Apr 11 2020

President Trump Delivers a Good Friday Easter Message – Video and Transcript…

Posted originally on the Conservative Tree House on April 10, 2020 by sundance

Earlier today President Trump participated in an Easter message with Bishop Harry Jackson from the Oval Office. [Video and Transcript Below]

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. On this Good Friday, Christians from all around the world remember the suffering and death upon the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At Easter Sunday, we will celebrate his glorious resurrection.

At this holy time, our nation is engaged in a battle like never before — the invisible enemy. Our brave doctors, nurses, and responders — first responders, responders of all — are fighting to save lives. Our workers are racing to deliver critical medical supplies. Our best scientists are working around the clock to develop lifesaving therapeutics, and I think they’re doing really well in doing so. Our people are making tremendous sacrifices to end this pandemic.

Though we will not be able to gather together with one another as we normally would on Easter, we can use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection, and growing in our personal relationship with God. So important.

I ask all Americans to pray that God will heal our nation; to bring comfort to those who are grieving; to give strength to the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers; to restore health to the sick; and to renew the hope in every person who is suffering. Our nation will come through like never before.

I thank the many families who have prayed for me and for my family. And your prayers are felt, and I am forever grateful.

I’d like to thank our great Vice President and his wonderful wife, who we all know very well, Karen, for the incredible job they do and for their service not only to the country but for their service to God.

Almost 3,000 years ago, the Prophet Isaiah wrote these words: “Darkness covers the Earth…but the Lord rises upon you, and His glory appears over you…For the Lord will be your everlasting light.”

As our nation battles the invisible enemy, we reaffirm that Americans believe in the power of prayer. We give thanks for the majesty of creation and for the gift of eternal life. And we place our trust in the hands of Almighty God.

I’d like to just wish everybody a very Happy Easter. We’re going to be celebrating that very, very special day, and it’s going to be, hopefully, a very good weekend and a very productive weekend.

And I want to thank everybody in our country and beyond for all they’ve had to put up with. One hundred and eighty-four countries, as of this morning, are fighting this enemy and we pray for them all.

With that, I’d like to introduce Bishop Harry Jackson from Maryland, a highly respected gentleman who is a member of our faith and a person that we have tremendous respect for.

Bishop, please. Thank you.

BISHOP JACKSON: Thank you, Mr. President. First of all, let me say thank you for the job you’re doing — you and the Vice President — to protect our nation. And you’ve included the churches in the relief efforts. Many churches would’ve had to close down —

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

BISHOP JACKSON: — had it not been for your insightful leadership. So thank you both very much.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bishop.

BISHOP JACKSON: Good Friday, as we prepare to pray, is one of the darkest days in the Christian faith in that Christ stood in substitution for our sin. But the resurrection is our victory. But it parallels with the Passover.

I’m going to read two verses and pray out of them about what we want to have happen. We want this plague to pass over. We want everyone in America to be safe.

Psalm 105 says: He brought them out without — with gold — silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.

Verse 39 goes on to say: He spread a cloud for covering, and fire to give light in the night.

Let us pray:

Lord, let the death angel pass over. Let there be a mitigation of this plague, this disease. Let medical science come forth.

Lord, let us come out with a thriving economy. That silver and gold spoken of in that passage, let it be our portion.

And then, God, as we face other challenges in the future, Lord covers with a cloud by day and a fire by night.

But in this great land that was set up to glorify your name, we want to break, we come against the spirit of division.

Lord, let e pluribus unum be a reality in us. Let there be a uniting of America. Heal the divide between race, class, and gender.

Once again, give this great man, our President, and give the Vice President wisdom beyond their natural limitations. Give them insights so they can cover us, lead us, and bless us.
We bless them and America in Jesus’s name.

Be encouraged. Hope is on the way. Amen.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Bishop. That’s beautiful.

BISHOP JACKSON: Thank you, my friend.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. That was a great honor, and thank you.

