Still Running Off at the Keyboard

PRICEY JEWISH SUPERSTITION

A Daily Herald article describes what shoppers will find in a kiosk at Northbrook Court that sells kabbalah jewelry:

What they discover are items designed to help protect the recipient, spiritually and physically, including kabbalah jewelry, healing charms and -- new this season -- pink suede bracelets that help raise money for breast cancer support.

Some are initially skeptical, but many admit they become addicted to what's offered at Lucky Charms, owned and staffed by young Israelis Mulan Reiter, 25, her twin sister Inbar; Mulan's boyfriend Oren Lev, 26; and Inbar's husband, Jonathan Globerson, who designed the company Web site.

According to the article the items are made in Israel and Turkey. Oren Lev tells the reader:

"It's not about the latest fashion bag, with initials,"... "It's about carrying protective energy with you everywhere, on a purse or on your wrist, or on your keys or hanging something on the wall."

A blessing comes with the purchase:

Lev pronounces special blessings over new purchases, as he holds the hands of customers. All members of the team have spent time in the mystical city of Safed, Israel, where they studied kabbalah, an ancient system of beliefs and practices.

The article lists their web address where you can see the prices. A kabbalah red string bracelet with a blue lucky eye costs $21.59. An evil eye bracelet set costs $39.99. Four suede lucky strings costs $13.32, but you get a fifth for free.

FAITH AND REASON ON A COLLISION COURSE

Benedict defends the compatibility of faith and reason. In his Regensburg address he used the compatibility of faith and reason make the claim that coercion in the name of religion is against God's very nature.

...not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature.

and

Is the conviction that acting unreasonably contradicts God's nature merely a Greek idea, or is it always and intrinsically true? I believe that here we can see the profound harmony between what is Greek in the best sense of the word and the biblical understanding of faith in God.

In news that would impact this compatibility, a "war" has developed across the pond. The Independent reports:

A fashionable London hospital is bracing itself for more resignations next week in a growing revolt against tough new rules drawn up by the Catholic Church barring doctors from performing abortions or prescribing contraception to patients.

Two board members of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in north London have already resigned in protest at the decision to accept a code of medical ethics issued by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

This week the hospital's chairman, Lord Bridgeman, a senior member of the Conservative Party, is expected to follow them.

The medical code bars doctors from offering any service which conflicts with Catholic teaching on the value of human life and on sexual ethics. ...

Senior figures in the Catholic Church were enraged when it was revealed that doctors associated with the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth were not only performing abortions but also carrying out sex change operations.

This prompted Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor to write to the hospital demanding its code be strengthened so that such practices are explicitly banned.

I applaud the Cardinal for defending the Catholic faith. However, the ban on birth control in a hospital setting is contrary to the tenet that faith and reason are part and parcel of the very nature of God. I pity the doctors caught in this trap.

Let me explain. In my own experience recently, I was in the hospital when my doctor decided I would need to take the drug Coumadin (generic, Wayfarin). The drug is used to address blood clots, a condition that is associated with breast and lung cancer. The drug has some restrictions on diet that can be a nuisance, and so I asked if there was another drug I could take, and was told no, there is no substitute. Blood clots, of course, cause heart attack and stroke if left untreated.

Wilford Hall Medical Center provides the "Special Concerns about Coumadin During Pregnancy." There you can read:

...one of the drawbacks for Coumadin is the potential for birth defects and/or hemorrhage in the offspring of mothers taking the drug. There is apparently a link between some birth defects and Coumadin taken by the mother during early pregnancy....In most circumstances, Coumadin should be avoided in women of child bearing age unless there is absolutely no other option. ...However, there are situations in women of child-bearing age where Coumadin is still the mainstay of therapy.... If a young woman needs to start Coumadin during the child-bearing years, it is very important to educate the patient on the potential harm to the unborn child and establish an effective birth control plan. ...For the woman who is not planning or desiring further children, sterilization by tubal ligation or hysterectomy would be the most reliable preventative step. In younger women anticipating a new or enlarging family, Coumadin should not be prescribed if any other possible choice can be used. ...If Coumadin is still required for clinical reasons, then birth control intervention must be prescribed as well. A longer acting form of birth control such as an IUD or Norplant are probably best, since daily birth control pills could be accidentally or purposefully discontinued, risking an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy while taking Coumadin.

