Even better, he’s finally fulfilled his life-long ambition to create a math curriculum that inspires the student by tying math with wonder, meaning, applications, & philosophy. He calls it “The Dance of Number.” Perhaps the myth of mathematics having no applicability to life and daily inspirition are finally over!
Along with my regular blog here at seanmcdowell.org, I am now featuring occasional guest posts from some students in the Biola M.A. in Christian Apologetics that I personally had the privilege of teaching. This post is from my friend Tim Stratton, who has an excellent and growing ministry of his own. I simply asked him to write anything on his heart and mind. Check out his ministry and enjoy this post! Sean McDowell
Avengers: Endgame and the Problem of Evil
By Tim Stratton
The problem of evil (a.k.a., the problem of suffering), in my experience, is by far the greatest reason atheists offer for their lack of belief. In a nutshell, the problem of evil/suffering comes down to this: Why would a perfectly good, loving, and all-powerful God allow so much pain, evil, and suffering in the world? Since many cannot make sense of this, they often either get mad at God and resent Him, or they simply abandon their faith altogether and become atheists.
Avengers Assemble!
Avengers: Endgame, however, provides Christians a unique opportunity to help non-Christians who struggle with the logical problem of evil and suffering, to see that this problem is really no logical problem at all.
Doctor Strange used the time stone to not merely look forward into the future to see what WILL happen, but to evaluate over 14,000,000 “alternate futures” (otherwise known as “possible worlds”) to see what “WOULD happen IF.” Doctor Strange is doing this because although it is not logically impossible for the Avengers to defeat Thanos (of course that COULD happen), he wants to see if there is a possible world that could be actualized (what philosophers and theologians describe as a “feasible world”) in which the Avengers actually would defeat Thanos!
Doctor Strange explains that he examined over 14 million possible alternate futures, but out of the multi-millions of possible worlds surveyed, he knows of only one in which the good guys actually defeat Thanos in the end. One in 14 million is typically thought of as “horrible odds.”
Many thought the ending of Infinity War was one of despair. I, however, was filled with hope. This is because it seemed that these “alternate futures” were not merely based on chance alone, and that Doctor Strange gained knowledge of how all of these super heroes and villains would freely choose in each of the millions and millions of possible worlds he examined. Possessing this knowledge of how these super-powered persons would freely choose in each of these possible futures (similar to what theologians refer to as God’s “middle knowledge”), it seemed to me that Strange freely chose himself — and did everything in his power — to make the possible world in which the good guys would win the actual world in which the good guys will win. Indeed, right before Strange fades away at the end of Infinity War he tells Tony Stark, “It was the only way.”
The Heroic Dr. Strange
As we see in Endgame, this “best feasible world” according to Doctor Strange, is the one in which the greatest number of persons flourish and the evil of Thanos is eventually conquered. As Strange tells Stark in Endgame, “If I tell you what will happen, it won’t happen!” Be that as it may, this particular world is also filled with temporary, but extreme amounts of pain, evil, sadness, and suffering before the ultimate good can be realized.
It’s come to my attention that a few threads on our forum have led some to believe this website may endorse “New Age” spirituality or Gnosticism or shooting the breeze with Angels.
No, we don’t.
No, I don’t.
As the site owner, I can tell you that DivineCouncil.org does not endorse these things. They’re not only antithetical to the peer-reviewed Biblical insights we’re all trying to understand better but could easily lead the merely curious away from Christ and God’s plan for his creation.
Also, while we’re on the subject, I’m quite sure Dr. Heiser would not want his work associated with this nonsense, either. If you should insist on making such claims, please refrain from citing DivineCouncil.org as your excuse for doing so.
I take responsibility for these conclusions having been drawn and will be posting “Rules of the House” in the next post. They will also be on the “About” page and posted in the forum as guidelines.
“Art of Salvation” is the Art section of DivineCouncil.org’s new online store!
Believing Artists celebrate the wonder of salvation in art. By their gifts — through the eyes of the Spirit — God is glorified. And with the work their hands find to do, another view of the Art of Salvation is revealed.
