. 

I had no idea about any of this. It surprised me. More research was clearly necessary. 

The source of the penal laws was Henry VIII and his political and moral battle with the Vatican when Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage with Catherine of Aragon because, due to miscarriages and still births, she had not given him a male heir but only one daughter, Mary. In 1529 Henry banished Catherine from court, and persuaded his political fixers to arrange his marriage to Anne Boleyn, which they did.  

The next year, in 1530, Henry took revenge on the Vatican. He convinced parliament to start work on a series of laws that would come to be known as the penal laws. Over the coming years they:

• Established Britain’s break from Catholicism
• Confiscated all Catholic property, land, monasteries, convents, and possessions 
• Made Henry the head of the newly formed Church of England
• Outlawed Catholicism in English life, and 
• Transferred significant wealth from the Catholic Church to the English Crown. 
• After that, it was only natural for Pope Clement VII to excommunicate Henry, or we might say, Henry VIII excommunicated himself.  

The penal laws were refined and expanded over the years, and eventually implemented in Ireland, which dramatically affected the life of several main characters in the novel.  There were, however, attempts to mitigate the laws during the reigns of Catholic monarchs Mary Tudor (1553–1558) and James II (1685–1688). 

In the early 17th century, certain British Catholics, although persecuted, were not idle. During the reign of Protestant James I, a group of Catholics tried to assassinate the king and the House of Lords in what is known as the Gunpowder Plot. On 5th of November 1605 the plot was foiled and several of the Catholic rebels were executed including the man guarding the explosives in the undercroft of the House of Lords. That man was Guy Fawkes. Thus, every November 5th in England, and even in the British colonies, groups of Protestants celebrated the foiling of the plot with Guy Fawkes Bonfires where they burn the Pope in effigy. During America’s Revolutionary War, General George Washington, recognizing the sacrifice many Catholics were giving to the war effort, tried to ban the celebrations, but he couldn’t change the culture.

The penal laws lasted roughly 250 years. With the Roman Relief Act of 1791 and others through 1926, the penal laws were finally, but not completely, nullified. In 2013, the British parliament passed the latest of these relief acts which allowed the spouse of the king or queen to be Catholic, but never the monarch, who must be Protestant.

A personal story illustrates the lasting effect this all has on culture today. In 20-03 I was traveling in England on business with an associate. We took a half-day off to tour Nottingham and St. Mary’s Church, which dates back to Saxon times. Recognizing us as American businessmen and tourists, we were being given a tour by the older but very gracious and considerate church sexton. He had just lifted the floor board near a pillar to show us the original Saxon rock foundation when my associated casually mentioned that we were both Catholic. Immediately, the sexton, raised up, glared at us, slammed the floorboard back into place, and stomped off. My associate turned to me and whispered, “Was it something I said?” 

To this day, since America was initially British, the penal laws and their legacy are well ingrained into British and American culture. 

Penal Laws - British Colonies & the United States

One of my favorite stories of this period is the Maryland experiment. In 1632 Lord Baltimore (George Calvert) was granted possession of all land lying between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. Lord Baltimore saw this as an opportunity to grant religious freedom to the Catholics who remained in Anglican England. Lord Baltimore died within weeks of his land grant, and so his first son, Cecil at age 26, took charge of forming the new colony, and sent his younger brother, Leonard at 25, to the New World to establish the Maryland colony with a small boatload of Protestants and Catholics, including a handful of Jesuit priests.

At fist laws were passed in the Maryland colony to give religious freedom to every one. But by doing so, the experiment didn’t last long. Soon, the population of Maryland became predominately Protestant and the Catholics were chased out of power, new laws were passed, and Catholics found themselves under penal laws once again, except they often were not enforced with severity. In 1692 the Episcopal church was established by law in Maryland. Acts were passed to prevent the growth of Popery. Priests could not say Mass, nor teach, nor perform any religious rite. Rewards were offered and imprisonment inflicted. One hundred pounds was the fine or sending a child abroad to be educated in the Catholic religion. Catholics refusing to take an oath against Catholicism forfeited their land. In 1734, Catholic worship was prohibited in Pennsylvania, and so on. Even after the Americans won the Revolutionary War, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights took effect there was still a crazy quilt of state laws regarding religion. In Massachusetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office, and Catholics were allowed to do so only after renouncing papal authority. 