This is not the only drug with dire side effects for a fetus. Cancer drugs carry warnings as well, and medication used to treat other diseases are probably in the same category, though I have no experience with them.

The Catholic answer is NFP, of course. It is also commonly said that we call the couple practicing NFP "parents". Many couples following the Church's prescribed method of birth control have experienced an unexpected pregnancy.

Reason dictates that for a patient taking Coumadin pregnancy must be avoided. Faith dictates that reliable methods of birth control are off limits to the Catholic couple. Marriage dictates that sexual relations are essential to stability.

As this scenerio plays out over the course of time, I can envision a scientific solution in the form of foolproof methods to determine what part of the woman's cycle she is in on any given occasion. However, at present that is not available.

What is a doctor supposed to do when faced with the situation of a female patient of child-bearing age who requires Coumadin for a blood clot?

A COURSE IN MIRACLES WAS A CIA PLOT

According to Victoria Hardy at OSB News the thing was cooked up with the help of Dr. William Thetford who was working for the CIA at the time dedicated to a project on mind control. Interesting passage from the article:

Although Father Groeschel felt that A Course in Miracles undermined authentic Christianity, he and Dr. Schucman maintained a friendship until her death. Most disturbing to him was the “black hole of rage and depression that Schucman fell into during the last two years of her life.” According to Groeschel, who sat with Schucman while she was dying, “she cursed, in the coarsest barroom language you could imagine, `that book, that goddamn book.’ She said it was the worst thing that ever happened to her. I mean, she raised the hair on the back of my neck. It was truly terrible to witness.”

I'm inclined to say it rings true because this story is so bizarre you can't make it up. But then I reflect that we are talking about A COURSE IN MIRACLES which itself is goofy enough to testify to the creative ability of its inventers. I don't have time to dig into the details 4 days before Christmas, so you'll have to be the judge.

HUCKABEE AT CORNERSTONE

Separation of church and state is the political mandate if Catholic bishops dare to send out some guidelines to Catholiic voters, but apparently Presidential candidate John Huckabee doesn't believe in equal playing fields, since he is speaking at Rev. John Hagee's Cornerstone Church this coming Sunday. Interesting venue.

According to Catholic News Agency Hagee sees the Catholic Church as linked with Hitler, and that's just the beginning of his rhetoric of anti-Catholicism. Bill Donohue at Catholic League elaborates:

John Hagee is the senior pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. Best known for his End-Time writing, Hagee is committed to bringing evangelical Protestants and Jews together. He is also committed to slandering the Catholic Church.

Hagee is no stranger to the Catholic League—we've been tracking his bigotry for some time. But in his latest book, which is a revised and updated account, Jerusalem Countdown, he goes on the attack once again. Though most of his rantings in this book are directed at Muslims, he just can't help but take another shot at Catholicism. In one chapter, "Centuries of Mistreatment," he misrepresents the history of the Catholic Church so badly that it would be hard for any anti-Catholic bigot to beat.

Here's a sample of Hagee's idea of history:

· “Anti-Semitism in Christianity began with the statements of the early church fathers, including Eusebius, Cyril, Chrysostom, Augustine, Origen, Justin, and Jerome .... This poisonous stream of venom came from the mouths of spiritual leaders to virtually illiterate congregants, sitting benignly in their pews, listening to their pastors. They labeled the Jews as 'the Christ killers, plague carriers, demons, children of the devil, bloodthirsty pagans who look for an innocent child during the Easter week to drink his blood, money hungry Shylocks, who are deceitful as Judas was relentless.'"

· "The Roman Catholic Church, which was supposed to carry the light of the gospel, plunged the world into the Dark Ages.... The Crusaders were a motley mob of thieves, rapists, robbers, and murderers whose sins had been forgiven by the pope in advance of the Crusade ....The brutal truth is that the Crusades were military campaigns of the Roman Catholic Church to gain control of Jerusalem from the Muslims and to punish the Jews as the alleged Christ killers on the road to and from Jerusalem."

There's more in this vein over at the Catholic League website if you need more convincing. Needless to say Huckabee won't be getting my vote!

Thanks to a reader for the heads up.

ISRAEL MUST STOP BEING JEWISH

Israel's identity as a Jewish state discriminates against non-Jews, the Holy Land's top Roman Catholic clergyman said in a pre-Christmas address on Wednesday.

"If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against," Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before the Christian holiday.

In his address, which he read in Arabic and English, Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a "political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews."

"This land cannot be exclusive for anyone," he said.

