Planet VibesHazel Full Moon in Aquarius August 10 2014 18:09 GMTThe World is tough, but hope shines always!
A full Moon, one of the Brightest Full Moons of the year, this is the time for the Moon of the Lovers... Lunar orbit is closer to the earth while our souls long for a break from the tough reality we face nowadays. Something inside us pushes us to perceive the bigger picture, the reason why all this is happening. This Full Moon is the an explosion to the roots of this World. This Full Moon is a very important time for Humanity.
War and natural disasters seem to fill the news and this is because this Full Moon is severely hit by earthy and strong Saturn from Scorpio (16th degree). We need to dream of Love and Heavens but it's definitely not easy! Humanity is shocked by brutality because we have yet to understand the meaning of Love, Compassion and Peace.
The weak conjunction of Jupiter who just entered Leo and Venus helps a bit but it's not enough. We just become more thirsty for Love.
Astrology and Magic: Venus in Cancer promotes Peace magic and spells for peace in Family. This Full Moon is a very strong Full Moon to change what needs to be changed and remove bad luck! It is also very very fortunate for Love and Romantic Magic.
ARIES: Your romantic life receives a huge wave of energy. It's not probably the most suitable time to heal every scar that these months left on you. You have to be patient and look for signs. It takes time to make things better. It will get better!
TAURUS: Your home, your roots, your family seem to bother you right now. Do you need a change? Does someone you love need your attention more intensively? This Full Moon seem to demand more of you. Just be careful and everything is going to be ok! Meditate!
GEMINI: The close friends and relatives seem to be a bit disturbed right now. You cannot easily understand their feelings and this seems to cause much anger and frustration to them. Maybe you have to calm down and see what they are going thought. Either way, after this Full Moon your relationships will improve.
CANCER: Expenses seems to gather up round the Full Moon and your pocket needs to breathe! So keep calm during the effect of the Full Moon (from 8th of August till 12th) and things are going to get much better because Venus will enter Leo signifying an improvement in your financial status. Try coping with most of your problems till 8th or after the 12th!
LEO: The cosmic energy is focused directly on you and your will to co-operate with others. It seems like you have troubles making yourself clear to your supervisors, other people in your work environment and the ones you love the most. Try to understand that if you'll relax then more people will see the true part of you. Let yourself shine! Tip! If you are born around 10 of August, this will be a very important year for you!
VIRGO: This Full Moon seem to be pretty fair with you. On one hand we got travels and journeys and on the other hand we got dreams and new projects. During this Full Moon an opportunity may occur so you have to be ready to perceive it and take it!
LIBRA: Your social status is receiving a blast during this Full Moon, a rather fortunate blast if I may. Something is changing, you feel more charming, more smart and more successful! You just have to see all these twice before you make any long-term decisions.
SCORPIO: This Full Moon just clarifies what needs to be done. Let's face it. This demanding period you walk through ends soon and the gifts of Saturn will be fully perceived by the end of 2014. Till then keep calm and enjoy the ride! Meditate, it will help you a lot!
SAGITTARIUS: This is not exactly the hardest time you've been through! On the contrary this Full Moon may cloud a bit your social life but it can bring golden opportunities for you and your life! Please open you eyes and seek for them...
CAPRICORN: Your financial status receives a shock during this Full Moon probably because of the emotional expenses you'll make. It could probably help you if keep in mind that all you need is love and a better plan. Keep track of what you buy and refill your heart with Love and Light!
AQUARIUS: You are definitely the protagonists of this Full Moon. The Light of the Moon shines directly on you and your lives expressing your feelings, your dreams but also your fears. You need to shout out loud for many things but before you do any of these just remember that it would be better to reach for what is truly important for you!
PISCES: Your cosmic awareness seem to trouble you right now probably because all the World is really messed up! You need to calm your emotions and reassure yourself that you do whatever you can to make this world a better place. Dust off your wands... and do magic!
Have a blessed Hazel Full Moon!
Discover, Play, Love!
Credit: new-generation-witch.blogspot.com
Given how important today's Gospel is, it should be much better known. After all, it involves Jesus raising a man from the dead, something which happens extremely rarely, even in the Gospels. It's Luke 7:11-17, the raising of the widow's son:
SOON AFTERWARD HE JOURNEYED TO A CITY CALLED NAIN, AND HIS DISCIPLES AND A LARGE CROWD ACCOMPANIED HIM. AS HE DREW NEAR TO THE GATE OF THE CITY, A MAN WHO HAD DIED WAS BEING CARRIED OUT, THE ONLY SON OF HIS MOTHER, AND SHE WAS A WIDOW. A large crowd from the city was with her.
