Stuff Like This Gets In My Craw

I just learned about something that really made me mad. A priest that I respected dearly got let go from his parish recently. The reason was that the head parish priest wanted to give the REST of the staff a raise and NOT the assistant priest they FIRED. This was a MAN OF GOD. Someone who knew the Word, and someone who knew how to preach. He is now preaching positions where other parish priests are taking vacations and the such. Did they give him any type of severance? I don't know. In any sense, this is JUST NOT RIGHT. He has a wife to think of as well. This church will not last long if they keep on doing stuff like this. We once attended this parish, and at one time they did do things in an ethical way. They had better change their ways, or they will begin to lose members. Kyrie Eleison...

ErikC

Lent

It's that time of year, and my wife and I have decided to not use foul language. Usually, that is not a problem with me, but with "Obama the Magnificent" in office I find it very difficult to use regular language. With all of the bailouts and "steal-from-us" packages that he has, it is just plain difficult to not use hard language. He expects to spend money, and then cut the deficit in half in two years... Hmmm.... don't see it, Vern.... Unless he's using that fallacious adage: "You've got to spend money to make money..." I literally had to see if I had enough refills on my blood pressure medication! So far, so good. I haven't said anything bad, and I haven't used God's name in vain. I had to repent for some bad thoughts, but other than that, that's it. Pray for me, that I don't lose my cool.

ErikC

Something to lift my spirits

Well, y'all,

There's something that I have come to know, and that is: you can't outgive God, you can't outdo God, and you can't outthink God. Here's one for the recordbooks. I'll give y'all a little bit of background before I tell the story. About two weeks ago, my wife Wanda had some moles removed from her back. This was in part to my urging because one of them had changed color. Anyway, one of the three is indeed a cancerous melanoma; the type of melanoma that metastasizes. Needless to say, I freaked out. The others were benign. If that were not bad enough news, she does not have health insurance.
My daughter-in-law has found out that she has a lump under one of her breasts that is the size of a tennis ball. They are going to go in on Monday to either take a biopsy, or to take what they can if it is bad.
Yesterday, I was working in a big funk. I was just trying to work just not to think about anything. One of the people at work with whom knows about my wife asked how I was doing. I told her about my daughter-in-law. She relayed a situation of a person in her church(I work in a christian bookstore) where sometimes a person may have to walk through the fire for awhile before God heals. I know about that, and that is a distinct posibility. BUT, the story is not over.
My birthday is Monday(2/9), and I am not expecting anything past the blessing from the pastor on Sunday. I walked into the house, and I see a box from Christian Book Distributors opened.... I see a set of Charles Spurgeon's Sermons!!!!! I was crying.... I tell ya, the story is not over. My wife had told my on the phone that there were two boxes in the apartment office that I had to get. Well, I went to get them, and my wife and I went out to dinner for my birthday early, and brought the boxes along with us. She opened the boxes to get the invoices so she could see what was in them. She told me that she did NOT send these two! When she saw the name on it, it was my brother! Now, my brother usually doesn't do stuff like this. It was very interesting. It was around $300.00 worth of stuff. Martin Luther's Sermons, Charles Hodge's Systematic Theology, and Torrey's The Fundamentals. I was aghast. My cup had runneth over. I could not look through them, because I had school reading to do. Needless to say, I am this weekend! Praise be to God!

Erik

An Interesting thing Happened at Work...

A young gentleman wanted to buy a bible, and I showed him one; but he had an ulterior motive. He was showing me places where it told of a baptism in the name of Jesus only. In a kind way, I reminded him that Jesus gave the Great Commission, saying, "Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." He kept trying to convince me of his side, and that there was a baptism of the Holy Spirit, which I do believe in, and he did not have to convince me. He went back to the issue of water baptism and baptism in the name of Jesus only(there are two Oneness Pentecostal Churches near where I work). Again, I told him about the Great Commission. He got sarcastic, and said to find somewhere in the scripture that had baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, EXCEPT for where I showed him. At that moment, we were putting out our merchandise that the warehouse had sent us, and I was busy. I told him that I would love to debate this with him, but right now is not the right time. I also told him that I loved him as a christian brother, but that I needed to go. He was searching for a fight, and for affirmation, not for a christian brother to talk to. Needless to say, it was interesting.