Yes, he really did say it, and you can check it out in an article sent in by a reader.

A backlash from the Jewish community was inevitable. Israel Insider reports on the response of Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal Center:

"Israel does not need lessons from Patriarch Sabbah on how to treat citizens of other faiths and religions," said Hier. "He would better serve the Christians in the Holy Land by going to Gaza and defending the beleaguered Christian minority there from Hamas extremists. We call on Pope Benedict to reject Sabbah's demand and all those supporting this insidious campaign to de-Judaize the State of Israel," Rabbi Hier concluded.

The last line in the article is priceless:

The Wiesenthal Center stopped short of callilng on the Vatican to de-Catholicize itself.

Is it something in the air over there????

ALLAH

A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia has been told to drop the use of the word "Allah" in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said Friday.

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia's Catholic Church, has translated the word God as "Allah" but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit.

"Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people," Che Din told The Associated Press.

The editor objects to being forced to abandon the word.

The Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, said the weekly's use of the word Allah was not intended to offend Muslims.

"We follow the Bible. The Malay-language Bible uses Allah for God and Tuhan for Lord. In our prayers and in church during Malay mass, we use the word Allah," he told the AP.

"This is not something new. The word Allah has been used in Malaysia for a long time. There is no confusion," he said.

Read the article.

THE ENIGMA IN THE VATICAN

When did the Church start making friends with communism? From Bishop Sheen I learned that communism was the enemy of everything Catholic. That was back in the 50s. Today our leader seems to be singing a different tune, and I don't get it.

Pope Benedict XVI said Friday the Vatican is willing to have "serene and constructive" talks with Chinese authorities to solve the problems of the Catholic community in the country.

Benedict recalled a letter he sent to all Catholics in China in June, in which he praised the underground faithful but urged them to reconcile with followers in the official church. ...

In the letter, the pope added, "I have indicated the willingness of the Holy See for a serene and constructive dialogue with the civil authorities with the goal of finding a solution to the various problems of the Catholic community."

Read on...

What about those Chinese faithful who have endured prison and worse to remain faithful to the Pope? How must they feel now that this dialogue has come about? Betrayed?

FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

An article in The Australian reveals some of the latest doctrinal heresies being promoted by Archbishop Rowan Williams:

1. Stars do not behave like the star of Bethlehem.

2. There is little evidence that the three wise men existed at all.

3. Christians need not surmount the "'hurdle' of belief in the virgin birth before they could join the church."

4. Jeses was probably not born in December.

5. He does concede that most people believe Mary and Joseph were the names of Jesus' parents.

"GOLDEN COMPASS" AGAIN

A reader sent in a link to Free Republic where someone has posted the Catholic News Service's review of the film. It almost makes a case for seeing it to see how terrible the world will become if Christ is rejected.

THE STATE OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND

An article from the November 2007 "Christian Order", a publication from across the pond, has been posted at the Tradition in Action website. Its subject is the state of the Church in England, and reading through it one discovers a condition quite similar to the state of the Church in America, fostered by homosexual clergy, and descending into immorality. The similarity between Soho Masses and the travesty we saw in San Francisco at the hands of Bishop Neidereuer short weeks ago is striking. In the article you can read:

If Roman officials and English prelates were beyond the reach of the Lavender Mafia, homosexuals would be under the pastoral care of orthodox clergy and dissident "gays" would be shown the confessional door. Sadly, however, that "smoke of Satan" identified by Paul VI is now a putrid cloud of episcopal complicity stretching from Rome through Westminster to every see in the land. That the Vatican orchestrates and/or refuses to act on voluminous evidence to stop the Soho Masses in their tracks and bring the British episcopate to heel, is yet further confirmation, if any were needed, of the demonic homosexual infiltration documented by Brady, Guimaraes, Engel, Berry, Likoudis, Rueda and many others. And so, frustrated by our impotence as contempt for the episcopate plumbs ever new depths, we can only dream of justice: of dragging Mervyn Alexander out of his comfortable retirement and pulling Patrick Kelly, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Vincent Nichols, Malcolm McMahon, Peter Smith et.al. off their cushioned pedestals, kicking their scandalous backsides all the way to Rome, having them prostrate themselves before the Holy Father and forcing them to explain WHY ON EARTH they are pursuing such a Luciferian policy across the board - before asking Benedict himself why he lets them! As for the sordid details, we can only speculate: how many of the bishops themselves are homosexual? (pp.8-9)

This Christmas I am enormously discouraged with the state of my Church, and I hold little hope for it to change within my lifetime. As of this writing, I don't know where I will be attending Christmas Mass, I can no longer trust any but a handful of bishops, my own not among them, and I tend to look for homosexual tendencies in any priest with whom I'm not familiar. When the one local priest that I do trust moves back to Africa, I will no longer have a Mass to attend. This is no way to celebrate Christmas. This is no way to hold onto the faith. This is no way to be Roman Catholic.