WHEN THE LORD SAW HER, HE WAS MOVED WITH PITY FOR HER AND SAID TO HER, "DO NOT WEEP." HE STEPPED FORWARD AND TOUCHED THE COFFIN; AT THIS THE BEARERS HALTED, AND HE SAID, "YOUNG MAN, I TELL YOU, ARISE!"
The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, "A great prophet has arisen in our midst," and "God has visited his people." This report about Him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.The Gospel is important for a number of reasons, not least of which is that Jesus "raises the son out of love for the mother". There's an obvious Marian element to this -- given that Jesus has mercy on all of us for the sake of His (and our) Mother -- but I'll get to that tomorrow.
Today, I wanted to contrast the Gospel with the 2007 Keynote Speech given by Laurie Brink, O.P. to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. In it, she talked about Genesis 21, the account of Abraham's concubine Hagar and their son Ishmael, and seemed to suggest that God doesn't care about Hagar (or, apparently, women):
LATER WHEN SARAH SPIES ISHMAEL, THE SON OF HAGAR, PLAYING WITH HER SON, ISAAC, SHE AGAIN INTERCEDES TO ABRAHAM. "DRIVE OUT THAT SLAVE AND HER SON! NO SON OF THAT SLAVE IS GOING TO SHARE THE INHERITANCE WITH MY SON ISAAC!" (GEN 21:9). ABRAHAM IS DISTRESSED - NOT BECAUSE OF HAGAR - BUT BECAUSE OF HIS SON. AGAIN GOD PROMISES THIS CHILD, TOO, SINCE HE IS AN HEIR OF ABRAHAM, WILL BE A GREAT NATION. ABRAHAM SENDS THE TWO OFF INTO THE WILDERNESS OF BEERSHEVA WITH ONLY A SKIN OF WATER AND A BIT OF BREAD. WHEN THE WATER IS GONE, SHE PLACES HER SON UNDER A SHRUB AND WALKS A DISTANCE AWAY, FOR SHE CANNOT BEAR TO WATCH HIM DIE. AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, GOD HEARS THE CHILD'S CRY (NOT THE MOTHER'S?) and provides water in the desert. The text continues, "God was with the boy as he grew up" (Gen 21:17). BUT THE STORY NEVER SAYS THAT GOD WAS WITH HAGAR.
The narrative of Hagar is also a tale of paradox. Hagar may be a member of the household, but she is a slave, an Egyptian slave at that. She is property for the woman in power, Sarah, to abuse and to dispose of. She is sexually exploited by the man of power, Abraham. THE GOD OF ISRAEL IS NOT HER GOD, AND SEES LITTLE NEED TO PROTECT OR CARE FOR HER.The broader context of this statement is even more troubling than the statement itself. Sister Brink is discussing the possibility that women religious might consider "moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus," to become sojourning congregations which are "no longer ecclesiastical," whose "search for the Holy may have begun rooted in Jesus as the Christ, but deep reflection, study and prayer have opened it up to the spirit of the Holy in all of creation." That's "devastating; "and thankfully, it's not the option she ends up advocating for.
"No doubt, Sister Brink and many of the liberal nuns she's speaking to feel betrayed by the Church, and by Jesus Christ Himself. And in the story from Genesis 21, they imagine that God is betraying Hagar. But what struck me was what an incredibly shallow" reading of Genesis 21 this is, and the way that Sister Brink didn't seem to grasp family or motherhood at all, or what it means to care for the less fortunate. I don't mean that to be uncharitable. Just read the passage in its context, and I think you'll see what I mean (Gen. 21:15-18):When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, "I cannot watch the boy die." And as she sat there, she began to sob. God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."So the problems with Sister Brink's reading of this aren't just her willingness to ascribe evil to God, or to suggest that the God of Israel is a parochial God we can move "beyond," but her seeming inability to grasp that a mother might be more concerned for her dying son than herself.
Hagar isn't complaining about dying. She just can't bear to watch her little boy die. So what does God do? He comforts "her" by promising to care for" her son" always. He lets her know that He heard the boy's cries, just as she did, and that even where she can't save the child, He can. To a selfless mother like Hagar, this has to be the greatest possible comfort. And of course, God saves Hagar's life, too.
But Sister Brink is right about one thing: both God and Hagar appear more concerned about Ishmael than Hagar. Is this sexism, as Sister Brink seems to suggest? Or something far holier?
I think we see an obvious answer in today's Gospel. Jesus sees the widow mourning the death of her only son, and He has pity on her. JESUS DOESN'T RAISE THE MAN FOR THE MAN'S OWN SAKE, BUT SO THAT HE CAN TAKE CARE OF HIS MOM.
If Genesis 21 had depicted God saving Hagar in order for her to take care of her son, there's no doubt that we'd hear cries of sexism. But here, Jesus does the exact opposite: saving a man to take care of his mother. Does that mean that Jesus is now sexist "against men"? Of course not. The common thread between Genesis 21 and Luke 7 is that both involve God taking special care of the vulnerable: old widows and young children.
