The Pope Is Dead

 Condolences to all the Catholics reading this blog. Isn't there some prophecy about it, btw?

He Is Risen

Matthew 28:5-8 

 

5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.

6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.

8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 

 

 

Blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday everyone!

 

Good Friday

Woman Caught In Adultery

 Does she belong in the Bible? Well, apparently, the recent consensus is she doesn't:

 It certainly seems as if, somewhere along the way, a scribe added this story of Jesus into John’s Gospel in a place he thought it would fit well. Most likely, the story had been circulating for a long time—it was an oral tradition—and a scribe (or scribes) felt that, since it was already accepted as truth by consensus, it was appropriate to include it in the text of Scripture. The problem is that truth is not determined by consensus. The only thing we should consider inspired Scripture is what the prophets and apostles wrote as they “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Much as I like the old translations, this sounds quite convincing. I won't even talk about the theological implications of it. 

Well, what do you think?

Palm Sunday

¹² On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

¹³ Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

¹⁴ And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

¹⁵ Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

¹⁶ These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

¹⁷ The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

¹⁸ For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

¹⁹ The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

Quoted from here.

Do You Really Need Toothpaste?

Amazing enough, no! And it's not my opinion or that of some hippie naturopath, either. Strait out of the mouth of dental health professionals:

While toothpaste manufacturers claim that you need toothpaste to brush your teeth, it’s not true. Toothpaste is not necessary to make your teeth clean or healthy.

Studies have shown that brushing without toothpaste is just as effective in removing plaque and in some cases it’s more effective.

I wonder which other products we use that we are taught are absolutely necessary, but in reality aren't and can even be harmful.

So...A Homemaking Post

 Let's talk about ironing for a change. Do you do any ironing? My mother-in-law was very proud that she ironed everything, including socks and underwear. My Granny used to iron bed sheets (non-fitted). I usually iron t-shirts, pillow cases, napkins, tablecloths and tea towels. The younger generation women don't seem to do any ironing at all (not surprising). What about you?

Is Brigitte Macron a Man?

 Another article on this hot topic:

I wanted to believe it so badly. But the story was too delicious, too outrageous to be true. We are talking about the recent conspiracy theory according to which Brigitte Macron, the wife of Emmanuel Macron, is in fact a man.

There are currently 152 comments. I haven't read them yet. 

What is your favourite conspiracy theory?  

UPDATE:

Brigitte is not a man and I have the proof: a video of their home life, here:)))

Why Christ Performed Miracles

A very good post

Thoughts On Witchcraft Part 2

 A question has been asked:

"If it is possible to disturb the peace of your dead relatives -no, I cannot believe it is possible with christian souls. Isaiah 57:2, right?"

This is a very difficult question and I will admit that I don't know the answer. But there is this story in the Bible about King Saul and the witch of Endor who is said to summon Samuel from the dead. 

Here is an article I found on this topic:

Our questions about 1 Samuel 28 probably cannot be resolved. The Torah had forbidden necromancy (Deut. 18:9-12). Moses didn’t say it didn’t “work”; he said it was an abomination. So the writer of 1 Samuel will truly report that Saul dabbled in necromancy, but he seems to be stingy with particulars that would satisfy our curiosity. No overly intricate details. He’s not about to provide us with a necromancy “how to” kit. Hence I doubt that these subsidiary queries can ever be definitely answered.

Is the spirit the medium summons actually Samuel? Apparently so, since what “Samuel” says in vv. 16-19 is entirely consistent with what he had said prior to his death (see 1 Sam. 15:17-19, 22-23, 28). (Saul got no “new light” here.) Or could it have been a demon impersonating Samuel? Some have thought so; others have thought that the woman screamed because she was actually a phony and not accustomed to the real thing happening, as it did on this occasion (see Youngblood, in revised EBC, vol. 3, for various views). Or it could simply be that God permitted a bona fide manifestation of Samuel through this forbidden means in order to confirm Saul’s forsakenness to him.

It seems reasonably clear that Samuel is coming from the realm of the dead.

Feel free to express your opinion in the comments section:)

Did Prayers Save The Pope?

 This is interesting:

Alfieri said he believed that prayers for the pope help keep him alive, something that the doctor said is backed by scientific literature.

“In this case the whole world was praying. I can say that twice the situation was lost, and then it happened like a miracle,’’ the doctor said, adding that “of course he was a very cooperative patient.’’

Is Witchcraft Real?

