More than 10,000 people were left disappointed in Ireland Saturday as the Virgin Mary failed to appear as predicted at Knock Basilica.
By 3 p.m. Irish time (10 a.m. EST) about 7,000 people had crammed into the Basilica with a further 3,000 people outside.
Dubliner Joe Coleman, the man who had predicted the apparition left the Basilica at about 4 p.m. saying he had seen Our Lady as anticipated.
Coleman, who says he is ?
This is one of those stories that, when you are confronted with it, seems like a parody from the Onion, but upon closer examination ... it’s not. No, it’s a “truth is stranger than fiction” kinda thing. Actually, it’s more a case of her truth is stranger than fiction. This is some real Michelle Bachmann-level goofiness going on here. What am I talking about?
I’m talking about the marvelous loopy opinion piece written by one Kimberly Daniels, founder of Kimberly Daniels Ministries International, who describes herself as “a recognized prophetic voice” (whatever that means, details were not forthcoming). Kimberly penned what might be charitably described as a “controversial” essay for Charisma magazine, published online at its website and also picked up by Pat Robertson’s CBN website but removed as the story began to receive ridicule on the Internet. What was her essay about that caused such a reaction, you ask?
Well, you see, Kimberly wants to destroy Halloween! That’s right—she wants to destroy Halloween because of the demonic candy handed out during the holiday. Not just any candy, but accursed candy, the worst kind!
From her essay:
During this period, demons are assigned against those who participate in the rituals and festivities. These demons are automatically drawn to the fetishes that open doors for them to come into the lives of human beings. For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches.
I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.
Sound the alarm! And be on the lookout for this evil, demonic candy! Why hasn’t someone alerted Fox News??!
Daniels goes on to write:
Halloween is much more than a holiday filled with fun and tricks or treats. It is a time for the gathering of evil that masquerades behind the fictitious characters of Dracula, werewolves, mummies and witches on brooms. The truth is that these demons that have been presented as scary cartoons actually exist. I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon.
I’m not going to touch that one, but check out some of the other “secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes” during Halloween:
* Sex with demons
* Orgies between animals and humans
* Animal and human sacrifices
* Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
* Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
* Revel nights
* Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
* Release of “time released” curses against the innocent and the ignorant.
Who knew? Now that we are aware of the problem, what are we, as a society, going to do about it?
Here’s Kimberly’s final advice:
There is no doubt in my heart that God is not calling us to replace fall festivals and Halloween activities; rather, He wants us to utterly destroy the deeds of this season. If you or your family members have opened the door to any curses that are released during the demonic fall festivals, renounce them and repent. I already have.
Cross posting this from Brand X
Pot-stirring, hell, pot-smashing, author and journalist Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice) muses in Slate this week on what he’s “learned from debating religious people around the world.” Typical for Hitchens, “Faith No More” is a nice balance of lucidity and venom. But it’s also gracious to his current sparring partner, Pastor Douglas Wilson, a senior fellow at New St. Andrew’s College:
Wilson isn’t one of those evasive Christians who mumble apologetically about how some of the Bible stories are really just “metaphors.” He is willing to maintain very staunchly that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and that his sacrifice redeems our state of sin, which in turn is the outcome of our rebellion against God. He doesn’t waffle when asked why God allows so much evil and suffering?
Some men aspire to be gods, while others just want to shack up with them. The latter is the case for V K Saxena, a 72 retired railway man from India, who has donned bangles, skirt and makeup in imitation of Radha, the goddess lover of Krishna.
Saxena claimed that he felt more spiritual awakening in this form.
He also added, ?
So much Church of Scientology news to catch up on from the weekend, and it all seems to revolve around its Celebrity Centre head, Tommy Davis (see above).
First, writer-director Paul Haggis (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) with his blistering “open letter” to Davis attacking him for: A.) backing the sponsorship of the gay-rights-denying Proposition 8, and B.) downplaying the existence of the Church’s “disconnection” policy, which (strongly!) encourages its current members to severe all ties to those who dare flee resign from Scientology.
Next comes Nightline’s equally harrowing Scientology “expose.” In the clip below (Part III of V), Martin “Ambush” Bashir, familiar to—and beloved by—many for his role as Michael Jackson’s “Grand Inquisitor,” tangles with Davis over how to best reconcile mainstreamy Church doctrine with galactic emperor, Xenu. The fallout begins at the clip’s end, with links below to the entire Nightline special.
Random factoid: Tommy Davis is the son of actress Anne Archer, Scientology grande dame, and co-star of that excellent ‘70s film, Lifeguard.
On ABC’s Nightline: Scientology Exposed Part I, II, IV, V
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Scientology But Were Afraid To Ask
From Pravda.ru:
Inscriptions of Prophet Muhammad regarded with the same reverence as the Quran appear and then disappear on the body of a nine-month-old child born in a small village of Krasno-Oktyabrskoye, the Republic of Dagestan, RIA Novosti news agency reports.
According to a representative of a local musk, the signs in Arab first appeared on the body of the new-born Ali Yakubov a few days after his birth.
The child?
Robert Crumb’s Book of Genesis (previously covered on Dangerous Minds here) as reviewed by atheist Greta Christina:
Of course I’ve read Genesis. More than once. It’s been a little while since I’ve read the whole thing all the way through, but it’s not like it’s unfamiliar. But there’s something about seeing the story fleshed out in images to make some of its more striking narrative turns leap out and grab your brain by the root. There’s nothing quite like seeing the two different creation stories enacted on the page to make you go, “Hey! That’s right! Two completely different creation stories!” There’s nothing quite like seeing Lot offer his daughters to be gang-raped to make you recoil in shock and moral horror. There’s nothing quite like seeing the crazed dread and burning determination in Abraham’s eyes as he prepares the sacrifice of his own son to make you feel the enormity of this act. Reading these stories in words conveys the ideas; seeing them in images conveys the visceral impact. It makes it all seem vividly, immediately, humanly real.
Now, that is something of a mixed blessing. Spending a few days with the characters in Genesis isn’t the most relaxing literary vacation you’ll ever take. Richard Dawkins wasn’t kidding when he said, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.” The God character in Genesis is cruel, violent, callous, insecure, power-hungry, paranoid, hot-tempered, morally fickle… I could go on and on. And God’s followers aren’t much better. They lie, they scheme, they cheat one another, they conquer other villages with bloodthirsty imperialist glee, they kill at the drop of a hat. This isn’t Beatrix Potter here. It’s more like Dangerous Liaisons by way of Quentin Tarantino. With tents, sand, and sheep.
(AlterNet: An Atheist’s Review of the Book of Genesis Illustrated by a Legendary Comics Artist)
(Check out Crumb’s The Book of Genesis
Ugh, once again religion and superstition used to justify psychotic violence in Africa. Sad, sad story about children being accused of witchcraft by Christian ministers, who extort their parents for money to perform exorcisms. If they can’t pay up, look what happens… And what makes it even worse is that often the parents buy into it and harm their own children or abandon them.
EKET, Nigeria ?
