Christianity Explained

On my Twitter; responded to by someone who said, of The Daily Grail's post of the following: Illustration and caption, Christianity explained that "I think this says more about atheists than Christians. I dare you to say the same about Islam." I don't understand the atheist reference, but it sums it up for me. After all, the Christian myth is about a man, human, er, God, no wait, there's only one God, but he's up there, yet down here, .... oh, never mind. Many sacred myths predating Christianity with the same story. As far as Islam goes, they in turn took much of Christian and Judaic myth and turned into their own. As humanity does.

Lucky Mojo Curio Site

I love this site: Lucky Mojo Curio Site. It's been around for years, and still going. Have fun exploring religious, folk art and folk religious items from around the world. Truly wonderful ... Images shown: Saint Wallet Package Amulet

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Oh My God It's Real! "Jesus Ween Christian Festival"

Apparently some Christians have moved on from the "they're stealing Christmas" whine and are busy with attempts to rid the nation of Halloween. (As long as Christians continue to freak over Christmas being "stolen" while at the same time doing their best to obilerate Halloween, I'm going all out every Halloween; wherever I can, however I can. Stuffy hypocrites.) So, now there's "Jesus Ween" and it doesn't appear to be a joke. Jesus Ween Christian Festival:

JesusWeen is a God-given vision which was born as an answer to the cry of many every October 31st. The dictionary meaning of Ween is to expect, believe or think. We therefore see October 31st as a day to expect a gift of salvation and re-think receiving Jesus.

Every year, the world and its system have a day set aside (October 31st) to celebrate ungodly images and evil characters while Christians all over the world participate, hide or just stay quiet on Halloween day. Being a day that is widely acceptable to solicit and knock on doors, God inspired us to encourage Christians to use this day as an opportunity to spread the gospel. The days of hiding are over and we choose to take a stand for Jesus. “Evil prevails when good people do nothing”. JesusWeen is expected to become the most effective Christian outreach day ever and that is why we also call it” World Evangelism Day”.

I discovered "Jesus Ween" via a link in an article by Mary Valle: All Candy, No Jesus: Halloween in America. Valle is a bit sympathetic to the idea of Jesus Ween and other like minded Halloween Harvest Fest type observances, like "Trunk or treats" etc. Valle correctly points out that many Christians do participate in Halloween, as long as the Halloween part is removed. As in witches, devils, "evil spirits," etc. Because, cough, they're not "fictional characters." Valle interviews both Christians and pagans/Wiccans for their thoughts on Jesus Ween.

Valle points out that as a culture, we in the States have a huge issue with death: we don't deal:

We Americans don’t like to talk about death or the dead, though, really. Our bodies are disappearing in clouds of ash and our oldish cemeteries crumble, untended. One of my aunts recently offered to send me some old letters and a picture of her parents if I wanted them, and I was thrilled. I told her I don’t actually have a picture of my grandparents. A Catholic brother, Jeffrey Gros, told me that since most English-speaking American Catholics no longer practice the old-world customs, and “since many Protestants have difficulty with Catholic practices around prayer to the saints and prayers for the dead, our practices around All Saints’ and All Souls’ days have drifted in very different directions, leaving more space for the secular, non-religious practices around these festivals: Halloween.”

Years ago I worked at an art gallery that put on a Day of the Dead exhibit every year. School groups were invited to come and tour the many altars and related artwork, and get a bit of history on the ideas behind the Day of the Dead. We had altars created by children whose parents, grandparents and other family parents had died among the altars displayed. Of all the hundreds of children, from 1st grade on, that came, I never had a child become upset or otherwise "freaked" at the images of altars, the stories of loved ones passed on, skeletons, etc. I did have many children talk, sometimes shyly, sometimes almost happily, about the family members or friends in their lives that had died. Children loved the idea of creating altars to remember their grandparent, or other relative. Yet, as I led groups around the center, talking about the Day of the Dead, I saw many grimaces among the adults. At the end of one tour, I had a teacher come up to me, who was returning later that afternoon with another class. She asked me to "not talk about death so much" during the next tour.

As one Latina artist said to me once, about "gringos" integrating Dia de los Muertos into their lives: "Oh, we don't mind, it's great! But one thing we really wish you gringos would do: lighten up!"

(hat tip to one of my favorite blogs, Mystic Politics, for the link.)

Asherah -- God’s Wife Edited Out of the Bible

God’s Wife Edited Out of the Bible - Almost (Videos)

God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshiped alongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that the ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained new prominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her work at Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in the department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou’s books, lectures and journal papers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherah connection.

