A growing number of recent immigrants from India, Burma, Mexico and elsewhere are choosing to begin their American journey by living and working with the Amish as construction laborers and in farm jobs all over rural Allen County, All churches have the responsibility to welcome and serve these new families who are strangers in a strange land.

Our Reform Church feels a strong calling to partner with the literally hundreds of other Allen County church communities and especially with the incredibly generous and supportive local Amish to demonstrate how sincerely we want to welcome, nurture and support these important new neighbors who are working so hard to find a place for themselves and their families by choosing to live near and among us.

I just received permission from our church fellowship to seek an abandoned or unused church or school building in Northeast Allen County.

Once we find an appropriate building, We will somehow find a way to beg, borrow, lease, purchase or restore this old building as a school and learning center.

We need a flexible multi-use room that will serve both as a classroom space and a 24 hour community resource center. We'll use the building ourselves for our occasional study groups but more importantly would like to open our doors to the growing rural immigrant communities to use for their English classes.

We believe this answer's Christ's call to nurture the strangers among us, and to welcome them into our communities.

We have decided to make this effort our guiding mission for the foreseeable future, and thus provide tangible evidence of our community wide support for immigrants and other new families who decide to begin their American journey by living and working with us here in Allen County, Indiana. All are welcome here. We worship at home - we don't build churches, we build schools.

Our first free school and community center will be a test bed for simple, low cost free community resources that help bridge the gap between rural communities and the incredible resource that is 24 hour access to the worldwide web with a bit of skilled help if you need it.

We will also install a nice big open wi-fi hotspot that will give high-speed internet access using the same technologies that are installed in all well equipped public libraries as a community resource. This technology has now dropped in price that a system that cost the Fort Wayne Public Library downtown $6000 five years ago now routinely sell used for under $100, or new for less than $500 including support and installation. We can afford that.

We envision a modest building equipped as a schoolroom but also serving as a year round climate controlled warming or cooling center open to the public at all times.

We plan to provide two or three good internet high speed computer workstations for free use by anyone with a even remotely legitimate purpose.

An emergency and non emergency phone system will be permanently installed and will be available for free use by all who need to use the phone. This may be of great value locally as the Amish are completely dependent on sometimes unreliable cellular phones - while ours will be hardwired in for 100% reliable emergency phone access.

So anyway - our plans are beginning to take shape. This isn't actually a very complicated thing to build - just a few clean comfortable rooms and some nice big doors that will always be open to anyone who would like to visit for any reason at all.

One of history's greatest minds, on the subject of warfare.

Wanted - Submerged 15 passenger vans for restoration by the handicapped through our church, then to be gifted to small charities or rural churches.

The Health Care Crisis - A Patriots Perspective

Thoughts on the Current Health Care Crisis - Submitted by a friend of the family who prefers to remain anonymous:

The house, led by republicans, voted 54 times to repeal the ACA while President Obama was in office. 54 f'ing times and yet the only thing that's clear now that they control the congress, senate, and the white house is the enormity of their corruption and allegiance to insurance companies and medical facilities. They are whore's of the status quo and traitors to this country.

While they enjoy the best health care that my money can buy, they continue to work feverishly to deny the same for the incredible shrinking working class. I'm not a religious person but this is pure evil.

What I can't understand is why there isn't rioting in the streets! It appears to be warranted. These ass hats don't represent those they conned into electing them.

How many people need to die?
How many people need to suffer?
How many people need to choose medicine over food?
How many people need to go bankrupt?

We're the richest g** damn country on the planet and yet we deny this to all? Bulls**t!

I can hear it now. Get a job. Make something of yourself. Don't be a bum. Get your health insurance like I do. I have news for you. Every single one of you - EVERY ONE - depends on the collective effort of this society. Every one of you are who you are because you're standing on societies foundation and for no other reason.

Did you build a road?
Did you build a hospital?
Did you build a university?
Did you grow your food?
Did you build your own home?
Did you build your car?
Did you create our banking system?
Did you create the military?
...

No. Our collective society did. Quit this caste system NOW. Enough is enough.

For those who are 'challenged' by my tone and words, be forewarned that I'm just getting warmed up. Unfollow me. Unfriend me.

My position is firm.

Submitted and republished with permission of author.  All comments will be forwarded.  

We want to express our sincere thanks for these important thoughts.

Basic Income - The Time is Now

I am a university-trained economist and social theorist, have an adequate knowledge of history and monetary policy, and do my best to recognize watershed moments and trends in the part of human history that is 'right now'.

