Introducing Jesus -- Steve Harvey Style

This is nothing new to the Internet, but I recently came across part of a Steve Harvey comedy routine. Although it is hardly comedy, it is entertaining in an important way. It connects emotionally, (See FIRST ENTERTAIN.) Since blog embedded videos do not always work so smoothly, here's the link to a version of the video still allowed by the copyright holder:

http://vimeo.com/6582814

Steve does a masterful job. It's not just about the words, but it's also the presentation. And if you're Catholic you have to love the line about "His mother" in the middle. If you're into personal Christian evangelism, this would be a great thing to memorize, far better than somethings that come under that moniker.  Below is the transcript:

If I had the pleasure of bringing out Christ,
This is just how I would do it.
It ain't got to be the way you would do it.
You may not think it's just right.
But this is how I would do it:
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is my honor to introduce a Man who needs no introduction.
His credits are too long to list.
He has done the impossible time after time.
He hails out of a manger in Bethlehem Jerusalem by way of Heaven.
His Mother is still head-lining in the Catholic church today.
His Daddy is the Author of a Book that has been on the best-seller list since the beginning of time.
He holds the record for the world's greatest fish fry.
He fed five thousand hungry souls with two fish... five loaves of bread.
He can walk on water, turn water into wine, no special effects, no camera tricks.
He has a headshot on every church fan across the country.
Even before the kings of comedy He was hailed the King of all kings, Ruler of the universe, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End, The Bright and The Morning Star.
Some say He's the Rose of Sharon, and some say He's the Prince of Peace.
Get up on your feet. Put your hands together and show your love for the second coming of the one and only...

"Oh, Wow! Oh, Wow! Oh, Wow!"

Being an Apple, Inc. fan, my businesses have always used Macintosh technology, as long as it was around. So, I'm a fan of Steve Jobs. After his death, reading the various accounts of his personal life and relationship with employees and family, she seems a true enigma.  His sister, author Mona Simpson, was by his bedside with other family members when he died, and this is what she reports where her brother's last words:

Before embarking, he’d looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children, then at his life’s partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them,” she recalled. “Steve’s final words were, Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.

Did he catch a glimpse of heaven and St. Peter's gate? Did he, in those final moments, confess and believe in Christ's redeeming mercy? Seems like that's possible. We don't know, but we can hope, as the Church does about all that die. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/30/steve-jobs-final-words-revealed-by-biological-sister/#ixzz1cLkP6moK

Marolyn Ford's Miracle of Sight

Marolyn Ford called me this morning. I did not know her before she called. She's a public inspirational speaker, author, singer, and the wife of a Baptist pastor in Memphis. She was looking for outlets for her books and CDs and was curious about our production capability. As we talked for about 20 minutes, mostly about production issues regarding books, she said there were a couple videos about her miracle of sight on YouTube. (It's below, embeded in this post. If it doesn't play well, double click on the image and you can watch it directly on YouTube.) It's so good, I called her back. She said it was produced by a man who works for TBN. The combination of great content, a great inspirational speaker, and a great production, makes this short video exceptional. Watch it and then I have a few more things to say. You can reach Marolyn through her website: http://www.marolynford.com.

Please pass this on.... the video link at least. Too few people have seen this video for its quality and message. Here's the link you can put in
an email: http://youtu.be/JfCDTJq9uGE



Did you notice her words at the end where she says the doctor told her that medically she was sill blind, although she could see perfectly?  That's a definition of a miracle because it involves other dimensions of time and space that we usually do not have access to, except by supernatural providence. I just finished reading Padre Pio: The True Story biography by C. Bernard Ruffin. I recommend this particular "Revised and Expanded Edition" of St. Pio's life because, although it is published by Our Sunday Visitor (a Catholic publisher), Ruffin is a Lutheran cleric.

