http://www.globalpost.com/article/6646453/2015/09/10/remains-new-human-species-found-safrican-cave

This supposed new human species is not really a human.  i think the remains found were that of apes.  Instead of evolving into a humans, these ape species actually evolved into the apes we see today.  Apes once walked on their hind legs but have since evolved to walk on their hands and feet. My theory is just as sound as Darwin's.

 The most complete description of the Catholic Mass in the early church was written by Justin Martyr for the roman emperor Antonius Pius around 155 AD.  Justin was a Samaritan and pagan at birth.  Then Justin encountered the philosophy of Jesus Christ-the love of wisdom.  Justin became an evangelist and eventually went to Rome where he found a misunderstanding of the Christian mysteries.  He wrote an apologia regarding the Mass with two roman liturgies: one with a baptism and one with a regular Sunday Mass.  In these descriptions of a Mass, he describes the sign of peace, the gospel reading, the prayer of the faithful, the offertory, the great amen, the communion, and the collection. All of the current parts of the Mass were mentioned.  In another work, Justin holds that the sacrifices of ancient Israel were Old Testament types that foreshadowed a New Testament fulfillment and the sacrifice of the Mass.  The Jews argued that the dispersion in 70 A.D.  was a providential preparation for a universal, spiritual sacrifice as prophesied in Malachi. Justin lambasted them for their foolishness.  Justin was beheaded by the Romans in 165 AD.

When Justin described a mass after a baptism, he discussed the actions of a president and the distribution of the Holy Eucharist by the deacons. When Justin described a Sunday mass in Rome, he stated that Christ was crucified the day before Saturn’s day and rose on the day after Saturn’s day, which is the day of the sun.(Sunday). These terms seem to correspond to the days of Saturday and Sunday with Christ being crucified on Friday. Justin quoted Malachi and compared his words to the bread and the cup of the Eucharist.

The perfect and acceptable sacrifice: god declares that everywhere among the gentiles sacrifices are offered to him are pure and well-pleasing through his Priests.  He condemned the Jews who call their prayers sacrifices.  There are nations in which Jews do not live, however, thanksgiving offered in the name of the crucified Christ is given worldwide.

Medieval Christendom failed, the reformation failed, confessionalized Europe failed and Western modernity is failing, but each in different ways and with different consequences.  Yet each in a different way continues to remain important in the present.  They do not exist in isolation from the others.  Medieval Christendom institutionalized Catholicism.  But there was no conformity in practice.  It failed to live by its own truth claims.  It failed to practice what he preached and left room for reformation.  The political structure of sovereignty and nobility contributed to its demise.  Not only the aristocrats but the ecclesiastical authorities enjoyed power and privilege and possessions and rarely expressed self-denying virtues.  The reformers did not practice what they preached either.  The reformers claimed that the Catholic Church misinterpreted doctrine.  Yet the reformation was not successful at applying the fundamental principles of the bible.  Scripture alone was not the solution but a continued cause of misinterpretation.  Conflicting issues of interpretation were suppressed.  No supreme authority had the final say.  The reformers wanted to fix the institutionalized world view on which eternal life depended.  Confessionalization-secular authorities oversaw the churches they created and controlled ecclesiastical leaders.  They seized all political power ceding to the church only what served their purpose and interest.  Religious and political wars continued until the Dutch realized a cooperation between economy and the church.  Yet punishment from the institutions continued: the inquisition in Spain and the witch trials in American.

Western modernity was forged in the context of the unintended persistence of Christian pluralism and the failures of confessional rulers to achieve their goals.  A resultant break was made between public life and private religious life.  The church especially in America realized that acquisition of material goods was not sinful and one could be pious along with prosperity.  The most important idea from the American experience was individual rights.  The failings of western modernity is that it does not prescribe what citizens should believe, how they should live or what they should care about. Christian values no longer exist.  People live for themselves and ignore politics.  Secularization and scientism are subverting modernity.   The theological controversies in the protestant churches put a hold on the advancement of theological certainties even though there is agreement on many doctrinal issues.  Arguing the differences left the door open for secularism.