"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact, Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, are agreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statement released to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single, universal creator, not one God among many ... or so we like to believe."

"After years of research specializing in the history and religion of Israel, however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortable conclusion that God had a wife," she added.

Vatican Calls For Radical Economic Reform Of World's Financial Systems

In your face, out in the open, not even trying to hide it anymore, NWO Illuminati conspiracy fodder, from the Vatican, returning to the Vatican's 2009 New World Economic Order:

Vatican Calls For Radical Economic Reform Of World's Financial Systems: VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world's financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy.

A proposal by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace calls for a new world economic order based on ethics and the "achievement of a universal common good." It follows Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 economic encyclical that denounced a profit-at-all-cost mentality as responsible for the global financial meltdown.

The proposal acknowledges, however, that a "long road still needs to be traveled before arriving at the creation of a public authority with universal jurisdiction" and suggests the reform process begin with the United Nations as a point of reference.

Thanks to Mystic Politics for link.

Bishop's blog raises tensions between Jews and the Vatican | World news | The Guardian

Bishop's blog raises tensions between Jews and the Vatican | World news | The Guardian

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus's death.

In his weekly post, Williamson wrote that "the killing of Jesus was truly 'deicide' " and that "only the Jews (leaders and people) were the prime agents of the deicide because it is obvious from the gospels that the gentile most involved, Pontius Pilate, … would never have condemned Jesus to death had not the Jewish leaders roused the Jewish people to clamour for his crucifixion."

His comments have angered Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors, who are urging Rome to cease reconciliation talks with the ultra-traditionalist splinter group to which Williamson belongs, the Society of St Pius X. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of the European Council of Rabbis said: "We call upon the Catholic church to suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling antisemitism within their ranks."

Last month, Régis de Cacqueray, the head of the French SSPX chapter, also accused Jews of deicide. To the despair of Jewish groups, there has been increased dialogue between the Vatican and SSPX.

I was a little philosopher in the making when I was a kid. Jewish, attending Catholic school, yet going through the Catholic system as a Catholic -- baptism, first communion, confirmation, (so I wouldn't feel "left out" my mother told me) gave me the appreciation and fondness I have for Catholic culture. As I've stated on this blog many times, and it's in the menu on the left, I am not a Christian, or religious, and don't subscribe to any mainstream religious dogma.

But I remember this very well, of being harassed by others, including many an adult, that "you killed Jesus." I wondered and even made the horrendous mistake of asking about it in class (as I questioned many a religious story in the naive assumption discussion was invited and appreciated; something my Jewish culture welcomed.) I asked why it was that the Jews were blamed, but after all, God, that is, daddy God the father of Jesus, intentionally sent his son to earth with the knowledge he was going to be sacrificed. God set Jesus up. So wasn't God responsible for the death of his son? The usual responses I got to that varied from "What do you expect from the poor girl, she's Jewish and a convert, we just have to try harder" to "You're don't have enough faith, you need to pray harder and ask for forgiveness."

In the case of Bishop Williamson, the Vatican says it wasn't aware of his views, even though he was excommunicated in the 1980s.

Devil in a Jack O'Lantern

I like this image of an imp, devil, demon... coming up out of Jack O'Lantern. Notice how the leg adds to the pumpkin's eye. . .

Spain's Stolen Babies: An Ugly Past On a Staggering Scale - Yahoo! News

Spain's Stolen Babies: An Ugly Past On a Staggering Scale - Yahoo! News

It began in the 1930's after dictator Francisco Franco won the Spanish civil war. With his government’s approval the children of dissidents were taken from them and given to “better” families.

But as the politically motivated baby thefts receded in the 1940's they were replaced by an equally offensive form of stealing. Babies were regularly taken from their mothers and sold to other families – for thousands of dollars – by the same doctors and nuns who had delivered them.

The practice continued long after Franco died in 1975. The baby trafficking was unproven until earlier this year when two men — childhood friends — learned that their parents had bought them from a nun.

The BBC interviewed Manoli Pagador in a working-class suburb of Madrid. She has three daughters, but she’s never recovered from the loss of her son almost 40 years ago. Doctors told her he had died. She never believed that.

“Doctors, nuns?” she told the BBC. “I couldn’t accuse them of lying. This was Franco’s Spain. A dictatorship. Even now we Spaniards tend not to question authority.”

