Think On These Things...

Who needs the word ‘Trinity’ in The Word to see it?

2011-10-28T14:37:00.000-06:00

One of the clearest pictures and most obvious example of the Trinity in scripture is given to us in the gospel of Matthew where it relates the baptism of Jesus in chapter 3, verses 16-17:

“And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; (17) and behold, a voice [the Father] from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (ESV)

“And Jesus, when He [Jesus] was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: (17) And lo a voice [the Father] from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (KJV)

“After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, (17) and behold, a voice [the Father] out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (NASB)

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he [John] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. (17) And a voice [the Father] from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (NIV)

Translation to translation, it doesn’t change even though some of the wording does. Be it the Geneva, Darby, Bishops, King James; nor in the Weymouth, RSV, HCSB, the BBE, CEV, GNB. Not even in a paraphrase like The Message where the description of the event is clearly and always the same.

In Matthew’s gospel account, all three persons of the Trinity are identifiable and simultaneously present. Each one is doing something apart from the other two, and doing something different from the other two.

God the Son (Jesus) is baptized in the water, and anointed by the Holy Spirit of God.

God the Holy Spirit descends on His shoulder and anoints/empowers Him as Messiah.

God the Father speaks of His pleasure at this event from the heavens above.

I don’t pretend that seeing this, and realizing it as truth is anywhere near being able to fully grasp and understand it, but how much clearer does it have to be given to be accepted as existing?

Luke recounts the exact same thing as happening in the third chapter of his gospel in verses 21-22:

Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, (22) and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice [the Father] came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

Paul, the greatest of the Apostles spoke of it existing in 2Corinthians 13, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 2, and 5, and Peter expressed it directly in 1Peter 1:2 when he stated how it is put together for our benefit (the Trinity exists for us!!):

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

Sure, there is a difference of opinion on the inclusion of 1John 5:7, but the difference doesn’t arise from what it says, merely if it originally said it at the spot in the texts. Proof that no difference of opinion exists regarding what it says can be found in verse 8 (which no one disputes) that begins with, “And there are three that bear witness…”

In Matthew chapter 28, verses 18-20 Jesus Himself says:

(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (19) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

All I have written here is just scratching the surface of just how often the scriptures speak of, and teach of the existence of the Triune nature of our great God. There are dozens of other verses we could reference, and I would suggest seeking them out and studying them as well, but honestly, I fail to see how anyone can go through even the handful of instances here in this writing and deny the existence of the Trinity; at least for any other possible reason than that they just plain do not want to accept it.

Whether that desire to reject it comes from frustration at not being able to understand the nature of the Trinity more fully (our vanity and pride are always near to the surface), or from some deeper issues (rebellion etc), I don’t pretend to know. I do know that I was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and only by those three names would I consent to baptize another, in order to do as my God (which they in One are) commanded us.

We can choose to read books and commentaries (and there are hundreds) by the historic church fathers as well as by modern church leaders on the doctrine(s) of the Trinity, both pro and con. Doing this may give a us a deeper understanding of how it works, or a better idea of why it exists than we can manage on our own, BUT…the only thing we actually need to be able to find and prove and accept it, is the Holy Word of God’s book , the Bible, and hearts willing to listen.

Garden of Good & Oil

2011-10-27T09:58:00.001-06:00

The Garden of Eden was the most luxuriant incredible piece of living real estate that ever existed; nothing has ever been as beautiful or vibrant.(Gen 2:8-9)

Oil comes from petroleum. Petroleum is a fossil fuel. Fossil fuels are created by the breakdown of life - plant and animal.(Ecc 3:20)

The largest reserves of oil (by a wide margin) on earth lie underneath the area that the Bible says was the location of Eden. (Genesis 2:10-14, Daniel 10:4, etc)

Man's pursuit of oil and the wars it has/will create(d), is ultimately nothing more or less than the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.(Eze 38:2-7)

Only God knows the hour, but make no mistake, the end IS coming.(Rev 3:3)

2/3 - 1/3 - and us

2011-10-27T09:56:00.001-06:00

The Word tells us that God created great legions of Angels, thousand and thousands ("ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" - Revelation 5:11); that they are without number ("an innumerable company of angels" - Hebrews 12:22).

The Word does not ever teach that people become angels after death; it tells us that angels are a separate creation of God from man - they are NOT glorified dead people. (Luke 20:34-36, Matthew 22:30)

2/3 of these Heavenly creatures chose to remain loyal to God the Father when Lucifer incited his rebellion, and lead by Michael they defended Heaven against Satan and his armies. They are to this very day and until the end of time, still holy, still pure - perfect as they were at the moment of their creation, and they can never have need of redemption by Christ's blood.

The other 1/3 of the angelic host rebelled, allied themselves with Lucifer, making war against Heaven, and were at the end cast out along with their leader. These fallen angels are commonly called demons and they will never be forgiven, they are damned and can never have salvation, never be redeemed.

Neither of these two groups of beings can ever really truly comprehend the indefinable gift God created for mankind in the crucifixion and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ - "Amazing Grace" is our song alone, ONLY wretches like you and I can be saved by it. Only you and I have need of it. Only you and I have been offered it.

Thank you Lord God for such unspeakable compassion, such bewildering mercy, such unmatchable love. Thank you my glorious King for choosing me, and for allowing me to proclaim your glory to the world!

"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." - Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:43)

Asuza Street Shuffle...

2011-04-09T15:45:00.001-06:00

Today in 1909 marks a landmark of sorts in Pentecostal history. Under the leadership of evangelist William J. Seymour, the first "group outbreak" of tongues occurred in Los Angeles. The event marked the start of what became a three-year-long occurence known as the "Azusa Street Revival."

The practice of "corporate tongues" is still taught by many pentecostals, and is still a bone of contention among many conservative churches and leaders. The issue is not whether or not the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is still available to the church today - many will allow for the possibilities; the issue is that how it is practiced, taught, and called-for by many cannot be supported by the sciptures.

Proverbs 6:23

2009-08-27T22:42:00.001-06:00

In the KJV, Proverbs 6:23 reads:

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:”

You’re probably much more familiar with another rendering of this same thought quoted in Psalm 119:105 and other places:

Psalm 119:105 - NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

This bit of verse is a great encouragement, and I have used it and thought on it often, but when I recently came across this variant reading in Proverbs, it struck home much differently.

Rather than instilling a feeling that was light and joyful (which it should), it had a much more serious tone and mood. Good example of how which words we use affect what we say to people!

Proverbs 6:23 - For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

The ‘commandment’ it says. In Hebrew, the word is mitzvah (mits-vaw) and it means law, ordinance, or precept. So “Thy word”, God’s word, is law. And if we back up a few verses in Psalm 119, verses 98-100 say:

“Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. (99) I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. (100) I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

God’s word teaches us all we need to know to overcome our enemies rightly, we understand more than our teachers and philosophers of God because we meditate on what God says, what it means, like we’re doing right now, AND…very importantly…AND we obey His laws.

The verse in Proverbs says that His commandments, His Words, are a lamp to us. There are several variations in the Hebrew, - nîyr nir nêyr nêr nêrâh – that come out as neer or nay-raw. But the primitive root, the proper meaning is “to glisten”, as a candle, a lamp (which means “the burner”).

In Revelation 2:5, Jesus says very flatly: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

Whoa! Don’t forget, we fell from grace, we must repent AND do the first works (i.e. live out our faith by our works for His Kingdom), or else! Or else what?

God puts light into us, he sends the Holy Spirit into us to light the dark hole of our souls – fills them with Holy light – saves us. Right? Right.

Well Jesus says here that if we do not repent – if we do not submit to Him, be changed by Him, live for Him, BE HIS…He will remove our candlestick. Our candlesticks (which hold the light they are given) are our souls. Jesus will remove our souls out of His place – His presence, removed from the light – Jesus Himself, forever and ever.

This is heavy stuff. Encouraging? Yes. Uplifting? Yes, when we look at it properly; but “bouncy”? Not on your life. Let’s go back to the verse:

Proverbs 6:23 - For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

So the commandment is a lamp to us, and the lamp is filled with light, and we know that Jesus is light. Light, 'ôr (ore) in Hebrew, illumination, luminary – bright, clear in every sense.

The last half of the verse says that “reproofs of instruction” are the way Jesus leads us through this life and into eternal life. Well, what does “reproof” mean? Going again to the Hebrew this verse was written in, reproof means: tôkêchâh tôkachath (to-kay-khaw', to-kakh'-ath) is chastisement, correction. Psalm 141:5ab says, “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness:”. And delving back into Proverbs where we started, Chapter 15, verse 31 says: “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.

Has anyone ever been more righteous than Jesus Christ? No. Has anyone ever been wiser than God is? No. Who better than Jesus Christ to show us the correct way to go, the right thing to do, the proper way to think and act? Right?

And yet, too often when He is kind to us, offering us correction and forgiveness rather than the sentence and damnation we deserve, we refuse it. We refuse to even acknowledge it. We ignore His holy word, or we pick and choose bits we like while we cast away or worse still – create weak interpretations – of the parts that make us uncomfortable, that make us feel bad, that make us look at ourselves in the light, His light.

Proverbs 6:23 is a glorious verse that speaks great and powerful truth to us; it should be inspiring, it should be uplifting, and it should be serious and somberly meditated on; often. It should not ever be candy-coated, it’s light taken too lightly.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1-5)

I pray that we not have the light that is within us be a temporary one only which Jesus removes at the end of days. That we not have our candlesticks extinguished because we grasped only the little flicker that the Holy Spirit placed in us, and never truly took hold and stoked it into the might flame it was sent into us to become.

I pray that we be truly His, and look to His light as the only good and true way to live, to life.

I pray that we be Godly men, and not stumbling around in our own darkness only to find ourselves forever lost when we finally see His beautiful face.

75-80% of Americans profess to be Christians, but…added refrain

2009-04-29T22:44:00.001-06:00

In my most recent post I had stated (in reference to John 3) that:

"So what it actually says is "born of water", referring to physical birth, of his mother's womb, whose water breaks in the process of childbirth. That is being born. Born again it says, is being "of the Spirit" reborn, regenerated by God, filled (in-dwelt) with the Holy Spirit: Saved. As Jesus said "born of the flesh is flesh", and "born of the Spirit is spirit"; not baptised of the flesh is flesh and baptised of the Spirit is spirit."

A person whose opinions I hold in high regard mentioned that they felt I was incorrect that Jesus was referring to physical birth at all in the passage, and explained why they felt so. I explained why I think as I do, and that it was okay that we disagreed on this point in this situation. We both agreed that none of us are perfect, and we both have heard others make statements that we disagreed with about more important topics of verse.

I've been thinking a bit about it since then, and find that while I stand by my thoughts on the topic, maybe the problem was one of misunderstanding one another, and if so, that was likely by my doing a poor job of explaining my stance. Given that very real possibility, I've decided to add this secondary post in which I directly quote a passage from Adam Clarke's Commentary On The Bible that is in regards to the section of the Book of John, Chapter 3 in question.

"Every man must have two births, one from heaven, the other from earth - one of his body, the other of his soul: without the first he cannot see nor enjoy this world, without the last he can not see nor enjoy the kingdom of God. As there is an absolute necessity that a child should be born into the world, that he may see its light, contemplate its glories, and enjoy its good, so there is an absolute necessity that the soul should be brought out of its state of darkness and sin, through the light and power of the grace of Christ, that it may be able to see, ιδειν, or, to discern, the glories and excellencies of the kingdom of Christ here, and be prepared for the enjoyment of the kingdom of glory hereafter."

75-80% of Americans profess to be Christians, but…

2009-04-29T15:01:00.004-06:00

One day I stumbled across a "Christian Blog Discusion" while searching out some other information. The subject title of the discussion was: "Baptism Guarantees Salvation", and I was intrigued enough to begin reading. I read through quite a large bit more material than what I am going to post-comment on here, but this is more than enough to grasp the thrust of the beliefs and ideas offered on the subject.

To make it easier to follow, I will post comments from the blog in orange, and my comments regarding what they say in light blue. I am also leaving capitalization, grammar, and spelling exactly as they appeared.

"there is not just one thing that guarantees salvation.---batieste on 3/13/09"

Nothing was offered as an example of just what things do guarantee salvation by the writer, but the error is obvious enough in the sentence as it is written. The Bible states quite clearly:

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." - Acts 4:12

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. - John 14:6

"batieste" further stated the following in a corresponding post…

"(st.john 3:3-7) you need to be baptised in jesus name and baptised in the holy ghost---batieste"

That passage of the Bible states:

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (3:4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? (3:5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (3:6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (3:7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

So what it actually says is "born of water", referring to physical birth, of his mother's womb, whose water breaks in the process of childbirth. That is being born. Born again it says, is being "of the Spirit" reborn, regenerated by God, filled (in-dwelt) with the Holy Spirit: Saved. As Jesus said "born of the flesh is flesh", and "born of the Spirit is spirit"; not baptised of the flesh is flesh and baptised of the Spirit is spirit.

"batieste" also posted this:

"speaking in tongues(acts 2:1-4)(mark16:15-20)you need all of that to see heaven says jesus. you also need to repent everyday. even though you have done all of this you can back slide and miss heaven.---batieste"

Sorry. The fact that scripture states that at the day of Pentecost when 3,000 were converted (Go Peter Go!), the Spirit gave them the ability to speak to and understand one another in each other's own tongue (language) is in no way a "proof" of the incorrect idea that many Pentecostals adhere to which says if you do not speak in tongues, you are not saved. The instances of tongues written about at the day of Pentecost can more rightly be seen as a symbol that repenting and becoming saved brought the spiritual reunion of the nations who were scattered in their tongues at the tower of Babel. To attempt to use speaking in tongues as a proof of salvation is utter baloney, and it does nothing but promote people to intentionally babble in front of other church people to attempt to show/prove they are saved. False glossolalia is not only un-Biblical on the face of it, but is also another form of the type of false worship used by Pharisees to show themselves as holier than everyone else.

In the verses from Mark 16, Christ speaks of baptism as regards the influx of the Holy Spirit into one who believes, and when he says they shall speak with new tongues (16:17) "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues", He is inferring that they, having been redeemed unto God, will now speak the words of the Lord to everyone they encounter so that they also may be saved.

"Why debate this? Just do whatever Jesus tells you to do. But, as far as the guarantee goes: Nothing is guaranteed. We have free will which means we can reject our Salvation at anytime we wish.---Natalie2 on 3/13/09"

Just doing whatever Jesus tells us to do is the perfect thing to do…so long as by that we mean what He tells us to do by His words contained in the Bible, not by some vague feeling in the pit of our stomachs as proof of His desires for us, etc. The Word tells us, and anything that is true of Christ will be supportable by the Word.

Arminianism teaches that by your free will one can reject Christ, even after having accepted Him as Savior. This of course opens the door to arguments about being re-saved and re-re-saved and so on as if salvation is a toaster we can keep returning and buying again at the local department store, rather than the most incredible, incomprehensible event that is blessed upon us - who all deserve nothing but the fires of Hell – by the most glorious, merciful, and compassionate lover of our souls: Jesus Christ. You can surely tell that I do wholeheartedly disagree with the Arminian stance on this subject, but I most often hear it so simply and matter-of-factly put from folks who haven't really ever dug into why it is taught to them in the first place.

"were talking about salvation. once you are baptised of the water and of the spirit you are written in the book of life. but you have to maintain living a holy life. 2 Peter 3:17 (New International Version)"

Once you have been saved, not once you have been baptized, no one can erase your name from the book; but you are expected (commanded) to live a holy life unto God.

"if heaven was where war and sin broke out then surely heaven has been tainted with it. Only paradise qualifies where by it remains absolute perfect(no improvements required). ---earl on 2/10/09"

"Jesus stated he is preparing a place for the believers who have once lived for him on earth.If construction has occured then the domain he speaks of will some day compare with perfection but it has beginnings therefore disqualifying heaven as having achieved perfection comparable to paradise.---earl on 2/7/09"

Here is one who decided to attack the subject of Heaven and Paradise by use of really bad eisegesis - he imputes what he wants the text to be saying, and does so by playing on the words in a context of his choosing. Eisegesis as a way of interpreting the Bible is ALWAYS bad, but this instance is about as weak as it gets. So, let's clear this up in one short statement: Christ said He was going to "prepare" a place, not "construct" a place - NOT the same thing at all. Not enough? Okay. If I have company coming to stay with me, and I say I am going to "prepare" a room for them, I mean get a bed ready, closet space, alarm clock etc. If I said I was going to "construct" a room for them, then you could safely assume I was going to build an addition onto my house.

"If we believe that Jesus died for us personally we are saved, and have eternal life with him.---Mark on 1/5/09"

By this simplification, I could sit at a nudie bar stuffing dollar bills into places I shouldn't, snorting cocaine, and shooting people with a .45, and so long as I choose to believe Jesus died for me personally...I'm golden. Not!

First we have to face up to the fact and admit that we are sinners, and as such deserve only death and nothing more (Romans 3:23, 6:23). So we must repent (turn from our sin) before God. We must truly believe and also admit that Jesus Christ is Lord, is God, and ask for His forgiveness. (Romans 10:9, 10:13) We realize and accept that Christ, out of unwarranted love for us, stepped down into humanity and walked as a physical yet sinless human being - God in the flesh, and was crucified - tortured and killed violently on a cross for us, for our sins, so that we might be redeemed - saved. And in doing all of this we submit ourselves unto the rule of Jesus Christ for now and forever as our Master, our Lord and King. Simply believing Jesus came and went for you is meaningless, as it says in James "even the demons believe". Believe AND tremble, the demons (unlike most of us) are wise enough to be fearful of Holy God.

