Today Janet and I sat at a table for over an hour as about 500 wonderful Indians with beautiful smiles and faces glowing with the Holy Spirit stepped up to us to thank us for coming to defend them and their Catholic faith — and to pledge their prayers. They are gracious and gentle people with a very religious impulse and a heart for God.

(Pictures: Right: Riding an ox cart to the conference! Left: Steve with joyful former Hindu, Protestant and Muslim. Click image for larger picture.)

I gave two talks and answered questions for about 1.5 hours with a panel including Bishop Agnelo. Then after signing books we are now on our way to another venue where we will speak to over 400 sisters/nuns from around the diocese. Janet will share a bit and then I will tell them our conversion story.

I will post pictures and another video as soon as I am able but we are having 14 hour days and are exhausted but there is much to do and little time to do it. I intend to come back to India and cover more cities with the truth of the Catholic Church. They are already planning a return visit for us. More soon. Keep us in your prayers as we leave tomorrow for Dubai to start all over again for another week!

Yesterday and today in Bombay I talked about Mary’s visit to Ein Kerem where she visited her relative Elizabeth. We just visited Ein Kerem again with our group a week ago. Here we pray the 2nd Joyful Mystery of the Rosary and I explain St. Luke’s incredibly insightful description of this event. Since you will miss my explanation given on location here is Israel, I will put up a short audio clip of my brief description of Mary as the Ark of the New Testament. Click on the link below.

Here is my article on Mary the New Ark, and here is my collection of what the early Christian taught on Mary the Ark.

Now, notice the two pictures below: Do you notice the parallels? What is similar to each picture?

First, the glory of God is revealed “above” both arks (the Gold Box and Mary).

In the first, the glory is revealed as the Shekinah Glory Cloud; in the second, the glory of God is revealed in his Son Jesus Christ, God Incarnate.

Do we worship the Ark? No, of course not! Jews didn’t worship the Old Ark, nor do Catholics worship the New Ark. Jews did not worship the box and Catholics do not worship Mary. Jews worshiped what was ABOVE the box — which was the presence of God; Catholics worship what is above the Ark, that which is sitting in Mary’s lap. Both Jews and Catholics venerate and appreciate the ark, but the worship is reserved for what it contains and reveals.

Earlier blog on Mary the Ark here.

I stood with tears in my eyes looking out over the 500 people who gave up their Saturday to learn the Catholic faith. All of them paid a fee to come and they sang like angels and responded to my talks with great enthusiasm and joy! I gave a talk this morning on Tradition and Scripture followed by another talk about Peter and the Primacy of Rome.

Have a wonderful Indian lunch in the home of Sarat and Resl Fernandes — our hosts — then back for two more talks: What Must I Do To Be Saved? and Mary, Mother of God. I am praying my voice holds out during 6 hours of  talking.

Here is a video of what we did on Saturday. What a blessed day with blessed people! Janet even gave a talk!

Please keep us in your prayers since it is hot and demanding and I still have Monday with extensive talks before going leaving for Dubai and starting all over again.

Just posted a new Running trip, “2010-01-29 Bombay 2″, to EveryTrail. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/dB5UMT

Marvelous morning speaking to 400 priests & seminarians. My talks very well received.

I stood in front of the people in the church tonight. They were singing with great volume and passion. I stood in front and had tears in my eyes looking over these faithful Catholics who have been attacked and put down. They said I was the first to tell the other side and they were joyful. I wept. It was such a joy to see so many passionate Catholics here in Bombay.

I gave my Conversion Story tonight for 2000+ people. St. Peter’s Church holds 1,200 and every seat was full so they put up 700 chairs outside with a big screen and huge speakers. All the seats outside were filled too. Tomorrow evening they plan to have 500 additional people. They are selling thousands of copies of Crossing the Tiber at a reduced Indian price.

Tomorrow I have four talks to give: three workshops with 500 people each and then a talk on Mary in the evening to about 3,000 people. Stay tuned.

NEW YORK —  As a top prospect for the Oakland Athletics, outfielder Grant Desme might’ve gotten the call every minor leaguer wants this spring.

Instead, he believed he had another, higher calling.

Desme announced Friday that he was leaving baseball to enter the priesthood, walking away after a breakout season in which he became MVP of the Arizona Fall League.

