The Mormons Band

Light and darkness. Saints and witches. Goodies and goblins.

It’s safe to say this time of year is full of both the honorable and the horrifying. As Chalicecentre.net puts it, “Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from October 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.”

As we round out the month of October, perhaps you’re finishing up a Diwali celebration, visiting family members’ graves for Day of the Dead, or dressing up for Halloween. There’s a lot going on! Yet more conflicting holidays are on the way.

All Saints’ Day

When is it celebrated? Christians will celebrate this holiday on November 1. A holy day of obligation, Catholics are required to attend Mass tomorrow.

Who is being celebrated? All Christian saints and martyrs. Some saints are celebrated on specific days throughout the year. But on this day, saints and martyrs are celebrated collectively.

What are saints? Saints are deceased individuals who are honored for the good lives they led and the miracles associated with them. Catholics may ask the saints to pray with them or for them, as they are closer to God and may pray for those in need.

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Newadvent.org.

All Souls’ Day

When is it celebrated? Christians will celebrate this holiday on November 2.

Who is being honored? All the dead. Christians may pray for them, visit their graves, or simply reflect on the lives and deaths of loved ones. Often they pray for the souls of loved ones who may be in Purgatory.

What is Purgatory? Catholics believe Purgatory is the place where souls go if they are not being damned to Hell for grave sins but are not yet ready for Heaven because they have not yet paid for minor sins. In Purgatory, souls must be cleansed of sins in order to eventually move to Heaven. When loved ones pray for or hold Mass in honor of those souls, it is believed it helps them move to Heaven.

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Newadvent.org.

Samhain

When is it celebrated? Wiccans/Pagans will celebrate this holiday on November 2. Samhain is one of the four main festivals of the Celtic tradition. (Another is Beltane, similar to Samhain except that it marks the beginning of Spring.)

What is being celebrated? Beginning with the Celts/Druids, pagans celebrate the end of summer on Samhain. This is their new year, as it marks both the end of harvest and the beginning of a new season. During this time, Wiccans pay respects to the dead. Others use this time to make supplications of the dead and practice divination.

What is divination? Divination involves connecting with the spirit world. At certain times of the year like Samhain, it is thought that divination is easier than at other times. Divination can involve invoking spirits, asking questions of the dead, interpreting dreams, and necromacy (or magic related to death).

Want a history of the celebration? Visit Chalicecentre.net.

I noticed something sort of scary today while reading Matthew. The response of the leaders of Israel to Judas is exactly characteristic of them.
Jesus tells them that they pay close attention to little things like tithing, but that they ignore very important things such as justice, mercy, and righteousness. They should pay close attention to the latter without forgetting the former.

Judas tells these leaders that he has sinned and has betrayed innocent blood. Their response is, “What’s that to us? That’s your problem!”. Their response shows no justice, mercy, or righteousness. Judas throws the money down and leaves. The leaders then wrangle over what they should do with the money. They can’t just put it in the temple treasury, because it is blood money. Having completely neglected what was important, they proceed to carefully scrutinize a relatively minor question.

I guess that’s so scary because of the utter disregard for what’s important in those who are supposed to be the spiritual leaders of a people. They did not care about people, only rules.

Well today was ok, worked til 1pm, hung out with Steven most of that time lol since there wasnt jack to do today.. Been working on some articles for http://www.iwalkbyfaith.com recently, I am feeling VERY inspired by God lately to write these.. the next big article is gonna be online at 12am Friday so check it out..
As for gifts, I recieved the BEST gift in March 2002, it was the gift of Salvation and Eternal Life through the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the ONLY gift people should care about, you can only recieve this gift but you can help lead others to it.
He is risen, Jesus is risen, indeed.
Now to the material possesions:
Mom and Derek:
Saint Christopher necklace
The Merciful God of Prophecy - Tim Lahaye
The Purpose Driven Life Journal
The qmail handbook
Price of Persia: The Sands of Time (xbox)
MechAssault (xbox)
Insptitional calendar
and a shirt was ordered from Chrisitanbooks.com but it is now delayed to Feb 06, 2004
Grandma:
$100

