Horsing About

Got to the barn this morning to find horses getting a good brush down, which they needed,

then rode about for bit in the fresh air - windy, but sunny with it. Practiced riding without stirrups, good for balance and seat, evidently, and generally carried on in the equine way. Fun.

Barndom over, I took a picture of bucolic utopia and stopped at the oddly named "Karen's Authentic Mexican Food".

Well, I don't know if it is or not, but I like their Bean & Brisket tacos, which always seem to go down well after a bout with the quadrupeds.

So that was the morning - "ride more" objective lived up to - shooting? Not today, sadly, but tomorrow will be a different story, probably involving pistols and AR, along with scouting out set-ups for a night time coyote call.

More on the Book of Revelation later.

God bless,

LSP

Eschaton

Along with the ride and shoot imperative goes a bit of reflection on the Revelation to St. John the Divine. Why? Because apocalypse seemed suitably Lenten and I foolishly told one of the Missions that I'd teach a course on it - something I've never done before. Farrer gives a powerful account; here's an excerpt, on bestial numerics:

"The number of the Beast reveals him as both the instrument of judgement on the wicked and the object of judgement himself. But that is not all. St. John takes up two mathematical properties of the 666. First, 666 is what we should call the recurrent decimal for 2/3. St. John's age did not talk about recurrent decimals, but of course St. John could recognize 666 as two-thirds of that standard quantity, the thousand. Why is Antichrist two-thirds? because the angels of the trumpets (showing the enthronement of pagan power) have destroyed one-third of everything before he begins to reign, and the angels of the vials return with total destruction as he comes to his end. In the interval he reigns over a kingdom of two-thirds."

Farrer goes on to describe 666 as the triangulation of 6 x 6:

"666, therefore, is a 12 fold triangle with a periphery of 30 x 3 1/2. St. John's calculation of the period of the Beast's reign, in days, is 12 (months) x 30 (days) x 3 1/2 (years). The coincidence between this reckoning and the factors of the 666 triangle is no mere accident... the purpose of the artificial reckoning is to exhibit the Beast's fatally limited reign as a function of his number."

There's a lot of mathematics in the Revelation, unfortunately for me, but whoever said life would be easy?

Speaking of maths, my Revelation class added up the number of horses that were collectively owned by the people in the room and came up with 21 beasts. A decent little force multiplier if things get all eschaton and we have to leave the Union of the False Prophet.

God bless Texas.

LSP

Shoot More, Ride More

You'll have to forgive the recent lack of posting but I've been busy, not least with self-examination, which is a Lenten discipline leading to penitence, confession and amendment of life. With that in mind, several things have become very clear after Ash Wednesday, including:

Shoot more

Ride more

So I've been doing both and think it's time to up the ante on the former with a night-time coyote call - there's been plenty of paper punching lately but precious little hunting and it's time to put the AR to practical use. Viz. horses; it's all very well to spend a couple of hours a week on the quadruped, but how are you ever going to really advance on the basis of such minimal acquaintance? A bit like someone wondering why they don't get very far spiritually when all they do is spend an hour and a half in church on Sunday.

Speaking of church - today's Gospel was St. Luke's variant of Our Lord's temptation in the wilderness. Different than Mathew's because the mountain temptation is placed in the middle of the narrative.

With that in mind, it struck me last night that what Luke portrays is an inverse, or diabolic mirror image, of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai - successfully resisted by Christ, who refers "Old Scratch" to the "first and great commandment" (gotta love the old Prayer Book), by way of Deuteronomy.

If any theologians would like to comment, well, I'd welcome the thought.

Have a blessed Lent.

LSP

Ash Wednesday

They say that the word Lent comes from the old English for Spring, and it was like that here today after such unseasonably cold weather. Regardless, I always find Ash Wednesday has a bleakness about it, "Remember O man that thou art dust"... But whoever said a penitential season was supposed to be fun.

Still, a parishioner lent me a red-dot optic (Aimpoint copy) for the carbine - well done that man, and the missions seem to be pulling together in a good sort of way. Quite unlike NASA's climatologists, who appear to be little better than a "Kantian fact factory in full swing." Then there's the Arlington Pipebombers that got busted before they could strike a blow for the jihad, or mental instability, or both.

