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Monday, October 11th 2010

6:24 AM

Catholic and Homosexual?

Terry,
Thanks for the detailed response.  You are right, I was wrong on what the 1992 Catechism teaches.  In some ways this teaching appears influenced by Modernist thought and the distinction between the contemporary idea of 'orientation' and 'acts' is not to be found in the Scriptures nor among the doctrines of the Church Fathers.
 
St. James tells us:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures
.
 
Likewise St. Paul in his letter to the Romans attributes these lewd acts to choices made that stem from idolatry, and not creation:
 
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

 
So, Paul teaches that the desires themselves are sinful.  James teaches that no one can be tempted by God to sin ("God created me gay").  Jesus condemns even the thoughts of adultery as culpable as the act.  How then can the Catechism draw this distinction between desires and acts?  It is a Modernist position developed to appease so-called homosexual clergy who are working day and night to promulgate Modernist-tainted catechetics that teach that evolution is true and therefore the church must evolve (into pro-gay positions).
 
Lastly, St. Paul uses 'identity' language very deliberately in his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians:
 
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
 
Sodomites here clearly is used as an identity - and Paul remarks that they were that before but now are 'washed.'
 
I cannot expect you to agree with me, Terry - I believe St. Michael's Media is solidly behind the Vatican's contemporary teaching and supports most if not all of Vatican II's 'reforms.'  The sad fact is that the 1992 Catechism quotes from Vatican II in more than half of all its footnotes - very strange for a 'pastoral council' that self-defined as not being a doctrinal council.
 
Anyway, I am not a sedevancantist and have never been to a Latin Mass (pretty tough when you are overseas in the military), but I am a graduate level student in Catholic Theology and I know one needn't have an advanced education to know that Modernism has so thoroughly infiltrated the Church in the West that even conservative Catholics swallow neo-modernism unwittingly on a daily basis.  I know I did for years and only over the past two years after studying the encyclicals promulgated by Leo XIII and Pope St. Pius X have I begun to untangle myself from this corruption.
 
Many blessings to you Terry, keep up the great work.
In Christ the Victor,
Johnny
 
Johnny,

Praise be to our LORD God, He who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!

I have to say that *you hit the nail on the head* when you said:  "How then can the Catechism draw this distinction between desires and acts?
It is a Modernist position developed to *APPEASE* so-called homosexual clergy who are working day and night to promulgate Modernist-tainted catechetics that teach that evolution is true and
therefore the church must evolve (into pro-gay positions)."  (Emphasis mine)

It seems to me, when someone "hides" behind the Catechism's distinction between "acts" and "orientation" and then proceeds to claim that "no one knows the origin" of homosexuality (or at least
claim that it has a "mysterious" origin) that there is a *stealthy* contradiction between "acts", "orientation" and "unknown origin" that they DO NOT want to be exposed.  That position almost borders on heresy since it leaves open the possibility that it (homosexuality) can originate from God:  that He sends this curse as a cross to a
"victim soul."  Don't get me wrong, there is such a thing called "same sex attraction" but the person does not automatically become a victim soul just because he/she has this condition.  Our LORD permits it, but God most certainly IS NOT the creator of that condition.  If someone suffers from this condition and accepts that he or she must submit to the teaching of the Church and live a most chaste life, only then, on that *very rare* occasion, that he or she becomes a victim soul.  He
or she must suffer in silence as a lay person (They can never be married).  And yes, I do admit that there are people who are doing just that, and that they are closer to our LORD since they bear a much
heavier cross than we heterosexuals do.  (At least we can participate validly in the Sacrament of Matrimony or Holy Orders.)  Yet I still hold to my position that there is no such thing as a "[practicing] homosexual Catholic", however there are (few) devout Catholics that suffers from same sex attraction.  Even at that, there are treatments
available to them, if they desire and seek help.  NARTH (see narth.com) is one of those organization that provides treatment and therapy.

It is also germane that you brought up the "evolutionistic" theology in the Modernist heresy so prevalent in the Church today.  Not only that the Evolutionists want to make the Church "evolve", but they believe and teach (as Fr. Brown does) that since God "evoluted" (for lack of a better term) man, he is therefore an imperfect creation and
that God *owes him salvation* from the condition that He created him in. (Never mind that this also undermines the Doctrine of Original Sin.)  A case in point:  I was listening to Catholic Answers Live
podcast a few days ago regarding bio-ethics and a caller brought up some arguments that is rooted in evolutionary thought and the host countered that "...if I came home to my wife and told her that I have exposed her to venereal diseases because of my infidelity, does she just have to accept it as an evolutionary impulse?" to which the caller could not really counter since he too believes in evolution as
fact.  If I were the caller, I would say to that, "Yes, she would have to let it go and forgive you in line with our LORD's Prayer.  She *owes* you forgiveness just like God would if He used evolution to create us."  I am still amazed at how the evolutionists can hold contradictory concepts bouncing around in their heads and be so
nonchalant about it. *sigh*

I'm not engaging too much with theistic evolutionists these days since I have a problem being "charitable", nay, being *nice* in my responses and defense.  (There is charity in truth after all.)  Was it St. Edith Stein who said, "Truth without love is cruel, but love without truth is a lie!" ??  Most of the time, I care too much about truth that I come across as cruel.  I have been admonished so many times that I'm learning, albeit slowly, humility.  It's a reason why I was not a good
postulant in the orders I have tried to join.  I am too eager and too zealous in my crusade in these matters that I need discipline to convey the Gospel charitably.

Once again I'ved babbled a little too much...

May our LORD bless you and your family abundantly!

Pax Christi tecum,

-- Ian
Ian,
Not babbling at all.  I value all your comments and insights, especially the personal ones.  I have been out of town away from internet this week at a training conference.  In short, your points are all 100% on the money from my perspective, but I like you say you do, struggle with charity in polemics and humility in knowledge.  I am filled with indignation against those who pervert and adulterate the divine Word of God.
 
I am not sure how to validate it, but before the 1992 Catechism was promulgated, I am not sure any Catholic Catechism ever regarded a homosexual as a Christian or a Catholic.  To say, "I am homosexual and Catholic" is an identity statement.  If one (as I imagine they did in the past) confessed, "I am a Catholic with a sore and severe temptation and burden" then it would be clear of all scandal, political exploitation and joining of the Redemption to persversion.  But to say "I am 'gay' but celibate" is a subtle way of saying God created them with a mortal sin they could never free themselves of.  Paul says in 1 COR 6:9 "such were some of you... but you are washed, you are clean..."  The idea that in Paul's teaching a person could remain a "chaste homosexual" is a bizarre twisting of Tradition and Magisterial teaching. 
 
What do you think?
 
Thanks for the encouraging discussion!  We should be discussing this on a blog instead of email!
 
Johnny
 
John,

Praise be to God, He who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit!  May His Divine Mercy be upon us.

Since we are both struggling with a "pleasantness deficit" in engaging in polemics, I have discovered that if you go into it with a grateful attitude (thankful to our LORD that we have been blessed with understanding) it is easier to remain calm.

I'm not sure how to validate it either, but looking at the "Penny Catechism" (pre-1970s) there is no mention of homosexuality in it.  It seems to me that the 1992 [American] Catechism (paragraphs 2357-2359) is another [new] appeasement.  It is obvious from the Catechism that it is teaching not to "unjustly discriminate" the homosexual.  But my
question is, are we not supposed to unjustly discriminate against anyone anyway?  I mean not just homosexuals, but *anyone* should not
be unjustly discriminated against.  However, here's the caveat:  the fact that we do discriminate based on sex/gender is actually the norm-- e.g. men can not join the girl scouts or women's track and
field competition and having separate toilets/bathrooms.  These are normal discriminations that are based on societal, natural and biological functional accommodations.  Some may interject the Equal Pay Act amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act Section 206 (1), arguing that the law does not permit sex/gender discrimination.  But
the law does not address accommodation, only fair market value and pricing for *same* labor performance in the same company/organization.
Now if you go out and say, all lawyers are to be paid the same hourly rate, regardless of gender, the feminists will have a cow since there are more women lawyers/barristers.  If one lawyer absolutely sucks *he* should not get paid at the same hourly rate as the other if *she* is a better lawyer, and vice versa.  That makes sense to me.