Bill & Wanda:
Cologne (very nice smelling, strong though)

Dicky:
$30

Steven and Eric:
Magic the Gathering Cards

and that’s it, doesnt seem like much but it was alot to me
My cousin Amy had Ashton about 2 months ago and he was crying bad tonight so I told my mom to let me hold him (babies make me nervous, afraid I might hurt them cause they are so small) but holding him gave me a good peace inside and I just told him silently to shh and everything will be ok, God will watch over him and keep him so no need to cry.. he quit crying which is what amazed me Zachary and Jerren were ruinning around hyper today hehe fun, Zachary apparently adores me cause everytime he sees me he goes “Chewie” (his dad taught him that from my old habit of tobacco dipping) and says “where Kiki” (looking for the ferret) hehe

Well that’s it for now, I am feeling bad right now, guess I am just tired so time for bed shortly.. was waiting for Steven to email me back but guess he went to bed and am talking to Gina online..

Anyways, Merry Christmas to everyone and never forget the reason for Christmas, the birth of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who lived a sinless life to die on the cross at Calvary for our sins so that we may be saved through his blood and God’s Grace.
Brad

Ah, yes… the Holy Bible. The very mention of it stirs up a wide variety of responses. Some think of archaic language and dust-covered black leather, a book for another time. It’s an irrelevant set of religious writings that have some good advice, but no significant value for today.

Others remember their Sunday School classes from their younger days, growing up in church. Memories involve the great stories of the Bible such as David versus Goliath, Noah’s Ark, and the life of Jesus.

What rarely comes to mind are the stories of betrayal, sex, violence, and intrigue. It’s a dynamic book, “inspired by God,” as 2 Timothy says. The Greek word for inspired is theopneustos, or “God-breathed.” Depending on our view of God’s character, it may be surprising that such scandalous topics are breathed-out from God. Doesn’t God want us to avoid stories that involve sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll? Apparently not.

At no point in the Bible do we ever find that a topic is being avoided. No issue is off-limits. The reason? Nothing is off-limits to a God who refuses to be separated from the real experiences and emotions of life. Whether it be an addiction, strain in a relationship, or worry over a big decision, God is habitually getting his hands dirty to plant transformation and hope within our mess. The first four books of the New Testament chronicle this very characteristic, seen in the life of Jesus. Those stories were about real people with complex problems who were touched by a loving, interested Savior.

Now that I think of it that way, it’s nice to know that I could have been a Bible story, too.

St. Patrick - Patron Saint of Ireland

St. Patrick was born in Scotland in 387 AD, and passed away March 17, 461.

At the age of 16, Patrick was captured by Naill of the Nine Hostages and was taken to Ireland where he was sold as a slave. His job was to be a shepard. While watching his flock of sheep, he turned to religion for solace becoming a devout Christian. After six years, Patrick received a divine message commanding him to return to his family. One night, a dream told him to leave and head south where a ship would be waiting for him. He walked 200 miles and boarded a ship to England. Upon arrival, he was captured and returned to slavery, but managed to escape after two months. He traveled Europe for the next seven years seeking out his destiny and expanding his education. He studied Christianity in France before returning to England as a priest. There, another dream told him to return to Ireland. Patrick became a Bishop in 432 and returned to Ireland to begin conversion.

Patrick lit a large fire to mark the beginning of Spring, Fires were forbidden until the King’s fire was complete. The King rushed out intending a war on those who defied his rule. However, Patrick impressed the King with his intention to spread the Gospel.
To convince the King of his religion, Patrick referred to a shamrock, explaining that there was only one stem, but three branches representing the Blessed Trinity. The King was impressed and granted him permission to spread the word, although he himself did not convert. At the time, the people of Ireland were Pagans influenced by the Druids. Patrick drove paganism from the lands of Eirann. This is symbolized by the banishing of all snakes forever from Ireland.

As a missionary, Patrick founded 100’s of churches which he visited and watched over until his death. Majority of what is known about St. Patrick comes from his two works, the Confession, and Epistola.

Patrick died on March 17th , 461, at the age of 76. His remains are believed to be buried on Cathedral Hill in Downpatrick, County Down, North Ireland.

