The very fact that the brutal Hamas attack occurred on October 7, 2023—Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary-Luan Ribeiro From heaven Our Lady gives us the answer-The Rosary is the weapon for these times-Padre Pio
Nobody expects Israel to lose. And yet it’s quite possible that they do lose. If only the government of Israel could hear the voice of God. “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee.”
A very good video and he makes a central point which has been made by several others, including DeGaulle, on the forum, that the New Israel is the Catholic Church. I do hate to contradict his Emminence but at 8:43 he says you never see in the Old Testament something called "The kingdom of Israel", "you don't". As far as I am aware, that is precisely what you find! You find that the 12 tribes of the Israel split into 2 separate but related kingdoms each with their own kings. They even went to war against each other at a time. The 10 tribes in the northern region, whose capital was Samaria, were called the kingdom of Israel. The 2 tribes in the south (Judah and Benjamin), whose capital was Jesusalem, were called the kingdom of Judah. Both dynastys sinned against YHWH (The Lord / Hamesh) but that of Judah was immeasureably better than Israel - their kings were on the whole more faithful to the Lord. And only one of the dynasties was promised by God to be an everlasting one - i.e., the Kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were conquered and exiled; Israel was conquered by the king of Assyria and exiled in Assyria, never to return again. The king of Assyria made sure to settle 5 other nations into the nothern kindom of Israel, so that any who managed to remain or make their way back to Samaria would never again be able to reconstitute their culture and religion based on worshipping YHWH. Hence, the Samarian woman who met Jesus at the well in Chapter 4 of John's Gospel was told by Jesus that she had 5 husbands. The kingdom of Judah on the other hand was conquered a bit later by the Babylonians (king Nebuchadnezzar) and exiled to Babylon. However, they repented massively while in exile and even prayed for their captors (read the Book of Baruch). When the Babylonians were in turn conquered by the Persians (Iran), God relented and touched the heart of king Syrus to let the Jews go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. The Lord prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah, The Lord Jesus, and the body of Christ became the New Israel, The Catholic Church, which now awaits the Second Coming (Parousia), and the New Heaven and the New Earth. The old kingdom of Israel is long gone. The worldly attempts to reconstruct it (i.e., the nation state of Israel) have no legitimacy in the Divine realm, and when looked at from this Biblical frame of reference it becomes easy to see this truth.
Numbers 24:9 9 The nation is like a mighty lion; When it is sleeping, no one dares wake it. Whoever blesses Israel will be blessed, And whoever curses Israel will be cursed.”
Just a minor correction - I mistakenly said Sennacherib was a Babylonian. Actually, he was the king of Assyria. While the Assyrians conquered the northern 'kindom of Israel', Sennacherib, however, also conquered many of the fortified towns of Judah. However, he did not succeed in completely subdueing Judah and he was unable to take the capital Jerusalem. King Hezekiah, king of Judah refused to surrender and prevented him from doing so. I think it is interesting that God split off the kingdom of Judah from the northern kindom which retained the name of Israel. Also, only the kindom of Judah from which Jesus, the Lion of Judah came, was preserved as the everlasting one from which the New Israel was to spring. However, the period of the two kingdoms in the Old Testament can be confusing at times because, while the northern kingdom was known as 'Israel', at times the southern one of Judah is referred to as Israel too. This is because they are both descendants of Jacob who was renamed by God after the struggle with Him at the ford of Jabok to 'Israel'. But it is beyond doubt that the northern kindom was referred to as 'Israel', while the southern one was 'Judah'. I would be interested to know the answer to the following question: Is it possible that two Covenants are in operation, side by side with each other? In other words, 1. the New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus Christ which was given to the Catholic Church, the New Israel, and 2. the Old Covenant given to Abraham and his descendents? Roy Schoeman has argued I think, based on the writings of Pope Benedict XVI, that such a covenant still operates for those of the Jewish faith. I am not theologically literate enough to answer this question but I once asked a priest this question and he said that St. Paul says in the Gospel that God never revokes his Covenants, suggesting that the two Covenants are in operation simultaneously. However he did not elaborate further. However, the Biblical history I have outlined does give one a rationale for believing that the Old Covenant is in abeyance just as the Old Israel was scattered by the Assyrians, whereas the New Covenant is for the New Israel which is the Body of Christ, Corpus Christi.
God made a covenant with Abraham, and another covenant on the cross that made us children of Abraham. He called the Jews first. Notice that Christ said to the Canaanite woman whether it was right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. The humble response of the woman, saying that even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table, deeply impressed our Lord because of her humility. Basically, this means we should not reject the role of the ancient Jews in the history of salvation, but rather humbly and contritely plead to be made beneficiaries of the old covenant as children of Abraham—and, in a more glorious sense, of the new covenant that our Lord established with His own blood. And from the moment all peoples are called, they stand on equal footing. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I assure you I won’t be upset. Matthew 15:22–28 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
I believe that, in one particular aspect—that of being an intermediary covenant of salvation—Israel no longer has any role. God took that prerogative away from Israel and gave it to a pagan people to provoke their jealousy until the day they convert and once again become the center of our faith. Notice that He chose precisely the people the Jews hated most at that time and saw as a symbol of their oppression. Many Jews try to attack our faith by claiming that the Messiah of Nazareth is a Roman invention. When they make this accusation, they are essentially saying that our faith is Roman in essence—just as we read in the testimony of some Church Fathers that Christians were accused of cannibalism, which, in fact, confirms that they believed in transubstantiation. Sometimes, the testimony of your enemy is worth more than a thousand words. Saint Paul told the Christian community in Rome that their faith was being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Notice that the two peoples who condemned our Lord to death and stood side by side at the crucifixion represent the two pillars of our salvation: the old covenant of circumcision and the new covenant of baptism. Yet Christ asked the Father to forgive His executioners, represented by those two peoples—something that would unfold throughout history in the roles both would play in our salvation. In the case of the Jews, this will happen at the end of time, when God grafts them in once again.
Part of the Brazilian media is saying that the United States has entered the war against Iran. I’d like to know whether it did so officially, or if they’re just anticipating possible consequences of the attack.
From all accounts, Trump signed on to do the missile strikes on three Iranian nuclear plants without running the idea past congress. So, yes, I think the US is officially in World War III, and, being an American, I am furious at the country's leaders tonight, and I am worried that with Russia and China on Iran's side, that not just major American cities will be bombed, but also the small towns too, such as the one I live in. So many Americans didn't want this war.
I had such high hopes for Trump too. I'm so disappointed. There really is no earthly power coming to save us..
