Submitted by the late Bob Stanley
History shows us that the great nations of the world have almost never lived much more than 200 years, and there has been sequential stages in every case.
The first stage moves from bondage to spiritual faith.
The second from spiritual faith to great courage.
The third stage moves from great courage to liberty.
The fourth stage moves from liberty to abundance.
The fifth stage moves from abundance to selfishness.
The sixth stage moves from selfishness to complacency.
The seventh stage moves from complacency to apathy.
The eighth stage moves from apathy to moral decay.
The ninth stage moves from moral decay to dependence.
And the tenth and last stage moves from dependence to bondage.
By (the late) Bob Stanley
There are 5 types of councils, Diocesan, National, Ecumenical, Plenary, and Provincial. No council has ever changed Church dogma, nor can it, since dogma was proclaimed by Jesus Christ Himself, Acts 6:12,15,15:6,*Gal 2:2.
An Ecumenical Council is where all the Bishops in the world that are entitled to vote, gather under the presidency of the Pope or his representative. There have been 21 Ecumenical councils in the history of the Church, other important councils called ‘synods’ are marked ‘*‘.
The very first council or meeting of the Apostles and presbyters is recorded in Acts 15, and is called the Council of Jerusalem. Tradition speaks of St. James as being the Bishop of Jerusalem at that time of about 50 AD.
A Church council is usually a reaction as opposed to an action. They are held to define a truth after someone has denied it.
Jesus Christ gave His authority in several verses of Holy Scripture. One example is in Luke 10:16, “He who hears you hears me“. Armed with this authority, Church teaching has been accepted over the centuries. Then along comes someone who denies a certain teaching and therefore there becomes a need for a Church council to react to the denial.
The Council of Ephesus of 431, one such reaction, defined the Blessed Virgin Mary as the “Theotokos”, meaning GOD bearer or Mother of GOD. This formal teaching was only done after someone had denied it.
Another example is the reaction of the Council of Trent in 1546 which defined again, the canon of Holy Scripture after seven books were denied by the Protestants in their revolt.
Non-Catholics look at these reactive Church councils as teaching something new, when in fact, all they are doing is defining a truth that has been taught for centuries, without denials.
By the late, Bob Stanley
Before explaining what the Greatest Sin of our time is, let me prove that it also comes from the serpent, Lucifer.
In 1930 two people wrote plans to destroy America from within and turn it into a communist nation. Lest you have no problem with Communism, it killed 1,500,000.000 of its own people in 60 years and every nation that adopted it failed financially, where everyone became poor.
These two people were Antonio Gramsci and Saul Alinsky.
A dedicated Communist, Gramsci is one of U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg ‘s favorite “philosophers”.
Saul Alinsky, was a friend and teacher of Obama, who wrote RULES FOR RADICALS, TOWARDS A SOVIET AMERICA. In his book, he outlined how to take over schools, the news media, the government, and even the history books.
He planned to little by little, infiltrate the Churches and degrade the constitution of the USA. His teachers were George Bernard Shaw, Bernard Russel and John Dewy.
Most important: he dedicated his book to Lucifer, who he claimed, was the first radical.
Morality was Alinsky’s greatest enemy and to overcome this he had to get moral teaching out of the schools, churches and even, the government.
His idea was to replace moral laws with Lucifer’s laws of tolerance, non-judgmentalism, and acceptance of all point of views.
He even wanted laws against speaking out against any kind of sin.
These people infiltrated the schools and churches and led the progressive movement in politics.
Progressives believe that the constitution is old fashioned and needs to be re-interpreted to fit the modern world.
This plan was so successful that it produced the greatest sin of our age, the assertion that our conscience is the God of good or evil.
Photo courtesy of Ann Barnhardt
In regard to proper attire the Holy Bible tells us that women should “be decently dressed, adorning themselves with modesty and dignity, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but with good works, such as become women professing Godliness” (1 Tim. 2:9-10). The Old Testament also states: “A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel; for he that does such things is an abomination to the Lord, your God ” (Deut.22:5). Though this rule may seem absurd and outdated today our trifling with it may have been one of the many factors that led to gender-role confusion and ultimately to the wide acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex marriage in our Western culture.
ONLY IN AMERICA …
Only in America …….do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
Only in America ……do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.
Only in America …….do banks leave vault doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
Only in America …….do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.
