Best commercial ever! Totally made my day.

The Devil

One person's imagined idea of the devil

In contrast to many imaginative writings, Catholic Church doctrine actually has little to say about the devil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church simply quotes the teaching of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215:

“The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: ‘The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.’”

 

This brief statement affirms two things: (1) Satan was created by God. He is not an evil force equal to God, but one of God’s creatures. (2) Satan was created good. By his own free choice he turned to evil. He was not created evil by God.

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Devils are not given names in Scripture. The word “satan” is a Hebrew noun that means an adversary, tester, accuser. It was translated into Greek as “diabolos” which essentially means the same thing. “Diabolos” was translated into English as “devil.”

Source: The Little Black Book

CATHOLIC Video Stories

Pope Benedict XVI discuses the new media and its application for evangelization.

CATHOLIC Video Stories

A Brief History of the Basilica of St. John Lateran – Rome

Basilica of St. John Lateran

HISTORY – The stations church for the First Sunday of Lent is the Basilica of St. John the Lateran. The church is named for the Lateran family who donated the property on which the basilica stands.

The Holy Father is the Bishop of Rome, and the Basilica of St. John the Lateran is his cathedral. An inscription near the entrance proclaims the church as the “Mother and head of all churches in the city and the world.”

 

Inside view of the church

Adjacent to the basilica is the Lateran Palace, which was the residence of the popes prior to their moving to the Vatican in 1377, The original building dated from the 4th century and the present one to the 1600′s.

Along the nave of the basilica are gigantic statues of the 12 apostles, which were created by the noted Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

 

It was in the Basilica of St. John Lateran the St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi received approval got their religious orders from Pope Innocent III, who was pope from 1198-1216.

Saint Thomas Aquinas on Islam, Shahbaz Bhatti’s Funeral, and the Social Kingship of Christ…

Saint Thomas Aquinas on Islam, Shahbaz Bhatti’s Funeral, and the Social Kingship of Christ…

Mar 08, 2011 01:01 am

Rome never looked better...

By TITO EDWARDS | Thomas Aquinas on Islam – Brad Birzer, Catholic Vote Fatima is a Private Revelation – Mark P. Shea, Catholic and Enjoying It! 1965 texts and 2010 texts for the Mass – Father Tim Finigan, The Hermeneutic of Continuity The Other Jesus(es) – Robert Royal, The Catholic Thing LifeSiteNews Defamation? – Steve Wetherbe, The Daily Register The Social …

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HOW ARE INCOME AND INCOME TAXES DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED STATES?

Listed below are some facts that should clear-up some of the misinformation that is promulgated by the mainstream media. Now that we are at war again on the Hill it is hard to know what is truth and  what is not.

These are the unvarnished facts!

HOW ARE INCOME AND INCOME TAXES DISTRIBUTED IN THE UNITED STATES? The Internal Revenue Service recently released some data on the distribution of income and income taxes for tax years 1986 – 2007 and here’s what the data shows.

Tax Payers	% of Total Adjusted Gross Income in 2007	% of Total Taxes Paid in 2007	% of Total Adjusted Gross Income in 1986	% of Total Taxes Paid in 1986
Top 1%	22.8%	40.4%	11.3%	25.8%
Top 5%	37.4	60.6	24.1	42.6
Top 1%	22.8%	40.4%	11.3%	25.8%
Top 1%	22.8%	40.4%	11.3%	25.8%
Top 5%	37.4	60.6	24.1	42.6
Top 10%	48.1	71.2	35.1	54.7
Top 25%	68.7	86.6	59.0	76.0

Source:  IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin, Winter 2010

 

Comparing 1986 to 2007, here are some observations.

First, “the rich” are increasing their share of the country’s total income. For example, from 1986 to 2007, the top 5 % of taxpayers increased their share of the total income of all taxpayers from 24.1 % to 37.4 %.

Second, the rich are paying a growing share of the country’s total income taxes. For example, from 1986 to 2007, the top 5 % of taxpayers increased their share of the country’s total income taxes paid from 42.6 % to 60.6 %.

Third, the rich pay a proportionately higher percentage of their income in taxes. For example, in 2007, the top 5 % of taxpayers accounted for 37.4 % of the total income and they paid 60.6 % of the country’s total income taxes. By contrast, the bottom 50 % of all taxpayers accounted for 12.2 % of the total income and they paid 3.0 % of the country’s total income taxes.

The bottom line:  With the budget problems the US is currently facing, expect both Republicans and Democrats to finesse these types of numbers and try to use them to their advantage to bolster their position on how to solve our problems.

What Is the Longest You Ever Went Without Sleep?

Forsyth, GA

55 Chevy Coupe

I believe the time was August 9^th, 1956 when I pulled this irresponsible stunt. It is memorable because it culminated in a car accident which shocked my life to its very core. In those days I worked two jobs, a day shift, 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., and owl shift 11:00 P.M. until we balanced. That could be as long as 7 or 8 A.M., and then I had to go to the Armory in downtown LA to manage a Tank Batallion of the Caliifornia National Guard, as an Administrative, Maintenence & Supply Technician. On my bank job I was a clerk who balanced the work of 6-8 IBM machine operators which sorted checks for 48 banks at a time.

It was not uncommon to go without sleep for 24 hours. But this fateful night I went Thursday, and Friday with no sleep, worked in my gas station on Saturday, and since I didn’t need to get to the bank until eleven on Sunday, I could sleep most of the day. Since, Saturday was my birthday I went out to party with some buddies in Whittier after cleaning myself of all that greece, which I hated. Naturally, I had had plenty to drink, and I was running on fumes by that point, about 60 hours.