“I was doing well at ball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things,” the 23-year-old Desme said. “I wasn’t at peace with where I was at.”

A lifelong Catholic, Desme thought about becoming a priest for about a year and a half. He kept his path quiet within the sportsworld, and his plan to enter a seminary this summer startled the A’s when he told them Thursday night.

For the whole story, click here.

An article from “American Thinker Magazine” by Geoffrey P. Hunt

“Barack Obama is on track to have the most spectacularly failed presidency since Woodrow Wilson. In the modern era, we’ve seen several failed presidencies–led by Jimmy Carter and LBJ. Failed presidents have one strong common trait– they are repudiated, in the vernacular, spat out. Of course, LBJ wisely took the exit ramp early, avoiding a shove into oncoming traffic by his own party. Richard Nixon indeed resigned in disgrace, yet his reputation as a statesman has been partially restored by his triumphant overture to China.

But, Barack Obama is failing. Failing big. Failing fast. And failing everywhere: foreign policy, domestic initiatives, and most importantly, in forging connections with the American people. The incomparable Dorothy Rabinowitz in the Wall Street Journal put her finger on it: He is failing because he has no understanding of the American people, and may indeed loathe them. Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard says he is failing because he has lost control of his message, and is overexposed. Clarice Feldman of American Thinker produced a dispositive commentary showing that Obama is failing because fundamentally he is neither smart nor articulate; his intellectual dishonesty is conspicuous by its audacity and lack of shame.

But, there is something more seriously wrong: How could a new president riding in on a wave of unprecedented promise and goodwill have forfeited his tenure and become a lame duck in six months? His poll ratings are in free fall. In generic balloting, the Republicans have now seized a five point advantage. This truly is unbelievable.. What’s going on?

No narrative. Obama doesn’t have a narrative. No, not a narrative about himself. He has a self-narrative, much of it fabricated, cleverly disguised or written by someone else. But this self-narrative is isolated and doesn’t connect with us. He doesn’t have an American narrative that draws upon the rest of us. All successful presidents have a narrative about the American character that intersects with their own where they display a command of history and reveal an authenticity at the core of their personality that resonates in a positive endearing way with the majority of Americans.

We admire those presidents whose narratives not only touch our own, but who seem stronger, wiser, and smarter than we are. Presidents we admire are aspirational peers, even those whose politics don’t align exactly with our own: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Harry Truman, Ike, and Reagan.

But not this president. It’s not so much that he’s a phony, knows nothing about economics, and is historically illiterate and woefully small minded for the size of the task–all contributory of course. It’s that he’s not one of us. And whatever he is, his profile is fuzzy and devoid of content, like a cardboard cutout made from delaminated corrugated paper.

Moreover, he doesn’t command our respect and is unable to appeal to our own common sense. His notions of right and wrong are repugnant and how things work just don’t add up. They are not existential. His descriptions of the world we live in don’t make sense and don’t correspond with our experience..

In the meantime, while we’ve been struggling to take a measurement of this man, he’s dissed just about every one of us–financiers, energy producers, banks, insurance executives, police officers, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, post office workers, and anybody else who has a non-green job. Expect Obama to lament at his last press conference in 2012: “For those of you I offended, I apologize. For those of you who were not offended, you just didn’t give me enough time; if only I’d had a second term, I could have offended you too.”

Mercifully, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 devised a useful remedy for such a desperate state–staggered terms for both houses of the legislature and the executive. An equally abominable Congress can get voted out next year. With a new Congress, there’s always hope of legislative gridlock until we vote for president again two short years after that.

Yes, small presidents do fail, Barack Obama among them. The coyotes howl but the wagon train keeps rolling along.

Margaret Thatcher: “The trouble with Socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”

These were two tough guys who had an impact on our lives and we should know them — even though they lived two thousand years ago. Today is their feast day so take a few minutes and get re-acquainted! First by listening to my interview on Relevant Radio with Sean Herriott at 7 AM today (or later in their archives) and by reading the articles below.

I wrote articles on each of them and here is how each begins.

TIMOTHY: Standing out from the crowd has its price and that price often entails difficult tasks. Timothy was chosen for such a task—the job of fixing the problems in the church at Ephesus, the 4^th largest city in the Roman Empire. But Paul knew that Timothy’s weaknesses were as apparent as his strengths: he was still young (1 Tim 4:2), he was timid and nervous (2 Tim 1:7ff), probably very shy, and he had a weak stomach (1 Tim 5:23).

