In 2020 Father Mike Schmitz read the entire Bible in a podcast called The Bible in a year. It’s on YouTube and Spotify etc. Psalm 23 is poetry and there’s more, so much more poetic language in the Bible! I love this idea you’ve proposed, Jon.
Fr Mike Schmitz is a charismatic, high energy & popular figure in the Vatican II church, which is a counterfeit creation. It began with the overthrow of a rightfully elected pope by means of threat in 1958. The evidence is at whitesmoke1958.com
Theological reasons why the church under John XXIII (1958-63) thru Francis can't be the true Catholic Church can be seen at novusordowatch.org.
The enemy colonizers of the Vatican even hijacked the Message of our Lady of Fatima, very important for our time, after "disappearing" the Fatima visionary Sr Lucia, as sisterlucytruth.org proves, although it is also obvious to the naked eye that an impostor was put in, first appearing in public in 1967.
So much more could be said, but that should be sufficient to show that we have been in the long prophesied time of the "Great Apostasy" & what Our Lady of La Salette in 1846 foretold as the "eclipse" of the Church for many years now.
I agree. And the only reason a Church Council can be a disaster is if it's a false council, as Church history reveals. Besides the links I provided, here are a couple 2 page articles packed with more little known info: catholicapedia.net/Documents/Chiesa_viva/Chiesa_viva_486_en-_FINAL.pdf
your writing truly resonated today;; sharing this from page 46 of memoir in progress. Cheerio;When did her need for books begin? When she was very young her father initiated a subscription to a monthly book club intended to facilitate the mental development of his progeny. As Sage was the first offspring her mind was the first to be shaped.
Every month a hardcover book, chosen by the dominant parent, would arrive. The Man in the Iron Mask haunts her still. At the age of eight, when children might snuggle with a story by Beatrix Potter, Sage was handed a heavy un-illustrated book filled with too many words. To her young self the book was hateful. Her little girl self would sit with the book spread open before her face pretending to silently read. So how did she eventually become a reader?
Bibliophilism began when the book mobile visited the school play ground. The Book mobile offered books bursting with talking animals, wise trees, and warm-hearted humans. Sage’s imagination climbed into oversized books especially composed for youngsters.
Insistent words arrived through the key board as Sage’s fingers typed.
In 1964, the fourth grade teacher at Stinson Street School assured her students that, ‘Books Are Your Friends.’ Mrs Stewart also taught her nine year old students to recite, from memory, Psalm 23 The Lord Is My Shepherd.
Sage closed her eyes.
My cup runeth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
Sage suggested a homeopathic prescription and those words as a daily mantra to her next patient.
“Create new habits. See yourself as a beloved event in the cosmos. In the midst of your struggle imagine comfort and safety. Think of a mantra that is comforting for you. Such as, ‘goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’. ”
Mrs Stewart, the grade four teacher had determinedly planted spirited words within nine year old minds.
Renee - you just described my own mother, God rest her soul. The Bookmobile was a huge part of my young life. In high school, I would be compensated for some chores with a trip to the local bookstore to select the hardcover of my choice. Today my bedside stack is enormous. I prefer the real deal over Kindle. Aside from Substack which I love, I am doing a deep-dive on C. S. Lewis.
And yes Jon, Psalm 23 is a masterpiece! It is a necessary pathway to my own faith, again a gift from my mother.
I completely agree. I believe the mind control destruction and demolition teams of the cabal have purposefully connected this with negative connotations of death in ways it was never meant to be used. They did the same thing by inserting the most glorious classical pieces of music during the most horrific moments of horror movies. That's what we've been fed to destroy anything that is beautiful, moral and true.
Renee Marie: I suppose I could apply to the City Council for a permit to recite Bible passages but I doubt if the atheist commies on the council would give me one.
Renee Marie: LOL! The City Council knows who I am. They no longer reply to my gadfly letters of complaint and humor to their august body of pontificating poo-bahs.