Also, in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, the actual [Greek] word for "boy prostitutes" are "catamites", which if literally translated to our current vernacular, would be "little xxxxxxxs."  That
would mean St. Paul did not mince words in his rebuke of the Church in Corinth.  Sounds like St. Paul also "suffers" from a "pleasantness deficit" as well.  Since that goes into Biblical exegesis and
hermeneutics, and I am not a biblical scholar, thusly, I shall leave it at that.

But the new Catechism also clashes not just with the Biblical exegesis, but with Canon Law!  Does this mean the Canon Law also discriminates against homosexuals and women in ordinations?  The
liberals (especially femi-nazis) will argue that this is an "unjust" discrimination!  Did you notice that?  That is the Modernist heresy in action... the synthesis of all the heresies.  This all started when
one of the Church's pearl of wisdom was stolen from her in the early 1600's.  We all know Satan is a liar, but this just shows you how good of a liar he is. Thank God for his gift of sensitivity to truth and
understanding.

If you want to discuss this on a blog, I'm okay with it.  Do you have a blog in mind?  Or did you want me to set up a domain and blog site? Let me know.


Dominus vobiscum,

-- Ian
Laus Deo!

So where does this leave us (the laity)?  It seems confusing, at least to me, on how should one deal with the homosexuals who insist on pushing their own brand of morality on society and worse, the clergy.
I do understand that we are all sinners, that's why Christ Himself saved us, but He also wants us to follow Him and take up our cross.
What irks me is that the homosexual lobby within the Church seems to be closer to her ear, whispering who knows what... I could only ask
you to pray that at least our LORD will preserve the Church here in the US.

What St. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth is exactly what I'm trying to get across to those who argue for gay-marriage when they compare their agenda with the civil rights movement.  I mean, have you ever met anyone who was ex-african-american/ex-black or ex-any-race?
(No, Michael Jackson jokes, please.)  But, according to NARTH, there have been some ex-gay and ex-lesbians! (link:http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10070804.html
 
See, a homosexual can be changed or choose to change, (with the Grace of God) just like what St. Paul described, but you cannot change your race.
So there's really no comparison.

Interfice errorem, diligere errantem, as St. Augustine would say, but reconciliation starts with repentance!  I cannot accept a "Catholic"
who insist of being a homosexual at the same time.  But are we not all sinners, you say?  Sure, but not all sinners are repentant!  The difference is that, I struggle with my sins and know that I am in need
of a Savior, the other *takes pride* (pride parade, eeww!) with their sins and pushes their morality contra the Gospel of Christ.

I am saddened to hear about your brother-in-law.  Please tell your wife that I do understand what it's like to have a sibling who is a homosexual:  my sister was a lesbian.  She was also a gay-lesbian
activist and really did damage to our society and church at large.  My prayers are certainly with your extended family, but I have to go to war against this insidious agenda.  At the very least, I want to
preserve what is the traditional idea of marriage and family here in the US.  Europe is dying because of their anti-life stance and soon it will be Islamic, now it's secular, but in its past glory, it was
Christendom.

Thanks again for being my brother in Christ!

Iubilate Deo,

-- Ian

17 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Saturday, July 10th 2010

9:58 AM

Religion and the Korean War

Christianity is at the center of the contemporary Korean conflict, although 90% of people (including many in Korea itself) have to be dragged kicking and screaming to this conclusion. North Korea is the most hostile nation on earth towards Christianity and greatly fears missionary activity as it is a threat to the Juche cult. South Korea exports more missionaries per capita than any country in the world.

History is on the side of the South, the Church and the beleagured people suffering under the Kims in the DPRK.

6 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Thursday, May 13th 2010

5:52 AM

Immigration vs. Illegal Immigration

ORANGE COUNTY ( CALIFORNIA ) NEWSPAPER-New Immigrants

 

This is a very good letter to the editor. This woman made some good points...
For some reason, people have difficulty structuring their arguments when arguing against supporting the currently proposed immigration revisions. This lady made the argument pretty simple. NOT printed in the Orange County Paper...................


Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they either deem politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great letter to the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it will get published via cyberspace!

From:  "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:


Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan . They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty , it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed)
Rosemary LaBonte

10 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Monday, May 3rd 2010

6:58 AM

Pleading with an Atheist

Jez, you have been presented the Word of God in the proclamation of Jesus Christ as the Savior from sin and death. That appeal is made directly to your conscience in the sight of God, not to an ability to intellectually understand arguments - which you reject in favor of arguments with far less weight and age because of your predisposition against the authority and morality of Christ. It has nothing at all to do with a dearth of evidence or the vast sea of antichristian pollution you are inundated with in academia. It has everything to do with your heart. Your true essence, your 'real you' is spirit, and the Words of Jesus address you there: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

You answer 'no' and we respect that, but all we ask is that you answer from conscience and from spirit. For the One that speaks to you is not Johnny or Steph or Gary, but your Creator. The fact is, your faith in science brings you no security against your impending decease, and your denial of the immortality of the soul is not the same as having made peace with the eventuality of death.

We do not offer arguments to convince your mind but charity to convict your conscience and convert your heart. We stand to gain little in the personal, immediate sense from your reception of the Word of God but in order to bear true faith to the One who has so deeply changed us, not by arguments and superior reasoning (although Christian wisdom is superior to all other wisdoms combined), we entreat you as a lost brother, 'hear us.' For Christ has promised to His Church, "he that heareth you, heareth me, and he that heareth me heareth the One who sent me."

All your intellectual scrutiny based on the postulations and assertions of mere men that eschewed the saving Gospel will dissolve in a dark cloud at the hour of your death. Neither Darwin nor Hegel nor Huxley nor Freud will be there to help you, but conversely, their words will condemn you in the mouths of cruel and merciless fiends that will claim your soul at the moment of expiration. The words of Christians will echo in your terrified mind in that hour as did the words of Noah upon the minds of the generation that rejected his preaching when the floods engulfed the terra firma.

Now, if Christ is not divine and is not the herald of God announcing salvation to you, you have nothing to fear at all. You will die comfortably and at peace knowing that there is no soul, no heaven, no hell, no angels good or evil, no transcendant moral justice, no rewards and punishments, only matter, only material, only dust and energy. You will depart from this world and cease to exist except in the witness of artifacts and the memories of friends and relatives.

However if Christ is truly risen from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Creator, you have condemned yourself to eternal misery because you have judged His Word to be a lie and His servants to be liars. You will have rejected so great a salvation, so immense a treasure, so glorious a dignity, that you will be given in its place the destiny selected of your own volition, and it would be unjust of God to grant you anything else than your own wishes.

You see Jez, you are loved by your Maker, who has bestowed upon you the dignity of being created in His own image and likeness. We pitiful fools, trying our best to appeal to your conscience, your spirit which is the image of God, fall far short of what you think you see, for you stop at our words and do not sincerely weigh the Words of the One we speak of. He offered his own flesh in sacrifice for you, to deliver you from so great a darkness, to save you from the intellectual traps that have brought you many new questions but few satisfying answers, to heal you of the debilitating skepticism that is the fruit of a wounded spirit. This Jesus is real, He is Lord of all, and He is coming again. He loves you and will never cease to love you, but will be unable to save you if you finally reject His offer of grace.