And thank you all. And have a great Good Friday, and we’re going to see you in a little while. And also, if I don’t see you, have a great Easter. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Q Mr. President, what’s your message to churches? Should pastors have Easter services?

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.

Q Can we ask you that at the briefing perhaps?

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.

Q Okay. Thank you. Happy Easter.

THE PRESIDENT: You too. Happy Easter, everybody.

END 12:15 P.M. EDT

Apr 10 2020

It Is Finished. Good Friday.

Posted originally on The Conservative Tree House on April 10, 2020 by Menagerie

Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, the sacrifices we have made during Lent culminate in our internalization of the great offering of Christ’s life. If we have been diligent in our Lenten preparations, Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us. It becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so each year, we find that we give ourselves over to Christ just a little more through this time of penance and reflection.

This year, in particular, I suspect that many of us will experience Good Friday as we never have before, with a comprehension of our own mortality and perhaps even an understanding that there are so many things in this world we do not, we cannot, control. We can control our choice in relationship to those things, and to the most important choice of all, the life and death of Jesus Christ, who chose to hang on a cross and die for us. He had all control, and he made his choice for us.

For many years the practice of my faith was on auto pilot. Although I have an intellectual bent, I did not delve as deeply into the Bible, the Catechism, the history, and the teachings of my faith. When I finally did do more, pray more, read more, learn more, question more, and give more of myself, very haltingly at first, I was met with a tsunami of love and guidance from God, from Jesus, and of course, by the Spirit.

I timidly knocked on the door, and Jesus flung it open instantly, pulled me in, hugged me, sat me at his banquet table and introduced me to the feast I had shunned for years.

Of course, it isn’t always that way. Your spiritual life takes surprising turns, slows down, stops even at times, according to your senses. But your own senses are not a good guide. Sometimes when you struggle the most, feel things the least, you have a moment of self examination of your last months and you see the long path you traveled without really knowing where you were going.

Don’t do faith by feel. Don’t wait for sensation, answers, joy, hope, knowledge. All those things and so many more, they will come, but never on demand. Get on your knees and pray. Daily. Read the Bible, find a church if you haven’t already. Give alms. Do a good deed.

Feel good religion has pretty shallow moorings. Row out into the deep. When the storms come, try to remember that He who calms the storm is always in the boat with you.

The Easter Triduum, the marking of the days of Jesus’ passion and resurrection, the most important time of the church year, begins with the evening Mass of Holy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes on Easter Sunday evening. After preparing during the days of Lent, we celebrate these holiest of days in the Church year.

From John, Chapter 19:

Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders told him, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.

At these words Pilate brought Jesus out to them again and sat down at the judgement bench on the stone paved platform. It was now about noon of the day before Passover.

And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”

“What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no King but Caesar,” the chief priests shouted back.

So they had him at last, and he was taken out of the city, carrying his cross to the place known as “The Skull,” in Hebrew, “Golgotha.” There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them. And Pilate posted a sign over him reading “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and the signboard was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people read it.

Then the chief priests said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’ ”

Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written. It stays exactly as it is.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they put his garments into four piles, one for each of them. But they said, “Let’s not tear up his robe,” for it was seamless. “Lets throw dice to see who gets it.” This fulfilled the scripture that says, “They divided my clothes among them, and cast lots for my robe.” So that is what they did.

Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, Mary, his aunt, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside me, his close friend, he said to her, “He is your son.”

And to me he said, “She is your mother.” And from then on, I took her into my home.

Jesus knew that everything was now finished, and to fulfill the scriptures said, “I’m thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so a sponge was soaked in it and put on a hyssop branch and help up to his lips.

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished,” and bowed his head and dismissed his spirit.