"If someone gets baptised just for social or ritual purposes or just to conform to what your family expect, and without 'authentic belief and confession', would that baptism be valid? ---alan_of_UK on 12/21/08"

In God's eyes, it would not only be invalid, it would a grave sin. One no one in their right mind should ever consider committing. Impress your family by having scruples and integrity – even when it opposes them. And Christ even said that anyone who doesn't put Him high above their parents, family and friends wishes cannot belong to Him.

"Baptism is essential for salvation. <snipped>Baptism is not an option. ---denna9368 on 12/11/08"

Denna started with the incorrect view stated in sentence one, and went on about that point for a while. However, her final sentence - on its own - was actually correct: Baptism is not an option for the believer. God has said in His word that once we are saved we are to be baptized as a symbol to the world that we have died to ourselves and risen as new creatures in Christ who now lives in us and through us to shine His light to others in the world (Galatians 2:20). It's sad how often the things we "struggle" with understanding about God, are really just us looking for loopholes in His word. We all want to live like God gave us the Ten Suggestions, and a little encouraging life-chat on the mount for dessert.

"Actually Baptism guarantees salvation given the time and place of baptism, it allows admission into heaven, it absolves Original sin. 'all' sin is washed away as "a one & first time only" so if you die as an adult 'immediately after Baptism' you get (salvation) admitted.This Baptism of desire repentance as seen By Jesus in the Good thief is a prime example of his salvation.Ps: you should get Catholic First hand information from the correct source.Take lessons!!---MIC on 12/10/08"

Thus speaks the Catechism and the Vatican, but it is not supportable by the text of the Bible itself, and the Bible always stands first and foremost over all other things. If something is true, it will not contradict the Bible, and you do not ever need the Bible plus something else to be forgiven, to be saved, or to have close contact with God. There is one Intercessor given to us by the Father, and that is His son. You CAN be completely assured of gaining entrance to Heaven, you don't have to live your life as if it is all a raffle that can fall apart at any second if you can't happen to find your ticket stub at some point.

" Baptism does not guarantee salvation there is no guarentee to salvation it can be thrown away at any time.but if you have the baptism of the Holy Ghost than as long as you keep the Holy Ghost he is a guarantee but if you lose him you loose your warenty. Calvinism teaches saved by baptism not the bible.---HENRY on 12/9/08"

I'm not using this one to start whacking away at Arminianism, and honestly, it does a good enough job on its own at showing just how vapid much of the folks who hold to that school of theology are. However, I am going to address the last sentence " Calvinism teaches saved by baptism not the bible.". Utter and complete carpola!! Calvinism does no such thing in any way shape or form, and stating such only serves to show that the writer is totally ignorant of what Calvinism teaches, more so even than his ignorant exposition of the Arminianism he aspires to believe.

He ought to get himself checked out while he's still under "warenty".

"Baptism is a very important step in salvation. It is absolutely essentialfor candidates to be baptized by immersion in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. ---lorna5589 on 12/9/08"

"Candidates" she says. That tells you more than enough about how she forms her beliefs about baptism - solely on what someone in a church told her rather than on what the Bible actually says. Candidates! Faith as Fraternity! Sheesh!!

"Baptism is a symbolism which Jesus did once He believed God was His heavenly Father.---Karen on 12/9/08"

This started off okay, but after the first four words it went as far south of okay as I can possibly imagine. "Once He believed God was His heavenly Father" she said. As much as people either cannot spell and have no sense of grammar, or are just too lazy to employ any (or to even use Word's built-in checkers), I appreciate Karen taking the time to be respectful and capitalizing the name of Jesus, He, and God. However, I would like to know where she ever got the idea that Jesus spent 30+ years walking around NOT believing that God was His Father. Jesus always knew who He was, and I'd ask anyone who tried to tell me different to begin by explaining their way out of Luke 2:49 - "And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" He was 12 years old and He was already doing His Father's business as in God the Almighty, not father as in step-dad Joseph's. He was teaching the priests about the scriptures, not hammering together a table for them to place their chalices on during services.

And it just went on and on, page after page of outright junk. There were a few who had their theology and major doctrines right, and fewer of those even who could reasonably articulate it, but the vast majority of the posts (an easy 95%) were of the nature and form I've presented here.

Is it any wonder then that 75-80% of Americans think/profess to be Christians when nearly no one even has a right grasp of what that truly means or how it comes about?

Book of James, Chapter 2, v.15-16

2009-01-21T10:53:00.001-06:00

James 2:15-16 - If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, (16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Verse 15 begins with James naming the person(s) in question as a "brother" or "sister". Since James is writing his epistle to the already converted, to Christians, we can confidently presume that he is stating that a fellow believer in Christ is in need ("naked" = without clothing, covering, coat. "destitute of daily food" = hungry, unfed, without sustenance). So, we can say that James is describing a needy brother/sister in Christ.

Verse 16a begins by saying that if we turn them away "Depart in peace" and ends by saying in 16b that we didn't give them what they needed, what good ("what doth it profit?") is our professed faith? If we claim to be Christians, the redeemed children of Holy God, and we refuse to help even those who are like us - who believe in Christ - when they need it, what good are we to the Kingdom? Let's look again at the first half of verse 16: "And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled;", which is broken into three pieces that work very well for this illustration.

•    "And one of you say unto them" - Any Christian that has been asked for help and responds with...
•    "Depart in peace" - Leave. Go away empty-handed but quietly, without causing problems...
•    "be ye warmed and filled" - May you get what you need...somewhere else, by someone else...

Now take the second half of the verse and break it down.

•    "notwithstanding ye give them not" - Though they have need, and you know it, you do not give...
•    "those things which are needful to the body" - This is really two-fold: (1) "needful to the body" as in things that are needed physically by the physical body. (2) "needful to the body" as in things that are needed by the spiritual body, the body of Christ, things needed by all believers...
•    "what doth it profit?" - What good are you to those people in need? What good are you to the work of the kingdom? What good are you...to the body of Christ?

The definition for 'destitute' as used in verse 15 is: Those whose souls have been laid bare. Bare. Without. Their bodies are...without. Their souls are...without. And you, a professing Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, a servant of the Lord, send them on their way in exactly the same state as when you encountered them. So then, what profit has come of your "faith"?

Psalm 102:16-17 says: "When the LORD shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory. He will regard the prayer of the DESTITUTE, and not despise their prayer."

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:3, 5:5). The Lord God when He appears in glory, will "regard" their prayers, and not "despise" them.

Do you think that God will not hold to your charge that those prayers which could have been answered by you, His agent on earth, went unheeded until He returned? Is it not our duty, our oblagation of love to Jesus, to do as He told us to do? To follow in His footsteps, walk as He walked, do the work given of the Father? What did Jesus do when He met those in need? He filled their needs. Jesus never brushed someone aside with a W.C. Fields wave of the hand and a snide retort of "Go away kid, ya bother me!" Jesus met peoples needs. Day after day after day. He met their needs when they brought them to Him, and He met their needs by going and seeking them out. He provided to them those things which were needful to them.

At the start of His ministry, when He returned from his 40 day battle with the worm in the wilderness, He went into the temples and synagogues and taught; and then when He got home to Nazareth, He went to temple on the sabbath day to read...

Luke 4:17 - "And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias (Isaiah). And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written,"

And He read from Isaiah, although it reads as slightly paraphrased in Luke...

Luke 4:18 - "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,"

(In Isaiah 61:1 it reads: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;)

So at the outset, Jesus stated very publicly that He
•    Had the Spirit of the Lord upon Him - He had the power of the Holy Ghost
•    God had anointed him to preach the gospel - He had been called to it
•    To preach to the poor (meek) - Needful people
•    To heal (bind up) the brokenhearted - Needful people
•    To preach deliverance (liberty) to the captives - Needful people
•    To give sight to the blind - Needful people
•    To free the bruised (bound) - Needful people

He concluded the reading by telling them that it was what He was there to do; that on that day, He was letting them know, the scripture as recorded by the prophet Isaiah was now fulfilled (Luke 4:21). Christ continually extolled this mission to His apostles during His ministry on earth, that they should follow in His footsteps, and after His resurrection and ascension they did follow Him...all the way to their deaths they followed Him.

He was the light in the world, they were lamps after him; reflecting Him, just as we have been called to do. We should be going into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature as He did and said to do(Mark 16:15). If we are unwilling to even reflect Jesus among ourselves as James speaks of, how then will the world ever come to know Him? If we will not share our lamp oil with another needy brother or sister in Christ, how can we possibly expect Christianity to be a beacon shining on a hill, drawing the lost to salvation?

Let's read the two verses we began with again...

James 2:15-16 - If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, (16) And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

Meditate on what this text means to you yourself; to your walk with Christ. When you do, adjust it to modern English, or at least, adjust one section to modern English "be ye warmed and filled". If each and every one of us who claim to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, would prayerfully meditate on these two verses, changing that one simple section to it's modern equivalent, I truly believe that the church would see a huge transformation within the body; and if the body be transformed, then so could be much of the world. This change in language is really simple, and I've found it to be personally very convicting...

King James = "be ye warmed and filled".
Modern English = "but I will pray for you".

Book of Acts, Chapter 17, v.28

2009-01-10T02:16:00.001-06:00

"For In Him We Live, And Move, And Have Our Being; As Certain Even Of Your Own Poets Have Said, For We Are Also His Offspring."

Too many folks pick and choose individual verses to create a doctrinal standpoint that suits their desires; and nearly the planet entire misquotes or at least wrongly uses one or two verses on a regular basis. Generally to defend themselves or their actions against truth, such as the ever popular "Judge not!" that is flung about as casually by professed Christians who ought to know better as it is by secularists who ought to learn better.

It's never ever a good idea to build a doctrine on one verse of the Bible, as you are pretty much guaranteed to end up with a false doctrine. Take a long look towards the Vatican for an immense example; all of Roman Catholicism from the Pope on down is built on one verse (Matthew 16:18), and that one verse misinterpreted to provide the meaning wanted.

False teachers, false prophets, are all knowable for this exact thing. If you listen to them for any amount of time, you'll know they are lying, and at some point the basis of their lies will show itself in what they teach/offer. Even the lost will know they are lying sooner or later, or else they'd have an excuse at the judgment (Romans 1:18-20). They will offer no support verses or texts, or if they do, they will be obvious misquotes or perverted ones taken entirely out of all proper context. All of the "name it and claim it" types do this, all the "seed theologists", all the "prosperity" proponents, all of them. TBN is positively rife with this garbage, and it has a clear presence on other religious networks and networks offering religious programming as well.

That isn't to say that all preaching on television is by false profiteers, there are some good solid God-fearing and truth-teaching folks on television, but the majority of it is not only worthless, but dangerous as well.

This verse (Acts 17:28) has struck me time and time again as being an obvious choice for pseudo-Christian pantheists and universalists to point to in order to promote the falsity they choose to follow. By separating it from the context of the passage, it becomes quite easy to twist it unto their use.

"for in Him we live"...we are all alive within God, and we live in Him because He is everything, the whole universe, that's why we...
"move, and have our being" in Him, because He is in all things, in all beings everywhere.
"your own poets have said"...this is not a new concept, people have always known this, and the apostle Paul was teaching that very thing, but legalistic folks with fundamentalist mindsets could never quite get it, so they condemned it instead.
"we are also His offspring"...we are God's kids, we are all of us God's children; so since we are His kids, and we are of Him, and we live and breath inside Him, we and we have God living inside of us,...we are Gods! You,..me,..all of us, are,..Gods!

Each of us IS his or her own God, how cool is that???

See just how easy that is to do? Granted I spent an awfully long time as a devil;s advocate, but anyone can do it easily, all you have to do is start with appealing to people's vanity...and then stay on that horse.

Just like that, in a passage that should be giving insight about God to the reader, one verse can instead be raped, fouled, into outright and complete heresy. All false teachings ultimately lead back to the same roots: our not wanting to be held accountable for our actions (i.e. being rightly judged), and our wanting to be God and having the whole world worshipping us as we worship ourselves and our selfish desirous natures.

If we are all God, or a part of God, as these teachers say, then we only need answer to ourselves, not to God, nor to one another - no one can even claim otherwise.

"Free will" then means we are free to do anything, no matter how vile or evil it is because we are not held accountable. And since we are "all God's children", we are all then going to go to Heaven, because no one - especially not a loving and "Good God" - would send their own kids to something so horrible as Hell right? So then no one is going to have to go to Hell, it's just a misinterpretation of the Bible, or the scriptures have been somehow sullied by men's hands, etc; what sense does it make to even have a Hell at all if everyone is going to Heaven to be with their/our "dad" - God. We will all be saved, even satan. Yes, even satan! After all, he's God's first child isn't he? He'll be forgiven and brought back home just like everyone else.

So heck, you don't even need your fire insurance since there is no fire to be feared! No need to repent and be saved, you're saved already because you belong to God just like everyone else! It's a big Win-Win for the whole wide world!! Now who's for a sing-along of Kumbaiya and some Smores?

Creepy stuff isn't it?

But that is how easily false doctrines first lead us away from the foundations of truth, and then eventually, from any semblance of real truth at all.

ALL false doctrines and teachings will ultimately lead to some form of pantheism, universalism, or some blending of the two, even atheism. Why? Because they allow us to proclaim ourselves as the center of the universe, to hold ourselves on high, to worship us. Idolatry, pure idolatry, and in it's most insidious and popular form: self-idolatry. I love me and you should too!

It's only two verses later that God commands ALL men, EVERYWHERE, to repent of their sins. Why? Because he won't blow it off ("wink" at it) any longer, and He has chosen a day in "which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained". Not He will judge the world AS righteous, He will judge it IN righteousness - the world will be judged as it deserves to be; and it will be done by the one God chose to do it, the "ordained" one, His son, Jesus. Jesus Christ, "whereof he hath given assurance unto all men," - through the resurrection of Christ from the dead we were/are all given the promise of either eternal life OR eternal death.

After being pretty much chased out of two other cities for preaching the gospel and converting people to Christ, Paul (who was in Athens waiting for the return of Silas and Timothy), had his spirit "stirred in him" when he saw that the entire city was "wholly given" over to what? ...Idolatry! "wholly given" - everyone was doing it! And Paul being Paul, he started preaching all over the place - in the synagogue, in the market, in the streets.

Since the Athenians spent all their time always looking for the "newest thing" they could find (that sounds more than a little familiar doesn't it?), they asked Paul to come and tell them all about it, since what he was saying was "new" to them. And Paul of course jumped into the ring, and began teaching them about God. He began by going right after the elephant in the room: their idolatry (much like Jesus who always went right to the heart of a matter with all the folks he dealt with too).

He mocked the fact that they had idols to everything you could think of, that there was even one inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD". Since they were dumb enough to create idols to Gods they didn't even know about - what a perfect starting point to tell them all about...the God they knew nothing about! The one true God!

The God who made the Heavens and the earth, who made all things, who made everything. So what good is a temple that does not hold what cannot be held: He who holds all things within His own hands? Why make a chair or an altar or a pile of food for one who needs nothing, who gives life and breath to all things?

The one true God. The one who wanted "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us" (v.27a). If they would look for Him "haply" - with a right spirit/attitude for the joy of knowing him, they would find him. They'd find him easily in fact because "he be not far from every one of us" (v.27b). Why is He never far away? Because "in Him...we live...and move...and have our being"(v.28a) like we said back at the start. Not because we are "all God's children", we're not; but because we are all His "offspring" - ginomai (ghin'-om-ahee) in Greek. It's a verb that means to cause to "generate", to come into being, to BE...CREATED.

We are all within God's creation, and we are all creations of God.

None of us are Gods, none of us are outside of God's creation, none of us are outside of His wrath, and absolutely none of us are outside of the desperate need of a loving and merciful Savior.

Lord God, harpoon the hearts of the hardened with the pure spear of your Holy Spirit, drag each of them kicking and screaming into the glorious light of You where they have no ability left to do anything except submit. Do this just as you did with each of us who has been mercifully redeemed Father, lay the weight of your irresistible grace upon their shoulders until their knees give way and they kneel before you in complete surrender. Bring as many as you will to repentance, to redemption, to a home forever with You. In the beautiful and powerful name of Jesus Christ - Amen!

Reflections on John 7:1-26

2008-12-18T02:10:00.001-06:00

Reflections on the Book of John,Chapter 7, V1-26
(Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 - 9pm)

The world cannot hate you; but me it hates, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.- John 7:7 (AKJV)

* This is exactly why the world hated Him then, and it's exactly why the world hates Him now. Everyone will say that they like Jesus, that they think He's cool, hip, and they like what He stands for; at least until Jesus speaks as from the scriptures, and then they hate Him. Then they create false Jesus' that they like the image of (graven as they are); and doing that in itself is hating Him.

