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Reasons I Don’t Go To Church.

I recently read an article on 13 reasons people stopped attending church. Whereas I found some of the reasons silly, some were reasons that I could understand. Believe it or not, one reason was that they stopped giving out donuts at bible camp. That’s an extreme example of silly. Excluding the ridiculous, let’s look at some more understandable reasons and why they must be rethought.


1- My job requires working weekends, and I have stopped going or taking children.

Did you go regularly before your job prevented you from going to church? Was it important to you? Was it important to take your children? I could be wrong, but I assume the answer to all 3 of these questions is no. If you answered yes to all three questions, you would have found a way to go to church or to at least make sure your children are attending. I know most people don’t want to hear the truth; it’s easier to fall back on an excuse when something is not that important to your life and sadly you believe not that important for your children.

What were your reasons for attending church before your job, even if it wasn’t regularly? Did you feel something, or was it out of habit because your parents took you as a child? Something was taking you to church. The sad thing is that no matter your reason for going, it wasn’t the right reason. Jesus founded the Holy Catholic Church (the first and only true Christian church) for one reason:
For your salvation! Jesus came into the world for your salvation. He told you what to do and how to live your life. He told you the two greatest commandments. Matthew 22:36
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If you believe in the first greatest commandment going to church is where to show God, you love him by witnessing the sacrifice of Jesus in the bread and wine and consuming it as the body and blood. Jesus said to do this in memory of him. This is the greatest way of showing God you love him. If you don’t believe in the Eucharist, then God has very little room in your heart, and the church has little meaning for you.

The second greatest commandment is also something you must exercise at church. It’s the best place to show God you love your neighbor by praying for them and asking God to bless them. It’s the place you can pray for that neighbor you know gossips, that neighbor that likes to show off their expensive material things, or that neighbor you know is having an affair. When Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, ” he wasn’t talking about the people you like. He was talking about the people you find yourself judging. Is there any better place to pray for the people you judge than at church? It’s also the place these same people might be praying for you.
If you are using your job as an excuse not to go to church, you are showing God that you don’t love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind and that you can only judge your neighbor, not love them.

The remaining reasons will be continued in future post.
Reason #2- The people going to church are hypocrites.

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Jesus warned us. Why aren’t we listening?

Jesus said, “For many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and deceive many.” Matthew 24:5. What do you think He was talking about? Have there been people calling themselves Jesus Christ? Unless they’re lunatic’s, probably not. So, what was he referring to when He said, “many will come in my name”?

Answering that question is easy. First contemplate how many Christians are in the world today? When I researched this question, I didn’t find a definitive number, but there are anywhere from 2 – 2.6 billion. The Christians being deceived today is approximately 1.2 billion. Would you consider that number many? Of course! That’s a staggering amount. Jesus knew what he was talking about. The people deceiving many are the people that have strayed from the one true church founded by Jesus Christ. These people use Christ name to start new churches. Today in the world there are over 38,000 denominational churches and many more non-denominational churches opening every day.

First, I want to back up to the reason I’m writing this blog post. I recently read an article on the internet: “Why I went back to church.” The man writing the article told his life story. Starting with going to Catholic school as a child. He stated that he didn’t like all the rules Catholic school imposed on his life and he considered going to mass boring. He went on to Catholic high school which reenforced his beliefs that Catholicism was a religion of stupid useless rules that had no place in his life, and he’d rather be an atheist than practice the catholic religion. Then this man went to college where he says he met a professor in ethic’s class that made him think about God and Jesus. He and his wife were both atheists, but he decided to give church a try after being invited by a relative to attend a church service. He said he liked the message the pastor gave and told how he learned that Jesus was all about love and that there were no rules as long as you love Jesus. After a time, he and his wife joined the church, and they lived happily ever after.

This article was deceiving to say the least. It was obvious to me the only reason this article was published was to purposefully bash the Catholic church and not to endorse any change in his beliefs and why he went to a non-Catholic church. It had nothing to do with the title of the article. The article never even gave the name of the church he says he’s now attending. Why would that be? You would think that he would want to tell people where the church is that turned him and his wife away from atheism.