Erik

Haven't Been Around Lately...

Sorry about not being around lately... School has had me working non-stop. I had to do a History Research Paper on St. Augustine's Anti-Manichean Writings. He wrote extensively on this heresy, since he was once a Manichean. I will not go into what Manichaeism is, because that will take a long time to explain. If you want to know, you can Google it!!! :-) Anyway, I have had numerous papers to write, and also had to study for finals. Now that the semester is over, I can now breathe! I don't go back until 1/20/2009. I am coming down to the final part of my "stay" at University of St. Thomas, and I am a better person because of it. God has seen fit to let me pursue a degree in Theology while also letting me enjoy my classes in history. I am grateful to God for His grace and loving-kindness, for which I am ever grateful.

Erik

Barack Obama is a Communist

Why such a "in-your-face" title? Well, first of all, it's true. Think about it, my friends. The talk about "Redistribution of wealth" reminds me of a famous (or infamous; depending on your point of view) book that was written quite a while back. I'm leaving a link, and I'll let your brain do the assumptions:

http://www.amazon.com/Communist-Manifesto-Complete-Published-Prefaces/dp/1599869950/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224195099&sr=1-3

Also, Obama talks about everybody getting access to health care. I think that this sounds like Socialized Medicine. This is also a Marxist/Socialist ideal. He wants to tax people who make $250K a year and higher. These are the people that employ people. If these people get taxed, then they will have no choice but to fire employees because they will not be able to afford to pay said employees.

Let's talk about his affiliations: He is friends with William Ayers, a known domestic terrorist. Obama mentions that he is just an English professor at the University of Chicago. Unless one gets saved with the help of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, terrorists do NOT changes their stripes. Ayers was known to have said that he wish he could have done more bombing in his Weather Underground days.

Another affiliation goes without saying: Jeremiah Wright. He is a white-hating BIGOT. Anyone who says "God D*** America" does not deserve to be in the pulpit. You might as well call him a Black Muslim. He deals in the Liberation Theology, which endorses violence to help the poor and down-trodden. This also is linked with Socialism/Marxism. If you look at Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista Movement in Nicaragua, the Liberation Theology Movement was very big there. No doubt about it. He also has been acquainted with Louis Farrakhan, though not as much as Wright. Farrakhan has a sordid reputation, and has been a leader of the Nation of Islam.

To me, the evidence is clear. Anyone who votes for Obama wants to be in a country where a person will have to stand in line for food; a place where a person who was a diligent worker before the election will be making the same as a person who lived off of welfare before the election. Anyway, that is the way I see it. I just hope and pray that my brothers and sisters in Christ don't throw their votes away.

Erik

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer

After services today, our Assistant Rector, Fr. Craig Heenan, was starting the inquirer's class. The topic was the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and I had to sit in. He went through the history of how Thomas Cranmer wrote the first Book of Common Prayer, and that he had a knack for it. This was also around the time of Henry the VIII, Bloody Mary, and Elizabeth I. One of the points that Fr. Craig forgot to mention what was referred to as the "Vestiarian Controversy." Elizabeth demanded that all clergy wear their vestments. There were some that didn't because they did not feel it necessary to do so. The clergy with this viewpoint were called "Puritans." Yup, you guessed it right; these are the ones whom went to the New World in search of religious freedom. I found it interesting that Thomas Cranmer was one of these! Fr. Craig told me that he went out of the country to get married and also to get away from the persecution of Elizabeth. It was an interesting time discussing the history of the 1662 Prayer Book. I sure do enjoy delving into the history of our faith.

Erik