Our first offerings are from Angel (Isaiah McCann) with her “Eden Tree Collection” and J9 who’s been able to “realize on canvas” some long-held visions by working with Angel.
Mark 8:24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
“It may be that my imagination gets carried away on this verse, but it inspired me to create people who look like trees.
Another inspiration for my trees, was an article titled “Sacred Trees in Israelite Religion”, that was later put in the book, “The Bible Unfiltered, Scripture’s Sacred Trees”, by Dr. Michael S. Heiser.”
— Angel Isaiah McCann
(NOTE: There are 14 available sizes for each work and please make sure to see the preview for your choice before ordering.)
Collaborations with J9
J9 describes how the collaboration with Angel came about:
It was in early 2017 that the Lord led me to what has become a very fruitful relationship with an Artist Lady, who co-incidentally goes by the name Angel.
Needing a way to describe the vision which I had in my mind for over a decade, I drew a rough sketch and, after some email exchanges containing “what-if’s” and “tweaks,” was presented with the finished product as you see it here.
Stay tuned for more inspiring and useful things to be added to the Store!
I just finished watching a fantastic documentary, American Gospel – Christ Alone, contrasting the Gospel with its predominant portrayal in American culture, today. The filmmaker, Brandon Kimber, did a masterful and thorough job on this 2 hour and 19-minute film.
The buzz around American Gospel is how it defines and addresses the problems of the prosperity Gospel. While it does accomplish that vital task (something I’d hoped for, but didn’t find in “Blessed”), it does much more than that. It first presents the authentic Gospel (first 40 minutes), contrasts it with faith vs. works fallacies, what the Bible really says about suffering and evil, and highlights some of those associated with the NAR controversy though none of these things are its primary focus.
Some ‘Blessed” Questions Answered
In my review of “Blessed”, I posed questions about prosperity and the Gospel the author did not address:
What is the relationship, if any, between the Gospel and human prosperity? How could salvation of the lost have nothing, whatsoever, to do with human flourishing?Every believer with a heartbeat might have an opinion on such questions. But, what is the truth contained in the Biblical text?
What might a believer seeking the whole counsel of God, conclude? Have some, or all, of these prosperity gospel preachers been fleecing the sheep or does the fulfillment of one or more of the missions of Jesus Christ involve prosperity and believers?
“American Gospel” solidly answers the last question with scriptural references that will leave the viewer inspired yet with no doubts about the spiritual crimes of a half-dozen or so of these gospel hucksters.
Soon to Become a Handy Video Reference
Given its quality and thoroughness, I’ll likely be referring to American Gospel as a resource for illustrating, if not altogether resolving, many of questions and issues that come up on forums and in conversations. Therefore, I’ll need to re-watch this documentary and capture timestamps and summaries of the many problems this film handles and illustrates so well. That will take some time since the work, while quite entertaining, is rather comprehensive in its coverage.
There’s plenty in the film that may have you relating to Christ’s anger at the money changers in the Temple. But it’s the trail of needlessly ruined or impoverished lives and the thwarting of those genuinely seeking God that’s probably the greater cost.
The hoarded and fraudulently gained earthly wealth of these hucksters is the best demonstration and proof of their genuinely held values: that the Gospel is just a mesmerizing tale that keeps the attention of believers long enough to separate them from their wallets and purses.
For the benefit of Benny Hinn’s $20k nightly stays in Dubai, the un-healed believer with cerebral palsy spends a lifetime questioning why his faith is not strong enough to convince God to heal him. Too bad he doesn’t know that Benny’s handlers screen out the hard cases before they get too close to the stage.
Pentecostal Lunacy
Kenneth Copeland plagiarizes his loony mentor (Kenneth Hagin) and takes “Ye shall be as gods” to the next level claiming he has Jesus’ DNA. With such exalted genetic street-cred established, it’s perfectly natural to demand another $60 million for a second jet for his private airport. After all, the contributing believers would be entitled to their own earthly empires if they only had the “wisdom” to ask.
