BTELIFE MUSINGS

De-batizing Phenomenon In Europe

2012-01-20T06:46:00.001-06:00

Europeans "De-Baptize" In Growing Numbers, Church Officials Worried
By Elizabeth Bryant
Religion News Service

PARIS (RNS) A decade ago, Rene Lebouvier requested that his local Catholic church erase his name from the baptismal register. The church noted his demands on the margins of its records and the chapter was closed.

But the clergy abuse scandals rocking Europe, coupled with Pope Benedict XVI's conservative stances on contraception, hardened Lebouvier's views. Last October, a court in Normandy ruled in favor of his lawsuit to have his name permanently deleted from church records -- making the 71-year-old retiree the first Frenchman to be officially "de-baptized."

"I took the judicial route to get myself de-baptized because of the church's excesses," said Lebouvier, speaking by telephone from his village of Fleury, near the D-Day beaches.

"It's a sort of honesty toward the church because they have a guy on their register who doesn't believe in God."

Lebouvier's case is among a growing wave of de-baptisms in Europe, one of the most visible manifestations of the continent's secular drift. Websites offering informal de-baptism certificates have mushroomed. Other Christians are formally breaking from the church by opting out of state church taxes.

"The movement is happening across Europe," said Anne Morelli, who heads a center studying religion and secularity at the Free University of Brussels. "It was very apparent during 2011 -- in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Austria. It is obviously related to the scandals of pedophile priests, but it has been going on for some time."

While there are no official statistics, experts and secular activists count the numbers of de-baptisms in the tens of thousands. It's a phenomenon that has touched Protestant as well as Catholic communities.

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Targeting of Nigerain Christians Continues

2012-01-07T07:10:00.003-06:00

*Keep them in your prayers!

Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists targetting Christians, turning Nigeria into cauldron of religious strife

Preaching a theology of chaos and intolerance, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group Boko Haram is threatening to plunge Nigeria into a civil war.

After murdering 504 people last year in church and mosque bombings, drive-by shootings, bank robberies and assaults on police stations and army barracks, the radical Islamists are rapidly becoming known as Africa’s Taliban.

The increasingly sophisticated and deadly attacks include a Christmas bombing campaign of Christian churches that killed 65 people in northern Nigeria and a suicide car-bomb attack on the United Nations’ headquarters in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, that killed 25 people in August.

Thursday, gunmen stormed a church in Gombe, killing six people. On Friday, armed men shot and killed 17 Christians at a house in the northeastern town of Mubi as they mourned the death of a friend the previous evening….

Then late Friday, gunmen killed at least eight people when they opened fire on worshippers at the Christian Apostolic church in downtown Yola, the capital of Adamawa.

Boko Haram has suddenly emerged as one of Africa’s most virulent terrorist threats.

In November, a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on homeland security identified the group as a threat to African stability and U.S. security.

Its members are being trained by al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM, al-Qaeda’s North African affiliate) and have ties to Somalia’s Al-Shabab, the committee concluded.

“The sophistication of its tactics, use of the Internet and its recent attack on the UN headquarters in Abuja all point to a dangerously evolving organization,” it said.

With AQIM operating in Nigeria’s neighbours — Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria — it would only be “natural” for the group to gravitate toward Nigeria, said Paul Lubeck, an expert on the region at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“They are global jihadists,” he said. “It is automatic that you would look to the largest Muslim state in Africa to expand.”

Before his death last May, Osama bin Laden identified Nigeria, with its sharp Christian-Muslim divide, as a key arena for global sectarian warfare.

Libya’s civil war, which has flooded North Africa with weapons, has also left Nigeria vulnerable.
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Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T17:47:00.002-06:00

I hope you enjoy the celebrations and a Merry Christmas to all out there!

ISAIAH 9:6-7

6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

A Strong Public Faith Exhibited In A Secular Arena

2011-12-15T06:49:00.008-06:00

Amazing how some football players can dance on the field--and no one gets offended. Another player wildly throws up his arms and trashes about with exhilaration-- and no one gets offend. Yet one player bends his knees to the Almighty God and offers thanks and praise--- and some do get offended. Tim Tebow is not dissuaded by public criticism of his belief in Jesus Christ. Hat's off to Mr.Tebow.

By the Book: Love him or hate him, Tim Tebow’s faith can’t be ignored
Anniston Star --by Anthony Cook

If there was a guy who always tried to do the right thing, and who avoided trouble, and gave selflessly to charities, and who spent much of his spare time helping others, and who was humble and polite, would you love him or hate him?

Throw in a considerable amount of athleticism and a healthy dose of leadership ability, and that guy is Tim Tebow.

Ironically, though, Tebow is one of the most loved and most hated sports figures in America.

On the off chance you don’t know who he is, Tebow was the 2007 Heisman trophy-winning quarter back for the Florida Gators, and he’s now the starting QB for the Denver Broncos.

He skyrocketed to prominence four seasons ago when, following a Florida loss to Ole Miss, Tebow, the starting quarterback, promised the college football world with clear conviction that no one would be more determined or work harder than him and his team the rest of the season.

The Gators didn’t lose another game, and went on to win the national championship with Tebow at the helm.

While many were inspired by his determination, others, particularly those in the media, were turned off when it became more and more apparent that Tebow’s passion and drive were rooted in his faith in Christ.

What bugs people so much?

Click here to read this article in entirety.

Redefining Christmas--2011

2011-12-05T07:02:00.002-06:00

I typically "rant" this time of year about how a trend towards redefining Christmas continues to develop. This year will be no different.

Recently, a local television station in our area took a poll on whether business and establishments should say "Merry Christmas" or say "Happy Holidays". The same "dilemma" goes for circulars and publications from such organizations (usually peddling products).

I myself, do not celebrate "Ramadan". Nor Hanukkah. I do however, celebrate Christmas--a remembrance and celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I also appreciate the traditions surrounding it: good will towards others, cheer, lights, and even a cup of eggnog.

One participant in the survey exclaimed something to the effect "We need to include all celebrations, therefore we should say "Happy Holidays". This is the typical sentiment with those uncomfortable with Christ in Christmas.

For those celebrating Hanukkah, I would not insist you redefine the name of your holiday to fit my beliefs. I will pray you come to the knowledge of Jesus of Christ, but would I insist you redefine your holiday? No. Nor would I do so for Ramadan, or any other non-Christian holiday.

Christmas is a Christian holiday. If you do not like the Christ in it, how is it you feel you should redefine something others hold so dear?

John 1:1-10
1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2) He was in the beginning with God.
3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5) And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7) This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9) That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11) He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Thanksgiving Day-2011!

2011-11-24T04:33:00.003-06:00

Ah, yes--that wonderful delicious meal you have come to expect every year! I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

And if you feel like you do not have anything to be thankful for, and your life has dealt you some serious blows as it has done me---there is something you can always be thankful for... Jesus Christ, our Savior. Through Him we can be forever reconciled with God;l and because of Him, I have eternal life with Him.

Romans 5:7-9

7) Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9) Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

Grady Calls For A Charismatic Reformation

2011-11-22T17:45:00.002-06:00

*Lee Grady brings up some good points in this article I read recently via email through Andrew Strom’s ministry.

IT’S (PAST) TIME for A CHARISMATIC REFORMATION
-J. Lee Grady.

In honor of Reformation Day, here are some complaints I’m nailing on the Wittenberg door.

Long before there was an Occupy Wall Street, Martin Luther staged the most important protest in history. He was upset because Roman Catholic officials were promising people forgiveness or early escape from purgatory in exchange for money. So on October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a long list of complaints on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Luther’s famous 95 theses were translated from Latin into German and spread abroad. Like a medieval Jeremiah, Luther dared to ask questions that had never been asked, and he challenged a pope who was supposedly infallible. Through this brave monk, the Holy Spirit sparked the Protestant Reformation and restored the doctrine of grace to a church that had become corrupt, religious, dysfunctional, political and spiritually dead.

I am no Luther, but I’ve grown increasingly aware that the so-called “Spirit-filled” church of today struggles with many of the same things the Catholic church faced in the 1500s. We don’t have “indulgences”—we have telethons. We don’t have popes—we have super-apostles. We don’t support an untouchable priesthood—we throw our money at celebrity evangelists who own fleets of private jets.

In honor of Reformation Day, I’m offering my own list of needed reforms in our movement. And since I can’t hammer these on the Wittenberg door, I’ll post them online. Feel free to nail them everywhere.

1. Let’s reform our theology. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is God and He is holy. He is not an “it.” He is not a blob, a force, or an innate power. We must stop manipulating Him, commanding Him and throwing Him around.

2. Let’s return to the Bible. The Word of God is the foundation for the Christian experience. Any dramatic experience, no matter how spiritual it seems, must be tested by the Word and the Holy Spirit’s discernment. Visions, dreams, prophecies and encounters with angels must be in line with Scripture. If we don’t test them we could end up spreading deception.

3. It’s time for personal responsibility. We charismatics must stop blaming everything on demons. People are usually the problem.

4. Stop playing games. Spiritual warfare is a reality, but we are not going to win the world to Jesus just by shouting at demonic principalities. We must pray, preach and persevere to see ultimate victory.

5. Stop the foolishness. People who hit, slap or push others during prayer should be asked to sit down until they learn gentleness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

6. End all spiritual extortion now. Christian television ministries must cease and desist from all manipulative fundraising tactics. We must stop giving platforms to ministers who make outlandish claims of supernatural financial returns, especially when Scripture is twisted, deadlines are imposed and the poor are exploited.

7. No more Lone Rangers. Those who claim to be ministers of God—whether they are traveling evangelists, local pastors or heads of ministries—must be accountable to other leaders. Any who refuse to submit their lives to godly discipline should be corrected.

8. Expose the creeps. Churches should start doing background checks on traveling ministers. Preachers who have been hiding criminal records, lying about their past marriages, preying on women or refusing to pay child support should be exposed as charlatans and shunned if they do not repent.

9. Stop faking the anointing. God is God, and He does not need our “help” to manifest Himself. That means we don’t sprinkle glitter on ourselves to suggest God’s glory is with us, hide fake jewels on the floor to prove we are anointed or pull chicken feathers out of our sleeves to pretend angels are in the room. This is lying to the Holy Spirit.

10. Let’s return to purity. We’ve had enough scandals. The charismatic church must develop a system for the restoration of fallen ministers. Those who fall morally can be restored, but they must be willing to submit to a process of healing rather than rushing immediately back into the pulpit.

11. We need humility. Ministers who demand celebrity treatment, require lavish salaries, insist on titles or exhibit aloofness from others are guilty of spiritual pride.

12. No more big shots. Apostles are the bondslaves of Christ, and should be the most impeccable models of humility. True apostles do not wield top-down, hierarchical authority over the church. They serve the church from the bottom up as true servants.

13. Never promote gifts at the expense of character. Those who operate in prophecy, healing and miracles must also exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. And while we continue to encourage the gift of tongues, let’s make sure we don’t treat it like some kind of badge of superiority. The world needs to see our love, not our glossolalia.

14. Hold the prophets accountable. Those who refuse to take responsibility for inaccurate statements should not be given platforms. And “prophets” who live immoral lives don’t deserve a public voice.

15. Let’s make the main thing the main thing. The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to empower us to reach others. We are at a crossroads today: Either we continue off-course, entertained by our charismatic sideshows, or we throw ourselves into evangelism, church planting, missions, discipleship, and compassionate ministry that helps the poor and fights injustice. Churches that embrace this New Reformation will focus on God’s priorities.

Attacks On Nigerian Christian Churches

2011-11-07T16:04:00.002-06:00

150 Killed In Attack On Nigeria Churches
By BosNewsLife Africa Service

ABUJA, NIGERIA (BosNewsLife)-- Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar", or 'Allah is great', carried out coordinated gun and bomb attacks on churches and police stations in northern Nigeria, killing at least 150 people and injuring some 100 others, aid workers and witnesses confirmed Saturday, November 5.

Militant group Boko Haram, or 'Western education is a sin', claimed responsibility for what Nigeria's President leader Goodluck Jonathan described as a "heinous" violence in mainly Damaturu, capital of Yobe state.

Confirmation of the attacks Saturday, November 5, came as frightened mourners tried to leave their homes to begin burying their dead.

Boko Haram, which seeks strict implementation of Shariah, or Islamic law, across the nation of more than 160 million people, pledged more attacks.

The Red Cross aid group and witnesses said fighting began Friday, November 4, around Damaturu, when a car bomb exploded outside a three-story building used as a military office and barracks, with many uniformed security agents dying in the blasts.

Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Mohammed told reporters that the "suicide" attackers, driving a black sports utility vehicle, detonated their explosives near the gate of the building, used by the Joint Task Force (JTF), the military unit deployed to curb violence there.

CHURCHES ATTACKED

Several other police stations, a bank and up to six churches were also attacked, residents and aid workers said. Among areas targeted by militants was the Jerusalem area, a predominantly Christian neighborhood, according to witnesses.

One resident, Isa Jakusko, was quoted by French News Agency AFP as saying that city had been thrown into chaos. “There have been several bomb explosions and shooting. As I am talking to you there is still fire exchanges between the attackers and security personnel with the attackers shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’,” he reportedly said.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Trend: Catholics Disent From Teachings

2011-10-26T05:57:00.003-05:00

HEBREWS 10
1) For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2) For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
3) But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
7) Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
8) Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered by the law;
9) Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13) From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14) For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
15) Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16) This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17) And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18) Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19) Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21) And having a high priest over the house of God;
22) Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

An article below concerning a trend of Catholics moving away from teachings in their church. It is imperative people realize Christ is the way--the only way to salvation and eternal life. No church denomination can save you, Mary cannot save you, Joseph cannot save you, a priest cannot save you, how many people you feed cannot save. Jesus Christ is the only way!
_____________

New survey finds US Catholics distant from Church teachings, sacraments
Catholic World News

A new survey of American Catholics finds that most are comfortable with their faith, but not with the teachings of the Church.

An overwhelming 86% of those surveyed said that “you can disagree with aspects of church teachings and still remain loyal to the church.” That attitude was underlined by responses to individual questions, as only about one-third attended Mass weekly and accepted the teaching authority of the Church.

“It’s the core creedal sacramental issues that really matter to American Catholics, more than the external trappings of church authority,” said Michele Dillon, a co-author of the survey report. But if doctrinal teachings are dismissed as “external trappings,” the study finds a lukewarm interest in Catholic sacramental life. Nearly half of the respondents (47%) reported attending Mass less than once a month, and only 63% said that the sacramental life is very important. In fact only 73% thought that the Resurrection was important to their faith.

Getting Back To The Gospel in The US

2011-10-14T04:41:00.003-05:00

Oh what a great message below! This was received via email by Andrew Strom's ministry.

"A BURDEN"
-Michael Carl.

'Have you ever wondered how we can have million dollar church buildings and pack-in huge crowds on Sunday, but have no power in our witness? Do you wonder how about half of the people in this country claim to have had a born again experience and how the churches are having so little of an impact? Have you been amazed at the fact that American society is becoming increasingly antagonistic to the church.

How can this be?

The answer seems to be that it's because the pastors in the pulpits have sold out to the 'Seeker Sensitive' movement. We've opted for programs, lights, smoke machines, stage props, and the prosperity Gospel.

Pastors preach the Gospel of Self-Fulfillment and talk about how we're destined to reign. Our pulpits echo with: 'God wants you to be happy' and 'You can have your best life now'. We have major tele-preachers holding 'camp meetings' where the 'preacher' shouts, 'Let's celebrate you!'

I heard a preacher say once that if you have trials in your life, then you don't have enough faith. What a ludicrous statement and how utterly un-Biblical!

Paul had more faith than most of us and he never stopped going through trials. We talk faith and prosperity while the church around the world grows in not merely number, but in depth and maturity. They see miracles and God's power; they sense His presence.

How? They've learned to persevere through trials. A Charismatic Episcopal Church Bishop in Pakistan had a Muslim slit his throat, throw him off of a bus and leave him for dead just because the Bishop was a Christian. But the Bishop's ministry grows and he sees the fruit.

Christians in other parts of the world weep for revival in the American church. What does that say about us?

It means that we are weak and self-absorbed.

I heard another television preacher turn the tables and suggest that a preacher who focused on subjects like F. F. Bruce's The Hard Sayings of Jesus was not preaching the Gospel and ignoring the truth of the Word! 'They didn't want to hear that' he claimed!

What utter disregard for the truth! Jesus said, '"The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,"' and told His followers of His coming arrest, trial, torture and crucifixion.

This means we're deceived and taken with greed.

There are no tears for revival and the only One weeping is Jesus. He bled and died for us and we proclaim that the Gospel is a means to prosperity, power and influence. Church services look more like pop concerts and the preaching is only a babbling collection of self-absorbed slogans and how God wants us to be happy!