Pio of Pietrelcina (Wikipedia)

Consequently, while very thorough 185,000 words (448 pages, including 28 pages of footnotes and indexes), it is most notably objective and not triumphant in tone. In other words, even the skeptic would take what is reported here seriously. It even documents the immoral abuses toward Pio by Vatican officials. And what is reported is miraculous. Mostly notable are the miracles reported that have no medical explanation....meaning that medical examinations say the person should NOT be able to see or walk, etc, when in fact, the person is seeing, hearing, or walking. This is what the Vatican looks for when proclaiming a Saint (in part) and is one reason why Padre Pio (1887-1968, proclaimed saint 1999 by John Paul II, who had met Pio) became a saint so quickly after his death. Indeed, Ruffin is so objective that he places two Appendixes in the back that I think should be forwards. One is an explanation of how the Vatican goes about the process of proclaiming a person a saint, and the second is a short biography of Ruffin and how he came to write the book. Read these first.

Well, Marolyn Ford is not Padre Pio. She's not a Catholic, mystical, bi-locating, Capuchin priest from Italy. But the doctors at the Mayo Clinic are mystified how Marolyn can see. A true miracle. Prove of the supernatural dimensions that I believe we will "live" in when we get to heaven. Can't wait.

Empty Ritual or Breath of Life?

This past weekend Pam and I were in St. Louis for a conference. Early Saturday morning we walked from the conference hotel to the St. Louis cathedral that stands next to the St. Louis arch.

It was a weekday Mass attended by only several dozen of those in the downtown area, probably to work on the weekend. Like most weekday Masses it was short and succinct. And like most succinct observances there would be reason for a non-Catholic visitor to marginalize the service as perfunctory and empty ritual, as if those of us there were automatically going through the motions. Such criticism from non-Catholics (and I was guilty of this as a Protestant years ago) seem justified. Many times I have criticized Catholics for going through the motions without the right disposition of heart. The catechism, indeed, says that without the right disposition of heart, the sacraments lose part of their effect. Christian faith, after all, is not only God's work, but man's work, too. We have free will and we must exercise it to find salvation.

Yet, there is a mysteriousness about life that does not all depend on our disposition or our conscious free will. That "mysteriousness" can be referred to as "natural grace." This is not what the Church refers to as "grace," "supernatural grace," or "habitual grace." These latter terms imply a supernatural quality of goodness that comes to an individual from God that leads toward their salvation. What I mean by natural grace is that goodness of creation and our bodies that leads to life. As I participated in Mass that Saturday morning I was struck by how the Mass, like many other rituals in Catholicism, can be so severely misunderstood. (Perhaps because they are so affective and effective as stalwarts of Christianity the evil one finds ways to put questions in the minds of others of their goodness.) Countering that line of criticism, here are the three things that came to mind as I sat in the oldest U.S. cathedral West of the Mississippi.

1. Ritual, to be effective and life-giving, does not have to be a conscious effort. Although, the more conscious effort we put into it, the more effective and life-giving it will become. During Mass, the allegory that was brought to mind was breathing. We do not think about taking a breath. It is an automatic, unconscious mechanism that if it did not occur we would cease to live. The Mass is like the Church breathing. Although I think that to most priests and participants it is neither automatic nor passe (see point 3). But even if it was passe, grace would still flow through the celebration of the Word ("My Word does not return to be void," says God), and through the prayers, and the remembrance of Christ's death and resurrection in communion. That the Mass is celebrated nearly EVERY day of the year, in EVERY parish across the world, results in millions of "breaths" of Christians each day. The average human takes in a breath about 28,000 times a day. There are over 400,000 priests worldwide that celebrate Mass every day  -- some do so alone, most do so in community with other believers. Whether done without thought (hard to do) or with forethought, that is a lot of breaths that keeps the church alive.

St. Louis Cathedral Inside following Mass

2. But it is impossible to participate in any ritual without willful and intentional forethought and purpose. Walking back to the hotel from the St. Louis Cathedral that morning I began to list all the conscious and willful decisions I had made to get to Mass, assuming (falsely) that I had done nothing but sit empty-minded on the pew during the service. First, when Pam said to me (as I laid in bed), "We could make it to the 7:30 AM Mass at the Cathedral," I immediately got out of bed, saying, "Let's do it." Second, I got dressed. Third, we left the hotel and walked, taking hundreds of purposeful steps. Fourth we came into the Cathedral building, climbed the stairs, opened the door, and genuflected toward the tabernacle. Fifth, we sat in reverence and awe and prayed for God to be with us.  In other words, I could not have even gotten to Mass without a long series of macro and micro decisions to get me there. That is hardly an empty effort, regardless of how passe or quick the Mass celebration was. And then, during Mass, even if my mind was wandering (which it wasn't) it would be hard to stand-up, sit-down, kneel, walk to the priest, take communion, etc. et al without consciously being involved. I suppose one reason we stand-up, sit-down, kneel, walk, verbally respond, and bow, so much in Mass is to be sure we're paying attention. It's hard to sleep through a Mass, as my father-in-law sleeps through most Protestant Church sermons.

