The Catholic Defender: The Importance for Vigilance

In this fast pace society that we live it is easy to be centered on the here and now.

We take each moment and live each moment expecting that tomorrow will be a better day.

We make our plans, we go to work, go to school, take our trips, most of the time our day is already mapped out for us.

As we spend our day, how many of us realize how fragile life can be?

The following is just being reported that Catholic Priests are being forbidden  to offer Mass, even if they volunteer for no pay.  The Obama Administration is doing everything they can to inflict pain on the American people.

We have watched this beginning with the shut down of the World War II monument in Washington D.C.

It is difficult to watch WWII Veterans many over 90 years of age in wheelchairs, walking with strollers breaking through Obama barriers to keep them out?

Now it is being reported that Catholic Priests can face arrest for offering Mass for Soldiers deployed all over the world.

The Archdiocese of the Military are receiving many complaints such as "This is Outrageous, especially threatening them with arrest to voluntarily do their job"?

Because eternity is very important, I want to consider this for a moment. There are those who spend a great deal of energy studying the last times.

For me it is a great point of interest, to look at the signs the Scripture refers to the last days. People are all over the chart on this subject.

Many times people go off making attacks on the Catholic Faith because they reject it's foundations and so like a crazy doctor who miss diagnose his patients, they make false prophecies and accusations. 

Instead, we are to live this life in vigilance. We are to stand guard not as people who are paranoid, but as pilgrims in a strange land. Our homeland is here and now, but yet Heaven is our ultimate goal.
St. Peter instructs us to "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings". 

Recently, the attacks on Catholics in Iraq by Islamic Terrorists have made the news and how terrible this is. Those killed are martyrs bearing witness to Christ daily. 

It is interesting that the Catholic Church is the most attacked group, yet the fundamentalists like Chick continues to make false attacks leading others to continue those attacks.

Violence is a way of life as people are affected by their environment. Ever since Adam and Eve with the fall of mankind, sin and death entered the world. 

Why does evil happen to good people?Our faith does not take away the evil in life, it helps us through it, to navigate around it. Sadly, a thousand people will rise this very day not knowing for them, this is their last day. Will they be ready? 

For many who live one day to the next without regard to their eternal inheritance this will be brutal. Jesus warns, "Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour of night when the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not let his house be broken into. So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come".

Recently I was told by one of our Catholic Priests of an American Soldier deployed to Iraq who came to Father wanting to go to Confession. 

He told Father that he had been in more skirmishes with the enemy and he felt that his own life was seriously in danger. 

Father heard his Confession, gave him absolution, and the Soldier left there with God's grace. 

Six days later, this same Soldier was killed in action after an attack upon his patrol. Tragic as this is, what a great sign this Soldier has left us. Through his example, he shows a great sign of predestination knowing that he packed his bags for eternity and today is in the hands of the Lord. 

It is a terrible thing to have someone die in your hands as I did during our 2007 deployment. There was no priest. I prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet for this Soldier as that was all I could do.
I trusted in the Lord's promise to those who prayed this devotion in the presence of the dying. After returning from Iraq in January 2008, our unit held a evening dinner for all the Soldiers and their families. 

As my wife and I were sitting down a man walked up to me saying that he recognized me. I had never seen him previously, he recognized me from the video given to him of his Son's Military Memorial Service held in Iraq. 

He sadly explained to us that his wife was particularly brokenhearted over the fact their Son did not receive the Anointing of the Sick. She was deeply distraught over this on behalf of her Son.
I responded to the man that I would like to talk to her if she would like as I might have words that might console his wife.

He gladly brought her to us that evening and I explained to her the importance of the Divine Mercy Chaplet and of the Lord's promise he gave to St. Faustina concerning this devotion. 

This was a devotion that I had been saying on behalf of our Soldiers in Iraq along with the Rosary. 

After speaking with his wife for a few minutes, she became greatly consoled with what I told her. 

You can never take the sorrow away of a morning Mother for their Child, but because she has great trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, she was greatly consoled. 

I remember my Mother at the funeral of my older Brother and how she was gathered around by the family trying to console her. Interestingly, this is the only time I remember my Mother ever playing the piano. Mom's demeanor certainly created the somber tone of the scene.

Sadly, many are not as vigilant. They lead their lives with a terrible void they fill with fleeting things that will never satisfy the soul.

The Virgin Mary at Fatima after giving the Children of Fatima a vision of Hell (13 July 1917), told them: "You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace... But if they do not stop offending God... He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father."


