Proselytizing by fire and sword

“In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.” —Alexander Hamilton

I wonder if Alexander Hamilton had read about the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and the educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both.

Time Out for Me

I have been visiting family and am about to go off again -- retirement is so much fun -- so I will not be blogging much over the next few days and then I'm taking the month of February off for personal improvement (sounds so enlightened, doesn't it?)

There is so much going on in the world that I could comment on -- let's see, there's the Gaza Strip reopening which I believe is a total and grand error foisted on the Israelis by appeasers and proponents of the hateful cult of islam (I refuse to capitalize it or give it recognition it does not deserve due to its vengeful nature). Then there's the election process of caucuses and primaries. Fred Dalton Thompson is no longer running. He was the 'great GOP hope' and I believe he expected the media to treat him as a television star but when they treated him as 'one more enemy of Hillary' he wasn't ready for it. Then the media decided he was "lazy" and pushed that on the uninformed public so that the term stuck to Fred like gravy to rice. (No wonder Hillary lives and breathes by the Polls -- humans are basically ignorant and she doesn't have to be smart, just cunning.) Then there is the weather, which everyone likes to discuss as it relates to them or to global warming (the big AlGore-ism lie) or to the coming ice age, as my generation was taught in school. Then, there's crime, the interest rate, drugs, the de-fence-less Southern border, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

But I'm not going there today or during February, you are free to go there whilst I am on my personal retreat. I may come up for air and post in February if something I read is just too good not to remark about. So check in when you have a second. As I've said before, my side bar has great links and I invite you to peruse them.

Peace Out.

You Tube has Hillary's number.

Leave Sid Blumenthal Alone (Hillary pal)


Spiderman Calls Hillary a Liar


Hillary doesn't know? Then how can she be fit to be a POTUS?


And she can't sing and doesn't know all the words to the National Anthem!


Her Hillary-nesses usual answer to questions she's not prepared for


Hillary says she has 8 years experience in the White House. Should Laura Bush be running for President, too? Laura has the same White House experience as Hillary.

Today's Reading and Prayers

PRAY "To be so strong that nothing that happens can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own success. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to allow the presence of trouble."

Father, I know that all day long there are blessings falling down on me that I fail to see. Sometimes those blessings don’t look like blessings at all. Sometimes they seem like crosses to bear. But I know that whatever You send my way comes with love as a blessing and it is good for me. So I want to take this moment to thank You for all the little and big things that You do in my life. I thank You for the happy and wonderful times and I thank You for the challenging and difficult times as well. It is though all these times that You help me to grow and become the person You made me to be. I want to become more aware of Your presence and Your blessings. It is my heart’s desire to recognize even Your smallest blessing in my life. I pray that I will see more clearly all that You do for me every day so that I may five You all the Thanksgiving You deserve and in turn may I draw closer to You. Amen."

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will, when the road you’re trudging seems all uphill. When the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile but you have to sigh. When care is pressing you down a bit, rest of you must but do not quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, as each of us eventually learns. And many a fellow turns about, when he might have won had he stuck it out. So, don’t give up though the pace seems slow, you may succeed with one more blow. Sometimes the goal is nearer than it seems to a faltering man. Often the struggler has given up, when he might have captured the victor’s cup. He learned too late when the night came down, how close he was to the golden crown. Success is failure turned inside out, the silver lining to clouds of doubt. You never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when you’re heard hit, it’s when things seem worst… you must not quit. Just call on Jesus to be your aid. So his love can uplift and guild you. He will stand beside you night and day, every hour your whole life through."

"I said a prayer for you today and I know God Must have heard…I felt the answer in my heart although He spoke no word. I did not ask for wealth or fame, I knew you would not mind. I asked Him to send treasures of a far more lasting kind. I asked that He would be near you at the start of each new day, to grant you health and blessings and friends to share your way. I asked for happiness for you in all things great and small… Bit it was for His loving care I prayed for most of all. May God Bless You!"

"Oh Jesus, behold our family here before you. Once more we consecrate ourselves to you… our trails and joys… that our home, like yours, may always be the shrine of peace, purity, love, labor, and faith. We ask that you protect and bless all of our family, absent and present, living and dead. Oh Mary, loving Mother of Jesus and out mother also, pray to Jesus for out family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young and our homes. Oh Joseph, Holy Guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all the necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you, to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and the dying so that with Mary and you, Heaven may find out family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen."