Only in America ………..do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight..
Only in America ……do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
EVER WONDER …
Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
Why can’t women put on mascara with their mouth closed?
Why don’t you ever see the headline ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?
Why is ‘abbreviated’ such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what they do ‘practice’?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn’t there mouse-flavored cat food?
Why didn’t Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!
Why don’t sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
FINALLY …
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?
Sunday is kept holy by abstaining from all servile work performed for wages or gain, or not commanded by necessity; by passing the day in works of piety; in hearing Mass devoutly, listening to the word of God in church and spending the day at home in a quiet manner pleasing to God.
If justly prevented from being present at church on Sundays and holy days of obligation, we should unite, in spirit, with the priest and the faithful assembled there, and pray fervently; during the rest of the day we should read books of devotion, and endeavor to perform some work of charity.
Sunday is profaned by being spent either in idleness, or in unnecessary servile work, or in that which is still worse, debauchery, and other sinful actions. It would be better, that is, less sinful, as St. Augustine says, to till the field on such days, than to spend them in frivolous, dangerous, and sinful pleasures.
But it is not forbidden, after having properly attended divine service, to participate on Sundays and holy days in honorable, decorous entertainment of the mind and heart.
Excerpted from “Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels” by the Rev. Leonard Goffine (1874)
“The flak is heaviest right over the target.”
Satan is threatened by the Catholic Church and he reserves his heaviest flak for the Church. We have a high set of standards and the World will always hate us for it.
Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”
What is the difference between a disciple and an Apostle?
Jesus separated those two terms here:
Luke 6:13 And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles;
Here is an excerpt from the Haydock Bible Commentary:
Re: Verse 13 – These twelve Christ chose as individual companions and domestics. To these he committed the charge of founding and governing his Church.
He sent them as legates, or ambassadors, (for this is the import of the word apostle) to all the world. Hence their power was more universal than that of bishops, which is confined to their own dioceses or districts.
The jurisdiction of the apostles was not limited to place. (Tirinus) — This power which Jesus Christ delegated to his apostles, and which was for the benefit and regulation of the universal Church in all future ages, the apostles, in their turn, delegated to their successors in the ministry, with such regulations and limitations as have been judged in the Holy Ghost necessary for the proper government of the spiritual kingdom of God upon earth.
And it is the height of presumption to question any ordinations that come to us with the authority of the Catholic Church: for, “whatever the Church says, is true; whatever she permits is lawful; whatever she forbids, is evil; whatever she ordains, is holy; whatever she institutes, is good.” (St. Augustine)
— How futile then is the objection of Calvin, who pretends, that an apostle, being nothing but a legate, can make no laws, nor prescribe or teach any thing not expressed in his mandatum! – Calvin, Institutes lib. iv. chap. 8
The Book of Acts (Acts of the Apostles):
Acts is divided into 3 main sections and fulfills GOD’s plan for worldwide salvation for all people.
The first covenant was the Adamic Covenant – Marriage, Gen 3:16-19.
The second was the Noahic – the Family, Gen 9:8-17.
The third was the Abrahamic – the Tribal, or uniting of many families, Gen 17:1-8.
The fourth was the Mosaic – many tribes united in a National Covenant, Gen 19:4-6.
The fifth was the Davidic – the National Kingdom Covenant – many nations, 2Sam 7:14-16,23:5.
You can see the pattern here, each covenant encompassed a larger and larger group of people, so the next covenant must include more than many nations.
The sixth – the New Covenant… 2Cor 3:6, Worldwide, Universal, all encompassing, Catholic.
It is the evolution of the Catholic Church, and of the rules it must follow for all time.
All of the covenants preceding this one were for GOD’s chosen people, the Hebrews and Jews.
Now, Gentiles enter into salvation history for the first time.
This all begins to unfold in Acts 1:8, “..but you shall receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses for me in Jerusalem (local), and in all Judea and Samaria (spreading out), and even to the very ends of the earth (worldwide, Universal, Catholic).
These are the three main sections of Acts…
by Doug Lawrence
My good friend Bob Stanley of the Catholic Treasure Chest website writes:
This post builds on the info recently received from my Israeli friend. Here is something that I think is of great importance, as the Bible appears to tell us where the Ark of the Covenant is located.
2nd Maccabees 2:3 And with other such like speeches, he exhorted them that they would not remove the law from their heart.