And in the process, He also takes care of the less vulnerable, as well: both the adult son (who is raised from the dead), and Hagar (who is saved from death). Far from Sister Brink's conclusion, we should see in this a powerful statement of God's love and concern for all of us.
Origin: spells-and-chants.blogspot.com
As I have stated before, the time a ritual is performed is not as important as preparing, planning and executing the ritual for maximum benefit and result. There is however, a night of the year that lends itself nicely to the performance of magical operations. That night is "WALPURGISNACHT" or better known in English as "WALPURGIS NIGHT".
For generations "WALPURGISNACHT", which spans from April 30th to May 1st each year, has been celebrated by Witches, Pagans,Satanists and other occult followers. Walpurgisnacht is exactly six months from All Hallow's Eve and marks the beginning of the warmer months leading into Spring and Summer. The celebration of "MAKING IT THROUGH ANOTHER BITTER WINTER" is implied during the festivities.
This holiday holds a special place in my heart due to my genealogy. As you may know, Nacht is German and my bloodline is from Germanic decent. My family still celebrates Walpurgisnacht by making a trip to "BROCKEN" Mountain each year to partake in the festivities.
Brocken is the highest of the "HARZ MOUNTAINS" of north central Germany. It is noted for the phenomenon of the "Brocken Spectre" and for witches' revels which reputedly took place there on Walpurgisnacht. The Brocken Spectre is a magnified shadow of an observer, typically surrounded by rainbow-like bands, thrown onto a bank of cloud in high mountain areas when the sun is low. The phenomenon was first reported on the Brocken.
When I return to Germany to visit family, I always love to hear the stories that originated on the Brocken during Walpurgisnacht. While not as known or popular in the US, there are those from central and eastern European decent that attempt to keep Walpurgisnacht alive by passing the stories and celebration gatherings going through the generations. Our coven associations always plan some events that draw questions from different people; enabling us to explain the Walpurgisnacht meaning and history.
While planning rituals, I like to add some of the emphasis from Walpurgisnacht to the ritual and always sending a demon to watch over the family back in the "old country". This demon will bring great energy to the celebration rituals the family performs in their town. Magic is powerful and exchanging magical blessings with family and other practitioners of the Dark Arts is an important part of my Satanic practice.
I have learned much about magic through family and friends in Europe. I incorporate as much as possible into our rites and rituals to enhance the energy produced and to focus the channeled energy for a greater magical result. If you are not learning, you are surely missing out on tips, techniques and knowledge that could easily be used in your practice. Keep an open mind and always seek to improve your workings.
Related Articles
* Satanic Top 10 List: How to Improve Your Satanic Magic Rituals (satanicmagic.wordpress.com)
* The Free Spirit of Satanism (satanicmagic.wordpress.com)
* The Illusion of Fear (revivalandreformation.wordpress.com)
* Malleus Maleficarum / Witchcraft / Email Spells (satanicmagic.wordpress.com)
D when moves on to observing that; in view of the fact that Freemasons, Boy Scouts and others, clutch whatever thing of a liaison in checking account to their supposed group: this is above all powerful amid jews.Densely I would opposition that the liaison is that strong, but practically that I would say that the unique character of jewish psychology (i.e. individualistic self-centered) amass with Judaism's savage legalism (i.e. a important of arrest strong individualists together by maddening to check or refine associates who plant to blame the group for their own purposes) has created a group that confer on brutally cleave to efficacy of each other and others in view of the fact that at the especially time individualistic precise scared of whatever that is not jewish, which manifests itself in the well-known Freudian mood of expressing comfortable and group elegance over everything and somebody else (or the concepts schmoozing and will in jewish parlance). Plainly in the manner of that frightfulness has been rather dispelled by the to a certain extent urgent prevail to exact power of jews clutch they begun to thorough their eccentricity in ways that are above send on to non-jews. Ergo why above traditional secular and religious jews clutch whichever called on jews to end "'marrying forward" and behaving '"goyische'".D moves on to respect that jews clutch historically; poles apart load other yet "'stateless'"groups, kept in make contact with with jews in other countries even once that make contact with has been in opposition to the interests of their multitude nation-state. A good supporter is afforded by the make contact with concerning jews in Christian and Islamic lands popular the several racially-based wars concerning the two generalised religious confessions (whereas the Western Christians were accord as answerable to produce buds Heart Eastern Christians as they were Muslims). The jews of the West and Heart East provided a ready-made trading diagram that possibly will be second hand to bring spices, silks and other high-value products to the West, which was broken by whichever Christians and Muslims. Likewise jews next provided a political make contact with system whereby Christians and Muslims possibly will enjoy still treaties popular periods of military and worthwhile exhaustion.Sure thing the jews benefited whichever materially and fairly from this tie and once the jews of Spain were homeless in the aftermath of the La Guardia ritual communication collection in 1492: they were given move back and doggedly invited to come to the Ottoman Nation by its Sultan sad his Exilarch/Nasi (the powerful military attach of the jewish community to the Sultan). This going up wealth and