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Shroud of Turin Goes On Display For the First Time In A Decade

The Shroud of Turin went on public display Saturday for the first time in 10 years, drawing long lines of people to see the linen some believe is Christ's burial cloth and others dismiss as a medieval fake.


TURIN, Italy —
The Shroud of Turin went on public display Saturday for the first time in 10 years. The display is drawing long lines of people waiting to view the sacred linen that some believe is Jesus Christ's burial cloth and others dismiss as a medieval fake.

Turin Cardinal Severino Poletto led the opening ceremony in Turin's cathedral. He referred to the debate over the shroud's authenticity, saying it was "not up to the church but for science to decide."

By late Friday, 1.5 million people had reserved their three-to-five-minute chance to gaze at the cloth, which is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. Viewing continues through May 23, 2010.

Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to fly to Turin, in northwest Italy, on May 2nd to pray before the shroud.

It is the first time the 14-foot-long, 3.5-foot-wide (4.3-meter-long, 1 meter-wide) has gone on public display since a special showing in 2000 during Millennium celebrations.

The Vatican has tiptoed around the issue of just what the cloth is, calling it a powerful symbol of Christ's suffering while making no claim to its authenticity.

A Vatican researcher said late last year that faint writing on the linen, which she studied through computer-enhanced images, proves the cloth was used to wrap Jesus' body after his crucifixion.

But experts stand by carbon-dating of scraps of the cloth that determine the linen was made in the 13th or 14th century in a kind of medieval forgery. That testing didn't explain how the image on the shroud - of a man with wounds similar to those suffered by Christ - was formed.

However, some have suggested the dating results might have been skewed by contamination and called for a larger sample to be analyzed.

To this day, despite our scientific advancements, no one has been able to explain the mysterious image on the cloth. To true believers, no explanation is necessary and to nonbelievers, no explanation will be sufficient

The Vatican Investigates Sightings of the Virgin Mary

The Vatican has announced on Wednesday that they are currently investigating the sightings of the Virgin Mary that took place in 1981. Apparititions of the Virgin Mother have been reported at the Medjugorje shrine in southern Bosnia and were witnessed by six children on a regular basis.

For those of you who do not recall this particular incident, let me refresh your memories. On June 24,1981, children Ivanka Ivanković, Mirjana Dragičević, Ivan Dragičević, Ivan Ivanković, Milka Pavlović and Vicka Ivanković collectively known as the Medjugorje came forth to announce that they had witnessed theVirgin Mary with baby Jesus on the "Hill of Appari­tions." The next day, the apparition appeared before them again. Milka Pavlović and Ivan Ivanković did not see the Virgin Mother, but two other children, Marija Pavlović and Jakov Čolo, did see Her.


On the third day, June 26th 1981, all of the children again saw Her on the "Hill of Apparitions". Afterwards, the Virgin Mary appeared later that same day to Marija Pavlović. In her vision of the Virgin Mary, she is described as standing in front of a large cross. TheVirgin Mother pointed to it with Her hands and spoke onto the child with great sadness:


"PEACE, PEACE, PEACE, AND ONLY PEACE! PEACE MUST BEGIN TO REIGN BETWEEN GOD AND MAN AND BETWEEN MEN".


On that spot on what is now known as the Hill of Apparitions, a large wooden cross was erected to commemorate these visions.
The Virgin Mary is said to still apear before these seers. To this day, Marija, Vicka and Ivan still have daily apparitions. Mirjana, Ivanka and Jakov only see Her once a year.


Since 1981, the authenticity of the Medjugorje sightings have been disputed and the shrine is not formally approved by the Vatican or the local diocese.
Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini who was a top adviser to the late Pope John Paul II is leading an International inquiry comission. This commission will study the incident and report their findings to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

At the conclusion of this inquiry, it is possible that the Medjugorje apparition may join the ranks of Fatima in Portugal and Lourdes in France.

The lack of official recognition hasn't stopped the believers from visiting the village. In fact, more than 30 million people have made their pilgramage to the Medjugorje shrine since 1981. Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, who visited over the New Years holiday, sparked controversy since official church pilgrimages to Medjugorje are barred.

Cardinal Schoenborn emphasized that he visited the shrine in a private capacity. But does however admit that he celebrated Mass there, met with the visionaries, and granted several interviews afterward in which he called for Medjugorje pilgrims to receive the pastoral care — both physical and spiritual — that they would need there.
He also called the shrine a tree that "bore many fruits," in terms of vocations, conversions and rediscovery of faith.

His comments prompted the local Bishop of Mostar, Monsignor Ratko Peric, to write him a letter Jan. 2nd 2010, sharply criticizing his visit and stressing that his presence there was by no means a formal recognition of the apparitions. The local church has cast doubt on the claims, in part because one of the visionaries says the apparitions have continued monthly for over a quarter century.

Schoenborn met with the Pope on Jan. 15 2010 and wrote to Bishop Peric, "if you have the impression that my pilgrimage to Medjugorje did a disservice to peace. Rest assured this was not my intention."


Schoenborn is close to Pope Benedict XVI, and the decision to launch an official investigation into Medjugorje could be read as the pontiff's response to suggestions by the Vienna archbishop.

The current Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, wrote in 1996 that official pilgrimages to Medjugorje weren't to be organized at parish or diocesan levels since bishops from the former Yugoslavia had affirmed in 1991 that there was no way to confirm that "supernatural apparitions and revelations" had taken place.

The Roff Home, where the past lives on

This is an article about the most well documented case of spirit possession. The girl at the center of this amazing story, Lurancy Vennum became known as the Watseka Wonder.