We too doubted, rejected and even argued against Christ in our former lives. No one was as wicked an opponent of Jesus as was I! A blasphemer, adulterer, idolater, sorcerer, conjurer, a stealer of other men's souls and their virtue - I hated Jesus! But through the witness of ordinary Christians, His love sowed a seed in my heart, a seed that was fertilized by the misery of my own foolishness. We do not appeal to you as victors, judges, champions; nay, we appeal to you as they that have been cured of the misery of self-absorption and bondage to self-righteousness. We appeal to you as sinners saved by grace. We appeal to you as poor and beggarly souls beloved of our merciful Creator, pleading, "take the cup! Drink freely of the water of life!"

2 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Sunday, May 2nd 2010

12:47 AM

Islam and the West: Wake Up

 
This video does not depict some incitement to violence as in war, terrorism, etc...  These are Shia Muslims (the sect followed by Iranians and a majority of Iraqis) re-enacting the martyrdom of Ali Hussein, the nephew/son-in-law of Mohammed.  Ali was beheaded in a war over the rightful successor to the prophet.  The Sunnis hold that Abu Bakr was chosen by consent of the elders, while Shiites believe Ali inherits the leadership by blood.  The Shiites dissented from the Sunnis, and became a smaller sect within Islam. 
 
Each year Shiites observe the religious Feast of Ashoura which commemorates the martyrdom of Ali.  The holiday is usually celebrated with a 'passion play' in which the beheading of Ali for his faith in Allah is re-enacted with great piety, fervor and passion which includes weeping, anguish and repentance for sins.  Sunni Muslims, which comprise 85% of the world's Muslim population do not observe Ashoura.  What you see in the video is Shiite men and boys "sharing in the sufferings" of Ali Hussein.
 
The only way we can deal with Muslims is to learn to understand them as they self-identify, and not descend into hysterical paranoia and religious prejudice.  I spent a year in Iraq dealing with Muslim people as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne in 2003-2004.  Most of them are just like you and I, wanting to be free, raise their children in safety and go to heaven after this life.
 
The video is correct in one sense, Europe needs to wake up and return to its Christian roots.  Because the Europeans have turned their backs on Christ, they have also stopped having children.  Europeans practice artificial birth control, abortion-on-demand, and accept homosexual marriage.  The birthrate in Europe in less than 1.4 per couple, well below the replacement rate.  If this continues, Muslims will become a majority in Europe and take over the Continental governments without firing a shot.  You see, the Muslims believe in serving God and that children are a blessing, so they are having many of them.  Europe's economies need laborers, and the Muslim immigrants are filling that void.  This is what happens when Christian nations turn their backs on God.
 
Before you condemn the Muslims, ask yourself if you are still a follower of Christ yourself.  Nature abhors a vacuum.  As our nation turns socialist, it also turns against its churches and synagogues.  If you voted for Barack Obama, you voted against Christianity in no uncertain terms.  We have killed 50 million innocent babies since Roe vs Wade legalized abortion in 1973.  As bad as blowing oneself up as a suicide bomber in an act of mass murder is, as some extremist Muslims do, it is not as evil as slaying an innocent child in its own mother's womb.  Because we accept and practice abortion, we have become more barbaric than the Muslim terrorists, and God must judge us not only for these sins, but even more harshly as a people who have received more light than the Muslims have.
 
President Obama holds that even children who survive abortion must be left to die and can receive no legal protections nor medical care.   52.7% of American voters cast their ballot for this butchery in November 2008.  We must account for that to Almighty God.
 
If you know your Bible, you know that God drove out the pagans from the Promised Land to establish His chosen nation Israel in the land.  When the Israelites became more corrupt than the pagans around them, He allowed Nebudchanezzar, Emperor of Babylon to sack Jerusalem, destroy the temple of God, and take the few survivors captive to Babylon (modern day Iraq).  If we are like ancient Israel and turn against the religion of our Fathers to become more corrupt than the Muslims, then why shouldn't God hand over our nation and Europe to them?
 
It is not military might that is keeping America safe; it is the Hand of God.  If we cease to honor Him and continue to butcher babies, we will have to answer for it.
(My apologies to Muslims, I do not think you are animals, the video is not my own and is being sent around via email).
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Saturday, April 3rd 2010

8:52 AM

Response to Hwang Jang Yop's Call for Ideological Warfare Against North Korea

Hwang Jang Yop knows more about Jucheism than almost anyone in the world. The first order of business is to define Juche as a religion, and not as a state ideology. Hwang would probably not use that word, but its clear what he means by ‘ideology.’

At it’s core, the DPRK is a state-run cult not much different from the Japanese occupation’s cult of state-sponsored Shinto and the worship of the Japanese Emperor. The center-of-gravity (CoG) in NK is as Hwang correctly diagnoses, its cult, deity and cultural narrative. That cannot be defeated by bombs and tanks. Clauszwitz and Tsun Szu teach that the enemy’s CoG must be destroyed in war. Treating the DPRK like a normal state in which political-military power occupies the CoG clearly benefits the regime. They want to be seen as a ‘normal’ state. They are not, cannot be under Juche and the cult of the Kims, and will not be until the cult is destroyed not with kinetic force, but as Hwang correctly prescribes, a competing ideology.

Dr. Andrei Lankov as well as several major missionary leaders have argued that Christianity is already providing that alternative ideology. It is clear that KJI is terrified of Christianity. There are a half million underground believers in NK. The most effective balloon-launched leaflets sent into NK are developed by NK defectors who have become Christians. There is already a robust network of Christians working the Sino-Korean border in support of NK defectors, including an informal underground railroad that has helped swell the number of NK defectors who have safely made it to the ROK at nearly 20,000. Compare to 1999 when the Sunshine Policy was implemented: less than 1,000 defectors were in the ROK then, and that number included Hwang.

Hwang would probably not argue in favor of missionary activity in NK but that is irrelevant. Christianity has the staying power to displace Jucheism, whether incrementally or all at once. Pyongyang was once host to the East’s largest Christian population (250,000+) and the connections between the zealous ROK missionaries and the underground NK Church could form the pipeline that will eventually unite the two Koreas with an unbreakable bond.

The minute that NGOs are able (notice I did not say permitted) to enter the DPRK, whether in war or a stability operation, they will come with humanitarian assistance that will be welcomed by the suffering NK people. This will pay dividends in the ideological war, and could be a key factor in keeping down the resistance of former regime loyalists in a post KJI Korea. Christian ethics and principles could also be extremely helpful in easing the transition from socialism to republicanism. There is fear that carpet baggers and red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalists could cause significant political damage up north should they exploit their neighbors too ruthlessly.

Lastly, Christianity will immediately tie North Korea to the rest of the world faster and with deeper impact than mere economics can. This is especially true once the Roman Catholic Church establishes a beach head in NK. China does not formally allow the Vatican to administer church affairs in the Chinese Catholic Churches. Ties between the Vatican and South Korea are very strong and the Catholic Church is growing faster than any other religious group in the ROK.

The ideological war is already under way and the Christian Church is gaining momentum.

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Friday, February 26th 2010

7:20 AM

Four More South Koreans Enter North Korea with Message for Kim Jong-il

 

Four South Koreans Enter North Korea

North Korea said on Friday that it has apprehended four South Koreans, the latest in a series of detentions where the North’s reclusive government held foreigners on charges of illegal entry.

The South Koreans illegally entered the North “recently” and were now under interrogation, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch. It provided no further details.

South Korean officials said they were checking the report.

The reported detentions came at a time that North Korea was resisting international calls on its government to return to multilateral talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons program.

Early this month, North Korea released Robert Park, a Christian missionary from the United States who illegally entered the country on Dec. 25 to urge its leader, Kim Jong-il, to shut down its concentration camps. But it has yet to reveal the identity of a second American, that, in Late January, it said it had arrested.