Being Roman Catholic, it always frustrates and bewilders me as to why other Christian denominations speak terribly of the Catholic church. Yet I rarely hear the Catholic clergy, or the faithful speak bad of other Christian denominations. Maybe it’s because Catholic’s understand them much better than they understand Catholicism. The lack of understanding and fear is usually the reason for distain and hatred.

I’ll tell you that even though I was born Catholic I never truly knew my faith. (Not unlike many Catholics). I received the sacraments of Baptism, Communion & Conformation, but didn’t understand the importance of these sacraments. The reasons given to me at a young age were vague and without substance. Mom and Dad told me this is what I needed to do, and I did it and there was always some kind of celebration afterwards.

I also strayed away from the Catholic church, had people invite me to other churches. I never felt comfortable in those churches, but I would listen to pastors of televised churches. The main message of these other churches and pastors were to try and make you believe Jesus is all you need. They will tell you, about the prosperity and that you never have to worry about going to hell, as long as you tell Jesus your sorry and you love him. Tithe to the church, love Jesus and your life will be wonderful.

They make it sound easy which is the first deception. Thier main tool is the bible. They decipher the bible 38,000 ways to make up 38,000 denominations and that doesn’t count the non-denominational churches. Which interpretation is right? Can they all be right? Of course, not. Each analogy of the bible is another deception. They will tell you that the Catholic church is a bunch of manmade rules, and that the bible is all you need to learn about Jesus.

Most of the people that put bible scripture above all else don’t even know where the bible came from or when it was first introduced. Did you know:

1- If not for the Catholic church there would be no bible. It was the gathering of ancient text and gospels by the Catholic church that provided the text for the first bible.

2- The bible was first published 400 years after the conception of the one true church, foundered by Jesus Christ.

3=The apostle Peter was the first pope of the Catholic church.

4- According to Jesus the Catholic Church (the rock) can never be destroyed. “Upon this rock I will build my church and hell will never prevail against it.” Mathew 16:18. It is the only Christian church that has prevailed for more than 2,000 years.

5- All other Christian denominations were started by men who manipulated bible text to start their own church, using the name of Jesus. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Smith and 37,997 more

6-Because Jesus founded the first church, and the bible was first introduced by the Catholic church other Christian churches are the deceivers Jesus spoke about and indeed there are many.

If you never noticed, the Catholic church is the only Christian church that has an altar. Other denominations have only a podium. The Alter is the place where at each mass the bread and wine are turned into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of the Catholic faith and the one thing many Catholics and non-Catholics don’t fully grasp. This is what Jesus told us to do in memory of him at the last supper. The Eucharist is the great blessing Jesus gave the world. It is the only way to true salvation. (And don’t be deceived, it’s not easy) The rules of the Catholic church are there to teach us how to honor the Eucharist and to have the Eucharist be the way to our salvation. There is no other way and the 38,000+ churches that tell you different are deceptive and preventing you from true salvation.

I found out about the wonders of the Catholic faith later in my life: The Virgin Mary, the rosary, the saints, and the confirmed miracles, etc. I will be sharing more post about the Catholic faith in the future, but for now just know that everything in Catholicism is based on the Body and Blood of Christ and that when you believe the consumption of the Eucharist is God’s body and blood entering your sanctified body for your salvation all the rest will make total sense.

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To Fear or Not to Fear that is the Question