influence; as well as their habitual pushiness and animal profligacy, lead to their individualistic disinterestedly and deceitfully targeted for dash by the repeated the population, the clergy, the goodness and even monarchs.One may observe; as Jacob Neusner and Michael Toch clutch done on above than one count, with some wild animals that in irritation of persistent claims to the contrary: the majority of attacks on the jews were perpetrated by the repeated the population and the smooth and convoy members of the clergy, in view of the fact that the stuck-up echelons of the Religious, the goodness and monarchs tended to be the protectors of the jews from the the population practically than instigators of pogroms as Leon Poliakov; amid others, has hunted to swear.In basis anti-jewish action has historically been a impromptu and greater part beast practically than the top down intrigue that Simon Dubnow, Salo Baron and Carey McWilliams have; for supporter, portrayed it as. Nonetheless by that very character the anti-jewish act of violence and action of history tends to be practically chance and short-lived: lone once the interests of the motherland and associates in positions of power and credence (as Benjamin Ginsberg has argued) clutch converged has investigative and lengthy action in opposition to jews and their credence been possible.This is the common sense why; as is so methodically observed by associates seeking to tell not worth it beyond anti-jewish act of violence and action, anti-jewish legislation and action at the justifiable level; such as expulsions, multitude baptisms and trials, plant to come in batches or "beyond clusters'". Bearing in mind as with load gear intellectual and political: action at that level is governed by mode, the confer on to implement and the reaction of the homeland. So once say a ritual communication trial occurred in one state then it tended to foster to other towns in several forms whereby bottomless jewish and/or gentile behaviour is annoyed by the anti-jewish act of violence or action nearby: leading to the foster and persistent escalations of rivalry concerning the parties.Historically such actions plant to be prepared by associates in power stepping in to end the rising become ragged as" great for trade "so-to-speak as the jews were eminent sources of paycheck via lending (which they were very fanatically represented; but not tedious fundamental, in) and a on the house war with best of the local maddening to multiply a powerful minority for their crimes is under the weather conducive to maximising one's property or allowing you to option a movement with a neighbouring meadow over your wife's grandfather's cousin's suspicious sight petition to their locate spasm.This leads us then to the response that the jews were for the most part handy brokers concerning sociable classes, religious confessions and racial groups. In that way pointing to the outlet of D's customary experiment in his passing to recognise that in view of the fact that jews were a arbitrator and had trading networks: they second hand not lone their trading networks but their contacts to their own efficacy and never in the flavor of the nation-state in which they were living in unless it was counterpart or rather amalgamated with their own supposed group and spirit interests. Sure thing we know of belongings of counterpart delicacy concerning evident jewish families and dynasties whereby one family/dynasty was on the go like a log at likelihood with the other: suitably the select to advise on an spirit crucial concerning the jews as a generalised group and as community on the go in their own supposed comfortable interests.I would next concisely allusion that jews clutch not kept in make contact with with all elements of their race and over the days jews clutch lost make contact with with an assortment of outlier elements of the jewish community such as the fed up communities of jews in India, Breakables, Ethiopia and the Caucasian state. That understood the three superior groupings that we see historically; Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizhrahim, clutch kept in order make contact with with each other: whereas they clutch constantly been at likelihood in expressions of their interests and elements of their cultural and religious beliefs.Introduction D makes a bad factual misunderstanding once he asserts that the "'jews clutch continuously been in a minority somewhere ever they clutch lived'", which is a repeated myth bandied about by philo-Semites and associates maddening to be adamant that the jews are "enduring wounded". The vision that jews clutch continuously been in a minority somewhere ever they clutch lived is physically refuted by pointing out that in the White of Judgment it was not uncommon for jews to signify over half (i.e.the majority) of a given settlement and to sprint it for all intents and purposes. One possibly will next ascribe the supporter of the town of Salonika in Greece, which until the Flash World War was over 70 percent jewish in expressions of motherland.Slight a" pained minority'" then historically: are they?I would next add that for best of the Diaspora: jews clutch next had the right to independent status by their own rabbinical launch established to them, which again disrupts D's circumstances as it removes the point of view that the jews were "pained" by the justifiable launch and had no recourse to their own forms of fairness. Sure thing once jews were assorted from; what is constantly called, the Kehilla; or Kahal, diagram in Eastern Europe: they constantly denounced it or tried to bring it down (which was officially whereas not actually achieved in 1844). Sure thing one of the smallest set passages of the Russian on the house war is the war the jewish revolutionaries and" hot Guards'" waged in opposition to the Kehilla diagram and its for the most part Hasidic chains.We can free D the misunderstanding in load respects seeing as it is such a repeated myth whereas I am tempted to reminisce D's own words again that" 'it is must to know whatever thing about