Neither the United States nor South Korea has diplomatic ties with North Korea.

Notice how as time goes by the media narrative is that Robert Park entered North Korea “to urge its leader, Kim Jong-il, to shut down its concentration camps.” No mention of the contrived confession. That will be the 1-liner summation of the Robert Park incursion as time wears on, which is a media victory for the missionaries and anti-Juche forces.

I’m not saying this is a Spartacus moment, but as I posted weeks ago, a South Korean missionary friend informed me after Bob Park went into NK that there were others in the pipeline. Stay tuned.

There's more.  Asia Pacific News is reporting that the 4 South Koreans are probably Christian missionaries.

SEOUL: North Korea said Friday it had detained four South Koreans for illegal entry a day after tensions rose over Seoul’s joint military exercises with the United States.

A Seoul activist told AFP that the four, whom he suspected were Christian evangelists, had reportedly crossed the border from China in an attempt to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il (sound familiar?).

South Korea could not confirm the reported arrests but said it was checking the safety of more than 1,000 of its citizens currently working in or visiting the hardline communist state.

“A relevant institution of the DPRK (North Korea) recently detained four South Koreans who illegally entered it. They are now under investigation by the institution,” Pyongyang’s official news agency said.

Its English-language report, headlined “South Korean Trespassers Detained,” gave no further details.

It was the third time in two months that the North has reported an illegal border crossing. One of the cases involved a US missionary on a human rights crusade.

Activist Choi Sung-Yong, quoting his informants in China, said the four crossed the border between China’s Tumen city and Namyang in the North several days ago.

They told North Korean soldiers that they came there to see Kim Jong-Il,” said Choi, who campaigns to bring back South Koreans abducted by the North in previous decades and has contacts there.

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Monday, February 15th 2010

11:16 PM

What Really Happened To Robert Park in North Korea?

This is the most definitive explanation I’ve seen yet of what probably happened to Robert Park. From today’s Chosun ilbo:

How N.Korea ‘Converts’ Critical Foreigners

The evangelical activist freed by North Korea after 43 days in detention returned to the U.S. looking thin and pale and burst into tears when he met his parents. Acquaintances say it was a noticeable change from the excitable Robert Park they knew, who walked into North Korea on Christmas Eve on a mission to convert the regime, which he apparently believed came straight from God.

Before he was freed, Park (28) was paraded before the North Korean media, reciting a nonsensical apology that blamed the error of his ways on “false propaganda” in the West and accepted that North Korea “guarantees the freedom” of all its people.

What had happened? A former senior North Korean official who defected to the South said, “Ninety-nine percent of these so-called press conferences in the North are faked through torture and coercion.”

The State Security Department is in charge of such cases. Investigators from the psychological warfare office reportedly attempt to penetrate the inner world of detainees or suspects through an alternate series of torture and conciliatory persuasion. The investigators keep the detainees awake until they surrender.

But if Park was scared in the North, it would have been nothing compared to what North Korean dissidents suffer. Still, anybody from the free world would feel a lot more panic if they experience torture, however mild it is considered in the North.

North Koreans are said to shudder in horror at the mere mention of the underground prisons of the State Security Department, because unimaginable brutality is committed there. Once the department finishes investigation, detainees are transferred to another agency codenamed “No. 3 Building.”

Those who have been sufficiently scared are supposed to read out a script or act as directed in a staged press conference. Jang Hae-sung, a former reporter for Korean Central Television who defected to the South, recalled that when he worked in Pyongyang, he saw a fake press conference for kidnapped South Korean fishermen. At the time, the press conference hall was jam-packed with government agents involved in South Korean affairs. The press conference went on exactly according to a script, he said.

How any of you could doubt a zealous Christian like Robert Park in deference to the Juche cult is beyond me.

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Sunday, February 7th 2010

5:57 AM

A Christian Analysis of the Robert Park Incursion into North Korea

The damage is done.  Not to Robert Park, or to the zealous South Korean missionary enterprise, nor to the Christian Church – but to the Juche cult practiced as the state religion of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK). 

The DPRK spends nearly 40% of it’s annual budget on the maintenance of the cult which proclaims that Kim Il Sung is the eternal leader and savior of [all] Korea and that ‘arduous struggle’ to achieve reunification under the ‘great leader Kim Il Sung’ is the ‘sacred duty’ of all Koreans.   The cult of personality that demands worship of Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il is all that is holding the regime together – and preservation of the cult is the top priority of the government.  The state religion of Juche tolerates no dissent and its rigorous demand of adherence from all North Korean citizens has rendered the DPRK dead last among the world’s nations in political freedoms and the most dangerous nation on earth to be a Christian. 

Regardless of what happened to Robert Park once inside North Korea, whether torture of himself or others, brainwashing, or other coercive measures taken to force the contrived repentance statement he made to the KCNA (the DPRK’s state run media), the fact is that he made them play defense.

No American has ever gone into the DPRK as Robert Park did on Christmas Day 2009 in the light of day, openly proclaiming Christ’s love for North Korea and calling attention to its abysmal human rights record.  Park went in to offer himself as a martyr for the suffering people of North Korea and to share their misery.  Some will say that his mission was a failure that resulted in recantation – and this appearance is indeed compelling until you peel back the layers of the DPRK’s response to Park’s brazen confrontation.

Largely ignored by the media is the fact that the operation was conceived by Park’s missionary organization Pax Koreana in December as a 2-pronged attack.  Prong one of course, was Park’s defenseless incursion into North Korea proclaiming Jesus Christ’s love and demanding the opening of the DPRK’s borders for humanitarian assistance.  The second prong involved the launching of 150,000 leaflets across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) by helium balloons on January 27th that explained the reason for Park’s incursion into North Korea and denounced Kim Jong Il’s excesses.

Lest one think that helium balloons and plastic leaflets are inconsequential instruments in getting the truth into the cult-controlled state, consider that the task force charged with policing up the leaflets is the Korean Peoples’ Army.  The KPA was so concerned about religion making inroads to the soldiers that this 18 page field bulletin was issued to the military in 2007 warning against the ‘evils of religion’ which was “… not only taking over the regular citizens but is becoming an influence within the army of North Korea.”

The document states that, “The enemy is sending bibles, audio and video materials related to religion and superstition through various routes. They are placing spies within international delegations entering our borders to spread their religions and superstitious beliefs and win our citizens over to their side.”

Robert Park’s entry into North Korea created the KCNA news story that was released shortly after his surrender to the DPRK on Christmas Day.  The KCNA did not explain Park’s confrontation of Kim Jong Il, Juche or the regime in its reporting.  Then a month later come 150,000 leaflets across the DMZ, most descending to the ground shortly after crossing north where 70% of the KPA are currently deployed.  Once the military of North Korea is successfully infiltrated by religious believers, the regime’s coercive power has been seriously degraded.  Attempting to use the military to oppress the ordinary people already angered over the redenomination of currency and the severe malnutrition they face could backfire on the government.

Yes, on the surface it appears that Robert Park and Pax Koreana were outsmarted by the godmakers of Juche.  But strategically speaking, the DPRK’s response is too little, too late – the seal has been punctured, the hole has been gouged, the light is leaking in.   The contrived pro-Juche ‘repentance statement’ issued by the KCNA in Park’s name is a desperate response to a mortal wound inflicted by Pax Koreana which is buttressed by the actions of other balloon launchers, missionaries working the Sino-Korean border to assist defectors, and the prayers of the 500,000 member underground Church.

Robert Park may have buckled under torture of one kind or another – no surprise there.  This is to be expected, not only by us on the outside, but more importantly by citizens of the DPRK.  They know the game.  The North Korean people are well acquainted with the Stalinist tactics of the Juche cult.  Park’s contrived ‘confession’ may fool a few, but the majority of the people know better.  And the word is no doubt spreading through the population and yes, the military, about what Park really came to do.  The people of North Korea now know that Americans care about their suffering.  They are beginning to understand that their plight is known outside the prison-cult that entraps them.  This is a deadly blow to the cult, no matter what the KCNA’s propaganda machine promulgates to the contrary.