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog. My entries are meant to inspire or to be thought-provoking. However, it’s been hard to stay optimistic since March of 2020, when the virus started to change our lives. My last blog talked about how the virus brought our country together amid a great political divide. Anyone with open eyes and ears could see the odd yet refreshing comradery for a short period, as it turned out. It was less than a month later, the familiar hatred and disdain within people escalated to a level that I’ve never seen in my adult life. The things people say on social media are past hurtful and bordered on evil. I’ve heard it said the truth hurts, and it can, but the truth’s pain usually ends with a lesson learned. The hurtful rhetoric that we’ve been witnessing was not the truth, and I don’t care what side of the aisle you are on; who could segregate what was true and false. I don’t mean to say you can’t find the truth, but who has the time to do the research, especially when the truth is obscured by people that professionally manipulate the truth. The non-stop stories spuing out of the media and social media were 90% lies or exaggerations, in my opinion (based on my limited research). If you heard the truth, you most likely questioned it or denounced it unless favorable to your side.
This blog’s point has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with how fear controls us. When the virus was first identified, it was unknown how deadly it was. Everyone was afraid, even the doctors and scientists whose diagnosis was dire, expecting 2.2 million in the United States to die from the pandemic in the first few months. The magnitude of fear throughout the world came from an unknown virus that no one knew how to control. When we first needed to shop for supplies, how scary it was to be around people in stores. I also recall my wife spraying everything and everyone with Lysol before entering our home. Yes, this unknown fear of the virus that no one had a handle on made politicians work together. We all saw it if you were paying attention.
After a few weeks, we realized that not all people were vulnerable to the virus, and it seemed to affect the elderly and unhealthy. That’s when hate and disdain returned with a vengeance. The virus the doctors and scientists previously didn’t know how to control was now controllable. The fear subsided significantly in the people that control the masses. However, these same people saw a political advantage by keeping the masses in fear. Shutdowns of entire cities and states came quickly across the country. I don’t think it was supposed to hurt the people and businesses as it did and still is. The stimulus money was supposed to help those in need and prevent an economic depression. As we know, now it wasn’t restaurants and businesses that were the spreaders of the virus. The shutdowns were optical to keep us in fear. How’s it possible Walmart is exempt from people being able to contract the virus, but a small mom and pop grocery store needed to shut down. The fear of the masses was and still is being controlled by the people that can benefit from keeping us in fear. It wasn’t just the politicians trying to win the Presidency of the United States. The world’s largest companies profited during the pandemic while small businesses are still trying to survive.
I am not saying the virus was bullshit because people died and are still dying. Wash your hands, social distance, and wear a mask, are reasonable request that would not impose unwarranted fear. Shutdowns of schools, churches, and small businesses imposed unnecessary fear and created needless anxiety that further divided the people. The shutdowns amplified the disdain and hatred among the masses. Hate can only exist if love is removed and if controlled fear present. In this case, they took away our love of freedom by shutting us down and kept us in fear by lying to us about the virus. I’m sure you all have seen the numbers of people dying from the virus. People are dying from the virus itself, but tens of thousands of other people die from overdoses, domestic violence, suicides, etc. These deaths are classified in hospitals as the cause of death due to Covid-19. Not all the numbers you hear about people dying are dying from the virus, but it helps to maintain the fear with higher numbers to report. One other point I’d like to make here is, the initial fear of the virus brought us together, even if for only a short period. It was the control of fear that separated us. Know the difference between the fear being imposed on you. If it’s spuing hate, you’re controlled by others.
So what fear are they tapping into that is controlling the masses? Death and mortality have worked to control the masses for thousands of years. Two thousand years ago, the Romans crucified people along the main road so that all entering the city lived in fear of possible death if they didn’t do as told by the Empire. Using death as a fear to control us hasn’t changed over the years. I never realized until the pandemic how many people are afraid of dying. Many people are so scared of dying; they are no longer live a free happy life. We fear death because it’s an unknown, but it’s a natural response to fear the unknown. Our 80+/- years of life is a spec of sand in the sands of eternity. Our life is our greatest gift from God, and we should want to live a long full life, but death is inevitable, and to fear it is futile. I have read stories of people that looked death in the face, and as a result, they no longer fear it, and in some cases, they took up activities like mountain climbing or hang gliding because after their revelation they realized death is not the end.
By Bob Laurie – boblaurieauthor.com

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The Miracle of Change

I have heard it said, “There are two things in life that everyone must do; pay taxes and die.” There’s no disputing this but, there is something else we all must do. “Change.”  We all must encounter life-changing events that ultimately change us and society.

Most of us can think back to 911 and know that life for us changed in one way or another since that terrible day. It turned how we see other people, how we manage our finances, how we choose our words, how we take transportation. It affected everyone.

If you look back on history, it wasn’t only 911 that changed us; it was other events also like the Civil war, World Wars I & II, stock market crash, and many other events. The bad things will change us quickly and dramatically, whereas good changes (I’ll call them good changes for now) can change us slowly without the pain of sudden upheaval.  These changes are innovative, Electricity, radio, television, air conditioning, computers, etc. These innovations have changed our lives forever.

