Archive for the ‘Christianity in Crisis’ Category

JOHN PAUL II FAILS SAINTHOOD TEST (AGAIN)

Posted on March 6th, 2010 with 5 Comments

NO POSTHUMOUS MIRACLE FROM POPE

VATICAN DELAYS BEATIFICATION

By

Paul L. Williams, Ph.D.


A French nun’s return to illness will delay the canonization of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI placed his predecessor on the fast track for sainthood, and there had been speculation John Paul would be beatified on October 16, the anniversary of his election to the papacy, the Guardian reports. The Vatican has now scheduled the canonization of six saints on October 17, which bars the beatification of his predecessor the day before.

To become a saint requires evidence of posthumous miracles. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre said three years ago she had been relieved of the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease after praying to John Paul, who also suffered from Parkinson’s.

Now, a Polish newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, reports Simon-Pierre symptoms have returned. The newspaper also said her doctor, on his Web site, suggested she did not suffer from Parkinson’s but from a disease with the same symptoms that is known to go into remission.

Vatican sources told the Guardian a panel had been scheduled to meet in April to examine Simon-Pierre’s reported cure.

Other factors may block John Paul II’s path to sainthood. During his reign, the Banco Ambrosiano affair took place – - an affair by which the Vatican Bank with the aid of the international Mafia bilked billions from Italian investors.

The late pope also presided over the plague of pediophilia which drove hundreds of dioceses into bankruptcy and caused massive declines in church attendance and candidates for the priesthood.

John Paul II’s body already has been exhumed for examination by Vatican physicians for rell-tale signs of incorruptibility – - a sure sign of a saint. When the body of John XXIII was exhumed for examination more than a decade ago, the venerable pontif’s nose fell off.

Beatification is a papal decree that permits Catholics to venerate a person after his or her death. It is a preliminary step toward canonization, although it does not guarantee sainthood. Such a decree bestows the title “Blessed” to a departed soul.

To receive beatification, the candidate must perform a post-mortem miracle. Regarding such miracles, Father Peter Gumpel, a member of the Vatican’s saint-making commission,says; “We do not accept any cure as a miracle unless we are scientifically, humanly certain that the cure has been instantaneous, not expected, and complete.”

CONDOMS NOW ON SALE FOR PREPUBESCENT BOYS

Posted on March 4th, 2010 with 3 Comments

SAFE SEX FOR GRADE SCHOOL KIDS

WHY WE ARE GOING TO HELL – PART 10,987

thelastcrusade.org

A new line of tiny condoms go on sale today in Switzerland for 10 to 12 year old boys who want to have safe sex.

The condoms were produced based on Swiss research which showed that pre-pubescent boys are engaging in sexual congress with a multitude of partners.

The Hotshot condoms, which cost $7.00 for a pack of six, have been created by Lamprecht AG, a leading prophylactic firm in Switzerland.

The company has said the United Kingdom would be “top priority” if they expanded abroad, considering that England has the highest teenage and pre-teenage pregnancy rates in Europe.

Nysse Norballe, a spokesman for Lamprecht AG, says: “At the moment we are only producing the Hotshot in Switzerland. But the UK is certainly a very attractive market since there is a very high rate of underage conception. The UK would definitely be top priority if we marketed abroad.”

A standard condom has a diameter of two inches in comparison with the Hotshot’s diameter of 1.7 inches.

The Swiss Aids Federation campaigned to have the tiny Hotshots produced after a number of studies, including the government study researched at the Center for Development and Personality Psychology at Basel University.

Nancy Bodmer, who headed the research, says: “The result that shocked us concerned young boys who display apparently risky behaviour. They have more of a tendency not to protect themselves. They do not have a very developed sexual knowledge. They do not understand the consequences of what they are doing and leave the young girls to take care of the consequences. The results of this study suggest that early prevention makes sense.”

