On a recent radio program edition of Chris Pinto’s Noise of Thunder Radio I found it very interesting that he discussed the modern Roman Catholic Index of Forbidden Books.

That spurred me to look into a Catholic Bible that I own, for reference use. It is the Catholic New American Bible, sponsored by the Bishops’ Committee of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and printed by Catholic Bible Publishers, copyright 1970. This is therefore a modern Bible version and in the back, under the heading of Index of Forbidden Books, it declares what these volumes would be: “Books, harmful to faith and morals, the reading of which is expressly forbidden by the Holy See. Any book or publication whose material constitues a danger the faith or maorals of the reader is prohibited. Forbidden books would include:
1.      Any non-Catholic edition or translation of the Holy Bible (for example, the King James Version)…”

Therefore, according to the Church of Rome’s official pronouncement, any Catholic who reads, what a 2011 New York Times review stated, “is one of the great masterpieces of English prose” commits a sin.

If a Catholic therefore reads John 3:16 in the King James which reads, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”, or the 23rd Psalm, that Catholic person needs to ask for forgiveness. The 2011 New York Times review was by Charles McGrath.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/weekinreview/24mcgrath.html?_r=0
I recall a National Post review of a book about the King James Bible, in which the reviewer called the King James version the greatest work in the English language.
And there are some that say that there is no difference between Catholic or Protestant belief when it comes right down to it. I suggest this shows that the Roman Catholic Church knows that if a Catholic person of average intelligence was to read God’s pure Word, they would, on their own, find that the teachings of this religious organization is very different from what the Bible teaches.

Speaking of Christian J Pinto, I am also pleased that he has packaged my book with one of his latest excellent documentaries on DVD entitled A Lamp in the Dark, for sale on the Adullam Film website. Chris is an award winning document film maker based in Tennessee.

A survivor of a Quebec aboriginal residential school takes part in a march April 24, 2013, to mark the first day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's hearings in Montreal. Photograph by: PHIL CARPENTER, THE GAZETTE , THE GAZETTE

The other morning, I read a surprisingly interesting and informative newspaper article  in the Prince George Citizen. It reported on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which was holding hearings in Prince George for aboriginal survivors of residential schools. One man named Jack Lacerte spoke of the abuse that was inflicted on him at Lejak Residential school in the British Columbia interior. His father had attended the school as a student and then served as a staff member. One night, four students ran away. They crossed the ice of Fraser Lake but froze to death. The Citizen quoted Lacerte,

”The priest said that there would be a big investigation by Indian Affairs, and two priests arrived from Ottawa by train” said Lacerte. He remembered how they came to the Lacerte home and asked to speak to his father. “They said to my father ‘This is what we want you to say to Indian Affairs’. My dad and mom were quite strong Catholics and dad outright told them ‘what you’re asking me to tell them is a lie’ and refused. The priests said ‘You have 24 hours to get off the property’ so he moved us to Fraser Lake.” The unjust expulsion was shameful, but adding to the injury was the priests’ next move. They destroyed any record of the Lacerte family working or schooling at Lejac.

Echoes of Charles Chiniquy. Coming from Ottawa, obviously these priests were sent by officials in high authority in this religious organization. The one concern they had was the wellbeing of this organization, not the truth and not even Catholic people. I attended this hearing and providentially, met this gentleman outside, talked to him and found out who he was. Mr. Lecerte went on to serve in the Canadian Air Force and then the RCMP. He confirmed what was reported about him. I asked him if he was a Catholic and he said no resoundingly, replying he was a born-again Christian. He said that Catholicism twists what the Bible says. He said that the Word of God said not to have any false gods before Him.

He also pointed out that the Scriptures doesn’t say to pray to Mary, that Jesus said “I would be gone for a thousand years so pray to my mother and she will give the message when I get back”. He agreed that the Roman Catholic Church is trying to weasel out of the blame of abuse at residential schools and it has said that the “Canadian federal government had asked us to do this and therefore they should pay, and not the Church”.
Afterwards, I went inside and heard the emotional testimony of one woman who spoke about being raped, as a child, by a Catholic priest. I also saw a local reporter there and asked him if there was a Catholic response to what had been said. He said that the new Bishop of the area wouldn’t talk to them, even about being the new bishop. Interesting.