The reality is that Park came representing no government, no military, no large organization – he came in the name of Jesus Christ.  There is no weapon, tool nor counter-attack that the Juche cult can implement to defeat the spread of Christianity.  Blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the Church.  It may take a while to spread, but the word about who that American was that entered North Korea on December 25th will get around.  No matter how humiliated he may look or feel, Robert Park was a missile of love that mortally wounded the Juche cult and the DPRK’s oppression of its people by doing what no one had ever done before.   The DPRK is playing defense; and the actions of a weak, foolish and beaten down young man may have dealt the idolatrous cult of Juche its death blow.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”  1st Corinthians Chapter 1:28-30

 

 

 

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Thursday, January 28th 2010

6:59 AM

Another American Enters North Korea as 150,000 Helium Balloon-Borne Leaflets Explain Mission

     Its a Spartacus moment in the making.

The accompanying delivery of 150,000 leaflets into North Korea by Christian missionary Robert Park’s activist organization, Pax Koreana is the real story here. The leaflets explain Park’s mission and will most certainly be policed up by North Korean Army regulars - 70% of whom are deployed within a few miles of the DMZ.

Why is that important? Because when the military begins to sympathize with the dissidents, with Christians, or with ordinary North Koreans - the game is over, Juche has failed, and the Ceaucescu moment is imminent. I’m not saying that vast numbers of the Soldiers who read these leaflets will necessarily believe the messages printed on them - although some already do - but that the rumors will begin to spread into the population that a Korean-American Christian entered North Korea openly to call Kim Jong Il to repent and receive the Christian God. That will certainly cause a moral earthquake - and the 70,000+ cell phones currently in use in the DPRK may be a source to facilitate the spread of the rumors all over the country. The fact that the KCNA (North Korean state-run media) is reporting that 2 Americans have entered the DPRK is an inadvertant aid to the overall effort.

After all the years of confrontation between massive armies, navies, air forces, nuclear weapons, espionage and intrigue, it may be that a weak and frail missionary, some helium balloons and small waterproof leaflets will be the David’s stone that fells the Goliath of Juche.

God grant that Robert Park’s mission continue to grow in its effectiveness.

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Thursday, January 21st 2010

8:26 AM

Stand Up, Catholics!

 
Stand up, Catholics!
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Saturday, December 5th 2009

4:46 AM

North Korea: The Ceaucescu moment could be closer than it seems.

   

The Ceaucescu moment could be closer than it seems.

Angry citizens burned piles of old bills at two separate locations in the eastern coastal city of Hamhung on Monday, the Daily NK, a Seoul-based online news outlet that focuses on North Korean affairs, reported late Thursday, citing an unidentified North Korean resident.

It quoted the resident as saying he saw graffiti and leaflets criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in and around a college in Hamhung - a rare move in a country where the totalitarian government keeps tight control over its 24 million people.

                                                        link

Dictatorships rarely end well. I was there when this one did.

The collapse of Pyongyang will feature similarities to both Romania and Iraq but will in its own way be worse than both - it will be seen as the failure not only of a state, but of a religion. Adherents.com ranks Juche, the state ideology of the DPRK as the 10th largest religion in the world. May the stench of Juche’s burning corpse forever remind us of the misery spread through idolatry, materialism, statism and personality cults.

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Thursday, November 26th 2009

12:49 AM

Modernism is Not of God

Let us move beyond the polite jousting and fencing and cut to the heart of the matter. The modernist wants to subject all reality to evolutionism as did Teillard de Chardin, who's works remain under the monitum. The modernist posits so-called science (actually unproven theories dependent upon faith) against religion and these impertinent thieves and liars impose the idea upon the faithful that Truth itself evolves. They do so under the name of Catholic and indeed have successfully infiltrated the heirarchy of the Church. St. Pius X thunders against them in Pascendi Dominici Gregis with undiminished prophetic exhortation:

Quote:
26. To finish with this whole question of faith and its shoots, it remains to be seen, Venerable Brethren, what the Modernists have to say about their development. First of all they lay down the general principle that in a living religion everything is subject to change, and must change, and in this way they pass to what may be said to be, among the chief of their doctrines, that of Evolution. To the laws of evolution everything is subject - dogma, Church, worship, the Books we revere as sacred, even faith itself, and the penalty of disobedience is death. The enunciation of this principle will not astonish anybody who bears in mind what the Modernists have had to say about each of these subjects. Having laid down this law of evolution, the Modernists themselves teach us how it works out. And first with regard to faith. The primitive form of faith, they tell us, was rudimentary and common to all men alike, for it had its origin in human nature and human life. Vital evolution brought with it progress, not by the accretion of new and purely adventitious forms from without, but by an increasing penetration of the religious sentiment in the conscience.
The modernist also flippantly shoves our Blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ to the side and attempts to deconstruct Genesis on his own philosophical terms. Jesus upholds Mosaic authorship and St. Basil the Great in his glorious Hexameron makes this the primary consideration when treating Genesis: Moses spoke with God 'face to face.' Jesus spoke with Moses at the Transfiguration.

Do not attempt to steal St. Thomas Aquinas in support of your errors, modernists. It is the Angelic Doctor who tells us in Summa:

Quote:
“Christ’s human intellect is enriched with the fullness of infused knowledge. For, by reason of the hypostatic union, the human faculties of our Lord are as perfect as such faculties can possibly be; and to have infused knowledge is a perfection of the human mind. By divinely infused knowledge, Christ as a man knows all that any or all human minds can learn by the rational power (for instance, Christ perfectly knows all human sciences); he also knows all revealed truths, and all truths made known to the human mind by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the gratuitous graces.”
Moreover, evolutionists posit an ignorant Adam who gradually increased in wisdom and knowledge through evolutionary progress. The reality is that Adam, who also spoke with God 'face to face' experienced paradisical life in perfect innocence and lived 930 years. Rather than being one step from an ignorant brute primate Adam is made 'a little lower than a god' (Psalm 8 ) and taught the entire human race those truths we read in Genesis 1-3. Adam is the genius son of God, father of our humanity and in his 930 years acquired wisdom, knowledge and experience that modernists not only deny but agressively argue against because this Adam overthrows the entire gradual progress theory and renders anthropological evolution bankrupt.

Lastly, there are no intermediate stages of civilization available to archeologists. Civilization emerges full blown and mature in Mesopotamia less than 10,000 years ago just as Genesis describes. There are zero, none, nada archeological evidences in existence that offer empirical evidence for a pre-Mesopotamian civilization. Spurrious dating methods such as carbon dating do not satisfy evidentiary requirements that are met by archeological standards. If anthropological evolutionism were true, there would be layers and layers of archeological evidence to consider, especially among modernists who subscribe to the failing theory of geological uniformitarianism.

Jesus Christ our Blessed Redeemer is referred to by St. Paul as the Second Adam. Adam is relevant to our Christology. The true Adam taught by the Catholic Church is the diametrical opposite of the bizarre caricature modernists make of him (you've seen the GEICO ads - "so easy, even a cavemen can do it.")

Happy Thanksgiving,
cj
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Saturday, November 21st 2009

2:01 AM

Is it Worth it to Continue Fighting Against Statism?

Dear Jared:
The Pontifical Science Academy does not speak for the Church.  Their research has become decisively speculative (READ:  UNscientific) since the 1970s.  I dismiss anything they say that contradicts the Popes who condemned Modernism in the years 1864-1958.  The Vatican may very well capitulate to antichrist at the very end, but it will have to denounce the Teaching of the Holy Catholic Church that has been promulgated without change or innovation for 2000 years. 
 