Here’s an episode in Copeland’s apprenticeship with Hagin, his psychopathic mentor:
Passing the Baton
Here’s Copeland “passing the baton” to Todd White. Can we look forward to subsequent references to this episode described as Todd’s “anointing?”
In “American Gospel,” Todd White demonstrates what is apparently his schtick: a super slow manipulation of the ankle to make it look like he’s called the power of the Holy Spirit down to even up the lengths of a seeker’s legs and putting an end to chronic back pain.
The Beginning of the End, Hopefully
Is walking to the head of every line and claiming to be first proof of “God’s plan for your life” or just common lousy behavior? Is a graceful walk through the long process of sanctification only necessary because I don’t understand what my Bible really says, like Copeland or White?
For all “American Gospel” does to clarify the true Gospel and expose the false, it also does a wonderful job in championing God’s word and its role in fostering and deepening a relationship with our Creator. Let’s pray that “American Gospel” is the beginning of the end of the horrible spiritual destruction that follows in the wake of the false prosperity gospel.
Those who would attack the church require only the slightest pretense. Where no basis in law exists, a legalistic pretense will be created as illustrated in two recent examples (with thanks to WND for reporting on them.)
In this case, a misguided fear of “violating the Constitution’s establishment clause” led the city council to ban church worship services.
The case is not yet resolved, but will likely go in the church’s favor (with no help from the constitution’s establishment clause.) The city was inconsistent when implementing their policies: they let other groups use the civic center for similar events and rented office space in the same building to a Lutheran church. But that didn’t stop “their fears” from making up ad hoc rules to exclude the church.
If cities should implement their policies consistently, or cleverly revamp them from scratch to exclude the church, protection from the constitution’s establishment clause will be revealed to be merely rhetorical. Practically, only those with the resources to press the issue will be heard in federal court. In the meantime, ministries will be shut out or shut down until the local domains excluding them have a compelling reason to relent.
‘Constitutional’ Protection?
The federal constitution doesn’t prevent a city from making policies and ordinances. There is no agreement between these entities (fedgov and city). The state constitution might have a clause to which churches may appeal, depending on the state. Such will only be tested if churches in their domain have the will and resources to protest.
The church in this first example protested to local authorities and will likely prevail. Their victory will stem from the inconsistent policy implementation by the city.
Retired Pastor Threatened With Eviction Over Bible Study
A company that runs a senior-living center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has decided that a Bible study is a “business” and consequently has threatened to evict a retired Lutheran pastor and his wife for conducting one in their residence.
From the start, the retired pastor characterized his Bible study as a “book review” to avoid friction with the management company. Then we see another example of a private entity making ad hoc changes to their policies to justify an eviction. In this case, they recategorized the Bible study as a business.
As in the first example, the company ’s mistake was inconsistently implementing their policies. Other groups were permitted to meet in the same space to engage in activities ostensibly identical to those of the pastor’s Bible study. The company would have to show that holding a Bible in your hands when meeting others somehow makes it a business meeting to justify their eviction of the pastor.
The legal defenders of this small group say the federal housing act (FHA) may be the remedy for the pastor:
The actions by the Evergreens “violate the Fair Housing Act and its accompanying regulations,” First Liberty contended. “The FHA prohibits discrimination ‘against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of … religion.”
Private Homeowners in HOA Domains
The FHA might be a remedy for church activities under its domain. But what about private homeowners? 40 million households (53% of households in America)1 are in the legal domain of a Home Owners Association and bound by the agreement that defines it.
HOA agreements control the use of the home. Could the language in those agreements be changed, after the fact, to restrict Bible studies or house churches?
Of course, they could.
What if the atheist in the previous example was on the HOA board of your community? What would prevent him from making up an ad hoc rule as was done in the first two examples in this article?
Most of those who’ve signed HOA agreements have little knowledge of their contents. After the fact, homeowners may object to their restrictions. But those restrictions are clearly outlined in a document bearing an essential legal feature: the signature of the homeowner. Indeed, participation in this domain is entirely optional.