Benedict makes a lot of public noise about the Catholic faith, but he does not defend it within his own Church. His moral authority rests upon the base of the Church that is crumbling beneath him. If something isn't done soon to clean house, Benedict will no longer have a voice for the world. If he goes down, the Protestants will no longer be able to stand since there is no identifiable leader within Protestantism who speaks for all of the denominations. No denomination is large enough to carry weight worldwide. Where will the world be without the voice of Christ? There is no other hope to replace it.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

"THE GOLDEN COMPASS"

The official Vatican newspaper opposes "TGC" saying it is "anti-Christmas" and "a totally atheist ideology, the enemy of all religions, traditional and institutional, and of Christianity and Catholicism in particular".

Thanks to a reader for the link.

PIUS XII SAINTHOOD SLOWED DOWN

According to Reuters, the motivation, or one of them, according to Il Giornale is a need to study old documents that have recently come to light.

Could those documents have anything to do with Croatia and the rat lines? Whatever the cause, there appears to be a lot of smoke and mirrors and nobody official doing any talking.

WEST MEMPHIS THREE

Three 8-year-old boys dead in 1993. Three teenagers convicted of the crime that took place during a Satanic ritual. Three life sentences being appealed.

The crime is real. The crime is a documentary. The accused have the support of the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks. They have earned over a million since going to prison. Larry King Live will devote an hour to the case.

This is a totally bizarre story at the Fox 13 website.

PRIEST CHARGED WITH INDECENT EXPOSURE

A Catholic priest who was busted for jogging naked in the town of Frederick has pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure.

Father Robert Whipkey, 54, of Saint Teresa's parish, was also slapped with a mandatory restraining order against the Frederick police officer who found him naked. In addition to that, the judge also ordered him to get fingerprinted.

Whipkey arrived in court without saying a word accompanied by two lawyers.

It was June 22 when Whipkey was caught walking down a street naked. He told police he had been jogging around the track at Frederick high school at 4:30 in the morning, in the nude.

Read more...

Sigh.

"GIVE A BETTER GIFT"

CHRISTIAN leaders have branded a television commercial depicting the baby Jesus tossing gifts back at the three wise men as tacky and offensive.

The ad for electronic goods retailers Betta Electrical recreates the Christian nativity scene, showing three wise men offering gifts to baby Jesus as he lies in the manger.

The commercial, which has angered Anglican and Catholic leaders, shows Jesus throwing gifts out of the manger as the words "Give a better gift" flash on the TV screen.

Read all of it and see the pic.

The company is quoted as saying "We accept that this could have been seen as offensive, but that was not the intention at all."

Uh-huh. And if you believe that, let's talk about the hotel I want to lease to you. Who is this company kidding? It is blatantly offensive, and any idiot can see that. I suspect an ulterior motive. Would a housewife in Ohio ever have heard of this company if they just ran a normal ad? But now they have gotten a message broadcast around the world on the web. Isn't that what advertising is all about--mass exposure?

HUCKABEE'S CROSS

I saw it on CNN last night. The commentator said it was a bookcase, but this article claims it was a window. Whatever, Bill Donohue of Catholic League doesn't like it, claiming that "he went too far".

Ironically, one CNN commentator appeared on video with a bookcase in the background forming--you guessed it--a cross. The general impression of all who spoke was that this was much ado about nothing. I thought the same when first seeing Donohue's criticism yesterday. What's the big deal? A window (or bookcase) is a window. Deal with it.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL HOAX AND BISHOP OPPOSING POPE

Joe D'Hippolito's article is up at Front Page. In it he lays out Benedict's recent comments on the environment and compares them with Archbishop Pell's. They are basically in agreement. Then he contrasts them with comments made by Archbishop Flynn (Minneapolis-St. Paul), who is obviously not on the same page.

