Friday, April 04, 2008

HE TOUCHED ME


He Touched Me
Words and music by William J. Gaither
© 1963

          Shackled by a heavy burden,
          'Neath a load of guilt and shame.
          Then the Hand of Jesus touched me,
          And now I am no longer the same.

            Refrain
            He touched me,
            Oh, He touched me,
            And oh the joy that floods my soul.
            Something happened and now I know,
            He touched me and made me whole.

          Since I met the Blessed Saviour,
          Since He cleansed and made me whole,
          I will never cease to Praise Him!
          I'll shout it while eternity rolls.

            Refrain
            He touched me,
            Oh, He touched me,
            And oh the joy that floods my soul.
            Something happened and now I know,
            He touched me and made me whole.
            (repeat the refrain 2 times)

            He touched me and made me whole.

Source: http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/touched.html

THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

! THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL !

Have you ever heard the everlasting gospel ?

The word gospel means good news.
The book of Revelation tells us that shortly before Christ's return that three angels will bring special messages to mankind.
The first angel's message is called the everlasting gospel.
All bible refrences are taken from the Authorized King James Version.
Rev.14:6,7
"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of his judgement is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters".

Examine this message closely.
Let it sink into your mind.
These instructions are everlasting.
They will never become obsolete.
They will be carried out for eternity!

Take the first part of the message " Fear God and give glory to Him".
Fear means to Love God and to look upon Him with awe and respect. The God of Israel, The God of Abraham, YAHWEH is the supreme authority in the universe; a being of absolute holiness, power, and truth.

One of the most important reasons you should fear(love) your Father is that He did not destroy man after the fall into sin.
God already had a plan to salvage mankind. John3:16 " For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
Yes that is what God did for everyone of us. He allowed His son Jesus to die in our place in order to redeem us from eternal death. For we must be free of sin or even the thought of sin to spend eternity with God.
How do we accept this free gift of salvation?
The apostle Paul Tells us in Acts 15:11 " But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved...".
This first requirement of the everlasting gospel to have faith in God, and accept salvation through Jesus Christ is preached and taught throughout most of the world.

The second requirement is to "worship Him that made the heavens...". You worship God by obeying Him. This obedience is most important, but unfortunatly the most neglected. How do we obey God? Jesus himself answered this very simply in Matthew 19:16,17 " And behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
Is Jesus disagreeing with the apostle Paul, who said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved? Absolutly not! Jesus is pointing to the other side of the coin of the everlasting gospel, the most neglected side, the matter of obedience.
Now consider again Rev.14:7 "...and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." How does a christian meet this vital part of the everlasting gospel? Now read and consider Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ...For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is." Can you see the link between between this sabbath commandment and the angel's message of the everlast ing gospel. I trust you will heed the angel's message. To fear(love) God, and give glory to him, and to keep His commandments.
This is something you must decide for yourself!
Obedience is faith in action.
The bible tells us faith without obedience is dead. James 2:24-26 "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Bible prophecy indicates that false worship will reach a climax in the end times.Yes,satan,lucifer, the dragon will appear before mankind and pose as Christ. II Thessalonians 2:3,4 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped..."
When that time comes it is written that the vast majority will worship satan.
Rev.13:4" And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast..."
Mankind will be deceived and satan will try to change God's law, this can only happen because most people don't care or are ignorant about God's word. Remember His letter the bible was written to each and every one of us. You must choose between God's truth, and satan's lie. II Timothy 2:15 " Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

  • Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
  • Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
  • Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
  • Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy.
  • Honor thy father and mother.
  • Thou shalt not kill.
  • Thou shalt not commit adultry.
  • Thou shalt not steal.
  • Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
  • Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods or wife.
  • xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Remember the bible was written by man with the inspiration of God. But the Ten Commandments were written by the Hand of God!

Source: http://www.angelfire.com/fl/yrag/index.html

40 YEARS SINCE MARTIN LUTHER KING'S ASSASINATION



Things are not as good as you would think.

Today, a son of a Kenyan father and a American/Caucasian mother, is running for President, and all most people can see in him is that he's not white. To them he's too young, not experienced enough, etc.... Blah, blah, blah.....
They probably think he should be a valet or a dishwasher, but not a Senator running for President.
To most people he is not a man, but, a caricature of a man. Yes, the United States is the nation where being white makes up for lack of education, wealth, or a pedigree. Here, caucasian people still marginalize people of color, just because of their color. Yet, if you're white, you're alright. No matter if your unemployed, on welfare, or a plumber. You're white!

40 years have passed since they assasinated Martin Luther King, the leader of the African American conscience of the 1960's. He was their voice, their hope, and dream. Yet, he was silenced forever on the balcony of a Southern 'Jim Crow', Memphis Motel. In broad daylight his life was taken from him. If he died, his aspirations did not. Yet, 40 years hence, things have changed. But, have they really? When most of the people in the prisons of the nation are mostly black. When a black man has to resort to sports to make a half-way decent salary. Things haven't changed.

Let's not forget that that same year Robert Kennedy, was also killed. The brother of John F.Kennedy, and the Attorney General under Lyndon B. Johnson. Bobby was also running for President in 1968. That was 40 years ago. And things have changed, but not really. We still don't know who really killed Bobby, or Martin Luther King, or President John F. Kennedy. Things change, yet they remain the same, unsolved! 1968, was also the year of the protests against the war in Vietnam, which came to a deadly confrontation in Kent State, Ohio. Remember? So, did we learn from the lessons of 40 years ago. Heck no! First, "we live in the United States of Amnesia"; As Gore Vidal once expressed. The ones that we around then can't remember if they had breakfast; And some of the ones that weren't around then want to re-fight the Civil War. The South Gon' Raise Again!

So, things have changed. But have they? Bill Clinton, jokingly said that he was the first black President. Oh yeah? Well, Mr. Clinton: When I was in the Air Force back in 1975, in Arkansas it was illegal for a Blackman to marry a White woman. And to prevent legal problems, the Air Force would not assign mixed-marriage personnel to be stationed in Arkansas, back then. That same state you Bill Clinton, were Governor of. Yet, in 1993, you became the first black President? But, can a 1/2 black person run against Hillary, and stand a chance? No way! He's not old enough, not experienced enough....blasse, blasse...
See things have not changed.

Another war, another protest song, another cluesless President in the White House. Another 40 years.
Martin Luther King, you were cut down while you were in you prime. If you could see the progress.
Now we don't sit in the back of buses no mo'. But, have things changed? Not yet!
They never will, but you're gone.

Hello, President McCain, Sir!

SUNDAY LAWS HONOR 'ROME'



Sunday Laws Honor Rome

When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result. . . . {LDE 131.1}

The enforcement of Sundaykeeping on the part of Protestant churches is an enforcement of the worship of the papacy. . . . {LDE 131.2}



In the very act of enforcing a religious duty by secular power, the churches would themselves form an image to the beast; hence the enforcement of Sundaykeeping in the United States would be an enforcement of the worship of the beast and his image.--GC 445, 448, 449 (1911). {LDE 131.3}



When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.--5T 451 (1885). {LDE 131.4}


Last Day Events, Ellen G. White, p.131.