There are some people living today that lived through the good and bad events I mentioned (well maybe not the civil war) and lived to an amazing age that each of us hopes to get too. The changes didn’t kill them, but most would tell you it changed them. Before air conditioning, people assembled in their neighborhoods on a hot summer’s night, now all you hear is the hum of air conditions. Before computer games, kids played sports outside regularly. Today it’s rare to find kids playing outside.

How many events do you remember in your life that changed you and society? If you are under 18 today, you probably don’t remember many dramatic changes, but you are about to encounter one of the most significant life-changing events of anyone’s lifetime; the Coronavirus or Covid-19. This worldwide calamity will change lives forever. I’m not sure what long-lasting changes will occur, but I believe things like shaking hands or a kiss on the cheek will be a thing of the past.

I contemplated my dramatic life changes, and what I realized is encouraging.

Bad things dramatically change our lives, like war and economic disaster, but usually have a good long-range outcome like a better society through unity. However, the so-called good changes that make us comfortable and happy can have an adverse long-term effect.

I know what you’re thinking; What the hell is he talking about?

Electricity is a wonderful invention, and it would be hard to imagine a world without it. However, it allowed for air conditioning that isolated neighbors, and it allowed for television that would further isolate us and then computers and social media that became the ultimate reason for isolation.  In the last decade, isolation changed society and not in a good way.  We’ve all witnessed the divide among people of this nation and the world. I say that as a baby boomer. There are no more shades of gray when others express their views, and there are no more compromises when people don’t agree. People have closed their ears to dialog if it doesn’t fall in line with their thinking. The thing I found most disturbing was the nonstop hurtful and mean rhetoric expanded to our family and friends.

Then came Covid -19.

While living amid Covid-19, I see fantastic change taking place. Government figures that rarely had anything good to say about each other are now complementing the efforts each is making to overcome the covid-19 virus. I see people going out of their way to unite with others by quarantining themselves to keep everyone safe. This is amazing and reassuring that the supreme being of the universe is in control. I want people to get the message about our Almighty Creator, who has many names by many religions. The Creator and the maintainer of the universe. As shown in many

 events all through history, the Creator forced dramatic change on us, but this time the Creator separated us so we can unite.

Many people are frightened today for themselves and their loved ones.  We don’t know how or when the pandemic will end, but it will. Take this time to find your inner peace and soften your heart. We all need each other all the time and not just in a dramatic life-changing event.  Don’t condemn others for their ideals but find a way to communicate and find common ground. If we can do this, then the changes that Covid -19 brought us had a purpose and the world will be a better place for years to come,

For the Love of God

When I was about 10 or 12 years of age, I remember lying in bed one hot summer night,(before we had an AC) and calculated in my head how old I would be at the turn of the century. The thought of being 45 scared me. I laid in bed suddenly terrified that I would die one day. I assume now that this was my first thought about my death. When my fear was too overwhelming to deal with, I started crying and hurried to the living room downstairs to plead to my mom and dad who were watching television. “I don’t want to die,” I said. They looked at me and then smiled. “What makes you think you are going to die?” I explained to them that I would grow old and die one day. I don’t remember what they said exactly, but it was something like. “That is a really long time from now, you have your whole life to live.” That’s all I remember, and I guess they put my mind at ease and I went back to bed. I never feared death or my own demise since, except for when loved ones died and I am reminded of my own mortality.

Looking back on my life I can remember doing careless and stupid things that could have caused my death, but when I was young, I considered myself invincible. I think a lot of people under 30 doppress. It’s not until we pass the mid-point of our lives that we start contemplating when, how and why we will succumb to the grim reaper.

I can tell you now that my mom and dad were lying to me when they said my death would be a very long time from then. Looking back it wasn’t that long ago, in fact, I have come to realize that our lives are but a fleeting moment in time. Now that I have fewer years in front of me than behind I think about what is important and how I want to live the rest of my life.

I’ve seen people die ahead of their time. Some succumbed to illness and others seem to self-destruct but what was always evident was that these people had family that loved them. Why do people die unexpectedly? I’m not referring to a person that lived to an elderly age, I’m talking about a women 30 years old that had a lot to live for, I’m talking about a child that dies of cancer, or most recently a relative that just retired learning soon after that his life will be cut short.