3. I was again reminded of the fallacious criticism by non-Catholics (especially evangelicals) that Catholics go through "vain repetitions" in their observance of their faith. That morning I thought, "Should we consider breathing and walking as vain repetitions?"  Catholic critics make the mistake of thinking of "repetitions" as being wrong, when they should concentrate instead on the "vain." Certainly Christ did not fault the widow who badgered the king for his favor. Christ said that if we besiege the thrown of God he will likewise give us what we ask for... even if it's not what we need. But the real fallacy of this protesting criticism is that the criticizer cannot read the individual's mind.  The critic will see and hear me saying a Rosary, and it sounds painfully repetitive. But what is seen and heard is only a small portion of what's occurring in the spiritual realm. What is seen and heard is simply a pacing mechanism that is repeated almost automatically (and that's not all bad) while the mind and spirit contemplate one of the 20 mysteries of Christ. We put ourselves (spiritually and mentally) in a Biblical event and try to imagine what we might learn about one of 20 virtues associated with the mysteries. Likewise during Mass, a skeptic would see me staring forward or downward for most of the Mass and could easily conclude that I was in a canonical state, my mind dulled over and inactive. But just the opposite is true. At least for me. Does the mind wander to non-spiritual things and the business of the day ahead. Sure. But a moment later I have to stand up, and involve all six of my sense in taking communion. That is sure to change a few things.

Yes, the Mass is like breathing. We need to do it everyday.

Immigration: God's Law or Man's Law

I've been told that the immigration policy for our neighbors to the South is different for those from Europe. If you're from Europe and you have a U.S. work permit, you can bring your family. Not true if you're from Mexico. So migrate workers from the South must leave their families behind. This is why Catholic bishops oppose the U.S. Immigration policy. The bishops believe that God's rules about the integrity of the family trump a U.S. Immigration law that keeps them apart.

What is mysterious to me is why conservative pundits become inflamed over "illegal immigrants" regardless of their reason for being here. They often reinforce the term "illegal" as if U.S. law was equivalent to what is morally just. Yet, these same pundits say that "legal" abortion is wrong. They rhetorically uphold the immigration law, but they have no qualms of dismissing the abortion law. In terms of abortion they will rightfully side with God and say abortion is morally wrong, but when it comes to separating families from the South, they uphold man's law and ignore God's.  

It's time we put God above our government's laws and policies. We don't hesitate to do this with many issues, why can't we do it with the immigration policies? I think Rick Perry is right when he defends the in-state college tuition rates for illegal immigrants. The better educated people are, the less they will turn to crime and welfare. I suspect that the portion of the expensive for the education (which the state may bear) is far less than the expense would bear if those same individuals were to turn to crime or welfare fraud.  Perry is also right that those that oppose his rule to help educate those from Mexico have no heart.  

Here's another way to stage the argument. Which would you rather have, an educated illegal immigrant, or an uneducated citizen?  In the long term, the U.S. and the individual will fare far better with an educated populace, legal or otherwise.

As Christians our first obligation is to God, and if the law doesn't contradict God's laws then we can support the law. But to side with U.S. policy or law without consideration of what is universally and morally right, is egregious.

At the same time I'd wish people like those in the photo to the right could read or listen a bit more closely to the debate. I've not heard any pundits or officials voice ANY concern about immigrants who are here legally, especially full citizens, regardless of race.  Why are these people confusing the debate? Their protest only serves to inflame the irrational, create noise, and derail honest and just debate over the moral issues.

Lastly, I wish the bishops and conservatives and others who debate the issue would use more precise terms other than "immigration reform." Reform" can take all sorts of paths and directions. We just don't want reform, we want a justifiably moral reform.