P.S. Bolds, Highlights, and Large Fonts used for emphasis. Blogman.

JESUITS: THE MAFIA IS YOUR ENEMY



JESUITS: THE MAFIA IS YOUR ENEMY



(AGI) -Palermo, 2 Apr. - First: an empty criminal record.
Second: firm actions against the mafia. Third: economical policy and services which combat poverty and which don't privatise essential goods like water and health products. These are the directions for Sicilian which the Jesuit Social Network released in order to evaluate who to vote for in the upcoming Italian elections on the 13-14 April. The JSN is a network which united Jesuits and secularists who are active in different ways in social programmes, from the south to the north of Italy, through thirty or so cooperatives, foundations study centres and informal groups. Once of the most famous of these is the Istituto di formazione Politica Pedro Arrupe (The Pedro Arrupe Institute of Political Training). For the network of Jesuits "anyone who wants to join the political arena" must have a "clear criminal record", but above all they must have a political vision which "is for the good of the public and not for their own personal interests". Furthermore, they must consider "urgent" the debate concerning the "presence of the mafia in southern Italy and not only in the outskirts of the cities but in the institutions, the community, the economy and at a national and international level". Economic policies must be handled with the resources available and should be aimed ay social inclusion rather than aimed at a misunderstood concept of liberty which excludes others", which also has "less waste of public resources" and uses more money for teaching, for social policies, for health and for protecting the common goods like water". The worker must be the one who "takes centre-role" in all this.

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE


Natural disaster


Fire and brimstone

Apr 3rd 2008

From The Economist print edition


The great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was the Hurricane Katrina of its time


AT 9.30 on the morning of November 1st 1755, All Saints Day, an earthquake struck Lisbon while most of the population was at church. “I thought the whole city was sinking into the earth,” wrote a terrified English traveller. Those who could fled to the quayside and took to the boats. Ninety minutes later, a tsunami swept them away. Worse was to come. The cooking fires lit to celebrate the feast day spread in the high winds until almost all the city was ablaze. Within two hours, a European capital had been reduced to rubble, swept by floods and consumed by fire.

“Perhaps the Daemon of fear never spread so rapidly and so powerfully its terror upon the earth,” wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German poet who was only six years old at the time but could still recall, when he published his autobiography more than half a century later, how frightened he was at hearing of the earthquake. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wrote extensively about it. Britain's parliament gave the victims £100,000, an early example of disaster relief.

The great Lisbon earthquake was the first of a series of natural disasters to strike Europe in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, a period when growing scientific observation was providing new explanations of the natural world to rival those of the church. Because it occurred on a major religious holiday it also set off the sharpest arguments about its cause and significance. Nicholas Shrady, an American travel writer and architectural critic, tries hard to bring to life what happened, though he does not really do justice to the earthquake's impact on contemporary thought. Which is a shame, for this was significant.

Its most influential interpreter was Voltaire. In his satirical novel, “Candide”, published four years later, the eponymous hero arrives in Lisbon as the earthquake begins. He and his tutor, Dr Pangloss, are made scapegoats by the Inquisition. Candide is flogged and his tutor hanged, though he survives the ordeal. Pangloss embodies the view that, if God made the world, He must have created “the best of all possible worlds”. Voltaire used the earthquake to attack deistic optimism.

This slender volume suggests that scientific and technical responses mattered as much as moral and philosophical ones. For the rebuilding, Lisbon's military engineers invented Europe's first earthquake-proof buildings (soldiers marched round them to test reactions to vibrations). The government sent detailed questionnaires to every parish asking, for instance, “Did you perceive the shock to be greater from one direction than another? Did the sea rise or fall?” Modern seismologists used the responses to those questionnaires to reconstruct in detail what happened. The science of seismology springs partly from the disaster. John Mitchell, an English physicist and astronomer, was inspired by it to put forward the first theories of wave motion in the earth.

But Portugal was the main battleground between religious and scientific explanations. The man in charge of reconstruction, Sebastião José Carvalho e Melo (better known to history as the Marquis of Pombal), was one of Portugal's great modernisers. He not only needed, as he put it, to “bury the dead and feed the living”: he also had to save Lisbon from rivals who were urging the king to move the capital to Portugal's main source of wealth, Rio de Janeiro. Pombal reasserted order, organised food and shelter, and approved a rebuilding project now recognised as one of the great 18th-century urban plans.

But parts of the church viewed the earthquake as God's punishment. An influential Jesuit, Gabriel Malagrida, published his “Opinion on the True Cause of the Earthquake”, arguing that rebuilding was an offence against God. The Jesuits sought to prevent reconstruction. The conflict between clerical and secular authorities came to a head with an assassination attempt on the king, organised by a family to whom Malagrida acted as confessor. Eventually, the Jesuits were expelled from Portugal, and Malagrida garrotted and then burned. Pombal went on to reorganise Portuguese education, trade and law.

But modernisation was not to last. On the death of the king, reaction set in. Pombal was stripped of his posts and banned from coming within 20 miles of the new queen. She, it was said, had temper tantrums at the mere mention of the man who had saved her capital.

RUPERT MURDOCH IS NOT THE ANTICHRIST


Rupert Murdoch Is Not the Antichrist

Proof revealed at Georgetown University.

By Jack Shafer


Updated Wednesday, April 2, 2008, at 7:05 PM ET




Rupert Murdoch addressed the students and faculty of Georgetown University this afternoon, explaining the "creative destruction" wrought upon the news and entertainment industries by changing technology. Murdoch cast himself as a relentless competitor, which he is, who has taken on entrenched monopolies and oligopolies around the world, which is also true. (FishbowlDC's Patrick W. Gavin live-blogged the event.)

As speeches go, it neither electrified the crowd nor induced itchy posterior syndrome. Murdoch got off a couple of good jokes about the similarities between the Jesuits, who founded Georgetown, and his company, News Corp.

"The Jesuits and News Corp. attract highly talented people from all over the world. The Jesuits and News Corp. like to challenge the status quo. And both the Jesuits and News Corp. have a reputation of independence and innovation. Of course, there are some differences. I don't want to discourage anyone from considering the priesthood, but I will tell you that at News Corp. we don't insist on vows of poverty or chastity," Murdoch said. "And as chief executive, I can tell you I'm not sure about the degree of obedience, either."

Thursday, April 03, 2008

LIVE-BLOGGING MURDOCH

Wednesday Apr 02, 2008

Live-Blogging Murdoch

We're here in Georgetown University's Gaston Hall, listening to News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch.

1:32 PM: Lovely. Press is stuffed way in the back.

1:33 PM: Naturally, Jack Shafer's here. We're hoping for some good heckling.

1:34 PM: Frank Ahrens, too.

1:37 PM: Our faith in youth is restored. A Georgetown student recalled that "Rupert" is also a character in this classic.

1:38 PM: Fox News cameraman overheard saying "Yeah, Ailes is making us cover this crap."