In 1777, New York State’s constitution banned Catholics from public office (and would do so until 1806) and priests were still sought out and murdered by Protestant belligerents. In Maryland, Catholics had full civil rights, but Jews did not. Delaware required an oath affirming belief in the Trinity. Several states, including Massachusetts and South Carolina, had official, state-supported churches.

While some of America’s early leaders were models of tolerance, American attitudes of the general public were slow to change. The anti-Catholicism of America’s Calvinist past found new voice in the 19th century. The belief widely held and preached by some of the most prominent ministers in America was that Catholics would, if permitted, turn America over to the pope. Anti-Catholic venom was part of the typical American school day, along with Bible readings. In Massachusetts, a convent—coincidentally near the site of the Bunker Hill Monument—was burned to the ground in 1834 by an anti-Catholic mob incited by reports that young women were being abused in the convent school. In Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, anti-Catholic sentiment, combined with the country’s anti-immigrant mood, fueled the Bible Riots of 1844 in which houses were torched, two Catholic churches destroyed, and at least 20 people were killed.

All this in spite of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment of the Constitution which were ratified 53 years earlier in December 1791. Culture is often more powerful than laws.

Since researching and becoming Catholic myself in 1998, all of this information fascinated me. I wanted to somehow communicate how it was that Catholicism was trapped in a gulf of prejudice – which had originated with an egotistical and adulterous British king -- and had infiltrated the culture of Protestantism, in which I was raised. 

In 2012, the Wizard Clip story was pitched to me as a movie idea, and I wrote a screenplay. I also began to research the background of the various characters—the real characters in the story—and I saw the depth of anti-Catholic bias and persecution that underscored and undergirded the Wizard Clip story. 

In 2014 curiosity of some of the real characters motivated me to traveled to the Catholic archives in Baltimore, Maryland, and then trips to Middleway, West Virginia, Pittsburg, and New Orleans. Between a great many other projects, I poked away at the story’s plot and character back stories. Slowly, a large novel developed. Friends tried to persuade me to keep it short, but to tell the whole truth, and develop the characters so that the climax of the story made sense, I committed to telling a well-rounded and full story, being faithful to what I understood to be true, even if the gaps were imagined. 

Looking for PBS Documentary Funding

Pam and Stan Williams with Fr. Dwight Longenecker
after Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church
in Greenville, S.C. 

Do you want to dramatically transform society’s perception of the supernatural? Do you want to shift culture’s values from materialism to the transcendent? Our project is a simple yet exotic effort with far reaching, long-lasting effect. 

We need help funding a relatively inexpensive PBS television documentary through our two public charity fiscal sponsors. We have the professional experience, the local knowledge, and PBS’s support to carry this off...but we need several funding partners who will also benefit from the PBS exposure. 

Here's the hook, the question, that will catch the interest of millions of viewers...viewers who are culture’s movers and shakers. 

Why are seven (7) European and Near East, inaccessible monasteries, plus a dozen other religious structures, some built as early as the sixth century and all related to St. Michael the Archangel...in a perfectly straight line pointing at and terminating at a prophetic location in the Holy Land? 

The alignment is uncanny and striking. The question about their alignment has stumped historians and archaeologists for decades. But we think we know the answer, an answer that is out of this world, literally...and no, it has nothing to do with aliens from another planet. Common folk and experts wonder if there is a meaning to the mystical alignment. We think there is...and yet the original builders would have had no idea.

• Were the monasteries built along an astrological alignment with the stars?
• Were they built to align with the setting sun on the summer solstice? They do, but does that mean anything?
•  Perhaps the monasteries were built on sites where mystical energy fields emanate from the earth's crust?
• Is there a magnetic alignment or resonance with hidden veins of iron ore beneath the surface?
• We do know that some of the monasteries were built as way stations for ancient pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land. But is there archaeological evidence that without the advantages of today’s navigation technology such construction could have resulted in an alignment with other monasteries hundreds or even thousands of miles away? 
• Were there perhaps some unknown primitive technologies, such as those used to build the pyramids, that could have been used to align these sacred buildings on the top of mountains?
• Perhaps there was a secret code passed down through the many legends about St. Michael appearances that monks discovered or passed around to effect the alignment?
• Or, is the alignment purely coincidental—a solution looking for a problem as material atheists are quick to claim?
• Yet, in the end, to what extent is the alignment of supernatural origin? Could the alignment of these gigantic buildings, in visible but inaccessible places,  be the obvious evidence that a transcendent reality exists? Is the alignment evidence that cannot be ignored that God is trying to get our attention?