To read the whole story of Timothy, click here and here.

TITUS: “Paul had few kind words for the Cretans. Not many today could get away with his “politically incorrect” words. Paul that the “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” (Tit 1:12). The Cretans had a reputation—their corruption was proverbial. “The Cretans,” said Polybius (200 bc), “on account of their innate avarice, live in a perpetual state of private quarrel and public feud and civil strife … and you will hardly find anywhere characters more tricky and deceitful than those of Crete”. They were so notorious that the Greeks coined a verb kr?tizein, to cretize, which meant to lie and to cheat. Paul gives Titus no small job—convert them—“rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Tit 1:13). The epistle is replete with exhortations for self-control and restraint. Titus really had his work cut out for him.

To read more about Titus, click here

Pro-lifers brave DC rain to join in March for Life

Tens of thousands of American pro-life activists joined in the annual March for Life in Washington on January 22, marking the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. The marchers crowded the city’s streets and thronged over the Mall. Yet in another annual occurrence, major media outlets virtually ignore the massive rally– or, if they reported on it, gave roughly equal time to the few dozen counter-protestors.

(Pictures: Daughter-in-law Anna in the March; Grandkids playing during Pro-life March)

WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Some 300,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. today to mark the 37th anniversary of the U.S. supreme court decision that legalized abortion.

Half of the multitude that attended the annual rally and March for Life was under the age of 25, Father Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, told the Eternal Word Television Network.

Another 75,000 participated in the pro-life demonstration through a Virtual March for Life, an initiative sponsored by Americans United for Life Action.

March for Life draws 300,000+ in DC
Protesters mark 37th anniversary of Roe v Wade

More than half of this year’s marchers were under 25 years old, and another 75,000 participated in the pro-life demonstration through a Virtual March for Life, an initiative sponsored by Americans United for Life Action. Read more. Several congressmen decry abortion. Read more.

“I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, because America gave him the White House based on the same credentials.”  (Newt Gingrich)

Now that Obama’s past the first year, can we expect the terrible two’s?

From walking on water to the backstroke — fleeing sharks. Obama’s worst week in office.

Part 1

Part 2

I couldn’t be happier that Republican Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts. The Democrats should be scared to death!

This is a slam against the Obama agenda with all his liberalism, abortion, homosexual promotion, destruction of marriage and the family –  and bankrupting of America! America is waking up!

Sorry I did not get videos up yet for Tuesday but I had no time. I will catch up on Wednesday. Today we went to Mass at Gethsemane and then toured the Mount of Olives. After a marvelous overview of Jerusalem from the Promenade where I gave a 20-minute account of the story of salvation from Adam and Eve until today with the whole story before our eyes.

Then we had lunch at Ramat Rachel Kibbutz before touring Mount Zion — including the Abbey of Dormition where Mary fell asleep, the Upper Room and St. Peter in Gallicantu where Peter denied Jesus, where Jesus was imprisoned over Holy Thursday night and the Holy Steps Jesus walked on.

We then had a few hours free during which I took eight of us for a run around the walls of Jerusalem with the Archbishop (see separate video) before boarding the bus again to go back to Bethlehem for a delicious lamb dinner and dancing.

On Wednesday we start with a 4:30 AM wake up call to go on the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows, Stations of the Cross) through the Old City and end up at the Holy Sepulchre at 6:30 for Mass at the Tomb of Christ.

Why were the shepherds the first to be told about the birth of Jesus? Hint: where was he born? In a stable with animals?

The reason the Shepherds were notified first is because shepherds are ALWAYS the first to be notified of the BIRTH OF A LAMB! Jesus is the Lamb of God born where lambs are born.

Here is the video of our day in Bethlehem!

Great day and great group. Very cooperative pilgrims which make it possible to cover lots of ground and get a lot done with joy and excitement. Today we finished touring around Galilee, ate St. Peter’s fish and headed south — UP to Jerusalem. Beautiful weather though we found rain in the night in Jerusalem.