Kidding.

1:44 PM: Murdoch's on stage. Homeboy has to be dying his hair. Then again, given our sweet ass press seats in the way back of the room, we could be totally mistaken.

1:45 PM: George G. Daly, Dean of the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, introduces Murdoch and calls him "the preeminent media executive of this era" and "a quite remarkable man."

1:50 PM: Murdoch discusses the similarities between Jesuits and News Corp:

Both attract highly talented people from all over the globe. Both like to challenge the status quo. Both have the reputation for independence and innovation. The difference? "We don't insist on public vows of chastity."

1:51 PM: "If Fox News is all you know about our company, you don't know about our company. And if you don't know about our company than you're missing a big piece about how news and television are changing in the 21st century."

1:52 PM: "We have one certainty: we can never be sure where the industry will end up. ... Technology is going to destroy all the old ways and old assumptions of doing business, most especially in the media."

1:53 PM: "They think that technology is ruining their business because it's making their job harder," says Murdoch, but says that technology allows for greater access to media products by consumers.

1:55 PM: "Google is a fantastic company and they are on the cutting edge of technology. Mostly they are writing code for hte Internet to allow people to make betetr use of it. And Google is very good at that."

1:56: "You are all looking for the same thing: Good content. Good content is inherently creative."

1:57: "No one entertains, informs or innovates quite like we do. ... If there is an audience for news, we want to feed it."

1:59: Listing successes: American Idol, Super Bowl, Carrie Underwood, Horton Hears A Who, WSJ, Dangerous of Book of Boys, Night at the Museum, etc., etc.

1:58: Talks of global warming...."We are committed for selfish reasons. We want our business to be around for the next 100 or 200 years." Says News Corp. will be carbon neutral by 2010.

2:01: "As a day to day reality, television can no longer rely on a mass audience. ... There is no magic bullet, no one size fits all solution. To stay ahead of the competiton, a media company needs to diversify geographically so it can reach more people. It needs to diversity by platform, which is one reason we bought MySpace and it needs to be constantly nuturing a new generation of businesses and business models to take place of the old."

2:09: The Wall Street Journal was not only a very unique newspaper ... but was a national newspaper that sells ... to the most affluent and influential people in the country."

2:10: Newspapers are the "greatest training ground possible for young people in media."

2:11: Newsday..."I don't know if we'll get it, somebody else might get it."

2:12: On Facebook/MySpace..."There's no doubt that a lot of people like Facebook and that it's very good."

2:14: "Early on it was very young people going to MySpace. Today the average age of someone joining is 30. ... We have more page views ... then the whole of Yahoo put together or any other service. ... We take Facebook seriously.... It's not a head on fight. I think a lot of people are on both. ... As for monetizing social sites, Facebook has an even bigger problem."

2:18: "Google has so captured the imagination of the public throughout the world...Google seems to have a momentum to it that Yahoo is having great difficulty turning back."

2:21: "It's very hard to be neutral. People laugh at us because we call ourselves 'Fair and Balanced.' Fact is, CNN, who's always been extremely liberal, never had a Republican or conservative voice on it. The only difference is that we have equal voices on both sides but that seems to have upset a lot of liberals. ... The more voices the better."

2:22: Student Doug Goff -- asking a question from the aisle -- clearly already has political ambitions. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Murdoch. We really appreciate it."

2:23: "My personal views are there. They don't affect the newspapers and I stand by that."

2:24: On Obama: "We still think he's one of the most interesting people to emerge."

2:26: "I better be careful. I always get in trouble when I speak about China, especially in front of my Chinese wife."

"Things change from time to time and I believe that things are going to change and open up in China just by the force of things."

"There is a real wealthy middle class appearing and those people .. .they're going to start to want a little more say in their country and then I think you'll find in ensuing regimes ... I don't know when .. .it's going to gradually open up and be a lot freer."

"Wherever we go, any country, local programming, local news is always the most popular. But there will be opportunities arising in China over the next twenty years for worldwide companies, whether they be European or American or whenever, to invest and take part in, as there will be opportunities for Chinese companies to invest in this country."

2:35: Tom Ridge is here.

2:36: Questioner: "As a citizen, I'm scared. The free press used to be the corps of democracy. Please convince me that the world media consolidation in one hand is not a threat to democracy."

Murdoch: Says "absolutely" that would be the case, but "we are a tiny fraction of the media landscape. There are millions of voices out there and we certainly don't have any of that sort of monopolistic view. Everything we've done in my opinion is to create competition. We've started up against other people everywhere. All of our activities are competing with other people and we think that's a public servcice. We want to give people choices. The more choice there is, the better it is. ...[To think the media world is concentrating] is ignoring the facts. It is being fragmented in a milion ways. And I think that's good. It doesn't suit my business but... [Laughter]

2:39: The end.


CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS?










North American Religious Liberty Association



THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT AND LAUS DEO- I

The Washington Monument and Laus Deo-I

THE PYRAMIDION

Even though hit directly by lightning, the Washington Monument recovered and is still the finest historical monument in Washington, D. C. One of the outstanding engineering feats of this marvelous monument is the pyramidion which sits astride the top of the shaft from the 470-foot to the 500-foot levels. Investigation revealed that only a small chip of marble had been dislodged in 1884, the damage being easily repaired.

The pyramidion is 555 feet in height and weighs 300 tons or 627,000 pounds. It was built entirely of fine-grained marble supplied by Hugh Sisson of Baltimore, Md., the same contractor who supplied all the marble used in the construction of the monument from the 150-foot level up. The State of Maryland is as proud of its contribution to this outstanding monument of the world as it is of the Washington Monument at Mt. Vernon Square in Baltimore. The marble for the pyramidion was quarried at the Beaver Dam Quarry in Baltimore County, Md., and was delivered to Washington by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Maryland's own. The marble was strong and durable and weighed 178-1/2 pounds per cubic foot. It was the same marble that Robert Mills, the first architect and designer of the original plan for the Washington Monument, had tested at the Navy Yard under the aegis of the Secretary of the Interior in 1848 with such success. It was the same marble that was used in the facing of the balance of the monument, including the original 150-foot level completed by the Washington Monument Society.

Bernard R. Green, the noted civil engineer whom Casey had selected to supervise various engineering details of the project, had designed the pyramidion and was completely responsible for its successful construction. The covering slabs of the pyramidion are of marble but seven inches in thickness. Each of the slabs rests upon projections on the marble ribs. There are 12 ribs, three upon each side of the well, that spring from the interior face of the wall at the 470-foot level. The ribs are then carried upward until those nearest the angles of the shaft meet in the hips of the pyramidion, while those in the center of each face are connected still higher in the apex by voussoir stones or keystones, forming two arches intersecting each other at right angles. The thrust of a corner rib is transmitted to its opposite by the use of horizontal stones between their upper extremities.