Vatican weighs in on cult-like group in Legion - Yahoo! News

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has proposed giving hundreds of women who live like nuns within the troubled Legion of Christ order greater autonomy after a Holy See investigation found serious problems in their regimented communities.
The pope's delegate running the Legion, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, said in a letter published Monday that the problems of the consecrated women of the Legion's lay branch were "many and challenging." Of particular concern is that they have no legal status in the church.
In a 2010 Associated Press expose, former consecrated women spoke of the cult-like conditions they lived in, with rules dictating nearly every minute of their day — from how they ate to what they watched on TV — all in the name of God's will.
The women described emotional and spiritual abuse they suffered if they questioned their vocation, and of how they would be cast aside if their spiritual directors no longer had any need for them.
The Vatican ordered the investigation after word of the abuses emerged during a broader Vatican probe into the Legion, a conservative order founded in Mexico in 1941 by the late Rev. Marciel Maciel.
After decades of denying allegations Maciel was a pedophile, the Legion in 2009 began admitting to his double life: that he sexually abused seminarians and had fathered at least three children with two women.
Rest here:Vatican weighs in on cult-like group in Legion - Yahoo! News

US priest who backs women's ordination detained - Yahoo! News

US priest who backs women's ordination detained

VATICAN CITY (AP) — A U.S. Catholic priest who supports ordination for women has been detained by police after marching to the Vatican to press the Holy See to lift its ban on women priests.

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois and two supporters were taken away Monday in a police car after their group marched down the main boulevard leading to the Vatican and chanted outside St. Peter's Square "What do we want? Women priests!"

“Paul” Versus “Grey Aliens and the Harvesting of Souls” on Truth Seeker Forum

A little bit of synchronicity in this item: “Paul” Versus “Grey Aliens and the Harvesting of Souls”Is it all True Series #203 Truth Seeker Forum. Yesterday I posted here on UFO Mary an item about demons and grays as "soul eaters."
From the Truth Seeker post:

Well the other side of the coin is a book I am now reading by Nigel Kerner called “Grey Aliens and the Harvesting of Souls,” our souls. Granted much of his book I feel is at best a theory backed by some loose data. But my gut feeling after 40+ years of personal research into non-human encounters is that I am leaning towards Kerner’s theory that these Greys are/were here to genetically modify us for their strange agendas.

I haven't read Kerner's book yet but plan to. One more to add to the ever growing list!

(thanks to Lesley for link.)

Happy Halloween!: Devil and Owl in Moon

Devils dancing with pumpkin head pumpkin and witch/crone...all underneath the moon, and an owl. The owl of course: icon of abduction stories, missing time and screen memory accounts,  and UFO encounters. . .

Fortean Researcher John A. Keel on Demon-ology

Two quotes from the esteemed Fortean researcher John A. Keel on demonology from his book Operation Trojon Horse:

Demonology is not just another crackpot-ology. ... Thousands of books have been written on the subject, ... The manifestations and occurrences described in this imposing literature are similar, if not entirely identical, to the UFO phenomenon itself. p. 215.
   
The Devil and his demons can, according to the literature, manifest themselves in almost any form and can physically imitate anything from angels to horrifying monsters with glowing eyes. Strange objects and entities materialize and dematerialize in these stories, just as the UFOs and their splendid occupants appear and disappear, walk through walls, and perform other supernatural feats. p. 216.
    

Just today I was talking with someone about demons and religions and spirituality...how demons and the Satan myth are variations on the concept of not only negative energies and entities, but "soul eaters" which, some UFO researchers theorize, the "grays" are.

Happy Halloween!

Teeny devils and ... fruit? Onions? Drinking and running amok on the dinner table!

"Sinister Sites - St. John the Divine Cathedral"

I don't know what to make of this; obviously, a right wing uber Christian Illuminati under the bed perspective, but fascinating in spite of it all. Great photos and extremely interesting history:

Sinister Sites - St. John the Divine Cathedral | The Vigilant Citizen: This unfinished building has been claimed as being the world’s largest cathedral. It is realistic to maintain such high aspirations when your sources of funding include tycoons like JP Morgan and prominent figures like the Grand Master of the Masons of the state of New York. The completion of the cathedral was such a prized accomplishment for the Freemasons that it was featured on the front page of “Masonic World” of March 1925.

Mass genocide of Mohawk children by UK Queen and Vatican uncovered in Canada - Seattle exopolitics | Examiner.com

Mass genocide of Mohawk children by UK Queen and Vatican uncovered in Canada - Seattle exopolitics | Examiner.com: BRANTFORD, ON, CANADA - Mass graves of Mohawk children have been uncovered by ground-penetrating radar at the Mohawk Institute, a residential school for Mohawk operated by the Church of England and the Vatican before its closure in 1970.