Tax the Rich: The Grand Economic Fallacy

There's a fundamental economic fallacy posited by the Obama administration and certain other politico pundits and many Democrats that is plain idiocy.  It's that taxing the rich solves our economic woes.

There's a discussion going on HERE at LinkedIn that finally makes plain how stupid this is. My contribution, albeit simple by comparison, was this:

That the rich horde money, at least in the United States, is a gross fallacy. I wish someone would do a simple study and list where the rich put their money when they make it. Here's a short list, and please note that everything on this list, benefits the "working" class (as if the rich are not working...another fallacy) and benefits the government when the tax the working class income. (1) the rich build large houses (they hire construction teams and materials. (2) the rich buy material goods (the working class designs, manufactures, transports, sells, delivers, installs, and maintains those goods). (3) the rich invest their extra money in corporate stocks and government bonds (all which allow companies to invent, design, build, sell, distribute goods -- every step of which employes the working class). (4) the rich leave a small portion of their income in bank accounts (which the banks use to pay their employees, and invest in corporate and government bonds, which, likewise go to employ people and get taxed as income. the rich do not horde their money. They spend and invest it. And every dollar that is spent or invested employs and gets taxed. Bingo! You have economy expansion.

Michael D. Greaney, CPA, MBA, (Director, ESOP Admin Svcs, Equity Expansion International, Inc.) post says it even better at the above link.

Please pass this on. We really need to kill this silliness that the rich are somehow evil for knowing how to generate wealth. Oh, that the poor would learn the the same techniques. It has little to do with repression and everything to do with freedom.

A Choleric in a Phlegmatic World

My relatives claim they don't understand me. I'm mostly choleric in temperament. They say I get upset without warning or cause. I claim there's plenty of warning and cause if they'd stop ogling their navels and take some Christian responsibility for the state of a culture and world busting at the seams. My conclusion is that all of the men and some of the women in my extended family are phlegmatic or sanguine, and so I'm expected to be like them. A phlegmatic temperament (calm and unemotional) is the "Christian ideal" in many sectarian environments. Infact, 100 years ago, a choleric or melancholic temperament would be considered evil.

I wasn't made to be calm and unemotional when everyday I am made aware of families and individuals who are being destroyed due to substance and physical abuse, suicide, murder, poverty, and the greed and power-thirst of political leaders that repress and imprison their people. As Christians we're called to be salt and light to a hurting world, and every morning we have to ask ourselves "What does that mean I should do today? How should I live and conduct my life so to change a hurting world? How do I make use of my gifts and skills to change what is bad for good?"

There are many answers to those questions as there are individuals in the world. But what frustrates and saddens me is the laze-faire, calm and unemotional attitude that so called Christians exhibit when they get together for social gatherings. There are many such events in my life. In my immediate extended family there are six families with 20 some individuals. If you count birthdays, anniversaries, and special events, there is an event every week of the year that is cause (for some) for celebration I am often invited (because I'm married to phlegmatic-sanguine woman that everyone loves) to these family gatherings. All of the individuals claim to be Christian and are active in their churches (all Protestant except Pam and me.) And what is the conversation like at one of these gatherings? Here's the top subjects:

a. The beautiful cakes and fancy dishes the women (and one man) made.

b. How cute the kids smiles and antics are.

c. What life was like back in up-state New York in 1920.

d. The weather.

e. Pictures and video of the last time everyone got together.

f. The beautiful matching outfits some of the kids are wearing.

g. How to assembly and play with the new toys the kids just got.

h. What happened on the last trip to the beach or pool.

i. The next party.

There is no discussion about spiritual, social, or political issues that might change the world for the better. (Well there is one man who wants to do away with the Federal Reserve and use gold to buy groceries.) The only prayer I've ever heard at one of these events is the polite prayer before the meal. The only Scripture is the brief pause before opening the plethora of Christmas presents that occupy the net 10 hours of time. (Okay, there is the children's Christmas pageant staged with costumes that also occurs on or near Christmas, but with no current social reference.) But none of these things flow over into the current state of affairs of our world, or what anyone is doing outside the care and well-being of their immediate family... aside from asking for money for a annual, guilt-assuaging mission trip.