The Roff Home, where the past lives on
Sunday, May 16, 2010

By Rev. Sinthyia Darkness

Not many people have heard of the small town in Iroquois County Illinois, known as Watseka; population 5,670. However, something very strange happened there in an old brick mansion in the summer of 1877.... Read more »

Rev. Sinthyia's Message in Response to The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill

Since the disaster has now reached catastrophic proportions, I have heard from many who are aiding in the rescue of our threatened wildlife. My heart is lifted and my faith in mankind is renewed. Thank you all for caring about our birds, fish and turtles and about what will become of us. They are going to need a lot of help and we owe it to them to help them. What will become of us, when this has the domino effect? I worry about those of us, myself included who have breathing problems already and what the poison gas could do. I worry about the future of our children and grandchildren. What kind of a sorry legacy will we hand down to them? Will we be able to look these children in the eye and say, we failed you? We failed our civilization? Doubtful. That would be too honest. More than likely we will still be pointing the finger of blame or making excuses. I am lost for words when I reflect on the destruction man has caused mother earth. She is crying out in pain. When will the greedy ones listen? Maybe it takes something like this to happen before they wake up. Hopefully, its not too late.

Back in the mid 90's I had a dream. At least I thought it was a dream. I have spoken about this to close friends but never publiclly. Perhaps that is my fault. In my dream, that was so vivid..all of my senses were involved. I was outside...somewhere. There were a few people there with me. There was smoke pouring out of the ground. I saw no houses, just tents. A man said, that's it. the ground is ruined. Its poisoned. Nothing will ever grow here. All is lost. And the sky opened up, a beam of light shone down and God appeared. I was terrified. This was like no other fear that I have ever felt and it is impossible for me to describe. I said to this vision, if I am seeing you, then I must be dead. God said to me, "I am not the symbol of death, but the symbol of life." It was back in the 90's that God wanted me to tell people that he sees the pain and suffering and that he is coming. I am crying as I write this because I am taken back to that dream. Am I saying that I saw God? No. But I do believe its possible that I received a message from the spirit word. At that time, I was afraid to speak out about this dream. I thought I would be ridiculed for my religious belief so I went years before I started telling others about that dream.

Now with these events, I wonder if I shouldn't have been warning people while I had the chance to spread that message. Could I have changed anything? I will never know. But I did keep my promise to God and became a minister. I hope that somehow the deeds that I do now, will make up for the years I spent in silence. I learned a lesson. Lets hope the rest of the world does too.

Domestic Violence Victims Losing Custody To Abusers

This is one of our ministry's main concerns. There is a global pandemic of domestic violence victims losing custody of their children to their abusers. Recommended viewing to understand the magnitude of this problem is a groundbreaking documentary called "Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories." Breakng the Silence was produced by Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur, with a grant from the Mary Kay Ash Foundation. The following video is the full documentary. Please spread the word about this unjustice in our family court system.

Do Ghost Hunters Do More Harm Than Good?

By Rev. Sinthyia Darkness

The ghost hunting craze arose from the spiritualist movement, credited to the Fox sisters. Ghost hunting groups employ the use of electronic devices to capture scientific evidence of paranormal activity. Despite these scientific methods, there is no scientifically proven or testable results. Most groups call for a standard protocol but this would be counter-intuitive. In the pursuit of truth, opinions and methods must be varied. The problem lies within these groups themselves, many inspired by paranormal reality television shows such as Ghost Hunters (TAPS), Most Haunted and Paranormal State. Just because a group shows up with expensive gadgets does not make them knowledgeable about the spirit realm. There is a flaw in using such devises for that other than which they were designed and offering it as scientific evidence of paranormal activity.

There is no evidence at this point that high electromagnetic readings equate to paranormal activity. A ghost by its very nature, cannot be electromagnetic, because this would require physical mass. While there are many hypotheses that ghosts are residual energy, they do require an energy source as a conduit to manifest. However, the use of electromagnetic field recording devices can certainly be used to debunk some accounts of alleged paranormal activity. This science or more accurately, pseudoscience is constantly evolving. New discoveries are being made and long held beliefs are being challenged.

While most ghost hunting groups deny this to ease potential clients, it is possible that those lacking experience and true understanding of spirits can cause an increase in paranormal activity. It is possible to open portals to the other side, through which malevolent spirits can and do enter our realm-these include demonic entities. Now ironically what you will read on many of these websites, are warnings that the "average Joe" living in the residence should not attempt to contact the spirit themselves. True that dealing with spirits is serious business. These persons pose no more of a threat than the majority of these "ghost hunters." Furthermore, each of us does have the ability to communicate with spirits. What is not being disclosed on some of these websites is that these individuals may be no more than average Joes themselves who decided to get into the ghost hunting business. If your goal is to persuade the spirits to move on, this is particularly dangerous if left in the wrong hands. I have been witness to some investigators provoking the spirits and angering them. My ministry has been called to many locations after paranormal investigation teams have left. Not only is there a need to quell the activity or in some cases exorcize the entities but also there is the need to provide spiritual counseling.

Some individuals involved in paranormal investigation insist that scientists have no business being involved in the field. I believe that all are entitled to their opinions and theories in the pursuit of truth.

However, if you take a good look at the actual credentials and formal training of the individuals operating such ghost hunting groups, you will notice there is very little formal education. How many of them have formal training in psychology? How many are ordained ministers? Know that there is no United States college or University that offers a parapsychology degree. "Certification" is about as valuable as the piece of paper that its written on and does not make a recipient any more knowledgeable than the next person. Some of these groups are well intentioned, while others are only out to cash in on our society's current interest in all things paranormal.