Monthly Archives: January 2013

Hebrew Play with MLK

Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in my opinion for all intents and purposes a 20th century American martyr.

The good minister’s initials are of course MLK, which just happens to also be a first semester Hebrew word. MLK in Hebrew (pronounced ‘melek’, remember their language was written before the invention of vowels) means ‘king’. So the good minister was a king in more languages than one!

In today’s liturgical reading from Hebrews 7 the author references Melchizedek from both Genesis and Psalm 110. The word ‘Melchizedek’ begins with ‘MLK’ and ends with ‘ZDK’, which is the Hebrew word for righteousness.

About Melchizedek, Hebrews 7:2b reads: “His name first means righteous king, and he was also “king of Salem,” that is, king of peace.” We know Melchizedek from Genesis at the time of Abraham; he was the king of Salem, which was the ancient (pre-Davidic) name for Jerusalem.

Salem spelled in Hebrew (remember, drop the written vowels) is SLM. The Hebrew consonant ‘S’ is sometimes pronounced as our ‘s’ and sometimes as our ‘sh’, so in Hebrew SLM can be either ‘Salem’ or ‘Shalom’, the Hebrew word for ‘peace’. (An aside: the Arab word for peace is ‘Salaam’). So as is noted by the author of the Letter to the Hebrews, Melchizedek as ‘king of Salem’ is also ‘king of peace’.

So Melchizedek is in the Bible, both O.T and N.T., as a type or precursor for Jesus Christ, our king of peace. What a great image as we remember this week the foremost Christian hero of the civil rights movement. MLK was truly a testament pointing to Jesus Christ, the true ‘King of Peace’!

— Eric Wolf

Who Should Produce Money?

Farmers product food to eat. Fishermen catch fish to eat, Henry Ford produced automobiles to drive. Proctor and Gamble produces soap to wash our hands. Who should print our money? Banks for profit to the banks? Or the government for the common good of society?

Five  Intrinsically  Evil Acts

  1. Private creation of exchange medium (money)  is sinful. Only the government, for the common good of society, can morally create money.
  2. Socialism is opposed to human freedom and dignity. Union of state and school is evil socialism.
  3. Censorship of God, Logos, truth, science, life or education or life is the grievous sin of blasphemy. (insulting or degrading God)
  4. Civil law that compels violation of an  upright conscience.
  5. For any Catholic to contradict any one of the above four acts.

— Robert J. Conlon