Before stopping at our hotel we drove to Ein Kerem, the place of the Visitation and the birth of John the Baptist. Then to the Notre Dame Hotel for check in and dinner. Many then took walks in the Old City. Tomorrow we spend the day in Bethlehem.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 1

Part II

First: Born once, die twice; Born twice, die once? What does it mean?
Hint: John 3:3-7, Gen 2:17.

Second: Once you figure out the first riddle, how does it relate to the first creation?
Hint: Genesis 1:1-2

Third: How did Jesus demonstrate this — Himself being our example?
Hint: Matthew 3:16.

(Picture of Steve in coffin taken from his DVD Jesus, the Word Became Flesh)

Great day with marvelous weather! First bus to arrive at Mount Tabor so we quickly ascended the Mount of Transfiguration in the taxis. Renewal of wedding vows in Cana was again a moving ceremony. Nazareth is always an exciting visit seeing the home of the Holy Family, the grotto of the Annunciation and a good lunch. Mass was beautiful at the Church of Annunciation. We prayed three Mysteries of the Rosary today at these sites.

Part One:
Muslims are trying to take over the Holy Land. It is not just about theology but about the land, every square foot of it. Christians only make up 1.5% of the population in Israel, Muslims over 16% and Jews over 80%. Christians are leaving in droves and the land is being acquired by Muslims.

It this continues the holy sites could be turned into mosques or museums and we will lose ever so crucial Christian presence in the Holy Land. So, I bought a small piece of land and planted an olive tree on it. You will see the video.

Part Two:
The pilgrims arrived today and we are now in Tiberias and settled in for the night. Tomorrow we begin our pilgrimage at the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt. Tabor), wedding renewals at Cana, and Mass at the Church of Annunciation in Nazareth.

Everyone is happy, healthy and excited. You can watch the video and join us on a virtual pilgrimage!

EveryTrail tracking of my run with a few pictures. The Valley of Hinnom was the city dump at the time of Jesus and smoke was billowing out and maggots infested the stench and garbage. Jesus pointed to this dump when he warned us to avoid Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom.

Link to my run on EveryTrail.

Raymond Arroyo comments on the way Mass may look at your parish soon. Interesting commentary.

Watch this 7 minute video (below) titled: MUSLIM DEMOGRAPHICS: THE TIDAL WAVE

Then watch these two very cool maps that quickly change showing the development of religion over the last 5000 years of history:

History of Religion
The geography of faith and its wars across history
See 5000 years of religion in 90 seconds:
http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html

Imperial History of the Middle East
Who has conquered the Mideast over the course of world events?
See 5000 years of history in 90 seconds:
http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf

San Francisco archbishop rebuts Pelosi’s argument on conscience

Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco has written that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who lives in his archdiocese, betrayed “some fundamental misconceptions about Catholic teaching on human freedom” in a December magazine interview.

In a conversation with Newsweek last month, Pelosi had said that her support for legal abortion reflects her belief in human freedom. Her archbishop, responding in a column for the San Francisco archdiocesan newspaper, noted that “human freedom does not legitimate bad moral choices, nor does it justify a stance that all moral choices are good if they are free.” . . .  (Click link above for full article)

“WASHINGTON, D.C., January 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The increasingly notorious lack of church involvement or public religious observance by the United State’s First Family has led one Christian organization to question the level of dedication President Obama truly feels to the religious identity that once lent such appeal to his campaign image.

“After attending church regularly during the 2008 Presidential campaign, Obama has not attended church on a regular basis since being elected President and has yet to find a church home.  Obama, while vacationing in Hawaii over Christmastime, failed to attend any religious services with his family; neither did he attend during Christmas in 2008 as president-elect.

“Yet as a candidate, Obama made his Christian faith and involvement in a local church community a central component of his campaign – an image widely believed to have attracted key votes that would otherwise have opposed his liberal policies.  Several Christian pastors, such as Houston megachurch pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, helped bolster the campaign talking point that Obama’s social policies hewed closer to Christian doctrine than his critics allowed.”

For the whole article, including Obama’s disregard for Christian sensibilities in the White House, click here. The picture to the right is the way “Candidate Obama” wanted Americans to perceive him but his first year as a president seems to suggest fraud.

From Francis Beckwith’s Blog “Return to Rome.” Joshua Betancourt is the co-author of the book with Geisler, Is Rome the True Church?, which came out just last year! The book attempts to debunk the Catholic Church.