2Ma 2:4 It was also contained in the same writing, how the prophet, being warned by God, commanded that the tabernacle and the ark should accompany him, till he came forth to the mountain where Moses went up and saw the inheritance of God. (see Deut 34:1 below for the name of the mountain, and the other verses which insure that they refer to the inheritance).
2Ma 2:5 And when Jeremias came thither he found a hollow cave: and he carried in thither the tabernacle, and the ark and the altar of incense, and so stopped the door.
2Ma 2:6 Then some of them that followed him, came up to mark the place: but they could not find it.
2Ma 2:7 And when Jeremias perceived it, he blamed them, saying: The place shall be unknown, till God gather together the congregation of the people, and receive them to mercy.
2Ma 2:8 And then the Lord will shew these things, and the majesty of the Lord shall appear, and there shall be a cloud as it was also shewed to Moses, and he shewed it when Solomon prayed that the place might be sanctified to the great God.
Deuteronomy 34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab upon mount Nebo, to the top of Phasga over against Jericho: and the Lord shewed him all the land of Galaad as far as Dan.
Deu 34:2 And all Nephtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasses, and all the land of Juda unto the furthermost sea,
Deu 34:3 And the south part, and the breadth of the plain of Jericho the city of palm trees as far as Segor.
Deu 34:4 And the Lord said to him: This is the land, for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: I will give it to thy seed. Thou hast seen it with thy eyes, and shalt not pass over to it.
Deu 34:5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, by the commandment of the Lord:
Source: Douay-Rheims Bible
The Jews, the Arabs and the non-Catholics don’t have the books of Maccabees and they refuse to read them in Catholic Bibles. After all, they say the Catholic Bible is corrupted and Maccabees is not inspired…right? This reminds me of the Indiana Jones movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” where Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) looked over about half mile away, saw the Nazi’s digging for the ark and rejoiced by saying “They are digging in the wrong place”.
Months ago I asked my Jewish friend where Mt. Nebo was, without mentioning why I would like to know. He said it is in Jordan. That is another reason why the Jews never tried digging there. It makes a lot of sense to me that since the temple mount is a relatively small area and has been explored, dug and tunneled for many centuries and yet never was even a sign or clue that something as large as the Ark was found within it. Even the crusaders made exhaustive but essentially fruitless searches there.
Go back and read again the 2nd sentence of 2Ma 2:7. Maybe it is happening right now???
Doug replies:
There’s a lot of intriguing possibilities there. I find it interesting, looking at the map, that Moses did indeed have a clear view of precisely what is described in the scriptures. God really did let him see the Promised Land – pretty much in its’ entirety.
It’s been my experience that people expect the site of the lost Ark to be either somewhere on or around the temple mount, or even as far away as Mt. Sinai – assuming that anyone today actually knows the true location of that holy mountain.
Even with the solid description provided in Maccabees, there’s a lot of potential hiding places for the Ark, on and around Mount Nebo.
Maybe Moses will retrieve it and he and (either) Enoch or Elijah will come back to witness in Jerusalem, near the end of the tribulation period? The Ark may even be the energy source for the Heavenly “fire” and the drought. (Rev 11:3-6)
Another interesting note about Moses: Even the devil was unable to find his dead body, so Moses is a very good candidate for having been assumed into Heaven, by God – as was Elijah, in his fiery chariot. The fact that both later appeared with Jesus during the Transfiguration seems to add credence to that possibility.
So we have Enoch, Elijah, Moses, the Blessed Virgin Mary – and maybe even Lazarus – his second time around – all being assumed into Heaven, by the awesome power of God.
That’s almost a bigger deal than finding the lost Ark!
Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”
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The answer to that question can be found in John 6:56:
“HE WHO EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD, ABIDES IN ME AND I IN HIM.”
It is the “true presence” of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, the food provided by the vine, so that eternal life is imparted into each and every branch and which allows the branches to bear fruit.
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he shall be cast outside as the branch and wither; and they shall gather them up and cast them into the fire, and they shall burn .” John 15:6
Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”
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The Ancient Proclamation Before Midnight Mass,
from the 6th century, Roman Martyrology,
explains, “How We Got To Christmas”.
It has been the Catholic Church’s official means
of initiating the Christmas Season, for the past 1500 years.
