• The Crucifix Prayer

    Blessed are you, Lord God,
    Father all-holy,
    for your boundless love
    The tree, once the source of shame
    and death for humankind,
    has become the cross
    of our redemption and life.

    When his hour had come to
    return to you in glory,
    the Lord Jesus,
    Our King, our Priest, and our Teacher,
    freely mounted the scaffold of the cross
    and made it his royal throne,
    his altar of sacrifice, his pulpit of truth.

    On the cross,
    lifted above the earth,
    he triumphed over our age-old enemy.
    Cloaked in his own blood,
    he drew all things to himself.

    On the cross,
    he opened out his arms
    and offered you his life;
    the sacrifice of the New Law
    that gives to the sacraments
    their saving power.

    On the cross,
    he proved what he had prophesied:
    the grain of wheat must die
    to bring forth an abundant harvest.

    Father,
    we honour this cross as the sign
    of our redemption.
    May we reap the harvest of salvation
    planted in pain by Christ Jesus.
    May our sins be nailed to his cross,
    the power of life released,
    pride conquered,
    and weakness turned to strength.

    May the cross be our comfort in trouble,
    our refuge in the face of danger,
    our safeguard on life’s journey
    until you welcome us to
    our heavenly home.

    Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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  • The Prayer of St. Ephrem

    {Making a prostration}

    O LORD, Master of my life,
    grant that I may not be infected with the
    spirit of slothfulness and inquisitiveness,
    with the spirit of ambition and vain talking.

    {Making a prostration}

    Grant instead to me, your servant,
    the spirit of purity and of humility,
    the spirit of patience and neighborly love.

    {Making a third prostration}

    O Lord and King,
    grant me the grace of being aware of my sins
    and of not thinking evil of those of my brethren.
    For you are blessed, now and ever, and forever.

    Amen.

    Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings,
    You have power over life and death.
    You know what is secret and hidden,
    and neither our thoughts nor our feelings
    are concealed from You.
    Cure me of duplicity;
    I have done evil before You.
    Now my life declines from day to day
    and my sins increase.
    O Lord, God of souls and bodies,
    You know the extreme frailty of my soul and my flesh.
    Grant me strength in my weakness, O Lord,
    and sustain me in my misery.
    Give me a grateful soul that I may
    never cease to recall Your benefits,
    O Lord most bountiful.
    Be not mindful of my many sins,
    but forgive me all my misdeeds.
    O Lord, disdain not my prayer –
    the prayer of a wretched sinner;
    sustain me with Your grace until the end,
    that it may protect me as in the past.
    It is Your grace which has taught me wisdom;
    blessed are they who follow her ways,
    for they shall receive the crown of glory.
    In spite of my unworthiness,
    I praise You and I glorify You,
    O Lord, for Your mercy to me is without limit.
    You have been my help and my protection.
    May the name of Your majesty be praised forever.
    To you, our God, be glory.
    Amen.

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  • PWJ: S4E103 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 2)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 2 of that Finale. Listener Survey: https://forms.gle/X4zq7Uk69KmYo1v3A

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  • PWJ: S4E102 – Bonus – “Season Finale” (Part 1)

    David, Andrew, and Matt wrap up Season 4 with the Season Finale. This is Part 1…

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  • PWJ: S4E101 – Bonus – “Jack vs Tollers”

    After the previously-planned interview fell through at the last minute, David sat down to record a solo episode to talk about his newborn son, Sidecar Day, blue flowers in Narnia, and also to make his tongue-in-cheek case as to why C.S. Lewis is better than J.R.R. Tolkien.

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  • PWJ: S4E100 – AH – “After Hours” with The Gray Havens

    The Gray Havens are an American Christian folk pop husband and wife duo, David and Licia Radford, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. On October 8th they will be releasing their new album, Blue Flower, so David Radford came on the show to talk to Andrew and David about how C.S. Lewis inspired their recent work.

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  • PWJ: S4E99 – AH – “After Hours” with Mike “Gomer” Gormley

    As we approach the end of Season 4, David is joined on the show by Michael “Gomer” Gormley. Among other things, they discuss Ted Lasso, tea, and the Atonement. Also, find out what Gomer would do if he ever became the Pope!

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  • PWJ: S4E98 – AH – “After Hours” with Patti Callahan

    New York Times bestselling author, Patti Callahan, returns to the show to talk about her forthcoming book, “Once Upon A Wardrobe”, which will be released on October 19th.

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  • PWJ: S4E97 – AH – “After Hours” with The Tolkien Road

    A few months ago, John and Greta from The Tolkien Road podcast did a series of episodes on religion in Tolkien’s Legendarium. David invited him onto the show to talk about those episodes and to encourage the Pints With Jack listeners to listen to them.

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  • PWJ: S4E96 – AH – “After Hours” with Rod Bennett

    Author Rod Bennett joined David to talk about a presentation on he gave at a big Christian rock festival about C.S. Lewis’ relationship to “Pulp Fiction”.

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Debate: Can you lose your salvation?