Is it possible, or perhaps even likely, that the wealthy few have gathered so many resources into their swollen 'baskets' of ownership, land-fealty and licensed/copyrighted domains that there is simply no real money left for the rest of us to spend?

"Please Sir, May I have some More?"

History teaches us this:  In a world of serfs, of abject poverty, one small potato field is a literal fortune - to a common man.

Today, automation is displacing us by the millions, soon to be billions, from productive work. Sadly, as these machines cost substantial money, only those with liquid capital can buy these mechanical slaves - and only they reap the profits.

Something must change - something must break - something must 'give'. And I do mean, literally give. Only by creating a world culture of compassion, sharing and equality will we be able to pass through this upheaval without violence, unrest, world war or a precipitous return to Colonial-era levels of social injustice and inequality.

Can just this once, this time, the human race make necessary social and economic shifts without rivers of blood in the streets?

I read a lot about the "sharing economy", but are we as a species really able to share wealth in a meaningful way?

There is hope.  Each decade, fewer people are starving, more people are living a humane and decent life.  Is it possible we have finally evolved further than Romans and Slaves, than Masters and Servants, than Romanoffs and Serfs?

If not, I weep for our children, and their children's children. We are either entering the darkest period of human history, or perhaps - just Maybe, the beginning of the brightest future mankind has ever known.

Ask yourself this question:  Rich or poor - are you willing to Give?

Please Listen to this Music While Visiting This Church/Seminary Online if you Can

Saint Joseph Seminary Home Page

Saint Joseph Free Catholic Seminary

2816 Palisade Drive

Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46806-5323

(260) 297-0535

"First Century Christianity in the Twenty-First Century"

Mission Statement:  To deliver a high-quality, theologically sound alternative to traditional Roman Catholic ordination.  

About our Faith:

We believe that every home is a sacred place, every table is an altar, and every meal shared in the spirit of truth and fellowship is a holy sacrament.

We actively participate in the faiths we were born with.   "Faith of my Father, Holy Faith" is interpreted literally - so you can be a Buddhist Catholic, a Methodist Catholic, a Jewish Catholic.  We do not condemn sinners, ourselves or other people of other beliefs (or no belief at all)  

We believe the word "reality" and the word "God" are the same word.  If God is infinite, everything is part of God.  God (reality) does not punish - God is...  that infinite presence that occurs in countless seemingly separate parts.

We actively cultivate a relationship to Jesus the Man and Jesus the Rabbi. 

We are not an alternative to traditional Roman Catholicism, we are part of the Catholic collective of all living souls on earth.

The Four Rights of Membership:

1. The right to feel welcome.
2. The right to meaningful relationships.
3. The right to meaningful work.
4. The right to have a place to return - a church "home".

Does God learn, delight in the chaos of constant change, or is he a static and all-knowing being?

Lesson Title:  Does God Learn From the Chaotic and Constant Changes Within Infinitely ever-expanding and changing Reality?

Do you ever ask if anything can delight or surprise God?

Change is the only consistent thing that we experience as we walk through each moment of our infinite existence.  Here is a thought: What will today's 20 year olds experience when they no longer can lug a large enough cellphone to see the screen?

Constant Change is Apparent in All of Reality, thus as God is Reality, God must evolve, and constantly change.

At this time in the history of our species we simply pray that people in their 20s will be allowed to live that long.  The 6th extinction that was rather fully described in the last part of both Catholic and the King James Bible appears to be occurring, with the likely death of most life on this beautiful shining blue planet floating in space so far and so alone as the only place in the universe we can actually survive within God's ever expanding infinite universe.

You see, the speed of expansion of the universe is so rapid, you would need to exceed the one limit that even Reality can never cross - the speed of light, and it would still take hundreds or thousands of centuries for any object to reach the nearest Star, which has no planets in any habitable zone.

The death of our environment is the greatest consequence life has ever faced on this planet since early bombardments of asteroids turned the entire surface into molten rock countless billions of years ago.

Let us Proceed in Faith:

Do you believe God knows all that was, is and ever will be, or does he evolve and learn and grow as we do?

Rabbis like Jesus referred to the experience of knowing God as "haMakom" - the awareness that God present in all that exists, Seeking the truth is to seek ha Makom:  "the Place" - the place where you are living at this and in every moment.  The awareness of this place is to experience a fullness of unity with God's will.

During the time of Jesus' practice of 1st century Judaism, the word God and the word for Reality were the same word.

If God is infinite, isn't it therefore true that virtually everything that exists is part of God? The 1st century Rabbis would say God, Reality is "the whole manifest in an infinite number of parts." 