the jews' "to the lead by to impertinence and opine about them.In that way once D asserts that jewish events were" leftover devices "he is injury in the rigid mood in that the logic and" testimony "he uses to make clear his charge are not exact, but he is chastise in the customary mood in that jewish behaviour is a leftover direction but not the one he is station of.D does stagnant glowing boom at the respectable conclusion; albeit on rather silly factual knowledge, that once jews impertinence of "leftover "they are not words about the leftover of gentiles, but practically the leftover of the jews.This is best up till now distinguished in Israel's practically diaphanous going up flavor in the augur free by very fed up and localised groups of jewish emigrants (who were mostly cut off from the rest of jewry bare the 19th and 20th centuries) who lived in whichever India and Breakables and sad whom they can use to power for disturb interactions and "shared goal". As a children lady of my education disinterestedly up till now brought to my inconvenience Israeli and American jewry clutch even started writing connection library on how to bring Israel and China; in go bust, nearer together that has been greased by the room of Israel to stopper Breakables otherwise off-limits US military tackle on the separate.It is diminutive unlooked for to associates of us who clutch watched jewry for any significant length of time that they clutch begun casting coarsely for a new" protector" for Israel: given the increasingly traditional existing of anti-Israel and anti-jewish mocking in the Tied States and Europe and their own"'advocacy'" organisations customary failure to curb it by shattering"'anti-Semitism' "and" 'holocaust'" at their top of their lungs. Sure thing as D does not account it is increasingly becoming intellectual open jazz up on philo-Semitic jewish history, Judaism and above emphatically Israel and its finance networks.It has yet to come everyplace shut down the scale of anti-jewish opinion that was predominant from the 1880s to the 1940s, but it is gripping to account that Alan Hart; in his three range "'Zionism: The Straight Assailant of the Jews'", was chastise once he not compulsory that seeing as of Israel's events anti-Semitism and anti-jewish mocking clutch not lone prepared a come back but clutch become a growl gust on the horizon for jews coarsely the world.And this time the jews really clutch called" wolf "too load era..This is confirmable in the fact that D; to his recognition, does make the suitable invent that:"'The two may be slightly evident, and that causes us a lot of tenderness. Having the status of is good for the spirit Jew, or for a group of Jews, may be noxious for our nation. And we must stop for somebody that Jews continuously see themselves as Jews head of state, and lone secondarily as association of anything nation they may belong to. In that way the Jews are seen as continuously individualistic pledge fifth columnists within our society. It is native in who they are. How can you blame someone because that?'"Hip D is for the most part relating us that the fact that jews are instinctively whichever precise inconsiderate and longing with their jewishness to the nimble abstraction of gentiles, which is slightly chastise. He next completely identifies that jews see jewish interests first; whereas I would familiarly chastise D all over in stating that jews see their comfortable spirit interests head of state and if they accord with supposed jewish group interests then all the disturb (as it provides an unobjectionable target for them), and are not emphatically excited in gentile interests unless they accord with their own.This is; of course, completely natural as one want not really think of a donkey to put the interests of its prerequisite head of state unless the interests of the prerequisite accord with associates of the donkey. Hence why best donkeys are ease up and allow themselves to be harmless mounts where-as the few that don't constantly impediment themselves jejune from evolutionary go with seeing as they overlooked the interests of their prerequisite and designed of themselves lost.This is practically because the jews in that they do not physically locate their comfortable interests with associates of gentiles and suitably clutch historically had a tendency to try and "buck"; as they say, and in act out so clutch tended to ultimatum extremely large greater part lack of sympathy in opposition to them and then once they clutch found themselves in a pulled straight stand they clutch tried to entreat to gentiles with supposed power to make public the majority seeing as they can "ease be very upright to them'".Hence practically because a schizophrenic donkey: jews plant to; as a group, alternately try and be the best friends of associates in power in view of the fact that yielding somebody else the evil eye and the occasional sting in the teeth once they dream associates in power aren't looking.In this D tacitly agrees once he points out that jews clutch historically been viewed as a fifth coat in best societies in which they clutch lived and; I rule add, clutch done anticipated what I predetermined senior in that they clutch hunted to profess their "broad conformity" to associates gentiles in positions of power in view of the fact that plunder efficacy of persona else as far as is possible.In some respects you clutch to have a high regard for the jews for it in that they clutch evolved a thoughtful of schizophrenia which important they slap recognize they clutch done vigor injury (as it is continuously numerous personalities or everybody else's bad habit) and at the especially time clutch joyfully done gear which clutch in this area on purpose annoyed outpourings of lack of sympathy, hate and act of violence (sometimes proper and other era not) on the part of the multitude of gentiles in the belief that they are" defensible"," nontoxic" and continuously in the" right" (as Yahweh's" chosen the population").To arrange D's rhetorical question; how can you blame the jews, you plainly can't.