Reason alone is no better than scripture alone in discerning persuasive answers to the life questions.  The natural sciences have made extraordinary advances, but by definition, can offer no answers to any of the life questions.  What remains is divergent secular and religious truth claims in the western world.  Secular discourse offers no prospects for resolving any of the contested moral or political issues.  As a result, public life today is riddled by anger and uncivil rivals with incompatible views about what is good, true, and right.  Most of these views and values are distantly related to Christianity.  Men and women prioritize the fulfillment of their desires on a strictly individual basis and what feels good to them at the time.  Modern philosophy replicated the open ended and irresolvable pluralism of Protestantism regarding truth claims.  Modern natural sciences have had success in explaining natural phenomena by not depending on theology or morality.  But modern science has not addressed human sufferings.  It is amoral.  And power is being concentrated in a political and wealthy elite who enact their own moral preferences through technological applications.  This paradigm shift is set within a rancorous culture of moral disagreement and political conflict.  This conflict within modernity has created a discipline of individual rights beyond what is natural.  Individual rights and dignity can only be real if human are more than biological matter.  Unfortunately society is moving away from the idea that humans are created in the image and likeness of god.  Nature is not a creation.  Human beings randomly evolved.  They are not endowed by their creator with unalienable rights.  Only energy and matter exists. Our world today exists as a result of an unintended extension of the late medieval and reformation era developments that remain influential in the 21st century. Modern philosophy and thoughts failed to provide a reasonable substitute for religion.  This happened only because secular research institutions have banished theology from their academic disciplines.  They tend to define discoveries in the natural sciences with no theological basis.  God, for those who choose to believe, can be anything that they want god to be, each determining his own desires and truths and meaning of life.  Universities have discarded natural law and become inhuman.  Because of their abandonment of God, God has abandoned us.

On 15 September 1965, as the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) was drawing to a close, Pope Paul VI set up the Synod of Bishops, convinced that the Pope needed "to make ever greater use of the bishops' assistance in providing for the good of the universal Church" and to enjoy "the consolation of their presence, the help of their wisdom and experience, the support of their counsel, and the voice of their authority". Two big events are taking place this September and October, 2015 that could have far reaching effects on the health of what remains of the traditional family. Gatherings of lay and cleric Catholics will help resuscitate the strength of the family unit at the World Meeting of Families. They need prayer. The Synod of Bishops exists in order to help the Pope navigate church doctrine through the rapids of modernist society. But a distinction must be made between the World Meeting of Families and the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The Synod of the Bishops discusses topics proposed to it by the Pope and makes recommendations, but does not settle questions or issue decrees. The Synod of the Bishops has its own permanent general secretariat, composed of the General Secretary and a fifteen-member council, twelve of whom are elected by the general assembly and three appointed by the Pope. The secretariat assists in preparing the apostolic exhortation which the Pope publishes on the basis of the recommendations of the general assembly. It is for the Pope to convoke the Synod of the Bishops, ratify the election of participants in the assembly, determine the topic of discussion, distribute the material for discussion to those who should participate, set the agenda and preside over the assembly either personally or through delegates. In addition, the Pope may appoint further participants in any assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

In preparation for each ordinary general assembly, episcopal conferences are asked to suggest up to three themes for discussion. After the secretariat has studied the proposals put forward, the Pope, generally on the basis of the secretariat's recommendation, establishes the topic and agenda of the assembly. Criteria for the choice of the topic are: 1) that it be of universal, not merely regional, interest; 2) that it be pastoral in character with a firm doctrinal base; 3) that it be contemporary and urgent enough to stir up "new energies and movements in the church towards growth"; 4) that it can be addressed within the allotted time.

The secretariat prepares a preliminary outline document (Lineamenta), which is distributed to all concerned for comment. Based on this feedback, a working document (instrumentum laboris) is prepared and distributed to all churches. This document is the basis for discussions at the synod. The assembly examines proposals (propositiones) put forward by its members and passes to the Pope those that receive the assembly's approval. The Pope uses these as the basis for a papal post-synodal apostolic exhortation.

To date, there have been 13 Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops and three Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. The next Ordinary Synod will be held in Rome in October of 2015.  The Synod of the Bishops has held the following assemblies:

Ordinary General Assemblies

Year, Type, Number, Topic,Concluding document or apostolic exhortation

1967
Ordinary General
I
Preserving and Strengthening the Catholic Faith

1971
Ordinary General
II
The Ministerial Priesthood and Justice in the World
Justice in the World, Rome, IT: The Vatican

1974
Ordinary General
III
Evangelization in the Modern World
Montini, Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria (1975-12-08), Evangelii nuntiandi (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1977
Ordinary General

IV
Catechesis in Our Time
Wojtyła, Karol Józef (Charles Joseph), Catechesi tradendae (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1980
Ordinary General
V
The Christian Family
(1981-11-22), Familiaris consortio (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1983
Ordinary General
VI
Penance and Reconciliation in the Mission of the Church
  (1984-12-02), Reconciliatio et paenitentia (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1987
Ordinary General
VII
The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World
(1988-12-30), Christifideles laici (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1990
Ordinary General
VIII
The Formation of Priests in Circumstances of the Present Day
(1992-03-25), Pastores dabo vobis (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

1994
Ordinary General
IX
The Consecrated Life and its Role in the Church and in the World
(1996-03-25), Vita consecrate (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

2001
Ordinary General
X
The Bishop: Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World
(2003-10-16), Pastores gregs (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