As faith-based attacks on homes in the domain of an HOA increase, believers must be mindful about their voluntary consent into these domains.
First Line of Defense
A believers first line of defense is prayer and God’s supernatural protection. However, Christians should take notice of Walter Williams’ description of the first line of defense in secular terms.
A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police, and courts but customs, traditions, and moral values. Behavioral norms, mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings, represent a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through experience and trial and error.2
The “customs, traditions and moral values” Williams refers to came directly from the foundational document of western civilization: The Bible. So did common law, although the current legal system in America is commercial.
In other words, whereas the Bible, itself, was the primary legal document in Christendom, Americans must now appeal to its faint echo filtered through society and commercial law.
Recommendations
While not possible or righteous to avoid all persecution, we are sent out “as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Mt 10:16.)” As hard as dove-like innocence may be to some, and serpentine-like wisdom to others, the fulfillment of the great commission requires both. Where one is lacking, believers are compromised.
Any justice received by Americans is limited to what they can or will afford. For ministries already entangled by legalistic pretense, it will cost money to break free. More often, what’s required is the wisdom to navigate the various domains of the territory to remain on task.
Pray for God’s supernatural guidance on every premise and decision of your ministry.
Look for states, counties, and cities with widely shared Christian beliefs; without a history of making ad hoc ordinances to quell irrational fears or provide temporary convenience.
Disabuse yourself of the false mindset that your first line of defense is the law. The legal system is the last line of defense and available only to those who can afford it.
Look for protection from the inconsistency of your opponent’s policy implementation or the customs and traditions of the domain of your ministry.
Think carefully before signing a home owner’s agreement that might one day be used as a lever of control over your Bible Study, ministry, or house church.
Where they don’t “receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:14)
Where escape is impossible, stand your ground for the truth and God’s glory. Bear your cross with steadfastness and joy and “consider this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Co 4:17–18).
Taylor Marshall’s explanation of the Catholic Crisis is so accessible and succinct I thought a transcription of it would be the perfect way to bring non-Catholics up to speed on just what in the world is going on.
Below, see Taylor’s video and, below that, a full transcription of it to make for quicker apprehension.
In short, Bergoglio knew everything. He knew about the Vatican Bank scandal, and he knew the names and details about the widespread homosexual infestation of the Catholic church up through its highest levels.
Unfortunately for Bergoglio, he not only ignored the warnings of the cardinals and papal nuncios reporting to him but promoted the guilty into positions of vast influence.
The real crisis, then, is Bergoglio’s non-Christ-like behavior in just about every way that matters, except for appearances.
Bergoglio is Probably Not the Pope
According to Catholic Canon law 188, if Ratzinger’s (Benedict XVI) resignation was invalid (made out of grave fear that is inflicted unjustly or out of malice, substantial error, or simony), then Ratzinger is still the rightful sitting pope. What does that make Bergoglio? The proper Catholic term for Bergoglio would be an anti-pope.
Why did Pope Benedict XVI resign the papacy on February 28, 2013?
This has been a big mystery for most of us, but we now have many more clues in the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI because of the testimony of Archbishop Viganò.
Viganò was at Ground Zero when the Vatican Bank scandal broke out in 2010-2011. This led to the VatiLeaks scandal and more scandals culminating in this 300-page dossier that was presented to Pope Benedict XVI months before he resigned.
And so, Viganò has really opened this up, and his role in this recent testimony isn’t new; it actually goes back into his days with Benedict XVI in 2010 with the scandal at the Vatican Bank.
So, let’s look at what the Vatican Bank is.
Now, the Vatican Bank is officially known as the IOR, Institute for works of religion. IOR stands for the Latin Institutum pro Operibus Religionis, that’s the Institute of Works of Religion.
Now, in newspapers and the news, they call it the Vatican Bank. I’m gonna use the term Vatican Bank and IOR interchangeably; they refer to the same Institute.
