Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 157: IDOLATRY OR THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS

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Show 157: IDOLATRY OR THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS · The Uncensored Catholic

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Of y'all, Welcome to today's show. It's blazing hot. I've just finished
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some outdoor painting and I'm going to cool off in the air conditioning for a
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little bit and see if I can get this podcast done. We'll pick up
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where we left off yesterday. The questioner, who is what we might call
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an anti papist, someone who rejects the pope and the hierarchy of the church,
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says, has not the fact of an organized, visible hierarchy led to
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great troubles in the temporal sphere? Hey, it's a well worded question.
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I mean, you gotta admit the person is eloquent, if nothing else,
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but quite misguided. What they mean is the church is an institution. Many
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Protestants think this, and it's especially an idea that's been sown by the Masons.
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Freemasonry is dedicated to the destruction of the Catholic Church. They have two
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tenets, destruction of all monarchy and destruction of the Catholic Church. Freemasonry views
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the Catholic Church as a government, sort of like a one world government trying
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to take over as opposed to a church. It's they have a lot of
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conspiracies, but this is where you get like those crazy little chickbook comic books
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that they used to leaving bathrooms on the interstates, which would show the you
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know, the pope is like a puppet master running countries. Look y'all.
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If that was true, abortion would be illegal throughout the world, wouldn't it.
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Yeah, gay marriage would be illegal throughout the world. For that matter,
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the Masonic Order would be illegal throughout the world, you know, Hitler
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said famously, or maybe it was Stalin, notthea was Stalin said famously when
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the Catholic Church denounced communism in the Soviet Union. How many divisions does the
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Vatican have? The Vatican has no army, there's no known forces. You
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I wish they did have some sort of an enforcement power. We could definitely
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stand to have a lot of politicians who claim to be Catholic stripped of that
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designation. But there is no you know, outside of Vatican City, you
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know where the Swiss Guard actually acts as a security force. There's no Catholic
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army, there's no Catholic police force, there's no Catholic FBI, there's no
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equivalent Catholic there's no Catholic equivalents to the Masonic Order or gosh, what the
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illuminati, if you want to go down that road, or the elders of
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Zion. I mean, there's there's no certainly no World Economic Forum or anything
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like that where the Catholic Church is pulling the strings of all countries. If
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there were all countries of Western Europe and America and Canada and Mexico and all
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that would actually have laws that adhered to Catholic teaching, and quite the opposite
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is true, Well, they answer, even had it done so, that
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would not alter the fact that Christ will to its existence. But what precisely
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do you intend or do you mean? The person says, I allude to
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the fact that the Roman Church has ever striven for and possessed temporal power.
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The answer, remember that the Church has to exercise the authority of Christ in
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this world. To do this, she needs to be free to deal with
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Catholics of every nationality, and therefore to be free from the political interference of
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any particular nation. Now she can be free either by being independent of all
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rulers or being subject to a king who guarantees absolute liberty of the action,
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at least of the pope. Kings, however, have been jealous of the
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authority prone to abuse it. If they grant freedom, they always regard it
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as being by privilege. And there is ever the danger that if they happen
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to be displeased, they would try to interfere with the Church's administration. Hence,
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God's providence arranged that certain early kings legally donated territory to the Church,
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rendering her independent of earthly authority. Altogether, after hundreds of years, these
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states were illegally taken from the Church, and she certainly protested. The person
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says, was pious the Ninth just when he plotted to keep the papal states
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and Hindery united Italy. Amazing that they would think the a nation is greater
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than the Church founded by God. But okay, they answer, Pious the
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Ninth was in just possession of the papal states, and he was just in
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taking all ordinary precautions to preserve what lawfully belonged to the Church. Person says,
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but you cannot escape the fact that the Catholic Church is a kingdom of
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this world, although Christ said that his kingdom was not of this world.
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And they answer, the Catholic Church is not a kingdom of this world.