Pope Pius XII warned the world in 1950 that to be a true Christian beginning in the later half of the 20th Century they would have to live as "Living Martyrs" because the attack on the family will be so severe, because people will be greatly affected by their environment. 

The secularization of our Society is very dangerous to the soul. Because of this,many live out each day like a mouse in a maze not aware of the potential dangers lurking at any corner.

Enjoy life, it is God's gift to you, but be ever vigilant and faithful to His Church loving God above all things. I have found that if you put God first, you appreciate the things you have more profoundly with a thankful heart.

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The Catholic Defender: October 13

October 13, 1917 marks one of the most important events in human history. It was not the rise of a great power.

It was not the fall of a dynasty. On this day, the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, appeared to the Children of Fatima.

This event has become one of the great Marian sites as pilgrims from all over the world flock there each year by the millions.

This coming October 13, I will be joining a number of other great Catholic leaders for a Marian conference at Springfield Missouri. This is fast approaching and I look forward to the opportunity to serve Our Lord and honor His Mother. I remember another recent October 13, not too long ago!

It was 2009, I was stationed in Iraq, serving at Joint Security Station (JSS) War Eagle just outside Baghdad.

I had planned to show a video of Fatima for sometime, but I wanted to wait until October 13 in honor of the real event.

The only obstacle I had of making this happen turned out to be my 15 day leave. Getting back to Kuwait was not the problem, it could be possibly days before a person can leave Kuwait to get back to Irag.

Once in Irag, it could still take more days to find a helicopter flight to get you to your duty station.

I arrived at JSS War Eagle on the evening of October 12th, just in time to share the movie, "The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima".

I wanted to show the new movie, "The 13th Day", but I did not receive it in time. The Older movie was good, so we were able to show it.

The evening of October 13, 2009, for about 2 hours, I had the opportunity to show this movie outdoors on a large screen using a PA system.

In the crowd who watched the movie were Iraqi business men who held shops in the plaza, there were Ugandans, Filipinos, Egyptians, Indians (India), and Americans.

This picture shows a visiting Catholic Priest, his Chaplains Assistant, and a Soldier supporting the event. Father was a former Lutheran Pastor who converted to the Catholic Faith!

To have the chance to recreate the Fatima event in a land such as Irag, and to have the mix of people from all over the world was fantastic.

I couldn't help but think that Our Lady was pleased by the event, with the help of God making it possible for me to be back in time.

I hope that the upcoming event in Springfield Missouri will also please Our Lady, Notre Dame!

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The Catholic Defender: JULY 13, 1917

The following comes from the article, "Lawmakers Says Air Force Class Suspension Over Bible Verses 'Misinterprets' 1st Amendment" reported by THEBLAZE, posted on Sept 6, 2011.

"Back in early August, The Blaze brought you the controversy surrounding a missile training course that the Air Force suspended following complaints about the inclusion of Bible verses in the curriculum.

Now, Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) is asking for a detailed report from the Air Force that explains why the course, entitled “Just War Theory,” was canned (the course was taught at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base).

Clearly bothered by the Air Force’s willingness to amend the course to remove the Christian passages, Cornyn sent a letter of concern to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley. In the note, which was given exclusively to Fox News Radio, he wrote:


“…suspending a course like this because of references to religious texts misinterprets the First Amendment.

Although our Founding Fathers rightly included language in the Constitution that precludes the Federal government from establishing an official religion, this language does not, as some have argued, protect them from exposure to religious references.

The First Amendment is intended to guarantee an individual’s right to the free exercise of religion according to his or her conscience.”

(Texas Sen. John Cornyn)Others, of course, disagree with Cornyn’s take on the matter. Despite the fact that the course had been implemented for 20 years without incident, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) says that it violates the constitution’s intent to keep church and state separated.

On the MRFF’s web site, the group — which has taken a hand-on role in this matter – describes itself as follows:

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The MRFF filed a complaint back in August on behalf of 31 missile launch officers, threatening to file a lawsuit if the Air Force refused to suspend the course.

Following Cornyn’s letter, there‘s no telling what the Air Force’s response will be. As The Blaze reported last month, David Smith, the spokesman for the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command, says that the MRFF’s concerns have led the military branch to conclude that the inclusion of the Bible verses is an “inappropriate approach” in today’s society".