Our research has taken us to all of the monasteries on the line, and several additional sites across six countries—one being the source of the legendary Sword in the Stone...which actually exists and of which St. Michael had a part. We’ve interviewed archaeologists, historians, and locals, and we’ve collect and catalogued terabytes of high resolution video. But we’re far from done. Some would say we’re in the midst of an eye-opening production, a Eureka moment in history! But no one else will know unless we get help.

With proper funding we can commit to real putting subject matter experts on camera and asking them tough questions— astronomers, archaeologists, historians, anthropologists, astrophysicists, geophysicists, geologists, and a monk or two ... who can help us answer the alignment question and shove society’s heart back to reality. 

 

Do you know a foundation that will help?

 

More information is available our project website.

https://stanwilliams.com/ANGELQUEST/ or write to me at stanwilliamsphd@gmail.com

 

Thank you.

Stories as Theo-Drama

This post may make little sense. I'm writing it so I don't forget something.

A friend recently introduced me to Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theo-Drama Theological Dramatic Theory. That's actually an over-statement. I have not read Balthasar's epic five-volumes, although they sound fascinating. I may never read them. Long theoretical tomes put me to sleep. The books are also expensive, which is just as well because I've run out of bookshelves. All of that is nonsense, however. From the short reviews I've read Balthasar's Theo-Drama meshes well with my own The Moral Premise.

In short, ideas, theories and theology only matters when action is taken.

Or, in terms of an oft repeated writer's adage: show don't tell. 

Another has said, "Intentions do not matter. Right and wrong live in the realm of action." 

Channeling another writer:

We know nothing about God—only what he did. 

And, from some long forgotten playwright:

All the world's a stage
and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. 

In a screenplay or stage play there are six grammatical elements: Scene-heading, Action, Character, Parenthetical, Dialogue, and Transition—but only two really matter—Action and Dialogue, the actions of moral agents—what they do and say.

It seems, therefore, that all that matters are the "acts" of the characters on stage or screen. 

By extension, theology only matters when moral agents act. (Yes, yes, of course, Jesus warned us of the sin of envy, jealousy, lust can be in the heart (mind) a sin. But then, in God's transcendent justice invisibles are real. But that's God, not human agents who can only judge acts and not thoughts...although they try. 

What does this mean?

It means that stories of humans taking action and suffering consequences are works of theology.

The Wizard Clip Haunting Review by Marueen Wahu

It's a New Day!

Since the dawn of man and Lucifer’s shameful expulsion from heaven, Lucifer has tried endlessly to put God and man at odds with each other. Such is the story of Adam Livingston.

Adam was never a man of great faith, but his wife, Esther, was a strong believer. Together they weathered many storms as bereaved parents of one living child and several others who died pre-term. Finally, God blessed them with two healthy children who would live to adulthood, but the devil had marked Adam for the purpose of destroying his faith. It was his intent that Adam would curse God before he died.

It’s for this purpose that he petitioned to take Esther’s life and his petition was granted. The plan was working already. Adam, who had little regard for the supernatural despite having the gift of prophecy, became evermore determined to control the outcome of his life.

On top of losing his wife, Adam would have to give up his farm. It was a wedding gift from his father in law deeded to his wife. He could not continue to farm it, but he could sell it and keep half the proceeds. Thankfully, his own family would keep him in the flax farming business one way or another. His father proposed to sell him a piece of land in Virginia and he took the offer. Little did he know that he was heading towards the final battleground. In this place he would either curse God and die, or accept him and receive his mercy.

