could this be 'the major discovery of christian history'? from daily mail: For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price. This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity. Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation. The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.
from beliefblog: Believe it or not, there are Duke University students who were fired up Friday morning, even though their Blue Devils lost to Arizona Thursday night in the NCAA basketball tournament. They may be a minority, but these students feel like the same passion that goes into cheering on the basketball team should go into worshipping the Lord.
They've been holding outdoor worship services on campus all week and are sponsoring an afternoon-long Christian music concert on Saturday. Think of it as faith-based March Madness, though officially the events are part of Blue Flame Worship Explosion 2011.
"While our whole school is seemingly captivated by basketball, we are proposing an alternative to bring more peace to March," said Regine Jean-Baptiste, one of the organizers of the Duke Christian events, wrote in an e-mail message. “Often times everyone in life gets wrapped up in something ... more than they should ... What we believe is that passion is good ... We just believe that those passions are also ways to enter into relationship with God. And if you don't know how, to begin the relationship starting with the worship of God is not a bad idea.”
from oregonlive: For 40 years, Katherine Mendez kept the story of her abuse at the hands of a Jesuit priest to herself. But the details were never far from mind: She had been 11 years old when she was raped at St. Mary's Mission School in Omak, Wash., moments after she scuffled with another student and was then brought into the office of Father John J. Morse.
The sexual abuse continued from sixth grade into eighth grade, she said. And even after Mendez left the school and moved in with a foster family in Selah, 200 miles away, the priest tracked her down to continue the abuse. "Every day, every single day, it was a nightmare," Mendez said today. "I was always looking over my shoulder."
from cnn: A new musical set to open on Broadway Thursday night looks at religious faith and doubt with a healthy dose of imagination: the audience meets Jesus, Church of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith, Satan, and an African warlord as well as Darth Vader, Yoda and two hobbits. The production, called The Book of Mormon, was written by South Park creators Mark Stone and Trey Parker, along with Robert Lopez, who wrote the Broadway hit Avenue Q.
The creators have used music, irreverent comedy, and obscenity to tackle controversial subjects before, but they say their approach is new to Broadway musicals. “Broadway, for so many years, was a very wholesome community,” Lopez told CNN. “As far as comedy, (Broadway) has not progressed as far as movies and TV (even though) there are no censors.”
Lopez met Stone and Parker after they saw Avenue Q, which followed young puppets and humans living in a fictional New York as they dealt with careers, relationships, sex and the challenges of managing expectations. When they asked him what he wanted to work on next, Parker told them he was interested in doing a musical about Mormonism.
from huffington post: Early versions of the Bible apparently featured a fertility goddess, Asherah, who may have been God's wife, at least according to one British theologian. Back in 1967, historian Raphael Patai mentioned ancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah, according to Discovery.
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, is shedding new light on the theory. However, even if she's right, the Bible's editors may very well have wiped her almost clean from the document, reports TIME.
What remains of God's purported other half are clues in ancient texts, amulets and figurines unearthed primarily in an ancient Canaanite coastal city, now in modern-day Syria. Inscriptions on pottery found in the Sinai desert also show Yahweh and Asherah were worshipped as a pair, and a passage in the Book of Kings mentions the goddess as being housed in the temple of Yahweh.
J. Edward Wright, president of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, backs Stavrakopoulou's findings, saying several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and his Asherah."
Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible's admission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem. In the Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple and that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."
At first, he is seen wrapped up in a blanket, already crying, as adults in fur coats carry him towards an ice hole carved in a frozen lake or river. He is then unwrapped and fully immersed three times into the water - obviously against his will - while an Orthodox priest conducts a baptism ceremony.
"Where did this happen? Who is the priest? Who are the parents?" wrote one blogger, stating his determination to gather information about the "sadistic" incident and make it public. The ceremony is reported to have taken place not far from a Siberian city of Irkutsk on 19 January, the Russian Orthodox festival of Epiphany, commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.