Of course darling! Just one of the many joys of living in a “commie”, Libtard state! I totally understand! Although it is amusing to see them get their undies in a bunch, I cannot deny it!
Renee: Years ago, the mayor (one of the five city council members) told me that she wished my emails went straight into the trash can and she didn't have to read them. Hahaha.
I posted a long comment on those arrests.. but WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO PREACH and quote the BIBLE totally unmolested: what does that say to you? What happened to the old saying when I was going up This is FREE COUNTRY? .. It ain't no more. We live in a Police state.
Healdsburg, California; the center of all things communist. 85% or so of the people hear vote Democrat, took at least two jabs, supported masks, lockdowns, social distancing, etc.
Well, that community is getting smaller at an ever increasing rate; call it jab-city. It needs the lord’s shepherding more than most, so take a chance and try to send some to the promised land.
It should work w/ Keats, Yeats, and Pope (and of course Sir William S.) The main thing is to put beauty back into the atmosphere/morphogenetic field, which counteracts the growing ugliness.
Thank you for planting that seed. I believe that harvest will be beyond imagine. Starting at home reading it out loud and then only God knows. Thank you again.
Hey Jon, thanks for the letter. Remember that the Old testament is the New testament concealed, and the New testament is the old testament revealed. Jesus is on every page and the source of all truth. Also He's the creator of all things. He spoke the uni-verse into existences with his authority. That is the source of the incredible poetry in the psalms and elsewhere (you gotta read Job). Also many Christians ,for good reason , love Roman's chapter 8. Check out verse 14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry , Abba, Father." The Bible is to be believed, not studied. Take off your scholarly shoes, for you are on holy ground.
Jeff, you made some good sense until the last two sentences. The Bible is to be believed and studied. In 2 Timothy 15, Paul advises "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
You do yourself and others harm by contradicting the Holy Bible.
Do you agree that scholarly types have hijacked the word of God and placed themselves as the authority. My anger at that has caused my mistake. As we know wrath doeth not the rightiousness of God.
I'm OK with suggesting belief over study. We study to approve ourselves to the Lord. I have nothing to prove in respect to my ego. Like those that think they're smarter than the Bible and rewrite it. It's an issue of authority.
So, this morning I am very busy and it snowed here. I like your post about Psalms 23 (but there are far more elegant poems written by King David in the Old Testament.. and Christian and long time student of both the Old and New Testament which I will post on this "open letter" today when I get back. For many reason I have not subscribed because I only have time to read so many columns on Substack and as a writer I still write, but not on Substack like normally would, and I have my Blog which I also have not written on but posted some news. As I mentioned in my note: I have been intrigued by your name Rappoport and I looked it up and I see you are a seasoned Writer and thinker; then this weekend when I was stuck inside (not a TV fan and w/ my "cataract surgery" working on reading books again. yep learning curve w/ the new cataracts inserts) I saw a movie called THE SONG OF NAMES w Tim Roth. The two main characters one was Polish Jewish boy in England who was a talented violinist and his family sent him to London just before the War and invasion of Poland by Germany. It was a very moving and my family comes from Germany.. long story on that. His name is Rapoport .. which I didn't know was even a Polish or Jewish name.. but I thought of you.. thinking WOW.. maybe I will read his blog. I LOVE YOUR IDEA about reading the Bible in public places; I did hear about people getting "rousted/ and or arrested" in places for reading the Bible in public. As a long time student of the bible (Berean level) I don't have to read the Bible: I can quote it without reading it: not full length.. I used to be able to quote Psalms 23. Interestingly that was the theme of the movie: that Jewish Rabbis (and Christians are taught this as well by the Bible) MEMORIZED verses for generations in case they were "forced to run" and the govt became Anti Jewish or Anti Christian. Orthodox (Greek) Churches, like the Church in Toronto (my Big Fat Greek Wedding) are actually designed to completely broken down and MOVED but the Owners of the Church, that would be Elder or the Leaders in case of "GOVT" going after them. It is magnificent, filled w/ ancient relics from both Russia and also hundreds of years old. VERY FACINATING. Now that I suscribed I will take a look at your work. Happy New Year 2024, my long time old friend. Isabell
A little more than 10 years ago I read this to a small group at my mother's grave. I know some, well most, of the people never heard it before. It was mumbo jumbo to them. But they knew it meant something special and they were silent and respectful. There's something about this psalm.