Today we would like to invite you to share with us your reflections, your thoughts, your favorite readings on Good Friday. We sincerely hope that you will join in this conversation as a sharing of our common faith, an active searching, united in asking in this small way for God’s blessing upon His world this Easter Triduum. So many of us see change as something that is all or nothing. We postpone the changes we need to make in our lives to improve our relationship with God because we aren’t mentally “ready” to make that leap. In reality, our path to God is made in tiny steps, small differences, the little things that take us one step closer in faith.

We ask you to join us, help us, take that step. Together and seperately, may we aid each other through our words and prayers, to make this Good Friday an opening for the light that is Christ to penetrate our darkness.

I would also like to share a paragraph from The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In Her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that “sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings the Divine Redeemer endured.” Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself, the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torment inflicted upon Jesus, a responsiblity with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone.

]

Please respect the solemnity and purpose of this post and keep the comments on the Passion of our Lord.

Apr 8 2020

The Fabric of Our Faith

If the fabric of our faith is strong, we do not need the Shroud—we believe without seeing.

Re-Posted from the Canada Free Press By William Kevin Stoos —— Bio and Archives—April 7, 2020

Easter, 2020

“Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:25

His face looks incredibly lonesome, as if every one of His friends abandoned him in the moment of his greatest need. And sad—sad for all time. As if the weight of the whole world were upon His shoulders. There is an eternal pensiveness in His death pose. The stabbing thorns that cut so unkindly into His scalp and the blood that flowed from His head are visible, indelible.

They are vivid, tangible signs of the once painful wounds that hurt no more. The gash in His side flows with blood now etched in to the cloth, running no more but visible still. A record of one final insult visited upon Him by a soldier’s side arm. His thumbs turn inward tightly, from the pressure of the crude nails against the radial nerves as they pierced the bones of His wrist, causing unimaginable pain. The gaping wound in the feet is visible, caused by the large nail driven into muscle and bone as if driven through a piece of wood. Preserved for all time in the fabric. Scores of blood-filled pockmarks riveted into His back by a sweating Centurion wielding a flagellum touch the fabric and testify to a brutal scourging. Leather thongs tipped with metal beads raked His flesh with incredible velocity. The fabric speaks of the indignity, suffering and humiliation inflicted on the Man, who certainly experienced every type of torture, brutality and humiliation possible, in His final hours of life on earth.

He is not painted or drawn. His face appears to be scorched onto the cloth—the product of a divine, cosmic energy—loosed at the moment of His transformation. When the Man on the cloth was resurrected. Skeptics doubt the fabric, scientists work to disprove it, atheists scoff at it, yet none can fully explain the image. The truth is that no one knows how the Man was created, how He came to be on the fabric. Therein lies the mystery that may elude mankind for all time. Perhaps it is not meant to be understood, but rather to inspire thought, awareness, or understanding of what such a Man endured at the time of His death. To me, the Man in the cloth is Jesus, the Son of God, whose transformation scorched His face into the cloth creating an imprint that was meant to linger, inspire, and remind forever. It is a visible record of His human form, His injuries, a testament to and reminder of His divine suffering and how much this Man loved His people. Or, “he” is a divine forgery, an imprint of an all too-human human created by an artist or a charlatan, whose work baffles twenty-first century science. Perhaps the Spirit worked even in a forger, to create an earthly reminder of His time on earth.

Like most people, I believed before I ever heard of or saw the fabric. It reinforces my faith, but I do not need it to believe. Whether real or not, it does not matter. I would have believed and did believe without it. I believed regardless of the Shroud, in spite of the Shroud, and, in part, because of the Shroud. In my heart I think that most people believe this way. I do not know one person who believes in Jesus only because of the

Shroud. Yet, if there are such persons, how is that bad? The Spirit moves people in various ways to understand and to come to a deeper faith in Christ. Perhaps they believe because of a homily, a picture, a song, a nun or priest. Perhaps they see the stars at night and are led to believe in something greater than themselves. If they believe because of those things, then why not because of the fabric? Does it ultimately matter how people are led to Christ? Could not the fabric divinely inspire even if it did not touch His divine person?