Adrian Dix, in his speech conceding defeat, said “we have to continue to be who we are”. And that would be socialist losers apparently. Oh, I’m sorry, I misspoke, that would be people who want to do the right thing, be the conscience of the province, social engineers, and if their policies were put into effect, make BC an economic basket case. The running of the province effectively could governed by how the salmon might want it and people could live in caves and eat rocks, as they should anyway. As fun as that would be though, the present alternative of the Liberals, though definitely imperfect, might prove to be better. Socialists will have to make do with messing up people’s lives at the municipal level for now.
Another note, to make weather predictors feel better, re the BC election, again pollsters proved to be as equally useless. At the closing of the polls, just after 8 pm, CTV said that the chances of a NDP victory was 87% and the chances of a Liberal victory 11% and the Liberals thumped the socialist, (what was the other 2%, the chances of sasquatches forming a government?). Yes kids, if you seem to be no good at anything except maybe talking, be a meteorologist or a pollster.

Oh woe is the CBC. The Globe and Mail reported last week that the Canadian government is taking an interest in crown corporations in regards to their negotiations with their employees regarding their compensation. Apparently this is not going over well at the “Mother Corp”. The Globe stated: “The union representing employees at the CBC warns the new powers are a ‘ridiculous’ infringement on the independence of the CBC.” Yes, the CBC wants the tax dollars from Canadians and they want to be accountable to no one. It is great gig if you can get it. I might suggest the CBC is at this time, independent of reality. One certainly gets the impression that they don’t want to be accountable and I think they also don’t like criticism and don’t handle it well, although the national broadcaster is more than happy to expose wrongdoing of others. They especially don’t seem to like the RCMP. The CBC is not that far off other big broadcasters in Canada and the US as far as often doing a poor job of informing the people and having an agenda perhaps, to be fair, but Canadians are forced to support the CBC financially so the people’s representatives in Ottawa should be able to looking what is going on there all they want. It remains a mystery what a man like Charles Chiniquy, a world famous Canadian, with global influence, Canada’s best-selling author of all time according to Chiqniquy biographer Richard Lougheed, cannot have his story told, or even his name mentioned on the CBC nationally.

With the tragic bombing of the recent Boston marathon, there is talk of curtailing civil liberties in the U.S. Prominent people have called for the remaining bomber to be treated as an enemy combatant.

However Yahoo News has reported that:
“The White House announced Monday that the surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, will be tried in federal court for his alleged crimes. Press secretary Jay Carney flatly rebuffed demands from many Republicans that Tsarnaev be designated an “enemy combatant” in order to interrogate him without constitutional safeguards like access to a lawyer.” (By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – Mon, Apr 22, 2013, http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/u-won-t-treat-boston-bombing-suspect-enemy-172332975–politics.html)

Civil liberties were a consideration for Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War. His administration suspended the writ of habuis corpus and he was critized for doing so. In an excellent September 11, 2012 interview through C-SPAN, historian Elizabeth Leonard pointed out that Lincoln basically said, should I protect one law, and at the same time have the whole nation collapse? (http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/308560-1)

This was also a consideration when trying those involved in the conspiracy to murder Lincoln and other high ranking government officials. Eight, including Mary Surrratt, were tried in the summer of 1865 by a military tribunal. This has been critized from that time up to today but I believe it was entirely proper. As I point out in my book, at the time of the 16th President’s murder, the United States was still at war. The last battle of the Civil War was fought at Palmito Hills, Texas by southern troops who were unaware of Lee’s surrender more than a month earlier. It wasn’t until August of 1866 that President Johnson proclaimed the insurrection to be at an end in the last of the Secessionist states, Texas. There were other good reasons for the trial by military commission.

John Surratt was finally caught and brought to trial two years after Lincoln’s assassination, after being sheltered by Catholic officials and in Catholic institutions. Charles Chiniquy essentially said that, like what happened to him, there was a Catholic plan to pack the jury and tamper with justice and there is good evidence that happened with Surratt. In her book, The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln, Kate Clifford Larson declared: “much more evidence was introduced shedding light on the extensiveness of the conspiracy, as well as new details about Mary’s complicity in it. But despite the new evidence, John’s case ended in a mistrial – the civilian jury was packed with Southern sympathizers.” Yes, southern sympathizers – read Catholics.Elizabeth Leonard was a historical consultant of the Redford Lincoln film on Mary Surratt and she and I corresponded regarding this movie. Her input was apparently ignored by Redford and she does not have high regard for this film, a view I share.