Religion was frowned upon during Soviet times, but since the fall of Communism it has made a big comeback. There is now no shortage of people of all ages, eager to fast during Lent, mark the resurrection at Easter with traditional bread, get married in church and christened in holy water. And since Jesus Christ was baptised in January - according to the Russian Orthodox church - many regard stripping down and diving into icy water as a good way to erase their sins.
from afp: The Vatican on Friday welcomed as "historic" a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that said displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholics. "It is an important and historic ruling," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement, adding that the decision "has been welcomed with satisfaction by the Holy See." The European Court of Human Rights ruled earlier that displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholic families, overturning a previous decision. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also welcomed the ruling on behalf of the government in Rome, saying: "Today Europe's popular sentiment won out." The Strasbourg-based court initially ruled in November 2009 that displaying crucifixes in schools across Italy breached the rights of non-Catholics, drawing howls of anger from Church and political leaders in the staunchly Roman Catholic country.
from Vigilant Citizen: The war on Iraq was declared on March 20th 2003. Western forces attacked Libya on March 20th 2011. Is there an occult reason behind this? Both invasions occurred on the eve of the Vernal Equinox – a date that was – and still is – extremely significant throughout History. It is the date of the Sun’s resurrection and was often celebrated with a blood sacrifice to “impregnate the Earth”.
Carl Jung noted that “It (the Vernal Equinox) was particularly the sacrifice des primeurs, the first fruits of the fields, the first vegetables, the first lambs and other young animals and so on. And the first-born son, Christ the Son of God, is also sacrificed at the time of the vernal equinox. This idea of youth being sacrificed was called in Rome the ver sacrum, the sacred spring.”
According to some researchers, in Illuminati lore, the Spring Equinox is considered a Minor Sabbath but still requires human sacrifice. March 21-22 is dedicated Goddess Ostara (Ishtar, also spelled, “Eostre”), for whom “Easter” is named. March 21 is one of the Illuminati’s Human Sacrifice Night. Ishtar was the Babylonian goddess of fertility, love and war. Her name derives from the words for “Dawn”.
Is it a coincidence that the name of the military operation in Libya is “Operation Odyssey Dawn”? Are we looking at another mega-ritual?
from examiner: Thursday the Oregon House or Representatives voted to end legal protection for parents who choose faith healing over modern medicine to treat their sick child. The vote was unanimous, and fills a legislative loop hole used by some Christian extremists to deny their children appropriate health care in the name of religion. The bill, drafted by State Representatives Carolyn Tomei and Dave Hunt, revokes legal protections for parents who deny medical treatment to their children on religious grounds. The bill can be understood as a direct response to the Followers of Christ Church located in Oregon City. The church is notorious for members allowing their sick children to suffer and even die rather than seek medical attention. The church preaches a religion based in faith-healing, a religion that rejects modern medicine in favor of prayer and the anointing of the sick with oil.
from telegraph: The Charlie Sheen circus continues with the latest installment in his drug and porn star-riddled saga - an angry warlock's curse. It's a case of 'I'll get you my pretty - and your porn stars too!' as serial-bad boy, Charlie Sheen, faces the wrath of America's magical community. After Sheen declared himself a "Vatican assassinwarlock" during a radio interview last week, the warlock community has been in outrage. A practicing warlock from Salem's Coven of the Raven Moon in Salem - the town of witch persecution fame - Massachusettes, told TMZ that he's "fuming" over the statement saying it's a "blatant offense against our ways."
from bbc: A rare original King James Bible has been discovered on a shelf in a Wiltshire church. The discovery was made by residents researching the history of St Laurence Church in Hilmarton, near Calne. Geoff Procter, a member of the parochial church council, said they read about a "fine chained Bible in a glass case" at the church. They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years. Mr Procter said: "We started doing some research and discovered that the Bible that, as far as I'd known, had always stood on a shelf at the church was in fact 400 years old." There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist. And it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611. "It's one of those sorts of information that you don't know whether you should tell everybody or nobody," said Mr Procter. "But we thought that it was such an important artefact of the church and indeed the Church of England generally that we thought we ought to do some more research."
from reuters: Director D.J. Caruso, whose new movie "I Am Number Four" claimed the No. 3 spot at the holiday weekend box office, has closed a deal to shoot the comic-book adaptation "Preacher." The popular 1990s DC/Vertigo series told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God - who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven - and hold him accountable for his negligence. Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, "Preacher" ran from 1995 to 2000. Sam Mendes was previously attached to direct the Columbia adaptation, but he left for the new James Bond film. Darren Aronofsky then flirted with the project at one point. Caruso's other credits include "Eagle Eye" and "Disturbia."