 Jesus the Rabbi taught this - as it is apparent Jesus of Nazareth both practiced and was recognized as a Rabbi in the Jewish faith of the first century. 

Throughout Jesus' life and unto his death, he would have taught that Reality Which We Call God and he would have called in Hebrew/Aramaic Jehovah ("All That Is"), is not an abstraction or old man to be encountered after death, God is another way to express a simple thought:  all that exists.

The mission therefore of faith is to teach us to accept and embrace the tiny piece of the puzzle of God's reality that we are.  The illusion is separateness from the whole. This is what it means to be created in the "image of God."  We Catholics believe there is a tiny bit of the infinite within all human beings - what we call the Holy Spirit.

Jesus practiced and taught an early Jewish faith that believed God's image was reflected in every plant, every stone, every star in the sky.  Again, the illusion is separation, one from another, and thus separation from the living ever-changing and evolving image of Reality that is God's infinite presence at all moments in time and place.

Generally, common sense would indicate God/Reality changes constantly - why else would evolution and change exist?

Jesus practiced and taught the traditional Jewish faith throughout his life (it is always key to remember that Jesus' Last Supper was a Jewish Sacramental meal).  Jesus both lived and died as a Jew of his time and place.  He struck down the old laws, but followed and respected his culture and traditions throughout his life and prophesied death.

The reform Catholic Theology generally believes that to ignore the necessity to respect the old rules while establishing new traditions is to invite grievous errors of judgement, faith and action.

 

What do the Georgia Guidestones really mean?

The Georgia Guidestones.

Wikipedia:

The Georgia Guidestones take the form of "10 Commandments".

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

The Georgia Guidestones are assembled into a monolithic granite monument erected in 1980 in Elbert County, Georgia, in the United States. A set of 10 guidelines is inscribed on the structure in eight modern languages, and a shorter message is inscribed at the top of the structure in four ancient language scripts: Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The monument stands at the highest point in Elbert County, about 90 miles (140 km) east of Atlanta, 45 miles (72 km) from Athens, and 9 miles (14 km) north of the center of Elberton. One slab stands in the center, with four arranged around it. A capstone lies on top of the five slabs, which are astronomically aligned. An additional stone tablet, which is set in the ground a short distance to the west of the structure, provides some notes on the history and purpose of the Guidestones. The structure is sometimes referred to as an "American Stonehenge".^[1] The monument is 19 feet 3 inches (5.87 m) tall, made from six granite slabs weighing 237,746 pounds (107,840 kg) in all.^[2] The designer and meaning of the Guidestones are unknown, leading to speculation and conspiracy theory.

New York times Book Review:  Book Review - The Sixth Extinction.

Our small assembly had a lively discussion of these monuments and their English inscriptions the other day at our Sacramental dinner table.

Our conclusion is that they are most likely a Prophetic communication to Mankind, are a genuine "Message From God" and represent a brand new set of commandments for the inevitable coming environmental apocalypse.

Are you aware that Professor Stephen Hawking believes that for several, if not 10s of thousands of years, the only habitable places in our solar system will be sustainable colonies on either the moon or Mars?

Are you aware that the chemical, biological and environmental tipping point that will cause a near total extinction of all life on Earth is viewed by many of the world's most renowned scientists as having occurred sometime between 1917 and 1930?  After that time the eventual die off of 90+ percent of all life on earth was both certain and inevitable.  The only variable from that point forward was the speed and date of that happening.

The longest any scientist who understands our atmosphere and climate would predict oxygen dependent life on earth would survive is about 2300 years.  After that date the slow but steady pace of oxygen depletion will make lighting a fire with out outside sources of oxygen impossible.  2300 years is merely a few seconds of the Earth's geological timeline, and only a tiny fraction of the 200,000 or so years homo sapiens has existed.

Are you aware that for any oxygen breathing creature, cellular survival depends on the tiny "fires" to use oxygen to convert stored food energy into a useable form.  Life itself is a tiny fire within everything that moves.

Are you aware that all of this has caused by the voracious consumption of natural resources into profit, and the unbelievable growth of human population?

We discussed these things at length, Googled for a few hours, and met to discuss what this means to the human species.

We decided that as we humans had failed to honor God's earliest command - to use our God-given dominion over the earth and all living things to was to nurture and preserve for our children and "their children's children".  To fail to honor that command was apparently a serious error, and God/Reality will respond with truly Biblical wrath.

We decided that the Guidestones ring out as the truth and knowledge intended to lift any human survivors into a 100,000 years of wiser decisions.