The Wizard Clip Haunting, is a historical fiction with elements of a supernatural thriller. It describes in detail the haunting of the Livingston property; their mansion, their barn and their farm. It introduces us to the possibility of animals being protagonists for either good or evil. It also sheds light on the power structure within which demons operate. I found the author’s way of exposing satan’s intent very entertaining and innovative.

The only gripe I have with this book is it’s championing of the Catholic faith. I’m a protestant myself and disagree on some doctrinal matters. However, I still found it entertaining and educational. It’s my hope that if this book convicts you to be a Christian, and that you follow the teachings of Christ as your life’s manual.

Grab yourself a copy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Maureen

Link to Original Review

Anti-Woke Answers to Prayers

Everyday I pray that evil in our culture and society will be overcome and what is GOOD, TRUE, and BEAUTIFUL will prevail under God’s almighty hand. For seven years I’ve harbored ill will toward the whole “political correctness” movement. I saw the faux politeness as an insidious effort to undermine truth. The problem was evident in every sector of the culture and even in the Christian Church which was a major problem, for under the “political correct” model where offense of any kind was to be avoided, the Church was becoming tolerant of evil. The backlash against political correctness is what contributed to the popularity of Donald Trump who made mincemeat of miscreants who were lauded for their polite behavior. 

 

Daily, I find myself scanning the news for answers to my prayers for conversion of the malevolent, or for God to re-erect Haman’s gallows (Book of Esther), or to read about evil-doers who fall into their own traps (Proverbs 29:6).

 

In the past year I have seen many answers to these prayers as misled titans of corporate, education, and media institutions have fallen or reversed course back to what is true. The riots in Seattle and Portland reminded me of Romans 1 where God gives over the perverse to the desires of their hearts. The fall of Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and associates, Nancy Pelosi and and more recently Alec Baldwin are modest examples. The recent changes at CNN which Christopher Licht is forcing upon their show hosts, and the recently discovered backbone at the New York Times to tell the truth are also examples. Then there’s the Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and the Twitter Files that are taking on Biblical proportions. 

 

Three more examples that came to light this morning. 

 

1. While I’m not a Chris Rock fan, nor any longer a Netflix subscriber, Ben Shapiro points to the significance of Chris Rock (and other comedians like Dave Chappelle) who are finally ditching the wokeness which they were all plagued with several years ago, and are boldly attacking the woke culture with truth. Shapiro sees it as a true sign of an anti-woke revolution. That Chris Rock's comedy special where he revisits the Will Smith slap, has the strong backing of a major liberal-woke corporation (Netflix) is a good sign than the culture is changing and it may in fact bleed down into politics.

 

Jacob Chansley is seen outside
the U.S. Capitol in Washington on
Jan. 6, 2021. (Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

2. With the U.S. House of Representatives being taken over by Republicans under Kevin McCarthy’s leadership, a major breakthrough occurred in the last week when McCarthy released ALL of the January 6 Capitol security footage to Tucker Carlson. Bombshell…the footage, held secret by the Democrats, proves once again that the Democrats were lying.  The vast majority of the video (some 40,000 hours worth) proves that the January 6 protest was not an insurrection, as the Democrats claimed by selective release of the video. The vast majority of the video demolishes the insurrection claim the Democrats used to attack their political opponents. 

 

 

3. Many corporations and universities (even Christian universities) have formed DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) departments in a woke effort to ensure they are not lambasted by the social media mavens over claims of racism and prejudice. But in fact DEI efforts, which disparage and act as gatekeepers for hiring and admitting individuals based on merit, are nothing more than racist and prejudicial at their core. The DEI movement has been active since 2017 but recently there are reports that corporations and educational institutions are seeing the falsehood that DEI creates. 

 

When inflation hit this year, corporations were quick to layoff and stop their DEI trivialness. 

 

See: https://www.businessinsider.com/layoffs-diversity-departments-some-ceos-talk-committed-racial-justice-2023-2

 

Then, the University of Texas and Texas A&M remove all DEI considerations in hiring and admissions. 

 

See: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/education/2023/03/03/diversity-equity-inclusion-texas-am-system-hiring-admissions-ut-system/69964633007/

 

4. Ah, another...they keep cropping up: Liberal comedian Bill Maher continues to chip away at the false narrative of the woke culture by confronting one of its most vocal adherents, Bernie Sanders, here face to face about Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness proposal.  Bernie Sanders is left speechless:

 I will keep praying, as are millions of others, that God will remove the snake scales from everyone’s eyes.  