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THERE ARE OVER 600 STORIES AND COMMENTARIES ON THIS BLOG THAT BEGAN NOV 24, 2009. IT IS ADDED TO DAILY.
THE STORY BELOW HAPPENED TO ME ALMOST SIXTY YEARS AGO.
NEIL WYRICK
HE WAS A YOUNG MAN, IN HIS MID-TWENTIES AND NOT LONG OUT OF SEMINARY.
HE RECEIVED A "CALL" TO A MINISTERIAL CHALLENGE, THE STARTING OF A NEW CHURCH. IT WAS WHAT HE HAD ALWAYS WANTED, BUT THE TIMING DIDN'T SEEM QUITE RIGHT.
HE HAD BEEN AT HIS FIRST PASTORATE OUT OF SEMINARY FOR SUCH A VERY SHORT TIME. SO HE PAUSED BEFORE ANSWERING THE LETTER AND PRAYED ABOUT IT.
AND THOUGH HE STILL WANTED TO ACCEPT THE CALL, HE FINALLY SENT A LETTER (SENT IF FIRST CLASS AIR MAIL, THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS DONE BACK IN THE 1950'S) TO THE HOME MISSION COMMISSION TURNING IT DOWN.
OF COURSE, BEING THE KIND OF PERSON HE WAS, HE COULDN'T STOP HIS MIND FROM GOING OVER AND OVER HIS DECISION AND SO HE CONTINUED TO PRAY ABOUT IT. SOON HE FOUND HIMSELF SAYING A STRANGE AND UNNERVING PRAYER, "LORD, IF I GET A SECOND CHANCE AT THIS CALL, I WILL CONSIDER IT MORE CLOSELY."
HE FELT THIS WAS IS A FOOLISH PRAYER, BUT HE HAD TO PRAY IT. IT SEEMED RIGHT TO DO SO. THREE WEEKS LATER, HE RECEIVED A LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE CALL ASKING HIM, "ARE YOU GOING TO COME AND START A NEW CHURCH OR NOT?"
THE COMMISSION HAD NEVER RECEIVED HIS LETTER. THIS WAS HIS SECOND CHANCE. HE TOOK UP THE NEW PASTORAL CHALLENGE OVER 1000 MILES AWAY. GOD HAD HEARD HIS PRAYER AND KNEW HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
A FEW YEARS LATER, HE WAS OFFERED THE JOB OF HEAD OF MEN'S WORK IN HIS DENOMINATION.
IT WAS TEMPTING, HE STILL LOVED A CHALLENGE, BUT ONCE AGAIN HE TOOK IT TO THE LORD IN PRAYER AND ASKED THAT IF IT WAS NOT RIGHT THAT HE KNOW IT. HE TURNED IT DOWN. GOD HAD HEARD HIS PRAYER AND KNEW HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
HE WAS THEN OFFERED THE JOB AS ASSOCIATE EDITOR OF HIS DENOMINATION'S OFFICIAL CHURCH MAGAZINE. HE LOVED TO WRITE. HE LOVED TO EDIT. IT WAS A DREAM JOB COME TRUE, BUT FOR SOME REASON IT DIDN'T SEEM RIGHT AND SO HE PRAYED, "IF IT IS A JOB I SHOULD NOT TAKE, LET ME KNOW IT." AND ONCE AGAIN HE TURNED AN OPPORTUNITY DOWN. GOD HAD HEARD HIS PRAYER AND KNEW HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
IN ANOTHER UNDERTAKING HE DID ALL THE RIGHT THINGS, EVERYTHING WAS FALLING IN PLACE AND SUCCESS WAS CERTAIN. BUT HE HAD MISGIVINGS AND WONDERED IF HE SHOULD SUCCEED IN THIS PARTICULAR MODE OF ACTIVITY, AND SO HE PRAYED, "DEAR LORD, IF IT IS NOT RIGHT FOR ME, LET ME FAIL." AND GOD HEARD HIS PRAYER AND ANSWERED HIS PRAYER AND WHERE IT SEEMED HE COULD NOT FAIL, HE DID. GOD KNEW HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
AND SO HE LEARNED TO PRAY WHAT HE CALLED "FAILURE PRAYERS." FOR THERE WERE TIMES WHEN HE WAS CERTAIN WHAT HE WANTED, BUT NOT CERTAIN HE SHOULD HAVE IT. AND SO HE WOULD PRAY THE PRAYER THAT HAD BECOME A HABIT WITH HIM, "GOD, I HAVE THOUGHT IT THROUGH BUT IF I HAVE REACHED THE WRONG CONCLUSIONS, BRING ME THE BLESSING OF FAILURE RATHER THAN THE CURSE OF SUCCESS."