 An interesting article on this topic:

 In brief, witchcraft is an ideal avenue for the postmodern view of life. The modern view understood life and religion through scientism. Due to its focus on the methods of natural science, scientism rejected organized religion and the existence of anything supernatural. The ideal faith of the modern view was atheism. The postmodern mind, however, both recognizes that science does not have all the answers and is skeptical of organized religion. For example, many postmodern thinkers claim to be “spiritual, but not religious.” The combined emphasis on personal subjectivity and skepticism toward organized religion is the fertile ground in which witchcraft has grown.

Dunkirk 1958

 Few people actually know that Dunkirk 2017 is a sort of remake of a British movie Dunkirk which came out in 1958. The story is somewhat similar. Instead of 1 soldier there is a group of five British soldiers stuck on the beach. There are also civilian boat owners who volunteer to sail to France to help with the evacuation. There is a young guy among them. One of them will die tragically. So far the similarities. 

Now for the differences. The 2017 production is, of course, much more spectacular. The one from 1958 is black-and-white but it does somehow look more authentic. After all, only 18 years had passed since the events it depicted so it wasn't some ancient history. 

Another difference and a very important one, imho, is that the 1958 version actually tells us the whole story and not a fragment of it. It shows how in the beginning nobody in Britain takes this war seriously. The soldiers deployed to France are shown cartoons with Hitler running away and everybody is laughing. Back in England people call it a lovely war. And then, within several weeks Belgium and France fall to the enemy who is much stronger than anybody has thought and thousands of soldiers are stuck on the beaches of Dunkirk in a hellish nightmare.

The 1958 movie is also unashamedly Christian and shows a prayer meeting on the beach. Religion, quite predictably, is totally left out in the modern version, despite an old saying about the absence of atheists in foxholes. 

I will admit I liked it much more than the remake (if it could be called one). I'd recommend this movie to anyone interested in those events. 

Another Conspiracy Theory

 Sorry couldn't resist this one as I have been re-reading some of his works:

Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays? 

Well and what do you think? 

The Battle Of Britain

 I'm not going to write a review of that one, but it was a nice movie. Recommend:)

This Is Actually Cool

 The Chinese Multiplication Method:

How to Multiply Like Chinese

Stick and Squirrels

Lattice Method

Candace Owens And Conspiracy Theories

 This is a very long article. And the 1st part of it deals extensively with the claims that famous women may be secretly men. Well worth reading, imo.

Dunkirk 2017

 

 A movie review.

The year is 1940 and the British are trying to evacuate their army from Dunkirk but the enemy keeps sinking their boats. Then the Royal Navy requisitions civilian vessels.

The main character is a young British soldier called Tommy who is unsuccessfully trying to escape  and is assisted in his attempts by a man called Gibson. On the other hand, we are following the progress of a civilian boat whose owner Dawson together with his son Peter and their hand George is sailing to France to help with the evacuation. We are also shown two RAF pilots fighting the Luftwaffe. 

Well, that's about it. The film has very little dialogue and practically no background story. If you don't know much about WWII history or what actually happened in France before Dunkirk you won't learn it, either. Tommy appears out of nowhere in the beginning (he is walking down the street with a group of soldiers and the enemy starts shooting. He is the only one who manages to survive) and his last action in the movie is to read a newspaper. We know nothing about his origin, his family , his friends or anything of the kind. We can presume he will go on fighting and that's about it.

Dawson is an older man and we do learn that his eldest son was a RAF pilot killed in action. We know nothing about any other character shown except that George didn't do well in school and wanted to be a hero. This is really a very modern film and it did remind me of Civil War, though despite it vulgar moments, it was much better made, imo. 

The movie's strength is that it does quite a good job recreating an atmosphere of fear and suspense, without politically correct tropes and with great attention to details. You certainly won't be bored watching it. Though it shows war quite realistically you won't see much in the way of blood and gore which is so popular nowadays. It is war drama, not war p0rn.

In general, I'd recommend it to everyone who is into period/WWII/war movies.

Your Comments

 Today I checked my spam folder and found lots of comments, including mine own (!) marked as spam. Some from as far back as December 2023, many from my regular commenters. Only 3 or 4 were real spam. I just published the rest of them.

Excuses, but I really had no idea. If your comments disappear, it's Google work, not mine;)

Keep in mind though that all the comments on old posts automatically go in moderation, and I don't check this one too often, either.

Lent Has Begun

 Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. 

Do Protestants fast for Lent or is it only for Catholics?