There are those who believe without the Shroud and those who may believe because of it. Is it so wrong to seek or want proof? Even Jesus did not condemn Thomas, who wanted to feel the nail holes in His hands. He did not say, “Thomas, you believe because you see, but blessed only are those who have not seen and yet believe.” He clearly opened His arms and His church to those who believe without seeing and those who believe because they see.

Personally, I believe that this fabric is the death shroud of Jesus. I want to believe and I do believe. Believing in it deepens my faith, but did not cause my faith. I will never know if I am right or wrong. And it does not matter. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins in the most painful, humiliating, and violent way imaginable. I think He chose this way so He could show people how much He loved them and how much He was willing to endure for them—how human He could be. I believed this before the Shroud, without the Shroud, and despite the

Shroud. It reinforces my belief and reminds me of the suffering recounted in the Bible. It causes me to ponder the central truth of our faith.

If it is an exquisite, divine, phony that reminds us of His suffering, death and resurrection, then it is nevertheless a good thing. If it is the real thing and touched the Divine Body, then it is an indescribably awesome and inspiring thing. Whether a divine forgery or divine death wrap, it is wonderful anyway. I do not care what scientists say or do not say about it. None has yet to explain it and I take great comfort in that. No one can explain the Man, whose face is scorched into the fabric. But faith is an unscientific process. In fact, it may be the antithesis of science. We believe what we cannot see all the time. That is faith. Yet, there are those who believe only in what they can see and what they can prove. If the fabric actually touched Him, then it is to be revered and honored. It should create awe and inspiration. But if it is entirely the work of a man, whether an art object or forgery it is still a beautiful, poignant illustration of the ultimate sacrifice He made for us all. If it is real, I say: “Thank God.” But if it is a forgery that serves to remind us of His last hours on earth, I say “Thank God for the forger.” He was moved somehow, some way, by The Holy Spirit to create a poignant, stark reminder of how much He gave, how much we owe, and how many ways He suffered for the sins of us all. It is a perfect forgery or a perfect relic and either way it is good.

If the fabric of our faith is strong, we do not need the Shroud—we believe without seeing. Yet, if it causes someone to believe, leads them to the Church, or causes them to ponder for one brief moment the incredible suffering, sacrifice and gift that the Son of God gave us, it is innately good, and a proper part of the fabric of our faith.

Shroud of Turin

Apr 5 2020

Palm Sunday, Holy Week Begins

Posted originally on The Conservative Tree house on April 5, 2020 by Menagerie

MT 21:1-11

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find an ass tethered,
and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them here to me.
And if anyone should say anything to you, reply,
‘The master has need of them.’
Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Say to daughter Zion,
“Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

IS 50:4-7

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
my face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.

What was Jesus doing at the Triumphal Entry?

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI explains:

Jesus claims the right of kings, known throughout antiquity, to requisition modes of transport.

The use of an animal on which no one had yet sat is a further pointer to the right of kings. Most striking, though, are the Old Testament allusions that give a deeper meaning to the whole episode. . . .

For now let us note this: Jesus is indeed making a royal claim. He wants his path and his action to be understood in terms of Old Testament promises that are fulfilled in his person. . . .

At the same time, through this anchoring of the text in Zechariah 9:9, a “Zealot” exegesis of the kingdom is excluded: Jesus is not building on violence; he is not instigating a military revolt against Rome. His power is of another kind: it is in God’s poverty, God’s peace, that he identifies the only power that can redeem [Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2].

I saw a meme a day or two. It said “This is the Lentiest Lent I have ever Lented.” Isn’t that true? This time of the Corona virus, the sheltering in place, loss of jobs, fear for lives and how we live those lives, it is forming this Holy Week into something we have never seen before as our hearts yearn toward Easter.