Now, the IOR was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius the 12th. So it’s a new Institute. It’s recent within the last 100 years. And what’s interesting about the IOR is it’s not the property of the Holy See. It remains outside the jurisdiction of the prefecture for the economic affairs of the Holy See. This makes it independent, and therefore many people have conspiracies about what it is and how it works.
Now the IOR is governed by a commission of five Cardinals and a lay board of superintendents. Now let’s look at the scandal of the IOR the Vatican Bank going back to the year 2009.
From 2009 to 2010, under Viganò’s leadership, the Vatican City went from a 10.5 million negative deficit to a 44 million positive surplus under Viganò’s supervision.
How did that happen, was Viganò really good at the stock market? No, it seems this 54 million dollar swing into the black, into the positive, was in fact not great investing but the consolidating of hidden funds; hidden funds that were being used all over the place in Vatican City without oversight, off the books, not audited, not being accounted.
And so it seems that Viganò and those with him consolidated all of these accounts and put them into one place to be seen. And so, suddenly, the Vatican City went from a negative 10.5 million deficit to a 44 million dollar surplus. 54 million dollars, the equivalent of US dollars, suddenly appeared in the Vatican checking account.
Not surprisingly, in September of 2010, that same year, the Italian government seized 23 million euros from the Vatican Bank, from the IOR, and alleged that there was money laundering conspiracy going on with the IOR. It fell under the anti-money laundering laws of Italy.
About 6 months after the money was seized on March 27th, 2011 archbishop Viganò, the same Viganò, addressed a letter to Pope Benedict the 16th describing the financial corruption in the Vatican Bank, the IOR.
Then a few months later on May 8, 2011, Archbishop Viganò addressed a second letter this time to the Cardinal Secretary of the state again describing financial corruption in the Vatican Bank.
Now just a few weeks later, Rome’s Attorney General released the 23 million euros, those assets, back into the Vatican Bank. So, the charges of money laundering were dismissed or taken care of, somehow.
A few months after that onAugust 13th, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI removes Viganò from within the Secretariat of state and instead appoints him as papal nuncio to the United States of America where he will live in Washington DC next to Cardinal McCarrick and Cardinal Wuerl. Reuters reported that Viganò was unwilling to take this assignment but Benedict the 16th insisted, and so Viganò said yes.
Why did Pope Benedict do this? Well, it seems that Pope Benedict knew that he could trust him to go and make an honest investigation into the alleged corruption of the infamous Cardinal McCarrick. We now know that because of the 11-page testimony that Viganò released. Again, now with this new document if it’s true these stray ends are coming together and being wrapped up.
After Archbishop Viganò was sent to Washington DC some hierarchs in Vatican City issued a statement against him and here’s what it said:
“The unauthorized publication of two letters of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the first addressed to the Holy Father on March 27, 2011, the second to the Cardinal Secretary of State on May 8, for the Governorate of Vatican City is a source of great bitterness”. It continued, “The allegations contained in them can not but lead to the impression that the Governorate of Vatican City, instead of being an instrument of responsible government, is an unreliable entity, at the mercy of dark forces. After careful examination of the contents of the two letters, the President of the Governorate sees it as its duty to publicly declare that those assertions are the result of erroneous assessments, or fears based on unsubstantiated evidence, even openly contradicted by the main characters invoked as witnesses”.
So, these Cardinals and secretaries of the Vatican state issued the statement directly against Viganò, and they call Viganò a liar. So was Viganò a liar? Was their corruption at the IOR, the Vatican Bank or was there not?
Well, just a few months after this happened in May 2012 a journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book called “His Holiness: the secret papers of Pope Benedict XVI.” This is the controversy known as Vatileaks, it’s like WikiLeaks, but it’s the Vatican, the VatiLeaks scandal. And this book included letters by none other than Archbishop Viganò.