We hear people say all the time (many believers have said as much) that they don't dislike Jesus per se, they just don't give Him any thought one way or another, and we all nod and accept that as if it were somehow better than those who openly loathe and protest our King. It is no better. If you love Jesus Christ - that means that you submit to Him, repent of your awful sinfulness and spend the rest of your life worshiping and glorifying Him as much as you muster in humble gratitude for His incredible mercy in saving you. Anything other than that, is far less than the least that He deserves. Let's be clear on this point:

Jesus Christ is the Lord High God, who is Holy and Perfect and holds all things together in His hands merely by choosing to do so. He is the most wonderful, incredible, truly awesome being that has ever or will ever exist. As such he deserves absolute and total love and devotion and praise from every living thing that He has created. So, anything less than that, anything less at all, is absolutely equivalent to hating Him. It's just that simple.

And the Jews marveled, saying, How knows this man letters, having never learned? - John 7:15 (AKJV)

* This verse alone effectively cancels out Rob Bell's ridiculous tripe about Jesus being trained and schooled for years and years as a Rabbi (as he prattled on so much about in his "Snow" video from Nooma), and that is the reason why He was such a great teacher and knew the scriptures so well.

Horse manure! The real "snow job" in that video was the utter pile of crud he is trying to teach (subliminally indoctrinate!) into the people who watch it - not the shoveler outside the window: no, the real the shoveler was inside the window sitting in his den...talking trash about God.

Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. - John 7:16 (AKJV)

* Jesus knew the scriptures because they were of God, as He was of God!!! Not because he spent years in some Rabbinical school as Bell insists He did; and the disciples didn't drop their fishing lines and follow Jesus when He told them to "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." because they knew Him to be some hip local professor who held degrees from the local Rabbi U and they wanted to hang out with Him. The real Jewish "scholars", in the local "temple" no less, repudiate that very idea themselves - right here in scripture.

Perhaps Rob Bell would be better to spend time pondering what the scriptures do say, rather than spending as much time as he does trying to convince people of what he thinks they should say.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. - John 7:17a (AKJV)

* There is so much depth in this verse besides the most obvious point(s) that Christ was making (using Himself as a correct illustration): "If any man will do His will" - if anyone will submit himself to serving God as God wants..."he shall know of the doctrine" - the holy spirit of God will give him (put within him in fact) knowledge of God's will, precepts, desires, and commandments..."whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" - and the one who serves God, who is submitted to Him and His will, will be able to discern when what another teaches, says, or does is truly something of God, or merely the wisdom or desires of men: he will know false teaching and false prophets when he encounters them, no matter what they profess.

Big meaty heavy powerful stuff right there!!

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. 25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? John 7:24-25 (AKJV)

* Don't judge someone's godliness by some personal standard of speech, or clothes, or rituals (ala folks and Mark Driscoll oftentimes); but judge him by whether the results truly proclaim the glory of God or not. People worry that someone's hands look dirty, though their works show themselves to be holy. Pharisitical! And the rallying cry of defense that always rings out among the brethren (sadly) as well as the unbelievers: "Judge Not!!! Judge Not!!!!" Those verses are SO abused and mis-contextualized within the church; but that is a subject for another time.

Is not this He, whom they seek to kill? 26 But, see, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. John 7:25b-26a (AKJV)

* They tried to kill Him, to have Him killed, as a mob to run Him out of Dodge at the very least; and How did he respond? He spoke boldly! He would not be shut up, shouted down, or driven away. And they had nothing to say to Him - surely they still murmured, grumbled, even taunted and jeered at some points...but the biblical text says "they say nothing to him". Nothing...of substance, nothing...of depth, nothing...to prove themselves wiser or smarter, nothing...to repudiate the truth He spoke. About that, they...had...nothing...to...say.

Is this true of us as His followers? Do we stand on the truth of the word of God and continue to speak even when non-believers, enemies of the cross try and shout us down? Or do we clam up and slink away at the slightest challenge to the gospel? What was the last thing that Jesus said to the disciples before He ascended? What was his last command to them (and us)?

19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Amen. - Matthew 28:19-20 (AKJV)

Go! You! Not, go pastor, go evangelist, go missionary, but GO YOU! Get up, get out, and spread the gospel to all nations - not some, all. The entire world. Teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ, teach them to repent and turn their lives over to God, and to "observe all things whatever have I commanded" - to live by His ways, His desires, His rules. It is His creation isn't it? How can we obey God, our Lord and master, if we do not take hold of the fire of the spirit he has placed in us, and go out and preach the word to ALL PEOPLE, not just those who wander up and politely ask us if we can tell them anything about this guy Jesus!

ALL means ALL - All the people who get defensive and attack us with loud or nasty rebuttals. All the people who threaten to sue us, or pop us in the mouth if we don't shut up. All the people who point at us and tell everyone else within earshot that we're nutty, regular Jeez-US Freaks! All the people who turn and walk or even run away from the proclamation of the gospel that we speak. We need to speak boldly to them, and then do it again, and again! And then probably, again!!

They literally tried to kill Jesus. They literally tried to have Him killed. Still He spoke!! When was the last time someone actually truly tried to kill one of us for preaching the gospel? When was the last time that you honestly felt your life would be forfeit if you did not just shut up about God and walk away?

It isn't something that happens very often, not to very many people, even in the worst of places. The threats are always there of course, but, the true intent needed to commit murder? Seldom ever seen. And besides, what if it does appear? What if some deranged slathering psycho screaming "I hate Christians!" does run at you with a butcher knife? All he can do, at the very most, is kill your body, and send your soul on a fast flight home to be with your Father in Heaven who loves you and has prepared a place for you with Him, forevermore! That's something to be afraid of??? Seriously? Read that over again:

IF you die, your soul goes on an immediate and fast flight home to be with your Father in Heaven who loves you and has prepared a place for you with Him, forevermore!!

And that is the worst that could happen to you,.. if you belong to Jesus.The worst that could happen to them...to the non-believers you let run you off, is that they could very well end up in the most horrible of all places, prepared for all of those who don't repent, without Him,...forevermore.

So, let us all pray that the very next time, and every time that we are in a place where we have the opportunity to speak of God, to spread his gospel, to draw the damned up out of the darkness and to draw them near to His glorious and merciful light, that we will remember John, Chapter 7, verse 26, and we will not cease to speak boldly! All of eternity is at stake!

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. - Philippians 1:28

A Biblical Process To Handle Disagreements Among Brethren

2008-09-15T09:51:00.001-06:00

Time and again within the church I am made aware of a brother or sister in Christ who has or is handling a disagreement with another brother or sister in an improper manner. Most often I am made aware of it because they (1) tell me either about how they’ve dealt with an issue already, (2) they tell me what so-and-so did/is doing and how upset they are by it, or (3) they come asking how to go about dealing with an issue they are having with someone because they are unsure how to go about it. Needless to say, number #3 is the one I prefer to run into since it usually has the least additional conflict already added.

Am I personally some shining example of how to use this process? No, not in the least, I’ve handled conflicts and problems in my life as poorly as anyone possibly could. I still screw up at this – most often in my personal life – and then have need to repent to God and the injured person. But since I began chasing after God’s ways, it has gotten much, much better, and it continues to (Thank you Lord Jesus!).

It wasn’t until I began actually walking His paths, setting Christ before me in my life, at the head of my life, that I learned of this Biblical model for dealing with disagreements between brothers (and sisters) in Christ Jesus. It was of course right there in scripture waiting for me to read it with an open heart and hungry eyes. And while it is a process to be used especially between believers, the principals of it apply for our dealings with all people in and outside of the faith.

Below I am reprinting an excerpt from an email conversation I had with a brother over a year ago, and my reply to him as it lays out the process I’m talking about. The conversation itself was long and varied (a few weeks actually), and I am only including what pertained to the subject at hand. Even though I am not identifying anyone, I did get his permission first to use his words, which I am printing exactly as he wrote them.

In my words on the subject, I have gone back and corrected my lousy typing in the original, which contains my usual errors, such as keying a semi-colon instead of an apostrophe to create a contraction. Other than that, I have only changed the wording and such on a minimal level for the sake of clarity to the current reader(s).

His words:
“After the service was over I walked up to this "priest" and told him I hoped he would either reform or find another religious faith to belong to since he did not agree with this one. He wanted to argue/debate but I would have none of it. I simply said, "And, I will do everything in my power to make sure you never return to this parish so long as I am a member."

My response:
Having not been present, and not knowing the extent of the disagreement, I can only answer based on what you said in the above paragraph; and with that as my only measuring tool...I'd have to question your actions, and I would completely disagree with the concluding statement you made to him. Why? Not that I manage to do this perfectly myself by any means but...

Matthew 18:15 - Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

We (Christians) are commanded to do all things in love, which would've meant you asking to speak to him privately later. And then when you did speak with him, to do so with the love of Christ - calmly, carefully, and compassionately. Going by what you wrote above, you got a snoot full of attitude (an angry spirit) and waltzed up to the guy proclaiming "Get it right or get out!" If you had arranged to talk with him in private at a later time, you would have then had time to prepare yourself and your spirit for it and then not spoken out of your own upset feelings. James 1:19-20 says: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: (20) For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.).”

At that point, if he listened to you...Hooray! If however he still refused to listen to what you had to say (and that means you being willing to talk with him and discuss it - part of calling someone to repentance is taking the time to be sure there is a clear understanding of the sin involved), you then proceed to the very next verse.

Matthew 18:16 - But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

You take a couple of brothers in the church with you, and you go back and try again. Not as a some kind of lynching party, but as reasonable men who may then be able to gain headway by their way of speaking, or by the combined conviction of multiple voices speaking to him in truth and love. If all of this fails - you will have each other to be able to verify that you each acted properly and correctly in trying to correct this person (In this particular case, you'd most likely have wanted to take some elders of the church with you). And again, if he then listens and repents? Hooray!! But if at that point he still balks, still refuses to own up to his sin, or repent of it, etc. Then what? Proceed to the very next verse.

Matthew 18:17 - And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

This part is (or at least it certainly should be) very hard for you and your church brothers to do; but you now have no choice. You call him up before the church, the assembled congregation; you then state openly and totally the problems and issues at hand. You do this very carefully, and civilly (not like a bad episode of Perry Mason), and then you allow him to state his case before the church. If he then chooses to repent, Hooray!!!!! If however he does not even then repent of his sin - he is to be shown the door, and no one from the church is to be walking with or supporting him outside of the church walls either. He is to be anathema. This step should never ever be done easily, hastily, or in anger. It should only be done accompanied with tears and with great sorrow for you’ve now lost a brother in Christ. That is never cause for rejoicing. Not ever.

The last thing you wrote above was that you were going to stand against this man, and you would ensure that he was made unwelcome forever. "Everything in your power" you said to make sure of it. That is absolutely not the way to handle it, the very desire to do so is wrong.

After going through all of the steps I listed above, the brother who has been sent out, hopefully for his own good! 1Corinthians 5:5 says: “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”. Our hope in doing it is that he may be brought to repentance by following his own sinful path. He should still be held up regularly in prayer by the brotherhood, his restoration hoped and prayed for continually. And if and when he does return, humbled and repentant unto God, ready to walk the path of righteousness again...he is to be welcomed with open arms. It should be a cause of much joy that a "lost" brother has been restored to the faith.

2Corinthians 2:5 - But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all. (6) Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.

Having been cast out for his sin(s) by the church was enough discipline by the brotherhood, no retribution or resentment is called for or even allowed.

2Corinthians 2:7 - So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

When someone comes to a place of true repentance, they need forgiveness of God, and then of their brothers and sisters in Christ or the grief of their past actions alone can actually take them down all over again.

2Corinthians 2:8 - Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

No resentment, no reservation, and no further rebuke. Open arms, warm and welcomed like the prodigal son Jesus spoke of in Luke 15:11-32.

2Corinthians 2:9 - For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.

We are commanded to be obedient to Christ “in all things”. No matter how injured we were - we forgive others as He forgives us...or we are not His. 1John 3:10 says plainly: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.”

2Corinthians 2:10 - To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

We (all adopted children of God) must always forgive in all things, and we can do so because of Christ, only because of Christ, because of the Holy Spirit living in us and through us, we are empowered to reflect Him in our actions towards the rest of the world.

2Corinthians 2:11 - Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

This side of Heaven, every single thing is always a matter of right or wrong, good or evil, God or the devil - there are no gray areas, no middle ground, no DMZ's. The war is always on, and the battle is always running.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Benedict XVI (Arnold) denigrates Jesus yet again...

2008-04-26T10:59:00.000-06:00

It isn't as if I go out of my way to make sure that I read/watch/etc every single thing that the Pope says. I'm not a Roman Catholic, I have no intention of becoming one, so why would I? But, as a human being living on media-saturated planet earth, I cannot help but hear/see/etc some of it, any more than I can help but be forced to know some (entirely unwanted!!) information about the latest publicized perversities of Britney Lohan, Martha Winfrey, or any other "celebrity".

Still, I have actually lost track of how many times since being appointed to the top-job in Roman Catholicism, that current pope, Benedict, has betrayed and defamed Jesus Christ and all of Christianity by proclaiming that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship the same God; "the one true God" as he so often has put it. I have in other places and times explained in great detail why (1) this is not true, and (2) why outside of ridiculously watery politically correct pieces of weak social theology, no serious and honest Christian, Jew, or Muslim will ever agree with this, and (3) will all see it as an attack on or at least an affront to the faiths they hold dear.

So, since that subject isn't the focal point of this writing, I will present one easy example and we'll move on. The book of 1John (5:20-21) states very clearly:

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (21) Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (italics mine)

You will not find a true Jew or Muslim who will agree that those verses are real actual truth, to do so would be a complete denial of what they each believe. You also will not find a true follower of Jesus, a real Christian, who does NOT believe those verses to be true. Again, doing so would be a denial of what a Christian believes.

So what is the focal point of this writing? During his recent U.S. "tour" (of sorts), at a mass Mass on Wednesday, 4-2-08, Benedict XVI spent time praising the previous Pope, John Paul II (it being the third anniversary of his death). I have zero problem with that. Paying homage to the fella who went before you is a nice way of showing respect, and of showing some personal humility as well. I'm also sure that many folks could write down a reasonable list of reasons to honor John Paul for things he did in his lifetime, or regarding his personal character and such.

However, when Benedict compared John Paul's last days on earth (suffering as he was with Parkinson's disease) to the suffering endured by Christ on the cross...his comments left the realm of decency and became outright blasphemy.

He actually said:

"Just as happened with Jesus, also for John Paul II; in the end, words gave way to the extreme sacrifice, and to the gift of self."

Held as a major tenet of the Christian faith from the very beginnings of Christianity, and clearly expressed numerous times in the Holy Bible is that NO ONE has ever, or will ever compare to Jesus Christ! The apostle Paul's writing in Romans 3:23 puts it as succinctly, and as glaringly apparent as anyone could ask for:

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

All have sinned, not some, not several, not most - ALL! And all, every single person that has ever or will ever live, fall short of the glory of God. The only reason anyone who believes in Jesus ever has to compare themselves to Him is to remind ourselves continually that we are not Holy, not Pure, not Righteous, not GOOD ENOUGH in any way in and of ourselves to deserve anything but destruction, and that it is only because He is Lord, because He is Perfect, because He is God Almighty that we have any hope of any kind.

Romans 3:24 - Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Romans 3:25 - Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Romans 3:26 - To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Our redemption, our justification, our salvation comes only through Christ Jesus; by His grace. The grace of God sent Him to die for us, in our place for our wretchedness, for our sins, so that we could be cleansed, redeemed, justified, made worthy to live with Him in His glory forever. That is the very definition of the word "grace".

Nothing that any and all of us combined could or even would ever do compares to that in any way. We are all sinful in our very natures, totally depraved,..fallen. Fallen, and lost. All of us need a Savior - we cannot do it ourselves.

God in His grace and His mercy chose to save us by sacrificing to a violent and horrible death on the cross His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. He was tortured beyond our comprehension. Even Mel Gibson's film a few years ago, The Passion of The Christ, as jarring and brutal as it was for people to watch does not even begin to cover the magnitude of what He endured on the cross for us. He took the punishment, the pain, the suffering for the sins of the entire world for all time upon Himself in His physical form on the cross. No human mind can ever fully conceptualize the enormity of that act. We simply cannot do it.

Did John Paul choose to suffer from Parkinson's? Did he choose to suffer this disease so that all of humanity could be freed of suffering it themselves? Even if he could have done so, would all the pain from all the world's diseases (not even just Parkinson's) being laid on one sinful human being be somehow equivalent to the sins of all mankind being heaped on the perfect and sinless shoulders of our Lord Jesus Christ? Could John Paul's suffering Parkinson's (or anything and everything else he may have suffered in his life) have paved the road that leads many sons to glory?

Of course not! The very idea that they are comparable in any way is utterly ridiculous. So for Benedict to imply that John Paul's suffering from a human disease for some months gave him some similar stature with Christ is not only appalling, it is downright asinine.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them. Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. - Ezekiel 35:13-14

Far too long....

2008-04-18T16:28:00.003-06:00

It has been far too long (August of last year!) since I've added anything to this blog.

I could attempt a defense by reminding anyone who reads it that this blog isn't intended to be a chat-em-up of some sort, but to only be used when I have something that truly needs to be said, discussed, posted about, pertaining to God, faith, and the world around us; so, that alone keeps me from posting more frequently.

I could do that. But it would be a lie. There is always something more that needs said, talked about, discussed, commented on, ad infinitum regarding the Lord High God. Always!

The truth is, I have a very real tendency to get drawn off and distracted from things (too often the things of God!) by the day-to-day of my life - and I create an atmosphere that encourages that even more by the fact that I take on and/or attempt so many things.