Eastern National, for Ford’s Theatre, has just ordered Who Killed Abraham Lincoln? and I want to make plans to be at the National Historic Site in Washington DC this summer to do a book signing for sure. That would definitely be fun and quite different from what I am used to. This week, in the midst of all the cherry blossoms there, they have enjoyed temperature of 85 Fahrenheit whereas here in central British Columbia, it was snowing earlier in the week. A friend and I wanted to go to Chicago by train this summer so it would be a bit longer of a trip, that is all. I went there in late 2010 via Amtrac and it was a good trip, I have always liked travel by train. We had not too much trouble getting through that time, although I think it was one of Minnesota’s worst winter storms ever, if memory serves me. It was on that trip that I did my semi-shivering youtube video outside the downtown offices of the Chicago Tribune.

The news is not good for American patriots who love the freedom America has traditionally stood for. The New York Times reported last month the dwindling opposition of Republicans “to legalizing the status of millions of illegal immigrants”, because of diminishing support amongst Hispanics.  Therefore one of the few entities that, whether they knew it or not, that was opposing the illegal increase of Roman Catholics in the US, is backing off that. I would maintain that illegal immigration is part of the plan for the Roman Catholic takeover of the United States.

This Easter weekend, I enjoyed a visit to Alberta, which included skiing in the Banff area. Truly the Rocky Mountains are some of the most spectacular parts of God’s creation. Easter is the celebration of the central aspect of Christianity, the resurrection of Christ. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15: 16 – 20
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead and showed that he was who he claimed to be: the Son of God, not just some man with grandious ideas and pronouncements.
The hymn writer penned: “
God sent his son
They called him Jesus
He came to love
Heal and forgive
He lived and died
To buy my pardon
An empty grave
Is there to prove
My Savior lives

Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because he lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because he lives

And for your listening ears,  check out Chris Pinto’s Noise of Thunder TV’s interview with myself at http://www.noiseofthunder.com/noise-of-thunder-tv-episode-3/

It was a somewhat mysterious trip the book made. After a National Parks Service management change at Ford’s Theatre, the book sat in the former Deputy Superintendent’s office for some seven months with no one looking at it and my emails going unanswered. After a registered letter from me, it got back on the front burner and twelve days later, I was told that it was not accepted because it “contained historical inaccuracies”. This was later updated to “numerous historical inaccuracies”. Fortunately, one example was given, which I analysed. After I responded that the alleged inaccuracy was itself not correct, I received the pleasing response that I did last Thursday. And the “numerous historical inaccuracies” just disappeared. That is very interesting and I wonder how that happens. Might the first Ford’s Theatre historical reviewer have had a bias or agenda to find these numerous inaccuracies when they don’t exist?
To her great credit, the current Deputy Superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks had ordered another review of the book. I very much appreciate her interest in getting to the bottom of the matter. She reported that the “second reviewer found that your book was well documented with footnotes.” adding that the book has been approved for sale at the Ford’s Theatre Museum bookstore.

So the “conclave” has continued. The creator of the website, “Canon Law Made Easy”, Cathy Caridi, J.C.L., “is an American canon lawyer who practices law and teaches in Rome. She founded this website to provide clear answers to canonical questions asked by ordinary Catholics, without employing all the mysterious legalese that canon lawyers know and love.”http://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2013/02/21/canon-law-and-the-upcoming-conclave/ [1]
She talks about what will happen at this conclave and never quotes the Bible because I would suggest this is all very unbiblical. She also stated.” Note that the law permits the cardinals to set the start-date a few days later, but it does not permit them to set it earlier. At the moment, therefore, since Pope Benedict’s resignation is effective the evening of February 28, the conclave by law cannot start any sooner than March 16. The cardinals do not have the authority to change this date: only the current Pope does, and thus far he has not done so.” On March 8th, Time magazine, along with other media outlets however, stated that “Cardinals have set Tuesday as the start date for the conclave to elect the next pope”.

http://world.time.com/2013/03/08/cardinals-set-tuesday-as-start-date-for-conclave-to-elect-new-pope/ [2] Ms. Caridi seems to need to work on her canon law.
Meanwhile, Catholics and the media, (is the mainstream media that has been breathless waiting for every development in Rome, officially Catholic? Oh that’s right, it is strictly unbiased and just interested in the truth) have been waiting for the right coloured smoke out of the papal chimney. In other news, Catholics and others have been waiting much longer for the Roman Catholic Church to come clean on sexual crimes by priests and many other instances of serious wrongdoing. Oh yes, as of the time of writing, reportedly the right coloured smoke has appeared but the new head of this organization is not yet known.