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It is the Kingdom of Christ. In this world. And the Pope as
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Pope is not a monarch of the Church in any national sense. No nation
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considers sway his rules over the millions of Catholics of every race, of every
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race and clime. He has temporal authority to day in the Vatican City,
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but that is merely that he may secure complete immunity from the interference of worldly
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powers. Person says Christ said, rider to Caesar the things that are Caesar,
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and to God the things that are God. They answer, he did,
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And the Pope demands independent of any earthly king's authority precisely that of Caesar.
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The worldly power may not interfere with the things that belong to God.
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And he says, you say that the Pope is not swayed by national considerations.
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In a war between Italy and England, would not his sympathies be with
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Italy? And they answer, the Pope as Pope must forget his nationality.
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As a man, his sympathies might be with Italy, but he could not
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favor Italy in its official capacity. Despite his national sympathies, the Pope has
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insisted upon being perfectly independent of all Italian authority. This is especially true in
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the nineteen thirties when they wrote this, you know this is Mussolini era,
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Okay, Mussolini, who was extremely anti Catholic. There was definitely no sympathy
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of the pope toward Italy and World War Two. If an English pope had
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done this, many would have ascribed it to anti Italian prejudices. But when
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an Italian pope insists on it, whose national sympathies are all with Italy,
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there is no explanation except that in his official capacity the Pope refuses to be
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an Italian. If an unjust war broke out between Italy and England, and
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Italy was in the wrong, the Pope would condemn the unjust policy of England.
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And they say, but in almost every country where she exists, the
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Catholic Church meddles with politics and causes trouble very English attitude. By the way,
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Catholics are human beings with souls devote to the service of God according to
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the Catholic faith, yet with bodies which think, which link them with the
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world and render them subject to social relations and duties. These duties are regulated
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to a great extent by civil law, and Catholics do their share as citizens
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and the making of those laws, but do not think that all their activities
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as citizens are necessarily to be attributed to them as Catholics and to be regarded
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as due to the influence of the Catholic Church. I guess we'll get one
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more here. I actually we probably need about three, Yes, three more
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questions. Yeah, we're going to go a little bit long in this.
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It's the same guy ask the same questions. I'm gonna try to finish up
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the section. He says, the Catholic Church controls Italy, Spain, Ireland,
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and Mexico. Were that that true? Even in the nineteen thirties,
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Catholic Church certainly did not control Ireland. The English controlled Ireland, waging a
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genocide and in slaving half the people of Ireland, shipping them all over the
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world at their will. Catholic Church certainly did not control Mexico. At this
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time the communists Pancho Villa and the Communists had waged a revolution in Mexico.
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Spain, Spain remained loyal. Spain was actually really good. If you were
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actually to study the history of Spain in the early nineteen hundreds, you would
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find that it was the most anti communist country. It doesn't mean it was
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on the side of the Catholic Church. It just means that it was against
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the communist revolutions that were taking over. And as I said, Mussolini,
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if he hadn't taken Italy by this point, was well in the process,
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and I think he already had. And these you know, these were Masons.
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These were Masonic, This was Masonic Quarter. So they answer. The
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majority of the people in the countries you mentioned happened to be Catholics. But
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that does not mean that the Catholic Church as a church has political control.
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Meantime, the Church does not want political control here and would absolutely refuse on
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principle to accept it where it offered. I wish that were not the case.
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I think all nations should answer to the Kingdom of God, the Catholic
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Church. I think all rulers of this world should be subject to the Pope.
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But that's my opinion. They say, but you cannot deny that the
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Church has experts, But you cannot deny that the Church exerts political influence in
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the face of all the political diplomats of the Vatamican And they answer, the
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Church devotes her energies to assisting men and their spiritual needs, but since there
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are human beings in this world, the spiritual needs are often bound up with
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earthly cares for men's bodily needs. The Church has inspired the construction of institutions,
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homes, orphanages, and hospitals throughout the world. In national and civic
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matters, she tries to sway the conduct of men by some degree of political
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influence, since the politicians of this world so often trespass against God's laws.