No, God wants us to be holy!

Where is the message of repentance? Where is the '"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me"'?

Folks, the message of the cross is foolishness and offensive to the world. Paul told us that 191/2 centuries ago.

Paul also told us that if he wanted to please the world, he would not be a follower of Christ.

Can you imagine Elijah having a chat with the wicked King Ahab about how we can 'Coexist'? Or, do you think John the Baptist should have opened a dialogue with Herod about tolerance?

No, those mighty men of God were sent to confront the leaders of their time about the sin in the society! Why is it that our evangelicals spend their time trying to cozy up and make nice with our politicians while there are souls perishing hourly and going into a Christ-less eternity?

This is the message that will transform this culture and turn this country around.

Rob Bell Leaves Mars Hill

2011-10-09T19:05:00.004-05:00

Chirst did not come in the flesh only to die in vain. Hell is very real--it is NOT a metaphor. Hell is not a pleasant topic--but it is a necessary one.

John 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Trendy Grand Rapids pastor leaving church he founded to pursue 'strategic opportunities'
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

A Grand Rapids pastor who is one of Michigan's best-known religious leaders is leaving the church he founded.

Rob Bell -- an evangelical Christian who has attracted national attention for his hip style and unconventional preaching -- is leaving Mars Hill, a church he started a dozen years ago in a suburb of Grand Rapids. Church officials made the announcement Thursday on the church's Web site, saying that Bell, 41, is leaving to "devote his full energy to sharing the message of God's love with a broader audience."

Earlier this year, Time magazine named Bell as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, a list that included notables such as Oprah Winfrey and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. And on Thursday, Bell's name trended nationally at one point on Twitter after the church said he was leaving, indicating the buzz surrounding his departure.

Bell has written several successful books, and he has toured internationally, preaching a Christianity that is accessible to younger people. His church came out of a strong Christian presence in west Michigan heavily influenced by Protestant traditions such as Calvinism, but had a casual manner that appealed to younger people.

Church leaders said in the statement that Bell was "feeling the call from God to pursue strategic opportunities."

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Angel Food Ministries Forced To Close

2011-09-27T06:06:00.002-05:00

*Below is an article which discusses the impact of the end of Angel Food Ministries upon a particular community. The closure of this organization is producing nationwide repercussions.

Angel Food Ministries Closing After 17 Years

RANTOUL — A food ministry that served low-income residents and others affected by the poor economy is, itself, a victim of the economy.

Angel Food Ministries, which at one time served 500,000 families a month in 35 states, said last week it was closing after 17 years.

The shutdown was effective immediately.

Angel Food Ministries had been founded in January to replace the SHARE Food bulk food program in Rantoul when SHARE Food shut down in December because of low numbers.

Nancy Brown, Angel Foods' director in Rantoul, said the shutdown is going to hit many area residents hard, including her.

Brown said one person who had participated in both the SHARE Food and Angel Food programs got a shock when she went to a store to buy meat.

"She didn't realize what a bargain she was getting," Brown said.

Another customer used the program because she has acute allergies that don't allow her to be around people. The program offered home delivery.

An announcement on the Angel Food Ministries website said organizers "realize the pressure that this places on our host sites, community food banks and customers."

The announcement said most, if not all, food ministries have shut down in recent years. The rapid rise in food costs and fuel costs were cited for the decision.

Brown said Rantoul area residents who placed a food order for September will receive refunds.

She said she had no inkling that the program was struggling until it was announced that the September order of food would not be coming.

Despite starting up less than a year ago, the Rantoul site was in Illinois' top three in terms of customer numbers, Brown said. An average of more than 100 people signed up for food each month.

"It's devastating to have it happen twice in a year," Brown said.

She said she is actively seeking a replacement program but doesn't know if any are available.

"It's hard, even in your own mind, to accept this and hold your head up and go on," Brown said.

The Angel Food Ministries program saved customers money through bulk purchasing. J.C. Neff of Effingham said about 180 distribution sites were set up in Illinois and about 5,500 host sites in the country.

Participants were able to sign up at either one of two monthly signup periods at Community Service Center or online using a debit card or credit card. They were also able to use their Link Card or SNAP card when paying on-site.

Income level didn't matter. Anyone could order through the program, regardless of how much money they made. And participants weren't limited to Rantoul.

Food was trucked from Georgia to distribution sites. Rantoul's site was the Community Service Center.

Pastors Joseph and Linda Wingo started the program in 1994 in Georgia.

The shutdown of the Rantoul program will have an effect in another area as well.

Some Champaign County residents sentenced to perform community service will have to look for another work site.

Click here to continue reading.

Whoa Mr. Robertson!

2011-09-16T08:05:00.003-05:00

Well, Mr. Robertson’s foot is in his mouth again. I wonder if he simply does not think before he speaks. Even more so the secular world is outraged by this, because they view it as hypocrisy. The unbeliever cannot see that Christians do fail and display selfish bad attitudes—but is that a reflection of the goodness, mercy, and power of God? Absolutely not!! Weigh the individual, my unbelieving friend out there! These tea party folks carrying the “God and NAR and vote for ME” card spouting ugly venom at the poor and crushed in the U.S.—do that reflect all of us believers? It does not reflect me! I have never seen a president treated with such disrespectful contempt like President Obama by the tea party “God and NAR and vote for ME” card carrying crowd—and I am convinced racist attitudes are at play at times. Recently I had unbelieving relatives discussing these topics with myself and my family. Sigh…little wonder at times those trapped in darkness cannot see through the individual unto the Message which truly matters. An article on Robertson’s latest controversy below:

Pat Robertson says Alzheimer's makes divorce OK
by Associated Press

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death."

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the "700 Club," said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer."

Most Christian denominations at least discourage divorce, citing Jesus' words in the Gospel of Mark that equate divorce and remarriage with adultery.

Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson's co-host, asked him about couples' marriage vows to take care of each other "for better or for worse" and "in sickness and in health."

"If you respect that vow, you say 'til death do us part,'" Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. "This is a kind of death."

A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.

Divorce is uncommon among couples where one partner is suffering from Alzheimer's, said Beth Kallmyer, director of constituent services for the Alzheimer's Association, which provides resources to sufferers and their families.

"We don't hear a lot of people saying 'I'm going to get divorced,'" she told The Associated Press. "Families typically respond the way they do to any other fatal disease."

The stress can be significant in marriages though, Kallmyer said, because it results in the gradual loss of a person's mental faculties.

"The caregiving can be really stressful on a couple of levels," she said. "There's the physical level. There's also the emotional level of feeling like you're losing that person you love."

As a result, she said, it's important for couples to make decisions about care together in the early stages of the illness, when its effects aren't as prominent.

Prayer and Personal Privacy

2011-09-12T12:56:00.003-05:00

When Calls for Prayer Trample Personal Privacy
By Bill Broadway, Washington Post Staff Writer

Disclosing Details of Members' Health Could Pose Legal Problem for Churches

Bryan Mitnaul of Virginia Beach might be the only person to have won a lawsuit against a church over the publication of personal medical information.

But he won't hold the title long if religious communities don't revise the way they publicize such information, according to specialists who advise clergy on privacy matters.

In Mitnaul's case, an April 2000 article posted on the Web site of Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland heralded the minister of music's return from an illness:

"We have good news for you!" the article read. "Bryan Mitnaul is returning to Fairmount after a long medical leave of absence.

"Since the summer of last year, Bryan has been treated for bi-polar illness, a condition which at time has resulted in serious depression for him. Various therapies and medications have been tried, and finally, after much experimentation, his health has improved considerably. For that we are all very happy."

The church's comments, no matter how well-intentioned, crossed a line that should be a warning to any religious group that shares members' medical information in newsletters and during worship services, several ministers and specialists said.

Legally, publishing details of Mitnaul's condition without his permission was an invasion of privacy because it "included information in a way that would be highly offensive to the ordinary person," said Richard Hammar, general counsel for the Missouri-based Assemblies of God and publisher of Church Law & Tax Report, a national bimonthly newsletter.

Some conditions carry more of a stigma than others, and mental illness is one of them, Hammar said. Saying a person is recovering from a heart attack or being treated for cancer is "much less offensive," he said.

That's the way an Ohio appeals court ruled in 2002, citing invasion of privacy in sending the case back to a lower court that had issued a summary judgment favoring the church.

"It would have been okay to say I had been in the hospital and was very ill and had recovered to the point I could return to work," Mitnaul, 49, said in a telephone interview from the Eastern Shore Chapel, an Episcopal church where he has been director of music for 21/2 years.

Most people in the 1,600-member Cleveland church knew of his depression, Mitnaul said. But no one other than the pastoral staff was aware of the diagnosis, which was "put on the Internet for anyone in the world to see."

"It changed who I was, not just to the people at Fairmount church, but anyone who did a Google search," said Mitnaul, adding that he is healthy and that most Eastern Shore members are unaware of his medical history and the lawsuit. "Once it's out there, you can't get it back. It took a while to get it off the Web site."

Mitnaul said he settled out of court "because it was too stressful" to continue to be drawn into an increasingly antagonistic relationship with the church. In addition to the dispute over the Web site announcement, the church terminated his employment after he was unable to return to work on an agreed-upon date, saying he was "not physically or mentally able . . . to continue in the position in which you have so distinguished yourself," according to court documents.

On that matter, too, the appellate court ruled in Mitnaul's favor. But it's the privacy issue that has caught the attention of denominational legal offices, especially with last year's implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Click here to continue reading.

Nasty Politics Fueled By Wanna Be Christians

2011-08-29T17:16:00.003-05:00

The following "conversational" exchange was sent via email through Andrew Strom's ministry. It concerns the nasty behavior exhibited by U.S. Christians in the political arena. The world is watching folks, and I say little wonder many nonbelievers discount us when they see some of the behavior Christians exhibit when it comes to politics--especially by the tea party crowd. (and the NAR is certainly flaming some of it!) And boy howdy how some are so skillful at yanking the strings of conservative evangelicals in America. I call it prostituting the Gospel myself for political gain. The Message is not about politics, it is about Jesus Christ. Shouldn't we be about our Father's business?

"Sorry to see you go, but hey... we will certainly meet again."

Email presented directly below:

USA POLITICS, RICK PERRY & the N.A.R.
-by Andrew Strom.

I had a couple from the USA write to me today with a rather hair-raising question on US politics. But before we get to their email,let me make a couple of points. As many of you know, I am astrongly conservative evangelical Christian. And yet, I have questioned for a long time whether conservative Christians (particularly in the USA) are trying to solve "SPIRITUAL" problems with Politics - which will never work. The sheer amount of money and energy and passion that Christians in the US are devoting to "electing the right guy" seems to even dwarf what they are willing to do SPIRITUALLY. There is something wrong. We are trying to use Politics to solve problems that only God Himself can solve! We need an actual Awakening - not just a "new guy" for President! A lot of this massive devotion and activism is a "distraction" and is also leading to enraged and "hateful" behaviour from Christians. Slander, gossip, anger, malicious talk, circulating hateful rumors, etc, etc. Real ugly behaviour that is not Christ-like at all. In fact, it is the very opposite of the way Jesus told us to be.

But now - let us get to the email. Here is what Carolyn and Wendell wrote to me-"Concerning America and patriotism. I have participated in this also... I have a question that I would greatly appreciate your input
concerning.

"My husband and I have become increasingly troubled by the emphasis on politics as an answer to our country's problems. At the birth of the Christian Right, which I date from Pat Robertson's call for Christians to register as Republicans and vote accordingly because of the issues of abortion and gay rights. At first this seemed right to my husband and me, but as time went by we became troubled in our spirits and began to seek the Lord about it. We should have done that before, but there was so much peer pressure that we never even questioned that it was the right path.

"The 'voice' was so strident and so angry that we SHOULD have questioned it at the onset. The strident voice grew louder and louder and more and more angry until it became actually hate filled and discernment became hard to find within the movement - to proclaim the Republican Party as the party God had chosen. To even question that God might NOT have blessed a specific party as a holy vessel and the other as evil was met with outrage.

"Christians began to send hate filled email forwards about President Obama that were clearly bald-faced lies, but were received with gladness. The intensity only increased. When we warned others that Romans 13 was still in the Bible we were met with derision, so great was the hatred for this man who was elected as President.

"Now, another Christian voice has risen, and as 'the savior of our country', Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas. We have heard from media reports that he has aligned himself with a group known as the "New Apostolic Reformation" which has been compared to the "Kingdom Now"... the "Reconstruction/Kingdom Dominionists" movements. In trying to ascertain the validity of this movement (actually a "doctrine", I believe), we have found an extremely troubling trend toward acceptance of the belief that God will restore America THROUGH a Christian political movement--ie. man's efforts.

"This sounds like to us exactly what Satan has devised and not in any way resembling our Holy Father's plan for redemption of His people in HIS KINGDOM IN HEAVEN. This human ordained plan for redemption of our country smacks of pride, arrogance and greed without even a hint of godliness. It sounds like a plan to establish a theocracy though it will not be called a theocracy... I ran across an internet article/blog authored by Dr. Orrel Steincamp (and another by Ken Silva) called "The Coalescing of the Christian Right with Apostolic Dominionism". This sounds like just what my husband and I had feared would transpire, but we aren't acquainted with these authors. We would greatly appreciate your prayerful consideration of this movement in order to give us more light and clarity on the subject."

ANDREW REPLIES: I will only be brief, because I'm sure others will have insights to share. But let me start by saying I am totally opposed to the so-called “New Apostolic Reformation” – since I believe it is neither “apostolic” nor any kind of real ‘reformation’ at all. It is essentially just another type of “hierarchy” trying to
impose itself over the church – made up (mostly) of presumptuous men with business cards displaying the word “apostle”. These are the same guys who got up on stage to endorse Todd Bentley at the Lakeland revival just before the whole thing collapsed. God gave them a public spanking then for their "apostolic" proclamations, but it looks like they are coming back for more. Once was not enough. This "2nd spanking" is now underway and is all over the media. God is yet again showing that these are no "apostles" of His. Rick Perry - if he knows what is good for him - will distance himself from these guys at the speed of light. But already they may have cost him the Presidency.

Regarding the "hatefulness" of Politics - yes it is totally unChristian to behave that way - yet so many Christians are getting caught up in it. That is because they are putting Politics ahead of God. HE is the only one that can save America. Not an "election"!! If you think that the Tea Party and Fox News can save America with their Political activism, you are totally out to lunch. JESUS is the only one who can save the country. No-one else. We need a REVIVAL - not just a political party!!

But it is even worse - because it is now starting to get so extreme that I believe civil strife can be expected on the streets if it keeps going this way. You know, when God judges a country He often gives them over to division and infighting and internal strife. I believe this is on the cards for America in the next few years. My friends, I urge you not to be part of it. Don't be part of the "mob hysteria" that is starting to get whipped up on both the Left and the Right. This is not what Jesus calls us to at all. The dangers are becoming more and more evident. U.S Christians - you have been warned.

Controversial Minister Found Dead

2011-08-17T18:17:00.003-05:00

*A very sad story. Lee Grady makes some excellent points throughout the article below about Zachery Tims—a minister who was found dead in a hotel.

What We Must Learn From the Zachery Tims Tragedy
by Lee Grady

God has something sobering to say to us through the death of this popular preacher.

Zachery Tims’ story had a great beginning. As a young man he met Jesus and was saved from a life of crime and drugs. He and his wife, Riva, moved from Baltimore to Orlando, Fla., in 1996 to launch a church that aimed to restore families and pull teens out of trouble. New Destiny Christian Center grew fast, mostly because of Tims’ passionate preaching. He was soon a regular on Christian television.

But things unraveled in 2009 when Tims was caught carrying on a yearlong affair with a stripper he met in France. He admitted to an “indiscretion” and got a few weeks of counseling, but he didn’t take serious time off for rehabilitation. Riva divorced him for his infidelity. The billboards that once featured photos of the happy couple were changed. By 2011 the roadside ads featured a shot of Tims by himself, with this slogan: “A Family Church Meeting Family Needs.”

This story did not end well. On Aug. 12, Tims was found dead—at age 42—in a New York City hotel room. His four children lost their dad, and his church lost their beloved leader. But while Tims’ family and friends are grieving their loss (and I’m not minimizing that because the pain is real), I’m also grieving over the fact that the wider body of Christ has yet another embarrassing religious scandal to explain. We can’t gloss over this.

There are so many aspects of this story that should cause us to lament. How did a preacher get involved with a stripper? Why didn’t Tims put himself on the bench for at least a year after his sin was exposed? Why did Christian television keep him on the air after his affair became public? Why did his church continue to attract crowds when people knew Tims’ behavior did not match the biblical standards of morality required for church leaders?

*Click here to continue reading.