Sincerely,

Rauncie Kinnaird

Clans Celts & Clover

From a recent piece in the Daily News:

This is a strange season to be a Mormon. During my lifetime, I thought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had effectively mainstreamed itself. Being a Mormon was like being Canadian, or a vegetarian, or a unicyclist - it made you a bit of a conversation piece at dinner, but you didn’t come in for any lip-curling scorn.

Now, thanks to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, I can read anti-Mormon screeds almost every day, both from the secular left and the evangelical right. Latter-day Saints are either a gullible joke or a satanic menace (or, if one can handle the cognitive dissonance, both).

Kevin Bauder of Central Baptist Theological Seminary has sounded off on the state of the American church and the sore need for the re-evangelization of America. Here’s an excerpt:

I have some reason to know. In 1990, I moved my family to a city in the Bible Belt (not Atlanta) and commenced the search for a church. Of course, I did not expect to find an ideal church, but I did expect to find a church that shared some understanding of what the ideal should be. I was sorely disappointed. Visiting congregation after congregation led to the amazing conclusion that doctrinal aberration, toleration of sin, and corrupted worship were widespread among the supposedly fundamental churches of that city. In the end, I found myself planting a church in order to provide for the spiritual wellbeing of my own family.

Read the full text here.

Elder Palpatine and Elder Skywalker

I ride the bus to work most days and among the college students, homeless, the insane, and the unwashed are usually the Mormons. Curiously they’re among the most normal bus passengers, always friendly, polite and if you happen to make eye contact with them, they’ll politely nod or say “Hello!” to you. The usual behavior of bus passengers is to either stare nonstop at you or quickly look away suspiciously.

But I’ve noticed a strange pattern: one is always really hot (or at least attractive) and the other is not. I would call it a fluke, but every time I see a Mormon duo, the pattern holds. It’s enough to make you wonder if its part of some directive from their Salt Lake City Overlords.

I’m normally not one for crazy conspiracy theories, but we are talking about a sexually repressive, authoritarian, brainwashing cult, so I’m somewhat more open to the possibility. There seems to be a new “couple” every month, always following the pattern of one cute, one not. Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints actually afraid that their God-fearing Christian boys are going to fall under the spell of a charming smile? The Mormons do have some pretty backwards thoughts when it comes to homosexuality though, so if this absurd theory is true it would only underline their misunderstanding of homosexuality. If any random hot straight guy could be turned “gay” by a glance the only breeders left would be ugly people. Hmm… perhaps more research is needed.

Whatever the Mormon’s reasons, I would like to thank them for the eye candy while I’m heading to work. Who knows, maybe if they didn’t pair them like they do the boys would spend all their time in their church-funded apartment and not on the bus where I can ogle them.

… and its crack team of investigative journalists. That was meant to be sarcastic.

Over at the Intellectual Conservative Steve Kellmeyer provides us with a great analysis of Ms. Amanpour’s recent expose God’s Warriors, which apparently attempts to explain away the impetus to violence of the three big religions: Judaism, Christanlity and Islam. According to Mr. Kellmeyer, Ms. Amanpour failed; but she apparently was flawless in her defense of secular humanism. For instance, Ms. Amanpour propounds that the past century’s wars were based on religious events and zealotry. Mr. Kellmeyer takes a step back and asks us to look at the dots Ms. Amanpour tres to connect and make a judgment for yourself:

Take a look, for instance, at the timeline CNN provides on the documentary website. Beginning somewhat arbitrarily with WW I, it conflates international events like the fall of the Ottoman Empire, an event that changed several national boundaries, with purely local events, like the Scopes trial in Tennessee, an event that didn’t change much of anything

Skipping entirely over WW II (the secular humanists’ war of scientific economic theory and racism that created more body bags than all pre-20th century wars combined), skipping over the atheist-inspired conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, the timeline suddenly picks up twenty years later so as to claim that the 1960’s was the hinge decade of the 20th century. “By the 1960’s, secularism was beginning to be in trouble,” says Karen Armstrong, “There’s a certain feeling of bankruptcy.”

head over to the Intellectual Conservative and check it out.