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But the Church does not interfere in lawful political matters which are a civic which
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are of a civic moment only, and which involved no violation of moral principles.
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And finally, I think yes we can all. The person goes on
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quite quite a bit, but we'll finish up tomorrow. I just get one
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last question, and then they're going to get into like actual like English politics
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about the Labor Party and such. But the person says, are Catholics told
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in the confessional how to vote on political questions? And that that's a very
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English assertion. I've never actually encountered any anti Catholic in the United States that
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believes that were told in the confessional how to vote, were that we would
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we would that we were there, we go word that we were. I
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do wish our priests would tell us, hey, y'all, you cannot vote
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for a politician that supports abortion. But usually they keep their mouth shuts and
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that's really not good. That's to their shame and to the detriment of us
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all. But in England, for a long time they maintained that priests told
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people how to vote in the confessional, and that was one of the ways
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they tried to get rid of the Catholic Church. So the answer being not
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necessarily, if an anti Christian law is proposed, the priest would probably warn
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his people publicly from the pulpit, and yes they should. In such a
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case, he should do his best to persuade them to be true to God
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and to vote against any law which would forbid repeating the words of Christ.
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Render to Caesar the things are Caesar, and to God the things they are
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Gods. If some individual wish for personal advice in the confessional, he could
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ask it. But in ordinary matters, Catholics are told neither in the confessional
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nor for the pulpit, how to vote. They are told that they are
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free. Yeah, I wish that was not true. I think our priests
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should be far more stringent and outspoken on social issues. Frankly, if they
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were, maybe we could purge some of the Communists from the church. We
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actually do have some really anti Catholic Communists that are priests and perhaps even bishops
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in the Catholic Church. Some might say even a pope, but they keep
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their political views secret under this guise of a separation between church and state.
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No, I don't believe most separation between church and state. I believe the
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Church should tell people what's right and wrong, and every political leader should either
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agree with it or states flat out he opposes the Church and her teachings,
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and the people could make their choice accordingly. And if you vote for an
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evil man, you've committed a mortal sin. If you vote for someone who
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promotes abortion and gay marriage, yeah, we could go down that road.
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You've voted for an evil man and you've committed a mortal sin. And I
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think we really ought to have. You know, the old fashioned Irish Catholic
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priest who would go into the pub and if there was a man in there
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drinking and not providing for his family, he'd drag him out by the collar
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and beat the crap out of him and then tell him he needed to come
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confession on Saturday. That's that's actually I believe the legitimate role of the priest.
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I think they should be much more involved, not only in civil affairs
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civil affairs, but in the personal lives of their parishioners. I believe that
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that is the role of the father in the household, in the family.
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And we call our priest's father for a reason this, you know, keep
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everything polite and calm, and everybody in the closet. I don't agree with
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whatsoever. No, I want a church militant, and I want that church
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militant to be led by a fire breathing priest who is absolutely on fire for
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the Gospel and believes everything that the Catholic in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
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and will absolutely smack some people around and I mean physically, I mean I
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literally I want you know, I want the Irish Catholic priest of old who
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would literally go and you know, challenge somebody to pull the guy out and
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make him stand his ground, and in front of the entire community, and
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yeah, you get a center in front of the entire community who's running around
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with his wife and not feeding his children. You think he's going to stand
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there and have a fistfight with the priest. Well, some of us Irish
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are actually that bloody minded, and the priest should be able to throw a
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good right hook, right jab, left hook. I don't know. It
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depends on what handed you are. It depends, you know, anyway,
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you know what I'm saying. I believe in the old fashioned smack upside the
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head priesthood. That's just me. Maybe you're you know, airy fairy,
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and you want everybody to be happy and get along, and all your priests
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to be homosexuals, and you know, some women to have roles in the
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church. I don't. I don't. I want a priest that will go
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in there and smack somebody upside the head and tell them that they're going to
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hell if they don't get their their life straightened out. I do think that's
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actually the role of the spiritual father of the parish. Call me crazy,
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but I do, all right, y'all. So let's get into we're back
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to the first commandment, they'll shall have no other gods before me, and
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we get into the topic of idolatry. Father's Farago states idolatry, or the
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worship of false gods. Every human creature feels himself to be dependent upon one
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supreme being, and therefore is conscious of an inward impulse to adore that supreme
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being. He who does not adore the true God will adore the creature.