Stinks Like A Con Game Church

2011-08-03T19:03:00.004-05:00

Investigation Finds Alleged Phony Church DarkSide in Full Swing
by ABC News NightLine

Teens at a Dallas youth dance club run by an Internet-ordained minister say it has made a positive impact on their lives and helped them stay off drugs, even though drug dealers do get in.

In an investigation by ABC affiliate WFAA, teens were interviewed outside a club formerly known as DarkSide that the city has sued to shut down.

The after-hours club is now called Fenix Project and it attracts around 500 teens nearly every weekend from Dallas, Wylie and other North Texas cities.

"I would consider a lot of people here my family," a teen named Brittany told WFAA. "I don't live with my parents. All the people I have met here are people who have helped me in the outside world. They all take care of me."

Owner Glenn Hudson says he helps youth and those who are disadvantaged, but Dallas officials suggest his ministry is more like a church of swing than of God.

The city attorney's office has slapped Hudson with a lawsuit for allegedly running two phony churches -- The Playground and the DarkSide. It says one was a club for swingers with condoms and porn stars, and the other a rave dance hall venue where hard-core drugs were sold to teens.

It alleges both operations are "positively pure fraud" and wants them shut down, according to Melissa Miles, assistant city attorney.

"They wrapped themselves in a religious organization," she said.

Hudson, who does not face criminal charges, only the civil lawsuit intended to halt his activities, told city officials that he was ordained with Universal Life Church and said his work is legitimate.

Owners say the club is an outreach ministry, trying to steer young people in the right direction.

This week, WFAA camera crews were not allowed inside the club, but they found teens dressed in everything from pajamas to barely-there bikinis. Some were even changing into revealing outfits in the parking lot and said the club has no dress code.

"We can't normally wear this in public," said one club-goer. "This place gives us the opportunity to wear whatever we want," said another.

The teens said they go to dance and hang out with friends and had lied to their parents about where they were going.

An investigation by Dallas Police undercover agents alleges that drugs are used at the club.

"There might be drugs because people bring them in," club patron Cali Williams told WFAA. "But if they get caught, their stuff gets taken."

"We caught a lot of people doing drugs," said former employee Alex Leal. "We caught a lot of people selling drugs."

WFAA camera crews witnessed one search outside the club where managers found a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Police were called.

Attempts by ABCNews.com to find Hudson were unsuccessful, and even city officials said they had a difficult time locating the itinerant minister. His lawyer, Jonathan Bailey, did not return calls from ABCNews.com.

After getting complaints that Hudson was running unlicensed sex and drug clubs under the "guise of religion," the city hired the Dallas Police Department's Vice Unit to conduct undercover surveillance at both businesses.

At the Dark Side, detectives found a rave dance club. Youth as young as 14 and 15 were present and able to buy an assortment of illegal drugs: ketamine, morphine, marijuana, hallucinogenic mushrooms and pure ecstasy, known as "mollies," the lawsuit alleges.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

North Vietnam -Christians Massacred

2011-07-14T06:51:00.002-05:00

Oh my! I have not heard anything about this massacre which is described more below. Often such stories do not make their way into mainstream media. I learned of this through Andrew Strom's ministry email:.

(The note section is from Andrew Strom's introduction to the article by Jacob Prasch)

NOTE: This slaughter is confirmed by reports from International Christian Concern ('persecution.org') and other sources. Harold Camping's false prophecy from earlier this year caused hundreds of Hmong people to be slaughtered. Below is a new report from Jacob Prasch in the actual region describing how it happened:

FALSE PROPHECY Causes HUNDREDS KILLED
-by Jacob Prasch.

As most of you are aware I am at this moment in North Vietnam helping the much persecuted Hmong people of the tribal mountain areas.

After listening to a translation of Camping's prediction 7,000 of these people (known in The West as Montagnards) gathered on a mountain praising God - their suffering at the hands of the Communist regime was about to end because Jesus was returning that day in May to establish a new kingdom.

The police and military police slaughtered many of them at gunpoint beheading two pastors. Others were arrested. I am told by Hmong pastors that so many were shot dead that they were buried in mass graves bulldozed over in an episode that I read about in Britain but did not understand the magnitude of until I got here. I am now trying to clean up the mess at the request of local Hmong leaders. I spoke to a secret convocation of Hmong pastors only yesterday who came to Hanoi, explaining to them about false prophets and false teachers.

Due to a combination of poverty, ignorance, and persecution these poor Christians don't understand much so they believed Camping's shortwave broadcast which is how most get their teaching in a certain village area with heavy persecution. Their families don't know if their missing loved ones are among the many shot dead, among those arrested and imprisoned, or among those from the 7,000 hiding in the jungle.

I am not the nicest guy in the world let alone the best Christian and I can't pretend to be. But anyone who had to deal with the confusion and devastation I am dealing with now due to Harold Camping would also blow their top. These people already suffering for their faith in Jesus had it bad enough. They are not like the undiscerning whackos in The West who should have known Camping was a crackpot and a proven false prophet & false teacher. This is a persecuted church who just had no means to know any different. This is why I get angry at those who deceive the Body of Christ and why I warn so much about false teachers and false prophets. It may be an extreme case but these people, some of them children, were shot dead. Of course we can blame Satan and the communists but their blood is on the hands of Harold Camping and his Family radio. Women without husbands, children withoutarents, husbands without wives - thank you Family Radio; thank you Harold Camping.

Frankly, this has been a rough week for me. One of the worst I ever had. I am up to my eyeballs in muck trying to explain to tribal pastors how to explain to their people why their families were massacred needlessly and trying to advise them how to protect their flocks from such wolves in the future...

The anguish of the Hmong folk took my concentration off of my own problems... because their problems are so much greater after what they refer to as 'the mountain massacre' due to Harold Camping.

Please pray for these people and the work of Moriel Asia branch here among the Hmong. We are trying to get 5,000 outlawed Hmong Bibles printed or smuggled in via Laos.

Where does it end? These people are suffering terribly while Camping is still in business in Oakland, California - as usual telling more lies... Come Lord Jesus.

Amnesty Points To Persecution In Jakarta

2011-07-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

Amnesty Urges For Protection Of Bogor Church Group
By Mariel Grazella, The Jakarta Post

International human rights group Amnesty International has once again drawn the plight of the Taman Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) into the spotlight, following fresh threats against the congregation.

“The congregation of the GKI in Bogor, West Java, is at risk of attacks, harassment and intimidation at their weekly Sunday service on July 10, after receiving threats from members of the local community," Amnesty International told The Jakarta Post in a written statement.

The congregation has been facing ongoing opposition from the local administration and community for several years.

The administration revoked the church's building permit and sealed off the building in 2008, following protests from hardline groups. While the Supreme Court ordered authorities to re-open the church in 2010, it has remained closed.

The church has been attacked at least six times since 2008, Amnesty noted.
According to Amnesty, the congregation had received a copy of a letter from certain residents on July 2 calling on the local government and police to halt all religious activities and services by the congregation.

“The letter, dated June 28, warns that the ongoing situation ‘invites the community and others to react in a way that could spark a potential disturbance’, and demands that all of the church’s activities stop by July 3,” the statement reads.

The church faced public protests when they ignored earlier demands and a community leader warned of “anarchy” if the congregation continued to hold services, which they hold on the pavement next to their church building.

Click here to continue reading.

Transparency In The Church

2011-06-29T17:32:00.002-05:00

Below an excerpt of a good message regarding church leadership by Lee Grady of Charisma. You may click the link at the bottom of the entry to finish reading the article. (Wow--what a typo I had on this one...LOL---took weeks to catch it!)

"Please do not "lick" the link at the bottom, but rather "click" the link at the bottom of the entry..."

Why Bishop Eddie Long Should Be Transparent
by Lee Grady

The church has had enough spin, denial and closed-door settlements. Leaders must demonstrate humility and repentance.

A few years ago a minister in my city went through a divorce, and the messy details of the settlement between the pastor and his wife were reported in our newspaper. But when the divorce was finalized there was no public statement. The man’s wife disappeared from the stage, her photo vanished from the church website and nothing further was said. Zip. Nada. No comment.

The message: It’s none of your business what happened between the pastor and his wife. He’s the anointed messenger of God. Just follow him.

Another pastor in my city stepped down from his pulpit briefly for unknown “indiscretions”—and then it became known that he had been carrying on an affair with a stripper from France. The man never resigned from leadership, and his wife eventually divorced him. Today, this preacher appears on Christian television, and he still has a following.

The message: Anointing is what’s important. Character is secondary. If a guy can preach the paint off the walls and get everyone shouting, then relax—it really doesn’t matter how he runs his personal life.

Then last month, Bishop Eddie Long of Atlanta settled out of court with four young men who had accused him of using gifts, trips and jobs to entice them into sexual relationships. The pastor of 25,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church told his congregation last fall that he would fight the charges. But in late May, Long agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to the four men, and the terms of the agreement were sealed. The church said in a statement that the settlement was engineered “to bring closure” and that the congregation will now “move forward with the plans God has for this ministry.”

Click here to continue reading.

Southern Baptists Move To Diversify

2011-06-18T06:54:00.003-05:00

Southern Baptists elect black pastor to No. 2 post
Associated Press

PHOENIX – Members of the Southern Baptist Convention elected an African-American pastor to its No. 2 position for the first time on Tuesday, signifying an effort to diversify its leadership and flock at a time of declines in overall membership and church attendance.

Fred Luter Jr., the head pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was elected with 1,558 votes, or 77 percent. Some of his supporters had expected him to be unopposed, but he picked up a local Arizona challenger in Tuesday's session. Rick Ong, a deacon at First Chinese Baptist Church in Phoenix, received 441 votes, or 23 percent, according to results from the Baptist Press.

The move to elect Luter comes at the same time the SBC is making a push for greater participation among what it sometimes calls its "non-Anglo" members in the life of the convention, particularly in leadership roles.

Luter's church is one of an estimated 3,400 black churches in the nation's largest Protestant denomination, a small minority of more than 45,700 total SBC-affiliated churches with about 16 million members total.

His election also sets up the potential for his election to the top position of president when the denomination holds its annual meeting next year in Luter's hometown of New Orleans.

It's a big step for a denomination whose history is rooted in a split over race. The denomination originally formed in 1845 in a split with the American Baptist Convention over the question of whether slave owners could be missionaries. The SBC was silent or actively opposed civil rights through the 1970s, and many congregations excluded blacks. It was not until 1989 that convention declared racism a sin.

In 1994, the convention elected its first African-American to an executive position when the Rev. Gary Frost was named second vice president. In 1995, the denomination issued an apology to blacks for slavery. That same year, Luter was elected to succeed Frost as second vice president.

Luter said it doesn't make him uncomfortable that people want to see this as a milestone for African-Americans.

"There's no way we can get around it. Here's a convention that started on slavery. Years later you have an African-American one step away from the presidency. I can't deny that," Luter said.

Robert Anderson, a pastor who also serves on a SBC executive committee, said Luter's vice-presidency affirms that the time has come for the SBC to have a greater presentation of members of various backgrounds.

"It helps reflect what people desire to see more of in our convention," Anderson said.

Several prominent pastors in the denomination were pulling for Luter, including the man who nominated him, Danny Akin, President of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

David S. Dockery, the president of SBC-affiliated Union University in Jackson, Tenn., tweeted soon after the voting results were announced: "Hope he will be elected president next year in New Orleans!"

Luter said presidential aspirations were far from his mind.

"Give me time to enjoy this first. I'm not even thinking that far ahead," Luter said. "I want to enjoy the vice presidency, enjoy the moment."

This year's meeting comes following the release of internal figures showing SBC affiliates baptized fewer people in 2010 than any time since the 1950s and also saw declines in overall membership and attendance.

David W. Key Sr., the director of Baptist Studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, said the decline reflects the fact that the membership of many Southern Baptist churches is aging.

"Over the next few years membership is going to drop even more dramatically," he said. "And older members are the financial foundation of the churches. As they die off that trend is going to have a big impact."

It's a trend many mainline protestant churches began seeing a couple of decades earlier, in part because of the declining religiosity of Americans in general. The Southern Baptists have been somewhat insulated from the trend, he said, because of their heavy concentration in the South, where religious participation has declined more slowly than in other parts of the country.

"They want to start planting churches, which is a smart move," said Key, who is a Southern Baptist. "How that strategy unfolds is going to be the kicker."

He said the SBC has been very effective at creating ethnic churches. "But they've not created a strategy for how to shift predominantly Anglo churches into multicultural churches."

According to statistics released last week from Lifeway Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the Nashville, Tenn.-based SBC, baptisms declined by nearly 5 percent in 2010 over 2009, with churches reporting 332,321 baptisms last year.

Many Southern Baptists consider that an important indicator of the denomination's health because evangelism is a defining characteristic of their identity.

Key said a more telling number is probably how many people actually attend SBC churches on Sunday. The SBC puts that figure at 6,195,449 for 2010, a 0.19 percent drop over the previous year.

Total membership in 2010 also dropped 0.15 percent from 2009 to 16,136,044, the fourth straight year of decline.

The Power Of Audio

2011-06-09T03:58:00.002-05:00

The following article was originally published on Mission Network News. Click on the link towards the bottom to read the story in its entirity.

Hostile village opens up to the Gospel

Mozambique (MNN) ― Over the last two years, audio Scripture players have been distributed across Mozambique. The results of handing out the small, Bible-loaded devices have been jaw-dropping.

A team of missionaries with Audio Scripture Ministries recently traveled 6,000 kilometers to chart just how significant progress has been.

Tom Dudenhofer, executive director of ASM, says the team felt compelled to revisit several areas throughout the country.

"[Two years ago], the demand had been so strong and the supply had been so small that we just felt like it was critical that we try to go back into the area and encourage some of the Christians that were there. [We wanted] to remind them that we haven't forgotten them and that we really do care about their ministries," says Dudenhofer.

ASM has heard story after story of life transformation in Mozambique, and this trip was no exception. Perhaps the most notable discovery of the recent trip was of an entire village that had rearranged its thinking on Christ.

The village had been closed toward the message of Jesus Christ. Dudenhofer says they were hostile to the message for both religious and political reasons and were unwilling to hear the Truth.

Nevertheless, ASM missionaries left an audio player in the hands of a believing couple in the area. When another villager heard the player going one day, he came in and listened with them. Soon after, he gave his life to Christ.

Click here to continue to read.

May 2011 Ramblings

2011-05-26T08:38:00.002-05:00

It was not but a little over a decade, I considered myself an atheist. So when I would see people who appoint themselves to proclaim the end of the world; I always added their failed prophecies to my arsenal of unbelief.

Recently, Harold Camping's prophecy of the Rapture of the Church on May 21st proved false, but most Christians were NOT surprised.

But little known to the unbelieving world, Christ Himself said no one would know of when the time would come.

Matthew 24:35-37

35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For those running from the message of the Gospel, you do not have to look far to keep armed with mental unbelief. But let me say, the message of the Gospel is not a political one, it is a spiritual one. It’s a life saving message! It is not about steaming political rallies on taxes—so unbeliever out there, don’t think the beliefs of all Christians represent all Christians. It’s not about protesting military funerals of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives unto this country. It is not about how enlightened I am, thus I can calculate the exact time and date of the return of Jesus Christ.

Too many are using their pulpits as political soundboards. Why scratch your heads as unbelievers become increasing turn off to the Message?

“You” are on the side of the road, injured, and in the puddle of your own blood. Mr. Prophet passes by, and says “press down and shaken together---give unto me and I will take you to an inn." You say, "I have nothing". Mr. Prophet says “my anointing will sustain you”. He pulls out his comb, slicks his hair back, and prances on.

Mr. Preacher is on his way to a tea party, and he sees you. Mr. Preacher says “My child, what has befallen you? Could you not make it to work?” You say, “I am on disability. I cannot work at this time.” Mr. Preacher says, “My child, just stay laying there. You need not a hospital. The sun will provide vitamin D, perhaps you may live”. He checks his watch, prances quickly on—quickly colliding into his brethren—Mr Prophet ahead.

You got an unsaved spiky blue hair biker dude in black leather, swearing up a storm, with a tall drink in his hand. He sadly looks at you injured on the street, rips out five cuss words, lays his drink down, and gently sets you on his Harley. In a matter of minutes you are at a hospital emergency room receiving medical treatment. As he leaves, he says “I know you will be ok”.

What do such things say to an unbelieving world?

The fact is the body of Christ is made up of people with different philosophies—different denominations, and yes, even some quacks. It is easy to point out problematic characteristics exhibited by particular people—and associate them to all Christians. But making such assumptions is highly inaccurate and unfair. There are many who give their lives to helping people; you just don’t hear much about it. The Gospel commands helping the poor—it however, does not politicize the issue of poverty. A lot of the negative stories make the mainstream news, however, so for the unbeliever, more ammo is stored up in their minds to aid their agnostic or atheistic belief system. I know, for I have walked down that road.