Yet
few Catholics
and even fewer
non-Catholics
have ever heard of it.
This beautiful, traditional video
covers over 5,000 years of Judeo-Christian history
in only about ten minutes time,
illustrating how Jesus Christ came to save us,
just as he promised he would.
He did it with awesome power and grace,
drawing on the assistance of real people,
throughout all the ages,
in real, historical circumstances,
precisely as described in the Bible.
The Ancient Proclamation is the true story
of God’s Master Plan for our salvation, writ large,
with Jesus Christ, our Divine Savior and Blessed Lord
in the “starring” role.
((|))
((|))
((|))
Merry Christmas!
The Ancient Proclamation Before Midnight Mass,
from the 6th century, Roman Martyrology,
explains, “How We Got To Christmas”.
It has been the Catholic Church’s official means
of initiating the Christmas Season, for the past 1500 years.
Yet
few Catholics
and even fewer
non-Catholics
have ever heard of it.
This beautiful, traditional video
covers over 5,000 years of Judeo-Christian history
in only about ten minutes time,
illustrating how Jesus Christ came to save us,
just as he promised he would.
He did it with awesome power and grace,
drawing on the assistance of real people,
throughout all the ages,
in real, historical circumstances,
precisely as described in the Bible.
The Ancient Proclamation is the true story
of God’s Master Plan for our salvation, writ large,
with Jesus Christ, our Divine Savior and Blessed Lord
in the “starring” role.
((|))
((|))
((|))
Merry Christmas!
The Ancient Proclamation Before Midnight Mass,
from the 6th century, Roman Martyrology,
explains, “How We Got To Christmas”.
It has been the Catholic Church’s official means
of initiating the Christmas Season, for the past 1500 years.
Yet
few Catholics
and even fewer
non-Catholics
have ever heard of it.
This beautiful, traditional video
covers over 5,000 years of Judeo-Christian history
in only about ten minutes time,
illustrating how Jesus Christ came to save us,
just as he promised he would.
He did it with awesome power and grace,
drawing on the assistance of real people,
throughout all the ages,
in real, historical circumstances,
precisely as described in the Bible.
The Ancient Proclamation is the true story
of God’s Master Plan for our salvation, writ large,
with Jesus Christ, our Divine Savior and Blessed Lord
in the “starring” role.
((|))
((|))
((|))
Merry Christmas!
by Doug Lawrence
Bob and I were Internet colleagues in the Catholic faith since the early 2000’s. We spoke on the telephone on only a few occasions, but we kept in regular communication, via email.
At some point, Bob mentioned that he was getting older and was concerned about one day, being unable to maintain The Catholic Treasure Chest, so I told him I would make regular backups of the site and should it ever go offline and I was unable to contact him, I would restore and maintain it.
Bob liked the idea, so that’s what we agreed to do.
With Bob’s permission, I had been distributing the Catholic Treasure Chest on CD, mailing copies to people all around the world (Internet service was often “spotty” back then) so most of the technical work was already done.
Bob mentioned it in his article, entitled “In Lieu of A Book”:
“I have received many requests to put this website into a book.
But, I sense a frustration in having to download and save each page
of this very large site.
It has taken me years and thousands of hours
to put it all together and I certainly would not relish the time
it would take to download it page by page, either.
Putting it all into a book is a good idea.
However the sticking point is my having the time to do it.
I simply cannot do it for that reason, among others.
However I have a great solution
that was suggested by a dear new-found friend.
He is a teacher and many of his students do not have a computer
that is online, in order to go and visit the site.
He asked my permission to put the whole website onto a cd-rom
and pass a CD to each of his pupils.
I thought that was a great idea
and wondered why I had not thought of it myself.
Of course I gave him permission and he sent me a copy
and it was just like visiting the site online,
but much faster than even DSL…”
I would often link to the Catholic Treasure Chest from my website, referencing many of Bob’s wonderful articles. So, when The Catholic Treasure Chest domain was taken over by an Indonesian gambling casino and much of the content became unreliable or unavailable, readers from far and wide emailed me, asking what had happened.
Unable to make contact with Bob, I assumed the worst and went to work, successfully salvaging and restoring the site.
Because the Internet domain had already been assumed and taken over by others, it was necessary to bring The Catholic Treasure Chest over to my askmeaboutgod.org domain. It should be “safe” here, for many years to come, as by design, my site should be able to continue on (God willing) long after I have passed away.