Well, some do. Here is an interesting article on this topic:

This year, March brings the end of Epiphanytide, officially closing out the Christmas cycle. Immediately afterward, the church shifts its eyes to Easter, as it embarks on its 40-day trek toward the cross in the season of Lent. This begins with Ash Wednesday, when we hear the admonition, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return...”

...Christians will find many historic customs associated with this penitential season — especially the threefold disciplines of prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

In Lent, Christians should find ample opportunities to pray, including with other Christians at midweek services. Likewise, heads of households often lead more robust daily prayers with their families during this season.

Almsgiving, or giving that goes above and beyond a Christian’s regular cheerful tithing to the local congregation, is another Lenten custom that curbs the flesh from the love of earthly goods and wealth. By giving money to the needy or finding ways to bless others with their time and talents, Christians train themselves to rely on their Lord for sustenance...

 

A New Link

 Just added a new blog called Throne, Altar, Liberty

Disclaimer:

My linking somewhere doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything posted there.

Enjoy;)

P.S. I have been rather busy lately, but I'll try to post more in the near future. Love you all!

Are Men Entitled To Women?

 You see it often in social media debates. When men complain about women been gold-diggers or running after high status guys, some angry female will write back: "Men aren't entitled to having wives/girlfriends". 

Last time I read it, it made me think. Clearly, any individual man isn't entitled to having the affections of any particular woman. However, in a healthy society any average guy who can provide an average income should be able to find an average woman to marry and bear his children. There is a reason why polygamous societies have often been unstable compared to more monogamous ones, as this arrangement by necessity left some men out in the cold without many prospects.

I would argue, however, that our modern society is even worse. First, in polygamous societies there often was a surplus of women due to wars etc so there still was a woman for most everyone. And second, every society on Earth until now has been quite strict with enforcing chastity and fidelity on women and giving men paternity rights over their (legitimate) offspring.

Our society, on the other hand, practices soft polygamy and encourages female promiscuity/easy divorce, while restricting the husband and father's rights over his family. Even the wealthiest of men aren't guaranteed that their wives will stay faithful and not divorce them on a whim, let alone an average guy who often can't even find a girlfriend. 

Women under this system have problems, too. They are encouraged by nearly everyone in their lives to spend their best reproductive years studying/working on the career/traveling and having casual s8x with lots of guys, instead of settling down when they are at their most attractive. So later when they do want to settle down they are often left with few options. 

Both s8xes also have unrealistic expectations about each other, plus female economic freedom enables women to date losers. Since "dating" nowadays means having s8x, they often will get attached to them and somehow drift into marriage, only to realise later, when children come, that she married a good-for-nothing bum/addict/whatever. Easy divorce allows her a way out, and gives the bum a chance to ruin some other woman's life, while children grow without father with their mom "dating" again. Or, she'll be lucky enough to marry again and bring all the baggage and trauma into her new marriage, making the chance of divorce even higher than average.

All this creates a very unstable society which isn't really favourable to having many children as reflected by Western total fertility rates. 

In plain language, we are on our path to extinction and no amount of free daycare and paternity leaves will change the situation, as witnessed by Scandinavian countries. TFR of Norway is 1.4 and it's 1.5 in Sweden while it's 4.3 in Afghanistan. Now, granted, we are a bit overpopulated at the moment and don't need a TFR of 6 as in Somalia, but a healthy TFR of 2.1 would be fine. 

Easy divorce, promiscuity, late marriage and female employment are all factors in low TFR. 

Which way, Western man? You decide...

The Importance Of Christian Families

Interesting article.  

 In 1980, 33% of women had four or more children. Childlessness was rare, and the childfree movement unheard of. Now, approximately one third of millennial and Gen Z adults say they neither have nor want children. Roughly a quarter of respondents in one survey said that having children is irresponsible because of climate change. Others are unwilling to change their lifestyle or make so immense a commitment. Sterilization rates among young, childless women were already on the rise before the Dobbs ruling, and they have increased dramatically since then.

 

 

Civil War

 

 A movie review. Civil War is a 2024 American film by Alex Garland. I have wanted to watch it for quite some time, and we finally did last weekend. The story goes like this: the main character is a middle aged woman called Lee who is a photographer for the New York Times (I think). She and her two male colleagues Joel and Sammy who are both journalists decide to travel from New York to Washington D.C. through war-torn country to interview the president. A young girl called Jessie worms her way into the group because Joel likely fancies her. Jessie is very ambitious and sees Lee as her role model while Lee initially is pretty much irritated by the fact that she joins them.