Work began in June 1884 on the pyramidion by assembling materials and the machinery needed in its construction. On October 29, 1884, the last piece of marble for this part of the structure was delivered by the contractor Sisson, and on November 21 it was dressed by the stone-cutters. It took 30 days to set the marble of the pyramidion, the balance of the time since June 1884 being taken up in building and assembling the special machinery, platforms, and derricks required, and in dressing the marble. At the end of the 1884 working season December 1, it was only necessary to fit the marble slabs then used as shutters to the eight openings for windows in the pyramidion for its completion.

Colonel Casey reported in his Annual Report that this would take a few weeks. The pyramidion consisted of 262 separate pieces of marble, containing 3,764 cubic feet of dressed stock. In December 1884 the mammoth structure was lifted into place without incident and in one piece.

SETTING THE CAPSTONE

To complete the obelisk, the aluminum capstone weighing 100 ounces, the largest single piece of aluminum cast to that time, was placed atop the pyramidion on Saturday, December 6, 1884. Colonel Casey was elated at meeting his deadline for completion of the Washington Monument.

Prior to delivery of the capstone in Washington, it was placed on exhibit at Tiffany's in New York City where it was placed on the floor and persons could have the dubious prestige of "jumping over the top of the Washington Monument." Engraved on the four sides of the capstone was the official record of the construction of the monument. The west face read: "Corner Stone laid on bed of foundation, July 4, 1848. First stone at height of 152 feet laid August 7, 1880. Capstone set December 6, 1884"; and the east face read "LAUS DEO." The north and south faces contained names of the commission and the key men in the work of completion.

Although weather-beaten, the inscription is still visible. And still celebrating the founding of our country by Almighty God. Thanks to Dr. Ruth Kreiss, my sister-in-law, and to my daughter, Mrs. Doris Mathews for bringing this lovely bit of our history to our attention.

For reference: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/monument.asp

The Washington Monument's "pyramidion": http://www.nps.gov/wamo/history/contents.htm



Question: What Christian symbol was incorporated into the plan for our Capitol by the man who drew up those plans?

For the next in this series see A Little History The Washington Monument and Laus Deo-II

Source: http://www.americanchristianhistory.com/ChristianHistory23.html

REDISCOVERING SABBATH REST

Rediscovering Sabbath Rest

God Created Rest, Too

By
Mark Earley
Christian Post Guest Columnist
Tue, Mar. 18 2008 04:40 PM ET

Only a few hours of technological abstinence had passed, but already Mark felt twitchy. His laptop lay abandoned, but almost as badly as a nicotine addict wants a cigarette, he was itching to go online, make a phone-call, send a text-message, do something.

Enlarge this Image
mark earley

But then something odd happened.

With the uninterrupted time, Mark found himself better able to think, to reflect, and perhaps strangest of all, to experience a feeling of calm that had gone AWOL from his modern life. The New York Times columnist Mark Bittman is one of a whole host of people discovering what some are terming a “secular Sabbath.”

Men and women who have not darkened the door of a synagogue or church for years are finding a need for a day of real rest—disconnecting from the almost omnipresent technological advances of Blackberries and wireless Internet.

Bittman is not the only one lamenting what America lost when the culture of Sabbath observance became a thing of the past. Judith Shulevitz in Slate Magazine waxes poetic about the loss also: “The texture of that day off is hard to conjure up now, because contemporary life offers little like it,” she says. “For 24 hours, we stayed home and ate huge family dinners, went to church, or set off on afternoon drives . . .”

She goes on to admit, “We had fewer choices, but that lack of choice may have been more liberating than we realized, because having the option of working or shopping often brings with it the nagging sense that if you’re not working [or shopping], you should be . . . ”

It is not surprising—is it?—that the people of all walks of life are discovering a need for Sabbath rest once again. As it says in Exodus 23, God intended that man and even animals should be “refreshed” by keeping the Sabbath. Rest was woven into the fabric of creation. And what we find as we take time off from the rhythms of work is—as the old Hebrew saying goes—not that we keep the Sabbath, but that the Sabbath keeps us.

That is a reality Americans can understand. We are starved for rest as never before, getting an average of just six-and-a-half hours of sleep a night, a 25-percent drop since the early 1900s. To make up for it, we rev up on Red Bull, Starbucks, No-Doz, sodas—you name it. No wonder people are craving the physical and mental health benefits of a day of rest.

But here is the opportunity you and I have. We know that not only is the Sabbath meant for refreshment, but it is also a much deeper, grander sign of our need for spiritual rest. Back in Exodus 31, God called the Sabbath an “eternal sign.” He created it—along with many other things—as a reminder of our need for Him.

So consider how you and your family might rediscover the Sabbath. And as our secular friends discover their need for rest—or suffer from lack of it—let us use it as an opportunity to talk about how the soul itself will be, as St. Augustine put it, restless until it finds its rest in God.

_________________________________________________

From BreakPoint®, March 18, 2008, Copyright 2008, Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with the permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or distributed without the express written permission of Prison Fellowship Ministries. “BreakPoint®” and “Prison Fellowship Ministries®” are registered trademarks of Prison Fellowship.

Source: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080318/31559_Rediscovering_Sabbath_Rest.htm

P.S. Can you see how this trickle will someday become a water fall? Can you hear the footsteps?coming?

LEAVING FULL OF HOPE AND JOY

06/03/2008
Leaving full of hope and joy

Francis de Melo, SJ

We end today. 5 decrees worked and reworked, discussed to fine detail, and finally passed. And a whole list of 20 “suggestions” presented to Fr. General for implementation through the normal governance procedures of his office.

These 2 months – we started on January 7 and end today, March 6 – have been tiring trying to capture the new way of being demanded of us Jesuits in a world “marked by profound changes”, and to put it into words that would truly convey this to the differing views of different cultures and experiences.

Here are some of the key ideas that emerged in our decrees. We see ourselves anew in the decree on our identity, “A Fire that Kindles Other Fires: Rediscovering our Charism” which tells our Jesuit story particularly at its source, bringing back the experience that places a Jesuit, quite simply, with Christ at the heart of the world. (cf. CN 246, 4°; 223 §§ 3-4.) Its central image is of Jesuits entering, with Christ who offers living water,(Cf. John 4: 10-15) into a world that is confused about why it is turning the wonders of life and the opportunities of technology in a dry and life-killing lifestyle that does not satisfy.

Globalisation was a major background to our new vision, with its new global culture, the vast numbers to whom it brings bitterness while bringing great opportunities to many. As the decree “Challenges to our Mission Today: Sent to the Frontiers” says, “…our commitment to the poor calls us to see the world from the perspective of the poor and marginalised, acting with and for them.” It calls us to use new communications technologies, which have a tremendous impact on all of us, and “in this changing post-modern culture to walk with young people, learning from their generosity and compassion and helping them to grow through their fragility and fragmentation to an integration of their lives with God and others”.

The decree “Collaboration at the heart of Mission” presents our way of working with the many who have chosen both to work with us and to share our sense of mission. It calls for us to share leadership positions with these collaborators - whether lay, religious or diocesan, Christians or those of other traditions – and to develop opportunities and structures for the formation of these to know the Jesuit spirit and history and choice of mission.