Never stop praying for America!  We do not know the day nor the hour our Blessed Lord will return.  In the 5th century when Rome was overrun by the Visigoths, I am sure the Christians despaired of any hope of life in this world, yet it continued for 1500 more years.  When Catholic North Africa fell to the marauding Muslims in the 8th century, I am sure they though that was the great tribulation.  Same goes for the Christians in Russia under Stalin, Christians under Hitler in Europe, Christians under Mao in China, and right here where I am are some of the bravest and best Christians on earth here in Korea.  The North Korean underground Church soldiers on for Jesus even though to be accused of being a Christian is an automatic sentence to the gulags, torture, starvation and death. 
 
We are surrounded by decadence and we are not guiltless; the very fact that it distresses you and others is a sign of the Holy Spirit's deep work in your hearts.  We are victors, Jared; not victims.  Whether in death or life, Jesus our Lord leads us to victory over sin, death, the grave and hell.  We conquer overwhelmingly through Him who loved us. 
 
The Europeans probably thought Hitler would win - it sure looked like he would.  But here we are.  We must continue to be salt and light and exercise our gifts in witness to the Lord in all facets of life:  spiritual, social, political, economic, cultural, etc...
 
Lastly, I understand your deep disappointment in the Army.  The Army is made up of Americans.  If anything, the Army is more conservative than mainstream America.  That tells us how deeply the inroads have been made by statists into our society.  But God was willing to spare Sodom for the sake of 5 righteous believers.  We must not despair.  We must not give up or surrender or faint.  Our Founding Fathers call to us from beyond:  Fight on!  You are Americans, One Nation under God!  We may be a Gideon's band, but the Lord accomplished a great defeat of His enemies through just 300 faithful men behind Gideon's faith.
 
May Christ grant you his peace and joy.  The joy of the Lord is our strength!
 
Johnny
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Friday, November 6th 2009

7:54 AM

Discussion on Afghanistan

Jay,
I have stated these views on quite a few forums, mostly behind the .mil firewall, but also on scholarly sites such as this thread (my original post here) on Small Wars Journal. 
 
I guess when I say 'winnable' I am thinking like a Soldier and not a consituent of a US government official.  I also doubt the political will is there to sustain a long term counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, but (speaking as a citizen now), does that matter?  What really matters is how will a defeat in Afghanistan affect our security here at home?  And how will it affect matters in Pakistan, India, Iran and even in Iraq?  Does this POTUS really have a choice?  A withdrawal in Afghanistan will trigger many awful actions that most Americans have not pondered.
 
The reason there are protests and riots in Tehran is that Shiites there see that their co-religionists across their western border are enjoying the fruits of liberty in post-Saddam Iraq.  We all take that for granted but if Tehran is toppled from within by a pro-US constituency it will radically reshape the ME and vindicate the Bush doctrine resoundingly.  Obama has bet the farm that Bush was wrong to change regimes in Baghdad and I believe he is invested in failure there.  That explains at least to some extent his tepid support for dissidents in Iran.  If Tehran topples and a free government takes hold, Obama looks like a fool and Bush looks like Abraham Lincoln.
 
I do agree with the historical models you proposed in the Americas, and they are relevant.  The main difference is that we have no intention of colonizing Iraq or Afghanistan.  We are not planning on staying there - of course we said the same about Korea and here I am!  But we do not run South Korea and they are growing more and more independent all the time. 
 
A strategic withdrawal in Afghanistan will likely destabilize Pakistan which may trigger a hot war between Pakistan and India.  It will greatly embolden AQ who suffered a humiliating defeat in OIF.  It was AQ who stated that the central front of their Jihad was Iraq - and politicians in Washington, DC such as Barack Obama looked foolish stating that it was Afghanistan.  Now that AQ in Iraq are defeated, they have moved their central front to Afghanistan.  And Obama is dithering while the Taliban claim more and more turf.  A victory for the Taliban is a victory for AQ and a victory for AQ will boost recruitment and organizational expansion for terrorism world-wide.  Obama's people deny that there even is a war on terrorism. 
 
I do not wish for such but perhaps the only thing that will wake us up is another large scale terrorist attack on the US connected to AQ or another terrorist group whom we have engaged on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Lastly, Generals Petraeus and McChrystal are battle-hardened warriors, scholars, intellectuals, leaders.  Obama is a community organizer.   There is much at stake here.
 
Let me know if you are OK with posting our colloquy on my blog.
 
OB


 
Hey there OB, yes I did read your article, and I agree with much of what you say.
 
I believe the make-up of the people and country of Afghanistan (illiterate, fiercely independant, warlike, tribal, welded to their own religious and cultural traditions) will require a unique response from any invader. Because of who they are, anybody from outside will always be an invader.
 
The unique responses that might succeed would require many years of work, a new paradigm for implementation and a tremendous amount of $$$.   The US (highly literate but misguided by our academics and our media, softly dependent, warlike-only on the X-box level, democratic-we'll elect anybody so long as they have good hair and an engaging smile, and abandoning our traditions for tattoos and yoga) has not proven itself capable of supplying these things.
 
Do you actually believe this gov't., which will not even secure it's own borders, can thoughtfully organize and carry out a multi-generational plan to bring peace and security to the Afghans?  Do you think this Congress and this POTUS will ignore the groaning of so many out of work voters and continue to pour-in the resources for a conventional war?
 
Your citation of our successes in Europe, Japan and Korea don't apply as easily to a fragmented Tribal society. For those models to work, you need a USA with the 'we can do this' attitude of the great generation that accomplished those feats of sacrifice and valor. The young people you are surrounded with may be willing, I wonder if the rest of the country is.    
 
I see an interesting parallel:
 
When the Spanish drove north from what is now called Mexico, the Franciscans created a thriving economy involving the Indiginous tribes in agriculture, sheep-herding, and rudimentary manufacturing for trade. They built a mission society that largely survived after the Spanish had to recall their troops (for political and economic reasons).
The Indians, Christianized and introduced to systems of organization and production previously unknown to them, didn't return (for the most part) to their old lifestyles. Whether by Spirit or by material gain they were converted.
 
When the Europeans drove west from the Eastern Forests of the New World, they killed or transplanted any indigenous peoples who didn't 'get with the new program'. Those Tuscaroras and Chippewas who chose to fight chose death because a stronger culture was bringing it on, as sure as a tsunami.
 
In both cases the tribal lands and practices were supplanted by something new and arguably better. The dead warriors and scalped homesteaders might have liked the chance to rethink the plan, but they're not here to complain, are they.  
 
I just don't think the US has the sense or the will to do what the Fransiscans did...and we certainly don't have the balls to do what Daniel Boone did. What you are proposing is, in some ways, akin to the Spanish Mission success, except you'll let the Indians keep their religion. 
 
I do agree with your position that we must engage Islam, but I think it is necessary for our survival, not theirs.  
 
I want to keep up this dialog if you have the time...you have a unique perspective and I think you should put it out there where more can see it.
 
Right now I have to get to some less philosophical tasks...we'll chat again real soon
I hope.
 
Ever and Always,
Jay
 
 
Jay,
No!  Pulling out is morally and strategically wrong.  We need to engage Islam (Obama is correct on this point) but from a position of strength.  We need to leverage Islamic leadership in its mainstream, orthodox form (what the media wrongly calls 'moderate' Islam - an insult to devout Muslims). 
We have NO CHOICE.  We are already engageed with many Muslim nations as allies - to betray those alliances is diplomatic suicide. 
 