AND GOD HEARD HIS PRAYERS AND WHERE FAILURE WAS A BLESSING AND SUCCESS WOULD HAVE BEEN A CURSE, GOD TOOK CARE OF HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
HE HAS HAD SEVERE ILLNESSES AND ACCIDENTS AND FINANCIAL REVERSALS AND ALWAYS HE HAS THOUGHT LONG AND HARD, AND PRAYED EVEN LONGER AND HARDER. AND GOD HAS ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF HIS PRESENT AND FUTURE NEEDS.
THE BIG PICTURE...AH YES...ALWAYS THAT...THE BIG PICTURE.
REMEMBER THIS IS A TRUE STORY, AND IF YOU ARE PERHAPS WONDERING HOW I CAN BE SO SURE OF THE TRUTH OF IT ALL, WELL, YOU SEE, I KNOW THE MAN QUITE WELL. VERY WELL, INDEED, BECAUSE YOU SEE, I HAVE BEEN SPEAKING OF MYSELF.
AND, OH YES, IN LOOKING BACK...ALL THOSE OPPORTUNITIES I TURNED DOWN...IN RETROSPECT...THEY WERE THE RIGHT DECISIONS.
EPHESIANS 5, 15-17
"BE WISE"
BE VERY CAREFUL, THEN, HOW YOU LIVE--NOT AS UNWISE BUT AS WISE, MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY, BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL. THEREFORE DO NOT BE FOOLISH, BUT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE LORD'S WILL IS.
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MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE. (THIS BOOK IS ABOUT DEALING POSITIVELY WITH THE CHALLENGES OF GETTING OLDER AND FOSTERS THE BELIEF THAT "IF WE WOULD HAVE NEW KNOWLEDGE, WE MUST GET A WORLD OF NEW QUESTIONS." (SUSANNE K. LANGER)
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A QUOTE BELOW FROM TOMORROW'S ONE A DAY BLOG ENTITLED LIFE; A TRIP ON THE WAY TO A DESINATION
ALL THE TRIUMPH THAT WAS PRESENT AS CHRIST RODE INTO JERUSALEM WENT DOWN THE TUBE AT GOLGOTHA.
IT WASN'T UNTIL THE RESURRECTION THAT THINGS WENT FROM WORSE TO WONDERFUL.
On this anniversary day we would do well to remember who is our enemy? Who did this and why?
The first plane:
The second plane:
The horror:
Some have said that we are in a clash of civilizations. No. This war - and never forget that it is war - is not a clash between civilizations. It is a war between one civilization, the West, and the barbarism called Islamism. It is impossible meaningfully to call al-Qaedaism or Talibanism "civilization."
The Taliban beat and even shot women who went outside their homes without company of their husbands or a close male relative. They flogged or hanged men whose beards were too short. In Saudi Arabia a few years ago, a girls' school caught fire one night and the decency police (yes, they have them in Saudi Arabia) refused to unlock the exits because the girls were not properly veiled. At least 15 girls burned or suffocated to death.
These kinds of things are not anomalies. They are normative. And they are considered by our enemies to be divinely commanded.
Is Islam the enemy? President Obama, speaking today in Shanksville, Pa. said no. As Americans, we will not or ever be at war with Islam."
But before we so quickly and politically-correctly say no, we might consider the words from Mosab Hassan Yousef, "son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founder and leader of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Throughout the last decade, from the second Intifada to the current stalemate, he worked alongside his father in the West Bank. During that time the younger Mr. Yousef also secretly embraced Christianity."
As the son of a Muslim cleric, he says he had reached the conclusion that terrorism can't be defeated without a new understanding of Islam. Here he echoes other defectors from Islam such as the former Dutch parliamentarian and writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Do you consider your father a fanatic? "He's not a fanatic," says Mr. Yousef. "He's a very moderate, logical person. What matters is not whether my father is a fanatic or not, he's doing the will of a fanatic God. It doesn't matter if he's a terrorist or a traditional Muslim. At the end of the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic, fundamentalist, terrorist God. I know this is harsh to say. Most governments avoid this subject. They don't want to admit this is an ideological war.