Yet I also know Jesus Christ is real. If you are reading this and you doubt; pray what appears to be a very foolish prayer. Ask the Lord to help you see that He is real, and true. You will feel ridiculous praying to someone you don’t believe in, but hey, what do you have to lose? Nothing-- but a little pride.

David Wilkerson Goes Home

2011-05-18T04:56:00.003-05:00

As most out there know, David Wilkerson died April 27 in a car crash. Truly, David Wilkerson was a great man of God and it was sad to learn of his death. His accomplishments will continue to enrich those living on this earth.

Read more from the following story from

Wilkerson Remembered at NYC Tribute
Take from Charisma News Online

Reverend David Wilkerson was remembered as a man deeply consumed with the passion of Jesus Christ at a memorial service held Saturday in New York City.

Times Square Church, the church Wilkerson opened in an old theater in the late 1980s, was filled to capacity as family and friends paid tribute to the late minister.

Wilkerson,79, was killed on April 27 when the car he was driving collided with a truck in east Texas. His wife, Gwendolyn Wilkerson, 70, survived and remains hospitalized.

During the service, which was broadcast live on the Internet, Wilkerson’s son Greg explained how the family was coping with the loss. “The peace that God has given our family is really a blessing,” he said. “It’s not something we have to be encouraged or even motivated to try to find. It’s really there.”

Wilkerson went on to add that his mother will likely stay in the hospital two to three more weeks. “She’s getting stronger each day,” he said.

The nearly two-hour memorial service featured video highlights from Wilkerson’s ministry career and hymns sung by the church’s choir. Some of the most poignant moments came from Wilkerson’s younger brother Don, who once served as an associate pastor at the church.

“What I’ll remember most about my brother is that he fulfilled I Corinthians 13:12, both in his life and his death. I picture my brother when he was still on this earth on his knees in prayer with his nose pressed against that dark glass, looking in not to see his own reflection, but to get a better glimpse of Jesus.”

Click here to continue reading the rest of this article.

More on his death can be found at:
Rev. David Wilkerson Dies

Easter 2011

2011-04-23T08:11:00.000-05:00

I once posted the video below during the Christmas season. I thought it fitting to repost the video this Easter. It is really a beautiful presentation.

Update: Stormy Weather

2011-04-07T07:06:00.001-05:00

I just want to update on a few things. For the past several months, my father suffered a series a strokes, and eventually passed away this month. It has been a difficult time for me and my family.

I am requesting prayer. I have been experiencing a host of attacks from the enemy; mostly physical ailments. I have been diagnosed with several diseases and new things have arisen to inflict torment. Please pray for physical healing, for God still heals today--we can see that in early accounts in the book of Genesis, as well in the New Testament.

Attacks have also come against my family lately, and lives have been severely disrupted with atypical events. Please pray for their protection. I was hoping to get back to more regularly blogging this year, so I am believing for that to happen soon. Your prayers are appreciated.

Tax Deductions & Church Giving

2011-03-30T13:43:00.002-05:00

Do you give at church with tax deductions in mind?
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today

Do you donate more or less to your church knowing that it's tax deductible? If that income tax deduction went away, what then?

That's one of the concerns probed in a new survey of church giving. The third annual "State of the Plate" survey of 1,507 church pastors, staff and leaders tracks the impact of the economy on churches and church practices on financial integrity.

Among the findings:

* Giving is up: 43% of churches saw increased giving in 2010, up from 36% in 2009
* The decline has stabilized: 39% of churches said giving was down in 2010, 38% last year.
* December offered a boost: Christmas-time generosity often puts church budgets over the top and most churches (64.6%) said that giving met or exceeded expectations.
* Small churches -- those with under 250 in weekend attendance -- suffer more and these are where 80% of American churchgoers attend.

Matt Branaugh of Christianity Today International, one of three sponsors of the survey, ties giving to employment. Branaugh says:

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Avoiding Deception--Tozer

2011-03-23T18:51:00.001-05:00

Avoiding Deception
A.W. Tozer

These are times of moral and religious confusion and it is sometimes hard to distinguish the false from the true. Our faithful Lord has tried to save us from the consequences of our own blindness by repeated warnings and many careful instructions. It will pay us to give close attention to His words. Toward the end of the age, we are told, there shall be a time of stepped-up religious activity and frenzied expectation, growing out of the turbulent conditions prevailing among nations. The language is familiar to most Christians: Wars and rumors of wars . . . nation shall rise against nation . . famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. . . . Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations . . and then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. Concurrent with this state of affairs will be a great increase in religious excitement and supernatural happenings generally. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. . . . And many false prophets shall rise. . . . Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Steer Clear Of Porn--Always!

2011-03-14T06:47:00.003-05:00

Matthew 5:28
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The following article discusses opposing Christian views as whether it is acceptable for married couples to watch pornographic material. Are you kidding me? God is the same--He himself said He does not change! From a married couple to a threesome, foursome and more "somes" vicariously through your computer screen? From sexual demons being injected into your lives because you "get off" looking at others shaming themselves in a sexual manner in front of you?

So many people have become so defiled, they cannot see straight. People want to redefine their "god", because they have left their "God". Pornography is NEVER acceptable, married or not married.

------------------------------

Christian couples - ‘Porn again’ and loving it, despite what pastors say
By Donna Hussey-Whyte

STATISTICS from the US-based Kinsey Institute for research in sex, gender and reproduction has shown that 70 per cent of American men ages 18-34 view Internet pornography at least once per month. While no study has been published in Jamaica, it is locally acknowledged that many Jamaican men are guilty of this practice. However, this is not unique to men, as some women have admitted to viewing pornography many times with their partners.

Christian couples are no different — and many see this as an innocent way of spicing up their sex lives. But while many Christians have admitted to indulging under the "marriage bed is undefiled" rule, heads of churches say they can in no way support the practice.

"It is not something that I would encourage," Monsignor Michael Lewis, Roman Catholic priest, said. "Because it is not just the watching of it, it is something that is produced and what is produced is questionable. You are talking about questionable behaviour. You are talking about an industry where people are abused; you are talking about an industry where Christian morals and values are out the window. The church would be very wrong in saying to a couple or saying to a person 'it is OK to simply watch the thing' when the thing itself is problematic."

While he strongly believes that couples should add excitement to their sex lives, this has to be done, he said, with respect and dignity for each other.

"There is nothing wrong with a couple putting excitement and thing into their love life in their marriage; the church would have no problem with that as long as what the couple is doing is respectful of their own dignity as human beings and respectful of the dignity of other people. Once you hold on to those principles then you're fine."

He said because pornography goes against these principles, the Catholic church says no to Christians viewing it.

But Church of God Christian Joan Lewis (name changed), who has been married for 28 years, said this is her way of spicing up her marriage.

"Of course I do it (watch porn)," Lewis told All Woman. "If you're married and you and your husband watch it to spice things up, I don't see anything wrong with that! It's sin if you're not married but from you're married it can't be a sin. It should be between you, your husband and the four corners of the bedroom."

She said in accordance with the Bible (Heb 13:4) that the marriage bed in undefiled, as long as whatever is done in the bedroom stays in the bedroom then nothing should be wrong.

*Sigh. Uh...(Pepto please) ...Click here to continue reading.

Muslims And Christians Clash In Eygpt

2011-03-09T04:24:00.000-06:00

Officials: 6 killed in Egypt sectarian clashes
Associated Press Hamza Hendawi

CAIRO – Clashes between Muslims and Christian in the Egyptian capital killed at least six people, security and hospital officials said Wednesday.

They said the clashes took place late Tuesday night and lasted several hours. The fighting involved the use of guns, clubs and knifes, they added. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The clashes began when several thousand Christians protested against the burning last week of a church in a Cairo suburb by a Muslim mob following a deadly clash between Muslims and Christians over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian.

The Christian protesters on Tuesday blocked a vital highway, burning tires and pelting cars with rocks.

An angry crowd of Muslims set upon the Christians and the two sides fought pitched battles for about four hours. The six killed were believed to be mostly Christians who died of gunshot wounds.

Tuesday's clashes are the latest evidence of the security vacuum in Egypt that followed the ouster on Feb. 11 of President Hosni Mubarak at the end of 18 days of anti-government protests. The police have pulled out from Cairo and several other cities three days into the uprising and are yet to fully take back the streets, a fact that has unleashed a wave of violent crime and even lawlessness in some parts of the nation.

Click here to continue reading.

Warren Jeffs Regains Church

2011-03-01T07:52:00.000-06:00

Jailed sect leader retakes legal control of church
Associated Press, Jennifer Dobner

SALT LAKE CITY – Jailed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs has resumed legal control over his Utah-based church even though he is jailed in Texas and court documents recently revealed that two 12-year-old girls had been taken from Canada to marry him in 2005.

Documents filed with the Utah Department of Commerce show Wendell Loy Nielsen, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, resigned his post Jan. 28. Jeffs signed the documents retaking control of the church corporation Feb. 10 and filed the papers with the state five days later.

"I, the undersigned, Warren Steed Jeffs, have been called and sustained as the president," Jeffs writes in a cover letter to the Commerce Department.

The 55-year-old resigned the presidency in 2007 after he was convicted in Utah of rape as an accomplice, but he remained the faith's spiritual leader.

The Utah Supreme Court overturned Jeffs' convictions last year. He's now in a Texas jail awaiting trial on aggravated sexual assault and bigamy charges.

Click here to read the entire article.

Season Of Breakthrough

2011-02-21T04:45:00.001-06:00

A SEASON of BREAKTHROUGH
-by Andrew Strom.

A couple of weeks ago we put out a word entitled "First the Bad News". It looked at the huge "shaking" that is already underway around the globe this year, as well as the fragility of the economic system in the face of the long downturn. 2011 certainly looks to be a "shaking" year.

But now I want to look at the "good" news. You see, I believe all this shaking is exactly the environment in which God's true remnant is designed to THRIVE. A couple of years ago, speaking about this very thing, I wrote an article called "Expand While the Devil Shrinks". I believe we are right now entering a time of breakthrough and advancement and "action" for the remnant of God that has been going through a great 'desert' still clinging to pure Truth. A time of real "release" is near.

Certainly, we personally sense a great time of "New Beginnings" this year and next.

In my article 2 years ago I wrote: "Are you one who has spent years in the wilderness, waiting for God's moment? Are you a David in the caves, a Joseph in the dungeons? Couldn't it be that this is the very moment that God has been preparing you for, all this time?... You see, the "big boys" with their shallow gospel are in increasing trouble through all of this. They rely on big money, big media, big hype and big budgets to get their message out. And the budget is looking rather sick. Could it be that God is leveling the playing field? ... Are the little guys with their message of repentance and heart- holiness about to break through the glass ceiling that has kept them down for so long?"

My belief is that the power of Mammon will increasingly lose it's grip on the Western church - and the power of 'Kundalini' even more so. Both will be in more and more trouble, and slowly I believe the Truth will come more and more into the ascendant. Those with a real message of Truth who have been on the back foot for years are about to have their moment. And we need to seize hold of it when it arrives. But it will be far easier with the wind at our backs. We won't need to "strive". This is God's doing - and for us His burden will be light. But we do need to be ready to act and to move and to step boldly into His plan. "Expand while the devil shrinks". Be daring and move forward. Take action in the Lord.

Already the deceivers and false teachers are struggling. Already the "Mammonizers" and spiritual compromizers find themselves on the back foot. This will grow greater and greater, I believe.
Jesus wants His church back. And great will be the crash of once-mighty manipulators. Already it has begun.

Who will step into this breach? Only those who are ready. Only those who are prepared. Only those who have truly come through the wilderness with no bitterness, no malice and are fully ready for their "Jordan".

I want to encourage the remnant of God with these words: Prepare for action. Prepare to "step up". Be on the lookout for open doors and opportunities. Test the waters and move out.

"For many that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first." Be alert to move, my friends. We are entering a new time.

Cranking Out Church Services

2011-02-16T05:51:00.004-06:00

*Great commentary in this article!

Don’t let consumer demand determine church message
By Doug Johnson , The Register-Mail

According to a recent article in Christianity Today, Americans consume somewhere between 250 and 5,000 advertisements DAILY! So it makes sense that Christians would be tempted to market the Christian faith in the same way corporations market their products.

This is old news for anyone paying attention to the Evangelical tradition. With the rise of the “seeker-sensitive” church movement, Evangelicals have been trying to market the Christian faith to “seekers” since the late 1970s.

A Galesburg Register-Mail article from Jan. 30, “Church seeks to be more relevant,” raises once again the wisdom of this approach to church planting. The “seeker-sensitive” approach to church-planting works like this: Just as advertisers promise that their product can make you sexy, hip and desirable, churches tell us they can provide you with “authentic relationships” and “powerful prayer experiences.” The message is simple and appealing: Christianity is good for you! It will make your marriage happier, your teeth whiter, your children more obedient and your personal life more fulfilling. Christianity becomes a way of reaching the great American ideal of “happiness” with heaven thrown in as a bonus!

So churches promise to be more relevant, more contemporary, and more authentic — and to offer you a great cup of coffee in the bargain. One church-marketing website puts it this way: “Marketing is the study and practice of better, faster, friendlier and cheaper.” In other words, come to our church because we can give you a better, faster, friendlier and cheaper (less costly to you) Jesus!

The problem is that Jesus Christ is not a “product” and the church is not a grocery store for religious consumers seeking the latest spiritual comfort food.

Click here to continue reading this article

Movement Reaching Out to Native Americans

2011-02-10T07:13:00.000-06:00

Growing movement seeks to take Gospel to Native Americans
by Karen L. Willoughby

OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--Two major events for Native Americans and First Nations scheduled for this spring indicate a surging interest among Southern Baptists in ministering to the people groups.

"Something is happening in North America that I can't explain except to say that God is at work, and it is happening among our Native American churches," said Emerson Falls, pastor of Glorieta Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.

The first event is called The Gathering, set for March 2-4 at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. Native American Christian leaders will discuss more effective ways of reaching Native Americans with the Gospel and will interact with International Mission Board representatives who work among tribal groups.

Also at the conference, leaders will hear about Bible storying and the ways God appears to be already at work among Native Americans.

Meanwhile, the North America Native People Summit is scheduled for April 27-28 at the Springdale, Ark., campus of Cross Church. The networking event is designed to bring together Native American Christians in the United States and First Nations Christians in Canada as well as believers everywhere who are interested in ministering alongside them.

With this surge of interest, the methods for reaching Native Americans and First Nations are changing. Previously, Christians went to reservations and carried out their own plans for reaching the people. Now they plan to ask the people groups how they can best help reach others among them.

Author Richard Blackaby agrees that "something seems to be afoot" among Southern Baptists related to Native Americans and First Nations.

"The fact that so many state conventions are being drawn to work together in this project is one indicator that God is the Author of this movement," Blackaby said. "The fact it's among such a forgotten group is further evidence: When God wants to do a great work, He often does it with people like this.

"Anytime you see something happen in the character of God -- when you start to see people open to the Gospel who were closed -- you say, 'That's God doing something,'" Blackaby added. "When you see state conventions all wanting to participate, even those who have never had such a ministry before, that's God causing people to do the unusual."

While signs of God's stirring have emerged throughout the past decade, what is new is a growing urgency among Native Americans to be used in building God's Kingdom, an eagerness among Southern Baptists to be part of ministry with -- rather than to -- Native People and an acknowledgement that work on reservations for the past century has been mostly ineffective, leaders say.

Henry Blackaby, author of "Experiencing God," is among those leading the surge in ministry to Native People. The son of a banker, Blackaby was classmates with First Nations in his hometown of Prince Rupert, British Columbia, before he became a pastor.

"God gave me a tremendous burden for First Nations people," Henry Blackaby said. "He takes the weak, despised, rejected and uses them for His purposes. I've told them God could use them to bring revival to America."

Falls, an Oklahoma pastor, also is leading the movement. He is a member of the Sac and Fox tribe as well as president of the Fellowship of Native American Christians and immediate past president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.

"My conviction is that God can use Native Americans just as well as others," Falls said. "This movement is something different, something that empowers us. We should have been doing this all along.

Click here to continue to read the article.

Legal Dispute Over The Ten Commandments

2011-02-03T07:41:00.002-06:00

Ohio judge cannot display 10 Commandments
Lisa Cornwell, Associated Press

CINCINNATI – An Ohio judge violated the U.S. Constitution by displaying a poster containing the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district court's ruling that Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese violated the constitutional separation between church and state by displaying the poster.

DeWeese's attorney, Francis Manion, said he and his client disagree with the ruling and are considering their options. They could ask the full appeals court for a hearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The judge hung the poster in his courtroom in Mansfield, north of Columbus, in 2006 after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand lower-court rulings that another Ten Commandment poster he hung in 2000 violated separation between church and state. The latest poster titled "Philosophies of Law in Conflict" shows the Ten Commandments in a column listed as "moral absolutes" and secular humanist principles in another column listed as "moral relatives."

