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The Awful Truth About What Mary Knew

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     If you have known me for any length of time you probably know that I have a particular distaste / hatred / loathing for that awful song “Mary Did You know?”    Some would say I have an unnatural obsession and personal vendetta, but I prefer to see it as righteous anger.   The song is more dangerous than a heavy metal recording with overtly Satanic lyrics because its lyrics are heresy (lies and deceptions) presented as a Christmas song – and therefore implicitly Christian.   It is not.    As way of a quick review here is a list of some who knew that Jesus was the Son of God / Messiah (with links):   Joseph , Simeon , Elizabeth and her unborn son John the Baptist , Herod , the wise men , and quite obviously Mary .   I’m only listing those who knew about His Divinity when He was a child since that seems to be the focal point of the song.   I’m sure there are many more who knew of His Divine nature, but I’m just listing those that are the most obvious… like Mary .      So why am I bri
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That Moment You Finally Realize the Chair is Empty

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     It was the fall of 2020 and I was standing at the sink in the men’s room of a church 140 miles from my house.   If you don’t remember the fall of 2020 let me remind you – there were mostly peaceful riots breaking out all over the nation, so taking a 140-mile trip away from my home wasn’t exactly high on my list of things I wanted to do.  I splashed water on my face, looked into the mirror, and laughed about the strangeness of my situation.  I had just driven two and a half hours (through the nation’s most notorious speed trap) to attend a Catholic Mass when by all appearances there was one taking place that Sunday at the church LITERALLY within walking distance of my house.       As I stood there my mind went back to the time that I was at a church function and a deacon led us in prayer before our meal.   In his prayer he decided to reference Exodus 3:5 where God tells Moses to remove his sandals because he’s standing on holy ground.  For some reason, the deacon thought we needed
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Rebranding

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     I started this blog just a week shy of 13 years ago.  The blog was initially intended to document what it's like to live as a Catholic in the Deep South.  Maybe more specifically it was intended to document what it's like for a native Southerner to be a practicing Catholic while surrounded by Protestants.  As my Catholic beliefs have deepened and evolved over the past decade it has become necessary to update not only the name of this blog, but also its stated intent.       Today I am officially rebranding this blog "Everyday Sedevacantism" to match the Facebook page of the same name that I created  few years back ( facebook.com/EverydaySede if you're curious).       Before rebranding I had to remove a few prior posts from this site since they no longer match my belief system.  One particularly embarrassing one where I sang the praises of Karol Jozef Wojtyla comes to mind.   Some call him John Paul the Great.  I no longer call him a pope.  More on that later.
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Doubting Thomas - Why I Won't Allow Films By Tom Hanks In My Home

     A few years back, I believe it was around the end of 2019, I was telling a friend how I don’t understand the appeal of the Polar Express movie and how my kids were driving me crazy playing it over and over again.  The film has always just seemed painfully average to me, and I have never truly understood its popularity.  My friend looked at me and said, “You shouldn’t have movies by Tom Hanks in your house.”       If you’ve known me for a good while you already know that I am not a Hanks fan – not a fan of his films, and not particularly a fan of the man himself.  Much like Garth Brooks, Hanks has always struck me as someone who just oozes false humility.  His aw-shucks, I’m just the guy next store routine has never set well with me.       But if my kids wanted to watch that overrated Polar Express movie, I wasn’t really going to put up a protest.   When it comes to raising kids in a rapidly declining society, a seemingly harmless cartoon didn’t seem like the spot where I should d
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Evangelizing in the Modern Age

“And he said unto them, ‘Go out to the world: proclaim the gospel to all creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.'” – Mark 16:15-16  Even the most nominal and lukewarm Christian has heard the above passage many times, even if he has never stopped to think about what it actually means.  It doesn’t take a biblical scholar or historian, however, to ascertain the meaning of the risen Christ’s words to his apostles.  He is telling them, and by extension us, that we have the solemn responsibility to bring others to God.  Period.  It’s plain and simple.  It’s crystal clear.  It’s black and white.  We HAVE to. And who wouldn’t want to?  If you truly are a Christian and you believe that the only salvation is through belief in Christ, wouldn’t you want to tell those you love how to get there?  Wouldn’t you want to do everything that you possibly can to ensure that your friends and loved ones are not condemned? Evangeliz
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Breaking News: Mary Knew

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On the Sunday after Christmas a few years back I had to drive home after visiting family in North Georgia.  Instead of going to Mass in Atlanta, or trying to find a parish somewhere on the road, we decided to leave early enough on Sunday morning to make it back home in time to attend the afternoon service at our own church. After dragging the kids out of bed and herding everyone into the car we were on the road with a singular goal – make it home in time for the 5:00 pm Mass.  With minimal stops and a shaky adherence to posted speed limits we made it home with time left over to shower and change before Mass. When the worn-out old minivan rolled wearily into the parking lot of the church it would be an understatement to say that I was tired.  I was truly exhausted from the 750 mile trip completed in just over 24 hours with very little sleep.  But I was content and more than a little proud.  Here we were at our local parish fulfilling our Sunday Mass obligation even under trying circ
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Politics and Religion

I haven’t posted to this blog since 2012 – right before the last U.S. presidential election, in fact.  That is not a coincidence.  In the days and weeks leading up to the election I prayed feverishly that voters would elect candidates who would lead the nation in a way that was more in-line with Catholic Christian doctrine.  I didn’t single out specific candidates in my prayers – there was no “please let this guy win, and make that guy lose.”  I simply implored God to inspire American voters to take the steps necessary to stop the downward spiral of morality in our nation.   It didn’t happen. In the weeks following the disastrous 2012 election I was genuinely depressed.  I specifically recall telling a friend that, for the first time in my life, I did not feel God’s presence.  Three years after muttering those words I realize now just how foolish they were.  The absence of God’s presence is the literal definition of Hell.  Was I experiencing the unspeakable horrors of Hell aft
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