God, Aliens, and Other Stuff

I am actually close to posting Part IV of my Marian Apparitions series, but in the meantime, I received a very interesting email from a stranger addressing the issue of a UAL crash in Colorado in 1951. To better understand this email, you could read my research story at www.coloradowreckchasing.com . Click on Civilian flights, then Crystal Mountain, DC-6B, then look for “Capt. Appleby’s daughter…” The question of the research is, was Flight 610 hijacked and sabotaged, a question close to my heart since my father was the captain of this flight which killed all aboard. Hi Janet, I know this may be a bit strange getting this crazy email from some random stranger. What I'm about to tell you might seem crazy too. Last night, I took a class in Fort Collins, Colorado for paranormal activity. I thought it would be fun entertainment but never expected to see and hear I did. We visited a garage in old town where apparently the remains of the aircraft were stored while the investigation was ...

Sources:  John J. DeLaney, ed., A Woman Clothed with the Sun: Eight Great Appearances of Our Lady , (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1960). Catherine M. Odell, Those Who Saw Her: The Apparitions of Mary , (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 1986). (https://sspx.org/en/fatima_consecration_invalid_pope_bishops_russia) Wikipedia.com. One of the most amazing events of the 20 th century, well besides WWI, WWII, the Roswell crash, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars, the nuclear age, etc., was the appearance of “the Blessed Virgin Mary” to three little shepherd kids in Portugal. If you are a Catholic, it was a big deal. If you are not, odds are you stuff that event in the Woowoo Closet of your mind with other anomalies like aliens and ghosts and Chris Angel Mindfreak. The closet is locked. There is nothing in there you need, so basically, all those things don’t exist. Mary appeared during a time of political and social upheaval. It was in 1917, during the...

In my first post about John Lerma, a review of his book Into the Light , I expressed my discomfort about the long, guru-like monologues that all of his stories relayed. All of the dying patients, no matter who they were or how old they were, sounded like a Lerma lecture. They all called him Dr. Lerma, using his name frequently. Never Doc, or Doctor, or John. They never have meltdowns. In this second book, published in 2009, I got the same squeamish feeling, even when he described the death of his own father. When Lerma writes, “Dad said the angels told him…” or some other patient says the same thing, it almost becomes “ex-cathedra” dogma, as if Moses or the Pope said it. Who can argue with the angels? It certainly puts Dr. Lerma into the position of an authoritative, sacred scribe transmitting End Times truth. That is if you believe it all. Dr. Lerma, who was raised Catholic, has worked many years in hospice care in Houston and San Antonio, TX, so I have to assume that at least h...

Sources: Wayne Weible,  Medjugorje the Message , Paraclete Press, 1989   and  Medjugorje the Mission , Paraclete Press, 1994,  www.medjugorje.com .   Why investigate Mary? I want to look at the phenomenon from all sides, pro and con, but first I want to emphasize that these events, which have taken place since the sixteenth century, are Earth shaking, global, and, for better or worse, paranormal/spiritual in nature. I do not believe for a second that they are hoaxes. The apparitions are possibly cunning deceptions with victims maybe, but not hoaxes. I do not intend to attack or deprecate the Catholic Church in these posts. The Church has done its best to examine these wonders and substantiate or dismiss them. Furthermore, it’s very easy for everyone on Earth who is not a Catholic to compartmentalize away these apparitions and just pretend they never happened. Don’t read about them. Don’t think about them. We do that with things that are...

I am not a nutrition expert, so I do not guarantee the accuracy of what is written below. For the past several years I have been trying to deal with the weight I’ ve gained since the mid-90’s when I was an aging seminary student. As a result, I’ ve read bits and pieces here and there about the science of eating, weight gain, and dieting. It’s a grim pursuit. There is nothing but bad news to report, with the exception that early in the morning there are lots of slender elderly ladies exercise-walking at the local mall. Of course, it’s the light weight ones with white hair who are still walking in their seventies and eighties. The heavy ones are using walkers. So, what do I think I have learned? Well, people who carry their weight lower down need a low-fat diet and people with all that dangerous toxic fat around the middle need a low- carb diet. So sez Dr. Oz. The expert lady on the car radio said that when you lose a lot of weight, your metabolism slows down. We all knew tha...