from bbc: Thousands of sadhus - or holy men - have been banned from selling cannabis to festival-goers at an ancient temple in Nepal. They are gathering at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to celebrate the Hindu festival of Shivaratri. Sadhus - Hindus who renounce the world around them - traditionally celebrate Shivaratri by smoking cannabis. But those found selling drugs at the temple this year will face eviction by armed police, temple officials say. Since last week police have been mingling with the sadhus in plain clothes to identify anyone selling drugs. About 20 sadhus have already been arrested and have been moved to an area outside the city, officials say. The Hindu god Shiva is said to have enjoyed smoking cannabis. Because of that sadhus - who mostly live in forests, caves and temples - see their use of the drug as receiving a blessing from him. Thousands of sadhus have traveled from India for the festival - which falls on 2 March this year - and the temple authority has said it does not object to the sadhus smoking cannabis for their own worship.
video: california woman attempts murder of children, self to avoid suffering through 'the tribulation'* 
Lexicon:
animals,
audio,
catholic,
celebrity,
conference,
exorcist,
film,
media,
mothman,
murder/mayhem,
pedophile priests,
pop occulture,
satire,
tribulation
from daily mail: For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price. This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity. Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation. The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.
from beliefblog: Believe it or not, there are Duke University students who were fired up Friday morning, even though their Blue Devils lost to Arizona Thursday night in the NCAA basketball tournament. They may be a minority, but these students feel like the same passion that goes into cheering on the basketball team should go into worshipping the Lord.
from oregonlive: For 40 years, Katherine Mendez kept the story of her abuse at the hands of a Jesuit priest to herself. But the details were never far from mind: She had been 11 years old when she was raped at St. Mary's Mission School in Omak, Wash., moments after she scuffled with another student and was then brought into the office of Father John J. Morse.
from cnn: A new musical set to open on Broadway Thursday night looks at religious faith and doubt with a healthy dose of imagination: the audience meets Jesus, Church of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith, Satan, and an African warlord as well as Darth Vader, Yoda and two hobbits. The production, called The Book of Mormon, was written by South Park creators Mark Stone and Trey Parker, along with Robert Lopez, who wrote the Broadway hit Avenue Q.
durable doomsday preacher predicts world's end again* 
from bbc: When an amateur video of a screaming, naked boy being plunged by a priest into an ice hole in Siberia appeared on the web, it caused a massive outcry in the Russian media and blogosphere. The boy appears to be no more than five or six years old.
from afp: The Vatican on Friday welcomed as "historic" a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that said displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholics. "It is an important and historic ruling," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement, adding that the decision "has been welcomed with satisfaction by the Holy See." The European Court of Human Rights ruled earlier that displaying crucifixes in schools in Italy did not breach the rights of non-Catholic families, overturning a previous decision. Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also welcomed the ruling on behalf of the government in Rome, saying: "Today Europe's popular sentiment won out." The Strasbourg-based court initially ruled in November 2009 that displaying crucifixes in schools across Italy breached the rights of non-Catholics, drawing howls of anger from Church and political leaders in the staunchly Roman Catholic country.
from raw replay: It’s time for a change of lyrics in that kids’ praise song, “J is for Jesus.” According to Rev. Franklin Graham, J is not only for Jesus, it’s for Japan as well. The evangelical, son of Rev. Billy Graham and president and CEO of Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse, appeared on Newsmax.tv to talk about his charity, how charming he thinks Glenn Beck is (very), and that the Bible tells us natural disasters are heavenly signs. “I believe that there is an evil form, there is a devil, and that day, the devil was trying to use the winds and the waves to kill Jesus Christ... Every time there’s a storm in life, I don’t think it’s always God behind it... All of us need to be prepared to stand before almighty God,” he said.
from toronto sun: Long before the modern hippy discovered them, magic mushrooms - hallucinogenic fungi - were used by ancient humans in religious ceremonies. Cave paintings discovered in Spain depict fungi with hallucinogenic properties in relation to religious rituals. According to a report in New Scientist, a row of 13 small mushroom-like objects in the painting also match the known size and shape of so-called magic mushrooms, called psilocybe hispanica. The report notes, however, that these are not the oldest representations of magic mushrooms used by people. A similar mural in Algeria dates the practice as far back as 9,000 years. Modern day hallucinogenic mushrooms are outlawed under many western countries' drug laws, but the 190 known species grow naturally in much of the world, and the Centre for Disease control rates the mushrooms as less toxic than Aspirin.