Just a few days later on May 23rd, 2012 the Pope’s Butler Paolo Gabriele, a was arrested by Vatican police, not Italian police, but by the police force of Vatican City itself. And the next day he was charged. And on the very next day May 24, 2012, the head of the Vatican Bank was fired. So they arrested the butler and then the next day they fired the head of the Vatican Bank. That head or president of the Vatican Bank was Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and the reason given was “failure to provide any formal explanation for the dissemination of documents last known to be in the president’s possession.”
A couple months later, August13, 2012, Pope Benedict’s Butler, Paolo Gabriele, was indicted by Vatican magistrates for aggravated theft. On October 6 the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was found guilty of theft and was sentenced to a reduced sentence of 18 months inside the Vatican. And usually, these punishments are not in a dungeon in the Vatican. They are living in Vatican City under house arrest.
And on December 22nd, 2012, interestingly enough, Pope Benedict the sixteenth pardoned his Butler Paolo Gabriele. So Paolo the Butler receives a papal pardon.
Now while all of this is going on, the VatiLeaks, Pope Benedict XVI is unnerved, and he commissioned an investigation. He chooses three of his most trusted cardinals to do an investigation on the irregularities the Vatican Bank and to find out who these people are. And these three Cardinals were Cardinal Herranz, he’s a Spanish Cardinal and member of Opus Dei, and he served as the chair of this investigation committee. Also Cardinal Joseph Tomko, he’s Slovak, and he’s bi-ritual, he serves in the Roman Rite and the Eastern Churches I think the Byzantine jurisdiction, but I’m not quite sure on that. And then also Salvatore de Georgi is an Italian.
These three men did a secret investigation for Pope Benedict XVI. They prepared a 300-page dossier inside of a red binder and presented it to Pope Benedict XVI on December17th, 2012. This red binder with 300 pages in it documented financial corruption but also deep moral corruption; allegedly describing Vatican hierarchs and Cardinals dressed in drag with lewd details about them given by Roman male prostitutes.
By the way, December 17th, the day he receives this red binder dossier and reads it, is the day reported that Pope Benedict XVI realized I am not up for this challenge I’m going to resign.
Just to make a connection the binder was given on December 17, 2012. It was on December 22nd, five days later, that Pope Benedict pardoned his Butler Paolo. And this has led some including myself to wonder perhaps the leak was on purpose. Why would the Butler do all this if he’s a very close friend to Ratzinger Benedict and then go through the whole process of a trial and then get pardoned within days of this binder by Benedict XVI? It’s a little unclear, but something’s going on there as well.
Now just a couple weeks after he receives the binder and reportedly decides to resign pressure is placed upon him. On January 1st, 2013 the ATM machines inside Vatican City, these are the machines that people who work there used to get cash to get money, they cease to work and all the Vatican bank accounts are reportedly closed; so much so that the Sistine Chapel the Vatican Museums can only accept cash because the systems are down.
On February 11th, so a month in eleven days later, Pope Benedict XVI announces publicly that he is going to resign at the papacy. The very next day on February 12, 2013, a Swiss company called the Aduno Group takes over the operation of the Vatican ATM cash machine and by doing so circumvents the Italian and EU regulatory pressures.
On February 28th Pope Benedict officially resigned at the papacy, and we entered into an interregnum.
On March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was elected by the College of Cardinals. What’s interesting is just a few months after the election of Pope Francis in June 2013 the money-laundering case against the ex-head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was dropped. And around the same time, Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as the interim head for the Vatican Bank.
So, why did Pope Benedict XVI resign? Well, going back to 2009-2010 there’s a shake-up in the Holy See with the Vatican Bank and who is right there in the middle at the bull’s-eye? Viganò. Viganò is the one that’s shaking things up, and it leads to secular intervention and an accusation of money laundering. The head of the Vatican Bank ends up getting fired. Viganò ends up being pulled out of the Secretary of State and sent over to the United States of America. But 54 million dollars have come into the Vatican Bank, and there’s a lot of questions and the VatiLeaks begins to break that open and that, in turn, leads to Benedict discovering the moral rot of sexual deviancy within the walls of the Vatican. Something he may have suspect or not but becomes clear when those three Cardinals present a 300-page binder on to his desk.