2005
Ordinary General
XI
The Eucharist: Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church
Ratzinger, Joseph (2007-02-22), Sacramentum caritatis (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

2008
Ordinary General
XII
The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church
(2010-09-30), Verbum Domini (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

2012
Ordinary General
XIII
The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith
Pope Francis (24 Nov 2013), Evangelii gaudium (Apostolic exhortation), Rome, IT: The Vatican

2015
Ordinary General
XIV
The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world


Extraordinary General Assemblies

Year, Type, Number, Topic, Concluding document or apostolic exhortation

1969
Extraordinary General
I
Cooperation between the Holy See and the Episcopal Conferences

1985
Extraordinary General
II
The Twentieth Anniversary of the Conclusion of the Second Vatican Council

2014
Extraordinary General
III
The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization
Relatio Synodi of the III Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops: "Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization"

The Extraordinary General Assembly can be understood as a preparatory step for the Ordinary General Assembly. At last year’s Extraordinary General Assembly, the bishops defined the current state of the family and the challenges that it faces; at the Ordinary General Assembly, the bishops will formulate pastoral guidelines to respond to those challenges.

The Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, was held in Vatican City on October 5–19, 2014. The synod was a gathering of 253 bishops and other participants in preparation for a larger synod with the same theme this October 2015. The participants discussed problems facing the family today, including the effects of war, immigration, domestic violence, polygamy, inter-religious marriages, cohabitation, the breakdown of marriage, and divorce and remarriage. The Pope issued a world survey of ecclesiastics and family members in preparation of Ordinary Synod.

The dates of the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops is October 4-25, 2015 and it will be held at Vatican City in Rome. This Synod will mark the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops. The theme of the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and in the contemporary world. The XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will continue the work of the III Extraordinary General Assembly by "reflect[ing] further on the points discussed so as to formulate appropriate pastoral guidelines" for the pastoral care of the person and the family.

Having nothing to do with the Synod of Bishops, the World Meeting of Families (WMOF) was conceived by Saint/Pope John Paul II in 1992 to look at strengthening the sacred bonds of the family unit across the globe. The first WMOF took place in Rome in 1994, the International year of the family. Every three years since 1994, families from all over the world are invited by the Holy Father to attend this global gathering. At the conference, families share their thoughts, dialogue and prayers, working together to grow as individuals and family units. Families can participate in discussion groups on the Christian family’s role in the church and society, led by many distinguished speakers.

Coincidentally or intentionally, the WMOF and the Extraordinary Synod follow one another.  The WMOF will be held in Philadelphia in September of 2015 and the Pope will participate. Here is the schedule for Pope Francis' September 2015 journey to the United States as released by the Vatican on June 30, 2015. 

Tuesday, September 22 (Washington, DC)
    4:00 p.m.    Arrival from Cuba at Andrews

Wednesday, September 23 (Washington, DC)
    9:15 a.m.  Welcome ceremony and meeting with President Obama at the White House
    11:30 a.m. Midday Prayer with the bishops of the United States, St. Matthew's Cathedral
    4:15 p.m.  Mass of Canonization of Junipero Serra, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Thursday, September 24 (Washington, DC, New York City)
    9:20 a.m.  Address to Joint Session of the United States Congress
    11:15 a.m. Visit to St. Patrick in the City and Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington
    4:00 p.m.   Depart from Andrews
    5:00 p.m.   Arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport
    6:45 p.m.   Evening Prayer (Vespers) at St. Patrick's Cathedral

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 (NEW YORK CITY)
    8:30 a.m. Visit to the United Nations and Address to the United Nations General Assembly
    11:30 a.m. Multi-religious service at 9/11 Memorial and Museum, World Trade Center
    4:00 p.m.  Visit to Our Lady Queen of Angels School, East Harlem
    6:00 p.m.  Mass at Madison Square Garden

Saturday, September 26 (New York City, Philadelphia)
    8:40 a.m.  Departure from John F. Kennedy International Airport
    9:30 a.m.  Arrival at Atlantic Aviation, Philadelphia
    10:30 a.m. Mass at Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
    4:45 p.m.  Visit to Independence Mall
    7:30 p.m.  Visit to the Festival of Families Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Sunday, September 27 (Philadelphia)
    9:15   a.m.  Meeting with bishops at St. Martin's Chapel, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
    11:00 a.m. Visit to Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility
    4:00 p.m.   Mass for the conclusion of the World Meeting of Families, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
    7:00   p.m.  Visit with organizers, volunteers and benefactors of the World Meeting of Families
    8:00   p.m.  Departure for Rome

Once back in Rome, the Pope will take in much needed rest for the beginning of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on October 4, 2015. Cardinals and Bishops from around the world will participate. Here are three controversial topics of discussion:

    How accepting should the Church be to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people?