from haaretz: Pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities after three passengers conducted an elaborate Orthodox Jewish prayer ritual during their Los Angeles-bound flight. Airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan says the crew of Flight 241 from Mexico City became alarmed Sunday after the men began the tefillin ritual, which involves tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body. FBI and customs agents, along with police and fire crews, met the plane at the gate at Los Angeles International Airport. Airport police say two or three men were escorted off the plane, questioned by the FBI, and released. No arrests were made.
from examiner: Thursday the Oregon House or Representatives voted to end legal protection for parents who choose faith healing over modern medicine to treat their sick child. The vote was unanimous, and fills a legislative loop hole used by some Christian extremists to deny their children appropriate health care in the name of religion. The bill, drafted by State Representatives Carolyn Tomei and Dave Hunt, revokes legal protections for parents who deny medical treatment to their children on religious grounds. The bill can be understood as a direct response to the Followers of Christ Church located in Oregon City. The church is notorious for members allowing their sick children to suffer and even die rather than seek medical attention. The church preaches a religion based in faith-healing, a religion that rejects modern medicine in favor of prayer and the anointing of the sick with oil.
video: westboro atty says obama is 'the beast' from revelation* 
from telegraph: The Charlie Sheen circus continues with the latest installment in his drug and porn star-riddled saga - an angry warlock's curse. It's a case of 'I'll get you my pretty - and your porn stars too!' as serial-bad boy, Charlie Sheen, faces the wrath of America's magical community. After Sheen declared himself a "Vatican assassin warlock" during a radio interview last week, the warlock community has been in outrage. A practicing warlock from Salem's Coven of the Raven Moon in Salem - the town of witch persecution fame - Massachusettes, told TMZ that he's "fuming" over the statement saying it's a "blatant offense against our ways."
from bbc: A rare original King James Bible has been discovered on a shelf in a Wiltshire church. The discovery was made by residents researching the history of St Laurence Church in Hilmarton, near Calne. Geoff Procter, a member of the parochial church council, said they read about a "fine chained Bible in a glass case" at the church. They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years. Mr Procter said: "We started doing some research and discovered that the Bible that, as far as I'd known, had always stood on a shelf at the church was in fact 400 years old." There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist. And it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611. "It's one of those sorts of information that you don't know whether you should tell everybody or nobody," said Mr Procter. "But we thought that it was such an important artefact of the church and indeed the Church of England generally that we thought we ought to do some more research."
update: oregon debates new funeral-protest bill* 
from reuters: Director D.J. Caruso, whose new movie "I Am Number Four" claimed the No. 3 spot at the holiday weekend box office, has closed a deal to shoot the comic-book adaptation "Preacher." The popular 1990s DC/Vertigo series told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon. Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God - who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven - and hold him accountable for his negligence. Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, "Preacher" ran from 1995 to 2000. Sam Mendes was previously attached to direct the Columbia adaptation, but he left for the new James Bond film. Darren Aronofsky then flirted with the project at one point. Caruso's other credits include "Eagle Eye" and "Disturbia."
from bbc: Thousands of sadhus - or holy men - have been banned from selling cannabis to festival-goers at an ancient temple in Nepal. They are gathering at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu to celebrate the Hindu festival of Shivaratri. Sadhus - Hindus who renounce the world around them - traditionally celebrate Shivaratri by smoking cannabis. But those found selling drugs at the temple this year will face eviction by armed police, temple officials say. Since last week police have been mingling with the sadhus in plain clothes to identify anyone selling drugs. About 20 sadhus have already been arrested and have been moved to an area outside the city, officials say. The Hindu god Shiva is said to have enjoyed smoking cannabis. Because of that sadhus - who mostly live in forests, caves and temples - see their use of the drug as receiving a blessing from him. Thousands of sadhus have traveled from India for the festival - which falls on 2 March this year - and the temple authority has said it does not object to the sadhus smoking cannabis for their own worship.
from cbsnewyork: Fire officials said a voodoo ritual caused the deadly fire in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn last weekend. Candles used during the ceremony ignited bed linens and clothes on the floor, according to the fire marshal’s report. The fire then spread the rest of the apartment building on East 29th Street in Flatbush last Sunday. A 64-year-old woman died in the fire and 20 firefighters were injured. Investigators are calling the fire an accident.
