Opus Dei priest explains why graven images are okay

Rev. Francis J. Hoffman explains why the faithful can venerate images while not disobeying the second commandment.

As an ex-Catholic, this photo breaks my heart. Dear Catholic people, be set free from idolatry and follow the true Jesus of Nazareth!

Fr Francis, director of Relevant Radio, stated that it is now acceptable to venerate graven images, because we beheld the face of Christ in His incarnation.

The question Fr. Francis was answering was from a person wondering if the Catholic Church would consider taxidermy graven images. The priest quoted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2130   Already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the Ark of the Covenant, and the cherubim.

2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh ecumenical council at Nicaea (787) justified against the iconoclasts the veneration of icons – of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the angels, and all the saints.  By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new “economy” of images. 

2132 The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols.  Indeed, “the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype,” and “whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it.”  The honor paid to sacred images is a “respectful veneration,” not the adoration due to God alone.

Fr. Francis said that taxidermy could not lead anyone directly to God, (looking at a stuffed dead animal) and that it would only be idolatry if someone worshiped it.

My Comment:

Did the Apostles set up a shrine full of statues of wood and stone with carvings of Moses and Abraham after Jesus ascended to the heavens? Did they start bowing before them with the excuse that Jesus walked the earth so now it was okay?

Did they open up a Catholic gift shop with lots of statues and rosaries? We know the answer is NO. There is no way  Paul or Peter set up a statue in their homes or kept one in their bag when they went preaching from town to town. No bottles of holy water did they carry.

Because the Council of Nicaea decided to make the first commandment null and void does not mean that it is. The Catechism claims it is only veneration and not worship. Is the following photo veneration or worship?

This isn't veneration, this is worship.

Oh my dear Catholic people, come out of her. The commandment of God can not be erased by any council or any man. Be set free from idolatry by throwing out every statue and image, and the unclean spirits attached to them! Adhere to the Gospel and make Jesus your Master, Savior and Lord.

Source: CNA

John 4:24

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

Written by Sue

Saddam Hussein 1978: We need a nuclear bomb to get rid of Israel

“It is essential that “the Arabs” (by which he meant Iraq ) have nuclear weapons soon”.

Saddam Hussein wanted to get rid of Israel. For this purpose he started to deveop a nuclear bomb.

This was the strategic viewpoint of Saddam Hussein January 3rd in 1978. The Iraqi dictator asserted that Israel would use their nuclear weapons to stop an Pan-Arabian attack.

This is what have been recored, in documents found by US officials after the 2003 invasion of Iraq:
” As long as they did not, they would not be able to attack Israel, because when the Arab armies moved toward Israel’s borders and prepared for a crucial blow – Israel would threaten a nuclear attack” .

During the occupation of Baghdad in April 2003, U.S. forces confiscated a large number of secret Iraqi documents. Among them were audio tapes of hundreds of hours of discussions during the 1978 to 2003 period between the ruler of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and his top advisers: the heads of the Ba’ath party, military commanders, tribal leaders and high-ranking foreign visitors.

The dictator with the smoking gun was hanged by his own people.

A large part of the tape collection, along with many documents, was recently brought to the Conflict Records Research Center at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.

Along with a few other researchers, I was recently given access to both the tapes and the documents.

The conversations in question cover many subjects, among them Iraq’s attitude toward Israel.

On June 3, 1978, Saddam, who was then vice president (he only assumed the country’s leadership the next year ) but already Iraq’s strongman, presented his worldview to top officers and other key people at a graduation ceremony at the Al-Bakr University for Higher Military Studies.

Saddam had no doubt that Iraq would be the first target of such a bomb.

“Therefore: will the Arabs stop or not?” he asked. He had no doubt that, without a nuclear capacity of their own, the Arabs would indeed “stop,” namely: call off the offensive. If a nuclear bomb were to be dropped on Baghdad, he insisted, “[No] Iraqi soldier will remain in the front, as he will want to know what happened to his family.”

Source: Haaretz

Facts about Operation Opera:

The IDF effectivly knocked out the Iraqi Nuclar weapons program in 1981.

 

 Operation Babylon[1] (Codeword: Opera, Hebrew: ‫אופרה‬‎  was a surprise Israeli air strike carried out on June 7, 1981, that destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq.
In 1976, Iraq purchased an “Osiris”-class nuclear reactor from France.