The spirit of always doing more than just what is expected is seen in the decree on Obedience which presents Jesuit obedience as one where, following the example of Ignatius, a Jesuit will exercise creativity in carrying out his mission as he sees circumstances require and will go beyond what has been asked in the true spirit of the magis.

The “suggestions” presented to Fr. General for further action covered areas like ecology, youth, migrant peoples, modern communications, the intellectual apostolate, etc.

This morning, as a conclusion, 4 of us presented prayerful sentiments of what we felt. There was a clear sense that we leave full of hope and joy. There is a shared sense of satisfying accomplishment, that while what we have expressed is not perfect, it says much about where God is calling our Society today.



Source: http://www.gc35.info/pray/ppal/gc35_blog.asp?id=17&lg=3



P.S. Bolds, Highlights, and Large Fonts, all added for emphasis. Blogman.


FORGET IT, GEORGETOWN, IT'S CHINA

Editorial

April 3, 2008

Forget it, Georgetown, it’s China

With the Beijing Olympics only four months away, protests aimed the Chinese regime’s abuses and its support for the genocidal Sudanese government are mounting. Reporters Without Borders sells shirts with interlocked handcuffs in place of the Olympic rings, and Steven Spielberg left his job as an artistic adviser to the games over China’s indifference to the crisis in Darfur. Now is the perfect time for Georgetown to evaluate its own ties to two Chinese universities.

About a dozen Georgetown professors currently work at Fudan University, teaching and developing everything from exchange programs to ways to share technology over long distances, according to Samuel Robfogel, the Director of International Initiatives.

Georgetown’s ties to the Central Party School, a university that has produced much of China’s top leadership, are more worrisome. Connections with China are especially embarrassing for a Jesuit university committed to interreligious understanding.

“Though constitutionally recognized, religious freedom is accorded little respect in China,” according to a 2007 Freedom House report, which also noted that 50 members of an underground Christian church were imprisoned and had their church demolished just for practicing their faith.

Georgetown’s freedom to speak out on these issues, however, is limited by its connections to Chinese universities. In exchange for the right to collaborate with Chinese researchers, Georgetown must self-censor its institutional voice.

“[Religious repression] is not really much of an issue and I don’t think it needs to be. Not if Georgetown doesn’t push its religious identity or a diplomatic issue like Tibet, and not if Georgetown’s goal is to establish a global university,” theology professor Francisca Cho said.

Georgetown’s Jesuit identity is a valuable part of what it offers the global academic community. If Georgetown casts aside its professed moral leanings for the sole purpose of solidifying ties with a nation with burgeoning research influence, it betrays the very tradition that it tells students sets it apart from peer universities.

“If we ever felt that academic freedom in our program was suppressed in a way that didn’t allow us to be the Georgetown University that we wanted to be it would be a matter of concern,” Robfogel said. Still, Georgetown’s ability to condemn one of the most brutal regimes in the world is automatically restricted by its connection to Chinese schools.

With China showing no sign of liberalizing on human rights issues, Georgetown may soon be forced to choose between speaking on its values or staying silent to preserve ties with China. Georgetown should make sure research concerns don’t get in the way of speaking the truth.

Source: http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2008-04-03/editorial/forget-it-georgetown-its-china

MURDOCH DEFENDS NEWS CORP

Murdoch defends News Corp

by John Cooke

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is just like the Jesuits, he told a mostly-full Gaston Hall yesterday, “except we don’t insist on vows of poverty or chastity.”

The Australian-born Chairman and Managing Director of News Corporation, which owns MySpace, Fox and other media organizations, described the dilemma faced by newspapers and older media outlets in adapting to new technology, especially the Internet.

News Corp ChairmanRupert Murdoch discussed challenges the media faces as technology advances yesterday in Gaston Hall.
SAM SWEENEY

“You can never be sure where this industry will go,” Murdoch said, “because new technology destroys the old ways of business.”

Murdoch, whose company acquired The Wall Street Journal in August 2007, defended the role of newspapers. Although he admitted that print publications are hemorrhaging profits and audiences, Murdoch described the Journal as “the daily of the American dream,” adding that, as local papers are forced to make more cutbacks due to loss of revenue, national papers like the Journal will play an increasingly prominent role.

The Wall Street Journal is unique; it’s a national paper read by affluent and influential people,” he said, predicting that the Journal’s reader base will likely read the newspaper for content they wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere.

During the question and answer session, Murdoch touched upon more controversial aspects of his media empire, most notably the alleged bias of the Fox News Channel and his own reputation as a far-right conservative activist.

While admitting that maintaining neutrality is difficult, Murdoch dismissed allegations that he influences the editorial stances of many News Corp outlets. “My personal views don’t affect the editorial pages,” he said, citing his publications’ endorsements of Tony Blair and the new left-wing government of Australia.

“We’ve always been a catalyst for change, so we inspire fear,” Murdoch said in reference to his critics.

In response to concerns about News Corp’s consolidated media ownership, Murdoch repeatedly defended his business tactics, indicating that News Corp facilitates a broader range of voices to be heard.

“Everything we’ve done has been to create competition,” Murdoch said. “We think it’s a public service.”

Source: http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2008-04-03/news/murdoch-defends-news-corp

P.S. Here's more proof of the Jesuit name dropping trend that is taking the nation like a storm.

Will we soon hear the Jesuit name used like, Jay Leno, or David Letterman? Or, maybe become as popular as Oprah Winfrey's Book Club? Or, Donald Trump hair jokes? I am enjoying every nano-second of the transformation of a cloack and dagger element of Society into a household word, like Arsenio Hall. Remember?

Blogman

THE DEMISE OF FREE TV PROGRAMMING, ETC.




On February 17, 2009, TeleVision will cease transmitting analog programs over the public airwaves in the United States. It will then begin broadcasting (something that has already begun) exclusively in the digital format.
This may not seem like a departure from the norm for most people who have for the last 20-30 years, grown accustomed to having their Television programs provided by Cable companies, or recently by Satellite. But, fundamentally the concept of broadcast programming has lately taken a peculiar turn towards exclusivity, and monopolistic control. Gone are the days of free TV broadcasts, and soon so will the days of free Radio programs. Apparently, the advertisers on the TV aren't bringing in enough profit. So, broadcasters will now
cut the middlemen (advertisers) out of the picture, go directly for the $$$, and allow the Cable and Satellite providers to handle that end of the biz. TV companies won't have to worry about the strength of their transmission signal any longer, yet, will deliver a state of the art product with minimal effort; Just a TV studio set, and a camera will be all it takes. All this brings to mind Medial Moguls such as Ruppert Murdoch, and federal anti-trust laws such as the RICO Act. But, money is more important than individuals, so it speaks louder and silences all other interests! The Cable and Satellite companies will now deal with the auto, pharmaceutical, soft-drink, and junk-food companies, etc. This will definitely restrict/transform the quality of programming; Be it entertainment, or of a news oriented nature. Who's editorial view will you be getting News Corp, or ClearChannel? The Conglomerates will rule dispropotionately!

