Sunday, August 29, 2010

ORGANIC FARMING CAN FEED THE WORLD

Read this article. http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/1009/sc1009-organics.html

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The End Times - Again

Throughout the past centuries, there have been various analyses that
concluded that the antichrist and the last days were here or nearly so.
All of them failed, as point of fact, and inherently were flawed,
because the features that prophecy warned of, were never entirely
present. Some, usually only an exaggerated few, but not all.

Now, according to St. Paul, we have been in the Last Days since
the First Coming of the Messiah (Greek word for this is Christos).
the Jews still await the first coming of the Messiah, we Christians
await the Second Coming.

That a dual coming is evident in Old Testament prophecy, from
Moses on through the Prophets, is shown by the fact that some
Jewish speculation on this positing TWO Messiahs, a Messiah
son of Joseph and a Messiah son of David. Somewhere in the
Talmud is a curse on those who think that the Messiah is divine
on account of certain specific texts in Prophets and Psalms
that point in that supposedly impossible direction.

Meanwhile, though the antichrist is not here yet, I strongly
suspect that we are in the time of the third horseman of the
four horsemen of the apocalypse of St. John, and are
moving into the time of the fourth sooner or later.

The first is an archer mounted on a white horse, a conqueror.
Peoples who specialized in archery and their descendants,
whatever weapons were common, played a role in building
huge empires that affected all the world, eventually even the
breakaway continents.

The second horseman is red, and takes away peace and
people kill each other. This sounds like various nationalist
idealistic revolutionary movements and banditry and of
course the 100 years war, the 30 years war, WW I and
WW II and the ongoing brush wars around the world since.

These of course overlap somewhat. But to fit the picture,
this has to be something that affects not just Europe, not
just America but more of the whole world, and especially
involves the Mediteranean and Near East and Middle East.

The third horseman is black, the color of oil. It has scales
to weigh goods and inflated prices for grain and "see that
ye hurt not the oil or the wine," apparently these will be
in short supply after a while, precious commodities.

We seem to have been moving into this phase now. My
suspicion that they overlap each other, is supported by
St. John's seeing the four horsemen as if all at once, or
in a close sequence, like they rode together. To some
extent, they might depict a repeating pattern to be
found at various times everywhere, but also a bigger
picture.

The fourth horseman is "pale" and death follows him,
killing by the sword, and famine, and plague, and "the
beasts of the field." These latter seem to have been
starting up a teeny bit. Maybe down the road chimps
will figure out how to use knives, spears and guns.
A quarter of mankind will die from all this.  Obviously
this isn't here yet, though stuff not unlike it occurs in
Africa right now.

I understand there is an Orthodox writer or online
theorist somewhere, who figures we are in the time
of the third or fourth horseman now, but he didn't
say on what basis, but it was something to do with
traditional Orthodox views of Scripture.

If he is reading this, or someone who reads this
remembers his post somewhere online, I'd like to
hear from him. Infowolf1@aol.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ THE ARTICLES AT THESE LINKS

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/10/weimar-america.html

http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/letter-tea-party-movement-has-dangerous-precedent

http://www.antifascistencyclopedia.com/allposts/charles-and-david-koch-exposed-for-insidious-role-in-crafting-the-modern-right

http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/2009/10/weimar-america.html

Monday, August 23, 2010

St. Gregory Palamas comments on St. Demetrios

"In his homily on St. Demetrios the divine Gregory puts in relief the
chastity of his body and soul. He lived in general chastity even though
he was the highest officer in the Roman army.
According to St. Gregory Palamas, St. Demetrios was graced with
splendid prophetic power and was counted worthy of "the apostolic and
teaching diaconate and a high position". He was full of virtues and was
not inferior to the saints in asceticism "and in their radiance of life". But
he was behind some, was like others; superior to some and surpassing
others. He possessed many gifts.
The warfare which St. Demetrios waged within his heart was
comparable to the warfare of the great ascetics. He kept his nous pure of
any unseemly thought, protecting the immaculate Grace of holy
Baptism, had a will that harmonised with God's law "like a book of God
and a tablet and plaque engraved by God or a writing tablet written by
the finger of God and placed before all for the common use". In this way
St. Demetrios was chaste in both body and soul. He had his citizenship
in heaven and walked on an equal footing with the angels, having a body
as well. So St. Demetrios seems to have had an angelic life and
citizenship."
from St. Gregory Palamas as a Hagiorite by Met.ropolitan Hierotheos
of Nafpaktos

Saturday, August 21, 2010

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Dangerous mix of normal and H1N1 flu vaccines, dose for seniors quadrupled.
Seems the WHO and other people were on payroll of Big Pharmaceuticals
to try to make a pandemic out of nothing.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/08/21/barbara-loe-fisher-on-flu-vaccine-changes.aspx

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Dr. Laura Gets Ridiculous

I  am watching CNN at 3 am or so, and here is the latest from Dr. Laura.
Seems she is quitting radio, when her contract expires which is soon, and
going to focus on the Internet, so that she can reclaim her "first amendment
rights" and won't "have to live in fear."