In all my life I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone give a good enough reason for these things that happen. We are asked to believe in a God that allows these tragedies. How can we, when such unthinkable things happen to our loved ones? We become mad at God for the unfairness of life and disbelieve God is love. How can he be and still let these things happen?

Bad things happen to good people every day, all you have to do is put on the news to see that people are suffering and dying without justification. Does this mean we are living in a world without God? Some choose to believe there is no God while others decide to latch onto faith, believing there is a divine plan that we don’t understand.

No one can prove the existence of God, but who can deny there is love. Starting as a baby with the love of my parents that fed me, played with me, taught me and stayed with me when I was sick. Later they supported me and celebrated with me when I accomplished my goals. Then I fell in love and got married, had babies I love my family more than my own life.

Is the love we experience in our lives a biological, chemical effect or is it a spirit within us reaching out in love that brings us Joy, peace, strength, and happiness. It’s hard to imagine a world without love when you think of love as a spirit that is a part of us all, (if we want it).

We can overcome extraordinary and hard circumstances with the love of family. It becomes harder for me not to give this spirit of love a name. God.

The Love of Family

The family has gone through some changes over the decades and without giving up my age I can tell you I’ve witnessed some of the apparent changes. I’m not going to tell you that families are worse off today than fifty years ago, because who am I to make such a claim? However, statistics of the census bureau show a decline in many areas of what was called a traditional family such as the percentage of children living in families with two parents. The number dropped 19% from 1960 thru 2016, and the decline continues.

If you grew up with two loving parents, you know what it is to have a traditional family and if you are like me, there are fond memories attached. There are also those that grew up with two parents, but there was a lack of love and even sometimes abuse. When I was thirteen back in the sixties, there was this pretty girl, named Debbie that lived a few blocks away from my home. I would often see her coming home from school and would walk with her. I told her about events I had with my family, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and vacations. She never talked about her family except for once when she said she hated her dad and wanted to run away. I asked her why but she didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t understand hating a parent and wondered what he could have done to make her have such ill feelings toward him. When I asked about her Mom, she said she was sick, but wouldn’t elaborate. She had a pleasant personality, and I liked talking to her, but I soon realized that it was best not to talk about her family because her beautiful smile would instantly disappear. I walked with her often and even contemplated asking her out but never got up the nerve. We were friends, and I wanted to keep it that way. I didn’t see her over summer break even though I tried to walk by her house in hopes she was outside and also tried to knock on her door a few times. I went through the whole summer not seeing her and was excited to see her again when the new school year started. The first day of school was chaotic with hundreds of kids trying to get acclimated to their new classes. Debbie told me her teacher and homeroom class before leaving for summer break, so before heading to my new homeroom, I ran to see if I could see her. I stood outside her classroom waiting as long as I could to see her before having to go to class myself. The end of the day I waited outside school but never saw Debbie.

It didn’t make sense to me that she would miss the first day of school, but I was hopeful I would see her tomorrow. Walking home I saw a girlfriend of Debbie and asked if she had seen her. The girl’s sighed with tears in her eyes. Then she told me that Debbie committed suicide a month ago.

There have been some painful events in my life that made me contemplate what is important. This is one of the earliest life lessons I can remember. I thought about Debbie’s unhappy home life that she didn’t want to discuss and how I should have tried harder to know her pain but as much as Debbie’s death devastated me, there was a part of me that felt blessed to have a loving family.

I still have a heavy heart when I think about Debbie. I wonder why some children are born into a loving family and others are born to dysfunctional parents and never know the way family is supposed to be. They’re deprived of the love that is needed to have a happy childhood. All families have issues of some kind or skeletons in the closet, but when there is love within a home, there is always someone to help overcome adversity.

So what is a family? It all starts with two people falling in love, a bond that results in marriage and then children. Yes, this is the way God intended it, and when people bring children into the world through casual sex and have children out of wedlock, there is rarely love involved, and the child suffers a deprived childhood, and the lack of love creates a void that they spend the remainder of their lives trying to fill. The children that can’t accept their loveless life can sadly windup like Debbie.