DeWeese attached a commentary to the poster that said he sees a conflict of legal philosophies in the United States — between moral absolutism and moral relativism — and that he believes legal philosophy must be based on fixed moral standards. At the bottom of the poster frame, readers are invited to obtain a pamphlet further explaining DeWeese's philosophy.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation filed suit against DeWeese, and the district court agreed with the ACLU that the display endorsed religious views and was unconstitutional.

The ACLU also sued in the case of the first poster.

Attorneys for DeWeese argued before the appeals court that the latest display was different from the first one, when DeWeese hung a poster of the Bill of Rights next to a poster of the Ten Commandments.

Click here to continue reading.

Chemical Attack Against Christian Church

2011-01-30T06:47:00.002-06:00

*Persecution. It comes in many forms: spiritual battles targeted against the Church, against individual churches, and battles setup within our own personal lives.

Chemical attack strikes Dickinson church
chron.com

GALVESTON — Last week, Mary Frank arrived early as she does every Sunday to open the Christian Fellowship Ministry Church in Dickinson. When she got there, she found someone had knocked off the front-door lock.

Frank, 60, the church secretary, stepped inside to find a chemical had been poured on the carpet from the front door to the pulpit, eating all the way through and into the concrete.

The chemical was poured over the 20 pews, cutting through wood and upholstery, and in the kitchen. The church's three guitars, two keyboards and amplifier were gone.

"I can't put it into words how I felt that day; it was so emotional," Frank said.

Dickinson police Detective Frank Price estimated the damage caused last Sunday at about $25,000.

The chemical still covers the church floor, said Assistant Pastor Eddie Glenn, who suspects it is some sort of acid.

"If you are in there for a period of time, you can feel it burning your eyes," he said.

Dickinson firefighters and police do not have the resources to test the chemical, so next week Glenn plans to ask the Houston Fire Department's hazardous materials team to find out what it is.

Glenn said the church may have to hire a contractor to remove the hazardous material.

The Rev. Noble Cooper Jr., who commutes from San Antonio to preach at the church, was one of the last to arrive on Sunday.

Inside the front door, he saw that a picture frame that had held a photo of him and his wife lay broken on the floor, the glass shattered. The photo was missing.

Glenn said that Cooper's name had been ripped from a sign in front of the church the previous summer.

Price declined to say whether investigators have any suspects.

The destruction is a big setback for Cooper and his tiny congregation, who took over the vacant church building two years ago.

Click here to continue reading.

Elijah List Controversy

2011-01-26T06:32:00.001-06:00

*This was received via email by Andrew Strom’s ministry concerning a publication regarding error in the prophetic movement; ironically published by the Elijah List folks. Hopefully people will began to question the source of these manifestations many caught up in this deception so desperately seek.

PROPHETIC MOVEMENT in AN UPROAR
-Andrew Strom.

Earlier this week we published big chunks of Dennis Cramer's "Word for 2011" in which he basically tears into a lot of the flakey and dangerous "New Age"-type practices found in today's Prophetic movement. Well, to my great amazement, I found that the Elijah List had actually published Cramer's piece as well! And it caused such a storm that they had to remove it after just one day - for "clarification"! But then they re-published it - only slightly changed!

For those who don't know, the Elijah List is the main email List for the Prophetic movement - publishing the likes of Todd Bentley, Patricia King, Rick Joyner, Bob Jones, etc. It also sells mounds of their books and CD's. For the Elijah List to publish something that basically refutes all the "Spirit Travel" and "Third Heaven Visitation" stuff is simply unbelievable. It would almost be like the Pope refuting the veneration of Mary!

I don't know what the Elijah List was thinking, but I'm sure glad they did it. Now maybe there's a chance that some of their readers will get out from under those dangerous deceptions.

But I am left a bit dazed by it all - because the very ones who have been advocating "spirit travel AT WILL" and "Trance dancing" and 'Third Heaven visits AT WILL' are the very ministries that the Elijah List has been promoting all these years!

Here is what the Elijah List founder Steve Schultz wrote after they pulled the first article when it caused such a storm- "Dear Elijah List Readers, There was a huge number of people who were unclear on a few issues with Dennis Cramer’s word... The most controversial aspect was the “AT WILL” issue. Apparently, there are some out and about who are teaching that you can transport or go to Heaven “AT WILL” – i.e. whenever you want. This is truly not taught in Scripture. The word “Doctrine” is another word for “teaching.” It’s an untrue teaching that anytime you want, you can go to Heaven or be transported... As soon as Dennis Cramer sends us a more in-depth explanation of the items he listed, we plan to repost my friend’s word."

ANDREW AGAIN: Steve - I'm so glad you wrote this, but do you truly realize what you are saying? Don't you know that Bob Jones and Todd Bentley and Patricia King, etc, are the VERY BIGGEST promoters of all this "AT WILL" deception that you are talking about? Patricia King even has a whole movement of "Ekstasis" Trance dancing! These guys have entire reams of teaching on how to "visualize" your way into the Third Heaven 'AT WILL'. They have been promoting it for years. Surely you know this? That's why your readers are so upset. Dennis Cramer is finally exposing and rebuking this stuff as the 'New Age' heresy that it really is.

On January 15, Elijah List reposted the "re-clarified" word from Dennis Cramer on their website. It was a little softer in places, but still it said the following very clearly: "One cannot go to Heaven like Paul or be transported physically like Phillip simply because they want to or because they feel like it (at will). Teachings like this often crossover into dangerous methods and techniques that resemble New Age, Mysticism, Spiritism or other occult manipulative practices. A Believer cannot and must not force, manipulate, or otherwise attempt to reproduce a sovereign supernatural Bible experience by merely following a method, a series of steps, or worst of all “willing it” to happen."

In the same re-posted word, Dennis Cramer went on to say-

"• Open Heaven/Spiritual Portals = BAD DOCTRINE
• Third Heaven Experiences At Will = BAD DOCTRINE
• Going to Heaven At Will to Get Your Gifts = BAD DOCTRINE
• Transporting Physically At Will = BAD DOCTRINE
• Over-Emphasis on Angels and Specifically Arc-Angels = BAD DOCTRINE
• Going into Trances At Will = BAD DOCTRINE
• Trance Dancing = BAD DOCTRINE
• Hyper-Grace: Christians Do Not Need to Repent of Sin = BAD DOCTRINE"

Well - there goes the Prophetic movement!! Seriously - I cannot believe they posted this on the Elijah List! Steve - This is exactly all the stuff your followers have gotten into! Most of the guys you promote - these are the exact 'New Age'-type practices that they teach! Surely you know this?

So now, to finish this article, I need some "clarification" from Steve Schultz. I am very encouraged by this apparent change of heart, Steve, but I need to know if you will now CEASE forthwith any and all publication of the materials and teachings of these people – until they publicly repent and apologize for this 'New Age' heresy. And I need to know if you - Steve Schultz - will now publicly renounce the promotion of these deceptive preachers around the world. (Sorry to be so blunt about it, but we really need to hear this from you). I am so glad that you published Cramer's piece. But now we really need to know where Elijah List stands - and whether things have truly changed or not. We look forward to your reply.

Youssef On The Episcopal Church

2011-01-22T07:45:00.002-06:00

*Excerpt from an article on Perspectives by Michael Yossef. I have noted some conflicting perspectives within the Episcopal church regarding homosexuality; however, for the most part--leaders increasingly are subcombing to their hierarchical leadership redefining the Word of God.

Episcopal Church: Christian?
Dr. Michael Youssef - Guest Columnist, Perspectives

Based on everything I am currently reading and what I experienced firsthand in that Church in the past, my answer to this question is a forceful, "No!"

Perhaps the last nail in the coffin of that once-vibrant Christian church came as no surprise to many of us when M. Thomas Shaw, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, kicked off the new year of 2011 by performing a lesbian marriage ceremony at St. Paul's cathedral in Boston. Two "priestesses" of the church -- Katherine Hancock Ragsdale (dean and president of Episcopal Divinity School, no less) and Mally Lloyd (canon to the Ordinary at St. Paul's) -- were united in homosexual bliss in the presence of 400 guests. The whole debate of homosexuality has deteriorated into an emotional argument on equality with total disregard to God's created order that marriage should be between one man and one woman.

But how can one be surprised at this defiance of church cannons when the Episcopal leadership has defied God? Once the fear of God and obedience to His Word are trampled underfoot, then any sort of church resolution is not worth the paper it's written on.

Click here to continue reading article:

The Changing "Black" Church

2011-01-17T08:15:00.002-06:00

*Below is an excerpt from a very interesting article concerning the changing dynamics within predominately black churches in the United States.

Is the Black Church Dead? Debate Flares Among African-American Christians

LITHONIA, Ga. -- Under a sparkling blue sky, thousands of worshipers in cars and SUVs streamed into the mall-like parking lots at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, a sprawling campus just off I-20 in this suburb of Atlanta.

It was Sunday morning, and for the African-American families flocking to services that meant it was time for church, just as it had for generations of black Christians who had found in the pews not only a sanctuary from a hostile world, but also a platform for communal action to make their lives better.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday the nation commemorates on Monday, was a product of the black church, and the black church has arguably done as much as any Christian community to inspire the soul and culture of modern American society. It has supplied the prophetic language that has driven the nation's ongoing reconciliation with the original sin of slavery, and it helped form the character of Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president and an orator with the delivery of a black preacher.

Yet New Birth Missionary Baptist -- with 25,000 members who generously bankroll high-living pastors and high-tech services -- is also emblematic of what many in the African-American community see as a profound crisis in black Christianity, or even the "death" of the black church.

One objection is that this prominent Georgia megachurch preaches a money-centered "prosperity gospel" that traditional African-American clergy consider a betrayal of their faith's legacy of sacrifice and social justice. This focus on personal financial gain represents a kind of cultural conservatism that is spreading among black churches, critics say, and signals a concern for the success of each individual congregation rather than the national community.

In addition, New Birth's charismatic leader, Bishop Eddie Long, is under intense scrutiny for allegations that he used his position as a spiritual counselor to coerce at least four men into sexual relationships while they were teens, giving them cars and cash in return. Long and his representatives have denied the charges, saying only that Long -- who said he takes pride in being called "Daddy" by the congregants -- was just serving as a mentor to the teenagers and did not engage in sex with them.

Click here to read the entire article.

Escalating Persecution In Iran

2011-01-11T04:06:00.001-06:00

Iran Arrests Dozens of Evangelical Christians

Iran has reportedly arrested dozens of Christians, many of them converts from Islam, in a crackdown that began around Christmas. An Iranian official is accusing Protestant evangelical groups of causing a cultural invasion.

Iranian opposition groups are reporting the arrests of dozens of evangelical Christians, many of whom are converts from Islam. Christian groups inside Iran say that the country’s Ministry of Islamic Guidance has also grilled dozens of Christians it accuses of proselytizing.

Armed security officers forcibly entered the homes of Christians, verbally and physically abused them, before handcuffing them and taking them for interrogation," reports the Cyprus-based group Middle East Concern. It adds that some were released after intense questioning and forcibly coerced statements that they would no longer participate in Christian activities.

Seeking to convert Muslims to Christianity or other religions is considered a crime in Iran and many other Islamic countries. Christian missionaries are routinely expelled and sometimes jailed for distributing Bibles and other religious material.

The governor of Tehran province, Morteza Tamadon, confirmed the arrests several days ago, complaining that Protestant evangelicals were conducting an "enemy cultural invasion." He likened Protestants to the Taliban, whom he referred to as "parasites."

Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says that the names and photos of a number of those arrested have been published, and most appear to be young evangelical Christians who have converted from Islam.

*Click here to continue reading….

Judgement Day In May?

2011-01-03T12:39:00.001-06:00

Mark 13:31-33
31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.

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End of Days in May? Christian Group Spreads Word
Associated Press Tom Breen

RALEIGH, N.C. – If there had been time, Marie Exley would have liked to start a family. Instead, the 32-year-old Army veteran has less than six months left, which she'll spend spreading a stark warning: Judgment Day is almost here.

Exley is part of a movement of Christians loosely organized by radio broadcasts and websites, independent of churches and convinced by their reading of the Bible that the end of the world will begin May 21, 2011.

To get the word out, they're using billboards and bus stop benches, traveling caravans of RVs and volunteers passing out pamphlets on street corners. Cities from Bridgeport, Conn., to Little Rock, Ark., now have billboards with the ominous message, and mission groups are traveling through Latin America and Africa to spread the news outside the U.S.

"A lot of people might think, 'The end's coming, let's go party,'" said Exley, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq. "But we're commanded by God to warn people. I wish I could just be like everybody else, but it's so much better to know that when the end comes, you'll be safe."

In August, Exley left her home in Colorado Springs, Colo., to work with Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio Worldwide, the independent Christian ministry whose leader, Harold Camping, has calculated the May 21 date based on his reading of the Bible.

She is organizing traveling columns of RVs carrying the message from city to city, a logistics challenge that her military experience has helped solve. The vehicles are scheduled to be in five North Carolina cities between now and the second week of January, but Exley will shortly be gone: overseas, where she hopes to eventually make it back to Iraq.

"I don't really have plans to come back," she said. "Time is short."

Not everyone who's heard Camping's message is taking such a dramatic step. They're remaining in their day-to-day lives, but helping publicize the prophecy in other ways. Allison Warden, of Raleigh, has been helping organize a campaign using billboards, post cards and other media in cities across the U.S. through a website, We Can Know.

The 29-year-old payroll clerk laughs when asked about reactions to the message, which is plastered all over her car.

"It's definitely against the grain, I know that," she said. "We're hoping people won't take our word for it, or Harold Camping's word for it. We're hoping that people will search the scriptures for themselves."

Camping, 89, believes the Bible essentially functions as a cosmic calendar explaining exactly when various prophecies will be fulfilled.

The retired civil engineer said all his calculations come from close readings of the Bible, but that external events like the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948 are signs confirming the date.

"Beyond the shadow of a doubt, May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment," he said.

*Click here to continue reading this aritcle.

The Worship Of Angels

2010-12-31T03:22:00.003-06:00

*Here is an excerpt from an excellent article from Apologetics Index regarding the "deification" of angels.

Worship of Angels

"People have a tendency to worship spiritual beings, but the Bible forbids the worship op angels.

As created beings, they are of course mere creatures. They are not divine and their worship is explicitly forbidden (see Col. 2:18; Rev. 19:10; 22:9). As a separate order of creatures, they are both distinct from human beings and higher than humans with powers far beyond human abilities in this present age (cf. 1 Cor. 6:3; Heb. 1:14; 2:7). But as creatures they are limited in their powers, knowledge, and activities (1 Peter 1:11-12; Rev. 7:1). Like all of creation, angels are under God’s authority and subject to His judgment (1 Cor. 6:3; Matt. 25:41)..."

*Continue to read the rest of this article by clicking here.

Merry Christmas To All!

2010-12-24T06:40:00.005-06:00

Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”

Faith Healing Couple Convicted

2010-12-18T06:22:00.002-06:00

*Story spotted on Religion News Blog

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Pa. couple who only prayed for dying tot convicted
By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A fundamentalist Christian couple who relied on prayer, not medicine, to cure their dying toddler son was convicted Friday of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.

Herbert and Catherine Schaible of Philadelphia face more than a decade in prison for the January 2009 pneumonia death of 2-year-old Kent.

"We were careful to make sure we didn't have their religion on trial but were holding them responsible for their conduct," jury foreman Vince Bertolini, 49, told The Associated Press. "At the least, they were guilty of gross negligence, and (therefore) of involuntary manslaughter."

The Schaibles, who have six other children, declined to comment as they left the courthouse to await sentencing Feb. 2.

Experts say about a dozen U.S. children die in faith-healing cases each year. An Oregon couple were sentenced this year to 16 months in prison for negligent homicide in the death of their teenage son, who had an undiagnosed urinary blockage.

Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore will ask the judge at sentencing to put the couple's other children under a doctor's care. She was not yet sure if she would seek prison terms for the two felonies.

Kent Schaible's symptoms had included coughing, congestion, crankiness and a loss of appetite, although his parents said he was eating and drinking until the last day, and they had thought he was getting better.

The lone defense witness, high-profile coroner Cyril Wecht, testified that a deadly bacterium could have killed him in hours.

Herbert Schaible, 42, teaches at a school affiliated with their church, First Century Gospel Church. His wife, 41, previously taught there, but now stays at home with the couple's children, from an infant to teenagers.

The Schaibles grew up in the church and have never received medical care themselves, not counting the help of the 84-year-old lay midwife who attends home births, according to pastor Nelson A. Clark.