I need to do a lot better at all of it than I do, and I pray that God will help me to be a better and more faithful servant to Him in all ways and things. And I ask for His forgiveness in my failings at this.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. - 1Thessalonians 5:7-8

God can....ALWAYS

2007-08-03T15:47:00.000-06:00

Recently, I've been listening (on and off) to a local Christian radio station that is "talk" and teaching oriented while I drive to and from work (so, it's about 25 minutes a day max). The station plays many...inspirational snippets during its programming, and one they play regularly is called Route 66 by David Jeremiah (I just checked the website to see if the one I am about to talk about was available for download, but as yet it isn't).

I've listened to Jeremiah preach many times, and I have been edified several times by it. I also heard one of the better messages I have ever heard given on the subject of grace when he spoke at a conference I was attending a couple of years ago. I find him very often to be intelligent, engaging, and well worth listening to.

However, what he said in the Route 66 minute on the radio last week (which they played daily all week long), was just plain wrong. It wasn't "iffy", it wasn't questionable, it wasn't a "non-essential difference of opinion". It was wrong. Plain and simple. I don't think for a minute that he intended in any way to "teach" something that was virtually antithetical to the nature of God as revealed to us in the Holy Bible, but he did.

He stated that before we (all people) become saved, that "while we are alive physically, we are dead spiritually". And he then stated that as spiritually dead beings, "we cannot communicate with God, and that God cannot communicate with us". Those were his exact words:

"...we cannot communicate with God, and God cannot communicate with us".

Think about what that would mean for just a minute; if we (as unsaved lost souls) could not communicate with God, and He could not communicate with us. Anyone who knows me, knows how I feel about the whole idea of using the word "can't" in reference to God in any way, and one of these days, I may very well write about that in some depth; but this instance is so glaring just as it is, I see no need for other illustrations.

If we were willing to believe that God is capricious in nature, or even downright malevolent, we could then make an argument for our being (as fallen unsaved humans) unable to communicate with Him. I am not willing, no...I am unable to picture Holy God as being like that in any way. If this picture were our God, what hope would Bartimeus have had in crying out for Jesus as the scriptures attest in the Gospel of Mark?

Mark 10: (46) And they came to Jericho. And as He with His disciples and a large crowd went out of Jericho, blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, was sitting by the side of the highway, begging. (47) And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me! (48) And many warned him that he should be quiet, but he cried a great deal more, Son of David, have mercy on me! (49) And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying to him, Be of good comfort; rise up, He is calling you. (50) And casting away his garment, he rose up and came to Jesus. (51) And answering Jesus said to him, What do you desire that I should do to you? The blind man said to Him, My Lord, that I may see again. (52) And Jesus said to him, Go, your faith has healed you. And instantly he saw again, and he followed Jesus in the way.

When he heard Jesus was there, he began calling to Him for mercy (47) . Lots of people were threatening him, telling him to shut up (48). Bartimeus cried out all the louder. And Jesus heard him (49), and stopped, and commanded that Bartimeus be brought to Him. And this blind beggar got up, threw off his rags, and walked blindly towards Jesus (50) who was calling to him (49). Christ asked him what he wanted, and he said "My Lord, that I may see again" (51). He referred to Jesus as "My Lord", he recognized (while still blind!) that Jesus was the Messiah. That he was King, and proclaimed Him as such. How did Jesus respond? He healed Bartimeus, on the spot (52).

Do you see the picture here?

Bartimeus was nothing but a blind beggar, dressed in rags, cast off to the side of the road by society. We (all human beings born on this earth) are blind, unclean, and unworthy.

When Bartimeus heard that Jesus was coming along the road, he realized who He was, and called out to Him. When we recognize the proclamation of the Gospel as being true, when we hear it as being the truth, we cry out to God for mercy.

When Jesus bid him to come to Him, Bartimeus threw off his filthy rags and walked, still without sight, directly to Jesus, naked and humble before Him. When Christ calls us, we admit to our sinfulness, and still in our darkness, we step towards Him in nothing more than faith.

Bartimeus proclaimed Jesus "My Lord" and asked for his sight. We proclaim Him Lord God, and beg to be cleansed.

Jesus alone , by His grace alone, because of faith alone - heals Bartimeus on the spot. Jesus alone, by His grace alone, because of faith alone - cleanses us, redeems us, saves us, on the spot. And even our faith is given to us by Jesus Himself!

"And instantly he saw again, and he followed Jesus in the way (52b)." And instantly we are saved, and we follow Jesus in the way.

Bartimeus was not saved when Jesus and his disciples came along the road. According to David Jeremiah, he was alive only in the flesh: spiritually dead. He was a lost, broken, filthy, fallen human being; and Jesus heard his cries. Jesus answered his cries, called him to Himself. Jesus cleansed him, made him whole. Jesus redeemed him, saved his soul.

Each and every one of us is born into sin, is unclean, polluted before God. If we could not while unsaved reach the ears of God with our cries, and if while unsaved we were unable to hear God's voice bidding us "Come", then not one person born in all of human history would ever become saved, would ever become an adopted child of the living God, would ever know the communion of being joined with Him, would ever see Heaven, or the glory of the Lord.

Some other time, I will revisit the essence of this subject, that of Christianity too often wrongly applying a term like "can't" to our omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God, and the potholes that creates in our paths.

For now though, think on what I've "talked" about here today, like the name of the blog says "Think On These Things", or "chew on it awhile" as I like to personally paraphrase that verse (Phil 4:8).

If you have already submitted your life to Christ, praise God, chew on this and be encouraged as you walk the narrow road home. If you haven't given your life to Jesus yet, I hope and pray that you will not stop thinking about this until you make a choice. The only choice worth making: Cry out to Jesus, and then follow Him in the way.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Romans 10:12-13 - For there is no difference both of Jew and of Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call on Him. (13) For everyone, "whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Islamacopalian?

2007-06-30T20:00:00.000-06:00

Priest claims she is both Christian and Muslim
The Seattle Times, USA
June 17, 2007
Janet I. Tu, Seattle Times Religion Reporter
seattletimes.nwsource.com
ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 18503 • Posted: Sunday June 17, 2007

“I am both Muslim and Christian”

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation

[Keep that in mind: "Director of Faith Formation"...]

at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim

[So, for over a year now, she has been embracing/practicing a different faith than the one she is an Episcopalian Priest of; being dishonest to both her employers and parishioners as well as the God that Episcopalians are supposed to be in worship to.]

— drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

[Being "drawn to" Islam (and Allah) means she has allowed herself to be drawn away from Jesus Christ.

Psalm 62:2 He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my tower; I shall not be greatly moved.

Col 1:21-23 And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled (22) in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish, and without charge in His sight, (23) if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister,

I would agree that she has been "profoundly moved": in a profoundly wrong direction.]

Her announcement has provoked surprise and bewilderment in many, raising an obvious question: How can someone be both a Christian and a Muslim?

[They quite simply cannot. As much as many today love to point an accusing finger at Christianity for proclaiming that it is THE truth, the fact of the matter is that ALL the major religions teach (and believe) that they are THE truth.

This means they are directly opposed to one another at the core of what they believe; to try and join them together to suit your desires is only to be utterly unfaithful to any of them. Hassidic Confuscianist? Unfaithful! To follow Jesus is to believe in Jesus, not Thor. To believe in Allah is not to follow after Shiva.]

Christianity and Islam are incompatible. Islam rejects the central teachings of the Christian faith. Therefore, anyone who claims to be both a Muslim and a Christian is either ignorant or a liar.

[And in all honestly, they are a non-believer in either.]

A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ as presented in the Bible. Islam specifically rejects Jesus as presented in the Bible.

[Islam says that only Allah is God, that God cannot be man, that Jesus was a great prophet but that He was not crucified to death on a cross, did not rise from the dead, and absolutely was not God. The Bible says Jesus was born into the world as a man who was also God, that he died on a cross to redeem us, that he rose from the dead 3 days later and then ascended into Heaven, and, that Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be, Holy God. There is not an epoxy in the universe that can join those two systems of belief!

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.]

But it has drawn other reactions too. Friends generally say they support her, while religious scholars are mixed: Some say that, depending on how one interprets the tenets of the two faiths, it is, indeed, possible to be both.

[Any scholar who asserts that it is possible is simply an over-educated idiot, and the world is full of those; religious and secular.]

Others consider the two faiths mutually exclusive.

“There are tenets of the faiths that are very, very different,” said Kurt Fredrickson, director of the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. “The most basic would be: What do you do with Jesus?”

Christianity has historically regarded Jesus as the son of God and God incarnate, both fully human and fully divine. Muslims, though they regard Jesus as a great prophet, do not see him as divine and do not consider him the son of God.

[Both faiths believe that Jesus was virgin born, both faiths believe that he literally worked miracles, but both do not believe that He was actually God, and that is the deciding factor that everything else hinges on. Accept Christ as God and the Islamic faith crumbles, accept Christ as anything less than God and the Christian faith evaporates.

1Co 15:13-14 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.(14) And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is worthless, and your faith is also worthless. ]

“I don’t think it’s possible” to be both, Fredrickson said, just like “you can’t be a Republican and a Democrat.”

[Hard to believe that that is the best comparative analogy he could muster]

Redding, who will begin teaching the New Testament as a visiting assistant professor at Seattle University this fall,

[Just what the world (and Seattle!) does not need: another person who does not believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, teaching college kids about the Bible!!]

has a different analogy: “I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I’m both an American of African descent and a woman. I’m 100 percent both.”

[Waitasec!! Muslim and Christian are both religious faiths, and so can be compared, weighed alongside one another, etc. But her ethnicity (African) and her gender (woman) are not even close to being comparably similar! That's 100 % idiotic! She might as well have claimed to be equally a Buick Regal and a box of Captain Crunch!! And I won't even bother going into how she can't ever be 200% anything!]

Redding doesn’t feel she has to resolve all the contradictions. People within one religion can’t even agree on all the details, she said. “So why would I spend time to try to reconcile all of Christian belief with all of Islam?

[So, she uses the (false) secular argument that all religious people who claim to be Christians are equally valid as an escape from having to defend this ridiculous stance she is advocating. How commonplace (and weak).]

“At the most basic level, I understand the two religions to be compatible. That’s all I need.”

[Thus showing that at the most basic level, she has no real understanding (or acceptance) of what either believes or teaches.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O, Israel. Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.(5) And you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.]

She says she felt an inexplicable call to become Muslim, and to surrender to God — the meaning of the word “Islam.”

[If she were truly surrendered to Christ (saved), it would have been a "call" she would have ignored.]

“It wasn’t about intellect,” she said. “All I know is the calling of my heart to Islam was very much something about my identity and who I am supposed to be.

[Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?

Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown by the wayside.]

“I could not not be a Muslim.”

[So long as she holds to that, she cannot truly be a Christian.]

Redding’s situation is highly unusual. Officials at the national Episcopal Church headquarters said they are not aware of any other instance in which a priest has also been a believer in another faith. They said it’s up to the local bishop to decide whether such a priest could continue in that role.

[How's that for passing the buck? In this case, the wolf is already openly INSIDE the door, where is there commitment to protect their flocks?]

Redding’s bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner, says he accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting.

[Correction: WOLVES are already inside the doors!]

Her announcement, first made through a story in her diocese’s newspaper, hasn’t caused much controversy yet, he said.

Some local Muslim leaders are perplexed.

Being both Muslim and Christian — “I don’t know how that works,” said Hisham Farajallah, president of the Islamic Center of Washington.

But Redding has been embraced by leaders at the Al-Islam Center of Seattle, the Muslim group she prays with.

[Meaning that (A) They are as false in their faith as she is, or (B) They are using her to try and publicly weaken the Christian faith as it is seen in the world or (C) They are as ignorant of the tenets of Islamic faith as she is.]

“Islam doesn’t say if you’re a Christian, you’re not a Muslim,” said programming director Ayesha Anderson. “Islam doesn’t lay it out like that.”

[Really? Then why is it that when someone converts from Islam to Christianity it is punishable by death. Islamic law calls for them to be beheaded for leaving the Islamic faith.]

Redding believes telling her story can help ease religious tensions, and she hopes it can be a step toward her dream of creating an institute to study Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

“I think this thing that’s happened to me can be a sign of hope,” she said.

[In other words, this is her opportunity to become a hotshot spiritual guru that has others following, praising, and worshiping her as a God. Maybe she'll get a slot on Oprah, or write a best-selling book telling everyone the secret to her success...

2Peter 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.]

Redding is 55 and single, with deep brown eyes, dreadlocks and a voice that becomes easily impassioned when talking about faith. She’s also a classically trained singer, and has sung at jazz nights at St. Mark’s.

[This sounds like a personals ad; maybe even someone else who is going to try and sue eHarmony for not being...diverse enough.]

The oldest of three girls, Redding grew up in Pennsylvania in a high-achieving, intellectual family. Her father was one of the lawyers who argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that desegregated the nation’s public schools. Her mother was in the first class of Fulbright scholars.

Though her parents weren’t particularly religious, they had her baptized and sent her to an Episcopal Sunday school. She has always sensed that God existed and God loved her, even when things got bleak — which they did.

[She sensed He existed, she did not know Him. The difference is a hundred galaxies wide.]

She experienced racism in schools, was sexually abused and, by the time she was a young adult, was struggling with alcohol addiction; she’s been in recovery for 20 years.

Despite those difficulties, she graduated from Brown University, earned master’s degrees from two seminaries and received her Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She felt called to the priesthood and was ordained in 1984.

["Called" by whom? Is she saying that at that point she had actually met God, found that He was truly knowable - not just "sense-able" - in a real and tangible way that calls us to a changed heart and life?...]

As much as she loves her church, she has always challenged it. She calls Christianity the “world religion of privilege.” She has never believed in original sin. And for years she struggled with the nature of Jesus’ divinity.

[The answer to my last question is a resounding: no. In the worldly secular fashion that she intends it to be taken, I wonder how she could possibly consider it a privilege for people that are imprisoned, tortured and killed for believing that Jesus Christ is God. From a Christian viewpoint, we ourselves are to consider ourselves privileged that we can in some minuscule way share in His sufferings by following Him in this world; but it is so patently obvious that she is not approaching that statement from anything like a Biblical viewpoint. And since she has never (and apparently still does not) believe in original sin...]

She found a good fit at St. Mark’s, coming to the flagship of the Episcopal Church in Western Washington in 2001.

[That is a chilling statement coming immediately after the last paragraph.]

She was in charge of programs to form and deepen people’s faith until March this year when she was one of three employees laid off for budget reasons. The dean of the cathedral said Redding’s exploration of Islam had nothing to do with her layoff.

[The flagship Episcopal church in the state, placed a non-believer in charge of programs to deepen people's faith!!! 'Chilling' was not a strong enough descriptor.]

Ironically, it was at St. Mark’s that she first became drawn to Islam.

[...]

In fall 2005, a local Muslim leader gave a talk at the cathedral, then prayed before those attending.

[Why why why why??? Why are churches that are supposed to Christian, bringing in people and leaders of opposing faiths to teach and pray over their congregations? This idiocy is going on all over the place, and it ought not to be! People who go to Christian churches should be being taught about Jesus Christ and His book - the Holy Bible - by Christians and by Christians alone.

An Imam has no business being allowed to speak/teach about Allah or Muhammed in a church that belongs to Jesus. If you want to learn what Jewish people believe about God, go to their temple and listen to what they have to say. But do not have rabbi's coming into Christian churches and teaching about the Old Testament and God. They do not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, and as Christians we believe that the entire Bible is about Jesus Christ.

Should we be friends with Jews, Muslims, Buddists, etc? Absolutely. Should we sit down and talk and discuss matters of faith with them? Certainly. Should we love them, and treat them with compassion, and dignity? YES! Should we be inviting them to stand before our congregations and teach people about faith and God under the open umbrella of our approval? NO!]

Redding was moved. As he dropped to his knees and stretched forward against the floor, it seemed to her that his whole body was involved in surrendering to God.

Then in the spring, at a St. Mark’s interfaith class, another Muslim leader taught a chanted prayer and led a meditation on opening one’s heart.

[They invited someone of another faith, who believes in a different God than the one of the Bible, to teach classes in their church, to teach them how to pray! Pray to who? ALLAH! Not to Jesus!

Matthew 26:53 Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels?

John 16:23-31 And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you. (24) Before now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. (25) I have spoken these things to you in parables, but the time is coming when I shall no more speak to you in parables, but I will show you plainly of the Father. (26) At that day you will ask in My name; and I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you, (27) for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God. (28) I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father. (29) The disciples said to Him, Lo, now You speak plainly and speak no parable. (30) Now we know that You know all things and do not need that anyone should ask You. By this we believe that You have come forth from God. (31) Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?

Not one mention of Allah, or Muhammed. Why? Because Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God. Period!]

The chanting appealed to the singer in Redding; the meditation spoke to her heart. She began saying the prayer daily.

[She began filling herself with things that were not of the God of the Holy Bible.]

Around that time, her mother died, and then “I was in a situation that I could not handle by any other means, other than a total surrender to God,” she said.

She still doesn’t know why that meant she had to become a Muslim. All she knows is “when God gives you an invitation, you don’t turn it down.”

[In fact, people turn down God's invitations daily, numerous times a day. In fact, people also accept invitations (temptations) from false gods, from satan, from demons, from all sorts of evil sources, numerous times a day.]

