“THE purest, most peaceful moments of my life have happened on my yoga mat,” says filmmaker Kate Churchill in the opening of her 2009 film Enlighten Up! A Skeptic’s Journey into the World of Yoga. “The problem is the closer I look at yoga, the more contradictions I find.”

She finds a multibillion dollar industry devoted to what some maintain is exercise and what many fervently claim is a spiritual discipline. Nevertheless, Churchill decides to prove that yoga can transform anyone both physically and spiritually.

For a quick overview of the world of yoga and its major figures, I recommend this light and inconclusive documentary. Though it is now more than 10 years old, the film’s subject matter is as relevant. Obviously, yoga continues to be hugely popular and a major American obsession.

Churchill recruits Nick Rosen, 29, a likable, unemployed journalist who lives in New York City and has no interest in spiritual matters. He is her guinea pig. She wants to prove that even he can become “enlightened” and also resolve her own confusion about yoga. Rosen sets out with Churchill to visit, practice with and interview famous practitioners in America and India. The interviews include South African Tantric and Kriya Yoga Master Alan Finger, who channels the body’s life force into healing directions; Diamond Dallas Page, the former pro wrestler who offers macho yoga for men; B.K.S. Iyengar, since deceased, who became the foremost popularizer of modern yoga in America after befriending and instructing the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and many others.

Rosen’s happiest moments in life, he says, have been those in which he has been physically fit. He insists that whatever yoga claims it must appeal to him intellectually, and not just through feeling. “I’m not interested in believing in anything that cannot be proven.”

In the popular yoga studios in New York City that Rosen visits, yoga is clearly not just exercise for even its mainstream practitioners. The students chant the Hindu incantation, “Om,” and are instructed to alter consciousness along with their movements. Rosen is surrounded by young women. One tells him that yoga is better than sex because it gives her “an overwhelming feeling of good will and warmth.” A 62-year-old woman tells him that yoga has given her a new lease on life. (more…)

"'DOGMAS make nations.' — So says M. [Louis] de Bonald: such is one of the most profound remarks of this profound thinker. And if they make nations, they also make men. "I shall never cease saying or thinking," says another deep thinker, M. [Joseph] de Maistre, "that a man's worth depends  upon his belief." Man's worth does, indeed, depend upon his ideas, and he is what he thinks. It is the weakening of truth that makes sanctity vanish from amongst mankind. "Hence, my most urgent and primary necessity is to rectify my ideas as to myself, as to creatures, and as to the use I ought to make of them. As long as these remain uncorrected, nothing will be restored in me; as long as my efforts are not directly brought to bear upon this point, they will remain fruitless. It is faith that purifies the heart. Faith is the vision of the truth; truth is God's glory seen in everything." --- François de Sales Pollien, The Interior Life Simplified and Reduced to its Fundamental Principle, 1853-1936.  

  FROM a letter by Bishop Gerald de Proenca Sigaud, Bishop of Jacarezinho in Brazil, written on August 22, 1959: What do we see if we look closely at this little piece of paper? In a circle, on the right side, we see a pyramid which is built on a vast waste land. The stones of which it is made are polished and square. The meaning of these symbols is given in the inscription which says in Latin: "New World Order". This pyramid signifies the new humanity which is composed of men who are honored by the freemasons. These men, created by God, are transformed by the Grand Architect of the Universe. The base of the pyramid indicates the foundation of this New World Order: 1776, which is the year of birth of the USA. The USA is therefore the basis for this new, Masonic humanity. The pyramid is still lacking a few stones. The New World Order is not yet complete, but nearly so. Meantime the work will certainly be completed since on top of the pyramid is written "God", meaning not the Father of Jesus Christ, who is an avenging Creator, but a Gnostic god, the architect, who is represented by an eye placed in a triangle. We are fully in the domain of Gnostic Manichean dualism, which is the theological basis of the freemasonic sect. This "God" gives his approval to their enterprise, as may be read on top of the…

DARWIN'S missing link has been discovered by some enterprising scientists. This revelation will radically change your understanding of human origins --- and provide some comic relief.  

IN the mid-nineteenth century, when Europe was still convulsed with revolutions that overthrew Christian rulers and the existing social order, the French Benedictine monk Dom Prosper Guéranger wrote these prophetic words, so applicable to our own time:

God promised Noah that He would never more punish the earth with a deluge. But, in His justice, He has many times visited the sins of men with a scourge which, in more senses than one, bears a resemblance to a deluge: the invasion of enemies. We meet with these invasions in every age; and each time we see the hand of God. We can trace the crimes that each of them was sent to punish, and in each we find a manifest proof of the infinite justice wherewith God governs the world.