"EUROPE IS DYING"

Rick Salbato has recently returned from a trip to Italy. His commentary on the state of affairs across the pond is somewhat shocking. I hear about the changes taking place over there, but didn't realize it had gone this far nor that the Euro is causing these sorts of problems.

FULL ABORTION ON TV IN SPAIN

For what is probably the first time in history, a television network in Spain has shown an abortion on national television.

The video, shot during a hidden-camera exposé on Spain's abortion industry, shows a nurse injecting deadly poison into the fetus through the vagina of a pregnant woman, who then expels her dead child, about five months old. The doctor immediately covers the body.

"The baby is born dead. His cradle: a trash can," says the commentator in voice-over on the tape. An abortion of the baby of a second woman is also shown.

After showing the second abortion, the commentator remarks. "As soon as the baby is born, the doctor must cover it up. No one looks at it. No one examines it."

Later, the undercover reporter examines one of the dead children. "Hands, feet, a face. The cadaver of a human being," the commentator notes. The doctor, a woman, remarks that the baby is 21 weeks old, but says she "never" looks at the bodies of the fetuses.

"Never?" asks the undercover reporter, who is posing as a doctor looking for work at the clinic. "Never," the woman repeats "Never, never, never again!" When asked why, the doctor says "Because I don't like it." "Of course, you are a mother, I assume, right?" the reporter asks. No answer is given.

Read the rest at LifeSite where you can also see the pictures.

SEQUAL TO "NATIONAL TREASURE"

Yesterday I watched the Discovery Channel's programs on the history of Freemasonry that my husband had recorded for me. The programs appeared to be little more than a two-segment promotion for Nicholas Cage's movie "National Treasure Book of Secrets" produced by Walt Disney Pictures, a sequal to "National Treasure" set to be released on December 21.

It was a typical whitewash of Freemasonry. The bulk of the program presented a number of conspiracy theories related to the subject. It was not until the very end that these were all called fabrications. The first degree ceremony was "shown". I put the word in quotes because the candidate was fully clothed in a suit and tie--hardly the garments worn for the first degree ceremony.

The whitewash completely ignored the upper degrees and irregular Freemasonry which is where the problems lie. The Blue Lodge is relatively innocuous. Even if the program presented mostly the truth about the craft, it hardly told the whole story. It was nothing more than typical Masonic BS.

If you click one of the links in that above-linked website, you will arrive here. Notice the compass? Is that a subtle tie-in to "Golden Compass"? It's a curious coincidence if it isn't!

MERRRRRRRY TOSSMAS

Focus on the Family has invented a new Holiday in response to the Christmas War. Tossmas. A holiday we'll be celebrating in my house. Check it out. When you get there, click the red light.

WORST CHASUBLE EVER CONTEST

Catholic Church Conservation is holding The Worst Chasuble Ever contest between a Roman Catholic and an Anglican version. You can vote over there for your favorite.

The assumption seems to be that children made these things, so I have to wonder what prompted the adult leadership to facilitate this art work? What lesson do children learn from making something that profanes sacred things?

EVANGELIZATION RE-AFFIRMED

"It is an exact order from the Lord, and it does not allow for any sort of exemption. He did not tell us: Preach the Gospel to every creature, except for the Muslims, the Jews, and the Dalai Lama."

This is the preaching of Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop of Bologna, in a celebrated address he gave nine days after September 11, 2001.

And this is also the message – in less explosive words, but essentially the same – of the "Doctrinal note on some aspects of evangelization" released by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith last Friday, December 14.

The note had been in reserve for a number of years, from when Joseph Ratzinger was still prefect of the congregation. What made it "necessary" – as the introduction states – was the "growing confusion" over the Church's duty to proclaim Jesus to the world.

"This confusion has even penetrated within the missionary institutes," the congregation's secretary, Angelo Amato, lamented in an interview on Vatican Radio. "No more proclaiming Christ, no invitation to conversion, no baptism, no Church. Only social activism."

At the origin of this chilling of the Church's missionary spirit, to the point of its extinction, the note indicates various causes.

Above all, there is the idea that every religion is a way of salvation as valid as all the rest.

Then there is the conviction that proposing Christian truth to others is an attack on their freedom.

Then there is a conception of the Kingdom of God that is not identified in the person of Jesus Christ, but in "a generic reality that overarches all the religious experiences or traditions, toward which these should incline as toward a universal and indistinct communion of all those who seek God."