    How accommodating should the Church be about “irregular” relationships, such as living together without being married?

    Should divorced Catholics who remarry without first getting an annulment be allowed to receive Communion?

There will be a document issued after the Ordinary Synod of Bishops.  It is common for the Holy Father to issue a substantive document, called a post-synodal apostolic exhortation.  The Pope, with the aid of the Holy Spirit and the worldwide gathering of bishops, will make a proclamation on these issues which the Church will follow into the future.  The Church needs the prayers and cooperation from the Protestants as well as the Catholics. If attendance at the WMOF is not possible, organize revivals and prayer groups during the end of September and the whole month of October.   Pray for the Synod and the family.

A client came in for a divorce the other day. He wanted to get the divorce based on adultery.  So I asked him “who is your wife having an affair with.”  He said she was having an affair with another woman.  Well that was a shock.  I was not stunned about the lesbian relationship. Homosexuality has become commonplace today.  It dawned on me that the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage may have made the sexual relationship between the two women sufficient grounds for a divorce based on adultery in a heterosexual marriage.  It is legally plausible that a sexual relationship between "persons" may now become the definition of adultery.  But then it appeared to me that intercourse is required for adultery. Merriam-Webster defines intercourse as “sexual contact between individuals involving penetration, especially the insertion of a man's erect penis into a woman's vagina, typically culminating in orgasm and the ejaculation of semen.” According to this definition, two women cannot have intercourse. Can two men have intercourse? Can anal sex, once condemned as illegal activity, be redefined to mean intercourse?  I guess the Supreme Court can change the definition! But the Supreme Court will never be able to redefine natural law.  Two men or two women will never be able to produce children. The marriage and divorce laws will have to become gender natural.  If a spouse of a homosexual marriage between two men has a fling with a woman or another man, a divorce will become available based on adultery. Oh, the tangled webs we weave in our profane depravity.

In the early church the Greek word “mystery” was translated into Latin by use of the word “sacramentum,” and meant a sacred obligation.   The word sacramentum reflected all of the mysterious elements of this new, catholic religion which Christ founded. Christ instituted all of the sacraments, but He did not give all of them to the Church fully constituted. The sacraments or mysteries defined, demarcated and outlined the early church. These sacramental obligations formed the basis of the church’s existence. Thus the sacraments are the church. A church cannot exist without sacraments.  The goal of the early church, as it still is today, was the conversion and salvation of souls. And a church cannot accomplish these goals without the sacraments. The word sacrament may be defined as an external sign of something sacred. In every sacrament three things are necessary: an outward sign, an inward grace, and Divine institution. The outward sign stands for and represents a circumstance or condition brought about through a ritual or celebration.  But this external sign represents something else like smoke represents fire or a dark sky represents rain.  The outward signs are ceremonial.  These outward rituals of the sacraments do not confer grace, though.  These outward signs of the sacraments become sacred only when God through the Holy Spirit produces the mysterious effects of internal grace. Grace, the unmerited favor of God, is conferred by God through the Holy Spirit by these sacred rituals. God mysteriously confers grace by the power of the Holy Spirit through the faith of Christ. Preaching the word of Christ to a randomly gathered group of individuals will never confer grace and the gathering will never become a church of Christ. The mysteries of the sacraments are required for conversion, salvation and church formation. Grace can never be obtained through faith alone but must come from the sacraments. And this reception of grace must be continual from birth to death.

 Early Christians did not speak of “two” or “seven” Sacraments as we do today.   The seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church are Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. So where did the sacraments come from and how did they develop?  The early church fathers who spoke Greek and Latin initially applied the word sacramentum to Baptism and the Eucharist. John the Baptist instituted the sacrament of baptism and Christ made it sacred when He received the Holy Spirit (confirmation). The Eucharist was instituted by Christ at the last supper. Communion is the actual reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  The other five sacraments developed over time but it was Christ who instituted these mysteries of faith as well.  Confirmation is a sacrament in which the Holy Spirit is conferred to those already baptized.  The rite in the West is performed around the age 14 or 15 but is becoming more common to perform the rite at the same time as baptism. The sacrament can only be administered by a bishop and is accomplished by the imposition of hands and anointing with holy oil. After the Samaritan converts had been baptized by Philip the deacon, the Apostles "sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost; for he was not yet come upon any of them, but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; then they laid their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost". Acts 8:14-17. St. Paul "came to Ephesus. He met some disciples there and asked them, Was the Holy Spirit given to you, when you learned to believe? Why, they said, nobody even mentioned to us the existence of a Holy Spirit. What baptism, then, did you receive? Paul asked; and they said, John’s baptism. So Paul told them, John baptized to bring men to repentance; but he bade the people have faith in one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus. On hearing this, they received baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus; and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied." Acts 19:1-6. Penance (reconciliation) began in the late 300s A.D. when those who renounced their faith because of the Roman persecution were allowed back into the church.  The repentant apostate was admitted again to communion after a period of public confession and penance. This discipline corresponded closely with the discipline imposed on the catechumens who were being prepared for baptism. But it was Christ and John the Baptist who announced the need to repent, for the Kingdom of God was near. Public penance became rare at the end of the eleventh century as it caused more scandal then true contrition. Penance presupposes sin and supports and completes the effects of baptism and confirmation. Penance is probably the greatest of the sacraments but the one least used.  Was not forgiveness of sin the main reason God appeared on this earth in the form of Jesus Christ?