So really it was a four-punch knockout. First off, Viganò blows the whistle on alleged money laundering; two, the accusation of money laundering leads to the VatiLeaks scandal; three, the VatiLeaks scandal leads Benedict to form a secret investigation with three Cardinals; and then four, those three Cardinals expose moral rot, sexual deviancy, that’s been paired up with financial irregularity. This is what moves the Pope to resignation. And just to make sure there’s enough pressure on him to actually do it and to do it quick something funny goes on with the Vatican banks beginning on January 1st, 2013. And it seems that the powerful Cardinals, the powerful hierarchs within Vatican City, wanted it to happen fast because they don’t want the contents of that 300-page dossier released to the public because there is moral scandal in those pages.
Now, that binder was left for the successor of Benedict who is Pope Francis, but nothing has been done. And what we’ve seen in the years to follow is that those who were opposed to Benedict XVI, theologically but also on administration, have been reinstalled, reinstated and promoted. Viganò says that Benedict XVI put sanctions on Cardinal McCarrick in Washington DC and that Pope Francis reversed them.
If that’s the case we can see that within the walls of Vatican City, not just Cardinals working secretly, but Pope Francis himself, has been undermining the investigation that was prompted by Viganò as far back as 2010.
So where do we stand now? Well, we had this 11-page document that Viganò has released to the public and it connects the dots, morally. He doesn’t go into the financials; a lot of that stuff is already out in the public though no one knows about it. But, if you go back into the VatiLeaks story, you’re gonna see Viganò is all over it.
Could Viganò be lying? He could be, and if so all this falls apart. It could just be that he’s been a troublemaker from the very beginning. But if he’s telling the truth and other Vatican officials and other Cardinals come forward and attest to what Viganò has been telling us then this pontificate of Pope Francis is in big, big trouble.
So there it is Archbishop Viganò and the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
If this helps you get some clarity or connect the dots, please like it, share it, subscribe to this channel. But more importantly pray the rosary, go to confession, draw near to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do not lose faith, do not lose charity, do not give in to hate. Use this as a time to offer up great sacrifice because if these things are true, we are in a very difficult epoch of Catholic Church history.
Again thanks so much for watching god bless you see you in a future video.
If you’re interested in the topic of exorcism, the documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” is worth your time.
It’s a professionally made documentary primarily due to the thoroughness of the director. He interviews a broad sample of observers (and participants) around the exorcisms. And, despite his expertise, the director removes all effects and technical obstacles from his subject rather than add layers of them as he did in “The Exorcist.”
If you’ve watched the clip, you’ve heard the voice of one of the possessed women (Christina) at 1 minute, 12 seconds into the above trailer.
I consistently hear three voices every time the one being exorcised cries out. If this is, somehow, faked by the director, it discredits the documentary. However, I don’t suspect there was any sound editing of the ladies voice. To satisfy my own curiosity of the makeup of these “voices,” I captured many of them from the documentary, and you can see their spectral frequency prints, below.
Dissociative Trance Disorder?
When the director interviews a room full of five doctors of various expertise, he’s quickly referred to what the doctors say is “a recognized diagnosis, worldwide”: Dissociative Trance Disorder.1 From the abstract of that paper:
Although dissociative trance disorders, especially possession disorder, are probably more common than is usually though, precise clinical data are lacking. Ten persons undergoing exorcisms for devil trance possession state were studied with the Dissociative Disorders Diagnostic Schedule and the Rorschach test. These persons had many traits in common with dissociative identity disorder patients. They were overwhelmed by paranormal experiences. Despite claiming possession by a demon, most of them managed to maintain normal social functioning.
Robert Barron, a Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, says he wouldn’t speak to the devil like Father Amorth because he’s not at that spiritual level:
Speaking to the devil like Father Amorth? I would never dare do that. I’m not there, spiritually, I think it’s a very dangerous thing…it’s dangerous ground. You have to be really, really, Holy. . . I’m not ready for that; I’d be afraid.
