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Byzantine and Gregorian Chant

   Byzantine and Gregorian Chant are ancient church forms of worshiping, cantoring, and singing the Scriptures. For most people their encounter this kind of music is video games as in The Temple of Time in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the Halo Video Games Theme and The Maw opening. That was were I first heard Gregorian Chant, and I found it made my soul soar. Only later in Music Composition and Appreciation did I know it had a name, and did I begin my journey to discovering a music steeped in tradition of the Church. Byzantine Chant is older, in fact, some traditions go back close to the time of the Apostles! The Jerusalem Cantors in particular have an ancient style. Byzantine tends to differ in its monophonic sound, in that one of cantors is constant, like the Bass in a band, continuing to sing a key, while the other cantors join in singing the chorus. Gregorian tends to differ in that it has multiple cantors singing the chorus, and there is a instrument in background like
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Joan of Arc: The Holy Maid

Joan of Arc has long been a fascinating of mine. If you check, my first blog post was about the Saint who saved France. What is it about the Holy Maid that captivates us? She captures the imagination of Catholics, Protestants, and even Atheists like George Bernard Shaw who wrote a play about her and Mark Twain who wrote a book about her. How does this Dame (female Knight) from Domrémy deeply connect with so many people of varying backgrounds and even faiths? I believe the answer is suffering. Joan of Arc shares a tragic fate that The Knights Templar did, that Martin Luther did, and that even Jesus Christ did. All of them have in common mock trials, where they were imprisoned, and those trying them had the intent to destroy them. What makes Joan stand out is she was a woman. And not just any woman, a woman that had lead forces of Dauphin to victory and even gotten him crowned, who had saved France from becoming New Burgundy and New England. And most of all, she did this dressed as a man
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The Cult of Happiness: How Humanism's Self Realization Hijacked The Church

  Leonard Ravenhill once said, "the tragedy of today is that the Church is pursing happiness not holiness." We are seeing a pandemic of unholiness in the Church, as more sexual scandals break out and leadership covering it up. We keep asking why? Why are innocents being preyed upon. All the usual tropes are brought up, "wolves in sheeps clothing," (Matthew 7:15) and that Jesus said, "everything that is hidden will be exposed." (Luke 8:17). Those are true, but we are reaching a point in the Church were all credibility is getting lost and it maybe beyond saving. The Gospel and Jesus Christ our Lord will not pass away, but the church may and one of the cornerstone problems with the church in the West is an obsession with Happiness. In the Age of Reason, an ungodly fusion was made between Christianity and Humanism, an idea that one could satisfy both the Kingdom of Heaven and yourself, even though Jesus said, "deny yourself and pick up your cross." (
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Fraiser Season 2 (2024)

   I mentioned in my review of Season 1 of the Fraiser Revival, that I loved it and have been a long time fan. I have been keeping up with Dr. Crane since Cheers, and I must say this new series where Fraiser and Freddy bond has made me laugh more than the classic Fraiser series! Season Two has caught me by suprise with the antics and the moments. In the Murder Mystery episode, when Fraiser says in character of the party, "I am an expert in diseases, all of which I have contracted," the look on Kelsey Grammer's face, so deadpan and the tone he uses made me laugh so hard, I almost broke some ribs. The Season Finale did not disappoint and for us Christians had some epic stuff! In the Christmas Finale, Fraiser is going to host one of his infamous Xmas parties, perhaps you remember the one when Cam Winston outshines him by having his Christmas be 2000, that being his apartment number and millennium they were about to enter. Well I say this Xmas episode bests it and some of my
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57 Seconds Movie Review

   I am thrilled how Science Fiction films are touching on why we should not mess with things God made. In 57 Seconds, Fraklin Fox, played by Josh Hutcherson who you will recognize for his role as Peeta in The Hunger Games, is at a Health Tech Expo, where he finds this tech ring, he soon finds out that the ring allows him to a la Prince of Persia, turn back time 57 Seconds, and undo a mistake. The concept has been done before, I mentioned Prince of Persia, and in Galaxy Quest is the Omega Thirteen, but what 57 Seconds does different is that this time travel ability not only is used by a somewhat altruistic person, at the end of the story he decides to destroy it, that we should not have the power to manipulate time, that even 57 seconds can cause problems, as Franklin Fox learns when his Fiancee freaks out thinking he used the ring to keep rewinding time to find out all the things to please her and groom her for romance. Rarely does a science fiction brooch a topic with such questions
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The Coming Golden Age

   Dr. David Jeremiah has begun plugging his new book called "The Coming Golden Age." In the advertisement he claims that when Jesus Returns we will get to reign with him in Millennium, that is not true, only the beheaded in Christ get to reign then, " I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years " (Revelation 20:4). He then paraphrases the verse, "there will be no more pain, and death will happen only seldomly," that is not what the Scripture says, it does not say death happens only seldomly, it says, "He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past a
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Furries, 4B Movement, and Persecution Oh My!

      I have been talking about the exstinction of mankind, that we are rushing towards it with abortion, pornography, love bots, and declining birth rates around the world. There are some more pieces of the puzzle, growing from a movement in Korea is the 4B Movement where women and girls are urged to not marry and have children. In the United States influencers have joined it as protest of the Election, but I want to focus solely on ramifications of this movement in the extinction of our species. A great deal of science fiction is dedicated to that some exterior force will come and destroy us, that humans will be wiped out by aliens. In reality we are doing a grand job without the need to have such a force come against us.  The front line for the extinction process is no doubt the internet. People are allowing themselves to be swayed by strangers without credible sources. It is known that in Communist China, one book and how it was interpreted lead to so many millions of deaths. In th
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