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Trent Horn was going to be debating James White on the subject of whether or not it is possible to lose one’s salvation. The video of the entire debate is now up and freely available for viewing:

I’ve seen many of Dr. White’s previous debates. He’s done copious amounts of debates and I’ve seen him debate Catholics and beat them, but I think that, in this case, Trent’s presentation was the far more robust and convincing.

Wise Words on Wednesday: Time & Place

Swafford

Imagine your relationship is like a grand and beautiful house, and in that house there is a fireplace – massive, oak, ornate and stunning. You put the firewood in the fireplace, light the match, and enjoy the warmth and romantic ambiance. The fireplace is marriage – where sex is not only safe and secure but is an incredible gift from God. The fire is our sexual hunger and intimacy; and if it is not used in its right time and setting, it will actually bring gret harm. So, imagine that beautiful house again with no fireplace in it: if you lit a fire in the middle of your living room, you would burn your whole house to the ground.

– Sarah Swafford, Emotional Virtue

Ricky Gervais’ Atheism

Ricky Gervais is best known for his role as David Brent in the UK show, “The Office”, but he’s also an outspoken atheist and was recently on a talk show with Stephen Colbert where he spoke about his atheism.

In previous posts I have responded to some of the things Mr Gervais has said regarding God, but in a recent article from Catholic Answers, Trent Horn directly addresses some of the content of the recent interview with Colbert:

Screen Shot 2017-02-09 at 3.26.18 PM

Finding the Church

searching

I began listening to talks by John Martignoni years ago. Recently on his mailing list, he posted a series of questions about the Church, as well as their Scriptural responses. Here it is:

1. Did Jesus found a church?
Yes; Matthew 16:18

2. How many churches did Jesus found?
One. The church is the Body of Christ and there is only one body of Christ.
Romans 12:5, Ephesians 4:4, Colossians 1:18

3. So, if Jesus founded a church, then when was it founded?
2000 years ago

4. Was that church guided by the Holy Spirit?
Yes; John 14:26, John 16:13; Acts 2:3-4

5. If the church was founded by Jesus Christ and was guided by the Holy Spirit, could it teach doctrinal error?
No; 1 Tim 3:15

6. So, could we say that the church founded by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit, taught doctrinal truth infallibly – without error – to the 1st century Christians?
Yes; Luke 10:16, John 14:16-17, 1 Peter 1:12

7. Did the church of the New Testament teach different doctrinal truths to different people in different areas?
No; 2 Timothy 1:12-14, Ephesians 4:14, Titus 1:9

8. Are there any denominations in the church of the New Testament?
No. The church in the New Testament is one, just as the Body of Christ is one – 1 Corinthians 1:10, 1 Corinthians 11:18-19, Jude 19

9. Would a church founded by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit still be in existence today?
Yes; Matthew 16:18, Matthew 28:20, Ephesians 3:21

10. How old would that church be?
2000 years old

11. Would that church still be guided by the Holy Spirit?
Yes; Matthew 28:20, John 14:16

12. Could that church founded by Jesus and still guided by the Holy Spirit teach doctrinal error?
No; 1 Timothy 3:15, 1 Corinthians 12:28

13. So we could say that the church founded by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit would still teach doctrinal truth infallibly?
Yes; Luke 10:16, John 14:16-17, 1 Peter 1:12

14. Would that church founded by Jesus Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit teach different doctrinal truths to different people in different areas?
No; Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, 1 Timothy 4:6

15. Would there be any denominations in that church?
No; 1 Corinthians 1:13

16. Can the Lutheran denomination be the church founded by Jesus in Israel 2000 years ago?
No; It was founded by Martin Luther in Germany in the 1500’s.

17. Q) Can the Anglican/Episcopalian denomination, or any of its offshoots, be the church founded by Jesus in Israel 2000 years ago?
No; It was founded by King Henry the VIII in the 1500’s because he wanted to divorce his wife.

18. Are there any Protestant, Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Fundamentalist, or Non-Denominational denominations that were founded by Jesus in Israel 2000 years ago?
No.

19. So is there any Protestant, Baptist, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Fundamentalist, or Non-Denominational denomination that could be the church founded by Jesus Christ in Israel 2000 years ago?
No.

20. So if Jesus founded a Church – one Church – in Israel 2000 years ago that was guided by the Holy Spirit and that Church is still in existence today and is still guided by the Holy Spirit, which means it teaches doctrinal truth infallibly, and there are no denominations of that Church now, just as there were no denominations of that Church 2000 years ago, then shouldn’t all Christians be in that one Church founded by Jesus?
Yes

21. Does it make sense to be in a church that was not founded by Jesus Christ in Israel 2000 years ago?
No.

22. How can we identify which Church – of the thousands upon thousands – is THE Church founded by Jesus?
The Church founded by Jesus, should at least claim to be THE Church founded by Jesus; it should be able to trace its leadership back 2000 years to the Apostles; and it should claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit and to thus teach doctrinal truth infallibly with the authority of Jesus Christ, its Founder.

23. How many churches fit that description?
One

24. Which Church is that?
The Catholic Church

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