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This is idolatry. The creature he means creation anything in the natural world.
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He who does not worship God in the matter which he has revealed and which
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the Church prescribes, will air along to continue to worship him after a debased
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and foolish fashion. And this is the false worship of God. Idolatry is
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the worship of a creature and is regarded which is regarded as a deity e
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g. The sun, Fire, animals, images, etc. Idolatry is
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frequently met in the history of the Jews. Witness the worship of the Golden
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Cap and Exodus was at thirty two I think, or the adoration of the
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Statue of m always have trouble with this nebo chad non no sore in Daniel
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three. Remember the soldiers who fought under Judas Maccabeus, who fell in battle
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because they had idols concealed of their coats. Judas had prayers and sacrifice.
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This is Judas Maccabea's not Judas who betrayed Jesus. This is from the Book
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of Maccabees, which if it's not in your Bible, you don't have a
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real Bible. Go get a real Bible which has the Book of Maccabees in
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it, among others. Judas had prayers and sacrifices offered for the men who
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were thus punished in the time of persecution. Some of the early Christians were
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guilty of idolatry because, from fear of the tortuary awaiting them, they offered
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incense upon altars of pagan gods. And at the French Revolution, the people
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of France fell into the sin of idolatry when a woman personating the Goddess of
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Reason was adored in the House of God, something they don't talk about in
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school anymore. The French Revolution was not a good thing. Yes, they
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had a prostitute called her the Goddess of Reason and set her up in Notre
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Dame Cathedral and then rape and killed all the nuns. French Revolution was not
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a good thing. It was essentially the first communist revolution. To this day,
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the Heathens worship idols. The Heathen changed the glory of the creator into
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the glory of the creature Romans one twenty three. In Asia, where the
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heavenly bodies shine with greater brilliance than the northern lands, the sunlight's brighter.
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You know, you can see the planets better. At this what he's saying.
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The people looked upon the sun and the moon and the stars as gods,
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and also fire, the source of light, and the winds and the
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great waters. It's wisdom thirteen to two. The Egyptians mostly worshiped animals which
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were either used for hurtful such as the cat. People didn't use to like
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cats, by the way, the hawk, the crocodile, and especially the
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APIs, a black bull with a white scar on its forehead and other peculiar
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marks, which was kept in the temple. The Romans and Greeks again worship
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statues and images of pagan gods, as the Heathen had fallen away from the
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true God. As a punishment, he permitted them, through the practice of
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idolatry, to degrade themselves by their most hideous vices Romans one eight. They
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represented their divinities as vicious as themselves and the patrons of vice and others.
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By indulging in the vice of which any particular God was the protector, they
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thought they did him honor. The worship of false gods was nothing less than
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the service of devils. Its first Corinthians ten twenty, For the devil was
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the animates, animating spirit of idolatry. He dwelt in the idols and often
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spoke through them. They're very interesting. Been reading early Church fathers. Athenagorus,
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he wrote, I guess in the first century the Church to the emperors
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of Rome and Greece, asking them not to persecute the Christians. And as
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he defends the Christian religion as not being atheistic, which was the charge against
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him, because they didn't worship the gods. He goes through and gives a
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remarkable history about how all the gods are the Romans and the Greeks, and
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all the Egyptians, of the Scythians and the Babylonians, etc. Where we
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actually came from, and that the seemingly miracles or graces favors granted by them
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to their worshippers were done by demons. Really interesting document. I encourage you
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to read that wonderfully logical and great history. A lot of insight in that
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one David says the gods of the gentiles are devils. It's in Psalms,
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how thankful we ought to be to Almighty God for the blessing of the Gospel.