The brave fighers in Afghanistan deserve political leadership that recognizes the WINNABILITY of Afghanistan with the counterinsurgency strategy AND the long term commitment to economic partnership that we have succeeded with in Germany, Japan and Korea.  Afghanistan is only a lost cause if we lose our political will to back American Exceptionalism; we CAN where GB and the USSR couldn't.  But we MUST return to a Declaration/Consitutional view of humanity in order to see the Afghan people the same way we viewed the Korean people 60 years ago as worthy of long-term support.
 
Did you read my article?


 
Good Morning Old Boot,
 
I just finished my first reading of these documents: very engaging stuff. I have to read them over again to take-in more of the detail...the alphabet soup of military nomenclatures is a lot like Pashtun to me.
 
If what I'm reading is true, then we really have no effective option other than to pull out. The US forces aren't going to be building any nation in Afghanistan...Afghanistan can't even build a nation there. I don't see any clear direction from this US administration in the increasingly dangerous global scene....and much of the global trouble is complicated by the Muslim ascendancy. Could it be that our 'boy-leader' is going to show himself as more inept in his international efforts than in his domestic?   
 
If we do pull out, however, we would finally make the media's wishes come true, and this war will finally look like like Viet Nam: more American lives pissed away by a Government that doesn't know what it wants to do. 
 
That's the only reason I'm glad Jackson isn't going the commisioning route at VMI. It's also one of the reasons I have so much respect for you-all who are in it all the time.
Think how easy it would be to fight only one enemy, and with clear directives (ROI's) that free you up to do what you've been trained to do.
 
I don't want to become an idolater...I don't want my sense of patriotism to blind me to God's plan for me as one of His children, or His call to bring the word of Salvation to all nations.
 
Lots to pray about.
 
Keep the Faith Old Boot, and pass the ammunition.
 
Jay 
 
Jay,
First, he decries the past stategy as a misdiagnosis of the secular, Kabul government against the rural religion Pashtun insurgency.  The fact is, leaders like Mr. Hoh have likewise attempted to fram Afhanistan as narco-terror, insurgency, failure of governance, civil war, etc... everything except what it is - a religious war between conflicting visions of Islam. 
 
Our own myopic and stridently antireligious government has studiously avoided defining the conflict as such.  We appear no better than the godless USSR to most Afghans because of this ill-conceived posture that nearly all Afghans reject - remember, to achieve 'victory' in a counterinsurgency the supported host nation must 'win' by legitimizing the government on the people's terms. 
 
The real way to achieve stability in Afghanistan is to back the orthodox Islamic scholars who hold the real reins of power in Afghanistan.  But our government cannot fathom supporting a religious establishment even though Muslims do not, will not, and can not separate the Mosque from the state.  We try to force-feed our political philosophy to Afghans and the clerics denounce us on Fridays in the mosque sermon.  The Friday sermon is the most powerful communications platform in Afghanistan.
 
I have attached an article I submitted to a Military Journal last month on how we nearly lost in Iraq for the same reasons.  I hope you get a chance to look it over.    There can be no victory of any kind in a Muslim society, no matter how backward, provincial or hostile to what we deem progress without the support and endorsement of the Islamic scholars and rank and file Mosque preachers.  We have failed utterly because of our own antreligious bias, and it is in some way the judgment of God that we are losing in Afghanistan - in the long term historical perspective, they may be more righteous than we are  just as God delivered Judah over the Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC.  A post-Christian society is far more susceptible to failure than a Muslim society at least commited to monotheism and a religious society.
 
Old Boot

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Thursday, October 29th 2009

9:17 AM

Has the Pope sold out to modernism?

"Benedict XVI says youth will find meaning in their lives if they acknowledge the existence of their Creator. And, he affirms, the theory of evolution does not require denying God."

By this logic, evolution is the fact, and the Gospel the theory added on after the fact. B16 is clearly surrendering to evolutionism in these remarks.

"He explained: "The major problem is that if God is not there and the Creator of my life is not there, in reality life is a simple part of evolution, nothing more, it does not have meaning in itself. But I must try to give meaning to this life."

Again, B16 here uses evolution as the start point, and urges young people to adapt Christianity to it. Here he capitulates to Darwin and throws Pius X, Leo XIII and Pius XII under the bus:

"Because on one hand," he explained, "there is a great deal of scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and that enriches our knowledge of life and of being as such. "

THAT is disturbing - evolution enriches our knowledge of life and being?????? I thought that is what Christ the Word of God does. He uses "scientific proof" (words no doubt crafted very carefully) in clear opposition to Pius XII in Humani Generis:

Some imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution, which has not been fully proved even in the domain of natural sciences, explains the origin of all things, and audaciously support the monistic and pantheistic opinion that the world is in continual evolution. Communists gladly subscribe to this opinion so that, when the souls of men have been deprived of every idea of a personal God, they may the more efficaciously defend and propagate their dialectical materialism."

Pius the X warned that evolutionism would find its way into theology and change dogmas if accepted:

"Consequently, the formulae too, which we call dogmas, must be subject to these vicissitudes, and are, therefore, liable to change. Thus the way is open to the intrinsic evolution of dogma. An immense collection of sophisms this, that ruins and destroys all religion. Dogma is not only able, but ought to evolve and to be changed. This is strongly affirmed by the Modernists, and as clearly flows from their principles."

So you see where this all leads - to 'evolution of Christian dogmas' and the dismantling of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and ultimately substitutes rationalism and paganism for Catholic truth.
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Saturday, October 10th 2009

10:51 PM

Obama and the Capitulation to Socialism: Judgment is Coming

“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11

The Kingdom of Judah was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Emperor of Babylon in 586 B.C. because of the idolatry of the people and the refusal of the king to listen to the Word of God in the mouths of His prophets, chiefly Jeremiah and Ezekiel.  Today, our own nation is rapidly descending into a godless socialism that will bring the judgment of God upon us swiftly and perhaps without remedy.

There are several comparisons with Judah and Israel that might arouse a spirit of repentance among Christians if heeded.

First, after a period of intense struggle and war, the 12 tribes of Israel were united and a period of great prosperity ensued under the reign of David and Solomon aound 1000-950 B.C.  David, the warrior-king established a united kingdom under the provisions of the Mosaic Covenant.  Solomon ruled by divinely inspired wisdom under conditions of unparalleled peace and prosperity.  Solomon's son Reheboam refused the counsel of his father's advisors, raised taxes and alienated his subjects so greivously that they seceeded into a separate kingdom (Israel, also referred to as Joseph or Ephraim in scripture) which was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.

Solomon reigned as a king of kings although his marriages to foreign wives and his willingness to entertain their pagan shrines in Israel became a deadly stumbling block for the people. 

After the chastening of two world wars and the great depression, our grandparents raised our parents with strong values of religion and patriotism.  Church attendance in the U.S. hit its peak in the 1950s. Our parents indulged us in the materialism of their day, as American prosperity soared.  We raise our own children in unprecedented wealth - a generation that has rarely wanted for any material satisfaction.

In the 1950s the Eisenhower administration enshrined "In God We Trust" on our currency and "One nation under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance.  While these values remain strong among a majority of Americans, they are under attack from socialists everywhere.

Israel wanted a king in order to be like the nations, even though God had chosen them to be a 'holy nation, a kingdom of priests' with Him as their King.  This craven bent towards mediocrity and idolatry is at work in America today.  President Obama apologizes for American Exceptionalism everywhere he speaks abroad.  His message to the UN included pledges to minimalize the role of the U.S. as a global leader and to operate as 'one of many equals.'  This is part of his marxist agenda that if achieved, will hasten the wrath of God against us.

Israel wanted to be 'inclusivist, tolerant and multi-cultural' by synchretizing the Covenant worship prescribed by the LORD with the pagan practices of the gentile nations they envied.  Synchretism brought down the Kingdom as the gentiles observed the weakness of the peoples' commitment to the God of their fathers and moved in for the kill.  The same thing is happening in the U.S. today because of the weakness of orthodox Christian belief in our churches.  One of the reasons godless liberalism is so rampant in the U.S. is that the Churches are so weak in their proclamation.  Where can we go to hear any word today that renounces sin and warns us of the judgment of God?