In the past two decades Cable providers, and Satellite transmitting companies have dominated the Television field. Cable companies such as Comcast, and Brighthouse have risen to the top of the Home Entertainment business. No longer are a hand full of "free" local TV channels enough; Now you can have access to 300 or more channels, from the palm of your hand. Also, most people that live in rural areas have traditionally had poor TV reception, so to provide a superior service Satellite TV companies have stepped forward to satisfy this need. Direct TV, and DishNetwork have provided space age technology programming via satellite dish (right over the air) for those living in un-wired (cable-less) and secluded areas. Now, we also have Verizon Fios, who not only provides home phone service, wireless phone service, computer broadband capabilities, but lately also, Television programming. Therefore, these organizations have become a Wal-Mart type of communications polit-buro; Who offer their clients everything from soup to nuts, figuratively.

Strangely enough, at this very moment there are movements being made to merge XM Satellite Radio with Sirius Satellite Radio. These two are leading the race to dominate the Radio airwaves, in the same manner that TV airwaves are being sold out. What a monopoly? Will they also command the radio airwaves too? It seems that a concerted effort is taking place right under our wakeful eyes. TV has gone private, or pay-per-view. Soon, Radio will also follow suit. What are we in for? A pay as you go, Society? Everything costs money. Will they charge us for the air we breathe, too? Then, here's the kicker: When they have every aspect of modern day human exsistance business-ized or tolled (costing an arm and a leg); What if you can't pay? What if you can't work? Sounds like an APOCALYPTIC scenario to me. What do you think? Are these the circumstances that were prophesied almost 2000 years, ago? I truly believe it to be. It sure reads like Revelation 13, to me!

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.


The signs are all over the place, my brethren, my friends. Everything has a price. And everyone wants to "sell" you something! It's like every one's a salesman. You get pitched on TV, on the Internet, in the Newspapers, at work, at home on the phone, in your car on the radio, it just doesn't end. Welcome to the "LiveStyle of the Rich and Famous"; Everyone's rich and wants to be famous. More, More, More! So, soon everything will cost you. If you can't pay? Then, YOU WILL go without! Or, if you can't pay, when you must, you go to jail; They're building many prisons to meet that demand. Then, if you can't pay, and have a strange "politically incorrect" personality and views; You will probably be imprisoned, tortured, or executed for being an enemy of the 'common good' of Society. Please pardon me for going off on a tangent. But, actually I feel this is where all these innovations are leading. Don't you?

26Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

27What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

28And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.


..........................................................Matthew 10:26-28


Arsenio

AT THE CROSS (ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED?)

ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED?

AT THE CROSS

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?
[originally, For such a worm as I?]

Refrain

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.

Words:
Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spir­it­u­al Songs, 1707;
Ralph E. Hud­son wrote the re­frain in 1885.

Music: Mar­tyr­dom,
Hugh Wil­son, 1800
(MI­DI, score) (does not use the re­frain). Al­ter­nate tunes:

  • Hudson, (us­es re­frain above)
    Ralph E. Hud­son, Songs of Peace, Love and Joy (Al­li­ance, Ohio: 1885)
    (MI­DI, score). It is with this tune that the hymn is known as “At the Cross.”

Liberty Hall, in Wy­eth’s Re­po­si­to­ry of Sac­red Mu­sic, by
John Wy­eth, 1810
(MI­DI, score)

Source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/l/a/alasand.htm

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS


The Message of the Cross


God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Gal. 6:14.


God has given me a message for His people. . . . You have been bought with a price, and all that you have and are is to be used to the glory of God and for the good of your fellow men. Christ died on the cross to save the world from perishing in sin. He asks your co-operation in this work. You are to be His helping hand. With earnest, unwearying effort you are to seek to save the lost. . . . {Mar 100.1}



The transforming power of Christ's grace molds the one who gives himself to God's service. . . . No longer can he be indifferent to the souls perishing around him. . . . He realizes that every part of his being belongs to Christ, who has redeemed him from the slavery of sin; that every moment of his future has been bought with the precious lifeblood of God's only-begotten Son. {Mar 100.2}



Have you so deep an appreciation of the sacrifice made on Calvary that you are willing to make every other interest subordinate to the work of saving souls? The same intensity of desire to save sinners that marked the life of the Saviour marks the life of His true follower. The Christian has no desire to live for self. He delights to consecrate all that he has and is to the Master's service. He is moved by an inexpressible desire to win souls to Christ. . . . {Mar 100.3}



How can I best glorify Him whose I am by creation and by redemption? This is to be the question that we are to ask ourselves. With anxious solicitude the one who is truly converted seeks to rescue those who are still in Satan's power. . . . {Mar 100.4}



We have now only a little time in which to prepare for eternity. . . . People need the truth, and by earnest, faithful effort it is to be communicated to them. Souls are to be sought for, prayed for, labored for. . . . {Mar 100.5}



Upon us rests the weighty responsibility of warning the world of its coming doom. . . . God calls upon His church to arise and clothe herself with power. Immortal crowns are to be won; the kingdom of heaven is to be gained; the world, perishing in ignorance, is to be enlightened. {Mar 100.6}



Maranatha, Ellen G. White, p.100.

WHO ARE JESUS'S BRETHREN?



46While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

47Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.

48But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

49And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother....................................... MATTHEW 12: 46-50.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

ECONOMIC CYCLES & POLITICAL TRENDS IN U.S.

(Image) http://www.nowandfutures.com/images/economic_cycle.png

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Economic Cycles and Political Trends in the United States (Part I)

by Rodrigue Tremblay

"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite."

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), 3rd U.S. President

"I have learned to hold popular opinion of no value. "

Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeating it."

George Santayana (1863-1952)

[N.B.: This article is drawn from a conference to be pronounced by Dr. Tremblay before the Florida Renaissance Academy, Marco Island Yacht Club, on April 4, 2008. Those wishing to attend can call: 239-394-3089 or 239-434-4737]

PART I

I have been a student of cycles, both of economic cycles and of political trends, for a very long time. To try to understand the economy or politics for that matter without having a knowledge of cycles and trends is like sailing without a compass, a weather report or a GPS (Global Positioning System).

There are four main types of cycles in economics, some relatively short, such as the slightly less than four year long inventory cycle, or the standard 10-year technology cycle, and some longer, such as the 18-year long real estate cycle (N.B.: We are presently in the downward part of this cycle, which should last until 2010-11), and some called long waves, such as the 54- to 60-year long Kondratieff cycle of a debt and price inflation-then disinflation-followed by a debt and price deflation (N.B.: We are presently in the deflation phase of this long cycle, a good example being the debt deflation of heavily levered banks and hedged funds and of price deflation in housing) such a deflation phase expecting to last also until 2010-11.