"O, Lord Jesus, I know that you love me and I know that you died on the cross out of your love for me. But I cannot feel that love, Jesus, because my heart is so full of pain and hurt. I have become a silent weeper with a hard shell around my heart to keep out any more pain. I know that shell is locking out your love for me too and I want so much to feel your love. So tonight, Lord Jesus, I offer to you all my pain and sorrow, my anger and hurt. Your carried the heavy wooden cross to Calvary to set me free from sin… will you not carry my pains to free me from my silent weeping? I give them to you as a gift and I trust you to heal me. In doing so, I forgive all those who have caused me pain, anger, hurt, or sorrow and I ask forgiveness for anyone that I have hurt or sorrowed. Thank you for loving me and healing me. I love you, Lord Jesus! Amen"

"Oh God, who gave to St. Peregrine an angel for his companion, the Mother of God for his Teacher and Jesus for the Physician of his malady; grant, we beseech Thee, thought his merits, that we, while on earth, we may intensely love our holy angel, the Blessed Virgin, and our Savior, and in heaven bless them forever. Grant that we receive the healing for which we now call upon You. Though the same Christ our Lord. Amen Say one Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be To The Father with this prayer St, Peregrine, Pray for us"

"The Sunflower turns and greets the morning sun with the fullness of its face. And as the sun travels across the sky, the sunset, the sunflower follows… until at the sunset, the sunflower lowers its head to await the next dawn. Lord, help me be like the Sunflower… keeping my focus always on You. Though You shed Your blood to cleanse me, I know that each act I do without love or caring robs me of the fullness of what I might have been. Your and all the angels in Heaven look on as I walk though my life, sometimes drawing closer, sometimes falling back. I know that it is neither Your or the evil one that takes me a step closer or further away. It is my own acts that determine my progress towards eternity with You. So I pray that You send me the grace and wisdom to be like the Sunflower. May I always keep my focus fixed firmly on You! Amen"

"1. Faith is the ability to not panic.
2. If you worry, you didn’t pray. If you prayed, don’t worry.
3. As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
4. Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
5. When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
6. Do the Math. Count you blessings.
7. Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it’s only hearsay.
8. Dear God: I have a problem. It’s me!
9. Silence us often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
10. Laugh every day, it’s like inner jogging.
11. The most important things in your home are the people.
12. Learn from the turtle… it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
13. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
14. A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
15. He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
16. We do not remember days, but moments. Life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.
17. God wants us to be spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
18. It’s all right to sit on your pity pot every now and again. Just be sure to flush when you’re done.
19. Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
20. Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what other think you are."

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough hellos to get you though the final good-bye. I Wish You Enough!"

Truth in Advertising

How about a little truth when offering abortions about the pain the babies experience during the procedure?.

How about a little truth about anti-Christian bias and the slow marginalization of those confessing the Christian faith?" How Christianophobia is affecting Europe and European Christians.

How about a little truth instead of blatant anti-Catholicism masquerading as an 'anti-political advertisement' and on Canadian PUBLIC Television!?

How about a little truth about the lack of Religious Freedom in Saudi Arabia, while proclaiming a special day for Religious Freedom in the USofA, Mr. Bush?

How about a little honesty when arguing about money? All money arguments are caused by a conflict of core values, and the hierarchy ranking system of those core values inside of the persons having the argument.

How about a little honesty when creating regulations before a legislature has created a law? Allowing a lobbying arm of a State Medical Insurance Administration to have so much influence on a State Legislature Committee is a huge abrogation of the democratic process.

How about a little publicity for a website that gives parents facts on sexually transmitted diseases in terms they can use to discuss these issues with their children?

How about a little human dignity instead of using "Bodies" to dehumanize the dead which too easily translates into dehumanizing the living? Part of this display (coming soon to a city near you) displays cutaways of human fetuses. Some have defects, all are proof that there is a real living person growing inside a pregnant woman. But the question is: Were these fetuses aborted and viable before being "plasticized"? There's a question of human rights violations by China and the legitimacy of how these bodies were obtained.

The presentation of the cadavers, which are often posed in strange positions, may give the impression that the deceased human body can be presented as an object of idle curiosity or even amusement. Viewers could easily see this exhibit as similar to a 19th century carnival presentation of human oddities, rather than contemporary science. Premier Exhibitions is also a for-profit entity, which could certainly add to the impression that the bodies are being exploited for financial gain, rather than any real scientific purpose.

Read this to learn more about what the Bible and Tradition say about humanity and dignity of the human body.

I report, you read and decide. Peace.