Clark, 69, knew the couple as children and described them as honors students who dropped out of the church school in ninth grade, a year shy of the school's 10th grade graduation. Catherine Schaible did so at age 16 to begin teaching younger students, he said.

Clark balks at suggestions the church is a cult or fringe religion.

Church elders do not shun members who seek medical care, although they pray that they make a different choice next time, he said. He notes the high number of deaths blamed each year on medical mistakes - as many as 100,000 a year in hospitals alone, according to a widely discussed Institute of Medicine study from 1999.

"The legal community is trying to force our church group to put them in the hands of this flawed medical system, when they have chosen to put them in the hands of a perfect God, who does not make mistakes," Clark said Friday.

The couple did not take the stand during the four-day trial, but a social worker testified that Kent Schaible once said "the devil won" in the battle for their son's life.

Pescatore argued Thursday that adults can choose to forgo medical care for themselves but not for their children.

"If you want to be a martyr yourself and you don't want to go to the doctor or the dentist or the eye doctor, that's (within) your power. We're in America," she said in closings. "But you must take care of your children."

About a dozen U.S. children die in faith-healing cases each year, a handful of which spawn criminal charges, according to Shawn Francis Peters, a University of Wisconsin lecturer who wrote a book about the phenomenon.

The Schaibles deployed a defense strategy common in such cases: Their lawyers said they did not know Kent was near death.

Defense lawyers also argued that the case was not about religion. But Bertolini, who works for an educational testing service, said there was no putting religion aside. He said the deliberations were informed by several people of faith on the jury.

Some states carve out exceptions to criminal neglect statutes for parents who rely on faith or spiritual healing. But even in states that don't, juries or judges often sympathize with them.

In a 2009 Oregon trial with parallels to the Schaible case, a jury acquitted the defendants of manslaughter in their 15-month-old's pneumonia death, convicting the father, Carl Worthington, only of a misdemeanor.

But his in-laws, Jeff and Marci Beagley, were the couple sentenced to prison this year in their 16-year-old son's death.

"The fact is, too many children have died unnecessarily - a graveyard full," Judge Steven Maurer said at their March sentencing. "This has to stop."

Westboro Church Is At It Again

2010-12-11T05:47:00.003-06:00

*Story originally seen off the Christian News Headlines website. I find this antics of this church reprehensible, and it is a discredit to true Christianity.

Westboro Church to Protest at Elizabeth Edwards' Funeral
Fox 8 News

RALEIGH, N.C. (WGHP) —
The Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas church famous for its anti-homosexual protests at funerals, said it plans to protest at the funeral of Elizabeth Edwards on Saturday.

The church plans to protest for 45 minutes before the funeral starts at 1 p.m., according to the church's website.

The church did not provide a specific reason for the protest.

By Thursday afternoon, groups had already formed on social media to counterprotest Westboro's actions. Nearly 400 people had confirmed their attendance to one event, titled Protect Elizabeth Edwards' funeral from Westboro church, by 4 p.m. Thursday.

The Westboro Baptist Church is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities. The WBC is not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations.

Edwards, 61, died Tuesday from cancer -- six years after she was diagnosed the day after the 2004 election when her husband John was a vice presidential candidate.

For years, Elizabeth Edwards prepared her family for the day she would be gone, talking bluntly about the cancer consuming her body and writing a letter to leave for her children with life advice on topics such as how to pick a church -- or even a spouse.

The preparation continued in her final days, when she made sure Christmas decorations were up in their Chapel Hill home and became the source of comfort to those closest to her.

"That was sort of who she was. She was always, always the shoulder to lean on," said family friend John Moylan. "And, even at the end, she remained a very strong person. I think they all took their strength from her."

Since her cancer returned in an incurable form in 2007, Edwards had talked openly about the expectation that the disease would take her life before long. She had hoped to live several more years, enough time to see her youngest child, 10-year-old Jack, graduate from high school and possibly see the oldest, 28-year-old Cate, have a child of her own.

But Edwards also said over the years that she was talking directly with the kids about death. Meanwhile, she had been penning a letter that her children could use as guidance for their lives ahead. It was an idea she came up with two decades ago after watching the movie "Terms of Endearment," in which the mother knew she was dying and gave advice to her children.

David "Mudcat" Saunders, a political adviser and Edwards family friend, said the two youngest children appeared to be coping well with the loss. He said the home, while consumed with sadness, also has a feeling of celebration as family and friends remembered stories of Elizabeth Edwards' life. In part, he said, that was because of her never-look-back attitude.

"I think that spirit of Elizabeth is so branded in Emma Claire, Jack and Cate, that the kids will be fine," Saunders said.

In her final days of rapidly declining health, Saunders relayed a story about how Jack had jumped onto the bed with his mother to say that he loved her. She smiled at him and said, "I love you too, sweetie," Saunders said.

John Edwards was at her side around the clock. He was deeply upset by his wife's death, Saunders said, but is also focused on attending to the children. He recalled asking Edwards what he planned to do now, to which the former North Carolina senator vowed simply: "I'm going to be the greatest father there ever was."

Added Moylan: "His full focus is on those children."

Three decades after the law school sweethearts married, Elizabeth Edwards separated from her husband about a year ago following his affair and after learning that he fathered a child with his mistress during his second campaign for the White House. He still faces a federal investigation into campaign finances.

A family friend said Wednesday that Elizabeth Edwards will be honored Saturday at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh. The friend spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the plans have yet to be announced by the family.

The public is allowed to attend the event, set to begin at 1 p.m. The family is still working on burial plans.

Mourners were asked to make donations to the Wade Edwards Foundation, which was created in honor of Edwards' son who died in a car crash at age 16.

*Red Alert— The “Chrislam Movement”

2010-12-07T05:33:00.001-06:00

The way is narrow. And it is only through Jesus Christ.

*Received via email through Andrew Strom’s ministry:

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THE "CHRISLAM" MOVEMENT in the APOSTATE CHURCH
-by Bill Wilson.

During the weekend of November 13, many Christian churches across the United States began a series of sermons aimed at bringing about reconciliation between Muslims and Christians. These misguided Presbyterian ministers are trying to focus on a relationship between the Holy Bible and the Koran they call “Chrislam.” They are saying that because the Koran mentions Jesus that there is common ground with Christianity. To prove their point, they are placing Korans along side the Holy Bible in their pews. And they are teaching that you can be a follower of Christ without necessarily believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins offering the gift of eternal salvation.

Writes commentator Paul Williams:

“The Chrislam movement has gained impetus by statements from President George W. Bush and that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship the same God and by Rick Warren’s reference to Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) in his prayer at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.”

Williams points out that Jesus in the Koran is not the only-begotten Son of God nor the Messiah. Williams says,

“He is rather viewed as a prophet who was appointed by Allah to prepare mankind for the coming of Mohammad.” In the Koran, Williams reminds readers, “The victim at Calvary, Islam teaches, was either Simon of Cyrene or Judas Iscariot.”

The Koran states in Sura 5:17, “In blasphemy indeed are those that say that God is Christ the son of Mary. Say: “Who then hath the least power against God, if His will were to destroy Christ the son of Mary, his mother, and all every-one that is on the earth? For to God belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between. He createth what He pleaseth. For God hath power over all things.” The Koran has many verses that command the followers of allah to kill Christians and Jews if they do not convert to Islam. There is absolutely no common ground between the Holy Scriptures and the Koran when these are the mandates of the prophet Mohammed, who wrote the Koran.

Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This is the central doctrine of Christianity. There is instruction by the Holy Scriptures to not fellowship with those who do not recognize the truth in this doctrine. 2nd John verses 9-11 say,

“Whoseover transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Thus are those deceivers who believe in common ground with Islam.

Tower Project Hits Snags

2010-12-03T13:36:00.008-06:00

Rick Joyner's ministry has encountered financial difficulties in backing up the Heritage tower project. Read more about this by clicking here.

Food Banks Struggle To Meet Demand

2010-11-29T06:01:00.001-06:00

Carolina Food Banks Stressed By Growing Need
By MEG KINNARD - The Associated Press

While their donors continue to give generously heading into the holiday season, food bank managers throughout the Carolinas say they constantly struggle to meet the demand of more and more hungry families.

“I am very thankful that more people are becoming engaged,” said Denise Holland, executive director of Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia, which has seen its donor rolls and fundraising go up by 10 percent and 21 percent, respectively, this year. “Donations have not quite kept up with what the increase has been, but certainly an increase in donations is very, very helpful.”

But the sheer numbers of those in need have been staggering in a state like South Carolina, where unemployment marked its second straight monthly decrease in October — 10.7 percent — but still measured the sixth-highest in the nation.

On Monday, the two emergency food pantries at Harvest Hope — which distributes food and household products to more than 400 nonprofit agencies in 20 South Carolina counties — served 750 families, a one-day record.

In the past year, Holland said the number of families served by Harvest Hope has increased by 29 percent, with more than 740,000 families served so far this year. The agency gave more than 2 million prepared meals to soup kitchens, and, in just the first nine months of this year, distributed 13 percent more pounds of food than in all of 2009.

“It really brings it full scope when everybody sees what people just like all of us are experiencing and waiting in line just to be given — they don’t have the freedom of a choice to walk into a grocery store and buy what they would like,” Holland said. “Because hunger is such a travesty, they are willing to take whatever we have that we can give to them.”

In Charleston, Lowcountry Food Bank executive director Jermaine Husser reported similar news. Particularly during the holiday season, Husser said his organization sees more giving from individuals and businesses that are able to fit generosity into their own fiscal plans.

“It’s really a tough time for those families to have to go back through this cycle again, especially around the holidays, when they’re supposed to be cheerful and giving and in that kind of spirit,” Husser said. “People who are fortunate to have a job or are fortunate to be running a small business or a corporation understand what a blessing it is to even be in this environment, the ‘new normal.’ They’re stretching as much they possibly can.”

The situation is similar in North Carolina, where the current unemployment rate mirrors national figures, down slightly to 9.6 percent in October. At Raleigh’s Catholic Parish Outreach in North Carolina, food pantry director Terry Foley said she has seen no drop-off in donations at the center, which over the month of October doled out a week’s worth of groceries to more than 8,000 people.

At Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, a Charlotte-based organization that provides food for 19 counties in both Carolinas, executive director Kay Carter said her generous donors still can’t keep up with the demand.

“We haven’t seen a slowdown in the request for assistance,” said Carter. “And we’re certainly not bringing in enough donations to take care of the escalating need. I think people are giving all they can give. I think we just have a lot of people that are in a very different financial circumstance than they may have been a year ago or two years ago.”

Heartened by images of heavily laden dinner tables, family festivities and cheerful celebrations, many people may feel most generous during the sprint from the Thanksgiving to Christmas season, organizing family and friends to volunteer a shift at the soup kitchen or food pantry. Both food providers and advocates say they need that generosity to spill over into other parts of the year.

“Hunger doesn’t go away after Christmas and after Thanksgiving,” said Sue Berkowitz, executive director of the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Foundation. “What I’m frustrated with is why we’re not recognizing that there are just real policy changes that are going to need to be made.”

To do that, Berkowitz encourages state-level leaders in the new year to take real strides at improving state government’s approach toward tackling hunger, even as economic times continue to be tight.

“Nobody wants to look at their child and say, ‘I’m sorry, this is all we’ve got. We’ve got to make it last for the week, and I’m not sure we can make it happen,’” Berkowitz said. “Why are we not opening our hearts and our minds that there are policies that we need to be thinking about and programs that need to be continued to be funded?”

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T03:26:00.000-06:00

I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving in the States! Below, you will find the meal you have come to expect. I have been serving it up for three years now on this blog. Enjoy the holiday (preferably with a real meal with all the fixins)!

Young People Leaving The Faith

2010-11-23T12:12:00.002-06:00

Below is an excerpt of a very interesting article listed on Christian News Headlines, concerning why a significant amount of young adults are leaving the Church; that is leaving the Christian faith. I am only posting a small portion of it here as the article is quite lengthy; a link is provided at the end of this post to the original website.

The Leavers: Young Doubters Exit the Church
by Drew Dyck

Some striking mile markers appear on the road through young adulthood: leaving for college, getting the first job and apartment, starting a career, getting married—and, for many people today, walking away from the Christian faith.

A few years ago, shortly after college, I was in my studio apartment with a friend and fellow pastor's kid. After some small talk over dinner, he announced, "I'm not a Christian anymore. I don't know what happened. I just left it."

An image flashed into my mind from the last time I had seen him. It was at a Promise Keepers rally. I remembered watching him worship, eyes pinched shut with one slender arm skyward.

How did his family react to his decision? I asked. His eyes turned to the ground. "Growing up I had an uncle who wasn't a Christian, and we prayed for him all the time," he said wistfully. "I'm sure they pray for me like that."

Click here to continue reading the article.

Temptation And Facebook

2010-11-18T08:25:00.001-06:00

Thou Shalt Not Facebook, Says Reverend
NEPTUNE, N.J.— The Associated Press

Thou shalt not commit adultery. And thou also shalt not use Facebook.

That's the edict from a New Jersey pastor who feels the two often go together.

The Rev. Cedric Miller said 20 couples among the 1,100 members of his Living Word Christian Fellowship Church have run into marital trouble over the last six months after a spouse connected with an ex-flame over Facebook.

Because of the problems, he is ordering about 50 married church officials to delete their accounts with the social networking site or resign from their leadership positions. He had previously asked married congregants to share their login information with their spouses and now plans to suggest that they give up Facebook altogether.

“I've been in extended counselling with couples with marital problems because of Facebook for the last year and a half,” he said. “What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there have been physical meet-ups. The temptation is just too great.”

Rev. Miller is married and has a Facebook account that he uses to keep in touch with six children, but he will heed his own advice and cancel his account this weekend.

On Sunday, he plans to “strongly suggest” that all married people to stop using Facebook, lest they endanger their marriage.

“The advice will go to the entire church,” he said. “They'll hear what I'm asking of my church leadership. I won't mandate it for the entire congregation, but I hope people will follow my advice.”

Rev. Miller said he has spoken from the pulpit before about the dangers of Facebook, asking married couples to give each other their passwords to the site.

“Some did. Others got scared and deleted their accounts right away. And some felt it was none of my business and continued on,” he said.

Rev. Miller said he has gotten a mostly positive response so far among the leaders subject to his edict, which was first reported by the Asbury Park Press.

Pat Dawson, a minister at the church, uses her Facebook account to see photos of her relatives. She is unmarried and therefore not required to delete her account, but she agrees with Miller about the dangers such sites can create.

“I know he feels very strongly about this,” she said. “It can be a useful tool, but it also can cause great problems in a relationship. If your spouse won't give you his or her password, you've got a problem.”

The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says 81 per cent of its members have used or been faced with evidence plucked from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites in divorce cases over the last five years.

About one in five adults uses Facebook for flirting, according to a 2008 report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. And a do-it-yourself divorce site in the United Kingdom, Divorce-Online, reported late last year that the word “Facebook” was appearing in about one in five of the petitions it was handling.

Rev. Miller says there are legitimate uses for Facebook, which is why he started an account a few years ago.

“People use it as an opportunity to invite others to social gatherings, to share Scripture or talk about what went on at church,” he said. “Those are all positive, worthwhile things. But the downside is just too great.”

Facebook did not immediately respond to a before-hours interview request left at its California offices.

Woman Charged With Blasphemy

2010-11-14T05:22:00.001-06:00

*Originally spotted on Christian News Headlines

Christian woman sentenced to death in Pakistan 'for blasphemy'
The Telegraph

Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother-of-five, denies blasphemy and told investigators that she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination.

Christian groups and human rights campaigners condemned the verdict and called for the blasphemy laws to be repealed.

Her supporters say she will now appeal against the sentence handed down in a local court in the town of Sheikhupura, near Lahore, Pakistan.

Ashiq Masih, her husband, said he had not had the heart to break the news to two of their children.

"I haven't told two of my younger daughters about the court's decision," he said. "They asked me many times about their mother but I can't get the courage to tell them that the judge has sentenced their mother to capital punishment for a crime she never committed." Mrs Bibi has been held in prison since June last year.

The court heard she had been working as a farmhand in fields with other women, when she was asked to fetch drinking water.

Some of the other women – all Muslims – refused to drink the water as it had been brought by a Christian and was therefore "unclean", according to Mrs Bibi's evidence, sparking a row.

The incident was forgotten until a few days later when Mrs Bibi said she was set upon by a mob.

The police were called and took her to a police station for her own safety.

Shahzad Kamran, of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, said: "The police were under pressure from this Muslim mob, including clerics, asking for Asia to be killed because she had spoken ill of the Prophet Mohammed.

"So after the police saved her life they then registered a blasphemy case against her." He added that she had been held in isolation for more than a year before being sentenced to death on Monday.