Basically, in 10,000 years or so, returning humans will find these stones - and thus learn God's commandments that represent a path for rebuilding our species in a rational way that WILL HONOR GOD'S ORIGINAL PURPOSE IN GIVING US INTELLIGENT DOMINION OVER THIS PLANET.

So, within 30 to perhaps 200 years, it will happen.

Here is what we believe God has sent to us - an inspired or perhaps even a Divine message.  We feel it is likely that the anonymous person who paid for the creation and installation of this monument is likely just a shy Prophet no different  Isaiah or John the Baptist.

He, like so many Old Testament prophets, was called to  avoid taking credit for inspirational truth - and tries to let God's truth sing out without judgement, the pressure of conformity or assignment to any type of faith or cultural imperative.

What can those of us alive right now do?

Our assembly simply believes that we are called to read them, ponder them, discuss them and then encourage anyone aware of these new commandments to decide for yourself what they represent.  

We also pray for our species, all that will be lost on this beautiful blue marble floating in space, and beg God/Reality's eventual restoration of some form of habitat for oxygen based species on this planet.

It sounds a bit depressing, but it is simply the truth.  So here is what is inscribed on these massive granite stones in 8 modern and 4 ancient languages carved so deeply into the hardest granite that they will last 10,000 years:.

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

We would encourage you to leave a comment please.

A First Century Church in the Twenty-First Century

New Hope at home Seminary and education programs, Inc.

Lesson One - What is a First-Century Church?

A first century church is a faith that tries to interpret Jesus' life and actions - and seeks the meaning and real messages in life from the reality of each moment of our lives.



We are the Voice and we serve that Voice.  We have messages for specific people - if you feel the call, contact us.

Jesus Christ never expressed his desire to create a written history.  Jesus instead called on his followers to 'carry' his message.


The truth we all seek is not written - it is written in the fabric of our days.  The truth calls to us from today...  always today.

Reality and God are the same word.  In speech and in action, we follow the path upon which we are placed.

God's glory can be messy, it can be cruel, it can be terrible to live through.  Some do not live - but the illusion is death.

Click Here to Learn How and Maybe Find Your Message

We help when we can - we try to be as Jesus was, the "Perfect Stranger".  Help people!  That is the path.  Help and be merry!


Yours in Christ,

Was Jesus Divine?

  Lesson title -

Was Jesus More Divine Than Other People?

Of course, as Catholics, our Sacred Traditions and culture dictate that we believe in Christ's divinity.  We are fortunate that way.

The big question that then follows is, "Was Jesus Christ more divine than everyone else?"

Both traditional Gospels and especially the Nag Hammadi Gospels both seem to leave this critical question unanswered.  Nowhere does Jesus say, "I'm better than you are."  Oh, he claimed divinity 100% and often - but he then seemed to proffer this same divinity to all mankind.

His path of discipleship to Apostleship is thick with references to them acquiring His divine powers.  He specifically granted miracle-working authority to his Apostles after his resurrection. 

A Perspective on Jesus as a Jew

Lesson Title:  Didn't Jesus Always Wear a Hat?


Dear Students,

I find myself returning to this short article time and again.  Please read and contemplate this important work describing the implications of Jesus' Judaic heritage.

http://www.moshereiss.org/christianity/03_hillel/03_hillel.htm

As you are aware, the Reform Catholic Church believes that our lives of Apostolic Faith should be consistent with Jesus' walk of life as much as possible.

Since Jesus discarded the old laws in one of his Gospels (although he did not disrespect or avoid them in his own life), we as Catholics do not need to follow the old Jewish culture regarding dietary restrictions, etc.  We do find it interesting and informative that Jesus followed these rules, and we do respect the role of sacrifice and fasting in our spiritual lives.

I call this picture, "Jesus as a Jew".  The real title is "Christ and Saint Mary Magdalen at the tomb."  The original painting is by Rembrandt.

As you read in the article, Jesus as a 1st-century Jewish Rabbi would have always worn a hat or other headcovering in public.

It is interesting to me how rare paintings or sculptures of Jesus wearing a traditional yarmulke or other head covering are in Christian art.  One might presume this was quite intentional and "hatless Jesus" was a dictate of the powerful church authorities who both censored (and indeed, sponsored) most significant art from the dark ages through the early Renaissance.

Yours in Christ,

Prayer for Matthew Storm Victims

Prayer to Saint Rita for the people experiencing Hurricane Matthew.

Saint Rita of Cascia, Wikipedia

For victims of the storm:

Oh Holy Patroness of those in need; Saint Rita

Whose pleadings to the Divine Lord are almost irresistible

Who for your generosity in granting favors is called the

 'Advocate of the Hopeless and Even of the Impossible'

All who come to you knowing they will receive if not relief, at least comfort.