In March 2006, she said her shahada — the profession of faith — testifying that there is only one God and that Mohammed is his messenger. She became a Muslim.

[There is indeed only one God, and according to the Bible, He is not Allah.]

Before she took the shahada, she read a lot about Islam. Afterward, she learned from local Muslim leaders, including those in Islam’s largest denomination — Sunni — and those in the Sufi mystical tradition of Islam. She began praying with the Al-Islam Center, a Sunni group that is predominantly African-American.

There were moments when practicing Islam seemed like coming home.

In Seattle’s Episcopal circles, Redding had mixed largely with white people. “To walk into Al-Islam and be reminded that there are more people of color in the world than white people, that in itself is a relief,” she said.

[That says SO much about this woman, about who she is, about what she really thinks and feels about people and the things of God. If I were to wake up tomorrow and find that every other living person on earth (my wife included) were suddenly green, it would not matter a whit to my sense of self or sense of the world itself. It would be jarring to be sure, possibly even soiling initially, but ultimately it would mean nothing because all people on the earth are one and the same in the eyes of God. There is one race - the fallen human race. Melatonin makes no difference to who any of us are.

Mark 12:29-31 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; (30) and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Love our neighbor as ourself. We are all one and the same. None better than another, and we are commanded by our God to love all men, not just those who look like us, dress like us, eat like us, etc.]

She found the discipline of praying five times a day — one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims are supposed to follow — gave her the deep sense of connection with God that she yearned for.

It came from “knowing at all times I’m in between prayers.” She likens it to being in love, constantly looking forward to having “all these dates with God. … Living a life where you’re remembering God intentionally, consciously, just changes everything.”

[She spends all her time looking forward to being with God at some later point. A Christian believes that God is with us at all times in all things. We don't have to yearn for future contact, we can have continual relationship with our God. Each breath, each heartbeat. In fact, the only thing that ever really keeps us from living in total constant connectedness with our Saviour is us, our sin, our choices. We are also called to not merely pray as a daily ritual that we perform in robotic fashion following set criteria like lifeless automatons; but to be always in a state of prayer and supplication to our Lord, to maintain continual union with Him.

1Thessalonians 5:16-19 Rejoice evermore. (17) Pray without ceasing. (18) In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (19) Do not quench the Spirit. ]

Friends who didn’t know she was practicing Islam told her she glowed.

Aside from the established sets of prayers she recites in Arabic fives times each day, Redding says her prayers are neither uniquely Islamic nor Christian. They’re simply her private talks with God or Allah — she uses both names interchangeably. “It’s the same person, praying to the same God.”

[Same person - yes. Same God - not even close!]

In many ways, she says, “coming to Islam was like coming into a family with whom I’d been estranged. We have not only the same God, but the same ancestor with Abraham.”

[No matter how often the current Pope says this, and no matter how many other ignorant, foolish, misguided, or in some cases purposefully evil people say it - it is not true. We do not all worship the same God, and will not until the coming return of Jesus Christ.]

A shared beginning

Indeed, Islam, Christianity and Judaism trace their roots to Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism who is also considered the spiritual father of all three faiths. They share a common belief in one God

[But not the SAME God]

, and there are certain similar stories in their holy texts.

But there are many significant differences, too.

Muslims regard the Quran as the unadulterated word of God, delivered through the angel Gabriel to Mohammed. While they believe the Torah and the Gospels include revelations from God, they believe those revelations have been misinterpreted or mishandled by humans.

Most significantly, Muslims and Christians disagree over the divinity of Jesus.

Muslims generally believe in Jesus’ virgin birth, that he was a messenger of God, that he ascended to heaven alive and that he will come back at the end of time to destroy evil. They do not believe in the Trinity, in the divinity of Jesus or in his death and resurrection.

[The fact that they believe Christ to be virgin born, a worker of miracles, a prophet of God, ascended to Heaven, and returning in power and glory gives Christians a starting point for discussion that we do not have anything like when dealing with most other religions. Sadly, that advantage most often goes unused.]

For Christians, belief in Jesus’ divinity, and that he died on the cross and was resurrected, lie at the heart of the faith, as does the belief that there is one God who consists of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

[AMEN!]

Redding’s views, even before she embraced Islam, were more interpretive than literal.

She believes the Trinity is an idea about God and cannot be taken literally.

She does not believe Jesus and God are the same, but rather that God is more than Jesus.

She believes Jesus is the son of God insofar as all humans are the children of God,

[Nope. All humans are the creations of God, but only the saved are His children.

John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, (13) who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God.]

and that Jesus is divine, just as all humans are divine — because God dwells in all humans.

[There it is: pantheism. All is God, and God is all. The more I watch

the influx of Eastern religions and philosophies into Christian churchs,
the false position that all belief systems and faiths are equally valid,
the "it's all about me" narcissism that permeates all of society
and a bunch of other stuff

the more I am drawn to thinking that pantheism will ultimately be the "one-world religion" of the end of times spoken of in the Bible.]

What makes Jesus unique, she believes, is that out of all humans, he most embodied being filled with God and identifying completely with God’s will.

[So she says that Jesus was like all humans, like us, only that he was the best one of us. How very similar to what Jehovah's Witnesses believe about Christ being a second Adam/perfect man,...but not God.]

She does believe that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, and acknowledges those beliefs conflict with the teachings of the Quran. “That’s something I’ll find a challenge the rest of my life,” she said.

She considers Jesus her savior.

[Since (she says) there was no original sin, what does she believe she needs to be saved from? And since she believes that we are all equally divine, why would she need anyone's help in anything? She can't sin, and is divine in and of herself, what could she possibly not be able to do or provide for herself?]

At times of despair, because she knows Jesus suffered and overcame suffering, “he has connected me with God,” she said.

That’s not to say she couldn’t develop as deep a relationship with Mohammed. “I’m still getting to know him,” she said.

Matter of interpretation

Some religious scholars understand Redding’s thinking.

[Sure. There's always that small handful of ridiculously liberalized weak theologians (like the Jesus Seminar folks for instance) who have been attempting to strip Jesus of His divinity for years. At least in this article they did say "some religious scholars" rather than the usual baloney that says "most religious scholars" when they mean "most religious scholars among the handful of people they actually talked to within the philosophy department of a notoriously liberal university or seminary in the state they are in at the time.]
While the popular Christian view is that Jesus is God and that he came to Earth and took on a human body, other Christians believe his divinity means that he embodied the spirit of God in his life and work, said Eugene Webb, professor emeritus of comparative religion at the University of Washington.

Webb says it’s possible to be both Muslim and Christian: “It’s a matter of interpretation. But a lot of people on both sides do not believe in interpretation. ”

[Another obvious non-Christian, like many who hold Jesus up as an ideal to be shaped and molded to fit whatever view they desire, rather than to be worshiped as the real, actual, one and only, living GOD.]

Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky, agrees with Webb, and adds that Islam tends to be a little more flexible. Muslims can have faith in Jesus, he said, as long as they believe in Mohammed’s message.

[And guess who is not himself an actual Allah/Mohammed believing/following Muslim?]

Other scholars are skeptical.

“The theological beliefs are irreconcilable,” said Mahmoud Ayoub, professor of Islamic studies and comparative religion at Temple University in Philadelphia. Islam holds that God is one, unique, indivisible. “For Muslims to say Jesus is God would be blasphemy.”

[Absolutely totally 100% true! And it holds true in the reverse for Christians.]

Frank Spina, an Episcopal priest and also a professor of Old Testament and biblical theology at Seattle Pacific University, puts it bluntly.

“I just do not think this sort of thing works,” he said. “I think you have to give up what is essential to Christianity to make the moves that she has done.

“The essence of Christianity was not that Jesus was a great rabbi or even a great prophet, but that he is the very incarnation of the God that created the world…. Christianity stands or falls on who Jesus is.”

[Yes yes YES! And note that the professor is also an Episcopal priest.]

Spina also says that as priests, he and Redding have taken vows of commitment to the doctrines of the church. “That means none of us get to work out what we think all by ourselves.”

[So he holds to what the Bible teaches about Christ, and he also holds to the denominational viewpoint, unlike her bishop, and the officials at the denominational headquarters who are all just so "excited by the possibilities"...]

Redding knows there are many Christians and Muslims who will not accept her as both.

[Right. Actual Christians, and actual Muslims.]

“I don’t care,” she says. “They can’t take away my baptism.”

[Since she is a member of one of those denominations that teaches people are saved by having water/oil drizzled over their infant noggins, that ex-communicate, that declare marriages non-existent years after they were entered into, and allow men to re-write God, as they see fit, that pronounce human men and women to be holy saints to be revered and prayed to, as well as assigning them seating in Heaven... she shouldn't be too quick to claim that they couldn't remove her baptism from her.]

And as she understands it, once she’s made her profession of faith to become a Muslim, no one can say she isn’t that, either.

While she doesn’t rule out that one day she may choose one or the other, it’s more likely “that I’m going to be 100 percent Christian and 100 percent Muslim when I die.”

[She'll never be 200% anything, but we can hope (and we should pray) that she will not go to the grave 100% self-deluded - as she now shows herself to be. And yes, I am saying that she is purposefully choosing to walk in defiance of truth to suit her desires; no matter how we are tempted, no matter how we may be misled, the truth is always shown to us, and we always choose to follow it or reject it.]

Deepened spirituality

These days, Redding usually carries a headscarf with her wherever she goes so she can pray five times a day.

On Fridays, she prays with about 20 others at the Al-Islam Center. On Sundays, she prays in church, usually at St. Clement’s of Rome in the Mount Baker neighborhood.

[Why I have to wonder, does she not go to St.Mark's for her Sunday praying. Is she harboring hurt or ill feelings regarding her layoff? Or...]

One thing she prays for every day: “I pray not to cause scandal or bring shame upon either of my traditions.”

[Praying to try and alter something after the fact is a waste of time. Praying to not get the broken bone I suffered through in years past is as foolish as praying to try and get someone's eternal destiny changed after they have died.]

Being Muslim has given her insights into Christianity, she said. For instance, because Islam regards Jesus as human, not divine, it reinforces for her that “we can be like Jesus. There are no excuses.”

[So if Jesus is not divine, and all of us are, why would we want to be like Him? Why would we choose to be so much less than perfect if we were able to? Her false and warped logic is riddled through with contradiction.]

Doug Thorpe, who served on St. Mark’s faith-formation committee with Redding, said he’s trying to understand all the dimensions of her faith choices. But he saw how it deepened her spirituality. And it spurred him to read the Quran and think more deeply about his own faith.

[The last thing the world needs is anyone trying to have a "deeper spirituality" rather than having an abiding trust, love, and servile attitude towards Jesus Christ. Millions of people with no knowledge of God, and often even outright rejection of there even being a God, lay claim to "being spiritual" - the term has been completely raped of it's original depth in recent history.]

He believes Redding is being called. She is, “by her very presence, a bridge person,” Thorpe said. “And we desperately need those bridge persons.”

[Guess we need not ask how deep and real his commitment to Christ are do we? I also believe she has been called, and I believe that she continues to ignore His call and to chase after her own wicked desires. And at some point, God will cease entreating her to come to Him, and turn her loose to her own delusions.

Romans 1:28 And even as they did not think fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do the things not right,

2Thessalonians 2:9-12 whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (10) and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so that they might be saved. (11) And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, (12) so that all those who do not believe the truth, but delight in unrighteousness, might be condemned.

Titus 1:15-16 To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. (16) They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and reprobate to every good work.

2Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers will go forward to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Hebrews 12:25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape, those who refused him that spoke on earth, much more we shall not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from Heaven,]

In Redding’s car, she has hung up a cross she made of clear crystal beads. Next to it, she has dangled a heart-shaped leather object etched with the Arabic symbol for Allah.

“For me, that symbolizes who I am,” Redding said. “I look through Jesus and I see Allah.”

[She looks through Jesus to see Allah. That (sadly) says it all doesn't it?]

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Knowing Schuller From Shinola

2007-04-14T08:21:00.000-06:00

I'm not entirely sure how anyone who owns a television could be wholly unfamiliar with Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral, but just in case, let me start with this excerpt from his writings that gets right to the point regarding what he (and now his son) teaches people about God and our place in His creation:

"The classical error of Christianity is that we have never started with the value of the person. Rather, we have started from the 'unworthiness of the sinner', and that starting point has set the stage for the glorification of human shame in Christian theology". (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p.162)

Schuller has been aligned with the prosperity gospel movement, health & wealth, name it and claim it, the word of faith movement, and so on. All these false teachings are just different facets of the same baloney, a baloney that Schuller peddles so well to the masses that he long ago stopped trying to hide it under friendly sounding gobs of Miracle Whip and Wonder Bread babble-speak, and openly (endlessly) identifies it as being about one thing, and one thing only: Self-Esteem.

Evel Overcome With Good

Daredevil Knievel's testimony triggers mass baptisms at Crystal Cathedral.

Brad A. Greenberg | posted 4/13/2007 03:03PM - Christianity Today

On Palm Sunday, hundreds responded to Robert "Evel" Knievel's testimony by asking to be baptized on the spot at Crystal Cathedral. Speaking alongside the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, Knievel told the congregation in Orange County, California, how he had refused for 68 years to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. He believed in God, but he couldn't walk away from the gold and the gambling and the booze and the women.

"I don't know why I fought it so hard," he said. "I just did."

So he doesn't know even now why he lived a life of rebellion towards God? How about...

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The Bible has a great deal to say about sin, what it is, it's consequences: Death (James 1:15). However, Schuller has an entirely different idea of what sin is than what the Bible does. In fact, he directly contradicts the Bible...

"Classical theology defines sin as 'rebellion against God'. The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being." (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 65).

"What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of his children of their right to divine dignity. I can offer still another answer: sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 14).

But Knievel knew people were praying for him, including his daughter's church, his ex-wife's church, and the hundreds of people who wrote letters urging him to believe. And then something indescribable happened during Daytona Bike Week this March.

That entire paragraph just reeks of seminar salesmanship build-up.

"I don't know what in the world happened. I don't know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but it just reached out, either while I was driving or walking down the sidewalk or sleeping, and it just—the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! … I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, 'Devil, Devil, you bastard you, get away from me. I cast you out of my life.' … I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go."

So he doesn't know how he was saved? He doesn't know if he was saved by God, or by the "power of the prayer" of all the people at these churches and writing letters to him?

Luke 18:26-27 - And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

I can't find ANY verses that say a person can actually be saved by the prayers of another person (or hundreds of persons), no matter how high their self-esteem may be. Make no mistake, salvation comes only by the power of God as a gift of His grace and love.

I also find it interesting that Evel has no clue as to when it happened to him at all, that he may in fact have been sleep-walking while driving down the sidewalk at the time. And as far as his comment of "Devil, Devil, you..." goes, well pass the tambourine/collection plate!

Pastor Robert A. Schuller, who took over for his father last year, looked out on the church and noticed most people were sobbing. He couldn't simply continue with the service's script and proceed to the offering.

"I went up front, and I said, 'I believe there is somebody who needs to be baptized here. Maybe up on that balcony or by that door or by that wall. So come forward,'" Schuller told CT.

So everyone in attendance was already saved and just in need of baptizing? Or, did Evel's tent-imony, er, testimony manage to save them all while they listened to it? How would they know if they weren't doing something (or several things) else at the time like Evel?

"We started singing 'Amazing Grace,' and I started baptizing people, baptizing them as fast as I could. I had a little candy dish of water. 'What's your name? Okay, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit'—crying the whole time and going to the next one."

"What's your name? Okay, I baptize you..." ??? How about starting with "Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you repent of your sins? Have you/are you/will you call on the Lord to save your soul?" How about doing anything at all to even attempt to be sure that they have come to Christ before sprinkling them with sugar-water?

Of course, they were all just "crying the whole time", and it's all about emotions and feelings right?

"The tragedy of Christendom today is the existence of entire congregations of church members who are dominated by emotionally deprived or emotionally under-developed persons. These congregations have been accurately labeled 'God's Frozen People'". (Schuller, Self-Esteem, pp.153).

Schuller continued this for 30 minutes, not realizing that four other pastors were baptizing the convicted just as quickly.

He didn't know they were there? Where did they get their dishes of sugar-water from? Wouldn't his staff have stopped four guys from out of nowhere from coming to the front of the auditorium and dripping water all over people?

I know I am being sarcastic, but the longer I read this over, the more disgusted I get with the whole attitude of it all just by the writing alone. "Baptizing the convicted" - being convicted is not evidence of having been saved. It generally precedes salvation, and if you are truly saved, it continues on through life, but it is not proof of salvation.

During the second service, the response repeated itself. Together, Schuller estimates, between 500 and 800 people committed or rededicated their lives to God.

Think about that. Schuller and his four unknown accomplices baptized 500-800 people. If you take an average and mark it as 650 people, divided by 5 sprinklers, in 30 minutes time, that means each one of them baptized 4 1/3 people per minute! Four and one third people per minute!! Plenty of time to be sure that each person has come face to face with the Risen Lord Jesus, honestly cried out for forgiveness of their sins, and submitted themselves body and soul to the lordship of Christ as Master and King. Right?

Well, if you accept Schuller's definition of what it means to be Born Again in Christ, I suppose it would be more than enough time.

"To be born again means that we must be changed from a negative to a positive self-image - from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p.68)

"I don't want to make grandiose claims; I'm not a prophet," said Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, who spoke with Schuller the next morning. "But I think it is a sign that in God's own sovereign goodness, he sends these moments to remind us that we are all sinners and reaches out to us in surprising ways. This is something the Christian community in general, and particularly the evangelical community, needs to take very seriously."