I am beginning to wonder about this broad.

While her point in her n-word laden remarks to the lady on the phone
had considerable validity, they ALSO had two major flaws.

Firstly, she didn't have to actually USE the n word, she could have
just said "n word n word n word" instead of "n....., n....., n....."
when she said this. After all, she was dealing with a woman who was
already offended, and the word has a long history of hurtfulness. Why
not deal with the lady more kindly?

Secondly, there is a certain obvious difference between a black person
saying this, and a white person, since it IS derogatory, and is a word
with a history of violence behind it, white on black violence and still
some possibility like that, and when a black person uses it, it is more
like when a white says white trash, there is no implied and somewhat
potentially sometimes credible threat or the possibility of empowering
those who would be a credible threat by using this word.

Black says n word, it is snooty. White says n word, it is threatening
and includes potential of social and even economically impacting
subtle or not so subtle exclusion, at the least.

Now, Dr. Laura isn't all that ignorant of history. She does have a
certain wide eyed staring dumb blonde quality though usually her
analyses aren't that far bad.

Maybe her choice of words on that phone call could be dismissed
as unthinking, etc.

but now this political phrasing?

What happened to concerns she has expressed about hurtful words
and all kinds of bad communication in families and so forth?

It comes with exceeding ill grace from a blonde with chisled nordic
features to be talking about first amendment rights and living in fear
(of WHAT? being criticized?) in context of using the n word.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Bull Leaping

I just looked at that Bull Leaping video again, the look on that bull's
face is priceless, early on when the guy jumps over him. Its like,
"where'd he go? huh?"

Monday, August 9, 2010

BULL LEAPING IS ALIVE AND WELL

I am not sure where this is being done, or whether it is a continuation from
antiquity or an effort to revive it. Cretan frescoes show the more spectacular
leaps involving grabbing the horns to get lift from the upward jerk the bull
will do, but this is great.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

MidTNOrthodox on twitter

I love the quotes in this person's tweets!

HOW TO DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

THIS SEEMED LIKE A GOOD THING TO POST. READ THE REST
OF THE ARTICLE HERE  http://www.orthodoxlife.info/content/view/3028/74/

How to Discern the Signs of the Times  Metropolitan Joseph
(I don't know which jurisdiction he is with.)

The Lord said: "You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you, hypocrites, cannot discern the signs of the times" (Matthew 16:2-4).

Dearest Beloved,

We are not pessimists, and we are not prophets of doom and gloom. However, we are also not prophets of cheerfulness and positive-thinking. Our Lord instructed us to discern the "signs of the times". Thus, it is always our task to be "critical" of modern society. We can not be members of a large group or movement, or any fad or mob. The only ultimate allegiance we have, obviously, is the Body of Christ. That allegiance alone determines our philosophy, our outlook and our ethic.
It is important to say this outright, because in this moment, we are thinking especially about "our home churches" - our families. Our task is to prepare them for the Orthodox way of life in this Diocese, and in the Holy Orthodox Church. Our task is not identify with our children, for example, or to join their associations. We are not about to become young again or to imitate our children.

Our Lord, through the great unified voice of Holy Tradition, commands us differently. Instead of us imitating our children and youth, we are to teach them and lead them, to love them and sacrifice ourselves on their behalf- so that these young people may imitate us as we follow Christ.

St. Apostle Paul wrote this about who should imitate whom in his First Epistle to the Corinthians: "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me"(4:15-16). And then later on, in the same Epistle, he repeated this principle: "Imitate me, just as 1 also imitate Christ"(11:1).


Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Deconstructing Kalomiros

I read the first chapter and some of the rest of
Kalomiros' "On False Union." I cut and pasted the first chapter
and put in my annotations about his errors. Clearly, his and
Khomiakov's concepts of the Church revolves more around
externals than Christ. There is a vituperation that is applauded
by his iconographer friend as indicative of love of truth, but the
level of falsehood that is at issue is so much less than what
drew such reactions in earlier times, that it seems ill placed.

The more I read, the more I want to vomit. There is such an
intertwining of truth and lies in his analyses, and in his concerns
about the Calendar, he misses the Paschal issue and sees only
the entirety of the liturgical calendar. Tradition and tradition
he sees no difference in.

The error of rejecting Atonement is found in ecumenist and
anti ecumenist people, as is Kalomiros' related rejection of
hell as real and rejection of God's justice.

It seems that those who focus on shared liturgical actions
are amenable to heresies that are closer to the core, and those
who fear justice and want only bland love seeming stuff, and
like Orthodox externals regardless of ecumenism or not, like
the denial of hell. Indeed, the denial of God's wrath and justice,
starting with a rejection of the Atonement, logically play out in
Kalomiros' River of Fire heresy.