According to Rev. Kevin Annett, Secretary of the International Tribunal for Crimes of Church and States (www.itccs.org), the Mohawk Institute was “set up by the Anglican Church of England in 1832 to imprison and destroy generations of Mohawk children. This very first Indian [First Nations] residential school in Canada lasted until 1970, and, like in most residential schools, more than half of the children imprisoned there never returned. Many of them are buried all around the school.”

It's Halloween!

October 10th, and I've been remiss in posting Halloween images. I love Halloween! I know it's not Halloween yet, but it is the season. This year I had the idea to post Halloween images with a theme for some of my blogs, hence the devil theme here at UFO Mary. (Witches at Women of Esoterica, pumpkins at The Orange Orb, bats at Mothman Flutterings. . .) I'll try to post one a day but we'll see how it goes. Everything about these vintage Halloween images are delightful; the colors, the concepts, the artwork. So enjoy and visit often to see what comes!

Indigenous Peoples' Day / Papal Bulls Burning‏ - Maoliworld

(Thanks to my friend Richard in Hawaii for the link shared on FB)

CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY!

                 14th Annual Papal Bulls Burning


In solidarity with indigenous peoples around the world, please join us for
the annual Indigenous Peoples' Day, Papal Bulls Burning ceremony in
Honolulu on Wednesday, October 12, 5:00 pm, in front of the Roman Catholic
Diocese of Honolulu, 1184 Bishop St. (at the top of Fort Street Mall).

Indigenous peoples and supporters elsewhere are encouraged to organize a
small ceremonial event and symbolically burn or tear-up copies of the May
4, 1493 papal bull "Inter Caetera" in demonstration against "Columbus
Day" or "Discoverers' Day" as it's known of here in Hawai'i. The document
can be downloaded from our "outdated" website at:

http://bullsburning.itgo.com/papbull.htm

Indigenous Peoples' Day / Papal Bulls Burning‏ - Maoliworld

Ray's X-Blog: V is for Victory - for the Vatican

From Ray's X-Ray blog:  V is for Victory - for the Vatican  (scroll down a bit to get to the article):

It’s all over.

On April 16, 2008 – a day that will live in infamy – Pope Benedict declared military victory over the United States of America.

Or so says Tom Friess, host of the program Inquisition Update heard on domestic shortwave radio station WWCR. I was dialing around when I encountered his program. Tom warned that millions of Catholics were ready to obey any command from the Pope, a fifth column within our midst.

So does Ray believe this? Read it to find out! (A lot of good things over there...)

Italian Worshiper Tears Both Eyes Out at Mass | NBC New York

Italian Worshiper Tears Both Eyes Out at Mass | NBC New York

Fellow parishioners watched in horror as Aldo Bianchini, 46, used his bare hands to pull out both eyeballs. Bianchini later told surgeons, who were unable to save his vision, he heard voices that told him to do it.

"He was in a great deal of agony and he was covered in blood," Dr. Gino Barbacci told the Daily Mail. "He said that he had used his bare hands to gouge out his eye balls after hearing voices telling him to do so - to do something like that requires super human strength."

Polish Catholics see miracle in communion wafer - Yahoo! News

Jesus in a wafer: Polish Catholics see miracle in communion wafer . This is actually from 2008 but is making the news stream now because the church is celebrating the occasion:

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Roman Catholics in Poland gathered Sunday for a special Mass celebrating what they see as a miracle: the appearance on a communion wafer of a dark spot that they are convinced is part of the heart of Jesus.

The communion wafer in question developed a brown spot in 2008 after falling on the floor during a Mass in the eastern Polish town of Sokolka. Two medical doctors determined that the spot was heart muscle tissue, church officials have said.

I had to laugh at this; skeptics were of course alarmed over this event and wondered if a "murder" hadn't taken place:

A group of rationalists complained about the matter in 2008, and called on authorities to investigate if a murder or other crime was involved if human flesh was indeed found on the wafer. Police say they have no evidence of any crime.

Church Sign

New Issue of UFO Magazine

Cover painting by James Rich

I'm on the cover of the current UFO Magazine. Well, not exactly -- my husband's painting is on the cover.

He did a sketch of me in 1977 as I was reading on the deck on a summer's day, on the McKenzie River in Oregon. He kept that sketch and about three years ago painted the painting you see here from that sketch. (Can you spot the UFO?)

I'm posting this news here because I noticed that the issue features an article on
Malachi Martin, priest and frequent guest on Coast to Coast when Art Bell hosted. The article looks intriguing! Malachi Martin; The Priest Who Was a Spy.