I do take it very very seriously Mr. Mouw. So much so in fact, that your eagerness to jump so quickly into this event and validate it in the press, makes it a sure thing that I will steer serious Christian students away from attending Fuller from now on. We don't need any more feel-good ministers of mass-marketing starting up churches after college; we need people dedicated wholly and totally to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to Christ alone.

From here on, I am only including snippets as this is already running so long.

Joel Carpenter, director of the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin College. "It is fair for any discerning Christian, when he hears a revival is happening, to be a little skeptical, not to be cynical, but to ask questions that are meant to help discern what is going on there spiritually."

I agree completely with this, as does the Bible:

1John 4:1 - Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Edith Blumhofer, director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, said that though revivals sometimes are considered evangelistic tools, their real role—whether planned or spontaneous—is to reinvigorate church regulars. "

While I won't disagree that revival has likely been used as a planned tool more often than it has been a true spontaneous influx of the Holy Spirit sparking a fire for God; I would definitely disagree that the true purpose of it is to "reinvigorate church regulars". The true role of it is no different than anything else within the church - to spread the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone everywhere in every land.

The video from the Palm Sunday service will be broadcast on April 22.

And making sure that this event gets lots of press will ensure that thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of folks who've never watched (or have stopped watching) will tune in to see it.

The ministry, though, has been struggling recently. A week before Christmas 2004, the congregation's longtime orchestra conductor killed himself in a church bathroom.

I had actually forgotten about that. Probably in part because it didn't get much media attention and faded from view rather quickly.

And last year, revenues for Hour of Power, which has a $40 million operating budget, were $3 million short, Schuller said.

So drawing in new viewers and attendees would be financially helpful at this point wouldn't it? I wonder how much of the "drop" they've seen has been due to his father's retirement from the pulpit. Possibly he doesn't have the stage presence of his dad, or lacks some appeal to the older members who have followed his dad for so many years. It's probably too early to hope that it is just an "awakening" to the truth among the people who watch/attend, and that they are now abandoning it to find real teachers and preachers of God's word in other churches - but we can hope, and should pray, none the less.

Schuller said, "Our congregation and church keeps saying, 'Okay, where do we go from here?' I'm not exactly sure. But I think the Holy Spirit will assist me in the doing the right thing."

The Holy Spirit will indeed direct him and every person there to do "the right thing", the Godly thing, but they still must be willing to listen, and then to act on it. If he will stop esposuing his fathers false teachings like:

"A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem. Can you imagine any condition more tragic than to live life and eternity in shame?" (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 93)

And begin teaching scriptural truths like:

Mar 9:43-44 - And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Luke 12:5 - But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

2Peter 2:4 - For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

It is my hope, and my prayer that whatever was intended at that service, and whatever else did happen, that the Holy Spirit of God was indeed very present in it and uses it to draw Schuller, his staff, and his congregation to the foot of the cross. If Schuller were to embrace fully the truths of the Gospel and turn away from all the self-serving garbage theology his father has built over the years, in all likelihood the church as it is now would fracture in a way that might possibly end it entirely, or leave it with but a remnant of a congregation. But, as we know from Romans:

Romans 9:27 - Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Sexual Purity Checklist

2007-03-10T14:13:00.000-06:00

Sexual Purity Checklist of 10 Key Scriptures/Passages

Psalm 119:9 - Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Psalm 119:11 - Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Proverbs 28:13 - He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

2Corinthians 12:9 - And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Romans 13:11-14 - And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. (13) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. (14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

1 Peter 3:7 - Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Judges 16:20 - And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.

Galatians 6:7 - Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

1 Corinthians 10:13 - There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Galatians 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

(Dr. James MacDonald - Men At War - 3/9/2007)

Men At War - (Sexual Purity)

2007-03-10T12:26:00.000-06:00

Last night was the annual "Men At War" mini-conference at Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The topic was Sexual Purity, the event was offered at no charge, and Senior Pastor James MacDonald led us in two in-depth teachings on sexual purity as it applies to men. There was also worship with HBC's worship band, and the night ended with an open basketball tourney in the gymnasium.

I would very much like to thank my brothers in Christ who went with me to this event, all of the men who attended the event, and Harvest Bible Chapel for putting it on. Much of the event was very last minute, the weather was not helpful, and still I would say that there were prolly around 1500 in attendance. Praise God.

The night was not recorded in any way by HBC so that no one would have cause for privacy concerns, and I would never violate the sanctity of that mutual agreement among me and my brothers. That said, there are insights that I can openly share here (as well as in person) that are wonderfully useful to all men of God, and in what I will share here, to all women of God as well.

1) Fruits Of True Repentance:

Real personal grieving over our sin
A genuine repulsion toward our sin
Restitution as fully as possible
A revival toward God by us
A moving forward in our walk in the area of our sin

Honesty with ourselves is key, as we all know, there is far too much "easy grace" running through the body of Christ, and that only leads us all to further failure, desperation, and unchanged lives that are not honoring to God.

Over the years that I've been blessed by the ministry of James MacDonald, I have heard him say time and time again that when we choose to sin, we choose to suffer. Last night he repeated this point several times. I wholeheartedly agree with him on this.

"Choose to sin - Choose to suffer"

2) Real Accountability:

Christians talk a great game about being accountable to one another, especially within the culture of small groups; but for the most part it is baloney, and the majority of what is pointed to as accountability is just window dressing. The points below illustrate how we generally approach the process of being accountable to one another (and of course thereby to God as well). It is only the last one of the four that is really true, righteous accountability.

Honesty - "I yelled at my kid again this week, I was mean to the dog, I gave my boss the finger when his back was turned." The majority never get past this point.
Total Honesty - "Oh man!! What until you hear just how badly I screwed up this week guys! I suck so much!" A portion of us get this far in, and we see that as real accountability. It's better for sure, but not something to be patting ourselves on the back about, and not a place where we should put our feet up and get comfortable.
Obedience - "The next time you smack your kid in the head, we're going to kick your guts in! Got it?" And you agree and say, "Thanks for loving me so much guys" and you do stop the behavior. As effective as this can be, it doesn't get used very much (thankfully).
Appropriate Consequences For Disobedience - (1) Loss Of Freedoms - In some circumstances. (2) Loss Of Confidentiality - "If you do not stop, I will tell the person that needs to know, because I cannot allow you to hurt yourself or others". (3) Loss Of Relationship - "If you do not turn from this, we are done, finished. I can't and I won't continue to walk with you". This last one is the hardest one for us to do, one on one as people, or bodily as a church, but it is absolutely biblical (1Corinthians 5). There comes a point when we must turn someone away from us because they will not repent.

That fourth tier is the hardest to achieve, but it is the only one that really brings us into truly accountable relationships with one another and with Christ. The definition of "Loss Of Freedoms" should be more clearly defined, but at present I can't think of the one that Pastor James gave, nor come to one of my own that is suitable.

Lastly, I would like to share a list of 10 verses/sections of scripture that we should use as a guide in living lives of sexual purity before God. In fact, with the exception of only a few verses, this list works very well for pursuing a life of holiness and purity before God overall, not just regarding sexual matters.

3) Sexual Purity Checklist of 10 Key Scriptures/Passages:

Psalm 119:9 (cleanse my way = by listening to God)
Psalm 119:11 (hide thy word = memorize the scriptures)
Proverbs 28:13 (covereth his sins = hiding sin brings failure)
2Corinthians 12:9-11 (when I am weak = God only gives me strength)
Romans 13:11-14 (make not provision = stay fully away from temptations)
1Peter 3:7 (dwell with them = love and honor your wife in all ways)
Judges 16:20 (he knew not = not even realize that you aren't with God any longer)
Galatians 6:7 (God is not mocked = 'Nuff said!)
1Corinthians 10:13 (not suffer you to = God always gives us a way out)
Galatians 2:20 (Christ liveth in me = I live by faith of Him)

That last verse is one of my own life-verses. There are so many verses that impact my life and walk, but the two that stand at the top are Galatians 2:20 and Philippians 1:21. I'm going to add a second post after this one that lists the actual verses in full; while we should all have a Bible ready for our needs at all times, having it this way, may make it a little easier for someone to cut-n-paste a copy of it already in a listed format to print, email, etc.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Leviticus 21:15 - Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.

Salvation Spurgeon - Begg

2007-03-03T00:38:00.000-06:00

“SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD!”
Jonah 2:9

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul "dead in . . . trespasses and sins,"¹ and He it is who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both "Alpha and Omega." "Salvation belongs to the LORD!" If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God's gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever toward my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Whenever I sin, that is my own doing; but when I act correctly, that is wholly and completely of God. If I have resisted a spiritual enemy, the Lord's strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who lives in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God's Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I separated from the world? I am separated by God's chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. "He only is my rock and my salvation."² Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the bread that comes down from heaven? What is that bread but Jesus Christ Himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh supplies of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help comes from heaven's hills: Without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the ocean, let me learn this morning in my room: "Salvation belongs to the LORD."

(Please note: Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003)

Amen and Amen!!

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. - Jonah 2:9 (KJV)

No, the Media has no Biases, no agendas...

2007-02-28T17:07:00.000-06:00

When Ted Haggard, who pastored New Life Church in Colorado Springs and was the leader of the NAE was revealed as engaged in having an ongoing sexual relationship with another man back in November of this last year, it was absolutely all over the news. It was headline news everywhere you looked.

Keep in mind when you read the article below (from ABCNews), that ABCNews ran this, the Associated Press ran the story, and The Washington Post did print it, although it was an itsy bitsy piece about it buried in the SECOND section.

This was NOT reported on at all by The New York Times, CNN, CBS, NBCNews (as well as MOST other "news" outlets). Funny (in a very sad way) how we are constantly being told that the American media has no bias, no liberal agenda - it is just reporting the news. Uh-huh. Sure....

Former ACLU Chapter President Arrested for Child Pornography

Complaint Alleges Virginia Man Accessed, Downloaded Graphic Child Pornography

By JACK DATE

(http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2900174&page=1
accessed 2-28-07 4:30pm CST)

Feb. 23, 2007— Federal agents arrested Charles Rust-Tierney, the former president of the Virginia chapter of the ACLU, Friday in Arlington for allegedly possessing child pornography.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by ABC News, Rust-Tierney allegedly used his e-mail address and credit card to subscribe to and access a child pornography website.

The complaint states that federal investigations into child pornography websites revealed that "Charles Rust-Tierney has subscribed to multiple child pornography website over a period of years."

This is not a one-off, or a sudden change by him - he has been at this for YEARS!

As recently as last October, the complaint alleges, "Rust-Tierney purchased access to a group of hardcore commercial child pornography websites."

Rust-Tierney admitted to investigators that he had downloaded videos and images from child pornography websites onto CD-ROMs, according to the complaint.

So he has admitted not only looking at them online, not only downloading them, but burning them to disc for storage...safe-keeping.

The videos described in the complaint depict graphic forcible intercourse with prepubescent females.

In plain English, as difficult as it is to read/hear (write): the pictures and videos show little girls being forcibly raped. Not merely "fondled" or "touched", as horrific as even that is, but forcibly raped!

One if the girls is described in court documents as being "seen and heard crying", another is described as being "bound by rope."

Little girls, tied up, held captive, and forcibly raped.

The investigation is being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the Arlington County Police as part of the Northern Virginia and District of Columbia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Rust-Tierney made an initial appearance in a federal court in Alexandria, VA, Friday. He is being detained pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 28.

Youth Coach, Argued Against Restricting Public Internet

Rust Tierney coaches various youth sports teams in and around Arlington, Virginia, according to court documents.

In the past, Rust-Tierney had argued against restricting Internet access in public libraries in Virginia, writing, "Recognizing that individuals will continue to behave responsibly and appropriately while in the library, the default should be maximum, unrestricted access to the valuable resources of the Internet."

Yes. Rust-Tierney, while with the ACLU, while serving as its President, continually championed open and totally unrestricted access to the Internet anytime, anywhere, and for anybody.

Calls to Rust-Tierney's home were not answered and calls to the ACLU of Virginia were not immediately returned.

If this doesn't make your blood boil or your heart weep...

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; - 2Pe 2:12-15

Attorney General Pt 2

2007-02-25T01:34:00.000-06:00

Here is another article on the same meeting as in the previous post from another source. This one contains some interesting quotes from the Attorney General...

Attorney General launches religious freedom initiative at SBC meeting
Feb 21, 2007
By Erin Roach
Baptist Press

Morris H. Chapman, president and CEO of the SBC Executive Committee escorts the U.S. Attorney General to meet with SBC leaders prior to Gonzales’ presentation to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, Feb. 20 in Nashville. Photo by Kristen Sayres

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales met with Southern Baptist leaders Feb. 20 to unveil a new Department of Justice initiative aimed at educating Americans about their religious liberties and to ask for the Southern Baptist Convention’s help in identifying and reporting abuses of those liberties.

Gonzales, in an address to SBC Executive Committee members during their Tuesday afternoon session, noted that he is charged by the president with “protecting and preserving not only the safety and security of all Americans, but also their rights, liberties and freedoms.”

“One of our most cherished freedoms, one we’ve sacrificed greatly to defend, is our religious liberty,” the attorney general said at the SBC Building in Nashville, Tenn. “Nothing defines us more as a nation and differentiates us more from the extremists who are our enemies than our respect for religious freedom. Our great country was founded on these principles, and many of us today believe it continues to thrive because of, not despite, them.”

The Department of Justice released Feb. 20 a “Report on Enforcement of Laws Protecting Religious Freedom: Fiscal Years 2001-2006,” which describes the importance of religious freedom historically in America and the role assigned to the justice department. The report also summarizes the department’s accomplishments during the Bush administration to protect religious liberty through the enforcement of civil rights laws.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, applauded Gonzales’ action.

“The attorney general’s desire to address a major meeting of SBC leaders to announce this initiative shows both the importance of the issue and the commitment of the justice department at the highest levels to defend every individual American’s religious freedom rights, particularly their free exercise rights, which are too often infringed,” Land told Baptist Press. “This initiative is needed and should make a real difference. When individuals find themselves in a confrontation concerning their free exercise rights, it helps to have the attorney general and the Department of Justice on your side.”

Among the cases included in the report is one defending the right of senior adults to pray, sing religious songs and hold Bible studies at a community senior center. Other areas of enforcement results include education, employment, housing and lending discrimination, public accommodations and public facilities, land use, rights of institutionalized persons, crimes against persons and property based on religion, and religious liberty in the courts of appeals.

“We’ve launched scores of investigations involving religious discrimination in education and housing, a sharp and marked increase in the justice department’s enforcement of these important federal protections,” Gonzales said. “We have fought to maintain and make clear the crucial distinction between improper government speech endorsing religion and constitutionally protected private speech endorsing religion.

“Why should it be permissible for an employee standing around the water cooler to declare that ‘Tiger Woods is God,’ but a firing offense for him to say ‘Jesus is Lord’?” he said to vocal affirmation from Executive Committee members. “These are the kinds of contradictions we are trying to address.”

Religious freedom is often referred to as the first freedom, Gonzales said, because it is a fundamental part of U.S. history and one of the nation’s core principles.

“In the First Amendment to the Constitution, at the top of the Bill of Rights, the founders declared that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Before free speech, before freedom of the press, before all of these other crucial rights, we put freedom of religion,” the attorney general said.

“This area of law has not always been given sufficient attention by the federal government, but from its earliest days this administration has worked to increase enforcement of religious freedom laws, including those against religious discrimination,” Gonzales added. “I am very proud of the report we’re releasing today, because it describes a legacy of protection unequaled since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

With the unveiling of the “First Freedom Project,” the Department of Justice is creating a department-wide Religious Freedom Task Force, the attorney general told Executive Committee members. Another component is the initiation of a program of public education to ensure that people know their rights. Gonzales said the justice department will hold a series of regional training seminars for leaders interested in religious liberty issues, starting in Kansas City, Mo., March 29.

Also, the department has launched a new website, firstfreedom.gov, with information on the laws they enforce and how to file a complaint. Justice officials will be distributing informational literature to religious organizations, civil rights groups and community leaders on how to file a complaint, Gonzales said.

“I am here to ask the Southern Baptist Convention, and all of you in this room, for your help,” the attorney general said. “The Department of Justice has many tools to protect religious freedoms in this country, and we are using them. But even with all of our passion and our dedication to this cause, we cannot do it alone.... I am so very glad to be here among men and women who understand and share our commitment.”

Before his address to Executive Committee members, Gonzales met personally with Morris H. Chapman, president of the Executive Committee, and several other Southern Baptist leaders including SBC President Frank Page.

During a news conference after his address, Gonzales told reporters his office approached SBC leaders about the possibility of him speaking at their regularly scheduled meeting because he knew he would be speaking to a receptive audience and because Southern Baptists have already been leaders in the quest to protect religious freedom in the United States and throughout the world.

For a transcript of the attorney general’s remarks, visit www.usdoj.gov.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

US Attorney General & Religious Discrimination

2007-02-22T00:03:00.000-06:00

US Attorney General Targets Religious
Discrimination

AP, via the San Francisco Chronicle, USA
Feb. 20, 2007
Rose French
www.sfgate.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com - Item 17518 - Posted: Wednesday February
21, 2007

Nashville, Tenn. (AP) — The Justice Department is launching a program to enforce protections against religious discrimination, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Tuesday.