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It is shure our gratitude for this benefit that we stand while the Gospel
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was read during Mass. Three quarters of the human race are still unplunged in
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pagan darkness, that is to say, about eight hundred million or heathens.
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Well, this was written in the eighteen nineties. Since then, most of
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Christian Europe has fallen away into pagan heathenism. And we've had communist revolutions in
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China and of course Russia and Cuba and etc. In North Korea, and
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many people who were once Christian are no longer Christian. And if he said
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eight hundred million were heathens in eighteen ninety, oh, we could probably say
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about two billion now minimum minimum every year. And he said they're particularly found
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in India, China, and Japan. Yeah, probably still true, but
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you can add a lot of European and South American countries and a good bit
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of America. In Canada, I would say Canada is almost an apostate nation
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at this point. Every year in America, not no better, honestly,
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no better, except we still have a semblance of religious freedom, which they've
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pretty much gotten rid of it in Canada. And now we have a communist
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that's ruling Mexico, so we expect to see a huge persecution there in Brazil.
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So you know, the end of the world's like going to come into
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the Gospels preached all nations, and all people get a chance to believe or
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not believe in God as they choose. We've taken huge steps backwards, excepts
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backward where the Gospel is not allowed to be preached Norway, Sweden, Canada,
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ministers who just read the Bible or arrested because it speaks against homosexuality and
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such. We've gone. We may have taken a couple steps forward since eighteen
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ninety, we've take taken several back several backward anyway. Every year the Holy
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Father sends out more missionaries to the Heathens. Catholics ought to support these missionaries
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by their prayers, their alms, and their alms. The Association for the
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Propagation of Faith and the Holy Childhood of Jesus have been instituted for this object.
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Frankly, we need him going door to door in America like the Jehovah's
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witnesses do. I mean, you know, if they want to go to
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the South Seas, they're probably going to find better Christians there than they will
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in rural North Carolina or a city and you know New York, all right.
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Another form of idolatry is when a human being gives up his whole self
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to a creature. It would be absurd to call man Amen an idolatr because
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he offers to a false God a few grains of incense, which he ought
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to offer to the true God, and not to apply the same term to
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one who devotes his whole life to the world instead of God. The avarices
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are pre eminently idolaters Ephesians five to five. For they consecrate their every thought,
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their every exertion. They sacrifice their help, their life to Mammon,
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to the God of money, essentially to the pursuit of this world goods.
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Covetousness is the service of idols Colossians three five. All who are engrossed and
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material interests are guilty of idolatry, especially the avaricious the proud, the intemperate,
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and the unchaste. Wherever a man desires and adores, Whatever a man
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desires and adores, that is his God. The god of the avaricious his
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gold Hoseiah eight four. The God of the proud is honor. The God
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of the glutton is his belly Philippians three nineteen. The God of the unchased
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is his own lusts one Corinthians six point fifteen. The greed of grain,
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the pride of life, the greed of gain, the pride of life,
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the sensual pleasures are worshiped by the worldly. Parents are also guilty of idolatry
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if they cherish an inordinate affection for their children. That's a very controversial statement
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these days, but yes, parents who spoil their children are guilty of idolatry.