The movie is called Civil War but there is little explanation about what's happening. The characters don't talk much between themselves and the half of their dialogues consists of f-words, literally. Still, we learn that the president decided to stay for the third term which evidently caused a rebellion, that he used airstrikes against American citizens and that his dwindling army is currently engaged in a 2 front fighting against the joint Texas-California forces and Florida alliance. 

Though the president is presumably a bastard, the rebels aren't shown in a very positive light, either. In fact, Sammy who is older and wiser, predicts that once they take D.C. they'll turn upon each other. He and his colleagues have to travel a long distance to the front lines and the biggest part of their journey presumably goes through the territories controlled by the rebels and yet everywhere they go they encounter totally anarchy, chaos, wanton destruction and bloodshed, with a couple of exceptions.

After we finished watching it, we wondered what was the meaning of this movie and even went to read the Wiki article. I guess, it's the type of movie where different people will have different ideas what it was all about. The way I see it, the main theme is that the types who work for the press are all cynical and jaded, largely devoid of morals and resemble vultures in the way they operate as they are only interested in sensationalism and will literally step on corpses to achieve their goals.

The film shows the transformation of Jessie into exactly such a person. In the beginning she is just stupid and manipulative, but by the last frames the transformation is complete. Of course, that's just my opinion and some (wanna-be) career gal may very well feel inspired by her character which I frankly found quite irritating, especially when you consider that she was directly and indirectly responsible for several deaths. 

The movie is an action thriller, quite fast-paced and short enough so that you won't get bored. It has graphic violence and profanity, but no s8xual content of any kind. Strangely enough, there are virtually no female warriors until the very last minutes when the group of rebel soldiers who storm the White House features a black female sergeant (so I guess a double quota was filled). For a modern film, it is quite decent. 

I would recommend it if you are into dystopian genre and don't mind gratuitous violence. My husband thought that the film had strong Mad Max vibes. 

Is it America's near future? I'd like to think, no, it isn't, but we do live in uncertain times. It may be the future of us all, who knows?

 

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone

Disturbing

 Well, what do you think?

OFFTOPIC: I'd like to remind everyone that any comment on an older post automatically goes into moderation. I just looked into it and published a couple of comments on December posts today. Also, Google sometimes spams comments. It did spam mine 2 times recently:)

Greensleeves

 

So You Want To Be A Housewife

 What now? 

Here is some free advice which too many young girls don't get from their parents any more.

Don't marry a loser. Who is a loser? Simple, a guy who can't or won't hold down a job. The most important quality of your future husband is his ability to provide an income. Now it doesn't mean you should be a gold-digger. Be realistic in your demands. Upper class men can chase girls below them in status to have a bit of fun but few will marry them. As we say in our country like attracts like.

So you future husband doesn't have to be wealthy but he should have a steady income enough to support a family. That means no starving artists/rock-stars, no eternal students, no chronically unemployed guys and no mama's boys who get a burnout from working full time. Full time is 39/40 hours by the way, not 32 and not 36. 

In general, look closely at his mother and their family dynamics in general. A man should respect his parents but be independent and self-sufficient. If he is lazy and work shy and constantly has pain in his back don't think you'll be able to change him. He'll continue to suffer from back pain sitting at home playing video games/watching Netflix while you will be out there in the cold trying to earn a living.

Let it be his parents' problem, after all, they raised him this way.

If you want to have a middle class marriage, look for a breadwinner;)

 

The Problem With Modern Women

 

Not a fan of Varg but this is good 

Found on Twitter. Yes, I eventually went back since that's an important news portal but trying to restrict my time there;)

The Doctrine Which Caused The Most Damage

 Yes, I'm going there:)

In my opinion, it's undoubtedly OSAS as in "once saved always saved" with caveat. Obviously Reformed churches have traditionally taught "perseverance of the saints" which basically means that if you show the fruits of salvation in your life and persevere in following the Bible's teachings you'll go to Heaven, while many Baptists teach Lordship Salvation and claim that God will rather cause your death (hence "mortal" sin) than allow you to do something really bad and lose your salvation.

So it's not a new doctrine. What is new is undoubtedly the "carnal Christian" stuff or like someone described it, the idea that while Jesus Christ is your Saviour, Satan can still be your lord and master and you don't need to change your life at all (because it would be doing "works"). I even read some people claiming that you can drop your faith altogether and basically become an atheist and reject God totally or start practicing Wicca or whatever and still keep your salvation.