Huh!? A Christian Novel about Occultist Hauntings?

NO SPOILER: This author's accounting of The Wizard Clip Haunting contains no spoilers.

After 10 years of on-and-off again effort, I recently finish writing an historical novel based on the well documented Wizard Clip Legend out of what is now West Virginia. 

The resulting book, now available in several editions, is titled The Wizard Clip Hauntings: A True Early American Ghost Story. The novel is necessarily long, due to the Early American history that pervades the time and place of the events that shocked many, and even involved the first United States bishop, John Carroll, S.J. 

At the time, what Adam Livingston and his family experienced was disturbing. Remembering them, (especially in fictional form) can likewise raise disturbing questions. So it was, that I received a sincere email from a Catholic friend who asked an honest question. Here is an excerpt of her letter (the bold emphases are hers).

Hi Stan, 

I hope we can buy your book soon. But I have some questions before we do. I am curious about the topic of hauntings. Just to be clear, and forgive me of my ignorance, but I assume this is safe for a good Catholic to read. I avoid anything that would lead to the occult. And any of its dealings. How do you justify the topic as a devout Catholic? 

I am sure that it is me who is not clear on this, and not you. But could you touch on helping me understand the purpose of writing this book and its benefits?

My husband is intrigued by a bit of this type of topic usually, I am not. But I seem to be this time. 

Hope my question makes sense to you. Thanks for any clarification you might offer me. God bless! 

F. 

I wrote our friend back with an answer that I will expand here:

 Dear F,

Thank you for asking a very good question. I thought about this very dichotomy years ago when I started the project, but not recently. Your reminder prompts me to revisit my motivation. 

The Wizard Clip Haunting is, at its heart, a tale faithful to Catholic teaching. But, because the core story is true and unexpected in several ways, it has also become controversial. The combination of truth and controversy (a great dramatic irony) drew me to it.  Without fictionalizing the historical aspects of the story, a great truth of Catholicism is explicated, and hopefully, my fictional additions do it in an entertaining and narrative way. Professionally, I'm a storyteller. I would much rather explain truth by telling an ironic story than writing didactic apologetics or theology. While I have been accused many times of the latter, I much prefer the former. So I wrote the novel because it tells the truth and can inform readers about the reality of heaven, hell, angel, demons, and what we need to do to live successful under God's grace and within his mercy. 

THE HISTORY 

The core of the story is historically well-documented mostly by several Catholic priests, and the U.S. bishop who were involved in the events in the 1790s in what was then northeast Virginia.  Over the years, the story has been told over and over, and consequently has garnered the label of a legend because the various accounts recount the details differently. The core of the story, however, remains unchanged. 

The story, in real life and in the novel, is told by Fr. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, an eye witness to the Wizard Clip events who was known during his lifetime as the Apostle of the Alleghenies. Today, he is known by the Vatican as "Servant of God." A former Russian prince, he was the first U.S. Catholic priest to complete all his seminary training in the U.S. and be ordained by Bishop John Carroll. To fit in with early American society, he took the name Fr. Smith, but his thick European accent—from knowing five languages—gave him away. 

Without giving anything away about the novel, the story is not one, but four, woven into a single fabric no doubt by Providence. The first story, regards a 35-acre plot of land that today is known as Priest Field, a Catholic Retreat Center. The second, is the story of a resourceful but tragic farmer, a lapsed Lutheran, known to history as Adam Livingston. The third, is the story of a pioneering priest, Denis Cahill, who founded six parishes that exist today. He forged an heroic missionary path in the early days of the nation, but then lost his way. The fourth, is of a demonic spirit, which the locals to this day call the Clipping Wizard. 

 

The village where the events took place is known as Clip Town. Today, over 200 years later, the village of Middleway, WV, continues to celebrate its place in history with wood-block badges on the fronts of the historic buildings depicting a crescent moon and a pair of scissors. 

You can read more about the story, or buy one of the editions of the book, at the book's website: https://wizardclip.stanwilliams.com