Christ instituted holy orders when he ordained the apostles. The apostles, the spokesmen for Christ, instituted the order of deacons and the order of presbyters (priests), both of whom became delegates of the apostles. The episkopos, a name derived from the Greek word meaning overseer, was originally the title of the presbyter, but eventually became the title for a  bishop, the highest order of priests. The first Pope, Peter, was an apostle, presbyter and the chief episkopos. God himself instituted the sacrament of marriage at creation. The teaching of our Lord and His apostles raised marriage to a level entirely different from that which the rite occupied among the Jews and the pagans of the Roman Empire. Some Jews married more than one wife, and many divorced their wives for the most trivial of matters. The Church proclaimed that marriage between male and female Christians is indissoluble, and is of a sacred character which mimics the union between Christ and His Church. Anointing of the sick (extreme unction) by the presbyters of the Church is prescribed in James 5:14-16.  “Is one of you sick? Let him send for the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name.  Prayer offered in faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will give him relief; if he is guilty of sins, they will be pardoned. Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, for the healing of your souls.”  The author of this prescription was the Apostle James, son of Alphaeus, also known as James the Less, the first Bishop of Jerusalem. There can be no doubt that this ritual ceremony had origins from Christ. Who can cure a sick man or forgive his sins but Christ through the Holy Spirit? This sacrament is often administered near the hour of death. The anointing with holy oil in the Lord’s name will cure the soul of the sick. Extreme Unction completes the work of Penance and prepares the soul for heaven.

God alone can change an external, material rite into the power to confer grace on men. The sacraments do not naturally confer grace. They do so because they were chosen by God to achieve mysterious effects.  But the faith of Christ and the belief in the power and capacity of the Holy Spirit are required.  The Council of Trent declared: "If anyone say that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify, or that they do not confer grace on those who place no obstacle to the same, let him be anathema" (Sess. viii, can.vi). "If anyone say that grace is not conferred by the sacraments ex opere operato but that faith in God's promises is alone sufficient for obtaining grace, let him be anathema." {Ex opere operato is a Latin phrase meaning "from the work worked" referring to the efficacy of the Sacraments deriving from the action of the Sacrament as opposed to the merits or holiness of the priest or participant.} Catholics believe that the sacramental rites are only the instrumental, not the principal, causes of grace. The recipient of the sacraments must be in a correct disposition to receive the mysteries of Christ. The recipient must not have any obstacle to grace or be in grievous sin. The grace unleashed by the Holy Spirit can never reside in the unworthy, thus the reason for penance before the Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The Eucharist cannot be received by those in mortal sin. Extreme unction prepares the sinful soul for its trip to heaven. Only two sacraments can be received more than once, penance and communion and possibly Extreme Unction.

The order of the sacraments are not coincidental. Baptism and confirmation at birth are always first in necessity. They bring the soul into the body of Christ.  The Eucharist keeps the Holy Spirit present within the soul and provides the basis for the unification (communion) of the Church. Penance and extreme unction ratifies the existence of defects and depravity (sin). Penance allows the repair of the soul throughout the journey through the Church. Extreme Unction completes the work of Penance and prepares the soul at bodily death for heaven. The two optional sacraments are Matrimony and Holy Orders. They are optional in the fact that participation is a respond to a call. God’s will determines man’s fate.  He is either called to be a groom to the church or a groom to a wife.  Some fortunate few can participate in both sacraments.  A married man can become a deacon and thus complete his life by receiving all of the seven sacraments of the church Christ established.

  What does the phrase “Kingdom of God” mean?  The term is mentioned prominently in the Lord’s Prayer when Jesus was asked how to pray:  “Our father who is in heaven, holy is Your name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  It seems that Christ is telling us to pray to God and to ask that He establish His Kingdom as it exists in Heaven, here on earth now.  I don’t think that there is any disagreement among Christians, and even among the Muslims and Jews, that God will, at some future point in time, re-establish His Kingdom on earth.  God shall establish His absolute rule here on earth at the second coming of Christ according to Christians and, according to Muslims and Jews, at the day of final judgment. But many believe that we are living in the Kingdom of God as we exist on earth today. This article will take the position that we are living in God’s Kingdom right now, but our current sovereign is not God but the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a brief detour first.