Look with favor upon our petition

Be generous with us, as you have in so many wonderful cases.

For the Greater Glory of God

For the spreading of thine own devotion

And the comfort of We who come to You

Amen.








If you want to learn about Saint Medard, the Catholic Saint of Storms, CLICK HERE.

Church Theology Thought Stream

The Theology and Foundational principals of the Reform Catholic Church:

We are relatively new.  The Church was initially formed in 2014.  Currently our faith has two deacons (a word we teach is synonymous with 'Rabbi'), and two or three active members.

We make a dedicated and active effort to follow Christ's call to Apostleship.  We study and choose to follow the known works and words of Jesus Christ - but we study and interpret the Bible and Sacred Texts in private, and only speak of them from memory and in an oral tradition.

We believe the Gospel is only the living word of God if it is expressed orally in parable and as a sacred tradition.

We believe Jesus called all of his students to be Apostles, and actively invited all mankind to join him as a Savior.  He conferred upon all active Apostles the gift of miracle working - a gift which we all share as our heritage in faith.

We believe that fully realized Apostles a sprinkled through history and live among us.  The common label within Catholicism for these miraculous people is "Saints".

We accept Christ's mandate in the Nag Hammadi Gospels to not build churches, but instead to hold sacred every dwelling, no matter how humble or grand.  "Every table an altar, every meal a Sacrament, every word of truth, love and kindness a part of God's infinite purpose.

We believe in one God Almighty in honor of the Sacred Traditions of our families and culture.  We believe in God Almighty, in the Holy Spirit within all creation, and in the words, actions and deeds of Jesus of Nazareth - the prophesied Savior promised in Old Testament (Torah) ancient Judaic texts.

We believe Jesus was a practicing Rabbi, and thus study and embrace the theology of first century Judaism.  The Pirke Avot (Wisdom of the Jewish Sages) is our primary historic source for this knowledge.

We are Pantheistic - We believe that if God is infinite than every single thing in reality is part of the infinite revealed in countless parts.  The separateness of one from another is an illusion - through our own personal Holy Spirit we all contain the infinite within ourselves.

We believe that the word "God" and the word "Reality" are the same word.

We believe every table is an altar, every home is a church, and every gathering is sacred.  We express our faith through words and actions.

We are establishing an oral tradition - we do not use the written word to create and share God's gospels and our faith.

We incorporate the contemporary Bible into our historical foundations, but we believe the word of God is woven into our daily lives, and that living word is the law and the truth as espoused by Jesus.

We fully incorporate the Nag Hammadi Gospels and modern sources like Gandhi and Martin Luther King into what we preach - which is the 3rd testament, a testament that is both taught and spoken but not recorded in text form.  We are still undecided about whether our oral traditions should be recorded and saved - but for now we are purely a faith of oral Gospel, apostleship and action.

A First Century Church in the Twenty-First Century

Jesus Christ never desired a written history, he called on his followers to 'carry' his message, not to write everything down and make a book out of it.

If you recall, in one of Christ's Gospels he said out loud he was here to void the old laws.  The Reform Catholic Church interprets Christ's words literally and interprets this statement as an admonition against the use of written texts to carry the Gospel and history of God's words.
Instead the congregation and ministry of the Reform Church carries the word as an oral tradition - freely interpreting both the historical texts and modern sources as the revealed Word of God.

We then carry the word in Apostleship and Faith, as Christ commanded.  In speech and in action, we follow the path of Christ.

What is Charisma?

Background:

Charisma is the least understood verified human behavioral phenomena.


Charismatic people exist in all cultures, and this rare quality often leads to world-changing experiences that affect the arc of human history.    Charismatics engage other people at a layer of the human psyche that has very little in common with the real world.

I have learned that charisma is a relatively rare human trait.  It appears to be an inborn quality, and it is not easily taught or learned.  It is virtually unknown to science what causes this strange human attraction that seems to radiate from some people.

Some charismatics can control and focus this effect.  Derren Brown is a famous British "magician" who does no traditional magic at all - but he can buy expensive things with blank sheets of paper, and he can pick up a random ticket from the floor of a horse racing track and present it for hundreds of dollars of winnings.  His personality is simply that powerful.  Here is a link:  Derren Brown buying things with blank paper.

"There was a Master come unto the Earth.  Born in the Holy Land of Indiana, raised in the mystical hills East of Fort Wayne."  Richard Bach, 'Illusions'.

What is known about charisma?