As I mentioned, the shorter cycle is the inventory cycle (Kitchin), which lasts slightly less than four years. This cycle has become very much less pronounced in recent years for two reasons. 1) First, the service sector as a percentage of the entire economy is much larger than it was 100 or even 50 years ago. In the United States, the service sector accounts for approximately three quarters of GDP. Today, four out of every five private sector non-farm jobs (80 percent) are in the economy's service sector (federal, state and local government, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation, public utilities, construction, finance, insurance, real estate, telecommunications, computer and related services, energy services, distribution, express delivery and audio-visual services, etc.). —50 years ago, the service sector accounted for about 60 percent of U.S. output and employment. Today, the information age has generated new forces that have driven the shift to a more services-oriented economy.

For the U.S., services exports represent approximately 30 percent of the total value of America’s exports, and it is in surplus. This sector of the economy is much less volatile than manufacturing, agriculture or mining.

2) Second, over the years, businesses have embraced the use of the computer and the digital revolution to manage inventories. This has lead to the "Just-in-time" inventory management method, which has considerably reduced fluctuations in the inventory stocks of distributors, thus smoothing the production cycle of producers.

During the entire twentieth century, as the economy moved from agriculture and industry and more and more toward service industries, the volatility of the US economy became less and less pronounced. As a consequence, recessions have been shallower and of shorter duration. And, of course, there has not been another economic depression, like the 10-year Great Depression that lasted from 1929 to 1939.

—There was another structural development on the inflation side. Indeed, the internationalization of national economies has acted as a damper on price increases, as new low cost producers, such as China and other emerging economies, have entered the markets. For instance, exports and imports used to represent 20 percent of the U. S. economy; nowadays, it is 30 percent.

Sometimes we measure these cycles from bottom to bottom, and sometimes from top to top. For the 10-year cycle (the Juglar cycle), it often coincides with normal recurring recessions. In the U.S., there were recessions, for example, in 1969, in 1973-75, in 1980 and 1981-82, in 1990-91 and in 2001, most of them within about a 9-10 year interval. According to this cycle, there could be a somewhat severe recession in 2010-11, possibly following the slowdown or recession expected to occur this year.

What is of interest is that the real estate cycle or housing cycle (the Kuznets cycle) is also scheduled to bottom in this period. This is a cycle of about 12 years of price increase and of 5 or 6 years of price decline. The previous cycle, from top to top went from 1987 to the spring of 2005. A bottom would therefore be normal in 2010-11 and a future top around 2023.

But the multi-generation Kondratieff cycle is perhaps even more ominous in its influence on the economy. From bottom to bottom, this very long cycle began in 1949, when wartime prices were unfrozen, reached a top in inflation in 1980 at 13-14 percent levels, and is expected to bottom between 2003 and 2010. The current financial crisis and the credit crunch that accompanies it are the main players in this long cycle.

As you see, the table is set for an important economic bottom in the next two years. That is why I recommend being careful and alert financially during this turbulent period.

There are also cycles and trends in politics, and they sometimes coincide with economic cycles. For example, it would surprise no one to know that during the early inflationary phase of the Kondratieff cycle, a philosophy of government social spending would tend to prevail. In the U.S., this would be a period where the Democrats would be expected to be in power. When there is a need to fight inflation, a conservative philosophy of government would tend to prevail, and this would favor the Republicans. The Kennedy-Johnson administration of the 1960s is a case in point, while the Reagan-Bush Sr. administration is the other.

See graph Economic Cycles.

(To be continued next week)

Source: http://www.thenewamericanempire.com/blog.html

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA

Girolamo Savonarola

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1498.
Girolamo Savonarola by Fra Bartolomeo, c. 1498.

Girolamo Savonarola (September 21, 1452May 23, 1498), also translated as Jerome Savonarola or Hieronymus Savonarola, was an Italian Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498. He was known for religious reform, anti-Renaissance preaching, book burning, and destruction of what he considered immoral art. He vehemently preached against what he saw as the moral corruption of the clergy, and his main opponent was Pope Alexander VI. He is sometimes seen as a precursor of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, though he remained a devout and pious Roman Catholic during his whole life.

His religious actions have been compared to those of the later Jansenists, although many theological differences exist.

Contents


Biography

Early years

Savonarola was born in Ferrara, the capital of an independent Duchy. According to another source, he was born at Occhiobello, 7 km from Ferrara.

In his youth he studied the Bible, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle. Savonarola initially studied at the University of Ferrara, where he appears to have taken an advanced Arts degree. His stance against morally corrupt clergy was initially manifested in his poem on the destruction of the world entitled De Ruina Mundi (On the Downfall of the World), written at the age of 20. It was at this stage that he also began to develop his moral voice, and in 1475 his poem De Ruina Ecclesiae (On the Downfall of the Church) displayed his contempt of the Roman Curia by terming it 'a false, proud whore'.

Florence

Statue of Savonarola in his birthplace, Ferrara, Italy.
Statue of Savonarola in his birthplace, Ferrara, Italy.

Savonarola became a Dominican friar in 1475, during the Italian Renaissance, and entered the convent of San Domenico in Bologna. He immersed himself in theological study, and in 1479 transferred to the convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Finally in 1482 the Order dispatched him to Florence, the ‘city of his destiny’. Savonarola was lambasted for being ungainly, as well as being a poor orator. He made no impression on Florence in the 1480s, and his departure in 1487 went unnoticed. He returned to Bologna where he became 'master of studies’.

Savonarola returned to Florence in 1490 at the behest of Count Pico della Mirandola. There he began to preach passionately about the Last Days, accompanied by visions and prophetic announcements of direct communications with God and the saints. Such fiery preachings were not uncommon at the time, but a series of circumstances quickly brought Savonarola great success. The first disaster to give credibility to Savonarola’s apocalyptic message was the Medici’s family weakening grip on power due to the French-Italian wars. The flowering of expensive Renaissance art and culture paid for by wealthy Italian families now seemed to mock the growing misery in Italy, creating a backlash of resentment among the people. The second disaster was the appearance of syphilis (or the “French pox”), possibly brought back by sailors from the New World, which was a running epidemic and as deadly as the plague. Finally, the year 1500 was approaching, which brought about a mood of millennialism. In minds of many, the Last Days were impending and Savonarola was the prophet of the day.

Savonarola's banner for religious processions, displayed at his former monastery (now the Museo di San Marco), Florence.
Savonarola's banner for religious processions, displayed at his former monastery (now the Museo di San Marco), Florence.

His Church of St. Mark was always crowded to excess during his celebration of Mass and his sermons. Savonarola was not an academic theologian. He did not proclaim theological theories or difficult teachings. Instead, he preached that Christian life involved being good, practicing the virtues, rather than carrying out displays of excessive pomp and ceremonies. He did not seek to make war on the Church of Rome. Rather, he wanted to correct the transgressions of worldly popes and secularized members of the Papal Curia.

Lorenzo de Medici, the previous ruler of Florence and patron of many Renaissance artists, was also a former patron of Savonarola. Eventually, Lorenzo and his son Piero de Medici became targets of Savonarola’s preaching.

After Charles VIII of France invaded Florence in 1494, the ruling Medici were overthrown and Savonarola emerged as the new leader of the city, combining in himself the role of secular leader and priest. He set up a rather modern democratic republic in Florence. Characterizing it as a “Christian and religious Republic,” one of its first acts was to make sodomy, previously punishable by fine, into a capital offence. Homosexuality was previously tolerated in the city, and many homosexuals from the elite left Florence. His chief enemies were the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI, who issued numerous restraints against him, all of which were ignored.