The First Freedom Project would increase education about religious discrimination by holding a series of training seminars throughout the country over coming months, Gonzales told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Gonzales said he also plans to create a Religious Freedom Task Force, which will review policies and religious discrimination cases. He said he doesn’t know how much the program will cost.

“One of our most cherished freedoms … is our religious freedom,” he said. “It is a fundamental part of our nation’s history.”

The first training seminar will be held in Kansas City, Mo., in March, followed by seminars in Tampa, Fla., in April and Seattle in May. Other dates and locations will be announced later.

As part of the new program, the Justice Department is setting up a Web site, http://www.firstfreedom.gov/, with information on enforcement and how to file a religious discrimination complaint.

Gonzales said a new report shows that the Justice Department has looked into more religious discrimination cases under the Bush administration. For example, he said cases of religious discrimination in education increased from one case reviewed and no investigations to 82 cases reviewed and 40 investigations.

The report on Enforcement of Laws Protecting Religious Freedom highlights the number of religious discrimination cases reviewed or investigated by the Justice Department for fiscal years 2001-06 compared to 1995-2000. It details religious discrimination cases involving employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, public facilities and other areas.

In the period studied, housing- and credit-related cases grew from four investigations and one lawsuit to 18 investigations and six lawsuits while religion-related appellate friend-of-the-court briefs rose from one to 16.

The Justice Department also reviewed 118 cases and 26 investigations related to land use issues since the enactment in 2000 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which aimed to protect property rights of religious institutions.

This is something that is definitely needed, and could be very helpful to many people across the country. Let us hope that it truly serves the people of the United States in the fashion that it truly should.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold thatperisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: - 1Peter 1:7-8

"He Calls Himself God"

2007-02-07T01:45:00.000-06:00

He Calls Himself God
A Puerto Rican minister says Christ 'integrated' with him. Others call him a cult leader and a charlatan.

By Arian Campo-Flores
Newsweek

Feb. 5, 2007 issue - At first glance, the congregation gathered in a warehouse in Doral, Fla., seems like a typical Hispanic evangelical group. There's the 10-piece band, the singing and swaying, the whooping and hollering.

The stereotyping is allowed I’m sure because the writer is
Hispanic as well, but that doesn’t make it any less unseemly.

But look a little more closely. There's not a cross in sight.

Sadly, this is true of most “mega-churches” today as well…

The lectern is emblazoned with a near replica of the U.S. presidential seal, except that it reads in Spanish, government of god on earth. Off to the side stand three burly guys in dark suits with Secret Service-style earpieces. When a door by the stage opens, the guards leap into action. They surround the man with slicked-back hair who emerges and escort him to his seat.

If this picture weren’t so visually stunning in and of itself, I’d be tempted to crack wise about Rod Serling standing off to the side, quietly smoking a cigarette.

When the crowd spots him, it goes wild. People chant, "Lord! Lord! Lord!" It quickly becomes clear that they're referring to him. "It's Jesus Christ himself!" a preacher onstage announces. "Let's welcome Jesus Christ Man!"

The writer hasn’t said how large the audience is; just that it is in a warehouse. How someone would have gotten me there to begin with I can’t imagine; but even when I was as estranged from God as I could make myself, this would have had me spinning on my heel and bolting for the door.

In the rapturous eyes of his flock, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is, in fact, the second coming of Christ. As the head of the Growing in Grace International Ministry, he presides over a sprawling organization that includes more than 300 congregations in two dozen countries, from Argentina to Australia. He counts more than 100,000 followers and claims to reach millions more through a 24-hour TV channel, a radio show and several Web sites. He is supported by the generosity of his devotees, who have launched some 450 businesses to pour cash into Growing in Grace's coffers.

Even if the truth of these figures were only a tenth of what is stated here, it is still reason enough to make even the least faithful of God’s disciples weep.

Though de Jesus' followers worship him, others denounce him as a charlatan. Everyone, however, agrees on one thing: his teachings are incendiary.

The first definition in the dictionary for incendiary says “Causing or capable of causing fire”, which would make him an incendiary agent. He and his followers may be basking n the glow of his flames now, but eventually…
(Isaiah 66:24) And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

A native of Puerto Rico, de Jesus, 60, spent his youth drifting from the Roman Catholics to the Pentecostals to the Baptists. Then one night in 1973, he says, he awoke to a vision of two hulking men at his bedside who announced the arrival of the Lord, who, says de Jesus, "came to me and integrated with me." In the early years after founding Growing in Grace in Miami in 1986, de Jesus didn't claim to be Christ. Instead, he worked as a pastor spreading his doctrine: that under a new covenant with God, there is no sin and no Satan, and people are predestined to be saved.

Universalism of course! Universalism is the pathetic weak theology that teaches that everyone will be saved from eternal damnation or annihilation in hell, because God loves us too much to punish us. One of it’s false doctrines – apokatastasis – goes so far as to say that even Satan and his fallen angels will be saved!

This is the first time I have ever seen a Universilliest say that sin and satan do not even exist; which will be really frustrating for all the followers of “The New Church”, since they believe that God is so pampering that he allows them to choose to go to hell because they will be allowed to do whatever it is they enjoy doing there, no matter what it may be. We can thank the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (18th century) for inspiring that pile of nonsense. They actually manage to somehow not see the obvious contradiction in teaching that you should be good, and live for God so you can be saved…even though you will be saved anyway.

But as his following expanded, his claims did, too. In 1998, de Jesus avowed that he was the reincarnation of the Apostle Paul. Two years ago at Growing in Grace's world convention in Venezuela, he declared himself Christ. And just last week, he called himself the Antichrist and revealed a "666" tattooed on his forearm. His explanation: that, as the second coming of Christ, he rejects the continued worship of Jesus of Nazareth.

So he was “integrated” with Christ 34 years ago, but he didn’t tell anybody! Instead he told them there was no sin, no satan, and no way they could not get into Heaven; so why would anyone ever listen to him a second time about anything at all since it was already a done deal? Nonsensical!! Yet, they kept coming, and 12 years later, he claimed to be Paul reincarnated (that whole concept of course being the Hindu and Buddhist tradition, rather than Christian). Still they kept coming back, and seemingly brought others along.

Seven years later, he tells them he is Jesus Christ. They of course think nothing of the fact that this self-professed divine being is either a liar (see his previous claims about himself), or is woefully confused about his own identity (paste last parenthetical contents here). Some god they’ve got for themselves! Sounds more like Shirley MacLaine with Alzheimers!!

Here it is 2 years later, his following still going strong, and now he re-re-recants of his previous claims of self, and sporting a new triple-6 tattoo, states that he is the Antichrist. Not A Antichrist (as is obvious!), but The Antichrist – and so far as the writer informs us: his followers... remain with him still.
(Jude 1:11) Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.

All members of Growing in Grace are expected to tithe—which, along with offerings, yielded $1.4 million for headquarters last year. One of the first orders of business at every service is the collection of money (credit cards accepted). Those who have pledged their businesses to de Jesus donate much more. Alvaro Albarracín, a savvy, successful businessman given the title Entrepreneur of Entrepreneurs by de Jesus, is an example. Over the course of Albarracín's 14 years in the church, he estimates that he's given roughly $2.5 million. Such funds help underwrite a lavish lifestyle for de Jesus, including diamond-encrusted gold rings and fancy cars. But most of the money goes to his broadcast operation.

With numbers and attitudes like this, you have to wonder just how many prosperity teachers are studying and dissecting every aspect of this guy’s garbage, looking to cash in like they never have before.

Some observers call Growing in Grace a cult. De Jesus exerts total authority over the ministry. As a result, many have defected over the years, including Albarracín's mother, Regina, who initially turned her son on to the church. "They brainwash you," she says. Because of their disagreement, Regina and her son haven't spoken in years (she now attends an evangelical church).

Considering how much money and power she has distanced herself from by “defecting”, we can surely attribute her awareness to the workings of the Holy Spirit, and hope that her current church is a rock-solid Bible-believing-teaching one.

"This is my only family," Alvaro says of Growing in Grace. Such submission concerns Daniel Alvarez, a religious-studies instructor at Florida International University. "I hope [de Jesus] doesn't metamorphose into Jim Jones," he says, referring to the cult leader who led his followers to mass suicide in Guyana. "He has that kind of control over people." (De Jesus responds that congregants are free to come and go as they please.)

While I understand what he is saying, Alvarez really needs to realize that de Jesus and his followers are already committing mass suicide in pursuing this blasphemous idolatry.

Over the past year, de Jesus has encouraged his followers to protest the alleged lies of other churches. In response, supporters have picketed Catholic congregations and burned religious materials, including crucifixes.

There is a certain logic to a cult (as “some observers call iGrowing In Grace” according to the writer of this article) protesting other religions in this way; not unlike the idiom that the best defense is a good offense. So, while they may be crazies, they aren’t necessarily stupid crazies.

"Our purpose is to open up people's minds," says de Jesus' right-hand man, Carlos Cestero, who says that the group rejects violence. Jesus wouldn't have it any other way—the question is whether de Jesus feels the same.

© 2007 Newsweek, Inc

The violent nature of burning objects in protest may be debatable, but the open sarcasm and derision of the writer of this article is not. It takes no large presumptive power to see a very real spirit of glee running through the entire piece on the part of the writer.

(1Peter 5:8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15) And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; - Ephesians 6:13-15

Still A Great Bet

2007-02-05T00:44:00.000-06:00

I was skimming a music board, and a rather loud argument that was on-going on it. I was about to click off the page when a link was posted to this famous piece, neurons fired, and a cobwebbed drawer on an old filing cabinet in the corners of my memory opened with a rusty squeal..."Oh! That piece! Yes!!!" Where once I read it with such smug childish derision, how wonderful now to revisit it and be so joyfully warmed by doing so.

Enjoy!

Pascal's Wager
A Selection from Pensées

*A note on this text:This is a selection from Pascal's Pensées, translated by W. F. Trotter in 1910. This translation is now in the public domain.*

If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is. This being so, who will dare to undertake the decision of the question? Not we, who have no affinity to Him.

Who then will blame Christians for not being able to give a reason for their belief, since they profess a religion for which they cannot give a reason? They declare, in expounding it to the world, that it is a foolishness, I Cor. 1. 21. ["For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."]; and then you complain that they do not prove it! If they proved it, they would not keep their word; it is in lacking proofs that they are not lacking in sense. "Yes, but although this excuses those who offer it as such and takes away from them the blame of putting it forward without reason, it does not excuse those who receive it." Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions.

Do not, then, reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made, not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The true course is not to wager at all."

Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is. "That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much." Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were an infinity of chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. It is all divided; where-ever the infinite is and there is not an infinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to hesitate, you must give all. And thus, when one is forced to play, he must renounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for infinite gain, as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness.

For it is no use to say it is uncertain if we will gain, and it is certain that we risk, and that the infinite distance between the certainly of what is staked and the uncertainty of what will be gained, equals the finite good which is certainly staked against the uncertain infinite. It is not so, as every player stakes a certainty to gain an uncertainty, and yet he stakes a finite certainty to gain a finite uncertainty, without transgressing against reason. There is not an infinite distance between the certainty staked and the uncertainty of the gain; that is untrue. In truth, there is an infinity between the certainty of gain and the certainty of loss. But the uncertainty of the gain is proportioned to the certainty of the stake according to the proportion of the chances of gain and loss. Hence it comes that, if there are as many risks on one side as on the other, the course is to play even; and then the certainty of the stake is equal to the uncertainty of the gain, so far is it from fact that there is an infinite distance between them. And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain. This is demonstrable; and if men are capable of any truths, this is one.

"I confess it, I admit it. But, still, is there no means of seeing the faces of the cards?" Yes, Scripture and the rest, etc. "Yes, but I have my hands tied and my mouth closed; I am forced to wager, and am not free. I am not released, and am so made that I cannot believe. What, then, would you have me do?"

True. But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavor, then, to convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your passions. You would like to attain faith and do not know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief and ask the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your acuteness. "But this is what I am afraid of." And why? What have you to lose?

But to show you that this leads you there, it is this which will lessen the passions, which are your stumbling-blocks.

The end of this discourse.-- Now, what harm will befall you in taking this side? You will be faithful, humble, grateful, generous, a sincere friend, truthful. Certainly you will not have those poisonous pleasures, glory and luxury; but will you not have others? I will tell you that you will thereby gain in this life, and that, at each step you take on this road, you will see so great certainty of gain, so much nothingness in what you risk, that you will at last recognize that you have wagered for something certain and infinite, for which you have given nothing.

(as usual - the italics are mine)

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. - Revelation 21:3

NFL Denying Church Superbowl Party

2007-02-02T17:55:00.000-06:00

(as usual, the italics are mine)

Liberty CounselNEWS RELEASE
Contact: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT - 800-671-1776
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2007

The NFL’s Heavy-Handed Attempt to Silence Churches is Out of Bounds

Miami, FL – The NFL’s heavy-handed attempt to prohibit churches from showing the Super Bowl to church members defies common sense. The NFL demanded that Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, cancel its advertised Super Bowl party. In addition to objecting to the church’s use of the words “Super Bowl” in promotions, the league objected to use of a screen larger than 55 inches and disliked the church’s plans to show a video highlighting the Christian testimonies of Colts coach Tony Dungy and Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith.

The NFL freely admits it routinely makes exceptions for bars and other commercial establishments to show its games with big screen televisions and projection systems. Liberty Counsel characterized this unnecessary singling out of churches as heavy-handed and unfair. The NFL has publicly stated a preference for establishments that sell alcohol over churches hosting a wholesome, family-oriented gathering to watch the biggest football game of the year. With the popularity of big screen TVs and home entertainment, the NFL’s heavy-handed intimidation tactics cross the line into private homes. Will the NFL demand that viewing the Super Bowl at home with friends must be done on screens smaller than 55 inches? This is certainly not the intent of copyright laws, and such tactics by the NFL run afoul of common sense and the spirit of the game.

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “People throughout the world gather to watch the greatest athletic event of the year. Some view the game on small screens and some on large screens. When cars gather outside our private homes on Sunday afternoon, will the NFL knock on the door and ask to measure our TV screens? It appears that in the NFL’s way of thinking, TV screens bigger than 55 inches are fine for bars but not churches. This discriminatory and nonsensical act of the NFL makes the league look petty, and the NFL should apologize for this silliness.”

Wouldn't this be a wonderful time for NFL players that profess to be Christians to band together and make some sort of public statement denouncing how the NFL is acting? Even if it were just the two Superbowl Coaches and any of their players who are Christians, it would be great. I;m not suggesting that they refuse to play the game, but take some sort of stand. Say for instance, all the Christians on both teams (including staff) could walk on the field wearing an armband with the cross emblazoned on it as a simple silent protest. Would the NFL dare to halt he game or say try and eject those involved? Not a chance.

peace/faith/hope/love

serloren

For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. - Romans 10:11

Deuteronomy 30:19

2007-01-22T11:50:00.000-06:00

1 in 7 of American people
3,000 American people per day
1.4 - 1.6 Million Americans per year
45 Million Americans in 34 years

"I was trained by a professional marketing director in how to sell abortions over the telephone. He took every one of our receptionists, nurses, and anyone else who would deal with people over the phone through an extensive training period. The object was, when the girl called, to hook the sale so that she wouldn't get an abortion somewhere else, or adopt out her baby, or change her mind. We were doing it for the money."

--Nina Whitten, chief secretary at a Dallas abortion clinic under Dr. Curtis Boyd

"The counselor at our clinic would cry with the girls at the drop of a hat. She would find their weakness and work on it. The women were never given any alternatives. They were told how much trouble it is to have a baby."

--former abortion worker Debra Harry, quoted in the film "Meet the Abortion Providers" 1989

"One night a lady delivered and I was called to come and see her because she was 'uncontrollable.' I went into the room, and she was going to pieces; she was having a nervous breakdown, screaming and thrashing. The other patients were upset because this lady was screaming. I walked in, and here was this little saline abortion baby kicking. It had been born alive, and was kicking and moving for a little while before it finally died of those terrible burns, because the salt solution gets into the lungs and burns the lungs too. I'll tell you one thing about D& E . You never have to worry about a baby's being born alive. I won't describe D & E , other than to say that, as a doctor, you are sitting there tearing, and I mean tearing- you need a lot of strength to do it- arms and legs off of babies and putting them in a stack on top of the table."

--Dr. David Brewer of Glen Ellyn Illinois

Today marks the 34th anniversary of Roe vs.Wade. Across the nation there are people who are literally celebrating this date and everything it stands for with events and parties. No small wonder that many people think of and refer to abortion as the American Holocaust.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: - Deuteronomy 30:19

John Piper on Flesh and Hell

2007-01-22T01:37:00.000-06:00

(my italics)

All Flesh Will Come and Worship
John Piper

From time to time, we come to passages of Scripture that speak of God's saving work in such sweeping terms that we wonder how they fit with the reality of eternal punishment. In other words, it can seem that God promises such a full redemption that there is no room left for hell. These passages lead some to universalism-the belief that all will be saved, either at death or after a time in hell. They lead others to annihilationism-the belief that not all are saved, but no one is in hell in the end because they are put out of existence if they rebel against Christ.