King David wasn't guessing about God's intentions toward us. How wonderful it is that we have a God like we do, that desires to be so gracious toward us, simply out of His good pleasure. One who esteems calm waters and pastures, who would that we be his children, who wills to give to us according to his rightousness, and riches. Hes a good father, a good shepard, and the most unimaginably good God.
In 2020 Father Mike Schmitz read the entire Bible in a podcast called The Bible in a year. It’s on YouTube and Spotify etc. Psalm 23 is poetry and there’s more, so much more poetic language in the Bible! I love this idea you’ve proposed, Jon.
Fr Mike Schmitz is a charismatic, high energy & popular figure in the Vatican II church, which is a counterfeit creation. It began with the overthrow of a rightfully elected pope by means of threat in 1958. The evidence is at whitesmoke1958.com
Theological reasons why the church under John XXIII (1958-63) thru Francis can't be the true Catholic Church can be seen at novusordowatch.org.
The enemy colonizers of the Vatican even hijacked the Message of our Lady of Fatima, very important for our time, after "disappearing" the Fatima visionary Sr Lucia, as sisterlucytruth.org proves, although it is also obvious to the naked eye that an impostor was put in, first appearing in public in 1967.
So much more could be said, but that should be sufficient to show that we have been in the long prophesied time of the "Great Apostasy" & what Our Lady of La Salette in 1846 foretold as the "eclipse" of the Church for many years now.
Well, that all may be true, and certainly Vatican II is and was a disaster, however it doesn’t take away from his reading of the Bible out loud.
I agree. And the only reason a Church Council can be a disaster is if it's a false council, as Church history reveals. Besides the links I provided, here are a couple 2 page articles packed with more little known info: catholicapedia.net/Documents/Chiesa_viva/Chiesa_viva_486_en-_FINAL.pdf
The poets are the prophets.
Our unbalanced Aristotelian world view comes with a serious price.
Jon's magic has rebalanced this condition in me.
And I am thankful.
Totally !! :) right..
your writing truly resonated today;; sharing this from page 46 of memoir in progress. Cheerio;When did her need for books begin? When she was very young her father initiated a subscription to a monthly book club intended to facilitate the mental development of his progeny. As Sage was the first offspring her mind was the first to be shaped.
Every month a hardcover book, chosen by the dominant parent, would arrive. The Man in the Iron Mask haunts her still. At the age of eight, when children might snuggle with a story by Beatrix Potter, Sage was handed a heavy un-illustrated book filled with too many words. To her young self the book was hateful. Her little girl self would sit with the book spread open before her face pretending to silently read. So how did she eventually become a reader?
Bibliophilism began when the book mobile visited the school play ground. The Book mobile offered books bursting with talking animals, wise trees, and warm-hearted humans. Sage’s imagination climbed into oversized books especially composed for youngsters.
Insistent words arrived through the key board as Sage’s fingers typed.
In 1964, the fourth grade teacher at Stinson Street School assured her students that, ‘Books Are Your Friends.’ Mrs Stewart also taught her nine year old students to recite, from memory, Psalm 23 The Lord Is My Shepherd.
Sage closed her eyes.
My cup runeth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
Sage suggested a homeopathic prescription and those words as a daily mantra to her next patient.
“Create new habits. See yourself as a beloved event in the cosmos. In the midst of your struggle imagine comfort and safety. Think of a mantra that is comforting for you. Such as, ‘goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’. ”
Mrs Stewart, the grade four teacher had determinedly planted spirited words within nine year old minds.
