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Spirit & Life
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 01, Number 67 | Friday, May 11, 2007
......................................................................www.hli.org

Should We Deny Communion to Dissenters on Church Teachings?


((VIDEO message))

Dear Friends,

When I told Sean Hannity in the March 9th interview that I would indeed deny him Communion for being a public dissenter, this provoked - or rather renewed - a vigorous debate about the whole issue. There is a lot of fuzzy thinking on this subject, and a lot of people may be surprised to know that the Church has some very clear ideas about receiving Communion.

I hope that this final installment of the Spirit and Life mini-series on contraception will help you understand a little better the whole reality of what it means to be "in communion" with our Church and, through you, educate cultural Catholics on this fundamental truth of our Faith.

May God bless you and your families in this Easter Season!

Sincerely,


Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer
President, Human Life International

SATANIC VANDALISM IN LONG ISLAND CHURCH AND AUGUSTA THEATER

is being reported by WCBSTV.com.

Middle Island Baptist Church was smeared with satanic symbols and messages. There is a video of the damage at the website.

In Augusta, GA a theater was vandalized with spraypainted Satanic messages on the wall. Pictures of the suspects are given at the website.

READERSHIP

I keep a running log of hits to the blog. They have significantly dropped off since I began reporting on Pike and Levi. Hmmm. Does that mean that the Masonic/occult lurkers have decamped by any chance? Hits have fallen from a long-term steady count of 200 daily, and a high brief count of 400 per day, to 100-150 per day during the last 5 days. Maybe it's just spring fever, though.

THE BOOK OF ENOCH

In Scripture, the New Testament Letter of Jude, verse 14-15, reads:

Enoch, of the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied also about them when he said, "Behold, the Lord has come with his countless holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict everyone for all the godless deeds that they committed and for all the harsh words godless sinners have uttered against him."

The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us:

It influenced not only later Jewish apocrypha, but has left its imprint on the New Testament and the works of the early Fathers. The canonical Epistle of St. Jude, in verses 14, 15, explicitly quotes from the Book of Henoch; the citation is found in the Ethiopic version in verses 9 and 4 of the first chapter. There are probable traces of the Henoch literature in other portions of the New Testament.

Passing to the patristic writers, the Book of Henoch enjoyed a high esteem among them, mainly owing to the quotation in Jude. The so-called Epistle of Barnabas twice cites Henoch as Scripture. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and even St. Augustine suppose the work to be a genuine one of the patriarch. But in the fourth century the Henoch writings lost credit and ceased to be quoted. After an allusion by an author of the beginning of the ninth century, they disappear from view.

So great was the oblivion into which they fell that only scanty fragments of Greek and Latin versions were preserved in the West. The complete text was thought to have perished when it was discovered in two Ethiopic manuscripts in Abyssinia, by the traveler Bruce in 1773. Since, several more copies in the same language have been brought to light. Recently a large Greek fragment comprising chapters i-xxxii was unearthed at Akhmîn in Egypt.

Scholars agree that the Book of Henoch was originally composed either in Hebrew or Aramaic, and that the Ethiopic version was derived from a Greek one.

The Jewish Encyclopedia tells of two versions of the book, the Ethiopian and the Slavonic. It would appear that it is to the Slavonic book of Enoch that those interested in practicing magic with the aid of angelic beings would refer.

Of the Slavonic, the Jewish Encyclopedia states:

The Slavonic Enoch seems to be an attempt to bring all the current traditions about Enoch into a certain system, which is partly furnished by the special scheme of the seven heavens. It is therefore, with the exception of a few interpolations, derived from one author. This author, according to Charles, was probably a Jew living in Egypt, since he has certain speculations in common with Philo and other Hellenistic Jews, and since several other elements in the book betray Egyptian origin.

Date and Value.

The book was probably written between 50 B.C. and 70 A.D.; the first date is given by the fact that Ethiopic Enoch, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom of Solomon are used; the second by the fact that the destruction of the Temple is not mentioned at all. The quotations from Slavonic Enoch in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which Charles uses as additional evidence in establishing the date, are strongly doubted by Schürer. The Slavonic Enoch furnishes new material for the study of religious thought in Judaism about the beginning of the common era. The ideas of the millennium and of the seven heavens are the most important in this connection; both have been treated in detail by Charles in his introduction and commentary, published together with Morfill's translation. Another very interesting feature is the presence of evil in heaven—the fallen angels in the second heaven, and hell in the third. This belief, although probably at first current among the Christians also, was, together with the idea of the seven heavens, afterward rejected by the Church. The idea of hell in the third heaven may have been derived from expectations expressed in Isa. 1xvi. 23, 24; that is, that the pleasures of the righteous in paradise will be enhanced by seeing the sufferings of the wicked.G. E. Li.