Meanwhile, readers from a host of different countries, all around the globe, are beginning to reconnect with Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” (as I respectfully refer to it.)
Bob had quite a following. I have received a good number of enthusiastic emails from readers who are very thankful that Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” is back.
I’m sure that Bob would agree that this is no mere, coincidence. Together, we prudently developed a simple, effective plan for succession. I consider it a grace to have been privileged to do the work. Praise God!
The world needs Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”. It has always been a unique and precious, irreplaceable Catholic information resource. People of faith instinctively recognize that fact.
Bob will be sorely missed. Even though he’s gone, his great work will carry on, as a blessing to the whole world.
There’s not very many people about whom that may be truly stated.
I have arranged for Bob to be remembered in daily Mass intentions,
until the end of time. Please pray a “Hail Mary” for the repose of his soul,
when you have the time.
Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” is available on-line,
in English and Spanish languages,
as well as in a portable, downloadable PDF version.
Here’s the links:
Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest” (PDF)
Down To Earth Answers To Virtually All Your Heavenly Questions.
English – On the Web
Spanish – On the Web
The web versions also have a new, very convenient, custom search feature, which makes locating specific content much faster and easier.
Robert M. Stanley
February 6, 1935 – August 29, 2022
After a long illness, Robert Manfred Stanley passed away on August 29, 2022. He was 87.
Bob was born in Washington, D.C. on February 6, 1935, to Manfred and Mary Stanley. At age 7, they relocated to Redwood City, California where he met his wife of 67 years, Loretta (Lori).
He graduated from Sequoia Union High, enlisting in the Air Force shortly thereafter. He was stationed at Keesler Air Base in Biloxi, Mississippi where he became an instructor of radar technology. He was honorably discharged in 1957 with the rank of Staff Sergeant.
For the next 30 years, he was employed by IBM as a Customer Engineer, winning many awards. After retirement, Bob relocated to the foothills.
Bob enjoyed riding his tractor and watching old movies,
as well as writing and hosting his world renowned,
Catholic apologetics and information website:
The Catholic Treasure Chest.
He is survived by his wife Lori, daughter Christine (Christopher) and granddaughters Madelyn and Grace Horton.
Thanks to all those who were there in his time of need: Wolf Creek Care Center, Hospice of the Foothills and fellow members of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
Services will be held at St. Patrick’s Church in Grass Valley on Friday, September 23rd: Rosary 12:15 pm, Mass 1:00, then a gravesite service at St. Patrick’s Cemetery. A reception will follow at St. Patrick’s Church Hall. Donations may be made to Hospice of the Foothills or St. Patrick’s Catholic Church.
Editor’s note: By prior arrangement with Bob Stanley, Doug Lawrence at AskMeAboutGod.org will continue hosting and maintaining Bob’s superb, world renowned, Catholic website, The Catholic Treasure Chest, for many years to come. It would be a sin to let such a great, Catholic resource perish, especially during the times we are presently experiencing.
Let Us Pray…
Eternal rest grant unto Bob Stanley, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Please pray an “Our Father” and a “Hail Mary” for Bob, right now. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.
Go To Bob Stanley’s “The Catholic Treasure Chest”
As seen at www.theunion.com (slightly edited)
I’ve lost touch with my old friend Bob Stanley,
of The Catholic Treasure Chest
and the original domain name is no longer available.
Bob’s site has been (for the last 20 years or so) one of the finest, most complete, truly Catholic websites on the planet.
According to the informal plan that Bob and I worked up together, many years ago: Should such an event occur, I was to restore the site from a comprehensive backup and get things up and running again, ASAP.
The Catholic Treasure Chest is once again, up and running
and may be accessed through available links
on this (www.AskMeAboutGod.org) site.
A Canadian filmmaker has posted a retouched image of a Bouguereau painting of the Virgin Mary — using the face on the Shroud as a guide. The results are, I think, stunning.
His assumption that He would have born a resemblance to His only human parent. He said this about it:
“If you put the shroud on top of this drawing, you will almost match the face, like it could be” an accurate portrayal of His mother’s face.
Exquisitely beautiful – and it does rather make sense that Our Lord would physically resemble his mother!
Submitted by Bob Stanley/The Catholic Treasure Chest Website
Submitted by Bob Stanley
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Site 