Renee - you just described my own mother, God rest her soul. The Bookmobile was a huge part of my young life. In high school, I would be compensated for some chores with a trip to the local bookstore to select the hardcover of my choice. Today my bedside stack is enormous. I prefer the real deal over Kindle. Aside from Substack which I love, I am doing a deep-dive on C. S. Lewis.
And yes Jon, Psalm 23 is a masterpiece! It is a necessary pathway to my own faith, again a gift from my mother.
Mrs. Stewart was a gift, Renee.
I will be back later. and read the rest of comments .. GREAT POST..
I completely agree. I believe the mind control destruction and demolition teams of the cabal have purposefully connected this with negative connotations of death in ways it was never meant to be used. They did the same thing by inserting the most glorious classical pieces of music during the most horrific moments of horror movies. That's what we've been fed to destroy anything that is beautiful, moral and true.
If I spoke Psalm 23 on the town plaza, I'd be arrested and fined.
No you wouldn’t be arrested and fined! Damn...I’d join you! ✝️💕
Renee Marie: I suppose I could apply to the City Council for a permit to recite Bible passages but I doubt if the atheist commies on the council would give me one.
Just tell the City Council that you’re a transgender, vegan, that identifies as a poc…and that you have a good lawyer!🤣🦄
Renee Marie: LOL! The City Council knows who I am. They no longer reply to my gadfly letters of complaint and humor to their august body of pontificating poo-bahs.
Of course darling! Just one of the many joys of living in a “commie”, Libtard state! I totally understand! Although it is amusing to see them get their undies in a bunch, I cannot deny it!
Renee: Years ago, the mayor (one of the five city council members) told me that she wished my emails went straight into the trash can and she didn't have to read them. Hahaha.
Me too, where are you?
I posted a long comment on those arrests.. but WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO PREACH and quote the BIBLE totally unmolested: what does that say to you? What happened to the old saying when I was going up This is FREE COUNTRY? .. It ain't no more. We live in a Police state.
Yikes!! Where do you live??
Healdsburg, California; the center of all things communist. 85% or so of the people hear vote Democrat, took at least two jabs, supported masks, lockdowns, social distancing, etc.
They love the government.
Well, that community is getting smaller at an ever increasing rate; call it jab-city. It needs the lord’s shepherding more than most, so take a chance and try to send some to the promised land.
Tarantula18: Sometimes I feel like taking your advice literally.
It should work w/ Keats, Yeats, and Pope (and of course Sir William S.) The main thing is to put beauty back into the atmosphere/morphogenetic field, which counteracts the growing ugliness.
YES! We will begin with the psalm here at home and move out to small groups.
Thank you for planting that seed. I believe that harvest will be beyond imagine. Starting at home reading it out loud and then only God knows. Thank you again.
A Psalm is a song...
Trust me, it is better for you that I read rather than sing
hahahahaha!
Not a particularly religious person, but this article persuaded me to become a paid subscriber.
Keep up the good work, Jon.
Sterling proposal, Jon. Creative genius.
I like it.
I will put your thought into action when I return to Texas from Brasil in May.
You done good.
Hey Jon, thanks for the letter. Remember that the Old testament is the New testament concealed, and the New testament is the old testament revealed. Jesus is on every page and the source of all truth. Also He's the creator of all things. He spoke the uni-verse into existences with his authority. That is the source of the incredible poetry in the psalms and elsewhere (you gotta read Job). Also many Christians ,for good reason , love Roman's chapter 8. Check out verse 14 "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry , Abba, Father." The Bible is to be believed, not studied. Take off your scholarly shoes, for you are on holy ground.
Jeff, you made some good sense until the last two sentences. The Bible is to be believed and studied. In 2 Timothy 15, Paul advises "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
You do yourself and others harm by contradicting the Holy Bible.
I may have mis spoke on one of my other numerous posts on this thread as well. Hopefully you can correct me on those too. Thanks brother.
Persistent guided study will nourish the seed of faith which God has given to every man.