A version of the Book of Enoch is online at Sacred Texts.

Of the Book of Enoch, Eliphas Levi, in THE HISTORY OF MAGIC, Book I, The Derivations of Magic, tells us:

This legend of the Kabalistic Book of Enoch is a variant account of the same profanation of Mysteries which we meet with under another form of symbolism in the history of the sin of Adam. Those angels, the sons of God, of whom Enoch speaks, were initiates of Magic, and it was this that they communicated to profane men, using incautious women as their instruments. They split upon the rock of sense-attraction, becoming enamoured of the female sex, and the secrets of royalty and priesthood were extracted from them unawares. Primitive civilisation collapsed as a consequence, and the giants, who typified brute force and unbridled appetite, fought together for the world, which escaped only by immersion in the waters of the deluge, wherein all traces of the past were effaced. (pp. 55-56)

Let us recur, however, to the BOOK OF ENOCH, and it is to him that we must therefore trace back the teachings embodied in the SEPHER YETZIRAH, which is the elementary work of the Kabalah, its compiler--according to the Rabbins--being the patriarch Abraham, as the heir of the secrets of Enoch and as the father of initiation in Israel. Enoch would seem in this manner to be identical with the Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus, while the famous BOOK OF THOTH, written throughout in hieroglyphics and in numbers, would be that occult Bible, anterior to the book of Moses and full of mysteries, to which the initiated William Postel alludes so frequently throughout his works, under the title of the GENESIS OF ENOCH. (pp. 57-58)

Albert Pike also writes about Enoch in MORALS AND DOGMA, XIII Degree, Royal Arch of Solomon:

Enoch...we are told, walked with God three hundred years, after reaching the age of sixty-five--"walked with God, and he was no more, for God had taken him." His name signified in the Hebrew, INITIATE or INITIATOR. The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical. That of bronze, which survived the flood, is supposed to symbolize the mysteries, of which Masonry is the legitimate successor--from the earliest times the custodian and depository of the great philosophical and religious truths, unknown to the world at large, and handed down from age to age by an unbroken current of tradition, embodied in symbols, emblems, and allegories. (p. 210)

MORALS AND DOGMA, XXIII Degree, Chief of the Tabernacle:

"The ancient Greeks declare that Enoch is the same as Mercury Trismegistus [Hermes], and that he taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws...He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs." (p. 363 - there is no attribution for the quote marks in the book)

RICK WARREN'S HEADACHE

Mega-pastor Rick Warren is being challenged by other Christian leaders for not disciplining a prominent member of his California Saddleback Church flock for being one of the world's leading pornographers.

That would be Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., which, in addition to building a media empire on the chests of topless models and edgy, pushing-the-envelope Fox TV network shows, recently began building a stable of hard-core porn channels for its BSkyB subsidiary.

"Rupert Murdoch is a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor," says Chris Rosebrough, head of the Christian Accountability Network. "As a Christian, Murdoch is committing an egregious sin by owning, expanding and profiting from pornographic channels, and Rick Warren, his pastor, has a biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance and/or put him out of the church."

Continue reading the story...

ANOTHER CHURCH FIRE

World Net Daily reported last March:

Another Alabama church burned last night in a fire characterized by authorities as "suspicious."

The Faith Church of the Nazarene in Blount County in Northwest Alabama was destroyed by a fire that began in the rear of the buildings.

Ragan Ingram, spokesman for the Alabama Fire Marshal's office, called the blaze suspicious.

No one was injured in the fire, but the roof of the sanctuary and main building collapsed.


Earlier this month, three Birmingham college students were arrested in connection with a string of nine rural Alabama church fires. The trio, linked to Satanism as a possible motive for the arson, faces state and federal charges.

Read the rest...

Thanks to a reader for the link.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

Anyone who studies the occult quickly discovers this phrase. But what is the source of this basic understanding of the way the world is structured?