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But how much more so so called pet parents, those who treat their
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dogs and cats, et cetera, like their children and esteem them above all
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things. Wisdom fourteen fifteen is the reference for that. And again, if
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you don't have a Bible that it contains the Book of Wisdom, you have
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a counterfeit Bible, and you need a real Bible. Go get yourself a
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Catholic Bible. The service of idols is a high treason against the majesty of
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God and the most heinous of sins. Saint Thomas Aquinas declares the worship of
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idols to be the greatest of all sins among the Jews. It was punishable
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by death Exodus twenty two twenty On one occasion, no less than twenty three
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thousand Jews were put to death by God's command for this transgression Exodus thirty two
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twenty eight. He who worships idols incurs the curse of God Deuteronomy twenty seven
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point fifteen. Think of the lamentable condition of the Heathens. Some of them
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have become so degraded through idolity idolatry, that they have sunk in device of
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cannibalism. True the apostle. And that's regardless of Joe Biden's crazy fantasies about
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his uncle. There are, and there were, and there still are now
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cannibals in this world. In fact, the gangs, the warlords that have
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taken over Haiti that are practice voodoo are cannibals. They're eating people, and
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that's how they're actually spreading their power and imposing fear of her people and don't
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tell me they're not demon to possessed. They are absolutely demon possessed. Haitians
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are some of the best people on earth, but they have been plagued by
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voodoo and idolatry and horrible, horrible conditions for quite a while. The apostle
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says, idolatrs, adulterers, and the covetoists, covetousts and drums and others
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shall not possess the kingdom of God. First Corinthians six' ten, continuing
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on this theme, discusses foolish or perverted worship, and this he includes superstition,
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fortune telling, spiritualism, and magic are foolish and irrational forms of worship.
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We would include voodoo in that, without a doubt, superstition consists in
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ascribing to created things powers which they do not possess, either by their nature
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or in virtue of the prayers of the church. Superstition is of a pagan
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origin. Among the Romans, the will of the gods was divined by the
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heroiscipies the intrails of animals. In other words, that's where we get the
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word horoscope. It comes from herispicuous and just means fortune telling. Essentially,
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the Greeks consulted the oracle of Delphi. The priestess was seated upon a tripod
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upon a fissure in the earth, whence a stupefying vacpor arose, and in
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her coherent utnorances when a state of unconsciousness unconsciousness. Through this exhalation, the
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mystic meaning was attached. In other words, she sat over gases coming up
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from the earth, which would make her quite high in a stupor, and
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she would babble when people would write down what they thought were her prophecies.
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Many popular and local customs that linger among us in the present day are relics
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from heathen times. These superstitions are generally found among people who do not care
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for religion. Superstition unbelief go hand in hand. Children born on a Sunday
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are said to be fortune's favorite variety. Is considered an unlucky day for the
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commencement of an enterpris or for starting on a journey. To sit down thirteen
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to a table is in regard to fatal omen Some people wear charmed such as
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the four leaf clover, about them to ensure good fortune. What followy this
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is These we call the natural superstitions because they refer to natural objects. On
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the other hand, those people are not to be called superstitious who make use
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of or carry on their persons things which the church is consecrated or blessed,
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and which consequently are endued or imbued with supernatural efficacy. To wear cross which
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has been blessed, or a rosary or a relic, or to take holy
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water, hoping thereby to be preserved by God from evil is not superstitious.
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But if a greater efficacy than they possess is ascribed to these things. For
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instance, if it is thought that the fact of lightning, If it is
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thought that the fact of lightning a blessed candle during a storm will avert the
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thunderbolt, that mere wearing or recital of a search of certain prayers will preserve
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from drowning or of death by or by fire, then we have an instance
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of superstition. In other words, even blessed objects can be misused. This
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kind of superstition is called religious because it has a reference to sacred objects.