The Apostle John in Revelation mentions two 1000 year periods of the Kingdom of God and has sparked some debate about end times for Christians between three camps: Amillennialist, Premillennialist and Post Millennialist.  Besides Revelation’s Chapter 20, a 1000 year period is only mentioned in the Bible in 2 Peter 3:8, Psalms 84:40 and Psalms 90:4.  But these last three citations appear to describe a day according to God’s time as being 1000 years, a long time.  Revelation 20 on the other hand seems to be describing a certain period of time on earth in which Christ, Our Lord Himself, will rule during the second coming.  This 1000 years of rule is taken literally by many in the Protestant camp.  They describe two periods of tribulation:  a seven-year period and a three and one-half year period and use terms like “the Rapture” and “left behind”.   Let’s briefly address the three theories.

According to the Amillennialist, we are living in the 1000-year period of the Kingdom of God right now.  Catholics fall into this group.  This camp declares that the 1000-year period mentioned by John in Revelation 20 is a figurative period and not an exact 1000 years which will occur between two specific dates.  We are living in God’s Kingdom now in the current Church age.  This period has lasted for 2,015 years so far.  Satan has no power over the Church.  Satan has been bound up and the Gospel is being spread to the four corners of the globe. Jesus, our Messiah, will return at some unknown future date with God’s Final Judgment.  God’s plan for His creation will have been brought to completion. A blissful eternity will begin.

The Premillennialist camp, like the Baptists and many Protestant groups, believes that the Kingdom has not yet come.  Jesus’ first appearance did not usher in the Kingdom of God.  We are still living in a fallen world and all we can ask is for forgiveness of our sins.  At some point in the future, a date in which God decides He has enough, all believers, those living and those who previously died as believers, will be raptured, taken up to Heaven. There will be a period of seven years or three and one-half years, depending on which premillennialist camp you are in, in which creation, those left behind, will experience God’s wrath. The Anti-Christ will make his appearance. After these seven or three and one-half years of tribulation, Jesus will come again to judge those still living to evaluate whether they have repented and become obedient.  The lost remnant of Israel (the Jews) will reestablish their capital at Jerusalem and Christ will reign on a throne for a literal 1000 years in God’s Kingdom on Earth.  Satan will finally be bound up forever.  This belief relies on two second comings of Christ, the first at rapture, then again after tribulation (really a second and third as Jesus has already appeared once) and two resurrections of the dead and brings back animal sacrifice in the New Jerusalem.  I am not sure what happens at the end of this literal 1000 year period.

The Post Millennialists believe that there will be a figurative 1000-year reign of Christ at some point in the future.  At present, we are living in a fallen world.  The beginning of the 1000 year figurative period will not start with rapture or tribulation, but through gradual increase in the truths of the Gospel and conversion of the peoples of the world.  After the figurative 1000 year reign, Christ’s second coming will bring God’s wrath and judgment and all those sanctified will forever live in harmony with our Savior in the new heavens and new earth.  Post Millennialism is similar to Amillennialism except that the millennium period has not yet started with the Post Millennials.

 So if we are currently living in the Kingdom of God on earth today as my position proclaims, what is it?  I am sure many would say that our existence on earth today surely cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God. How can our current existence be the Kingdom of God when we humans participate in abortions, gay marriage, murder, theft, adultery, wars and pure depravity?  The Kingdom of God in Heaven is holy and pure.  Everything is subject to God’s rule in Heaven.  But the Millennial controversy demonstrates there is hardly any agreement as to the meaning of the term Kingdom of God on earth. If Christ ushered in the Kingdom of God on earth 2000 years ago at Pentecost, why is our society still depraved? If the Amillennialist and the Bible are correct and we are living within God’s Kingdom now on earth, what are the defining elements of the Kingdom?  Some see it as a Christian lifestyle, some as an opportunity of world evangelization, some as a chance of charismatic renewal and others relate it not to the depravity of our current situation, but the world to come.

"Do penance: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand," said John the Baptist. Christ's opening words to the people were the same, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” The Apostle Paul defined the Kingdom of God in his letter to the church in Rome: "The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking this or that; it means rightness of heart, finding our peace and our joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17.  The defining elements of the Kingdom, then, are you and your righteousness. Your soul is where the Kingdom of God currently exists. Your soul is spiritual.  And the Holy Spirit comes and goes in direct proportion to the fitness of your soul to receive it. Currently, only one part of the trinity is ruling the Kingdom here on earth- the Holy Spirit.  Our spiritual existence on earth today is not a physical place or mystical place were God governs as He does in heaven.  God has ordained that the Holy Spirit will govern our existence in His kingdom on earth until the King returns.  It is not a physical country like England were you have a king or queen as a ruler. No, God has set up his Kingdom within the individual and each individual must decide who rules his or her own life, either the evil spirit or the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are currently living within the Kingdom of God because Christ at His resurrection left the Holy Spirit behind as our guide and counselor to govern our spiritual nature and force us to forgo our human nature in order that we prepare ourselves for final judgment.

