Who says the Word of God isn’t sufficient? Read this report, which is from David Randall’s Royal Follies: A Chronicle of Royal Misbehavior (New York: Sterling, 1988):
“MENELIK II (1844-1913). Emperor of Ethiopia and devotee of an extreme form of Christian Science. Whenever he felt ill he would not bother with conventional medications but would turn instead to the Bible.
This was not for the religious or spiritual comfort it might bring, but for the healing properties of the pages it was printed on. Whether it was an upset stomach or muscle strain he was suffering from, Menelik would simply tear out a few folios and eat them. He swore that it never failed.
“So one day in December 1913, when he was battling to recover from a stroke and still feeling far from well, he decided that what he needed was a good stiff measure of his medicine. He had the entire Book of Kings ripped from the Old Testament and ate every page of it. Alas, it proved to be an overdose, and he died shortly afterwards.”
Antithesis magazine has ceased publication after two years of giving an intelligent explication of the Reformed position. Issued under the auspices of Covenant Community Church of Orange County, California, the bimonthly was under the editorship of Doug Jones.
We bring this demise to your attention because Antithesis has been mentioned in these pages before and because we acknowledge the open-mindedness of the magazine’s staffers. While not agreeing with the Catholic position, they did their best to explain it accurately–perhaps not always to our satisfaction, but always with our appreciation.
If you’re engaged in Catholic apologetics, you discover soon enough a commonality of purpose, if not of vision. Protestant apologists are every bit as dedicated as their Catholic counterparts, and it is not uncommon for friendships to grow out of what some might think unlikely soil.
When it comes to parish evangelization, St. Marie Catholic Church in Manchester, New Hampshire is second to none. The parish has grown by 500 households in the last two years, thanks to dynamic parish conferences, a commitment to authentic Catholic teaching, and an openness by the parish’s pastoral team to “let the Spirit lead them.”
St. Marie’s is especially active in promoting apologetics. Thousands of people from across New England have attended its conferences. Among the speakers have been Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, Charlie Osburn, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Scott and Kimberly Hahn, and Fr. Tom Forrest.
Lay volunteers with backgrounds in business and marketing are in charge of promoting the conferences, and they’ve done a great job. They produce bulletin inserts, promotional videotapes, and flyers. They also run a large direct-mail program. A team of nearly 50 volunteers plans and directs the events and serves the attendees.
In February the parish began an apologetics teaching series. It includes weekly two-hour sessions of prayer, study, and question-and-answer time, plus group discussions and socializing. Topics addressed include inspiration, the interpretation of Scripture, sola scriptura vs. Scripture and Tradition, the Church’s magisterium, papal infallibility, purgatory, and Marian doctrines.
For information on how to develop a similar program at your parish, call Tom Curran, director of evangelization at St. Marie’s, at (603) 647-2597 during regular business hours (Eastern time), or call our own Matthew Pinto at (619) 541-1131 (Pacific time).
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have brought younger members into top leadership positions. Since May 1 men who are not of the “anointed remnant” (those who converted before 1935 and who are among the 144,000 to reign in heaven) have been invited to join various Governing Body Committees. The current Governing Body consists of twelve men with an average age of 83. The youngest member is 70, and the oldest is in his late nineties: Frederick W. Franz, the President of the Watch Tower Society.
These younger Witnesses will not become members of the Governing Body, but they will participate in executive administrative work. Theoretically the Governing Body is restricted to men who were Witnesses before 1935, but the church probably will change its theology (as it has before) to accommodate the fact that in a few decades there will be no one left who was a Witness before that time. There is speculation that the actuarial tables will force the leadership to drop the teaching that the End Times will come before the “generation of 1914” passes away.
Just when you think separation of church and state has gone about as far as it can go, you’re surprised. The judge who presided over Manuel Noriega’s drug trial may throw out the guilty verdict if he determines, from interviews with jurors, that some of them prayed about the verdict. Some members of the panel are said to have prayed together the night before the verdict was rendered. Noriega’s lawyers claim that jurors were “affected by outside influences,” including, apparently, supernatural ones. The logic of the argument would suggest that courts do away with oaths, since God–the No. 1 Outside Influence–might induce someone to tell the truth.
W. A. Criswell is one of the icons of Fundamentalism and pastors one of the largest Fundamentalist churches in the nation. His essay on “The Bones of Peter” was reprinted in the May issue of Mission to Catholics’ Challenger.
Criswell condemns the “ecclesiastical system” built upon Peter–that is, he condemns the Catholic Church–and recites the standard Fundamentalist arguments in favor of the Peter-never-in-Rome position. He says not one thing new and not one thing well, and he seems entirely unaware of the Catholic response to his arguments.
This highlights one of Fundamentalism’s greatest failings: an awareness so narrow that almost no notice is taken of telling and often fatal refutations of the Fundamentalist position. The same old “proofs” are regurgitated, even by people with “Dr.” before their names–people who should know better.
Drat! The world is ending–again! This time the prophet is Bank-Ik Ha, who, when he was 13, first got the news from God. The rapture will come this October, and you’ll know it’s here because you’ll start seeing the unraptured walk around with “666” on their foreheads–in the form of a bar code, just like the ones at supermarkets. This bar code will be a permanent tatoo. (No word about what colors will be available.)