PS, I finally get it. The Catholic Church does not ordain women as priests because at the Last Supper Jesus Christ consecrated only men for the Priesthood (capital P). There were women present in the Upper Room. His Mother Mary was there as were other women [Mark 15:40 And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome: 41 Who also when he was in Galilee followed him, and ministered to him, and many other women that came up with him to Jerusalem.] Nowhere in Holy Scripture or Tradition has there ever been anything written that indicates that women specifically were ordained as Priests. Everything written or passed down orally from the Early Church {Catholic, Universal} only indicates a male Priesthood. Jesus was very precise in his teaching. He never once indicated that women were to be ordained as Priests. The argument about the "day in which Jesus lived" is not valid. Jesus did a lot and said a lot that caused contention. If God had wanted women to be consecrated as Priests, God would have had Jesus say so. It's not there, It's just not there. All the present arguments are null and void. They hold no water. Or bread and wine, either. When humans get angry because they don't like what they know is Truth and they want to change God to make Him "more personable" or "more relative to humanity," they start another faith-walk and claim it's somehow directly linked to Jesus or the Upper Room and that it's a "fresh interpretation of Scripture" or it's a "direct revelation from God," or they propose to be a "prophet of god" (and we know that the way to verify if this is true is to examine every prophecy to see if all of them are correct -- Prophets of God cannot have a 99% or less accuracy rating).

There are 10 Commandments. These are commandments, not suggestion-ments. As soon as someone wanted to break one of them, he started a new 'church,' a 'denomination,' a NEW faith-walk. And this faith-walk was created by cutting off whatever the "founder" did not like in the former Church or faith-walk. King Henry the Eighth is prime example. He'd already pulled strings to get a Church annulment (an annulment means that the marriage was not a Valid Christian Marriage before God) and when the Prince of the Church on Earth, accountable to the Head of the Church, Christ Jesus, and accountable for all of the souls in Christendom said "No," old Henry got angry rather than subject himself to the 10 Commandments and the only and Holy Catholic Church. What did he do? He created his own church by removing all England from the auspices of Rome, the Roman Church and the Pope, naming himself the head of the "church in England."

And with each subsequent 'divorce' from Rome and the Holy Roman Catholic Church, Western Civilization has stepped farther and farther from the Church consecrated in the Upper Room. There are all kinds of reasons given for this: such as, King Henry VII just wanted to get the Bible (which he desecrated by removing 7 books) written in the language of "the common man" when in fact he wanted to cavort with which ever woman he thought could produce a male heir for him. It is sad. You can get upset, but what I say can be verified with every subsequent "denomination" or "new" church or faith-walk. Until all who want to call themselves Christian give obeisance to the Catholic Church (and when the Orthodox Church re-combines with the Catholic Church in Rome -- which I believe will occur in the near future), we are like the people at the Tower of Babel after God confused their tongues and languages. When all Christendom can reunite to give proper praise, honor and respect to God, then we will once again be "the Body of Christ" and ready for Him to return to take His Church to be in Heaven with Him. MARANATHA!

Remember THIS when you go to your Primary . . .

We do not need a "Pastor" in the White House; we need a PRESIDENT in the White House.

Fibromyalgia & Backpacking

I suffer from Fibromyalgia. It's not as bad as some people's because my doctor prescribed a second drug which kept me pain free. My insurance carrier has refused to approve the medication because its primary use is not for Fibromyalgia Syndrome. I haven't had this medication for a week. I am in a lot of pain. There is no joint on my body (that I'm aware of) that doesn't hurt when I touch it. And some of the joints that adjoin other joints when I move are in constant pain as long as I'm moving. Then, other joints that are compressed when I'm not moving cause pain. Typing is causing pain. All because of an insurance company that wants to save a buck or two and make medical decisions concerning my health.

I AM angry. It's the only thing that is keeping me moving. Without anger, I'd be in really bad shape.

Backpacking the Appalachian Trail has been a goal of mine for a number of years. Right now, for two reasons I'm ready to chuck the whole thing and find another hobby that includes saner members than some in the backpacking community.

This is what I recently wrote on my MySpace blog:

Meredith Hope Emerson went hiking with her dog, Ella, on New Year's Day at Blood Mountain in North Georgia. She was kidnapped and eventually killed a few days later by a man named Gary Michael Hilton.

The question we all ask is "why?"