Painting of Savonarola's execution in the Piazza della Signoria.
Painting of Savonarola's execution in the Piazza della Signoria.

In 1497, he and his followers carried out the Bonfire of the Vanities. They sent boys from door to door collecting items associated with moral laxity: mirrors, cosmetics, lewd pictures, pagan books, immoral sculptures (which he wanted to be transformed into statues of the saints and modest depictions of biblical scenes), gaming tables, chess pieces, lutes and other musical instruments, fine dresses, women’s hats, and the works of immoral and ancient poets, and burnt them all in a large pile in the Piazza della Signoria of Florence.[1] Many fine Florentine Renaissance artworks were lost in Savonarola’s notorious bonfires — including paintings by Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo Buonarroti, which are said to have been thrown on the pyres by the artists themselves, though there are some who question this claim.

Florence soon became tired of Savonarola because of the city’s continual political and economic miseries, where God did not seem to intervene to come to the city's aid, and the Last Days did not seem to come about despite the city government's insistence that the Apocalypse was near to fulfillment.

During his Ascension Day sermon on May 4, 1497, bands of youths rioted, and the riot became a revolt: dancing and singing taverns reopened, and men again dared to gamble publicly.

Excommunication and execution

A plaque commemorates the site of Savonarola’s execution in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence.
A plaque commemorates the site of Savonarola’s execution in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence.

On May 13, 1497, the rigorous Father Savonarola was excommunicated by Pope Alexander VI, and in 1498, Alexander demanded his arrest and execution. On April 8, a crowd attacked the Convent of San Marco; a bloody struggle ensued, during which several of Savonarola’s guards and religious supporters were killed: he surrendered along with Fra Domenico da Pescia and Fra Silvestro, his two closest associates. Savonarola was faced with charges such as heresy, uttering prophecies, sedition, and even other crimes, called religious errors by the Borgia pope.

During the next few weeks all three were tortured on the rack. All three signed confessions; the torturers spared only Savonarola’s right arm, in order that he might be able to sign his confession, which he did sometime prior to May 8. On that day he completed a written meditation on the Miserere mei, Psalm 50, entitled Infelix ego, in which he pleaded with God for mercy for his physical weakness in confessing to crimes he believed he did not commit. On the day of his execution, May 23, 1498, he was still working on another meditation, this one on Psalm 31, entitled Tristitia obsedit me.[2]

Display of Savonarola's monastic habit (Museo di San Marco).
Display of Savonarola's monastic habit (Museo di San Marco).

On the day of his execution he was taken out to the Piazza della Signoria along with Fra Silvestro and Fra Domenico da Pescia. The three were ritually stripped of their clerical vestments, degraded as "heretics and schismatics", and given over to the secular authorities to be burned. The three were hanged in chains from a single cross; an enormous fire was lit beneath them; they were thereby executed in the same place where the "Bonfire of the Vanities" had been lit, and in the same manner that he had condemned other criminals himself during his own reign in Florence. Jacopo Nardi, who recorded the incident in his Istorie della città di Firenze, wrote that his executioner lit the flame exclaiming, “The one who wanted to burn me is now himself put to the flames.” Luca Landucci, who was present, wrote in his diary that the burning took several hours, and that the remains were several times broken apart and mixed with brushwood so that not the slightest piece could be later recovered, as the ecclesiastical authorities did not want Savonarola’s followers to have any relics for a future veneration of the rigorist preacher they considered a Saint. The ashes of the three were afterwards thrown in the Arno beside the Ponte Vecchio.[3]

Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince, also witnessed and wrote about the execution. The Medici subsequently regained control of Florence.

Character and influence

His religious actions have been compared to those of the later 17th and 18th century Jansenists, although theologically many differences exist. Savonarola did produce a theological doctrine on salvation, and faithfully adhered to even minor theological definitions of the papal Magisterium. However Savonarola's call to simplicity in church interior and his rigorous moral stances have been compared to those of Jansenists. Also the insistence on the immediate danger of hell and the fewness of the elect can be considered to be a similarity.

After Savonarola's death, a secret Catholic group known as the Piagnoni sprang up in Florence to preserve his memory, organized into a sort of Catholic guild. Franciscan Friars were prominent among the Piagnoni, and they briefly re-appeared in 1527 when they once again overthrew the Medici, but through intervention of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation it was brought to an end in 1530 at the Battle of Gavinana and the Medici were restored to power.

Savonarola left many admirers throughout Europe, in particular among religiously pious humanists who valued his deep spiritual convictions. Erasmus, who refused to become a Protestant is said to have remained Catholic due to the lecture of Savonarola.

In the twentieth century, a movement for the canonization of Frà Savonarola began to develop within the Roman Catholic Church, particularly among Dominicans, with many judging his excommunication and execution to have been unjust. His potential beatification and canonization is opposed by many Jesuits, who consider Savonarola's (secular) conflict with the papacy to have been an intolerable crime.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ Macey, p. 75.
  2. ^ Macey, p. 28.
  3. ^ Macey, pp. 30–1.
  4. ^ NCR Online.

References

  • Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians, James Lawson, Warner Press, 1911, pp. 73–84.
  • Bonfire Songs: Savonarola's Musical Legacy (1998), Patrick Macey, Clarendon Press, Oxford
  • New York Times, Savonarola, Second Lecture of the Course by Dr. Lord at Association Hall, January 10, 1871, pp. 2–3.

Further reading

Fictionalizations

  • The novel Romola by George Eliot features Savonarola as a central character.
  • The novel The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason makes extensive references to Savonarola.
  • The novel The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant makes extensive references to Savonarola.
  • In Natahan Combs' The Burning of Girolamo Savonarola 2006 film, Savonarola deplores the way history has treated him and his legacy. Includes a reenactment of the Bonfire of the Vanities.
  • Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's The Palace, a novel of the Comte st. Germain, features Savonarola and his Bonfire of the Vanities
  • The novel I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis also features Savonarola as a central character.
  • The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, by Jacqueline Park, features Savonarola as a rather menacing character.
  • The novel The Jamais Vu Papers, by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin, features Savonarola as a character in the dream world, perpetually burning, and father to scientist Imogene Savonarola.
  • The short story, "Savonarola Brown" by Max Beerbohm features a spoof play about Savonarola.
  • The novel The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone describes Michelangelo's brother as a later-regretful disciple of Savonarola and the effect of Savonarola on the Medici family. It also describes how Savonarola was eventually assassinated and hung upside down a la Mussolini.
  • The novel The Magus by John Fowles refers to Savonarola's confinement prior to his execution, "Sometimes rooms seem to imbibe the spirit of the people who have lived in them- think of Savonarola's cell in Florence".
  • The play, Bonfires and Vanities, by Candida Cave features the struggle between Savonarola, Lorenzo de'Medici and Pope Alexander Vl.

External links