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Fortune telling or sooths saying is an attempt to discover hidden or future events by
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means of things that are not in themselves calculated to reveal them. The Heathens
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of old made use of astrology for this purpose. From the course or conjunction
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of the planets, they forecast the destiny of individuals. Even nowadays, many
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regard the appearance of a comet as presaging war or famine. The Roman augurs
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predicted what was about to happen by watching the flight of birds, listening to
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the cries they uttered, or observing the manner in which the sacred fouls devoured
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their food. What strange delusion. In the present day, however, Christians
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sometimes use cards as a means of devination. Divination, if the public papers
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are be believed, there are in Paris eight hundred women who tell fortunes by
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cards again eighteen nineties. Sure there are many more now, and they are
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invited to the houses of the great to exercise their art. There are also
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many who believe in the importance of dreams, or in sal palmistry, reading
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poems, or who think to foretell the future by combinations of numbers and figures
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and the like and like contemptible devices. Of course, in our own times
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we've had the Bible code fad of the nineteen nineties, where they said,
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by certain combinations of numbers you could find secret messages in the Bible, pure
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heresy, really not good. They attached superstitious meaning to the howling of a
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dog at night, which is said to predict the death of its owner,
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the hour watch happens to stop, et cetera. Those who play the lottery
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connects certain letters or certain events, either real or phantoms of dreams. On
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the occasion of an earthquake in Rome in eighteen ninety five, a million francs
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was put into the lottery on a number of eleven, this being the date
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of the earthquake. Other tickets for large sums being taken for an hour and
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minute of which it occurred. All these numbers were drawn blank. And that
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in the nineteenth and that in this nineteenth century the age of enlightenment. Yes,
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the nineteenth century the age of Enlightenment, in many ways, far more
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enlightened than we are now. On the other hand, the forecast of meteorologists
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for the predictions of what weather may be expected from the observation of natural phenomena
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is of course perfectly legitimate. This is some you know, we get into
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this sometimes with certain Protestant groups. You can tell by the sky how the
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weather's going to be. You know red sky at night, sailors delight red
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sky in the morning, sailor take warning. That means that the sun will
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reflect on the clouds a certain way if a storm's coming up. Cows lie
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down before a storm. Divining rods. Divining rods to help people find water.
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No one knows how they work, but they do actually work. And
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you know there in times in the mountains of North Carolina where they call them
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water witches, and you know they face persecution. Well, I don't know
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how or why, but somehow God gives people, certain people a genetic ability
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to find water using a stick. It will well, I mean water in
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the ground. I don't mean a creek. I can't explain it. But
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that's a natural phenomenon. If I hadn't seen it myself, I would think
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that it may be superscision. But I have, and I have to believe
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it's a gift given by Gut. If it's a gift given by a demon,
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then it's wrong. But considering these are very very traditional Christian, conservative,
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very devout people who pray a lot, I don't think that to be
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the case, but I could be wrong anyway. Certain natural phenomenon like flowers
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closing for storm leafs shimmering in the breeze. You know, we can predict
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certain things. Spiritualism is the invocation of spirits in view of learning what is
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hidden from the human. Spiritualists offer themselves to act as instruments from mediums to
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the spirit, their design being that some unknown spirit that is a devil should
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communicate with mankind by means of their hand or voice, or by some other
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manifestations such as wrapping or tapping. You gotta remember eighteen ninety sants as were
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huge. This was like the height eighteen just say about eighteen eighty and nineteen
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forty, probably more like nineteen twenty. But this was the height of the
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eggar casey and the seances and all the crystal balls and all that kind of
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stuff that you see in old movies. Saint Thomas Aquinasys is sinful to seek
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construction for the devil. Since the holy scriptures the Word of God are placed
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within our reach. Let there not be found anyone that cansult his spirits for
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the Lord of both all these things. He hates that. In other words,
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it's Deuteronomy eighteen eleven. Spiritualists are often excused on the plea that they
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are Christian and call upon the name of God. But for that very reason
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they are to be condemned, because they profane God's holy name, but professing
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to be Christian, they act as do the Heathens. Magic or sorcery is
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the invocation of spirits in order to produce miraculous effects. It is an undeniable
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fact that among the Heathen there were individuals who worked wonders by the devil's aid.