Meredith made some "newbie hiker" mistakes, even though her roommate stated she was an "experienced hiker" and had a "blue belt in Karate." What were they? Not in any order they are:

1- She failed to keep her dog close to her so that Ella could protect her and she allowed Ella to think that the "stranger" was one of Meredith's friends.

2- She failed to take into consideration that just because someone is on a trail, wearing a backpack, doesn't mean he is a member of the hiking community or that he is a safe person, even if he is a member. There are a lot of hikers and backpackers who do not have the best interests of other hikers in mind. A few years ago there was a hiker Thru Hiking the AT who was a thief. No one caught him in the act until he got to Rhode Island, but other hikers were sure that it was their expensive clothing or gear that this hiker had on or with him, but because there was no way to actually prove it, he got away with it. One guy I talked to said that a very expensive polyester hiking shirt he "lost" at a laundromat turned up being worn by this thief-hiker, but because he had not placed anything identifying the shirt as his, the thief wasn't confronted.

3- She befriended a hiker she did not know. Or she allowed him to ingratiate himself to her so that she didn't keep her defenses up. No one should live in fear. No one should have to be constantly on guard toward other people one meets. YET, depending on the circumstance and place, we often do just that. You get on a bus or airplane and you don't tell your life story to the unknown person next to you or open up your wallet to count your money. Why? You are on guard and you keep a societally appropriate distance from strangers.

4- It appears that Meredith forgot what her Mama taught her about strangers. And she let her defenses down. We say we don't want to live in "fear" but we have the ability to use fear for our own good. Fear is a postive emotion, not a negative one. It's fear that keeps us from walking in front of moving trains. It's fear that keeps us out of many potentially dangerous situations and away from potentially dangerous people. Fear is healthy; fear is often what keeps us alive. If you haven't "honed" your fears to be useful, then I suggest you work on using fear to your benefit.

5- I suggest she didn't use her 'gut test' with Gary Michael Hilton. Other hikers who saw him on New Year's Day said they got 'bad feelings' about him. People here in town say he was a regular at one of the laundomats; those who work there described as "weird." They said looking into his eyes gave them strong negative feelings. Did Meredith fail to look at his eyes?

There are other newbie mistakes made by Meredith. All the Karate in the world won't protect you from someone who hits you from behind. A new acquaintance is best observed around others. Rather than going to her car, she'd have been better off hiking to the road crossing at Neel Gap and walking into Mountain Crossings Outfitters there.

I don't know what transpired between the two -- an innocent young girl with few life experiences and a man who may turn out to be a serial killer if cases in Florida and North Carolina can be linked to him.

It's all in the eyes. Always look a person in the eyes. And always accept that "gut" feeling as "nature's way" of warning you about a person or situation.

I feel so sorry for Meredith's parents. It's unnatural for parents to bury children. Children are supposed to bury parents. Parents are supposed to see their children get married and produce their grandchildren. We'll never know who Meredith might have become as she aged. Gary Michael Hilton stole that from her parents, friends and all of us.

The worst kind of thief is one who kills another person and steals that person's future from all of us. In my opinion, a person who steals another person's life has forfeited his own life.

God comfort Meredith's parents and friends.

( for additional information about this case)

I wrote something similar on a private yahoo group and was personally attacked for questioning Meredith's "expert hiker" status. Well, I said then and say now -- I report it as I see it. And the news reports, while they may not state the same, do support my observations. These observations are MINE and no one else's. I don't really care if hikers disagree with me. I've been in situations on the trail similar to Meredith's and I've hiked out of them because I am More Mature and because I Have A Contingency Plan. Poor Meredith didn't. She was young and thought she was invincible (as do the majority of youth who have no experience in the "real and painful world") and as do many "heads in the clouds" hikers who attacked my observations. There is more than a modicum of truth in what I wrote. And I continue to stand by it.

Right at this moment, in FMS pain-anger-fog and incredulous that I would be so vilified by hikers who are angry at me ONLY because they know in their heart of hearts that what I wrote about immature and inexperienced hikers like Meredith is true, I am this [ ] close to making a drastic change in my future plans. IF I Thru Hike or WHEN I Thru Hike the Appalachian Trail, it will not be as a member of any online group of hikers who attack me for telling the truth. They can chalk it up to my OPINION or they can chalk it up to my PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. I prefer to be in the company of people mature enough to know that experience which works trumps just about everything else.

Stay Safe. Educate yourself. Have a workable contingency plan for as many different scenarios as you can think of which might occur on your journey through life. Fear is a Good Thing. Treat it as such. Peace out.