Will we wait impatiently, longingly even, looking forward with anticipation to the dawning of Easter Sunday and the risen Savior that day belongs to? Will we be changed as we never really have before, or will this time of being locked out of our churches remove the unseen tie that bound us, and allow us to keep on sleeping late on Sundays, and savoring those lazy family mornings?

Most of us will not be attending our churches today. We will worship in the privacy of our homes, perhaps joining our church families online. May our hearts be full of longing for Easter Sunday, and for rejoining each other when we can.

We are a people of hope. From the triumphant Palm Sunday through the agony of Good Friday, we cast our eyes with faith, hope, and love toward Easter Sunday, for we know what lies behind that stone rolled to the side is the empty tomb.

Mar 29 2020

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Posted originally on The Conservative Tree House on March 29, 2020 by Menagerie

Gospel Jn 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany,
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.

So the sisters sent word to him saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
hen Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him,
“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?”
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.”
He said this, and then told them,
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.”
So the disciples said to him,
“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
“Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go to die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this,
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Or
Jn 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
+Let us go back to Judea.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
Your brother will rise.”
Martha said,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Doctors Writing In Talking they are Being Directed from Above

Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease

Re-Posted Mar 21, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

There is a coordinated effort from the very top of the medical profession to direct doctors to shut down which seems to be a very questionable overreaction. We have many clients who are doctors who are free thinkers and are questioning what is going on. One has written in:

Marty,

Please understand that most doctors do not view this pandemic from a stance of arrogance. It is rather that most doctors today are simply ignorant of real scientific medicine. They are followers, doing as they are told from their administrators, and elected leaders of the various medical societies, who are just as ignorant of the potential threat.

Many doctors today do not know how to evaluate tests, or stratify risk. They simply look at the result and accept it. They accept whatever is written in the journals, without thinking critically about the matter.

Now, there does seem to be something unusual going on at the apex of the medical decision-making pyramid, but I don’t know where it originates.

Thanks for all you do,

Mar 22 2020

Is the Virus Being Used to Usher-In a Police State in Different Parts of the World?

Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease

Re-Posted Mar 21, 2020 by Martin Armstrong

QUESTION: Dear Mr Armstrong
NOW in Italy
– use of drones by municipalities to CONTROL citizen and their movements
– you are allowed to exit from home only for go to supermarkets, chemistry, or walk with yr dog. Police could stop you n check and if you are out of yr home for a walk, they bring you in prison, you will have a quick judgment and to pay 300 euro, you will have a penal note and you will no more have the possibility to try to work in government or politic, you are permanently …signaled (as Scarlett letter!!)
– you can stay at max 200meters from home
– quarantine will be extended from 3rd April (present expected time to finish quarantine) till end of April
-schools closed until easter

WE ARE UNDER DICTATORSHIP!
ECONOMY DESTROYED, SOCIAL TISSUE DESTROYED, FREEDOM CANCELLED!! All in 2 weeks’ time!

Please… WHAT COULD WE DO, NOW?!!

ANSWER: I really do not know. There is a major movement toward authoritarianism. Perhaps because they know the system is collapsing and they are using this as the excuse. I had an exchange with a doctor who said they need the quarantine and I am spreading dangerous information. I asked him to look at his pension funds. Are any left? He went silent. There is something wrong here. You do not destroy the world economy on this magnitude to even save 25,000 lives. Even if 40% of the population got this, with a death rate which is less than 3% (8% among the elderly), it does not warrant this economic destruction. They are wiping out small businesses, countless people have lost their jobs, others their entire pension fund, and there is no putting this back together again as nothing happened. This is a intentional economic destruction that is being carried out for an undisclosed purpose.

There is another agenda going on and they have even all the conspiracy people yelling this virus is understated and it will be exponential when that has not been the evidence in China or even Italy. Very curious what is the end objective here. How many small business will be wiped out. Countless jobs are being destroyed. I am looking at who is calling us in and who is not. Those who are not do not need help and are not in a state of panic for a reason.