"The trial was clear," he said. "She was innocent and did not say those words." Earlier this year, Pakistan's internet service providers were ordered to block Facebook to prevent access to supposedly blasphemous images.

Human rights groups believe the law is often used to discriminate against religious minorities, such as the country's estimated three million Christians.

Although no one has ever been executed under Pakistan's blasphemy laws – most are freed on appeal – as many as 10 people are thought to have been murdered while on trial.

Ali Hasan Dayan, of Human Rights Watch, said the blasphemy laws were out of step with rights guaranteed under Pakistan's constitution and should be repealed.

"It's an obscene law," he said. "Essentially the blasphemy law is used as a tool of persecution and to settle other scores that are nothing to do with religion.

"It makes religious minorities particularly vulnerable because it's often used against them."

The Golden Ephod

2010-11-08T06:14:00.001-06:00

I am not familiar with the following author's ministry; but I certainly agreed with a lot in this article by Stephen Crosby. I did not post the article in entirety, but at the end of the post there will be a link to a website where you can continue reading it.

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The Golden Ephod of Success - Part 1
by Stephen Crosby

The emerging news regarding Eddie Long has stirred the usual flurry of blog commentary. There are those who haven't read 1Corinthians 13 lately who seem to rejoice in Eddie's difficulties. On the other hand there are those who seem ready to excuse anything, even if the allegations should be proven true. Their attitude seems to be: "Well, he may be a scoundrel, but at least he's our scoundrel, and we will defend him to the end." Until proven guilty, Eddie deserves the benefit of the doubt. But if proven guilty, he should receive reproof, rebuke, discipline, and restoration.

However it may play out, the situation with Eddie Long is symptomatic of a much deeper, broader, and long abiding problem that I have been meditating on for some time, and will address here. The problem is not with Eddie Long, nor Earl Paulk, nor Ted Haggard, nor Todd Bentley, nor Jimmy Swaggart, etc. These individuals are merely the public faces of a much deeper systemic problem. The problem is not a lack of this or that program of accountability, nor this or that form of church government. The problem is: us-you and I, the Church in America, and to some extent, the entire Western Church.

There's a corrupt value system that permeates the fiber of American Christianity. It's a beast supported by the time, talent, and treasure of people like you and me. It's hidden from public awareness until the beast spits out one of its own, to be mocked and derided by the public (Christian and otherwise) who worship the beast. If not for our support of this beast, these individuals would never have had the platform to fall from in the first place. We built the platform and gave it to them. We made them kings. We feed the beast. The beast is the worship of success.

A theology of success has replaced a theology of the Cross.
A methodology of pragmatism has replaced death and resurrection life.

Success

A theology of success is inherently and eternally incompatible with the Cross of Christ. We demand it anyway. It's what we are willing to pay for. It promises to deliver everything we want and demands only our loyalty and money, not our lives or our rights to ourselves, things the Cross demands. The American cultural value of success (size, money, significance) is promoted every Sunday from pulpits across the land as a kingdom virtue. It is not. Success and the "anointing" are all that matters to us. We embrace the notion that more money, media exposure, and posteriors in seats equals God's endorsement of a man, message, or ministry. By that standard, neither Jesus nor Paul would qualify as successful.

We sing: "Not by might, not by power," but we operate with the might and power of money, size, and significance. We read: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee . . . but we operate under: "Silver and gold we must have, and the only way to have it, is to be "successful." There are even those who claim to be apostles in this day who are promoting the necessity of being a millionaire in order to be considered as an apostle. Paul would be shocked to hear that. They conduct "wealth building seminars" rather than preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. They think the spiritual bankruptcy of the Western church can be solved by more success and money.

The danger to our spiritual welfare is threatened far more by our success than our failures. If our adversary cannot use our weaknesses and failures to drag us down, he will use our success.

In Judges 8:22-27, Gideon successfully defeated the Midianites on behalf of Israel. He refused their offer of kingship, but took the fruit of success, their gold earrings, (money, wealth, the fruit of victory) and made a golden ephod (breastplate/vest) of them, which then became an object of idolatrous worship for them. They worshiped the benefits of their success. The biblical language is strong: they prostituted themselves.

To me, there is not a clearer metaphor for the prostitution of the American/Western church. We worship success and money, and we make kings/celebrities out of the ones who lead us to success. We have worshiped the idol of success for so long that we have lost all spiritual abilities to recognize anything but our idolatry. Our idolatry has been normalized. Dare to call the golden calf of success what it is, and you will be accused of having a judgmental, critical or Pharisaical spirit, or not on board with the latest "cutting edge" revelation.

Click here to continue reading the rest of this article.

Christian Beaten In Iran

2010-11-02T04:35:00.001-05:00

Iranian Christian Dies After Being Beaten by Relative
By Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News Correspondent

TEHRAN, IRAN (Worthy News)-- A believer with a Muslim Background (BMB) died in Iran after being severely beaten by a relative, according to Christian Human rights group.

According to Middle East Concern, he left behind a wife and two young children. Due to security concerns to the surviving family, the man's name was not able to be released.

A number of Christians continue to be held in jail in Iran for their faith in Jesus Christ. According to Farsi Christian News Network, three of 15 believers arrested near Mashhad on July 8th of this year are still in detention. They are under pressure to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ, but have refused to do so.

In the city of Ahvaz, another believer, the assistant pastor of a fellowship, remains detained after having been arrested during a raid on his home July 24th. His wife and daughter were also arrested and detained, but were released shortly after.

According to a report on Iranian State television in early September, nine Christians were arrested in the town of Hamedan on charges of evangelism. Any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Iran.

U.S. Poll On Christian Contribution To Society

2010-10-29T05:41:00.002-05:00

1 in 4 Americans can't think of recent positive contribution by Christians
By Electa Draper, The Denver Post

One in four Americans said they couldn't think of a single positive societal contribution made by Christians in recent years, according to a nationwide survey released Monday.

Also, one in 10 adults said they couldn't think of a recent positive contribution because Christians hadn't made one, the Barna Group reported.

On the positive side, almost one in five mentioned how U.S. Christians help poor and underprivileged people. Those under the age of 25 were most likely to reference such service.

Among other findings, researchers noted that Evangelical Christians over age 25 and those who said they are "mostly conservative" on socio- political matters were least likely to list serving the poor as an important contribution.

"Young Christians are avoiding alignment with politics and power and getting back to basics: love and service," said Gabe Lyons, author of "The Next Christians: The Good News About the End of Christian America."

Barna researchers asked two open-ended questions: What were Christians' recent positive contributions and what were the negative ones?

"Overall," researchers noted, "there was a more extensive and diverse list of complaints about Christians and their churches than there was of examples of the benefits they have provided to society."

At the top of the negatives list: One in five Americans, or 20 percent, said Christians have incited violence or hatred in the name of Jesus Christ. Of the non-Christians surveyed, 35 percent gave this response.

Thirteen percent of adults said church opposition to same-sex marriage was a negative. People under age 25 were twice as likely as other Americans to mention this as a problem.

"Young Christians are more empathetic to gay friends, neighbors and the other people in their lives," Lyons said. "It doesn't make sense to them to be 'anti-their friend.' " Lyons said they feel just as strongly about protecting life and opposing abortion.

Twelve percent of those surveyed said churches were too involved in political matters.

Another 12 percent cited the sexual- abuse scandals involving Catholic priests as most negative.

Among the most-mentioned positive contributions: Sixteen percent said Christians' efforts to advance belief in God or Jesus Christ were beneficial, and 14 percent said Christians help shape and protect the values and morals of the country.

Twelve percent said they couldn't think of any negative contributions.

The nonpartisan, for-profit research group conducted the phone survey, taking a random sample of 1,000 adults 18 and older Aug. 16-22. The maximum margin of sampling error given is plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Christian Ad Controversy

2010-10-25T05:39:00.001-05:00

Is 'Christian roommate' ad legal?
By Tony Tagliavia

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Is a posting seeking a Christian roommate illegal discrimination or an exercise of constitutional rights?

It's very hard to tell which interpretation of the posting at a Grand Rapids-area church is exactly right, Cooley Law School Associate Professor Paul Sorensen told 24 Hour News 8 on Friday.

"I think it's important to point out that people could choose if they want to -- even under the federal law -- to live with someone who shares their own faith," the professor said. "The problem is, can you advertise seeking that type of person?"

State law appears to allow that advertising, Sorensen said, but it appears the federal Fair Housing Act does not.

The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan -- a local nonprofit -- filed a state civil rights complaint after it received a complaint about the posting, executive director Nancy Haynes said.

"Open and shut -- it's a violation," she said. "What if it said, 'looking for a black roommate,' or 'looking for a white roommate' or 'looking for a Hispanic roommate' ?"

Joel Oster, senior legal counsel for Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, said the logic used in the complaint would also mean the woman could not seek a female roommate.

He said ultimately, the issue is a constitutional one.

"They're quibbling," he said. "She has a first amendment right to free speech. She has a first amendment right to the free exercise of religion. And what they're basically telling her is she cannot go out there and seek out a Christian roommate."

Sorensen called that argument "broad ... and frankly, I think other than kind of the first-blush reaction to this, it's probably not going to go very far if it ever got into the courts or even at the civil rights department."

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is investigating the complaint. It was filed in September and the average complaint takes 10 months to investigate, department spokesman Harold Core said.

Haynes said she hopes the issue can be settled before that time passes. She said she wants to see the woman who posted the ad get some training -- and reimburse the Fair Housing Center for its investigation costs.

Crystal Cathedral Files Bankruptcy

2010-10-21T16:39:00.001-05:00

*Article first noted on the Religion News Blog:

Crystal Cathedral megachurch, home of "Hour of Power," files for bankruptcy in California
AP/AMY TAXIN

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Crystal Cathedral, the megachurch birthplace of the televangelist show "Hour of Power," has filed for bankruptcy in Southern California after struggling to emerge from debt that exceeds $43 million.

In addition to a $36 million mortgage, the Orange County-based church owes $7.5 million to several hundred vendors for services ranging from advertising to the use of live animals in Easter and Christmas services.

The church had been negotiating a repayment plan with vendors, but several filed lawsuits seeking quicker payment, which prompted a coalition formed by creditors to fall apart, church officials said.

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your mobile phone. Text BREAKING to 52669.

"Tough times never last, every storm comes to an end. Right now, people need to hear that message more than ever," Sheila Schuller Coleman, the Cathedral's senior pastor and daughter of the founder, told reporters Monday outside the worship hall.

"Everybody is hurting today. We are no exception," she said.

The church, founded in the mid-1950s by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller Sr., has already ordered major layoffs, cut the number of stations airing the "Hour of Power" and sold property to stay afloat. In addition, the 10,000-member church canceled this year's "Glory of Easter" pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a regional holiday staple.

Vendors owed money by the church formed a committee in April and agreed to a moratorium to negotiate a repayment plan with the Crystal Cathedral.

Kristina Oliver, whose Hemet-based company provided live animals for the church's "Glory of Christmas" manger scene, said she doubts she will recover in full the $57,000 she is owed.

"The church never made any kind of advancement that they wanted to pay their debt, that they were willing to try to make it happen and every time we tried they told us, 'You can't tell us how to run our business,'" Oliver said.

"I'm upset because I have a 30-year relationship with them and you need to be up front, put all your cards on the table."

Crystal Cathedral was founded at a drive-in theater and attracted congregants with its sermons on the power of positive thinking. It features a soaring glass spire and is an architectural wonder and tourist destination.

The "Hour of Power" telecast, filmed in the cathedral's main sanctuary, at one point attracted 1.3 million viewers in 156 countries.

Church leaders said the telecast and Sunday services will continue while in bankruptcy.

Crystal Cathedral and other megachurches have suffered from the recession and reduced charitable giving.

The church saw revenue drop roughly 30 percent in 2009 and simply couldn't slash expenses quickly enough to avoid accruing the debt, said Jim Penner, a church pastor and executive producer of the "Hour of Power."

Penner said it became difficult to hold the vendors' committee together after several vendors filed lawsuits and obtained writs of attachment to try to collect their cash.

Now, the church is avoiding credit entirely and spends only the roughly $2 million it receives each month in donations and revenue, Penner said. The church still hopes to pay all of the vendors back in full, he said.

"What we're doing now is we're trying to walk what we preach, we're paying cash for things as we go," he said.

Two Chilean Miners Turn To Christ!

2010-10-17T04:54:00.003-05:00

*Not only was the preservation and rescue of the Chilean miners miraculous--more acts of God also occurred, as two miners came to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior! Prayfully, more will see the light of the gospel of Christ.

2 Chilean miners accept Christ while trapped underground
Baptist Press, by Tristan Taylor

SANTIAGO, Chile (BP)--José Henríquez leads a small group of men in prayer every evening in northern Chile -- 2,300 feet below the surface of the earth.

For more than two months, 33 Chilean miners have been trapped beneath the desert floor in a chamber the size of a living room. A partial collapse blocked the mine exit Aug. 5.

Chilean Mining Minister Laurence Golborne confirmed Oct. 11 that a trial run of a rescue capsule was successful. The miners' rescue is scheduled to begin at midnight, Oct. 12.

When the mine collapsed, three of the miners -- including Henríquez -- were Christians. Since then, two more of them have made professions of faith.

"It was José who made the request that an evangelical pastor come to minister to the miners and their families," said Bryan Wolf, an International Mission Board (IMB) missionary serving in Vallenar, Chile.

Rescue engineer Igor Bravo, a member of First Baptist Church of Santiago, was one of the first to hear of Henríquez's request for a pastor and contacted the Chilean Baptist Union.

Bernardino Morales, director of the Baptist union's Social Testimony Network, searched for a pastor who lived near the mine in Copiapó but no one was available. Two weeks ago he called Marcelo Leiva, pastor of Vallenar Baptist Church in Vallenar, Chile, located about two hours away.

"Pastor," Morales said to Leiva, "it's either you, or it's you."

Leiva's response: "Amen."

The miners had been on the pastor's heart before Bernardino called. He said Bravo contacting the Chilean Baptist Union was the "channel of blessing" that brought him to Camp Esperanza (Hope), where the miners' families are staying.

When Leiva arrived at the camp, he didn't know anyone. But Henríquez's family quickly connected him with other families.

"That [connection] allowed a lot of other people to hear the Word," Leiva says, "and to know that in the midst of this catastrophe, God is in control, and it is the Lord who has kept their family members alive."

The wife of one of the miners who became a Christian since being trapped in the mine met with Leiva over the past two weeks and also accepted Christ.

Miners' families have been staying at Camp Hope for weeks in what Leiva describes as rudimentary conditions. They receive three meals a day and sleep on mats inside government-provided military tents. Despite the simple accommodations, being close to their loved ones brings them comfort.

After the frenzy of activity during the day subsides, Leiva finds the families are more available to talk with him in the evenings. He has noticed the difference between the families who know Christ and the families who do not.

"This has been a testimony to what the Lord can do in a person's life," Leiva said. "Those that are the children of the Lord have been those that have shown, even in the midst of the storm, a testimony of peace, tranquility and trust in the Lord."

At Henríquez's request, Leiva was recently given 10 minutes to speak through a telephone that connects the trapped miners with the rescue crew. Leiva used that time to pray for Henríquez and encourage him.

Henríquez sent a letter to Leiva on behalf of the trapped miners, calling him a blessing and thanking him for being there with their families. Leiva also has been sending down letters of encouragement to the trapped miners.

Besides Leiva, a Pentecostal pastor is the only other evangelical preacher allowed in the camp. The two have been working together when they can and have made a "good team," Leiva said.

Leiva has had the opportunity to witness to family members, Chilean policemen and foreign press -- including a Japanese reporter, Wolfe said. Leiva also wrote down a Scripture portion from Psalms and gave it to Mining Minister Laurence Golborne.

As the rescue draws near, the families in Camp Hope are anxious. Leiva realizes that this unique opportunity to share the Gospel is a fleeting one.

"Let's do our job and fulfill the purpose for which God brought us here," Leiva said. "Not to just have a protagonist role without sharing the Gospel. Because this camp, in a few more days, is going to close and the people will return home.

"Pray that we, the children of God, will do our job," Leiva said.

Racial Diversity In Congregations

2010-10-12T04:55:00.001-05:00

Congregations Struggle to Get--and Keep--Racially Diverse Members
Terry Goodrich, Assistant Director of Media
Baylor University

One of the Rev. Martin Luther King's famous statements was that 11 a.m. Sunday morning was "the most segregated hour of Christian America."

More than half a century later -- despite myriad task forces, initiatives and informal efforts by church leaders and congregations to increase racial diversity in the pews -- nine in 10 congregations have a single racial group that accounts for more than 80 percent of their membership, said Dr. Kevin Dougherty, assistant professor of sociology at Baylor University.