Source: Wikipedia:

My comment:

Israel will never confirm nor deny that the state has nuclear weapons. But is commonly understood, that the Jewish state has an arsenal of atomic bombs.

That Saddam Hussein wanted to build and Iraqi nuclear bomb, has been denied by some International leaders, especially in the Muslim World

That Saddam gave the green light on 3rd of January 1978,  legitimize the Israel attack on the Iraqi nuclear facility in 1981.

If Israel had not acted before Iraq got the bomb, the Middle East would be faced with a nuclear holocaust.

The situation from 1981 is quite similar for the situation today, 30 years down the line. If Iran is not stopped by Israeli or western forces, Iran will soon get the nuclear bomb, Israel denied Saddam Hussein to develop.

Written by Ivar

Israeli says exposed credit card info in retaliation to Saudi hack

Hacker nicknamed ‘OxOmer’ reveals over 200 names, emails, and credit card numbers of Saudi nationals, as wells those of the citizens of other countries.

Many people fear our electronic money is unsafe. 400.000 Israelies feel the heat.

An Israeli hacker said Tuesday he retaliated for an hack on Israeli databases that released the credit card information of thousands of Israelis last week, revealing what he said were hundreds of Saudi credit card numbers.

A week ago, Saudi hacking group Group-XP claimed it had obtained personal information of about 400,000 Israelis. Files containing the information were posted online by a hacker identifying himself as “0xOmar.”

The devil has children trying to hack your onlines accounts.

Checks carried out by the credit card issuers and the Bank of Israel, however, determined that the details of between 14,000 and 15,000 active cards had been exposed.

A further file was published on Friday by another hacker, identifying himself as “X,”and also claiming to be from “Group-XP.” Bank Leumi warned people against downloading the new file, which it said may contain spyware.

Source: Haaretz

My comment:

That credit card details of 400.000 Israelis have been stolen, is a great tragedy for millions of Jewish families. Money might be stolen.

For all of us, it is just another reminder that digital information is not safe at all. As we move ahed towards the cash-less society, we need to reflect on the possibility of being completely digitally delated.

Whey the number “0″ comes up in the screen of a Government official, you have legally ceased to exit.

The forces of anti-Christ must find away this possibility. They have to make their electrons systems so stable, that all when will be willing to become cyber-citizens.

With out your official digital number, you will simply not be permitted to buy and sell. There are now multiple businesses that do not take cash any more. With the blessings of banks and financial institutions.

Written by Ivar

Wikileaks: Saudi main sponsor of terrorism

Despite some success in disrupting funding for al-Qaeda, “there are still loopholes,” said a Saudi official.

When W. Bush started his "war on terror", He simply saved the main culprit.

“It is still possible for [extremist] groups to use the system for their own advantage with impunity.”

A charities commission that Saudi officials promised to establish as long ago as 2002 “hasn’t started functioning yet,” the official said.

“Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide,” said a U.S. diplomatic cable from December 2009 posted by WikiLeaks, adding that the groups “probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan,” major Muslim festivals.

Source: Washington Times

Read more from News That Matters.

My comment:

When the US President George W. Bush declared the “war on terror”, he used the US Military to terrorize the wrong guys. While the rather moderate Islamic terrorist state of Iraq was attacked, the middle age despotic totalitarian Saudi Arabia was kept safe.

Washington did this knowingly, overruling common sense and pure logic. Since 11 of the 12 Islamic terrorists who attacked the US on 9/11 were Saudi Arabian nationals, the Pentagon needed to root out terrorism in Riyadh to cope with the problem.

Not possible. Because the US share the same destination as Saudi Arabia. If the Saudi regime falls, down goes the US. They are addicted to each other. The US need Saudi Oil and credit, and the Saudi Princes need protection from US Marines and The Secret Service to avoid being assassinated by Muslims who are feed up with this evil and corrupt regime.

First published: 29.09.2010

Written by Ivar

Cartoon of the day # 5

A good Cartoon often tells the story in a better way than 1000 words

The Old and the New Covenant

Daniel 12:7
The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

Revelation 11:12
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.

These are two verses I use to teach about a Great tribulation rapture.  Lord Jesus will come to collect and rapture a badly bruised, powerless and persecuted Church. The rest of the «Church» will be left behind. The rapture will take place  Just before he returns to Jerusalem, and there will be hardly anyone who wants to listen to the truth about Jesus the Messiah. The teachers who preach about a Global end time revival, have in my opinion missed the mark. The true Church is a rescue operation, not a political power house.