Apparently it's the Zohar:

SAID Rabbi Abbi: "The higher or celestial world with its accompanying spheres, though invisible to mortal sight, has its reflection and analogue, namely, the lower world with its circumambient spheres, according to the saying, 'As above, so below.' The works of the Holy One in the celestial world are the type of those in the terrestrial world.

That text is taken from p. 180, subheading "Higher Devachanic or Heavenly Spheres" which can be read at the Sacred Text website entry for the Zohar. The index for the entire text can be found here.

The phrase also appears here:

For, according to the aphorism, 'As above, so below,' there is a joint conformity between the two worlds, when desire is excited in the one, so is

p. 321

it in the other.

The phrase also appears in a Jewish online magazine:

Subterranean Worlds

Over and above the many instances of worlds in outer space noted in the Talmud, Zohar and elsewhere, there is, even more surprisingly, abundant reference to a hollow planet earth, with multi-layered worlds existing right beneath our feet. In fact, it's a case of, 'as above, so below' -- echoing the Kabbalistic 'unified theory of knowledge'. Just as there are said to be 'seven Heavens', so too is it recorded that there are seven nether worlds, one above the other, each inhabited by its own species. Indeed, one notable source, the 17th century Kabbalistic classic, Hesed L'Avraham by Rabbi Avraham Azulai, tells us that there are as many as 365 different species of beings living under the earth's surface. These are said to be half human and half animal, perhaps something like the legendary centaur.

PIKE WAS A KNOW-NOTHING

From the Encyclopedia of Arkansas:

In the years immediately following the Mexican War, Pike’s concern with the developing sectional crisis brought on by the issue of slavery became apparent. He had long been a Whig, but the Whig Party repeatedly refused to address the slavery issue. That failure and Pike’s own anti-Catholicism led him to join the Know-Nothing Party upon its creation. In 1856, he attended the new party’s national convention, but he found it equally reluctant to adopt a strong pro-slavery platform. He joined other Southern delegates in walking out of the convention. Pike believed in the idea of state’s rights and considered secession constitutional. He philosophically supported secession, demonstrating his position in 1861 when he published a pamphlet titled State or Province, Bond or Free?

PIKE IN PARIS

Susanna pointed out this passage from the Prologue of RAVALETTE: THE ROSICRUCIAN STORY by Paschal Beverly Randolph.

The Prologue was written by R. Swinburne Clymer, a noted Rosicrucian.

It will be recalled by those familiar with French Rosicrucian history that this body of men met in special session whenever one of the American members had an opportunity to visit Paris. Such sessions were held when General Ethan Allen Hitchcock attended on June 1, 1850, in company with the then Neophyte Paschal Beverly Randolph; again at the visit of Doctor Randolph in 1856, and still again during his last visit in 1861.

The last session was held at 19 Avenue du Maine for the express purpose of selecting and installing the incoming Supreme Grand Master, Paschal Beverly Randolph, and present at this session were the members of the Councils of Three, Seven and Nine, the then acting Supreme Grand Master Elphas (sic) Levi, and among others were Lord Bulwer-Lytton, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, Charles Mackay, Count Guinotti, Count Brasynsky, Napoleon III, Alexis de Malakoff, and the Americans, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Albert Pike and Raldolph. As a matter of fact, every country where the Fraternity was active was well represented, including France, Germany, England, Poland, Russia and Egypt. (p. 21)

Footnotes on this page are also of interest. They read:

In the beginning this Order was known as The Rose of Perfect Silence and later changed to The Order of the Rose, or L'Ordre du Lis. When the Rosicrucian Fraternity became active in England, the High Council decided that as France used the Fleur de Lis as its Heraldic emblem, it would be more appropriate that the Order should be known as L'Ordre du Lis, while the English activity should be given the name of The Order of the Rose. This usage has been continued since and the Order was most active under the administration of the great humanitarian, Sydney H. Beard.

Also:

Brilliant and advanced as were the members of this august gathering, those we met while in Paris compare most favorably, and their individual achievements are outstanding. There is but one Camille Savoire or Albert Lantoine, and Madam Bricaud and her Martinist-Gnostic Library at Lyon are a fond memory.

The book indicates clearly that the order known as The Rose of Perfect Silence, later The Order of the Rose or L'Ordre du Lis was a Rosicrucian order. The book does not indicate that this is a Masonic lodge.