Horses tomorrow and perhaps a shoot - might be interesting to check out the new scope.

Have a blessed Ash Wednesday and a holy Lent.

LSP

Shoot the Snow

It began to snow, which prompted the question,

"What you gonna do LSP, shoot the snow?"

Resisting temptation to put rounds down range, I got on the highway,

and drove to Dallas, which had a record 12" of the "white offender".

Remarkable weather for Texas and caused, evidently, by "warming". Last year, when it was colder, we were having BBQs on the back lawn. Well, its hotter now, so we can't.

Have fun in the snow.

LSP

A Sign

Some people might say that the above sign is a piece of gun-toting redneck badness. Others might think it greatness. I incline towards the latter.

Thanks, Tom, for the image.

Appointment with horse cancelled due to sleet (for goodness sake), so its back to the Book of Revelation and Austin Farrer. Farrer is genius and, to my mind, the greatest Anglican theologian of the twentieth century - there were several good ones back then.

If the sleet stops might venture out for a shoot.

Cheers,

LSP

Apocalypse

I've been hearing rumours for months, from friends who seem to know about money, that we should expect something nasty on the financial front. I was a bit skeptical, to be honest, but this latest from the Wall Street Journal's Marketwatch seems more than a little scary. Here's an excerpt:

"The Big One is coming soon, bigger than the 2000 dot-com crash and the 2008 subprime credit meltdowncombined. A huge market blowout. And as Bloomberg-BusinessWeek predicts: "The results won't be pretty for investors or elected officials."

After the global-debt bomb explodes don't expect a typical bear correction followed by a new bull. Wall Street's toxic pseudo-capitalism is imploding. Be prepared for a massive meltdown. Yes, already the third major bubble-bust of the 21st century, triggered once again by Wall Street's out-of-control Fat Cat Bankers. And it's dead ahead.

Can your family survive in the anarchy after the debt bomb explodes?

America's already descending into economic anarchy. We're all trapped in a historic economic supercycle, a turning point that must bleed through a no-man's land of lawless self-destructive anarchy before a neo-capitalistic world can re-emerge."

I'd say that wasn't very encouraging. Off to study The revelation to St. John the Divine as interpreted by Austin Farrer - Rebirth of Images, well worth the read.

Stockpile ammo and food,

LSP

Gene Robinson - Mind Like A Steel Trap!

Surely that's not an Adams Apple?

The vocal champion of the variously gendered, Bishop "Vicky" Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, has been at it again. According to him, St. Paul's admonitions against homosexuality were really written against heterosexuals having homosexual sex, not against real homosexuals having homosexual sex. Gene thinks the latter is great but doesn't like the former, which he reckons is pretty perverted. Speaking to CNSNews.com, the pelosian pontiff stated:

“We have to understand that the notion of a homosexual sexual orientation is a notion that’s only about 125 years old... That is to say, St. Paul was talking about people that he understood to be heterosexual engaging in same-sex acts... It never occurred to anyone in ancient times that a certain minority of us would be born being affectionally oriented to people of the same sex... So it did seem like against their nature to be doing so.”

Here's what St. Paul says, Romans 1:26-27:

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet."

Presumably the Archdruid of Canterbury is busy apologizing for the Apostle at the fudge factory that is the General Synod; see the excellent All Seeing Eye for commentary. Myself? I find Gene's gay logic remarkable, and If you want a discussion of the arguments from a trad perspective, check out Robert Gagnon's site.

I tell you, it's enough to make me reach for m'gun(s) - but more of that anon.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Dog Hell

I thought I'd have a pleasant, relaxing ride on the horse, but no. It was Dog Hell. Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, but Stella was a bridge too far. Well, she got a shake up and quietened down - not before time. The question is, if animals can go to heaven, can they go to hell?

Had a good equine encounter after the Dog War went cold - must concentrate thoughts on Coyote Call(ing) & getting a .308.