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There were a magician in Egypt at the time of Moses, who by
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their enchantment, imitated the miracles of God Exodus seven to eleven. In these
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days the Apostles, in the days of the Apostles of a magician named Simon
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lived in Samaria, who deluded many by his sorceries Acts eight ten. In
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fact, Simon the magician or Simon is a great I think. He called
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himself can claim to be the Messiah, and formed a completely rival church to
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the Christian Church, and is the father of gnosticism and the heresies, many
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of which are among the founding doctrines of Protestantism. Many of what much of
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what Protestants believe actually come from the sorcerer. The magician Simon who was a
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false Christ and Antichrist. We are also told that Antichrist will perform many wonders
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with the assistants of the evil One. Thessalonians. We talked about that recently.
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The Antichrist will essentially apparently perform all the miracles that Jesus performed, you
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know, that's part of being Antichrist. He'll do that through the magic and
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work of the devil and delusions, illusions and lies. The name of magician
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is not given to jugglers who by skill in sight of hand perform astonishing feat
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He means people who are jugglers or what we would call magicians these days who
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do magic tricks so called to entertain, are not practicing black magic. They're
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not doing anything evil. This perverted form of worship is a grievous sin.
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God says, the soul shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers. The soul
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that shall go aside after magicians and zothsayers, I will destroy out of the
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midst of the people. Levedgos twenty six. David said, thou hast hated
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them that regard vanities to no purpose Psalms at thirty verse seven. He who
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trust to vain things or to evil spirits, describes more power to them than
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to God. He tacitly denies the divine attributes of sanctity, omnipotence, wisdom,
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etc. How canst thou hope for grace from God, as Saint John
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christosan if thou dost abandon him and have recourse to the evil enemy. This
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sin brings down severe chastisements from God. I can't pronounce his name, o
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cho zas oh oh chose us, I don't know. One of the kings
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of Israel sent to inquire Beelzebub, the god of Akron, whether he should
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recover from his sickness. The prophet Eliah Elias met the messenger and said to
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him, go and return to the king that sent you, and say to
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him, thus saith the Lord, is it because there was no god in
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Israel, that they'll send ust to Beelzebub? Therefore thou shalt not come from
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thy bed, but thou shalt surely die. That's four kings verse one or
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chapter book one. I guess oh chosiest expired shortly thereafter. Superstitious people have
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no peace. Their timid and apprehensive Every trifle alarms them. They are dismayed
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and afraid to act when they perceive what they consider is portents or signs,
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other signs other sins following the trail of this perversion of reverence due to gods,
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such as abuse of holy things for instance, relics and images, or
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injustice and one of charity towards one neighbors one's neighbor. Superstitious people are easily
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misled by their omens into rash judgments and hasty condemnation of others, or they
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refuse to do them a service lest you should bring them ill luck, etc.
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You might think of the evil eye. You know. I had a
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friend in Israel actually who she was Jewish but was born with blue eyes,
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and they people, both Jews and Muslims, since she had the evil eye,
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and they didn't even want to associate with her, you know. So
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that's that kind of superstition, all right. So we will now finish this
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one up with how does win sin against the first commandment? The first commandment
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of God is transgress one by neglecting prayer. The heathen had their household,
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God say, were to be seen in the halls of palaces as well as
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above the threshold of the lowliest dwellings. Yet Catholics who were with the True
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God to often deny him the daily homage do him. The followers of Mohammad
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never admit when theirsen calls to prayer the daily called prayer, we'll go with
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that to kneel down and perform their origins or risks, even in public spaces,
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while the Christians who hold the truth faith do not scruple to dispense with
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prayer. Almost entirely unhappy is the household where family prayer is an unknown thing.
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Two by opposing religion, either by speaking against the faith or by the
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publication or dissemination of books and periodical hostile to the faith, or by joining
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associations of anti Christian character. Three by worshiping idols are being gross to material
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interest, four by superstitions, five by telling fortunes or having once fortune told,
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and six by invoking spirits, either for the purpose of searching out what
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is hidden or of doing what cannot be done in the ordinary course of nature.
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See all, I think we were going to wrap it up here.
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Remember the words of Saint Padre Pio, Pray, hope, and don't worry,
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and I'll talk to you next time.