However, the Grand Lodge of British Columbia offers a different perspective on this Lodge at their website. In their brief biography of Eliphas Levi they claim:

A prolific writer on Magical Freemasonry, he has been called, "the last of the Magi." Born, Alphonse-Louis Constant, and trained for the Roman Catholic priesthood, Levi is best known for his DOCTRINE OF TRANSCENDENTAL MAGIC (1855), RITUAL OF TRANSCENDENTAL MAGIC (1856( and HISTORY OF MAGIC (1860), all written before his brief association with Freemasonry.

Initiated: 14 March, 1861
Dropped from rolls: August 21, 1861
Lodge Rose du Parfait Silence
Grand Orient of France, Paris

One would get the impression from this that the Grand Orient Lodge and the Rosicrucian Order were one and the same.

Another page in the Grand Lodge website gives a longer biography of Levi. Here we are told that he became a Master Mason on August 21, 1861. Here, too, the Lodge Rose of Perfect Silence would appear to be part of Grand Orient.

ALBERT PIKE AND ELIPHAS LEVI

Eliphas Levi, THE HISTORY OF MAGIC

The system of Swedenborg is no other than the Kabalah, minus the principle of hierarchy; it is the temple without the key-stone and without base... (p. 290)

Albert Pike, MORALS AND DOGMA, 30th Degree, Knight Kadosh

Swedenborg's system was nothing else than the Kabalah, minus the principle of the Hierarchy. It is the Temple, without the keystone and the foundation. (p. 823)

Eliphas Levi, THE HISTORY OF MAGIC

It is opportune at this point to say a few further words concerning that Hermetic science cultivated from the first Christian centuries by Ostanes, Romarius, Queen Cleopatra, the Arabian Geber, Alfarabius and Salmanas, by Morien, Artephius and Aristeus. Understand in an absolute manner, this science may be called the Kabalah in realisation, or the Magic of Works. It has therefore three analogous degrees--religious realisation, philosophical realisation and physical realisation. (p. 206)

Albert Pike, MORALS AND DOGMA, 32nd Degree, Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

The Hermetic Science of the early Christian ages, cultivated also be Geber, Alfarabius, and others of the Arabs, studied by the Chiefs of the Templars, and embodied in certain symbols of the higher Degrees of Freemasonry, may be accurately defined as the Kabalah in active realization, or the Magic of Works. It has three analogous Degrees, religious, philosophical, and physical realization. (p. 840)

I HAVE A QUESTION

Recently a priest told me that at a wedding Mass in which one spouse is Catholic and the other spouse is not, the non-Catholic spouse may receive the Eucharist provided that non-Catholic spouse is validly baptized. The priest said that the bishop of his diocese had approved it.

Has anyone else heard of this? Does Canon Law give the bishop the authority to permit this?

I somehow thought that reception of the Eucharist was conditional on believing in Real Presence. Has that changed when I wasn't looking?

Actually, that was three questions, I guess.

SATANIC VANDALISM IN TWO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES

SATANISM IN BURLINGTON, IOWA

has been implied in the fire that destroyed the First United Methodist Church in downtown Burlington April 29. A search warrant turned up "numerous satanic-relatd items" in the suspect's rented room. A fire was also set following a burglary in the Presbyterian church across the street.

SATANISM IN JAMAICAN SCHOOLS

as reported by the Jamaica Gleaner News:

One of the most common practices in schools - if not the most common - is the practice of Blood Pacts. In past times, it was seen as a harmless and even cute means of two or more friends pledging their eternal commitment to remain friends forever. How is it done? Each person scratches or cuts a finger, then causes the blood to drip on to a piece of paper and writes his or her name with the blood, thus a lasting covenant is formed.

This practice has, however, evolved a far way, and the faade of innocence has been removed. Today, the young people who form Blood Pacts in schools make no pretence of their intentions - committing him or herself to the devil. Though there are varieties to this practice, the all have the same effect.

When making a Blood Pact made to the devil, the students chants the name 'Satan' or 'Lucifer' and uses the blood to make an upside down cross, or to write 666 - the sign of the anti-Christ, or other satanic signs.

In this article the recommendations for containment of the situation begins with an effort to conceal. It brought the "situation" in the RCC immediately to mind.