Jeffrey B. Russell’s Says it Best
One of the most insightful comments in the documentary is by Jeffrey Burton Russell, author of “The Prince of Darkness.” Jeffrey says that possession is merely the seizure of your body.
The way they take over your soul is by tempting you to sin. That’s how they get you because you’re using your free will to do evil.
Spectral Frequency Displays
As a musician, I have a good ear for sounds and the ability to distinguish between them.
For example, you know that feeling you get when you’re watching a movie and can’t quite place the voice? I rarely experience that since the person behind the voice is evident to me (If I know who they are in real life.)
To make a more objective visual image, however, I used the Spectral Frequency Display in Adobe Audition to show the “print” of the voices in this documentary.
For reference: human speaking voices for men range from ~85 – 180hz and for women, 165 – 255 Hz. Frequencies above this are usually attributed to harmonics, room echo, or non-vocal-cord sounds produced by the throat. All of those elements are present in the voice prints, below.
The vertical axis is frequency, and the horizontal axis is time. The brightness represents the loudness of the sound source in that frequency range. The bright yellow areas are the primary sound, the orange and purple are harmonics, echo, or non-vocal-cord sounds. The black areas are silent.
Here’s the director’s voice asking a question:
Here’s Christina answering the Director’s question:
Father Amorth praying:
Father Amorth makes a guttural sound during prayer:
Family praying together:
Christina’s first “possessed” voice:
A six-second segment of Christina’s possessed voice:
When looking at the prints of Christina’s voice during the possession, it becomes apparent why it gives the impression of either three or four voices. Two frequencies are pronounced enough to be heard separately at 1k and below. Two more are at 2k-4k. Her first print is also extraordinary in that it emits harmonics >16khz. No other voice in the documentary does that.
But look at the print when Father Amorth makes a guttural sound during prayer. Strong harmonics appear three or four times just below 3k Hz. This is an important comparison because Father and Christina are in the same room at the same time.
For an additional comparison, I’ve recorded two isolated voice tracks of Janis Joplin. The recordings attempt to isolate only Janis’ voice to be as similar as possible to the Father Amorth and Christina.
Janis Joplin, Clip #1:
Janis Joplin, Clip #2:
”Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism” by Stefano Ferracuti, Roberta Sacco, and Renato Lazzari, Dept. Of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Journal of Personality Assessment, 1996, 66(3), 525-539, Copyright 1996, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. ↩
Dr. Heiser’s Naked Bible podcast is one of my favorites. With 215 episodes and climbing it’s become a challenge to find which episode mentions a topic of interest. Thankfully, there’s a transcript made of each episode. But how do you search the content of hundreds of separate files?
Searching Filenames is Easy; Searching File Content is Hard
Searching the contents of hundreds of files is no easy task. The two best (only?) tools for this are Adobe Acrobat Pro and DevonThink.
Acrobat Pro
With Acrobat Pro, there are two options to search multiple pdfs: search a directory or search an index. My searches take five seconds without an index and two seconds with an index. I haven’t used Acrobat to search more than 200 files in a directory but presume the lag time will increase files increase.
DevonThink
DevonThink searches return instantly. An index is built and updated as files are imported and the search time for 215 NB transcripts is not discernible. I have another directory with 1900 files of similar size and the search time for that directory is also indiscernible. Wow.
Recommendation
Both Acrobat and DevonThink are crucial to my workflows. If I had to choose one tool for this job, however, it would be DevonThink. Searching the contents of thousands of files is what it’s designed to do, and it does it exceptionally well. If you need to perform searches like this on a routine basis, the $149 cost is a no-brainer. It comes with the best OCR conversion engine (ABBYY FineReader) which costs more than DevonThink itself, go figure.
Adobe seems to overprice the standalone purchase of their software to encourage users to choose a subscription, instead. Since I use six of the tools in the Adobe CC suite on a routine basis, the $50/month is justified. Your mileage may vary.