(I was interested to find out the book frequently quotes me and attempts to argue (poorly) against my book Upon this Rock!)

“Joshua Betancourt, welcome home! One of my Baylor philosophy PhD students brought to my attention today that Norman Geisler’s co-author of Is Rome the True Church? (Crossway Books, 2008), Joshua Betancourt, has converted to Catholicism! This has been confirmed by Doug Beaumont, a friend of Mr. Betancourt’s. Here’s what Doug writes on his blog (emphasis mine):

“I saw the website (www.catholicscomehome.org). This represents a fairly major move going on in this generation. There are books, TV shows, websites, etc. all focused on those who have left and returned to the RC church. There are also Protestants converting to Roman Catholicism.

“One chapter in the book Is Rome the True Church? is dedicated to why this is happening. Interestingly, the book’s co-author, a friend of mine named Joshua Betancourt, converted to Roman Catholicism shortly after the book was published! Nor is he the only one. I know several people, whose minds I highly respect, who have made the same decision (Francis Beckwith, J. Budziszewski, to name some famous recent converts). Of course, the opposite is happening too – lots of RC’s are converting to some form of Protestant-Evangelicalism.”

Yes, there are Catholics leaving for the Protestant churches, but as I state elsewhere there are notable Protestants converting to Catholicism, but no intellectuals or notable Catholics leaving for Protestantism. Even Protestants are willing to admit this: Evangelical writer Riddlebarger admits that “While evangelicalism is growing numerically, apparently there are not as many notable Roman Catholics becoming evangelicals as vice-versa” (Roman Catholicism, hostile to the Catholic Church, ed. John Armstrong [Chicago: Moody Press, 1994], 240). He fails to mention any actual “notable Catholics” leaving to become Evangelicals since I think he would be hard pressed to come up with a list. But a list of notable Protestants converting to Catholicism is as long as your arm. Many Evangelicals are alarmed.

I think the majority of Catholics leaving Rome for Evangelical groups is mainly due to the fact that it is more difficult being a Catholic in some ways. The moral standards are higher regarding divorce and remarriage, abortion, contraception, etc. Of course many Catholics remain and violate Catholic morality, but many choose a looser lifestyle and jump ship. In other words, many people leave the Catholic Church for reasons “below the belt” and then make up theological reasons for their departure such as “I don’t believe the Pope is biblical and now I believe in the Bible alone.” What this really means is “I want the freedom to decide for myself and I don’t want an organization telling me what to do. It is between me and God.”

Of course many others leave to find more entertainment, goods and services for their kids, or some preacher who teaches the Bible the way desired, or moral code that fits “me.”  This is an American entertainment mentality — what can God do for me? I want to be fed? I want a church that has lots of good music, stuff for my kids, excitement, etc. The Catholic Church has never seen itself as an entertainment center. It is here to serve God. Mass is not about “me and my kids” having a good time on Sunday. it is about worshiping God in the way God prescribes.

Not to long ago I was shopping with my wife. A Muslim woman was in front of us in line and arguing with the cashier. I knew she was Muslim because of the hijab around her head. I waited patiently. The cashier said, “The store says only one per customer.” The woman argued, “I want 21 so give them to me!” The cashier repeated, “I don’t make the rules, I just have to abide by them. The store says the sale is only one per customer.”

The Muslim woman started yelling at the clerk. She went on and on. Finally I said, “Lady, just follow the rules!” She turned on me like a viper and said, “It is none of your business.” I said, “Yes it is because I am stuck here waiting for you since you don’t want to follow the simple rules of the store.”

She said, “F**k you!” I was surprised and so was everyone else standing around. So I said loudly, “Oh, is this what Mohammed teaches you? Is this what we learn from Islam?”

She quickly bought her one item and exited the store. Now I am not inclined to confront people like this for no reason, but Americans have become so cowardly and politically correct that we fear ever saying what we think. We cower in fear that a Muslim or a rude person, or potty mouth might not like us or might yell at us.

Well, the heck with that. I gave up political correctness long ago. I despise the cowardice and stupidity of political correctness and letting wrongheaded ideas and bullies rule the world. We should not insult people, we should respect people, we should love people, but we should also be honest and live in the real world.

All it takes for evil to conquer is for a few good men and women to say and do nothing.