The idea that God's justice bespeaks hatefilledness on God's
part, is a blasphemous parody of the Atonement doctrine,
clearly God's love makes the call, because He did not leave
us to disintegrate on our own, both out of love for His
Creation and pity for us, He in the Person of Jesus the
Second Person of The Trinity Who is One God in Three
Persons stepped in and became human and suffered in our
place what we deserve so we can become children of God,
and while dead crippled the devil and conquered hell and
death and then came back to life, never to die again.

The allergy to the idea of God's justice often takes the
form of some warped version of atonement that doesn't
even resemble the doctrine. Or ideas like, a wronged
person comes to a judge seeking justice, and the judge
lets the evil doer go free and punishes a whipping boy.
No, the judge and the plaintiff are the same, the judge
takes the punishment due to the one who offended Him,
and gives the penitent offender another chance.

Monday, August 2, 2010

The Trouble With The Left

I've been sniping at the right for some time. Let's see what's wrong
with the left.

Firstly, they, like the right, tend to think in patterns and according
to blind "principles" that are misapplied and do systematic thinking
that ends up with a house of cards that would easily topple at a
push.

The push can be, check the facts on something, or, check the
motives, or, check the unexamined premises, or, the non
sequitur (it does not follow).

Secondly, they apply principles like equal rights or freedom
but reject morality when it conflicts. (the right does the same in
somewhat different ways, pretending to be preserving morality
or something.)

For instance, there is NO logical connection between freedom
of multi partner heterosexual immorality promiscuity that
is so fast in its change of partners, that unlike prolonged living
together committed relationships, it doesn't even mimic marriage,
and freedom of women from oppression.

The destruction of the double standard does NOT require
legitimizing casual unchastity by women. It merely needs to
ILLEGITIMIZE and prohibit and make sanctions against
casual unchastity by men.

Freedom of abortion is another irrelevance.

The original feminists were, for the most part, against
abortion, against immorality and perversion, and though they
might entertain illusions about "woman's" superior nature,
they tended to promote women catching up to men in sports,
clothing, politics, economics and business, etc. The pro
abortion and "free love" element were a minority.

Equality of the sexes got a big push in the USA, when women
in the abolitionist movement noticed that while equality was
pushed for all men regardless of color, the feeling and practice
was not the same for women, despite the fact that the same
lack of ingrained moral and mental differences worth arguing
about held for races as for sexes.

Even if you argue there are serious differences, the fact remains
that individuals who do NOT fit this, a lot of them, exist, and to
be fair all should compete, regardless of race or sex, on an equal
playing field.  There should be no restrictions, in fairness to those
who were the exceptions, especially since those exceptions
radically increased in numbers when educated and raised
differently from the way those who fit the stereotypes were
usually raised.

Homosexual activity is another absurdity. Even if you argue there
is sometimes a biological basis, after all, hermaphrodites on rare
occasions exist, the vast majority DO NOT LOOK LIKE THEY
SHOULD IF SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH
THEIR HORMONES.

The genetic origins theory is very, very weak, and more likely
points to a gene or genes for instability of some sort, that might
manifest in different ways in different individuals, with different
upbringing. Some would go bonkers in a sexual way, others in
a non sexual way.

But even if the genetic origin were proven, that only means it
is one more abnormality in genes, like any other inherited
disease.

The desires and predilection may or may not be innate.

THE CHOICE TO ACT ON THEM IS A CHOICE,
not a necessity.

The tendency to convert freedom from government mandating
of religious organizations to an inherent equality in truth of all
religions, denial that any might be closer to the truth than others,
soon works out as denial that there is any truth.

The failure of the left to give Christianity the credit it deserves
for things the liberals and left take for granted in values and
practices they support, and general gullibility, is as bad as the
right's failure to deal with history or legal issues or whatever,
the more anarchistic the rightist the more so. the right often
tries to harness Christianity to support purposes, that at
times churches may have supported, but did so in violation
of teachings from The Bible and the early church fathers.

The left, in the person of Mae Brussell, was the first to notice
the big picture around the JFK assassination, and pursue this
research. But while Alex Constantine is pretty good, he is
compromised by his pro rock and role bias, into thinking the
parapolitical evil government conspiracy was against rockers,
even secretly murdering them, when more likely the rock and
drug scene was partly due to some government and other
rogue games in social programming.

For instance, whether the cause is human deliberate arrangement,
or paranormal, or a bit of both, Dave McGowan shows there
are some striking coincidences beyond belief, in the development
of the rock and flower children subculture.  And it would make
sense as an effort to discredit, by association, the more
conservative type anti Viet Nam war people, by making it all
look like only something hippies would do.