Well, *Something* Crashed

Did You Know? Although the crash of *whatever* came down near Roswell, NM occurred “about three weeks” earlier, on July 8, 1947 the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) public information officer Walter Haut in Roswell, New Mexico, issued a press release stating that personnel from the field’s 509th Bomb Group had recovered a crashed “flying disk” from a ranch near Roswell, sparking intense media interest. The following day, the press reported that Commanding General of the Eighth Air Force (Roger M. Ramey) stated that, in fact, a radar-tracking balloon had been recovered by the RAAF personnel, not a “flying disc.” This was very shortly after aviator Kenneth Arnold’s June 24 sighting of objects that he said skipped in the air like “saucers” skipping on water (leading to the term “flying saucers,” though he did not describe saucer-like objects). Unlike the Arnold incident, the Roswell crash was forgotten for nearly 30 years until ufologists revived it in the 1970s. Since 1947 the U.S. government has acknowledged that *something* crashed at Roswell, but it denies that it was a flying saucer. LEARN MORE.

Final Solution? Infant Circumcision Outlawed In Germany!

Sometimes today you encounter stories that are truly jaw-dropping, like this one being reported by the Washington Post.

Headlined, “The Crime of Circumcision,” it deals with a ruling issued by a judge in Germany that prohibits Jews from circumcizing their baby boys:

A district judge in Cologne, Germany, recently ruled that ritual circumcision is a crime, violating “the fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity,” which outweighs other parental and religious rights. “This change runs counter to the interests of the child,” the court concluded, “who can decide his religious affiliation himself later in life.”

Circumcision is a rite central to the Jewish faith and is, in fact, the rite by which a male becomes part of the Jewish community.

The circumcision of infants is also expressly commanded by Jewish law, which requires the circumcision of baby boys on the eighth day after birth.

Unsurprisingly, the decision is being condemened by religious folks:

German religious figures from all the Abrahamic faiths criticized the Cologne ruling, with particular outrage expressed by Jewish leaders. ­Dieter Graumann, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called it “outrageous and insensitive” and warned that a general application of the decision would “coldbloodedly force Judaism into illegality.”

KEEP READING.

First (And Last) Edition

Did You Know? The Nauvoo Expositor published its first and only edition in Nauvoo, Illinois on July 7, 1844. The reason this was its only edition it was published by disaffected Mormons who criticized Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, in print. A few days later Smith and the Nauvoo city council ordered the destruction of the paper’s printing press. This initiated a series of events that led to the death of Joseph Smith on July 27. LEARN MORE.

What Happened to You, Amelia?

Did You Know? American aviatrix Amelia Earhart sent her last transmission on July 2, 1937 before vanishing during her approach to Howland Island in the Pacific. Though she almost completely certainly dead by now (she was born in 1897), her precise fate remains a mystery. My theory: She ran out of gas and crashed into the Pacific and perished that day. LEARN MORE.

The Weekly Benedict: 1 July, 2012

This  version of The Weekly Benedict covers material released in the last week from 20 June – 29 June 2012  (subscribe here; get as an eBook version for your Kindle, iPod, iPad, Nook, or other eBook reader):

Angelus

General Audience

Homilies

There’s Too Much Confusion, Said the Joker to the Thief

Did You Know? Charles Taze Russell published the first issue of the Jehovah’s Witness magazine The Watchtower on July 1,1879. Back then it was called “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence.” The first edition ran 6,000 copies. Today the public (as opposed to study) edition runs 42,000,000 copies, giving it the largest magazine circulation in the world. LEARN MORE.

Why Are There Unicorns in the Bible?

If you read some older English translations of the Bible, like the Catholic Douay-Rheims (pub. 1609) or the Protestant King James (pub. 1611) you come across some passages that seem a bit mysterious. For example in the Douay-Rheims, in Psalms 91:11 we read:

But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn.

In the equivalent verse in the King James (Ps. 92:10) we read:

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn.

In reading such passages, you might think, what on earth does that mean? In these cases, the horn is being used as a symbol of strength or vigor. The Psalmist is saying that thanks to God, I’m going to be given a lot of strength and vigor, so praise God.

Fine, but what’s this stuff about unicorns? I, mean does this mean unicorns are real?

In this video we go to the heart of the matter and reveals the startling truth about what the Bible might be referring to in these passages.

We also look at how the word “unicorn” got into these passages in the first place and what ancient but real creature the translators may have been referring to. (Unless you’ve heard this before, it can come as a real surprise.

Here’s the video!

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By the way, if you haven’t joined the Secret Information Club, there’s lots of cool stuff waiting for you for FREE. You should click here to learn more or use this form to sign up:

If you have any difficulty, just email me at jimmy@secretinfoclub.com.

I’ve also got a transcript of the unicorn episode that you can read:

And you can listen to or download the audio podcast version. (Just click the “Play” icon to listen.)

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