Listen to what Saint Ambrose says in On the Duties of the Clergy (Book II), Chapter 1 and 2. “Eternal life rests on a knowledge of divine things and on the fruit of good works. The Gospel bears witness to both these statements. For the Lord Jesus spoke thus of knowledge: This is eternal life, to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent. John 17:3.  About works He gives this answer: Every one that has forsaken house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Matthew 19:29. The Scriptures state that nothing is good but what is virtuous, and declare that virtue is blessed in every circumstance, and that it is never enhanced by either corporal or other external good fortune, nor is it weakened by adversity. No state is so blessed as that wherein one is free from sin, is filled with innocence, and is fully supplied with the grace of God.”

The Kingdom of God represents your submission to God’s Spirit in your heart and requires that you dismantle and avoid human desires. It encompasses those principles which separate us from the Kingdom of this world and the devil.  The Kingdom of God does not embody a physical place to conquer and take possession but rather an attitude and quality of your soul within the individual. The Kingdom of God is a personification of the Holy Spirit within you.  It is attained when the Spirit permeates a man’s soul and becomes one with Him and follows His ideals. Thus the Kingdom is composed of individual souls who are invaded by and controlled by the Holy Spirit within the Church.

Can you close your eyes and see the Kingdom of God within your soul?  Do you see faith, hope and charity inside?  Do you possess the seven gifts of the spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord (wonder and awe). Do you have command of the four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice? The Kingdom of God must reside within the individual, you. And you are part of the body of Christ, the Church. Although the church shall never be overrun by the evil one, we, as individual member of the Church, His body, can easily fall prey to the evil still around us. You must work at creating that righteousness of heart of which Paul speaks and allow the Holy Spirit to live in you constantly.  Change is not easy to accomplish, but with God all things are possible. The Kingdom of God on earth is a condition of consciousness guided by the Holy Spirit with Its gifts.   It’s a state of being or principality in your soul in which all the virtues exists.  It is heaven within you.  It is perfection of the soul. Is the Holy Spirit your friend? Do you see how to become a Kingdom dweller? 

 Abraham was declared righteous by God long before faith ever became a buzz word for God’s people.  This appearance of righteousness in Abraham happened before his circumcision, before the laws of Moses, and before the appearance of Christ.  His righteousness was recognized by God because Abraham trusted and obeyed God’s word.  Abraham not only realized and accepted the omnipotence of God but also made himself subject to that power and followed the commands of God.  God’s will became Abraham’s will.  Abraham listened to what God revealed to him and took action based on that revelation. Abraham’s will became God’s will also.  Paul considered this type of obedience of Abraham as the definition of faith.  Faith is not a casual recognition that a God may exist.  Faith is so much more than that.  Faith is not a proclamation that you believe in God. Even the devil proclaims the existence of God. And further, faith existed before Christ ever came upon the scene. So faith cannot  be a flippant confirmation of Christ.

So what is this faith that Paul speaks about?  We must imitate the faith of Abraham who left his homeland for a strange country at the insistence of God.  He trusted God 100 percent even when God told him that his wife would be with child well past her childbearing years.  He listened to God when God told him to sacrifice his son.  The faith of Abraham was passed down to succeeding generations.  God spoke to His prophets and standard bearers such as Moses, David, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. But doubt and resistance intervened and the progeny of Abraham’s faith became stale. God’s plan was to keep Abraham’s faith alive. So Christ appeared to reveal and expound upon Abraham’s faith.  Christ did everything his father commanded even dying on the cross.  The faith of Christ and Abraham is the faith of which Paul speaks.  And what does this faith bring?  It brings righteousness.  But it requires much work to achieve its reward.   Abraham’s faith brought into existence a predestined race, the Hebrews.  Christ’s faith brought resurrection and salvation to the gentiles.  Both Jesus and Abraham were fully aware that God was able to perform what He had promised.  But God had to send proof of His existence to us through Jesus because we lost the faith of Abraham.  God now asks us to believe in Christ as Abraham believed in and obeyed God.  Such a decree is an daunting yet achievable mandate.  This mandate is a prerequisite for righteousness. 

