At a time when our world is faced with danger and world leaders are faced with so many important decisions – decisions that could ultimately help find a solution or throw the world into chaos and night; I urge everyone to pray for peace. Paul gives us these wonderful directions in his first letter to Timothy, chapter 2:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
People love to blame religion for all wars. Would there have been no wars had there been no religion? I don’t think so. Jenghis Khan, Pol Pott, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were not religious, yet theirs were probably the bloodiest and ugliest tyrannies the world has ever known. It is clear though that “religion” (or at least the corruption of it) can be a powerful motivator of hatred and violence. The tragic fact is that the three religions predominately in the Middle East also stand for important human values, such as justice ,mercy and forgiveness. The Hebrew scriptures tell us to do justly and to
love mercy, while the Christian and Muslim scriptures invite us to love our enemies, so that they become friends. All three share their roots in Abraham. Why, then, is it so hard for us to forgive and so easy to seek revenge? If you see my thread on the Golden Rule on Interfaith, it’s very plain that revenge is inadmissible according to all three religions. But I’m not here to talk about the causes (or excuses) for war, but to encourage everyone to pray for world peace. Pure religion is never the reason for war, but it is the answer to it!
During both World Wars, at times of great danger and utter hopelessness, National Days of Prayer were called. In those days, there was not the rejection of spirituality and religion that there is now, and millions of people here in the UK and in America joined in this prayer. Churches were open all day and there was a steady stream of visitors praying for deliverance.
During WWI the Allies were facing certain defeat at the hands of the Germans when two remarkable events occurred on 23 and 24th August 1914 near the town of Mons. The Germans just laid down their arms and fled, their horses reared up and wouldn't go further after seeing white horses with white soldiers advancing towards them, or a bright shining light with luminous beings. This was widely reported in the newspapers of the day and became known as the Angels of Mons. (These same newspapers had already prepared their headlines for news of the certain defeat)
During WWII Dunkirk was another example of what united prayer can accomplish. Following another National Day of Prayer, the Germans mysteriously stopped their tanks 10 miles from the town and turned back; heavy clouds prevented the Luftwaffe from seeing their targets but the most unusual thing of all was that the English Channel was like a mill pond and thus all the little boats were able to pick up the stranded troops. Yes, there were many casualties, but 342,000 British and 123,000 French troops were rescued and went on to fight again and overcome the evils of Nazism.
Again, there was another Day of Prayer called before the Battle of Britain. This was, as I’m sure you know, the decisive battle for us in Britain. Again, defeat appeared to be inevitable – we were hopelessly outnumbered. On the 15th Sept 1940 all fighters were airborne and the situation appeared utterly hopeless, Churchill asked "What other reserves do we have?" The reply was none.
Suddenly, for no reason, the enemy planes started to turn around and head home……………….
Had it not been for the answer to prayer that day, Europe might still be under the grip of the Nazi’s and we would certainly not be permitted to be writing about the topics w
RE: The angels of Mons
Well said, Judy. If we could all come together in prayer we could move mountains!
Jacque.
RE: The angels of Mons
ORIGINAL: Principled
People love to blame religion for all wars. Would there have been no wars had there been no religion? I don't think so. Jenghis Khan, Pol Pott, Hitler, Stalin and Mao were not religious, yet theirs were probably the bloodiest and ugliest tyrannies the world has ever known.
IMO this is very true. They are wonderfully truthful words, Judy. I'm not pointing a finger anywhere ;)but sometimes I get the feeling that HP and many people here are anti-religion. Sometimes I go along with that just to keep it all cool. Religion is blamed all the time for wars, occupations, etc.
Indeed, how religious was Hitler? Pol Pot (who just died)? Mao? Stalin? These were the 20th century's worst monsters, and all were atheists.
V
RE: The angels of Mons
Hi Jacque and Venetian,
Well, according to Richard Dawkins, (when he was doing the blame game and was asked that) Hitler was Catholic. Hmm he may have been that in name, but he and his cronies certainly became fascinated by the occult.
I find it interesting that Christian Science was the very first religion banned by Hitler. (I think the Society of Friends followed soon after) He knew CS was the antidote to Nazi-ism. Where they managed to get lists of members from the churches that they closed down, everyone on the list was sent to concentration camp. Then, neighbours would inform on more casual visitors and their homes were raided and while they had been carefult to hide their books well, sometimes they had forgotten about that record of CS hymns in the cabinet and were sent to camp. There are some wonderful experiences that came out of that time too, like one lady whose house was raided and searched. She just stood praying and they didn't see her Bible and Science and Health on the table beside her bed.
After a brief respite after the war, it was again banned in Eastern Germany and went underground. There was one teapot that used to travel back and forth from the east to the west every three months and it was packed with scrunched-up pages from our quarterley Bible Lessons, giving all the citations. The lady who received it would iron out the pages, then copy them by hand and distribute them. The church was finally freed in 1989 and 10 days later the Berlin wall came down.
Ugly regimes may try to control what people do, but they can never control what discerning and alert people think! You can try to take people away from their faith, but you can never take faith away from the people.
