Take a pilgrimage with Steve and Janet Ray!
Did Solomon’s Mother Bathsheba Demonstrate Mary is NOT a Good Intercessor?
I put up a post a few days ago with a video of my talk in Ephesus about Mary being Queen of Heaven and an Intercessor for the people of God’s kingdom.
Someone wrote to object saying,
It is interesting Steve, as to what you left out in your reference to 1 Kings 2:19 , Solomon’s Mother did indeed come into the throne room, Solomon did indeed, rise and bow and have her sit at his right hand. But the Queen Mother’s request was in fact denied, and the first person to go to the Queen Mother with his request was put to death that very day! So much for taking requests to the Queen Mother, doesn’t always work!
I responded,
There are two ways to see the intercession of Bathsheba: 1) a naive request to the king for Adonijah and 2) a subtle and wise exposing of Adonijah’s continued deceit to claim the throne. Let me explain a bit. If we assume the first possible scenario, Solomon is a type of Christ yet Solomon was a sinner. Solomon’s sin does not detract from Jesus’ perfection as the quintessential king of Israel and the Universe.
Every king in Israel/Judah had a queen but it was never his wife; it was his mother. She was called giborah, great lady and Queen Mother.
Being a sinner and flawed did not detract from the fact that Solomon was a type of Christ. Neither does Bathsheba’s sins and flaws detract from her being a prefigurement of Mary. Solomon and his mother were sinners; Jesus and his mother were not. What Solomon and his mother failed to do; Jesus and his mother do perfectly.
You could also note that Jesus said explicitly that the only sign he would give was the sign of Jonah, but Jonah was rebellious; does that mean Jesus’s crucifixion and burial was a result of his own rebellion? Of course not–that would be an improper use of typology.
Also, if you use Bathsheba’s indiscretion to diminish Mary, then you must be consistent and use Solomon’s sins to diminish Jesus. Queen mothers were flawed intercessors; the Mother of God is an intercessor without flaw.
But if we consider the second possibility, the second way to interpret the historical and political situation behind this event we see Bathsheba as being very wise and discerning.
It is possible and even likely that Bathsheba was wiser than she is normally given credit for and made this request to expose the deceitful intents of Adonijah? Did she inform Solomon of the plot in a diplomatic way?
The taking of a king’s concubine was a political move to grasp the throne. In this scenario, Bethsheba wisely and publically exposed Adonijah’s continued plot for the throne. It ultimately brought about the assassination of the competitor for her son’s throne. As an “image” of Mary, the request can be seen as a parallel to the revealing of the Evil One and his continued attempt to displace her Son.
Sorry, I didn’t miss anything.
A Man Wrote Discouraged by our World and Felt in Despair
A Catholic couple wrote and expressed their dismay at the current state of affairs in our country and the world. He said he was about to give up. I wrote to him these words which I hope will encourage others as well.
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We certainly do live in disappointing times. Seeing the chaos and anarchy in our country, with many even espousing Marxism again, I shake my head sometimes as I see how so many of the bishops and priests, even the Vatican respond to all of this nonsense and anarchy. Rainbow flags fluttering, police assaulted, BLM T-shirts, abortion, pulling down statues, cursing and rioting and killing…
However, remember that the Church has never had a Golden Age and there have been times in the Church that have been much worse than our current situation. Imagine living in England and Ireland during the reign of King Henry VIII and the later in the French Revolution when priests were killed and the Catholic faith was illegal. Families hid priests in “priest holes” and many lost everything including their lives. The horrendous stories of being drawn and quartered…
I always recall Peter’s response to Jesus, “Where else can we go, you are the only one with the words of eternal life (John 6:68-69).”
My wife and I feel as though we were born for these times. God places us in our own period of history for a reason and I believe our reason is to stand up and speak out and be a living example of the Christian life. This is no time to retreat and let evil win. A wise man once said that all evil needs to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing.
Don’t be dismayed or discouraged. Stand strong and stay true to Our Lord and his Church even if our shepherds are more politicians than they are pastors, even if many of our own fall for the seduction and sin of the present age. Jesus suffered for us and he is even now not giving up on us — so we can never give up on him.
If you ever get discouraged read the last book of the Bible and you’ll see that we win in the end. And don’t ever forget that God always has an army of holy saints. We are not alone. The world is full of faithful Christians who will never back down. These days are the kind of days in which saints are made.
Fun Day! Israel Museum, Jordan River, Jericho, Dead Sea & Camels
Today was a fun day and we make it a free day for folks. Some decided to do things on their own and visit friends or take time for extra prayer. The rest of them came with us on our Optional Day Tour.
We started out at the Israel Museum to see the Model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and the Museum of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then we went down 4125 feet from the mountains of Jerusalem to the lowest place on the face of the earth, which is the Jordan Valley. We renewed our baptismal vows on the Jordan River.
We saw a sycamore tree and the Mount of Temptation where the Devil tempted Our Lord and had a wonderful lunch at a Christian restaurant. Then we went to Qumran and viewed the most important of the caves and discussed the Dead Sea scrolls. Floating on the Dead Sea is always a favorite and then riding camels is always a hoot. Back up to our hotel in Jerusalem for packing and dinner.
We always keep the rooms for Pilgrims even though they’re not going to stay in them tonight so they can come back from my tour today and have a shower and pack and take a nap and rest up before they fly home tonight.
Please watch for the second video for today which we call Comments and Farewells. Comments and Farewells.
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A Man Wrote Discouraged by our World and Felt in Despair https://t.co/ZgPJkZqnJh
Fun day — a free day for folks. But others to Model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Renewal of baptismal vows on the Jordan River. Lunch in Jericho. Qumran then floating on the Dead Sea and riding camels is always a hoot.
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St. Paul did NOT Write for Us! https://t.co/fvzy5arzXz
Mass in the Garden of Gethsemane, One of the most moving times for the pilgrims around the rock where Jesus sweat drops of blood. It’s called hematidrosis in medical lingo. Olive trees over 2000 years old. Ascension, upper Room, Dungeon of Christ and more.
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Dinner in Dabkha Dancing in Bethlehem! https://t.co/x0ihfjsI8M
Via Dolorosa at 5:30 to the Holy Sepulchre to touch the top of Calvary.
We then did a tour of the church and Mass at the tomb with Franciscan‘s and the pipe organs. As soon as the Mass was over we went in, and everyone touched the tomb.
https://t.co/ENJs2x8Yob
Incredible! Early morning Via Dolorosa, Calvary, and Mass at the Tomb! https://t.co/O4UlSIrAVX
The Trail of Blood: “Baptist Successionism” Can Baptists trace their history back to Jesus? https://t.co/btid31vFAN
We spent the whole day today in Bethlehem! Today will take up two videos — the first will cover the events of the day and the second one will cover our dinner and the fun dancing with all the local Christians.
https://t.co/qFFWiVSdgB
Who Chose the Books of the Bible? Are the Books “Self-authenticating”? https://t.co/Ad59uLo1Yw
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Boat-ride on Galilee, Mass at Capernaum, Peter’s Fish, Visitation & Jerusalem https://t.co/6uE6K07vFm