Stephen K. Ray's Blog, page 492

Going with Mary to Visit Elizabeth

Today I ran from Jerusalem to Ein Kerem where Mary visited Elizabeth 2,000 years ago. It was cold, foggy and rainy and I imagined it might have been so for Mary as well.

I visited and documented the birthplace of John the Baptist and the Church of the Visitation as well as fun things along the way.

I suspect I went very close to the same route she took. She certainly went through Jerusalem to worship at the Temple on the way. Enjoy.

Holy Father – is he Holy?

Since we were supposed to be at Mount Sinai today (until the unrest caused our trip to Egypt to be postponed until Feb 7, 2012), I thought this was significant.

A young man stood up at my conference in the Philippines a while ago and parroted (yelled out) the Fundamentalist mantra: "The Pope is a sinner like everyone else; why do you call him 'HOLY Father'?"

I leaned into the microphone and said to the young man in front of 2,000 people, "You should really read your Bible more carefully and do your homework before you stand up and embarrass yourself in front of 2,000 people." I then explained why we call the Pope our Holy Father.

There are several meanings for the word "holy" and that is what the young man did not understand. If holy simply means without sin, it is hard to see why "things" are called holy. For example, the HOLY OF HOLIES is a place. Is it called holy because it has not sinned?

And what about HOLY GROUND? God told Moses to remove his sandals — he was standing on HOLY GROUND. I guess that means that this dirt had not sinned but the dirt in the next gully had sinnned. HUH?

The word HOLY in Hebrew is kodesh and means apartness, holiness, sacredness, consecration, separateness. Holiness can mean without sin. It can also means dedicated or set apart for God.

So, is the Pope holy in the sense of being completely sinless? Of course not. But the Pope is set apart for God in a special way as the HOLY Father, the Vicar of Christ, the Bishop of Rome and the Successor of Peter.

Bottom line, he is the HOLY FATHER and this fits perfectly with the Bible.

So much for a dumb challenge at a conference.

PS Remember that even WE who are called holy. Paul considered all of us saints (literally "holy ones" with a small "s").  He writes,

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints (literally: "holy ones") who are in the whole of Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:1-2).

Come with us to Rome & Assisi

Join us in Rome for the Beatification of John Paul II. Included is an exclusive meeting and talk by George Weigel, blessing from the Pope, full tour of Rome and Assisi, private Masses and more. Call Suzanne for more info at 800-727-1999, extension 121.

A German Comments on Islam

A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates.  When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.

'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care.  I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools.

So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen.  Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come.  My family lost everything.  I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.

It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectra of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.  It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.

It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave.

It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor-kill.  It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque.  It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims an d homosexuals.  It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people.  The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.  Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.

Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.

As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts–the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.

2980 Provincial St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104

734-997-0256

Ultimate Biblical Run through Jerusalem!

I hit all the holy biblical site and documented them with video and pictures.

I decided people would like to see all the biblical and holy sites in and around the Old City of Jerusalem, including Calvary, the Tomb, the place Judas hanged himself, Gethsemane, the place St. Stephen was stoned, top of Mount of Olives, Pool of Siloam, where Mary was buried, etc.

So, I took off running with my iPhone to take video clips and pictures with explanations of all these places. Three hours and 6.5 miles later IT WAS DONE!

This is a fun and informative, biblical and spiritual adventure running through Jerusalem. Due to limitations with YouTube, it is divided into three 8 minute videos. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. (To see the map and where each picture and video was taken, geo-tagged by iPhone, click here.)

Part 1 of 3: From Notre Dame Center to Mount Zion, Western Wall and Pool of Siloam…

Part 2 of 3: From Pool of Siloam to Mary's birthplace at St. Ann's Church…

Part 3 of 3: From Via Dolorosa, through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, other sites and finally back to Notre Dame Center.

Hair Cut only Once a Year

David had a very handsome son. His name was Absalom and he betrayed his father the king and led a rebellion against him. The Bible says that Absalom was "beautiful" and and he only cut his hair once a year. Here is what the Bible says about him:

"Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king's weight" (2 Sam 14:25-26).

The pile of hair left on the floor each year, after Absalom's haircut, weighed 200 shekels. How much is 200 shekels? It is an amazing 4.4 pounds!

Now, do you remember how Absalom died in his fight against his father, King David?

"Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was left hanging [presumably by his hair] between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on….

"Joab said, "I will not waste time like this with you." And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the oak. And ten young men, Joab's armor-bearers, surrounded Absalom and struck him, and killed him" (2 Sam 18:9, 14-15 ).

What was Absalom thinking about as he was hanging between heaven and earth?  I have to believe he was wishing he'd gotten his hair cut a bit earlier that year!
And notice, the Scripture says Absalom was left hanging between heaven and earth — almost a implication that the traitor was condembed and unworthy of heaven or earth.
Remember Judas, what did he do to his king? And how did he die?

What is Important in Life?

"A man is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose." Jim Elliot before being killed by South American Indians for telling them about Jesus.

Hover cursor over this reference Mark 8:36.

Ultimate Biblical Jerusalem Run

"The Ultimate Biblical Jerusalem Run" all the holy sites with maps, pictures, video. Enjoy! Check it out here

I ran three hours around Jerusalem and documented all the Holy Sites with maps, video, pictures and explanations. It has 116 pictures and 62 twenty-second video clips.

See Calvary, place if St. Stephen's martyrdom, Upper Room, David's Tomb, birthplace of Mary, and much more.

Soon to be a YouTube video.

Final Judgment based on "Faith Alone'?

Is "Faith Alone" the Basis for the

Final Judgment?

Dear Baptist Friend Jerry :

I had no intention of writing you again this soon but after having dinner with your brother — and seeing a copy of the silly Protestant booklet you gave him entitled Studies In Contrasts: The Doctrine of Salvation (by Herb Vander Lugt), I thought I'd drop you a short note.

I was not surprised, but I was again disappointed in the obvious dishonesty (or ignorance) of the author and the unfounded assumptions of the booklet — and your gullibility in believing this stuff. I decided to write a short note to ask you a few questions to see if you agree with me. . . .

For the rest of the letter, click here.

For many more such articles and letters, click here.

Radio Shows on Monday, Update on Beatification Pilgrimage

RADIO:

From Jerusalem today (Monday) on RelevantRadio.com Sean Herriott's show 7 AM Eastern time…

and

…AveMariaRadio.net Teresa Tomeo show at 9:45 AM EST.

BEATIFICATION PILGRIMAGE TO ROME:

Not only has George Weigel agreed to speak exclusively to our group in Rome during the beatification, but also a classmate of John Paul II at the university he attended, the Angelicum. New events are also being added.

Not just a Beatitudes trip, but also full Rome pilgrimage with visit to Assisi! Sign up quickly! Call Suzanne at 800-727-1999, extention 212.