Then again there is the idea that "the pretense of having received as a gift the fullness of God's Revelation conceals an attitude of intolerance and a threat to peace."

Read the rest of the article by Sandro Magister at Chiesa

SLAMMING CHAIRS, SHOWING OFF MUSCLES, DISCUSSING SEX - HE ANSWERS TO "FATHER"

Call Justin Fatica rabid and he'll probably take it as a compliment.

Fatica, a preacher easily mistaken for a drill sergeant, is the subject of the HBO documentary ``Hard as Nails,'' which airs tonight at 8 p.m. New York time. You may roll your eyes during parts of the 90-minute show; at other times, you may wipe them. It's highly unlikely you'll doze off.

Fatica's basic message: No matter how screwed up you are, God loves you. As marketing slogans go, it's a winner. According to the program, Fatica preached to some 60,000 teenagers last year and may double that number this year. Director David Holbrooke says he first encountered Fatica, now 29, at a Christian rock festival and was captivated by his energy. Sometimes Fatica gets so wound up you're tempted to reach for a taser.

``Jesus has your back,'' he yells at an assembly of young Catholics. To illustrate the pain Jesus suffered on their behalf, Fatica slams his back with a folding metal chair.

I was convinced.

Read the rest...

JOHN MCCAIN IS PRO-LIFE

He made a strong statement in support of the pro-life position during a national conference call with pro-life leaders.

MATTHEW MURRAY

The Christian Post reports:

The troubled young man that killed four Christians in Colorado this past week shocked the nation when it was discovered that he formerly attended a young discipleship training program for overseas mission.

The missionary group, Youth With a Mission, is a well-respected organization working in nearly every country in the world and sends out over 25,000 short-term missionaries each year. Murray had been dismissed from the YWAM training program for an unexplained “health” reason, according to the group’s statement after the shooting.

Yet in light of the tragedy, some have looked into the mission group and found several former YWAM missionaries accusing the group of being a cult that brainwashes young Christians.

An anonymous former YWAMer said the group knew how to “manipulate every penny out of its cash strapped workers and students,” in a letter posted on The Rick A. Ross Institute Web site, an organization which studies destructive cults and controversial groups and movements.

According to the article Rick Ross, however, claims that YWAM is not a cult, though he indicates he receives complaints about the group weekly from parents and Christian clergy.

Coverage on YWAM at the Ross Institute can be found here.

According to the YWAM website, they use the course ALPHA in their training program at least in Luzanne.

Christian Order reports on Alpha, associating it with Toronto Blessing:

January 1999

The latest in the long line of New Age/Protestant trojan horses to be wheeled into Catholic parishes with episcopal blessing is ALPHA. Zealous in its application of commercial principles to feel-good evangelisation, ALPHA is big business - built on copyrights, target figures, line charts and multi-million pound advertising campaigns. It emerged from Holy Trinity Brompton [HTB], an Anglican church behind the Brompton Oratory in London. In recent years this church has ventured to the furthest edge of the charismatic movement in its promotion of the Toronto Blessing - a so-called Baptism of the Holy Spirit which induces hysterical, animal-like behaviour (uncontrolled laughter, shaking, gibberish, grunting, howling etc.) among congregations. Mr. Nicky Gumbel, who introduced this alien 'spirit' into England via HTB in 1994, is the prime mover behind ALPHA: "I believe it is no coincidence," he stated in May 1995, "that the present movement of the Holy Spirit [Toronto Blessing] has come at the same time as the explosion of the ALPHA Course. I think the two go together."

So, did Matthew Murray move from the spirit channeling Alpha to the spirit channeling O.T.O.? Inquiring minds want to know...
----------------------------------------------------

UPDATE

YWAM and Alpha

From the Mission Ethiopia website:

YWAM Youth With a Mission, headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, has been a major help in getting the mission program in Ethiopia off the ground.

Alpha The Alpha Course was developed by an Anglican Priest in London. Over a million people have taken the Alpha course, and thousand have become believers. The beauty of the Alpha Course is that it teaches core Christian Doctrine that all Christians agree upon. It can be used by Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, and Orthodox believers to bring unsaved friends into a relationship with Jesus.


Alpha In Ethiopia Mission Ethiopia with the support of the Ethiopian Evangelical Churches Fellowship, the Catholic Church, and (we are praying that the Ethiopian Orthodox) are joining in an effort to fulfill the prayer of Jesus---that we would be perfectly one.