It is not requisite that we should here mention the long list of these revolutions, which we might almost say make up the history of mankind, for in its every page we read of conquests, extinction of races, destruction of nations, and violent amalgamations, which effaced the traditions and character of the several peoples that were thus forced into union. We will confine our considerations to the two great invasions, which the just anger of God has permitted to come upon the world since the commencement of the Christian era. (more…)

  MOST people, even professed Christians, dismiss the idea that the story of Noah's Ark is literally true. How do they explain then that the memory of a catastrophic flood exists in the collective traditions of reportedly hundreds of highly divergent cultural groups? Quoting once again Hugh Owen: Hundreds of people groups all over the world have preserved an historical memory of a global Flood.  It is significant that the histories handed down by people groups who settled close to the location of the Tower of Babel, resemble most closely the true history related by Moses in the sacred history of Genesis. This chart compares Flood accounts from all over the world and shows the remarkable similarities that exist among them.  Not only do these accounts recall the Flood as a global event and a judgment upon mankind from which only one family and some animals were spared on an Ark; many of them include details contained in the Mosaic account of the Flood, such as the release of a bird to determine if the flood waters had receded at the end of the Flood.   According to Dr. Monty White: Hawaiians have a flood story that tells of a time when, long after the death of the first man, the world became a wicked, terrible place. Only one good man was left, and his name was Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and filled it…

  “...AND DON'T tell me you don’t wish to fight; for the moment you tell me that, you are already fighting; nor that you don’t know which side to join, for while you are saying that, you have already joined a side; nor that you wish to remain neutral; for while you are thinking to be so, you are so no longer; nor that you want to be indifferent; for I will laugh at you, because on pronouncing that word you have chosen your party. Don’t tire yourself in seeking a place of security against the chances of war, for you tire yourself in vain; that war is extended as far as space, and prolonged through all time. In eternity alone, the country of the just, can you find rest, because there alone there is no combat. But do not imagine, however, that the gates of eternity shall be opened for you, unless you first show the wounds you bear; those gates are only opened for those who gloriously fought here the battles of the Lord, and were, like the Lord, crucified." ---- Juan Donoso Cortés, Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism, 1879.

FROM Lifesite News: Italian-American Beverly Stevens, editor of Regina magazine, told LifeSiteNews that the sexual revolution is to blame for the low Italian birth rate. “It's a perfect storm, aimed straight at the heart of the Great Italian Bulwark, la famiglia (the family),” she said via social media. “It started when the sexual revolution legitimized male philandering. Suddenly, wives found themselves outclassed by girlfriends and divorced,” she continued. “This destabilized the next generation, depriving boys of role models and hardening girls' hearts.” Stevens said that contemporary Italian women believe “fervently” in a feminism that has doomed them to unstable marriages or living alone. “And their men protest the fact that they are alone on Christmas in Rome's piazzas because the ex won't allow them access to their kids,” she added. “Nobody wins. Families fail to form. Italians strive endlessly to show a 'bella figura' (beautiful face, i.e. keep up appearances) as they age relentlessly, alone.” “It’s cultural-level suicide.”  

THE physical evidence for a global flood that occurred thousands of years ago is consistent with the biblical account of Noah, according to Hugh Owen, of the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation:

In recent years, geologists have reinterpreted several huge sedimentary rock formations in light of empirical research in sedimentology, including the Tonto Group, a large section of the Grand Canyon depicted below.  According to a peer-reviewed article published in the journal of the French Geological Society, careful analysis of the sediments that make up this formation indicate that the whole deposit was laid down rapidly—in a matter of days or weeks, not millions of years—by an enormous body of water moving from east to west across what is now the Southwestern United States.

Another common observation consistent with the historical reality of the Global Flood is the beautiful sharp folding of multiple sedimentary layers within uplifted and folded mountain ranges which can be witnessed all over the Earth.  If these layers had been laid down over millions of years, there ought to be some evidence of cracking and fracturing of the more ancient layers during the folding and uplifting of the mountains.  Instead, all over the Earth, one observes multiple layers of sedimentary rock, folded in beautiful tight folds, without any fracturing—a clear indication that all of the sediments were laid down rapidly at more or less the same time, and that there were no long intervals of time between them. (more…)

  IS Russia seeking to undermine American and Canadian energy independence? According to Timothy Fitzpatrick, it has spent $100 million on anti-pipeline protests in Canada that are blocking railways and harassing politicians.  