Bizarre and perverse heresies have rotted our proclamation from within.  Our churches have been deceived by mind science, psychology, health'n'wealth hucksters, homosexuality, no-fault divorce, environmentalism, and abortion 'choice.'  The mother of all these heresies is so-called theistic evolutionism which destroys belief in God the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and replaces it with fantastic myths and man-made models that bleed the faith dry of its vitality.  Theistic evolutionists are the enemies of the Sacred Scripture tearing its revealed truths in shreds and ridiculing the supernatural miracles and prophecies chronicled within.

The churches in Europe are nearly abandoned as they embraced theistic evolutionism a generation ago.  Their birth rates have fallen well below the replacement rate - Europe is dying.  Europe is socialist (albeit with some semblence of democratic underpinnings) and its economy is contracting.  In order for socialism to succeed anywhere, it must be the law everywhere.  Huge capitalist economies like ours attract investment and create wealth - and drain away assets from socialist states.  Hence, socialist nations want America to join in the international socialist movement where a world government can control private industry (and eventually economies) and make the world 'fair and just for all.' 

It is Almighty God who ordained divine laws protecting private property.  The Catholic Church has unequivocally renounced all forms of socialism as inherently evil.  The Church stands between free men and global socialism.  That is why socialist dictators from Stalin to Mao to Kim Il Sung to Hugo Chavez ruthlessly persecute the Church.  The National Socialist Party (Nazi) of Germany persecuted Jews for the same reasons - a diabolical adherence to evolutionary theory (Hitler's eugenics) and a utopian plan to rule the world through socialism required the People of the Bible to be eliminated.

Today, Barack Obama wants to lead the United States to become 'like the other nations' (sound familiar?).  For his socialist policies to become law, he must eliminate the Catholic opposition to socialism.  The apostasized Church did most of the heavy lifting for him when the University of Notre Dame bestowed an honorary law degree upon the man with the most radical abortion policy in our nation's history last May.  Catholics, Jews and Protestant Christians are actually embracing socialized health care as a 'Judeo-Christian' position - even though it sets the stage for even greater government control of our once free people. 

Theistic evolution provides the weakening of Christian belief that allows for wholesale co-option by secularists and statists.  Through this pernicious synchretism between Christianity and paganism, standards for morality and decency have tragically plummeted and we now have slain 50 million innocent children in their own mothers' wombs legally

We have also filled the world with the spirit of fornication through our mass media, most disgustingly through our movie industry.  Our videos, movies, music and live entertainment wreaks of the fornication message and pollutes other nations.  Because of this, the judgment of God is coming.

Because of the grave evil of slavery, this nation was judged with a brutal civil war that claimed nearly a million slain.  That number is miniscule compared to the judgment coming for the guilt of slaying 50 million innocents through abortion.

Barack Obama spent 20 years learning 'Liberation Theology' at the Trinity Church of Christ under the leadership of Jeremiah Wright.  There he learned that America's only hope is to 'fundamentally transform' into a socialist state and make economic reparations to those whom white capitalists had exploited for 400 years.  If this were merely a political ideology it would be dangerous; seeing it is Obama's religious faith, it is potentially deadly to the long term prosperity of the U.S. Constitution and our Republic.

Barack Obama, whether by cunning or naivete is leading us down the road to international socialism.  His radical abortion policies pose a grave danger not only to innocent children but to the nation at large which is under the judgment of God.  His surrender of American sovereignty to globalist designs will cause our enemies to close in on us and seize what they can.  The only question that remains is will we still possess the will to fight when all these things come to pass.  A generation spoiled by materialism, with faith weakened by theistic evolutionism and families decimated by fornication, adultery and abortion may simply surrender to tyranny and turn on its own conscience:  the religious believers in their midst.

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Saturday, October 3rd 2009

7:41 AM

Christianity and Socialism Cannot Be Reconciled

 
Church Teaching on Socialism

"...Socialism...cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth."
QUADRAGESIMO ANNO, 117, Encyclical of Pope Pius XI
Reconstruction of the Social Order, May 15, 1931

"...no Catholic [can] subscribe even to moderate Socialism."
MATER ET MAGISTRA, 34, Pope John XXIII
On Christianity and Social Progress, May 15, 1961

"Socialists...debase the natural union of man and woman...the [family] bond they...deliver up to lust. Lured...by the greed of present goods...they assail the right of property. While they seem desirous of caring for the needs and satisfying the desires of all men, they strive to seize and hold in common whatever has been acquired either by title, by labor, or by thrift."
QUOD APOSTOLICI MUNERIS, 1, Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII
On Socialism, December 28, 1878

Many people are not aware that the Catholic Church also opposes socialism and mandated wealth redistribution for 3 main reasons:
1. It robs the lawful posessor of the wealth (stealing) 2. It hurts the recipient in the end (they should be entitled to hope for and to keep whatever wealth they acquire too) 3. It distorts the role of the state.
 
On the last point, the Church teaches the principle of subsidiarity, which is that higher levels of community, such as the state, should only perform functions not better performed by lower levels of community, such as families and charities.
The church teaches that the wealthy have an obligation to the poor, but that this is a PERSONAL DUTY, not something the state should mandate or control. Furthermore, the oblication should be personal in nature (ie, get involved), whereas state programs separate the giver from the receiver.
The church discourages class welfare and contends that envy of the rich is a violation of the 9th commandment.
Furthermore, the poor are told “to have nothing to do with men of evil principles, who work upon the people with artful promises of great results, and excite foolish hopes which usually end in useless regrets and grievous loss.”
Don’t beleive me, read “Rerum Novarum”, which is the papal encyclical that lays these positions out. Think it is irrelevant to today, know that John Paul II wrote an encyclical in 1991 affirming Rerum Novarum and went on to explicitly condemn the “Social Assistance State”.
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Sunday, May 24th 2009

4:08 AM

Ichabod! Obama at Notre Dame = Ezekiel Chapter 8?

 
 
In the 8th chapter of the Prophet Ezekiel of the Hebrew Bible, the prophet is shown a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem where the image of an idol stands in the North gate; the Elders of Judah are burning incense to the grotesque idols of the gentiles in a secret room in the temple complex; women observe a pagan ritual for a Canaanite fertility god; and men worship the sun between the porch and the altar with their backs to the LORD.  For all these betrayals of Israel's leaders, the land was filled with every kind of abomination and capital crimes were being committed everywhere.  Although the prophets were sent to the people for generations, they refused to heed and utterly corrupted themselves with the religions of the nations.  For this Judah was obliterated by Nebudchanezzar, King of the Babylonian Empire who destroyed the temple of the LORD in 586 BC.
 
Last week a similar invasion into the holy place occurred when radical abortionist and marxist Barack Obama received an honorary doctorate degree in Law from Notre Dame.  Although 74 Bishops and countless Priests, monks, sisters and laity protested, Jim Jenkins and the faculty at Notre Dame defied their admonitions and welcomed Obama with cheers.  This marks the official apostasy of much of the American Catholic Church which has been weakened by liberal theology, tacit complicity with socialist programs, dumbed-down liturgy and the embrace of evolutionary theory. 
 
In the 9th chapter of Ezekiel, an angel of the LORD is sent to seal the elect who weep and mourn for all the abominations being committed in Jerusalem. There are only two kinds of Catholics in America today:  those who weep and mourn for the sell-out of Catholic values and those who have capitulated to the world.
 
When the Church hails as a hero and bestows high honors upon a marxist politician with the most extreme abortion position in the history of American politics, the lines are clearly drawn.  What side are you on?
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