Faith is only the beginning of your journey however.  Abraham and Christ followed God’s direction throughout their whole lives until their deaths.  The passage became a journey of the inner workings of their hearts.  The Holy Spirit was poured into their hearts to foster this hope, a hope to obtain the promised fulfillment of God’s yearnings for them.  God wishes us all to have this same faith and hope to complete our crossing. God requires us first to transform our lives though. Christ performed miracles in order to persuade people to believe so that they may experience the benefit of righteousness. We have moved beyond miracles.  Miracles are no longer sufficient to produce our faith in Christ and God.  He demands that we achieve success through a reasoned faith and determined hope fortified by love.  We need to transform our hearts and minds and become Christ like through the power of the Holy Spirit.  God and Christ left the Spirit behind to perform this transformation in us. We must allow it to invade our soul and we must act according to its will.  The law was only a template God created for the weak in mind and soul.  We have moved beyond the law. We have entered into a new progression of conversion.  We are living in the kingdom of God on earth now. But many have lost or never gained the power of faith, hope and charity that righteousness requires.  We must become Christ like with the help of the Spirit.  We are living in a period of revelation. God will reveal His will for your life through the Spirit.  But you must seek to find. We are existing in a new chapter of human history.  We have all of the tools: God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yet we still fail to claim our reward. We fall short.  Why? We are granted the willpower with the aid and lovingkindness of God yet we do not seek the revealed will of God.  We are influenced by the vile of society instead of the wisdom of God.  Why?  We still desire to satiate our human desires for money, sex, position, prestige and earthly authority.  These things are worthless in the grand scheme of God in our quest for righteousness.  Our pure souls are manufactured by God.  Yet we walla in despair and depravity and return to dust at our physical death when we do not transform ourselves to claim our Godlike character. We must become an image of the human being God desires us to become.  Let go of your human desires and follow God’s will.  When your will becomes God’s will and God's will becomes your will, you have achieved righteousness.  Faith alone is not sufficient.  Faith, hope and charity transforms you into the righteousness of Abraham and Christ.  This righteousness will propel us into the next stage of the Kingdom dwellers, a period of revelation in which God's will is fully exposed. Are you convinced?

Obama promised hope and change in his election campaigns, but it was the vision of his hope and his change, not that of the American people.  His change included ending the two wars, closing Guantanamo and creating a welfare state.  His hope included a dole (handout) from the government for the “disadvantaged.”  What his hope and change has achieved is chaos in the world and a country without jobs and half its citizens dependent on the federal government for survival.  Usually presidents build on the progress made by preceding presidents.  Obama ran the other way and dismantled all progress of prior generations.  We now have global conflict around the world with people killing and blowing up people, even here in the United States, as if it were a duty to revolt against the system.  Human hope depends on peace and security in your home and country and a good job with fair wages to support a family.  His hope and change created just the opposite, no jobs and insecurity.   Good jobs are created by businesses not by the government dole.  Security is created by confidence in police authority and a strong and respected national defense.  Obama’s hope and change is shameful.  Obama lacks any class.  He has been reduced to a political pawn and lap dog for the rich, white, anti-religious, liberal elite who would love to create a godless society with all its members dependent on government assistance. Obama and his cronies are too damned stupid to realize that they will be the first to be strung up and crucified when ISIS takes over the whole world. Let’s look at a lesson from history.  Rome collapsed not only because of the vileness and incivility of its people but because of its form of government.  Roman government became a behemoth and required more and more revenue to support itself.  Roman authorities and its citizens became dependent on the wealth of its government.  The size of the government and the number of people dependent upon it grew and grew until it collapsed upon itself under the weight of its insatiable greed.  Our federal and state governments are designed the same way.   No federal program or giveaway program is denied.  Surely nothing is ever cut or reduced.  It just keeps growing and growing until one day it will not be able to support itself and it will all come crashing down. But unlike the Romans who demanded and collected actual physical gold, we have a pile of debt- paper money- which keeps growing.  Obama’s hope and change does not reflect the American pride and fortitude that existed when this country was first established.  This sense of national pride and work ethic grew and grew until about the end of WW II.  The 50s were the climax and the 60s began the slide.  President Ronald Reagan kindled a spark but the fire quickly faded.  I don’t have that feeling of pride in the USA and I don’t experience it in public or on TV anymore.  We have become a “me, myself and I” culture.  It’s all about how I feel, what can I get, and what can you do for me. When you don’t have a leader who can foster national pride or a Congress who can instill a sense of security in its constituents, you get what we have today, an attitude of indifference within a generation of politically and economically uninformed citizens.  And you get a President like Obama who can prance around yelling for hope and change without defining it.  Then we get a whole mess of hope and change leading us right down a path to destruction and collapse.  I hope for change.

The circle of life is a religious phenomena. You experience birth through God, death through Christ and new life through the Holy Spirit.  God gives us our soul at birth, we die to self at conversion because of Christ and with His aid, and we seek sanctification in this new life through the Holy Spirit.