I have tried to give extensive biblical arguments against both of these views in Let the Nations Be Glad (Baker, 2003, pp. 111-154). The biblical witness to the everlasting conscious misery for those who have suppressed the witness of nature (Romans 1:18-20) or rejected the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) is unavoidable.

Jesus gives us one of the most decisive words in Matthew 25:46, "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." And John, the apostle of love, gives us the strongest words for the eternality of hell in Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever [eis aiōnas aiōnōn], and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."

Therefore, it is helpful to find a passage of Scripture that clarifies for us how this saddest of biblical truths can stand alongside statements of God's sweeping redemption. Consider one example: Isaiah 66:22-24. First, notice that Isaiah says (in verses 22-23) that the day is coming when "all flesh shall come to worship" God.

For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.

That's the kind of statement that makes us puzzle about how everlasting punishment of some people fits in. If "all flesh" will worship the Lord, then who is left who does not worship the Lord? O how careful we must be at such points when we read the Bible! We must ask: Do I have a clear sense of what Isaiah meant-and God meant!-by the term "all flesh"? It sounds like all human life, but is it? The next verse (24) stuns us:

And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

Immediately we are brought back from our wrong ideas about "all flesh." We thought it meant "all humans who exist in the universe," but the Lord says, No, "all flesh" will look upon a part of the human race who are in torment because "they rebelled against me." Therefore, "all flesh" does not include those on whom "all flesh" is looking.

I mention this as an example of how the Bible sometimes speaks about the work of God in redemption. God is doing a global work-indeed, a universal work-of redemption that extends to all races and all peoples and all tribes and all languages and all classes and all ages. When he has finished his saving work, there will be a completeness to it. It will be a new humanity with a second Adam as its head (1 Corinthians 15:22, 45). Those who "rebel" against Christ's redeeming work, will be outside this "all."

Perhaps that is why Jesus alluded several times to Isaiah 66:24 when warning us about hell. He said that those who spurned his message were thrown into hell "where the fire is not quenched" and cast into "outer darkness."

If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:47)

The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12; cf. 22:13; 25:30)

No one else but Jesus uses the term "outer darkness." Is this Jesus' way of saying: When my redeeming work is complete, and the new world is fully established (cf. paliggenesia, Matthew 19:28), the fullness of "all flesh" will be there-the whole new humanity with all its glorious completeness in Christ-and those who have rejected the kingdom will be "outside"? They will have no existence inside the new world. Their existence and their weeping and their gnashing of teeth will be in another dimension of reality. Therefore, they will not in any way diminish the sense of completeness and wholeness and fullness of the new heavens and the new earth where all is light and joy peace.

When I finished reading and pondering these things, I prayed, "O God, grant that I would feel the magnitude of my sin. Grant that I would feel unworthy of your grace. Grant that I would tremble at the truth of hell. Strip me of all cavalier thoughts, all self-exalting cleverness, all banal preoccupations, all bent toward amusing people from your sacred pulpit. Open my eyes and my heart to see and feel the wonder of saving grace, and the infinite preciousness of Christ and his love-driven obedience, even to death on the cross. Thank you, Father. Thank you. At any cost make me an instrument of your great salvation. In Jesus' name. Amen."

Standing near the precipice, secure,

Pastor John

Rabbi Warns U.S. Christians

2007-01-20T01:38:00.001-06:00

(I have italicized and/or colored some comments to draw added attention to them; otherwise, this article remains unchanged, and it speaks powerfully about the state of things)

WorldNetDaily.com
Saturday, January 13, 2007
A Rabbi's warning to U.S. Christians
Posted: January 13, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
By Rabbi Daniel Lapin
© 2007

I am certainly not a Churchill. I am not even a Revel. I am having enough trouble just trying to be a Lapin. But I am issuing a very serious warning about deep consequences, just as they did. It is a warning about the earliest stages of what could become a cataract of disasters if not resisted now.

During the 1930s, Winston Churchill desperately tried to persuade the English people and their government to see that Hitler meant to end their way of life. The British ignored Churchill, which gave Hitler nearly 10 years to build up his military forces. It wasn't until Hitler actually drew blood that the British realized they had a war on their hands. It turned out to be a far longer and more destructive war than it needed to be had Churchill's early warning been heeded.

In 1983, a brave French writer, Jean-Francois Revel, wrote a book called "How Democracies Perish." In this remarkable volume, he described how communism's aim is world conquest. For decades he had been trying to warn of communism's very real threat. Yet in January 1982, a high State Department official said: "We Americans are not solving problems, we are the problem." (Some things never change.) A good portion of the planet fell to communism, which brought misery and death to millions because we failed to recognize in time that others meant to harm us.

Heaven knows there was enough warning during the 1980s of the intention of part of the Islamic world to take yet another crack at world domination. Yet instead of seeing each deadly assault on our interests around the world as a test of our resolve, we ignored it. We failed the test and lost 3,000 Americans in two unforgettable hours.

I am not going to argue that what is happening now is on the same scale as the examples I cite above, but a serious war is being waged against a group of Americans. I am certain that if we lose this war, the consequences for American civilization will be dire.

Phase one of this war I describe is a propaganda blitzkrieg that is eerily reminiscent of how effectively the Goebbels propaganda machine softened up the German people for what was to come.

There is no better term than propaganda blitzkrieg to describe what has been unleashed against Christian conservatives recently.

Consider the long list of anti-Christian books that have been published in recent months. Here are just a few samples of more than 30 similar titles, all from mainstream publishers:

"American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America"
"The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right's Plans for the Rest of Us"
"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason"
"Piety & Politics: The Right-wing Assault on Religious Freedom"
"Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism"
"Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America" "Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right"

What is truly alarming is that there are more of these books for sale at your local large book store warning against the perils of fervent Christianity than those warning against the perils of fervent Islam. Does anyone seriously think America is more seriously jeopardized by Christian conservatives than by Islamic zealots? I fear that many Americans believe just that in the same way that many pre-World War II Westerners considered Churchill a bigger threat than Hitler.

Some may say that today's proliferation of anti-Christian print propaganda is nothing to become worried about. To them I ask two questions:

First, would you be so sanguine if the target of this loathsome library were Jewish? Just try changing the titles in some of the books I mention above to reflect anti-Semitism instead of rampant anti-Christianism and you'll see what I mean.

Second, major movements that changed the way Americans felt and acted came about through books, often only one book. Think of Rachel Carson's 1962 error-filled "Silent Spring" that resulted in the pointless banning of the insecticide DDT and many unnecessary deaths. Other books that caused upheavals in our nation were Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle," many of Ayn Rand's books and of course "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

No, I would advise you not to underestimate the power of books to alter the behavior of the American public, and I fear for an America influenced to detest Christianity by this hate-filled catalog.

It is not just books but popular entertainment also that beams the most lurid anti-Christian propaganda into the hearts and minds of viewers. One need only think of who the real targets of the recent hit movie "Borat" are. The brilliant Jewish moviemaker Sacha Baron Cohen, as his title character, using borderline dishonest wiles, lures some innocent but unsophisticated country folk, obviously Christians, to join him in his outrageously anti-Semitic antics. Cohen then triumphantly claims to have exposed anti-Semitism. In fact, he has revealed nothing other than the latent anti-Christianism of America's social, economic and academic secular elites.

Even the recent PBS documentary, "Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence," managed to do more attacking Christianity than defending Judaism.

Richard Dawkins, an Oxford University professor, is one of the generals in the anti-Christian army of the secular left. American academia treats him with reverence and hangs on his every word when he insists that "religious myths ought not to be tolerated."

For those with a slightly more tolerant outlook, he asks, "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children?" He suggests that the state should intervene to protect children from their parents' religious beliefs. Needless to say, he means Christian beliefs, of course. Muslim beliefs add to England's charmingly diverse cultural landscape.

The war is against those who regard the Bible to be God's revelation to humanity and the Ten Commandments to be His set of rules for all time. Phase one in this war is to make Christianity, well, sort of socially unacceptable. Something only foolish, poor and ugly people could turn to.

We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign pretty much made it socially unacceptable to drink and drive. For years, there had been stringent laws against drunk driving. They achieved little. In the end, the practice was all but eliminated by groups allied with Mothers Against Drunk Driving and their effective ways of changing the way Americans thought about it.

We have seen how a carefully constructed campaign has pretty much made it socially unacceptable to smoke. In the face of a relentless campaign (dare one call it propaganda?), Americans became docile and forfeited the right to make their own decisions. Nobody was willing to stand up to the no-smoking tyrants. Nobody even asked whether health was sufficient grounds for freedom to be reduced. Now, entire cities and even states have banned smoking, not only in public places but even in privately owned restaurants.

Tyranny comes when citizens are seduced into trading freedom for the promise of safety and security.

Considerably more intellectual energy is being pumped into the propaganda campaign against Christianity than was ever delivered to the anti-smoking or anti-drunk-driving campaigns. Fervent zealots of secularism are flinging themselves into this anti-Christian war with enormous fanaticism.

If they succeed, Christianity will be driven underground, and its benign influence on the character of America will be lost. In its place we shall see a sinister secularism that menaces Bible believers of all faiths. Once the voice of the Bible has been silenced, the war on Western Civilization can begin and we shall see a long night of barbarism descend on the West.

Without a vibrant and vital Christianity, America is doomed, and without America, the West is doomed.

Which is why I, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, devoted to Jewish survival, the Torah and Israel am so terrified of American Christianity caving in.

Many of us Jews are ready to stand with you. But you must lead. You must replace your timidity with nerve and your diffidence with daring and determination. You are under attack. Now is the time to resist it.

Scholar, author and Jewish community leader Rabbi Daniel Lapin is president of the national organization Toward Tradition .To view this item online, visit
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53748

Holy Cash Incentives Batman!

2007-01-16T00:48:00.000-06:00

(italics in this article are mine)

Spiritual salaries go performance-based at Chesapeake church

By STEVEN G. VEGH , The Virginian-Pilot
© January 11, 2007

CHESAPEAKE — Like millions of workers in corporate America, staff members of Deep Creek Baptist Church have a financial stake in how well they contribute to their employer’s success.

“If you did a good job or more than what’s expected, you get some sort of award – it’s an incentive award,” said the Rev. Ernie Myers, Deep Creek’s senior pastor.

In the church world, performance-driven bonuses are rare.

Yet in this season of budgeting salaries, a small number of churches are tying at least part of their employees’ compensation to some quantifiable measure of performance. The 16 administrative and clergy employees of Deep Creek – a growing Southern Baptist congregation that draws more than 1,000 to Sunday services – are eligible for annual bonuses that range as high as 5 percent of their base salary.

“Not everybody gets 5 percent, but most people get something. It’s a way to reward good performance and for the church to show appreciation to the staff,” Myers said. “If you did an average job, you’d probably get a little bit.”

Some clergy and church professionals question whether such pay-for-performance benchmarks can be applied to spiritual ministries.

Aside from "can" they even be measured in this way, is the question of "should" they be, and the answer to that is definitely not.

“You’re motivating people not around finances or even on performance, but on their sense of interacting with God and sensing God’s presence, and that is hard to measure,” said Joseph Umidi, who teaches Christian leadership at Regent University’s divinity school in Virginia Beach.

At Bethany Baptist Church in Portsmouth, the Rev. Gene Primm discounted tying productivity measures to church ministry. “I can’t stand here today and say we’re going to have 50 baptisms next year,” he said. “We’re in the Lord’s business, but we don’t create decisions of faith.” Latest Videos

But Rex Frieze, a church management consultant in Orlando, Fla., said churches such as Deep Creek are moving in the right direction. He argued for linking part of church paychecks to achieving “defined objectives.”

“If it’s a music ministry, it might be numbers growth in the choir or performances. If it’s in the evangelism area, it could be the establishment of small groups” for Bible study, he said.

At Deep Creek, Myers said, the church gives salary increases, or “step” increases, every four years, guided by published salary surveys that show pay ranges at churches of comparable size and location. Deep Creek also gives a cost-of-living wage adjustment every three years. He declined to say how much the church’s employees are paid.

And for the church employees to get this is completely fine, But, it should be enough as it is without all this incentive baloney added on. After all, there are multi-millions of workers in this country who would be positively thrilled to get "steps" and C.O.L.s at all.

Myers said that in evaluating employee performance, he uses both subjective and objective criteria.

“Is your ministry progressing, is it reaching people and growing?” he said. “We want to get more numbers, but we also want people to grow as Christians – we want maturity to grow. ”

Myers said some ministry activity, such as youth group participation, is more suited to measurement than other areas. He also weighs whether anything outside an employee’s control affects fulfillment of objective goals.

Myers gives each staff member a letter grade based on the performance evaluation. “A through F – nobody has ever gotten an F,” he said. A church committee uses the grades to decide how big each employee’s incentive award will be.

Frieze, the church management consultant, said that even the best performance-based pay system can’t measure vital pastoral qualities like love and compassion. “You can’t quantify everything,” he said, but wherever benchmarks are provided, “it gives you that incentive to work hard.”

Considering that the Christian faith teaches us that we should give our absolute best in our work, no matter who we work for, nor what we do for work, even when we (as most Christians do) work in the secular world; anyone who feels they should get an "incentive (cash) to work hard" in working for the Lord (Pastor or Janitor), really needs to re-evaluate what they are doing and why, or they need to be re-evaluated by the ministry they are serving in.

All of this is of course just indicative of all that is wrong with the entire idea of market-driven ministry.

Reach Steven G. Vegh at (757) 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilotonline.com.

Denominationally Speaking...(1)

2007-01-11T23:14:00.000-06:00

The Following is an article that appeared in the Washington Post a few days ago. Rather than injecting comments, I have chosen to only italicize a few comments, and to otherwise allow the writers to speak for themselves - which they do eloquently.

Why We Left the Episcopal Church
By The Rev. John Yates and Os Guinness
Monday, January 8, 2007; Page A15
When even President Gerald Ford's funeral at Washington National Cathedral is not exempt from comment about the crisis in the Episcopal Church, we believe it is time to set the record straight as to why our church and so many others around the country have severed ties with the Episcopal Church. Fundamental to a liberal view of freedom is the right of a person or group to define themselves, to speak for themselves and to not be dehumanized by the definitions and distortions of others. This right we request even of those who differ from us.
The core issue in why we left is not women's leadership. It is not "Episcopalians against equality," as the headline on a recent Post op-ed by Harold Meyerson put it. It is not a "leftward" drift in the church. It is not even primarily ethical -- though the ordination of a practicing homosexual as bishop was the flash point that showed how far the repudiation of Christian orthodoxy had gone.
The core issue for us is theological: the intellectual integrity of faith in the modern world. It is thus a matter of faithfulness to the lordship of Jesus, whom we worship and follow. The American Episcopal Church no longer believes the historic, orthodox Christian faith common to all believers. Some leaders expressly deny the central articles of the faith -- saying that traditional theism is "dead," the incarnation is "nonsense," the resurrection of Jesus is a fiction, the understanding of the cross is "a barbarous idea," the Bible is "pure propaganda" and so on. Others simply say the creed as poetry or with their fingers crossed.
It would be easy to parody the "Alice in Wonderland" surrealism of Episcopal leaders openly denying what their faith once believed, celebrating what Christians have gone to the stake to resist -- and still staying on as leaders. But this is a serious matter.
First, Episcopal revisionism abandons the fidelity of faith. The Hebrew scriptures link matters of truth to a relationship with God. They speak of apostasy as adultery -- a form of betrayal as treacherous as a husband cheating on his wife.
Second, Episcopal revisionism negates the authority of faith. The "sola scriptura" ("by the scriptures alone") doctrine of the Reformation church has been abandoned for the "sola cultura" (by the culture alone) way of the modern church. No longer under authority, the Episcopal Church today is either its own authority or finds its authority in the shifting winds of intellectual and social fashion -- which is to say it has no authority.
Third, Episcopal revisionism severs the continuity of faith. Cutting itself off from the universal faith that spans the centuries and the continents, it becomes culturally captive to one culture and one time. While professing tolerance and inclusiveness, certain Episcopal attitudes toward fellow believers around the world, who make up a majority of the Anglican family, have been arrogant and even racist.
Fourth, Episcopal revisionism destroys the credibility of faith. There is so little that is distinctively Christian left in the theology of some Episcopal leaders, such as the former bishop of Newark, that a skeptic can say, as Oscar Wilde said to a cleric of his time, "I not only follow you, I precede you." It is no accident that orthodox churches are growing and that almost all the great converts to the Christian faith in the past century, such as G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis, have been attracted to full-blooded orthodoxy, not to revisionism. The prospect for the Episcopal Church, already evident in many dioceses, is inevitable withering and decline.
Fifth, Episcopal revisionism obliterates the very identity of faith. When the great truths of the Bible and the creeds are abandoned and there is no limit to what can be believed in their place, then the point is reached when there is little identifiably Christian in Episcopal revisionism. Would that Episcopal leaders showed the same zeal for their faith that they do for their property. If the present decline continues, all that will remain of a once strong church will be empty buildings, kept going by the finances, though not the faith, of the fathers.
These are the outrages we protest. These are the infidelities that drive us to separate. These are the real issues to be debated. We remain Anglicans but leave the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church first left the historic faith. Like our spiritual forebears in the Reformation, "Here we stand. So help us God. We can do no other."
The Rev. John Yates is rector and Os Guinness is a parishioner of The Falls Church, one of several Virginia churches that voted last month to sever ties with the Episcopal Church.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/01/07/AR2007010700982.html
(accessed 1-11-2007)