MANY PEOPLE said that the normalization of homosexuality would lead to the normalization of polygamy --- or polyamory. And it has. Michael Brown writes: Now there is a throuple on HGTV, and soon enough, the word will no longer be flagged on spellcheck. And did I mention that the original husband and wife in this throuple have two children? Should that be a factor when adding in a third lover to the equation? As People reported, “Brian and Lori, who are legally married, fell in love with Geli after meeting her at a bar. The trio entered into a relationship with Brian and Lori exchanging vows with Geli in a commitment ceremony attended by their children.” Sorry, but there’s nothing beautiful about this at all. To the contrary, it’s tragic. In my 2011 book A Queer Thing Happened to America, I wrote, “Until recently, polyamory had a different name: adultery. Not anymore! Just get all the parties involved to agree to the new relationships (really now, that jealousy stuff is so outmoded) and be poly – which rhymes with jolly – instead.  

OFTEN couching his defections in conservative phrases and gestures, the highly intelligent Joseph Ratzinger denied the teachings of the Church he claimed to lead over and over again."Pope" Benedict XVI, now in retirement, was -- and is -- no pope. He solidified Counterfeit Catholicism around the world and withheld from non-Catholics the truth. As more false teaching flows from the phony pontificate of his successor, it's worth revisiting the disturbing and destructive reign of Benedict XVI to place the great apostasy (or something close) in perspective. By now, millions believe in the pleasing One World Religion preached by Benedict. To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. -St. Thomas Aquinas  

FROM “How Mommy Wine Culture Is Normalizing Alcoholism” by Jena Hilliard:

“‘MOMMY wine culture’ is a pop culture phenomenon that has emerged over the last decade with help from social media. The movement seemingly started in 2009 with the Facebook group ‘Moms Who Need Wine,’ which now has over 728,000 members. The group allows fellow moms to share funny memes, articles, and other content about how raising children requires a large amount of wine. In this context, wine isn’t something that just helps take the edge off, it’s the thing that allows mothers to stay sane. In Facebook groups and mommy blogs alike, moms are posting about the realness of motherhood; however, posts about feeding the kids Pop-Tarts for dinner rather than a three-course meal has transitioned into memes about downing a whole bottle of wine after putting the children to bed. (more…)

“IN the Amazon region, we have inherited great riches from the pre-Columbian cultures. These include ‘openness to the action of God, a sense of gratitude for the fruits of the earth, the sacred character of human life and esteem for the family, a sense of solidarity and shared responsibility in common work, the importance of worship, belief in a life beyond this earth, and many other values.”

— Antipope Francis,“Apostolic Exhortation” Querida Amazonia, “Beloved Amazon”

From the Wikipedia entry on human sacrifice in the Incan empire:

The male victims were no older than ten and girls could be up to age sixteen but must be a virgin when chosen; they had to be perfect, unblemished by even a freckle or scar. When they were looking for tributes the children would be sent along with other goods of tribute, like silver and gold, and camelids.[5] Until the time of the sacrifice, the tributes were fed well, and those too young to eat would have their mothers with them to breastfeed.[20] This was to ensure that they would be well fed and happy when they prepared to reach the gods.[20] The children were paired off, girl and boy, and dressed finely like little royals.[5] They were paraded around four large statues, of the Creator, the Sun God, the Moon God, and the Thunder God. The Sapa Inca would say to the priests then to divide the children, along with the other sacrifices, in four, for each of the four suyu regions. He would then order the priests to make their sacrifices at their main huaca. (more…)

AMERICA is filled with natural wonders of tremendous beauty: gorges, waterfalls, rock formations and canyons. Tourists who visit these sites will almost always encounter “educational” plaques that are insistent: What you see before you is many millions or billions of years old. These dates are always presented as beyond dispute. And it’s not surprising. Evolutionary theory has not produced conclusive evidence for gradual creation of species and must appeal to long stretches of time. The naturalists who create the commentary at our national and state parks are often actually making philosophical statements under the guise of science. It is a worldview that cancels true wonder.

The average person never encounters — in scientific language — the evidence that the earth is much younger. When you stand by a gorge and read that little plaque that tells you its almost incomprehensible age, there is never any footnote that warns you that radiometric dating is not a settled matter. The science has definitely not been settled, either in favor of an old earth or a young earth. But in recent years the arguments for the latter have become stronger.

Here is a list of 101 evidences for a young earth. Don Batten writes:

The widely accepted age of the universe is currently 13.77 billion years and for the solar system (including Earth) it is 4.543 billion years. However, no scientific method can prove the age of the earth and the universe, and that includes the ones we have listed here that strongly suggest that these accepted ages are in serious error. Although age indicators are called ‘clocks’ they aren’t, because all ages result from calculations that necessarily involve making assumptions about the past. The starting time of the ‘clock’ has always to be assumed as well as the way in which the speed of the clock has varied over time. Further, it has to be assumed that the clock was never disturbed. (more…)

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