Book Comment: Los Hermanos Penitentes

             Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno (The Brothers of the Pious Fraternity of Our Father Jesus the Nazarene) is a catholic lay fraternity active in Colorado and New Mexico. The group is insular and secretive and intensely religious. Membership is only by application to an official of the fraternity.

The group began in the early 19th century, after Mexico achieved independence from Spain. Devout men in isolated Mexican communities with few or no priests organized their own independent religious societies based on strictly orthodox doctrinal stances.

Where the penitentes are considered to be extreme is in their practice of penances to atone for their sins. These penances are said to include flagellation, carrying heavy crosses, cross-shaped incisions on their bodies, and crucifixions where a man is tied to a cross. There is a question as to whether the crucifixions are still practiced.

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As with most books such as this, what you get from the book depends on what you bring with you. You may not agree with everything the author says. Luke (see below) advises you to think for yourself. Read your Bible and to listen to what it says. Do not believe anything just because someone else told to believe it; let the Holy Spirit guide you to the truth.

A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

Information you will need to search for this book: Horka-Follick, Lorayne Ann, Los Hermanos Penitentes: A Vestige of Medievalism in Southwestern United States (New York: Tower Publications, Inc., 1969)

The Jesus Vine

I do not for one second believe that this is a divine manifestation, but it is very interesting.  Every time something like this happens people rush to declare it a "sign."  To me it is a sign that people are desperate for "proof."  The problem with "proof" is that knowing is not faith, knowing is not trusting.  The devil and his demons know, and they believe (James 2:19).

A self-described non-believer noticed that a patch of kudzu vine on a telephone pole in Littleton, Colorado resembled Jesus hanging on the cross .  Pause the video at 00:55 and look at the clearly visible face.

The signs are all around us for anyone who has not intentionally shut their eyes and ears.  We don't need to see Jesus in the water stains on a wood door, on the browned portions on a piece of toast , in the shape of a cheese puff , or in a vine hanging on a telephone poll.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

The World Ends Next Saturday

www.FAMILYRADIO.com has bought billboards and a very expensive full page advertisement in the USA Today newspaper to announce that the end of the world will begin with a worldwide earthquake on Saturday, 21 May 2011.

They acknowledge that Mark 13:32 says, "But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."  They say, "The Bible declares that "No Man Knows" is describing the unsaved condition of mankind.  If you are saved then we may know all things spiritually discerned in God's Word."  They also deny that "the Son" mentioned in Mark 13:32 is Jesus; they say the Son is Satan, the "son of perdition."  The "angels in heaven" are the fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven because of their rebellion against God.  (I will have something to say about these claims later). 


The theology expressed here and the dating of the Judgement Day are based on the calculations of Harold Camping (b. 1921, Colorado, USA).  He previously announced that the Rapture would occur in 1994.


If the announcement is correct, then all Spirit-led Christians are ready.  I am ready as all of you should be, but what I suspect will happen is nothing.  The followers of Harold Camping will join a long line of other disappointed people who have thought that the date that they set was the proper one.  And the result will be that they will have brought reproach and derision upon the Church, the ἐκκλησία.