Where are the on-gong projects and passion for the things of God OUTSIDE our families celebratory care and well-being? Privately, within these families there are the prayers, and there is the instruction about many things Christian, but where and how does that bleed over into our gatherings as Christians. Should we not be:

a. Holding prayer vigils for the hurting families and people we know?

b. Engaging in discussions about the state of our efforts, projects, and sacrifice of resources for evangelizing a world who needs the truth?

c. Sharing what life was like during revivals in our country's history?

d. As a group making and packing up food to take to an unfortunate family?

e. Discussing the current social and political state of affairs and brainstorming solutions of how we as Christians should act and live to change things?

f. Getting together to make clothes and quilts for families that have no family to give them such things?

g. Take truck loads of the toys laying around our house to those kids who have none?

h. Using a trip to the beach or resort to plan an intervention to change the social, political culture?

i. Discussing the best and worse ways to evangelize people who don't want to or have not heard the Gospel message or the benefit of being a Christian?

j. Training ourselves and kids in group activities to be cultural influencers for Christian values, or to improve our skills other than to sit around and eat cake?

k. Discussing significant books, essays, speeches and action to be taken to make a difference?
l. Invite missionaries and evangelists, or social activists into our gathers to talk to us about their work and to recruit us in their sacrificial efforts?

m. Take field trips with the whole family to cultural events (not to sports events but to art exhibits et al) where our minds and souls can be up-lifted to higher values and achievement?

n. Invite family members who have accomplished something noteworthy to share with the group their preparation, work, and results, to inspire us to do similar things?

Now, perhaps some of these things happen when I'm not around. More than one person in my family has told me they don't want to discuss spiritual matters with me... because they're Protestant and I'm Catholic and my assertive personality gets in the way of what they believe. (They are their own infallible source of truth. Ironic isn't it?)   One Thanksgiving after dinner as we were all sitting around a living room, I entered a discussion about how the near-adult daughter of one family needed to search around, and in the words of my daughter, for "a church to attend that matched her beliefs." It was pure moral relativism, and no one else saw the moral ineptitude that was on display or being passed on to the next generation. It stirred my emotions that the values the discussion was promoting within Christian ranks was atheistic in origin.

I have long held that it is the fallacies of Protestantism that have allowed grave sins like contraception, abortion and euthanasia to be so prevalent in our legal system. We are way down the slippery slope. 100 years ago no Christian Church (protestant or otherwise) would have allowed contraception. Today they all do, except the only church that hasn't changed it's definition of truth or how its determined.  If Protestants weren't so inclined to following their own beliefs the moral state of our society would be much different. When I see that thinking spread in my own family, out of the mouths of my daughter and son, I need to speak up, and not softly so as to be politely be told "well, dad, we don't believe that... (so shut up)".   On our recent Northern Michigan sail trip we were sailing up the St. Mary's River on our way to Sault Saint Marie and on our right was the prominent St. Joseph's Island. When I pointed out to our Protestant adult children on board that the Catholic missionaries in the 1500's had named most of these land masses and cities, I was met with a sudden, dead silence. I had breached the peace by citing fact.

I was brought up in a family with preachers and missionaries who frequented our house. The discussions at the time (albeit we were Protestant) were always about the state of the Church, Evangelism, or Missions in the far flung parts of the world.

Maybe it's because I'm too choleric and verbal about my faith in a phlegmatic world. I am easily saddened at the passivity and negligence paid to spiritual matters in our family gatherings, especially when everyone claims to be Christian. I suspect it's a deep prejudice of all things Catholics. I am still stung as I recall not too long ago when my father-in-law and children accused me, behind my back, that I had brainwashed my wife, Pam, into being Catholic. They have never apologized for coercing my wife into a pastor's study and trying to prevent her from becoming Catholic, while I was out of town on business. They call Pam a saint, but they totally ignore the truth she holds silently within her. That saddens me. Truth cannot be bottled up without serious negative consequences not just in our family, but in those parts of society that my family will grow up to affect and effect. Am I wrong to feel responsible? Some would say yes, and the solution is to ignore it. But I see no logic in ignoring what is morally wrong, inept, and dangerous to culture. While should anyone tolerate what is wrong. They don't tolerate what they see is wrong in me.  I am reminded of the Old Testament Priest Eli's punishment at the hand of God for not disciplining his adult sons. Eli as a high priest, and his sons where priests as well, active in the synagogue and teachings things by example that were morally wrong. Eli said nothing. But God had the final word. (1 Samuel 2:27-36).