"The problem is not in Muslims," he continues. "The problem is with their God. They need to be liberated from their God. He is their biggest enemy. It has been 1,400 years they have been lied to."However, it really does not matter much whether Islam, "per se", is the enemy. The fact is that Islam as a whole is not controlled or much influenced by (mythical?) moderate Muslims. The radicals are driving Islam's train and controlling Islam's agenda. To talk about some golden age of Islam, as if there was a caliphate where everything was unicorns and rainbows, is not relevant in the 21st century.
Islam is what Muslims do. And today Muslims are either trying to kills us, Islamize us, supporting those who are trying to or they are acquiescing to it. Professor Bala Ambati, writing in Duke University's "Chronicle" newspaper, in 2003, put it this way:
Religions are defined not only by ideals but by realities, not just by their deepest and most beautiful insights, but by their adherents' behavior.... When moderate Muslims state terrorist attacks are disconnected from Islam, they ignore the reality that Islamic fundamentalist imperialists act in the name of Islam and Muslims, claiming "true Islam's" mantle from conspicuously absent moderates.... Until the realization that theocracies cannot be democracies dawns throughout the Islamic world, saying terrorism is disconnected from Islam is a smokescreen employed to abdicate responsibility to face reality....
Moderate Muslims must choose whether to let megalomaniacs, liars, misogynists and murderers hijack societies and religion and pilot them into destruction's abyss. Sidelines are not moral high ground. Unequivocally repudiating and forswearing terrorist methods and imperialist aims of Islamic fundamentalism by moderate Muslims is overdue.Note that he said "seven years ago" that it was "overdue" for moderates Muslims to seize control of the definition of Islam. This moderates have not only failed to do, they have "not even tried" to.
It may be that 900 million Muslims around the world want to live entirely in peace with the West and wish al Qaeda "et. al." would go away. It does not matter what they want. It only matters what they do. And they are doing nothing. So for all intents and purposes, there are no moderate Muslims.
Islam, whether promulgated by "moderates" or extremists, is "inherently" supremacist, absolutist and triumphalist. Moderate Muslims desire for Islam, "qua "Islam, are insignificantly different from extremists' goals, who merely add militarism and imperialism to the "modus operandi". Their ideological wellspring is the Muslim Brotherhood and its financial deep pockets are in Saudi Arabia, whose own Wahhabist ideology is not significantly distinguishable from the Muslim Brotherhood's.
So what that only a tiny percentage of Muslims are violent against the US or the West! Even if only one percent of Muslims in the world want personally to carry out violence against the us, that's still 12 million potential jihadists. And if they are supported by merely 10 percent of Muslims, it means 120 million will help them. And the rest will let it happen and occasionally cluck-cluck that, of course, the killers are not practicing "true Islam."
So to say, "We are not at war with Islam" is to utter nothing meaningful. It does not matter whether we think that. For Islam, as it is being defined today, is certainly at war with us.
UPDATE: I see now that Walter Russell Mead and I are on the same sheet of music. And he makes a good point, one that I should have recognized myself: there are moderate Muslims in the world making a difference (though practically none of them are in the West). The moderate Muslims who matter are killing al Qaeda and its ilk in Muslim lands.
Sunni Iraqis took a long hard look at Al-Qaeda. They watched bombs go off in marketplaces and mosques. They watched reprisal killings of respected tribal elders and innocents. They watched undisciplined groups of fighters, freed from all moral and social restraint, innocent for the most part of any serious religious knowledge, imposed narrow and poorly conceived ideas on society by force in the name of an Islam Al-Qaeda neither understood nor respected.
And the Sunni Arabs of Iraq made a choice.
They saw Al-Qaeda at its best - volunteer freedom fighters come from around the world to fight for them - and they saw America at its worst, incompetent, insensitive, vacillating and violent.
And they chose the United States.
They decided that the future of their families, their children and their values was better served by aligning with the United States against the terrorists and against the fanatics....
But as we look back on the nine years since 9/11, one thing needs to kept clearly in view. The more the world's Muslims see of Al-Qaeda and its agenda of indiscriminate murder, the less they like it.And many of them are doing something about it. But you'd never know it from reading or watching American media.
UPDATE: OTOH, Clifford May says that the Islamists actually are winning.
UPDATE: And this from former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy:
"Moderate Islam" is a dream, not a reality. It is a dream with potential -- because there are millions of Muslims who are moderate people, and because there are dedicated Muslims working to transform their faith into something that is institutionally moderate.
But they work against great odds. They confront Islamists whose dedication to theocratic principles is deeply and undeniably rooted in Islamic scripture. And they confront American opinion elites who, wittingly or not, serve as the lifeline of the Islamists.Indeed.
Source: theartofastralprojection.blogspot.com
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Really? You didn't absolute to work sentiments equivalent that out in your 20's?
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As if the world would be add sugar to if Crowleyanity was the widespread religion. It apparently wouldn't even be in the region of at all.
Credit: pagan-wiccan.blogspot.com