Love and peace,
Judy
RE: The angels of Mons
Judy,
Dawkins has Hitler down as being a Catholic, huh? Oh, yeah, right! I don't think so. [&o]I suppose he aspired to be a monk, too, hey? 😉
V
RE: The angels of Mons
It's interesting because if you google "was Hitler a Catholic" you get some interesting websites ranging from his outright denial of Christianity, to his own words in Mein Kampfe that he was "acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews, I am doing the Lord's work". And apparently he regarded himself a catholic until he died. [link= http://skeptically.org/againstreligion/id13.html ]http://skeptically.org/againstreligion/id13.html[/link]
but then the man was mad enough to believe anything if it suited him! I have also read that he had some jewish blood in him but can't remember the source.
Love
RE: The angels of Mons
The Jewish blood thing rings a slight bell maybe with me too.
Anyhow, even if he went to confession 3 times a week, what about monsters such as Pol Pot, Mao, and Stalin? [&o]Atheists for sure, so it's a bit rich when people blame "all wars" on religion.
V
RE: The angels of Mons
Hello David,
You might be able to answer this question - regarding the 'Angels of Mons.' I seem to remember reading a story years ago, about some ghostly presences, which were glimpsed by soldiers in WW1, on the ancient battlefield of Mons. They were dubbed 'the angels of Mons' and these paranormal beings scared away the enemy. Reading further, it could be that they were simply ghosts of medieval English archers, which appeared to their fellow countrymen, centuries later.
I am sorry for going 'off topic' but the title of the thread reminded me of the story.
Love,
Patsy.
[:-]
RE: The angels of Mons
On the topic of Hitler being an RC, as I understand it his parents were practising RC's and in the RC once you are baptised you are always RC.
He was also vegetarian, and an artist. People trying to humanise him possibly? But the biggest or one of the biggest mass murderers of all time.
--------000---- 000 ------ 00000 ------
Strange thing is so many Witches I know were all baptised RC!!
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And Hitler adored his dog!
[sm=dogrun.gif]
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Yep Teddy, the quiet ones are always the worst.
I knew someone who trained in esoterics, spiritual teaching and aromatherapy. On the face of it, he was the quietest, most understanding of people. He loved animals and seemingly his fellow man. Until he began posting on a forum such as this one. Then all hell broke loose when he aired his true feelings about people.
So those who profess to be sweetness and light, aren't always. They are wolves in sheep's clothing.
Love,
Patsy.
[&:]
RE: The angels of Mons
I’ve just been doing a search of some of the Angels of Mons sites and most seem to take the position that either:
a) “there’s no such thing as the supernatural, therefore this couldn’t have happened - the men must have been exhausted and hallucinating etc” or
b) referring to the story The Bowmen by Arthur Machin published in the Evening News AFTER the first sightings and using that to explain where the “rumours and myths” had come from.
There are apparently no “official” accounts of the sightings - just personal ones (although there were reports in the papers of the day who had had to change their headlines from certain defeat to victory) Well, think of the background of fear in an army where you were executed if you deserted. Perhaps the men feared they would be considered to have lost their marbles if they said anything on record. I know of pilots in recent days who have seen what appeared as a UFO who haven’t reported it, fearing that they would either be ridiculed, lose their jobs on the grounds that they had a mental problem or fear that they would somehow be silenced. It must have been far worse then to step outside of the “frame“. It’s also just occurred to me, that there might have been reports by officers, but that they quite possibly might have been destroyed.
However,among all the “debunking” sites, I’ve found a really interesting and balanced collection of many personal accounts here which I encourage you all to read:
Visions of Bowmen and Angels
by Kevin McClure
"http://www.magonia.demon.co.uk/abwatch/stars/bowmen.html"
“...it is clear to me that the debunking that has in recent years been the only published context for the Mons material has been hopelessly inadequate, if not actually dishonest. It is time to present the contemporary sources - as close to the truth as we can come - however confusing they may be. Now we can evaluate this strange and wonderful story in a new and independent way.”
Here are a couple of the accounts (there were several sightings, at different times and places) The first was published by The Bath Society Paper of some accounts sent to The Rev.M.P.Gilson, Vicar of All Saints, Clifton:
" The first is an extract from an officer's letter: "I myself saw the angels who saved our left wing from the Germans during the retreat from Mons. We heard the German cavalry tearing after us and ran for a place where we thought a stand could be made; we turned and faced the enemy expecting instant death. When to our wonder we saw between us and the enemy a whole troop of Angels; the horses of the Germans turned round frightened out of their senses; they regularly stampeded, the men tugging at their bridles, while the horses tore away in every direction from our men. Evidently the horses saw the Angels as plainly as we did, and the delay gave us time to reach a place of safety."
" Another contribution comes from a more unexpected source. A captain in charge of German prisoners states that these men say it is no use to fight the English, for at Mons "there were people fighting for them", that they saw angels above and in front of the lines, also that it is happening at Ypres.".............
The final original account I think worth presenting is this quiet, unassuming, and at least signed letter to The Spectator, which published it on 19.10.1918, some three weeks before the Armistice. It is not the first report to claim that some particular element of an event was seen only by the Germans: -
" Sir - Much has been said at various times about alleged superhuman interventions in our favour when, in 'that dire autumn' of 1914, our heroic 'Contemptibles' were in retreat, pressed hard by overwhelming forces. To myself nothing has come in the way of evidence on that subject with such a claim on attention and, I think, on credence as what I heard not