I have studied charisma and mass human influence for over 40 years.  I have discovered that charisma is what we call someone who has the power to completely focus 100% of their attention on the people they are interacting with.  Often they do this without thought or apparent effort - it is woven into the fabric of who they are at the deepest level.  

This ability to fully focus attention appears to trigger an immediate and unexplained response within almost every person with whom they interact.  Very few people are recorded as immune to charisma.

Human beings respond dramatically to charismatics in person, in print, on TV and on the radio - and charismatics create and influence mass movements, create huge cultural and economic shifts, and quite simply change the lives of millions of human beings almost without effort.

Charisma has always been the great unknown.  Doctors, philosophers, scientists… not even psychiatrists and sociologists can explain charisma.  What human quality creates a Hitler, a Bill Clinton, a Che Guevarra or a Donald Trump?

Good people have it, like Ghandi... terrible people can have it too - like Hitler.  Who and what are these people?  Since charisma is very similar to hypnosis, it is important to learn what charisma is and how it works.

In other words, "What is charisma?" 

Let's look it up:

__________________________________________________________________

cha·ris·ma                                                     From:  Wikipedia online

kəˈrizmə/

noun

                           1.  compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.

                   "she enchanted guests with her charisma"

                2. a divinely conferred power or talent. 

___________________________________________________________

That's it - two extremely vague statements that might as well read "We know it is real, but we have no idea at all what it is and what causes this universal phenomenon."

Interesting facts about charisma:  

The Bible is full of charismatics.  So is every other major religious text or oral tradition.  We need not argue whether Jesus or Buddha or Gandhi were divine - we are drawn to their words like moths to a flame.

There is a strong possibility charisma can outlive the life of the charismatic person.

Powerful charismatics can make almost anyone see, hear and experience things that are not real.  There is some evidence that points to either genuine paranormal (miracle) events or mass hallucination on an incredible scale.

Many charismatics live very ordinary lives - think of your favorite teacher, your favorite Aunt or special person.  It is quite possible they have significant charismatic qualities.

Fraudulent "News" Website publishing dangerous rumors.

Fraudulent "News" Website publishing dangerous rumors.

Millions Of Uncounted Bernie Sanders Ballots Have Been Found

10/3/2016 

This "news" source is a very well crafted website that mixes in false clickbait "news" stories and profits from the resultant furor.

The timing on this story could not be worse.  It is critical that everyone be made aware that http://bients.com is a patently fake news source.  Something like this could take hold as a rumor and seriously alter the upcoming election.

The Saint Joseph Reform Catholic Church encourages you to visit the site and make up your own mind.  If you believe as we do that this rumor is both evil and dangerous, please let everyone know this is a false rumor.

Yours in Spirit,

Deacon John Hubertz

johnhubertz@outlook.com

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Catholic Saint of Storms

Who is the Catholic Saint of Storms?

As you know, Catholic traditions include many specific Saints for different types of requests and prayers.  The Catholic Saint for storms like Hurricane Matthew is Saint Medard - a Saint from the 6th century.

Here is a great article about Saint Medard and storms:  

Saint Medard - Catholic Saint of Storms

Here is a statue of Saint Medard.   He certainly looks like someone you would want on your side.  

Detroit Outdoors Hunting in an Urban setting,Belle Isle

Capitalism is simply greed and avarice codified into law.

As all wealth at the most simple level is the result of the accelerated use of world resources, wealth should be a shared commodity.

All human cultures, even those without writing, monetary commerce and social caste, have a certain percentage of people who produce and achieve and create surplus - just as a certain percentage of people either cannot or do not put forth effort to harvest or grow or create.

The concept that someone must give those who create and produce hugely more than everyone else is aberrant.

Producers produce, consumers consume.  With or without the motivations of greed and wealth.

Capitalism makes producers into Gods who walk among us, and would like to consign non-productive people to the grave.

Capitalism is simply greed and avarice codified into cultural traditions and laws.

Or perhaps you think living toothless on scraps and the cheapest food until an early death is not the same as consigning the weak and indigent to death?  You are right.  It is worse than death to be treated this way  - as it creates lives of terrible prolonged suffering on purpose, as if righting some moral wrong for the crime of being born poor or lame or old or without talent.

Pure capitalism deliberately excuses and encourages harming significant percentages of the population through neglect and deliberate impoverishment.

People, read human history.  Capitalism and money commerce are not historical or cultural universals - they are relatively new inventions.  Don't listen to their excuses about human society grinding to a halt without capitalist wealth inequality and greed.

Creators will invent, the healthy will work hard, doctors will heal and teachers will teach, with or without some gigantic monetary carrot-and-stick system.

