While we’ve been busy at the ministry there’s also a lot that’s been going on in the private lives at LAM!

Some good things, some not so good things and everything in between.  Wow! I got a surprise phone call at 9:30 pm last Sunday evening that surprised even me.

The voice on the other end of the line was a familiar one I hadn’t heard in years. For all intensive purposes, the majority of my family shunned me years ago, barring the exception of an obligatory call to alert me of someone’s passing, I never hear from anyone.

My father’s older brother was lost and couldn’t find our house.  He mentioned a long time ago that maybe someday he’d visit us, but after years of waiting for that to happen I’d given up. Alas, here he was!

Kirk drove to town to find Bill and Joyce sitting in their 45’ long travel trailer awaiting his rescue from having to sleep in the parking lot of our town’s only hardware store.

We spent the next eight days catching up. He was very forthcoming with filling in gaps of lost information in my head about relatives and shared info I had never heard before.

Apparently, one of his great-great-grandfathers knew Joseph Smith and became Mormon in the early years.

I discovered that Bill didn’t know Jesus which made me very sad and even worse, he held a deep-seated animosity for Jews, Catholics, Christians and all non-Mormons.  His attitude reminded me of my own behavior so many years ago.  Sigh..

He hasn’t been active in the Church since childhood (he’s now 81 yrs old), but tightly held onto a staunchly proud defensiveness for the polygamist grandfather he never knew that had been converted by Smith’s friends.

With all that going on I was smack-dab in the middle of organizing our Mormon quotes – yikes!  As I came upon one of the entries I was immediately reminded of my uncle’s demeanor.

One of the entries is about an e-mail I received from a Catholic man who held the same attitude that my uncle is plagued with.

His church is the only true church on the face of the earth.

His church is the only church that can save people.

His church is the only church that teaches truth.

His church is the only church that contains correct scripture.

All this makes me wonder why or how people don’t see the parallels…

As you read over this man’s e-mail and think about my uncle, I’m asking you to pray! My heart is sick over the dismal pit of darkness they carry around with them each and every day.

I’m certain they’ve not heard that Jesus came to set the captives free! One more thing for today. Look at Luke 4:14-21;

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.”

Stop. Think about this scenario in your head.

Don’t just read through it – read it and stop.

The fame of Jesus went throughout the region and He was glorified!

Put yourself in that crowd of those who were glorifying Him.

“16 ¶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.”

Stop and think.

It was Jesus’ custom to attend temple on the Sabbath day. Every Sabbath. Not just once or twice, but every Sabbath to be an active participant in the community in which He was raised and lived in. He walked to the synagogue so this took time.

The Jewish outlook of Sabbath is much different than that of the Christian’s.  God told the Israelites the Sabbath is one of the festivals they must observe. Each week was looked upon with anticipation of having a special visitor coming to your home or a festival taking place.

Every week He went out of His way to prepare and walk to temple.

“17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written”.

Stop and think.

Again, put yourself in the crowd listening to Him!  Can you just imagine?  He was already looked upon with great fame and people loved being around Him and here He was reading from God’s Holy Script!

He opened the scrolls to Isaiah 61 –

“18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.”

Imagine being right there. Maybe you’re sitting at the back of the crowd or in the middle…you’re stretching your neck to catch a glimpse of Him and hear every word…

“21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Stop and think.

Can you just imagine this happening in your presence?

You’re looking at God’s promise in real life! Your eyes are beholding God Himself!

What would your reaction be?

What is your reaction now that it’s 2,000 years later?

The prophet Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled today just as it was all those years ago!

The dictionary says that fulfill means to satisfy, to bring to an end, finish, complete…

What more is there to do outside of belief?

How is membership in a certain building comparable to a required blood sacrifice to cover your sins?

Stop and think.

Thought of the Day about Mormonism…er..Catholicism?   

You know just when you think you’ve got a full plate and you’ve haphazardly “told” God you’re thankful He doesn’t toss any other “ism” your way?  Yeah, my piece of advice on that is DON’T DO IT!!!

I just received this e-mail a few minutes ago (April 30, 2012 – 7:10 pm) and thought I’d share it with my readers!  I was thinking it sounds more than just a little familiar…hmmm…I wonder why.   Enjoy!  And by the way, this nice person’s name is Matt.

It is extremely important to become a Traditional Catholic to be saved. Outside the Catholic Church there is absolutely no Salvation. Visit www.vaticancatholic.com Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (Outside the Catholic Church there is no Salvation) is a 2000 year old phrase of the Early Church Fathers.

visit www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com

protestants will not enter heaven – for it is man made religion. Only Christians will enter heaven, not protestants. The Pope St. Damasus made the Bible in 400 A.D. He decided which texts were or were not inspired. Before that,  thousands of texts abounded, while Bishops accepting some for their diocese, while other Bishops accepted different texts for their flocks – and never agreed as to the precise makeup of Scripture. The monks of the Catholic Church and its Bishops endlessly and painstakingly copied and preserved the numerous texts that were accumulated. The writings of the direct students of the Apostles were considered sacred scripture, and read during public worship.

All the Church Fathers defended Catholic doctrines and adhered to Papal authority in unison. Indeed, it was the decision of Pope St. Damasus that settled the matter on what made up Sacred Scripture. The Catholic Church is infallible in the person of the Pope.

Lord Jesus Christ only founded one Church, and on Pope St. Peter the Glorious Prince of the Apostles. If a church cannot trace back its history lawfully in an unbroken line step by step to the Apostles, it is not the Church. Apostolicity is easily proved by the facts of history.

“…the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy3:15)

Matthew 16:18  And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

P.S. http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/PadrePio.pdf