[Romans 12:3]
The just shall live by study. Got it.
Habakkuk 2:4
Without faith it is impossible to please God. [Hebrews 11:6]
I guess your to harmed to reply lol.
Isn't that verse in regards to dispensation. All justified by faith, some works and faith.
Do you agree that scholarly types have hijacked the word of God and placed themselves as the authority. My anger at that has caused my mistake. As we know wrath doeth not the rightiousness of God.
You got me on that one, thanks.
I'm OK with suggesting belief over study. We study to approve ourselves to the Lord. I have nothing to prove in respect to my ego. Like those that think they're smarter than the Bible and rewrite it. It's an issue of authority.
You are right though, good point
So, this morning I am very busy and it snowed here. I like your post about Psalms 23 (but there are far more elegant poems written by King David in the Old Testament.. and Christian and long time student of both the Old and New Testament which I will post on this "open letter" today when I get back. For many reason I have not subscribed because I only have time to read so many columns on Substack and as a writer I still write, but not on Substack like normally would, and I have my Blog which I also have not written on but posted some news. As I mentioned in my note: I have been intrigued by your name Rappoport and I looked it up and I see you are a seasoned Writer and thinker; then this weekend when I was stuck inside (not a TV fan and w/ my "cataract surgery" working on reading books again. yep learning curve w/ the new cataracts inserts) I saw a movie called THE SONG OF NAMES w Tim Roth. The two main characters one was Polish Jewish boy in England who was a talented violinist and his family sent him to London just before the War and invasion of Poland by Germany. It was a very moving and my family comes from Germany.. long story on that. His name is Rapoport .. which I didn't know was even a Polish or Jewish name.. but I thought of you.. thinking WOW.. maybe I will read his blog. I LOVE YOUR IDEA about reading the Bible in public places; I did hear about people getting "rousted/ and or arrested" in places for reading the Bible in public. As a long time student of the bible (Berean level) I don't have to read the Bible: I can quote it without reading it: not full length.. I used to be able to quote Psalms 23. Interestingly that was the theme of the movie: that Jewish Rabbis (and Christians are taught this as well by the Bible) MEMORIZED verses for generations in case they were "forced to run" and the govt became Anti Jewish or Anti Christian. Orthodox (Greek) Churches, like the Church in Toronto (my Big Fat Greek Wedding) are actually designed to completely broken down and MOVED but the Owners of the Church, that would be Elder or the Leaders in case of "GOVT" going after them. It is magnificent, filled w/ ancient relics from both Russia and also hundreds of years old. VERY FACINATING. Now that I suscribed I will take a look at your work. Happy New Year 2024, my long time old friend. Isabell
I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE, JON.
(What else is new!ha)
When I heard the Elephant Man recite Psalm 23 in the movie I felt my heart burst open!
In that moment, I knew I needed to memorize that verse. That was 45 years ago, and PSALM 23 has carried me through many difficult times.
Thanks for writing about it Jon.
Song lyrics composed in the 70's:
It all happened a long time ago, in fact there was no time at all
Creation sprung from Your Word, You said, Who am I, then
You asked again, and then again, and finally, You clearly answered,
"I am God."
And it's still happening, so it seems, life goes on Your endless dreams
But when sufficiently shaken You awaken within
where You've always been and then above the din
Clearly You are stating, "I am God."
Clearly You are stating. "I AM GOD."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1TS8EstaCk
A little more than 10 years ago I read this to a small group at my mother's grave. I know some, well most, of the people never heard it before. It was mumbo jumbo to them. But they knew it meant something special and they were silent and respectful. There's something about this psalm.
King David wasn't guessing about God's intentions toward us. How wonderful it is that we have a God like we do, that desires to be so gracious toward us, simply out of His good pleasure. One who esteems calm waters and pastures, who would that we be his children, who wills to give to us according to his rightousness, and riches. Hes a good father, a good shepard, and the most unimaginably good God.