The real risk of Trump's Presidency is the Potential Horror of a Pence Presidency.

So far President Trump, despite his obvious faults, has shown that so far at least he is mostly ineffective, seems unprepared and not really paying attention to details or the political process.  This is not necessarily bad - considering his platform and public statements.

On the other hand, Vice President Mike Pence is a well educated, well oiled, politically savvy individual who presents himself as a pleasant and trustworthy human being.  That is what makes him so dangerous.

Mike Pence espouses Bible literalism - which is an interpretation of the King James Bible that represents many of the most radical and repugnant interpretations of Christian moral ideals - literalists apply their conservative, presumptive interpretations of selected parts of King James and then follow these beliefs blindly, and they have actually labelled their heavily redacted interpretation of the Protestant Bible as the living voice of Almighty God.

This form of belief is considered heresy by Catholic theologians -  as this kind of belief in any book, (even the Bible) is a serious violation of the First Commandment to not worship anyone or anything but God Almighty in his infinite and ever changing glory.

So essentially, if you believe as Mike Pence claims to believe, you worship a book.

What the Catholic Church currently teaches regarding this type of idolatry:  

(From the Vatican's recent treatise regarding current interpretations of the First Commandment)  

"You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." "...The First Commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, presumption..." (the belief that we can know and understand God without error) .... "Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship..."  (idolatry is any activity or belief that holds an object, leader or faith as superior to the direct study of Church teachings and an individual's own inner perception of Almighty God).

This means that no faith, not even Catholicism is to be held up as capable of infallible interpretation of God's scriptures and God's will for mankind. No prophet, no saint, not even the Pope can ever claim God's voice or to be anything but a humble, human interpreter of God's living word, and certainly no mere book can be held to the sky and be declared as containing the infallible and unalterable Voice of God. 

Bible literalism is a radical splinter movement within Christianity, and their teachings push thinly veiled prejudice of anyone of different cultural and social identity and non-Christian faiths. 

Literalism stands in opposition to mainstream Christian faiths, Christian historical traditions and Jesus' teaching of inclusion, acceptance, mercy and kindness to all.

It is very important to keep in mind that even Jesus prostrated himself before his Father, the Lord God Almighty - seeking to be worthy of his life's task, to better understand God's will, and to be worthy of his destiny.  

What is even more irrational about literalist fundamentalism is that they selectively ignore huge chunks of the words in their own King James Bibles.  Thus conservative Bible-literal Christians preach a hypocrisy of faith is that stretches the boundaries of rational understanding. 

Here are examples of "conservative Christian" fundamentalist hypocrisy:

Pence, like President Trump and most if not all "faith-based Christian" Republicans, lay claim to the Biblical mandate that humans have been given complete dominion over nature (strip mines and pollution please) but they then conveniently ignore God's instructions contained throughout the Bible regarding this responsibility - God's clear instruction to all believers to forever be stewards and caretakers of the planet and indeed all living things.

Pence and his fellows believe that homosexuality is an abomination repugnant to God, but they consistently ignore Biblical mandates such as not allowing high interest rates to be charged to borrowers, and God's imperatives about making sure widows and orphans and the elderly are properly supported and cared for.  They also seem to believe that Christ's instruction to "love thy neighbor" apparently includes denying even the most basic housing, food and healthcare to the poor.

Most heinous of all, Mr. Pence and most other "faith based" Republicans actually believe that five billion human beings currently sharing this planet with us are automatically going to Hell when they die.  Their sin? Committed the moral outrage of not being born Christian.

Pence believes gender differences are so important that he will not ever, EVER trust himself to be alone with a woman not his wife. Personally I am confident he does this out of fear and self-interest, as by avoiding any personal contact with females he believes he is thus immune from accusations of sexual impropriety.

The wisest man I ever knew would have looked at that and said softly, yes - that is what he fears, just as every thief believes that everyone everywhere is likely to steal his property.

Don't get me wrong - my dearest relative attends the same kind of fundamentalist, conservative Christian church as Deacon Mike and believes all these things just as fervently, and I love him nonetheless, but I am also greatly soothed that his power is limited to his occasional awful choices in voting booths.  

I believe that Mr. Pence and indeed every person has the absolute right of religious freedom to believe what they choose, but some forms of radical belief and direct public action on such beliefs represents a danger to our common American heritage of freedom and personal liberties.  For a politician, such perversion is no more acceptable than any other form of moral sickness.  

I can only speak for myself and for our little church.  We believe that Michael Richard Pence is one of the most dangerous men in the world.