We can thank this teaching for so many people today claiming the name of Christ and never repenting/continuing to live sinful lifestyles. Another variant of this very pernicious doctrine which was popular in my country around mid 20th century is the belief that once your child is baptised he's automatically "elected" and will go to Heaven no matter what and that Hell basically doesn't exist.

One thing to consider is that Martin Luther had never taught such nonsense:

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod believes and teaches that it is possible for a true believer to fall from faith, as Scripture itself soberly and repeatedly warns us (1 Cor. 10:12; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 3:17; Heb. 2:1-3, 3:12-19, 6:4-8, etc.).

Such warnings are intended for Christians who appear to be lacking a right understanding of the seriousness of their sin and of God's judgment against sin, and who, therefore, are in danger of developing a false and proud "security" based not on God's grace, but on their own works, self-righteousness, or freedom to "do as they please."...

 A person may be restored to faith in the same way he or she came to faith in the first place — by repenting of his or her sin and unbelief and trusting completely in the life, death and resurrection of Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation.

 

Is Donald Trump Pro-Life?

 I know people were complaining about him in this regard, and yet one of the first things he did was this:

President Trump delivered a massive win on Thursday when he announced pardons for 23 pro-life activists who were prosecuted by the Biden Administration. Trump’s executive action was a major win for the pro-life movement and relief for those incarcerated.

That's some good news for sure!

A Serious Question To My Readers

 Does ADHD exist? Especially adult ADHD? That is, the behaviours those diagnosed exhibit, surely exist, but is the real reason behind it a disease called ADHD or something else? Like anxiety, PTSD, lack of sleep, poor parenting, childhood trauma and other things? 

Do you think it should be treated with drugs or differently? Also, how to know if an irritating person you have to deal with has ADHD or is just an a88hole? And how do you deal with them in both cases?

Feel free to write your honest opinion on the matter:)

Congratulations, President Trump!

 He stopped a war and restored Tiktok before even taking office. Impressive. Let's hope it only gets better from here:)

P.S. President Donald Trump sounds kinda nice, doesn't it?

The Role Of Women In Society

 An American man agrees with Taliban. Well, basically:)))

And then there’s the issue of authority. Females should not be in positions of authority over males. It’s just not natural. I mean, men are supposed to be the leaders, the protectors, and the providers. Females are supposed to take care of the home and raise children. That’s their role in life.

I remember when I was growin’ up, my mom was always at home cookin’ and cleanin’, takin’ care of me and my dad. She didn’t need some fancy job or career to make her happy. She was happy takin’ care of her family, and that’s what females should be doin’. Not runnin’ around tryin’ to be cops or firefighters or whatever other nonsense they think they can do.

 From the comments discussing women in the police force

Frivolous Divorce Doesn't Always Pay

A feel good story with a happy ending:

A scammer duped a French woman into paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds after convincing her they were Brad Pitt with reels of AI-generated images.

The 53-year-old victim shelled out 830,000 euros (£697,000) to help with what she believed was cancer treatment for the film star.

 You see, she never ever doubted his story because at her age she knew she only deserved the best.  

The interior designer told French channel TF1 that the ordeal started when she received a message on social media from someone claiming to be the actor's mother after sharing photos of her lavish ski trip to Tignes on Instagram.

Attention Wh8ring on social media is a favourite occupation of many modern Western women. 

The victim, who said she was going through a difficult period with her millionaire husband...

 Who probably paid for her trip, and later, for her divorce

Soon the blossoming relationship took a turn as the fake Brad Pitt proposed to her and overwhelmed her with the promise of fancy gifts...

When the victim told her 'friend' that she was expecting a hefty divorce settlement from her husband, the scammer upped the stakes.

The Brad Pitt account appealed for help in funding urgent kidney cancer treatment, lamenting that they could not access funds due to their ongoing divorce from Angelina Jolie.

It's always nice when a golddigger, a cheater and an attention wh8re get their comeuppance

  In sum, she parted with nearly one million euros over the course of the relationship until her suspicions were roused by seeing the actor with his new girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, in the press.

A fool and his money are easily parted, they say...

 BFMTV reports that the victim is currently hospitalised in a clinic, with severe depression.

Yeah, she is certainly the victim here. Not a word of sympathy for her ex-husband.

Followers of the story shared some sympathy for the victim.

Sarah Bee wrote on X: 'Romance scams are the cruellest.'

You know what is really cruel? Marrying a man for his money then dumping him because you think you found a wealthier man with a higher status. No wonder men aren't in a hurry to marry any more.