Mar 22 2020

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Posted originally on The Conservative Tree House on March 22, 2020 by Menagerie

Gospel Jn 9:1-41

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.
His disciples asked him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?”
Jesus answered,
“Neither he nor his parents sinned;
it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.
We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.
Night is coming when no one can work.
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
When he had said this, he spat on the ground
and made clay with the saliva,
and smeared the clay on his eyes,
and said to him,
“Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” —which means Sent—.
So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said,
“Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
Some said, “It is, “
but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”
He said, “I am.”
So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
He replied,
“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes
and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’
So I went there and washed and was able to see.”
And they said to him, “Where is he?”

He said, “I don’t know.”

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.
Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.
So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
He said to them,
“He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”
So some of the Pharisees said,
“This man is not from God,
because he does not keep the sabbath.”
But others said,
“How can a sinful man do such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
So they said to the blind man again,
“What do you have to say about him,
since he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”

Now the Jews did not believe
that he had been blind and gained his sight
until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.
They asked them,
“Is this your son, who you say was born blind?
How does he now see?”
His parents answered and said,
“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
We do not know how he sees now,
nor do we know who opened his eyes.
Ask him, he is of age;
he can speak for himself.”
His parents said this because they were afraid
of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed
that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ,
he would be expelled from the synagogue.
For this reason his parents said,
“He is of age; question him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind
and said to him, “Give God the praise!
We know that this man is a sinner.”
He replied,
“If he is a sinner, I do not know.
One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.”
So they said to him,
“What did he do to you?
How did he open your eyes?”
He answered them,
“I told you already and you did not listen.
Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
They ridiculed him and said,
“You are that man’s disciple;
we are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses,
but we do not know where this one is from.”
The man answered and said to them,
“This is what is so amazing,
that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners,
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.
It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.
If this man were not from God,
he would not be able to do anything.”
They answered and said to him,
“You were born totally in sin,
and are you trying to teach us?”
Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,
he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He answered and said,
“Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”
Jesus said to him,
“You have seen him,
the one speaking with you is he.”
He said,
“I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
Then Jesus said,
“I came into this world for judgment,
so that those who do not see might see,
and those who do see might become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this
and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would have no sin;
but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

Mar 15 2020

The Third Sunday of Lent

Posted originally on The Conservative tree House on March 15, 2020 by Menagerie

Gospel Jn 4:5-42

Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,
near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.
It was about noon.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.
Jesus said to her,
“Give me a drink.”
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him,
“How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”
—For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—

Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God
and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep;
where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself
with his children and his flocks?”
Jesus answered and said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;
the water I shall give will become in him
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her,
“Go call your husband and come back.”
The woman answered and said to him,
“I do not have a husband.”
Jesus answered her,
“You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’
For you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true.”
The woman said to him,
“Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain;
but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her,
“Believe me, woman, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand;
we worship what we understand,
because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth;
and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
The woman said to him,
“I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Christ;
when he comes, he will tell us everything.”
Jesus said to her,
“I am he, the one speaking with you.”

At that moment his disciples returned,
and were amazed that he was talking with a woman,
but still no one said, “What are you looking for?”
or “Why are you talking with her?”
The woman left her water jar
and went into the town and said to the people,
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done.
Could he possibly be the Christ?”
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them,
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
So the disciples said to one another,
“Could someone have brought him something to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will of the one who sent me
and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’?
I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving payment
and gathering crops for eternal life,
so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for;
others have done the work,
and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him
because of the word of the woman who testified,
“He told me everything I have done.”
When the Samaritans came to him,
they invited him to stay with them;
and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman,
“We no longer believe because of your word;
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Mar 8 2020

The Second Sunday of Lent 2020

Posted originally on The Conservative Tree House on March 8, 2020 by Menagerie

Gospel Mt 17:1-9

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them;
his face shone like the sun
and his clothes became white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here.
If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them,
then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.”
And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.

As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

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