History has taught us that if a man like him somehow gets the big chair, terrible things happen that can destroy not just rights and freedoms, but the arc of human progress for hundreds, even thousands of years.

And you can't pray that away either, Mister Pence.

Author's note and update, April 2nd, 2:00 PM:  I am amazed at the amount of traffic this brief article is receiving from all around the world.  I would like to share current statistics - keeping in mind that this is an obscure little Church blog, and the article was only posted a few hours ago.  I'd like to especially thank all our foreign readers.  Please - I invite all comments and would like to know your feelings and thoughts.

Final full-day article statistics by post - which is amazing, because our Temple website normally gets this much traffic in about a year or two.  Amazing.  Kind of scary.

Twenty four hours of post traffic final total:  6,700 page views from 11 countries.  Nothing like this has ever happened to me in a lifetime of writing and studying comparative faith and human culture.

I don't know if this will be a positive experience.  I wonder what Vice President Michael Pence feels about my obscure little article on our Temple's website.  

I hope he might choose to contact me and I will actively correct any errors in knowledge or judgement.  Many people think he is a truly great man.

I know his leadership history regarding policies, cultural and social morality and his choices as governor of Indiana - where I love to learn and write and live.  I despised his resistance to clean needle exchanges, the right of a woman to choose, and failure to support our poorest and most vulnerable populations.

He did however, eventually cooperate with our very conservative but common-sense legislature at local and State levels.

My most central belief is that War = Terror, and that failure to share in equality through community action to prevent gross disparity of wealth and health and lifestyle is our culture's greatest sin.  I wonder what his inner beliefs are on these issues, but I think I know enough to make an informed conclusion.

My Backstory

Click this Youtube link and you will have background music for this human drama.  

The year was 1996.  The location is the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, Michigan.  A man in a Brooks Brothers suit walks out of a street level exit and turns - looks down at his feet, and simply walks away toward Cobo Hall and away from all he had ever known.

Seven months later that man finally unlaced and removed those good shoes - and when he pulled his socks off part of his right foot came off also.

Homeless but not alone, he had lost weight, but had also began to shed the burden of arrogance, poor priorities and an absence of courage and thought that had led to his decline.

Renaissance Center and Joe Louis "Fist" - 1995

My name is John Hubertz.  At that time so long ago I guess you could have called me a lost soul.

Interestingly it was not because I did not know life - I had a lifetime interest in faith and truth and human hope - a passion I began in High School in an effort to embrace my parent's all-abiding faith in God and life itself.  My first articles on faith were published in 1978.  At that time I was 18 years old.

Degrees and credentials, honors and wealth became my goals, and my evidence of "success". 

But like so many men of words, I was deeply unhappy.  I'd been living the life of an Irish poet - steeped in alcohol and self-pity and slathered in the crepulence of my own sinful pride.  

The person who disliked me the most, was me.  "So what?" I thought - I had never lived any other way.  My heroes were Hemingway and Hunter Thompson, and I just did what it took to keep the blazing energy in my eyes.  Besides - I stayed high enough and successful enough nobody argued about it.

Years passed by... as they always do.  

I graduated, was married, had two beautiful daughters.

Then, as I knew it must, the life I had so carefully crafted, and the lies I had lived for over a decade fell apart.  Experiencing a simultaneous Catholic divorce and a serious head-injury accident that happened in September of 1996 on Miller Road in Detroit, Michigan, I crashed and burned.

On October 30, 1996 my 10 year marriage ended - due to my own underlying insanity and my constant dependence on alcohol and drugs.  I was 36 years old.

Lacking any rational reason to continue toiling for money that I no longer needed, to support a family that had slipped away, I simply walked away from myself.  I laid my keys on my desk, hit the down button on the elevator, and seventeen floors later I walked away from 10 years in Ford Parts and Service Operations.  I was a relatively young man, and I suppose I was successful by any external measure.  In fact, I was rich...  but I was in no way sane.

I walked away.  It was terrible, it was unfortunate, but it wound up creating me, not destroying me.  

Then one day, during those dark homeless years, and because I so rarely shut up, my street name in Detroit became "Preacher John".  Well, as you may know, what people call you is often what you become.  

So, it seemed appropriate that instead of babbling incoherently, and trying to express feelings or interpret a world gone mad, I began to speak the truth - on those streets, in those back alleys, and from that day to this one, I have never stopped.  The funny thing is, I had learned perhaps the most wonderful truth of all.  No matter who they are, no matter their problems, most people are incredible and have tremendous potential.  

John Hubertz at Fort Wayne Indiana, 2017