VOODOO PRIEST ANNOUNCES WAR AGAINST EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS

Posted on March 2nd, 2010 with 31 Comments


SATAN ALIVE AND WELL IN HAITI

thelastcrusade.org

Haiti’s supreme Voodoo leader and hundreds of his followers intend to wage “war” upon Christian Evangelicals after they attacked a Voodoo ceremony in which chickens were beheaded to honor the Haitians killed in last month’s massive earthquake.

The attack on the Voodoo ritual within Port-au-Prince’s sprawling Cite Soleil slum came amid rising religious tensions, as Protestant Evangelicals and other denominations vie for converts in the wake of the earthquake that killed more than 200,000.

Some of the converts say they abandoned Voodoo to embrace fundamental Christianity because, they believe, God caused the earthquake to give them a spiritual warning.

“It will be war — open war,” Max Beauvoir, supreme head of Haitian voodoo, announced to the press at his home and temple outside the capital.

“It’s unfortunate that at this moment where everybody’s suffering that they have to go into war. But if that is what they need, I think that is what they’ll get,” Beauvoir said.

The quake also left more than a million homeless and left much of the capital and surrounding areas in ruins in this Caribbean nation of more than nine million.

Police said a Christian pastor urged followers to attack the Cite Soleil ceremony, resulting in a crowd of people throwing rocks at the voodoo followers.

Rosemond Aristide, a police inspector in Cite Soleil, said he had since spoken with the pastor, who agreed to allow voodoo ceremonies to take place there.

But he would not explain why no arrests were made nor provide further details.

Beauvoir accuses the Christian denominations of using post-quake aid supplies such as food and medicine to try to “buy souls.”

“I would like to see each one of them tied up in ropes and thrown in the sea, and I hope the best of them will be able to catch a plane and run away and leave in peace,” the voodoo priest said.

Asked whether he would encourage voodoo followers to respond with the same kind of violence, Beauvoir said he would.

“They have not been aggressors,” he said of his followers. “I think they are aggressed (attacked), and they will have to answer with the same type of aggression. I don’t mean for (Evangelicals) to die. I am not out to kill them.”

More than 50% of Haiti’s population practiced voodoo in some form, though many are thought to also follow other religious beliefs at the same time.

Voodoo evolved out of beliefs slaves from West Africa brought with them to Haiti. It is now deeply rooted in Haitian culture.

A voodoo priest named Boukman has been credited with setting off the country’s slave rebellion in the late 18th century and the creation of the world’s first black republic.

DUTCH CATHOLICS DEMAND COMMUNION FOR PRACTICING GAYS

Posted on March 1st, 2010 with 0 Comments

YES, HOLLAND GOING TO HELL

PROTEST IN THE NETHERLANDS

thelastcrusade.org

Hundreds of people walked out of a Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands Sunday to protest church policy against giving communion to homosexuals, organizers said.

Sunday’s protest at Sint-Jan church in ’s-Hertogenbosch came about one month after a priest in the nearby town of Reusel declined to give communion to a practicing gay man, the BBC reported.

Holy Communion is a sacrament in the Catholic Church, in which communicants partake bread and wine which they believe has been transformed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. By canon law, a priest is forbidden to administer the sacrament to anyone in a state of mortal.

Homosexuality, throughout the ages, has been viewed as a grievous transgression by Catholics and other Christians. This teaching is upheld by the Old and New Testaments. Leviticus states: “You shall not lie with a man as with a woman” (18:22) and prescribes a death penalty for anyone who engages in such acts. In Romans, St. Paul also condemns such acts as “vile” and un-natural” (1: 26-27). Throughout much of Catholic history, sins of this nature were considered so grave that they could only be absolved by a bishop.

But scripture and tradition failed to hold sway in Holland.

After the church in ’s-Hertogenbosch refused to administer communion during mass Sunday, protesters walked out, shouting and singing, the BBC said.

In 2001, Holland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage.

The gay activist who was refused communion in Reusel said he wanted to be treated the same as other Catholic congregants — saying if he is refused communion because he is a sinner, other sinners of all kinds should also be banned from receiving the sacrament.