For many Catholics, July 13,1917 is an important date because this was when the Virgin Mary gave the Children of Fatima the vision of hell. This is as follows:

Sister Lucy describes the vision of hell that Our Lady showed the children at Fatima:
"She opened Her hands once more, as She had done the two previous months. The rays [of light] appeared to penetrate the earth, and we saw, as it were, a vast sea of fire. Plunged in this fire, we saw the demons and the souls [of the damned]. The latter were like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, having human forms. They were floating about in that conflagration, now raised into
the air by the flames which issued from within themselves, together with great clouds of smoke. Now they fell back on every side like sparks in huge fires, without weight or equilibrium, amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fright (it must have been this sight which caused me to cry out, as people say they heard me). The demons were distinguished [from the souls of the damned] by their terrifying and repellent likeness to frightful and unknown animals, black and transparent like burning coals. That vision only lasted for a moment, thanks to our good Heavenly Mother, Who at the first apparition had promised to take us to Heaven. Without that, I think that we would have died of terror and fear."
Sister Lucia continues, "To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to my Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays [ROSARY]. If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world. In Portugal, the dogma of Faith will always be preserved..."

What I find of major concern is that Russia held to an atheistic, communistic ideology wanting to stamp out Christianity.

If we follow what has been taking place in America with the secularization of our schools, government, judicial system, society at large, this is becoming more and more of a concern.

Please pray for America that liberty will be strengthened and maintained.

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The Catholic Defender: Christian and Gay?

Today I was listening to a cassette tape that one of my Grandson's pulled out and I took it with me today to check it out.

It had been a few years since I had listened to it.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of music I had recorded for myself and for conducting Physical Training with my troops.

There were times I would set up stations for different exercises and have music play in the background.


Tonight I was going through some YouTube channels and I was specifically looking for Jennifer Knapp who I was listening too earlier today.

I found a tape I put together about 2,000 for Physical Training and I had her song, "Undo Me".

I discovered tonight that she has come out Gay earlier this year.

I guess I have been in Iraq or training to go to Iraq the past five years and I somehow missed all this.

This really made my heart heavy tonight as I have liked her music. Coming home from Korea in May 1999, my teenagers had been practicing music for about 6 months and when I got home, we began going to the Recreation center to practice.

Eventually we formed a group "Final Hour". I remember challenging some of them because they like Jennifer Knapp and I was lifting high "Petra" as the top band.

Watching her tonight really was a surprise. One of the things that I was shocked was her explanation.

The deposed Protestant Preacher for being caught in Homosexual acts, Ted Haggard was invited to give some discussion, and I was surprised that he had nothing really to offer the discussion.

His premise was that we are all sinners on a journey and said that we are to show love.

The problem with that is that he could not call Homosexuality a sin?






It really seemed to me that Larry King held to a bias for Homosexuality.

There was another Man present from Horizon Christian Fellowship, a Protestant group founded in 1974, who was defending Christian teaching.

Mr Ted Haggard along with Jennifer Knapp and Larry King kind of made it a three on one show.

Larry King did ask Ted Haggard if he thought Homosexuality was a sin. This was not answered, he basically called the New Testament a relationship.

Well, Ted, it is far more than simply a "relationship". It is a Covenant. Jennifer, I love you girl as a sister, enough to tell you the truth. You can't simply go on choosing a lifestyle that puts your immortal soul in jeopardy.

I watched how you tried to justify Homosexual behavior, which by the way is not the same as a person born with 4 fingers verses 5 fingers.

We are born male and female and God has clearly given us his direction through his Church. Jennifer, Larry, Ted, the Church was commissioned by Christ to preach good news to all the nations. We cannot compromise his word to fit our personal agenda.

Heaven has responded over and over about this. Jennifer, listen real close to this; The Mother of Jesus appeared to three Children at Fatima on July 13, 1917 giving them the famous vision of hell where poor sinners go.

Do not be mistaken that homosexuality will not lead you to hell that is unrepentant.

St. Paul warns that those who conduct themselves in such a way will undergo judgment.

If you die with serious mortal sin on your soul, that would be tragic. Even worse than this, Jennifer, because of your scope and influence, you bring disaster upon you.

The Preacher tried to bring this out in the show but he didn't get far, but it says in Matthew 18:6-7, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come".

That is exactly what Mary warned about at Fatima. This is no joke and you can't run to teachers who will tickle you with what you want to hear.

Luke 10:16 Jesus tells His Apostles, "Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me".

Jennifer and Ted, Larry, I ask for you to pray about this. Jennifer, you say you love this other girl, can you really say that knowing your putting this person in mortal spiritual danger?



Jennifer, I encourage you to check this out seriously, I pray you will and also all those in your like mind:

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