Our lives are short. There is much work to be done. Who will do it? Who can sleep long with so much hurt around us, and who can spend their days making fancy deserts, and wrapping birthday presents, and playing at the beach when the world is busting at the seam?

The Blues According to the Gospel - AL JACQUEZ

Al Jacquez Meet one of the acclaimed voices and song writers of Americana Blues and Soul. I guarantee you've never heard anything like this on any Gospel radio station, but you should have. Al has been singing these gospel tunes in some of the smokiest blues and soul clubs from NY to LA. Finally, after years with several bands and labels, and encouragement from guys like me, he's stacked his best on a CD that's only available here and at his live concerts. This album is not even on iTunes. THE BLUES ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL.

Please lick on the link and go this Al's webpage at Nineveh's Crossing and listen to the mp3 samples and read his bio. Then come back here and let us know what you think in the com box.

And please tell your friends. We have to  help this guy sell CDs and make a living, and write some more of this great music. You can sing to it, dance, and cry to them. Remember that name, Al Jacquez. But his CD today. Spread the Word.

1. New Testament Shuffle
   
   


2. Comin' Home
   
   


3. Rubin Stacy
   
   


4. Train is Comin' Closer
   
   


5. How Did I Get Here?
   
   


6. Desperate Measures
   
   


7. Spreadin' the News
   
   


8. Six Days o' Sinnin'
   
   

Images in Catholicism....Idolatry?

Dr. Henry Ede Eze's new book IMAGES IN CATHOLICISM...IDOLATRY? Discourse on the First Commandment with Biblical Citations is now for sale at Nineveh's Crossing.

The book confronts the misunderstanding among some Protestants and other non-Catholics who are still caught up in the iconoclast heresy of the 8th and 9th centuries. You can read more about the book and the table of contents via the above link, or click on the book's image at right.

Well written, easy to read, and concise, the book comes complete with full Biblical citations at the end of each chapter. This will be a valuable addition to any Christian library.

Clicking the image will NOT make you an idolator. Promise. But it may make you more informed about the images used throughout Christianity and their God give purpose.

Attention So Called "Atheists"

As I've posted before, I find "atheism" an irrational concept, especially since those that wear it's badge  claim  they do so because of "reason."

A few days ago on my Moral Premise blog I wrote about Jessica Hagy's INDEXED project, where she uses index cards to symbolize mathematical concepts with Venn Diagrams and Graphs. Occasionally she produces a Venn diagram or graph that touches eloquently on the conflict of values that we use in creating stories, which is what the Moral Premise book is all about. One of her examples is here:

If you search through Ms. Hagy's work on INDEXED, you'll find some diagrams that suggest her religious faith in God or His benevolence has passed through a serious trial and has not been properly explained or redeemed. She's confused about some things. Mathematics is a wonderful discipline, but it still does not answer (as science does not) the "why" of the human condition.   As I posted in the footnote to my other posting:

I call all atheists "wannabes" because logically they have no rational basis for declaring there is no God. To do so, they would have to be omniscient... an attribute assigned to the essence that knows all things perfectly without error or contradiction. You can't claim something does not exist when your knowledge of the universe and reality is microscopically small. I'll accept agnostic, but not declarations. Every human discipline offers only a spec of knowledge of what is potentially possible. Science and theology are no exceptions to this. Some of what was known as universal truth by science 100 years ago, today is bunk... and the thousands of Protestant Christian faiths that all disagree with each other suggests a similar uneasiness. I'm Catholic for a host of reasons, not the least of which the Church does not claim to have all the answers. It has always embraced mystery as a tenet. That there is mystery in the universe/reality,  is what makes stories, in part, work. We are bounded by time and space. Stories working through our imagination allows us to see reality from a perspective that transcends space and time. 

 I wrote that on May 20, and sent the link to Ms. Hagy. Today, May 25, she posted this:

Bless her seeking soul.