Beatified, authorized by man or God?

fiery side chats in the holy scriptures

Articles published in newpaper periodicals

Published in Linn County news, a Kansas weekly (May 11 2011).

Revised in 2012

Encyclopedia@yahooeducation.com  claims in the Roman Catholic Church,

“Canonization is the process by which a person is classified as a saint. It is now performed at Rome alone, although in the middle Ages and earlier bishops elsewhere used to canonize. Canonization is not necessary for martyrs who are considered to be enrolled among the saints on their death, but in recent years the church has approved the cult of canonized persons only. Beatification, by which a person is called blessed and his/her cult is approved, requires proof of two miracles and must precede canonization.”

 
THIS PAST WEEK the former Pope John Paul was beatified by Rome.  If I thought the Catholic church was the church Jesus sat up in the world to preach the gospel-- then I might be a catholic. Therefore, My subject is “Beatified, authorized by religious man or God?” As all peoples of the world I love THEM all, As I do all lost souls. I cannot embrace the catholic system or their doctrine as TRUTH. So my subject might not be a popular  one to discuss and may even stir up a fuss among some. I'm a soul searcher for the truth according to the Sola Scriptura. So lets a look into the good book and see who really are the saints according to THE CHURCH BY JESUS CHRIST WORLD WITHOUT END. 

According to the Catholic church history: Beatification (from Latin beatus, blessed) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals --  who pray in his or her name (intercession of saints). Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process. A person who is beatified is given the title "Blessed."

Jude 1:3: Who were the saints spoken by Jude? Whom were the saints Apostle Paul said in Acts 26:10 “did I shut up in prison and gave consent to their death.” Whom were those  Apostle Paul wrote "to the saints at Rome" very well alive and not dead and gone to the beyond. “Now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints” Romans 15:25. Who were the saints Apostle Paul greeted in 1^st Cor 1: 2. There are five more scriptures in the Chapters of 1^st Corinthians which born again Christians (baptized beleivers) are called saints. And in Rom 16:15: “Salute, Philologus, and Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are with them.” If you will do your homework and search out the Scriptures you will find in many of the Apostle Paul letters to the churches; he calls the church members “saints” and his companion in tribulation the Apostle Peter called the saints lively stones, not dead. The Apostle Paul warns the living saints in 1^st Thessalonians 2:11 “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” Beatified, (rhymes with lied) So for me "Canonization" is authorized by the Holy See, a worldly religous man; and  not ordained by the Head and only lawgiver of the church, the bible calls Jesus. 

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"Dead Yard" in Jamaica is not a cemetery?

 

Dead yard in Jamaica is no cemetary  

Published in “Linn County News” a Kansas weekly newspaper

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Brother Jones has been an Old Timey Missionary Baptist for 45 years, & Ordained Minister & Elder 30 years. Missionary in Jamaica 17 years

According to Jamaican culture by William Jackson “Dead yard is a kind of public wake to help the family and the communities come to grips with their grief. Friends, neighbors, and well-wishers come by every night for sound system music, dominoes, drink, smoke, and food; and they stay, very late into the night. The night before the funeral is the biggest dead yard celebration. Everybody shows up -- even all the taxi drivers who ply the road to town.”

Mr. Dixon an Anglican member and neighborly farmer dropped by the church to greet me with a hearty Jamaican “Wha’goin’ which in Standard English in Jamaica means “how is it going with you.” Upon leaving Mr. Dixon informs me he is on his way to the dead yard and walks down the hill saying the traditional patois valediction ‘a likka-more’ ( I will see you later). Then I realized he was speaking of the home of the deceased and not a cemetery. It is true at the dead yard there is a weeklong merriment and much time is spent drinking & singing in jubilation.

I have preached several thanksgiving services (funerals) in Jamaica hundreds attend men and women from different walks of life & religious practices that come to honor the life of the deceased. I’m supposed to calmly give a homily (a quiet sermon) but I like what the Apostle Paul said about preaching in 1Co 2:4 “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom; but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” They honor the life of the deceased, and the Holy Ghost gives me the increase; then I preach unto them Jesus.

It is traditional at the graveyard before the casket is placed into the concrete tomb to open it for viewing one last time before it is interred. Gospel hymns are sung for an hour while the mason seals up the tomb and prayer commits the body to its final resting place.

I can remember as a kid something similar in my Kansas home the family did. When my Great-Uncle Charlie Manning died; grandma’s parlor became the dead room and my father and others sat up with his corpse around the clock. Many dropped in, family and friends, to bring food and pay respects to grandmother dear trying to be strong and hide her tears. When the day came for the funeral they interred his remains in the family plot. Today, that tradition is all but forgotten; they die today and nearly put away their remains on the morrow. I often ponder when the end-time comes Daniel sums it up best when he said “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” Daniel 12:2.  What will your dead body wake up too? 

Written on the eve of the Lord’s Day January 23 2011

 

 

 

Male Ward Bed Five- "Another must needs go through Jamaica experience"

Revised from Linn County News a Kansas weekly newspaper
Male Ward-Bed 5

I would never compare myself to the Apostle Paul’s infirmities,’ nor dare to measure up to old Job and his attack by the devil. The last fifteen years on the Jamaican mission field I have on occasion expressed to DocMike & my wife Lynn I would never want to spend a night in a Jamaican hospital.

But, I became ill in Jamaica and was admitted into the public hospital in Mandeville. I spent three nights and four days recovering. Bed-five was assigned to me. It had a broken frame (made for a lop-sided bed) and like Bed-two across the ward it would do no good to complain for it remains as is in Jamaica. The crank which raises the head of Bed-five the nurse said: It is broken too!

The bed sheets & pillow for the mattress had to be supplied by the patient. In Jamaica you supply much of the necessities such as; towels, wash-cloths, bathing soap & tub for sponge-bath.  Even a roll of toilet paper should you use the one toilet I recall that was down the hall.  

Nothing but Jamaican men surrounded bed-five some of them barely alive.  A young twenty-something lad was sick exhibiting bad behavior, but not quite as violent as a lunatic. He roamed the hallways ignoring the harsh calls from the nurses to return to his bed; Curiosity  seemed to get the best of him as he rummaged through my personal belongings. He seemed harmless, but I slept with one open, hoping I would not encounter him in the darkness of the night.    

When the IV & medicine restored my strength and I was made aware of my surroundings; the nights were filled with a calendar of daunting noises. I woke to agonizing screams of men in pain; insane cries I wanna die! Howling pleas of Lord help me!  I remember thinking while bed-fast “have I been cast in a supporting role in a classic Alfred Hitchcock thriller.

Notwithstanding, I did find some comfort from my distress. An old gentleman with snowy white hair suffering from dementia moaning in bed-three, suddenly, bellows out praise the Lord “Let’s all sing” leading us in the male ward in “Blessed Assurance Jesus is mine! O’ what a foretaste of glory divine! I joined in with a grin and then quietly his mind slips back in time to his childhood days.   

In spite of my surroundings I cannot complain about the nurses or the doctors; they were all professional, knowledgeable, very gracious, genuinely concerned about my welfare and with prayers I received exceptional care on the male ward bed-five in the Mandeville Public Hospital.

When I checked out of the hospital to my surprise I learned I had no bill; nil (you owe nothing) replied the hospital billing clerk. 

However, my only regret, if I was a millionaire I would buy a new frame for Bed-five and a wheel-chair for the Male Ward.