Here's Bishop Wantland, a shooter and all 'round good man. Favors Charles Martel, as do I. Just say no to dhimmitude.

Gun Rights,

LSP

Anglican Church of Canada Hurtles into Space!

ACoC H/T BBCW

The Hubble Telescope has captured striking new images of a remarkable object in the night sky - the diminutive Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) hurtling into deep space.

ACoC's tiny 140 meter nucleus is unusual for being "off center" and unlike larger, more powerful ecclesial bodies, this one has "no gas in its tail", say sources studying the phenomenon.

A top scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, believes the object is debris left over from a collision with the normative teaching authority of the Church, stating, "The collision likely occurred at over 15,000 kilometres per hour, five times the speed of a rifle bullet, and liberated energy in excess of a nuclear bomb."

Since 2000, ACoC has shrunk from a little over 650,000 attendees in 2000 to around 325,000 in 2010, a loss of over 20,000 people annually. Pundits predict that no-one will be left by mid-century if ACoC continues on its current trajectory between Mars and Juppiter.

Astronaut

ACoC was spotted 90 million miles away from earth.

Archbishop Hiltz was unavailable for comment.

To the Stars!

LSP

Candlemas

Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Happy Candlemas to all - in the 'old' rite purple was used for the distribution of candles and procession, emphasizing the penitential aspect of Simeon's prophecy to Our Lady, that a "sword shall pierce through your own soul also". During the Mass itself, vestments of the Sacred Ministers and Altar change to white, which is dramatic if done well. Well, I like it and so do others as the liturgical ravages of the Woodstock generation are gradually rewound and old becomes new again.

Distribution of candles - new rite

Speaking of church, its interesting to note that Blues drummer, John Chane, Bishop of Washington D.C., has announced he'll retire in 2011. He succeeded Jane "Holmes" Dixon; I won't comment but I'll leave you with a picture.

Kappa Interfaith Alliance

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.

Gun rights,

LSP

Don't Be Shallow, Read Aquinas.

Dawkins

I know this blog's been a frivolous mix of aliens, guns, boots and horses recently, so here's a bit on St. Thomas Aquinas to even things out. It's from the Chicago Daily Observer and argues against the widespread notion that God is a superstitious idea that's been explained away by 'science'. I've never understood how physics, chemistry and assorted technics could disprove a necessary being, and it seems strange to me that Dawkins & Co. would get so worked up about something they see as so absurd. Surely they're not threatened in any way? Regardless, I think Fr. Barron's take on Thomas is good:

"Secondly, Thomas knew that the Creator God of the Bible is the only finally satisfying explanation for the existence of the contingent things of the world. He was deeply impressed by the actual existence of those things that do not contain within themselves the reason for their being. Clouds, trees, plants, animals, human beings, buildings, planets, and stars certainly exist, but they don’t have to exist. This means, he saw, that their being is not self-explanatory, that it depends, finally, on some primordial reality which does exist through the power of its own essence. This “necessary” being is what Thomas called “God.” He was moved by the correspondence between this philosophical sense of God and the self-designation that God gives in Exodus 3:14: “I am who I am.” How significant this is in our time when “new” atheists have raised their voices to dismiss belief in God as a holdover from a pre-scientific time. Thomas would remind the Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins of the world that no scientific advance could ever, even in principle, eliminate the properly metaphysical question to which God is the only satisfying answer. God is not a superstitious projection of human need; rather, God is the reason why there is something rather than nothing.

Thirdly, Thomas Aquinas was a deep humanist, precisely because he was a Christian. He saw that since God became human in Christ, the destiny of the human being is divinization, participation in the inner life of God. No other religion or philosophy or social theory has ever held out so exalted a sense of human dignity and purpose. And this is why, Aquinas intuited, there is something inviolable about the human person. How indispensably important that teaching is in our era of stem-cell research, euthanasia, legalized abortion, and pre-emptive war, practices that turn persons into means." You can read the whole thing here.

"How indispensably important..." well said, Barron.

Just heard that one of my old friends from England has been made a Bishop. Quite remarkable.

God bless,

LSP