What happened to me was not in my conscious person because I apparently blacked out or fell asleep, and crashed into a car that had stopped for some reason. I woke up in a cell with a hangover and was told to get ready to go to a hearing.

Meanwhile, I had to find an attorney, come up $500 dollars, because that is what a first offense DUI cost in California at that time. Fortunately, I had both the money and an attorney, otherwise, I would have been locked-up. I didn’t hurt anybody, but I did total my brand new car, a pink & grey 55 Chevy (modal pictures above), that I had just paid off. Since, I was driving under the influence , so, the insurance company refused to pay for my car, but they had to pay for the other car I ran into.

I was lucky I didn’t get fired, and recovery was just a matter of keeping my nose to the grindstone for about six months. Just looking at this sorry bunch of words, reminds me how really stupid I was at 20. And, it wasn’t easy come easy go, the money came with plenty of sweat and tears. I certainly didn’t tell anyone at that time the whole story.

What Gets Better With Age?

At first blush Cheese gets better with age. Naturally, it has to be taken care of properly, stored at the right temperature, and it does require a certain amount of care to see to it that is gets better with age. The truth is that humans should get better with age.

Like the cheese though, we humans need to do a lot of things well in order to achieve this aspiration. First and foremost we need to eat properly, exercise regularly, and most important of all, we have to do everything in moderation. With more than 60% of US society being over-weight, it is pretty clear that “moderation” went out the window.

Exercise is acknowledged by everyone to be essential and beneficial for a healthy vibrant body. We all, me included, are lazy and neglect our health and well being by failing  to do what is so well understood and recommended by doctors, coaches, and even the government setup exercise incentives to get people off their couches, and into the gym’s of our town’s and cities.

Proper eating is just as hard as exercise, but eating too much fat, sugar, and carbs from white flour are just like poison to our systems. It is just as easy to kill ourselves with a knife and a fork as it is to take some form of drug, alcohol, or other addictive substance, without doing it in moderation. It is a constant for all of us to be vigilant when it comes to eating. Today, I just had my A1C tested, and it was too high.

I know why it was too high. I didn’t exercise enough the last 90 days. I ate too much sugar free ice cream! I violated the moderation thing. I ate too many saltine crackers, too much bread and pasta. Had several pizzas, all of which I added in to a usually well moderated diet. For me these excesses are more harmful to me, because I am a type II diabetic. If I want to stay around and not go blind or suffer some other horrible consequence of being undisciplined, I have to resume moderation, discipline.

So with out further belaboring of the issue, to get better with age, and we will, if we eat properly, exercise regularly, don’t abuse alcoholic beverages, and become successful at moderation and discipline of all of our habits!

That’s how we will also improve our failing memories with age. I recently read a medical study which reported that we old folks need to throw our crossword puzzle books away, and walk 20 minutes, once or twice a day, and that effort will increase our brain’s memory capacity by 1.5% in a year. Keep sitting on the couch, and you do so at your own peril. The study did not mention Alzeimer’s disease, as I believe some of that is hereditary but who knows? Exercise can’t hurt, and we know it improves lots of things.

Do You Know Your Hidden Talent?

In my case it was never something I’d ever thought about before my church decided to create name tags for each one of the people who had a special ministry in the parish. We all took a brief test  with a special  company online. Talk about profit, these folks were at the top of their game selling our pastor this service!

We went an did what we were told, just like good sheep.

Shortly thereafter I was told that I had five unique “Signature Themes:”

1. Input
2. Strategic
3. Achiever
4. Woo
5. Ideation

The fact that I had been self-employed for more than a quarter century had left me out of the loop when it came to modern test techniques. Our parish scheduled a special meeting of all the people that were tested, and administration prepared a magnetic badge with our name, ministry, and the “Signature Themes,” on a 3×4 ½ white card-insert that we were to wear at all of our functions in the church.

First of all, we were all meeting in a lunchroom of the school, and those of us that knew one another were  all curious about what each of us had listed on our badges. The presenter for the morning was from the company that made-up the tests that we all took. She explained the five names I posted above, along with another list of some length.

After the two hour meeting was over, we all milled around, ate lunch, and joked about our new identity badge that we were supposed to wear to church. As it turned out there were a great deal of similarities between my friends which I ended up knowing and associating with on the various committees. So, much to my disbelief in such tests, the proof was right in front of my nose. My entrepreneur status for many years was also seen on other people who had exhibited leadership and initiative in the church affairs that I had already experienced first hand. We never really learned what this was supposed to accomplish.

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” someone once said. But, true to my instincts the wearing of the badges quickly ceased, and it is now an ornament in one of my dresser drawers. Frankly, I can’t see where it did much of anything. It certainly was no badge of honor! As it turned out it was “much ado about nothing.”

Nevertheless, I was to reaffirm my hidden talents through this bizarre exercise, and we all had a good laugh about the futility of the whole process; not to mention the wasteful expense.

FACT: In 1857 the Capitol was the largest church in the United States!

Image via Wikipedia

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011
By Charlie Courtois

This is a U-Tube presentation which speaks of the Christian work of our first two president’s, Washington, and Thomas Jefferson (the least spiritual, christian of the two). The first US Bible was printed and paid for by the US government, and it was duly recommended by the US government for the schools and to the peopleof our land.

Knowledge can provide impetus for everyone to re-think what the truth about our government the first 100 years of its existence truely was. This video takes the veil off the untruths be ing told by people who want to take prayer and God out of our schools, and why is that?

 

Enjoy this well articulated history lesson, A U.S. Capitol Tour, by David Barton. It may just turn your head and your heart in a new direction. Listen to the Christian history of our government.

 

 

 

 

 

A U-Tube presentation, by David Barton,