Equally significant is that congregations that manage to attract worshippers of other races have difficulty keeping them, according to research by Dougherty and Dr. Christopher P. Scheitle, senior research assistant at The Pennsylvania State University. They co-authored the article "Race, Diversity, and Membership Duration in Religious Congregations" published in the academic journal Sociological Inquiry in August.

"Socially, we've become much more integrated in schools, the military and businesses. But in the places where we worship, segregation still seems to be the norm," Dougherty said.

"It's not just an issue of attraction, of getting them into the door, but of retention," he said. "Can we keep them? Our research indicates that we've not been able to."

In learning whether, and why, minority members leave congregations faster than majority members, Dougherty and Scheitle studied data from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey of 2001, a survey of more than 100,000 worshippers in more than 400 congregations representing more than 50 faith groups.

One theory is that the more groups an organization tries to serve, the less effective it is at serving any specific group. Specialist organizations tend to do better than generalist organizations. And congregations are no different.

A Korean church that tries to add other ethnic groups is still likely to serve its traditional majority better, whether it comes to the type of food served at a potluck, the type of ministries it offers or the use of the Korean language, Dougherty said.

The decision is not necessarily conscious or malicious, but simply a matter of habit and the greater visibility of the majority, according to the article.

"People choose churches where they feel comfortable," Dougherty said. "Maybe they get challenged there, but they're going for the comfort."

But diversity comes with a cost, usually to both minorities and majorities, he said.

In trying to fit in, minority members may feel they are abandoning part of their identity. A 2003 study of a Filipino congregation showed that non-Filipino members tended to have fewer friends within the congregation and felt like outsiders. Such feelings may lead to lower attendance and eventually leaving.

"It doesn't matter whether you're a white member of a Latino church or a black attending a white church or what the specific groups are," Dougherty said. "If you're the under-represented group, do you call it 'my church'? That feeling of 'us' is the key."

Power is another issue. Minority members may feel that they are tokens. Scheitle and Dougherty found that until minority members represent 40 percent of a congregation, they are at a higher risk of leaving.

"That's when we expect retention, when minority members say, 'There's enough of me that I see we have some say,'" Dougherty said. Conversely, once the minority is more than 40 percent, some majority members start to leave.

"Animosity can grow," Dougherty said. "There may be a feeling of 'They're taking our church away from us' or 'They're not doing things our way.' Churches want diversity -- but usually the people who want it most are the ones it costs the least. They aren't the ones sacrificing culture, heritage and customs."

Usually the first members of a minority group to join a congregation are a special type of person, Dougherty said. "Those people are called 'boundary spanners.' They're willing to tolerate risk. They're the pioneers. They pave the way for others from their ethnic group to follow."

Some characteristics of congregations that have been successful in becoming diverse:

• Racially diverse leaders.

• Racially inclusive worship. Diverse congregations "tend to be more expressive, with more clapping, more raising of the hands, more verbal affirmation," Dougherty said. "If you look at congregations of blacks and whites, you'll see more 'Amens' and clapping, but not as much as in a black church. The services likely will last longer, but not last as long as at a black church. Out of diversity comes something that is different for both."

• Opportunities for member interaction. Dougherty sees small groups as helpful for diversity. "Small groups are a powerful way to forge relationships," he said. In previous research, he found that small groups are a common feature of racially mixed congregations.

Albert Mohler Stands Agaist Yoga

2010-10-07T06:21:00.003-05:00

My hats off to Albert Mohler for taking a stand against Christians practicing yoga. Christians need to review their bibles and see how God looks at the merging of false religion into our faith in Him. I know of several who feel yoga is ok, and even astrology. It is not ok with God, and if anyone feels yoga amplifies their Christian faith; they probably need to review who their god really is. An article concerning the controversy is below:

DEUTERONOMY 18:9-12
9) When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10) There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11) Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12) For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

*I would not mess with astrology, yoga, horoscopes, hypnosis, mantras,...these things are an abomination!!

ISAIAH 47:10-14
10) For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am , and none else beside me.
11) Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
12) Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
13) Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
14) Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.

----------------------------------------

Southern Baptist leader on yoga: Not Christianity

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Southern Baptist leader who is calling for Christians to avoid yoga and its spiritual attachments is getting plenty of pushback from enthusiasts who defend the ancient practice.

Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler says the stretching and meditative discipline derived from Eastern religions is not a Christian pathway to God.

Mohler said he objects to "the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching consciousness with the divine."

"That's just not Christianity," Mohler told The Associated Press.

Mohler said feedback has come through e-mail and comments on blogs and other websites since he wrote an essay to address questions about yoga he has heard for years.

"I'm really surprised by the depth of the commitment to yoga found on the part of many who identify as Christians," Mohler said.

Yoga fans say their numbers have been growing in the U.S. A 2008 study by the Yoga Journal put the number at 15.8 million, or nearly 7 percent of adults. About 6.7 percent of American adults are Southern Baptists, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Mohler argued in his online essay last month that Christians who practice yoga "must either deny the reality of what yoga represents or fail to see the contradictions between their Christian commitments and their embrace of yoga."

He said his view is "not an eccentric Christian position."

Other Christian leaders have said practicing yoga is incompatible with the teachings of Jesus. Pat Robertson has called the chanting and other spiritual components that go along with yoga "really spooky." California megachurch pastor John MacArthur called yoga a "false religion." Muslim clerics have banned Muslims from practicing yoga in Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia, citing similar concerns.

Yoga proponents say the wide-ranging discipline, which originated in India, offers physical and mental healing through stretching poses and concentration.

"Lots of people come to yoga because they are often in chronic pain. Others come because they think it's a nice workout," said Allison Terracio, who runs the Infinite Bliss studio in Louisville.

And some yoga studios have made the techniques more palatable for Christians by removing the chanting and associations to eastern religions, namely Hinduism and its multiple deities.

Stephanie Dillon, who has injected Christian themes into her studio in Louisville, said yoga brought her closer to her Christian faith, which had faded after college and service in the Army.

"What I found is that it opened my spirit, it renewed my spirituality," Dillon said. "That happened first and then I went back to church." Dillon attends Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and says many evangelical Christians from the church attend her yoga classes.

She said she prayed on the question of whether to mix yoga and Christianity before opening her studio, PM Yoga, where she discusses her relationship with Jesus during classes.

"My objection (to Mohler's view) personally is that I feel that yoga enhances a person's spirituality," Dillon said. "I don't like to look at religion from a law standpoint but a relationship standpoint, a relationship with Jesus Christ specifically."

Mohler wrote the essay after reading "The Subtle Body," where author Stefanie Syman traces the history of yoga in America. Syman noted the growing popularity of yoga in the U.S. by pointing out that first lady Michelle Obama has added it to the festivities at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on the front lawn.

Mohler said many people have written him to say they're simply doing exercises and forgoing yoga's eastern mysticism and meditation.

"My response to that would be simple and straightforward: You're just not doing yoga," Mohler said.

Spirit of Perversion

2010-10-02T05:24:00.001-05:00

*Some good points in this article from Lee Grady. I still pray he will examine his NAR connections and its theology.

------------------

The Fire of Holiness vs. the Spirit of Perversion
By Lee Grady

Moral failure in our ranks has become an epidemic—and the only solution is a heaven-sent spiritual housecleaning.

I'm sure you felt as heartsick as I did when you heard about the nightmarish charges leveled against Atlanta preacher Eddie Long of New Birth Full Gospel Baptist Church. While I passed through two airports last Thursday, CNN was airing the sordid details of the lawsuits filed by two young men who are accusing Long of coercing them into sex. Two more men have since come forward with similar lawsuits.

Whether the charges are true or not (please pray for Long and his church during this ordeal), it was awkward to hear newscasters suggesting that a married Pentecostal bishop had abused his power and carried on secret gay affairs. What's really sad is that in our sexually desensitized culture people don't even blush when they hear such talk about a minister.
"We must preach the full gospel, not a neutered version that avoids any mention of sin, judgment or holiness. The redemption of Jesus does not give us a license to sin, and those who teach such heresy will be held especially liable."

In a sermon last Sunday, Long dismissed the allegations and vowed to fight his accusers. Most members of his 25,000-member church rallied behind him, even after incriminating photos began circulating. Long has not explained the suggestive photos of himself or how the young men obtained them, but he declared he is "not the man" he is portrayed to be in the lawsuits.

At this point it is Bishop Long's word against the four men, and we will soon endure the embarrassment of a civil trial that could be very ugly—and even more shameful if evidence supports the accusations. As with the Catholic child abuse cover-up, and numerous recent scandals among Christian leaders, the name of Jesus will be dragged through the mud and Christians will be broad-brushed as hypocrites who preach one thing and do another.

I started noticing a disturbing trend way before the allegations against Bishop Long surfaced. A sinister spirit of perversion has invaded the ranks of charismatic churches. Here are just a few examples that have been reported to me by people familiar with the situations:

* The leader of one supposedly Christian ministry encouraged the wives of two men to have adulterous affairs, and then asked the women to provide detailed descriptions of their activities
* A group of traveling ministers routinely met for weekend getaways that included wife-swapping
* The male leader of a "prophetic" church on the West Coast seduced several men in his core leadership team. (The church shut down after the sin was exposed.)
* A pastor learned that members of his staff were having sexual affairs in the sanctuary of his church, and he did nothing to stop the debauchery.
* A church in the Southeast hosted a marriage seminar in which Christian couples were encouraged to install poles in their bedrooms so wives could engage in pole dancing prior to sex. (Question: Didn't pole dancing originate in strip clubs? Did someone visit a strip club to get this idea?)

Forgive me for being so graphic. It gives me no pleasure to describe sins that should never be named among believers, especially those who claim to be "Spirit-filled." Any leader who engages in or tolerates such behavior has no business laying his filthy hands on people in a church and pretending to have the Holy Spirit.

The spirit of perversion resembles the cult of Baal worship, which caused ancient Israel to backslide constantly. In the New Testament, it is associated with Jezebel, the priestess of Baal, and it manifests when false teachers invade the church and lead people into idolatry and immorality (see Rev. 2:20). It attacks church leaders because the enemy's goal is to contaminate the people through defiled pulpits.

God raised up an Elijah to confront Baal and Jezebel. To pull down the stronghold of perversion in today's compromised church, we must have an army of fearless men and women who live in the fire of holiness and who preach the Word without compromise. Not perfect people, but those who have allowed the Refiner to consume their selfish pride and materialistic greed—the breeding grounds of perversion. Not self-righteous people, but humble, broken men and women like Elijah, who was prepared on the backside of the desert before he confronted Baal's prophets on Mount Carmel.

We need holiness, and true holiness is not legalism. We preach the mercy of the cross and God's amazing love for sinners. We offer forgiveness and healing to those who have been immoral. The blood of Jesus and the renewing power of the Spirit can free any repentant person from the bondage of sexual sin. But we must also warn believers that those who turn from Christ, and return to perversion, have trampled His blood and "insulted the spirit of grace" (see Hebrews 10:29).

We must preach the full gospel, not a neutered version that avoids any mention of sin, judgment or holiness. The redemption of Jesus does not give us a license to sin, and those who teach such heresy will be held especially liable.

My prayer is a desperate one: Lord, baptize us in the fire of Your holiness! I hope you are desperate for the same flame. Ask Him to rekindle the Refiner's fire in you.

Outspoken Atheist Battles Cancer

2010-09-26T06:13:00.003-05:00

II Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

This is such a sad story below. I am a former atheist (but I never felt a need to be threaten by other people’s belief in their gods and the God); however, I can understand part of this man’s (Christopher Hitchens) position reflecting back on those days. Continue to pray for him.

Atheist Hitchens skipping prayer day in his honor
Associate Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Stricken with cancer and fragile from chemotherapy, author and outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens sits in an armchair before an audience and waits for the only question that can come first at such a time.

"How's your health?" asks Larry Taunton, a friend who heads an Alabama-based group dedicated to defending Christianity.

"Well, I'm dying, since you asked, but so are you. I'm only doing it more rapidly," replies Hitchens, his grin faint and his voice weak and raspy. Only wisps of his dark hair remain; clothes hang on his frame.

The writer best known to believers for his 2007 book "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" has esophageal cancer, the same disease that killed his father. He is fighting it, but the 62-year-old Hitchens is realistic: At the very best, he says, his life will be shortened.

For some of his critics, it might be satisfying to see a man who has made a career of skewering organized religion switch sides near the end of his life and pray silently for help fighting a ravaging disease.

He has an opportunity: Monday has been informally proclaimed "Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day."

Christopher Hitchens won't be bowing his head, even on a day set aside just for him.

"I shall not be participating," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hitchens was diagnosed with cancer in June, forcing him to cancel a tour to promote his new book, "Hitch-22: A Memoir." He took time off from work as chemo treatments began but recently published the first of what is intended to be a series of essays in Vanity Fair magazine about his diagnosis.

On Sept. 7, he visited Birmingham for his first public appearance since the diagnosis, a debate against David Berlinski, author of "The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions." They argued over the implications of a purely secular society before a crowd of about 1,200 in an event sponsored by Fixed Point Foundation, the Christian apologetics group headed by Taunton.

Taunton is devoutly Christian yet has developed a fast friendship with Hitchens, who appeared at a similar debate sponsored by the organization last year. Taunton is among those praying for Hitchens, and Hitchens takes no offense.

The way the English-born Hitchens sees it, the people praying for him break down into three basic groups: those who seem genuinely glad he's suffering and dying from cancer; those who want him to become a believer in their religious faith; and those who are asking God to heal him.

Hitchens has no use for that first group. "'To hell with you' is the response to the ones who pray for me to go to hell," Hitchens told AP.

He's ruling out the idea of a deathbed change of heart: "'Thanks but no thanks' is the reply to those who want me to convert and recognize a divinity or deity."

It's that third group — people who are asking God for Hitchens' healing — that causes Hitchens to choose his words even more carefully than normal. Are those prayers OK? Are they helpful?

"I say it's fine by me, I think of it as a nice gesture. And it may well make them feel better, which is a good thing in itself," says Hitchens.

But prayers for his healing don't make him feel better.

"Well, not any more than very large numbers of very kind, thoughtful letters from nonbelievers, some of whom know me, some of whom don't, asking me to know that they are on my side," Hitchens said. "That cheers me up, yes."

Hitchens doesn't know exactly how "Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day" began, other than that it's one of those things that appears on the Internet and goes viral. He declined an invitation to appear at a rabbi's prayer service in Washington that day, and he doesn't see any point in the exercise.

"I'm perfectly sure that there is nothing to be gained from it in point of my health, but perhaps I shouldn't even say that. If it would do something for my morale possibly it would do something for my health. We all know that morale is an element in recovery," he said. "But incantations, I don't think, have any effect on the material world."

The National Cancer Institute says esophageal cancer affects about 16,500 Americans each year, almost 80 percent of them men. Smoking and drinking alcohol regularly increase the risk of the disease; Hitchens does both.

The cancer that began in Hitchens' esophagus already has spread into the lymph nodes in his neck, and he fears it has reached a lung. He's visibly tired after a book signing and luncheon appearance and says he needs to rest, even though resting seems like such a waste of time when so little time may be left.

Already into his fourth round of chemotherapy, which he is receiving every three weeks, Hitchens says it's difficult to gauge his eventual legacy. He hopes to be remembered with affection by some; with passion by others; and hopefully as a good father by his three children.

As for his work, Hitchens says he would be happy to be recalled simply as one of those "who are attempting to uphold reason and science against superstition."

"I'd be proud to have my contribution at that," Hitchens said. "This is a very long, long, long story. It's humanity's oldest argument. If I played a small part in keeping it going that would be enough for me."

IHOP Versus IHOP

2010-09-22T04:38:00.003-05:00

IHOP spars with IHOP. Is a new name in the future? Pancakes versus heresy--who knows? IHOP has connections to the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) movement. Time for breakfast….

IHOP (the pancake-maker) sues IHOP (the prayer center) over trademark
By DONALD BRADLEY, The Kansas City Star

Pancakes and prayers — have we reached a point where even those two can’t get along?

Frankly, yes. So praise the Lord and pass the syrup, the International House of Pancakes and International House of Prayer are fixing to throw down.

IHOP (pancake), based in Glendale, Calif., has sued IHOP (prayer), based in Kansas City, for trademark dilution and infringement. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, essentially said there was room for only one IHOP and that would be the restaurant chain that has been using the initials since 1973.

The religious group drawing thousands from around the world to south Kansas City to prepare for “end times” was started just 10 years ago.

Other than an acronym, the two have nearly zilch in common.

The IHOP (prayer) on Red Bridge Road operates 24/7/365, sending a never-ending digital signal of prayers to Jerusalem, where it streams live on God TV for broadcast all over the world.

The other largely operates 24/7/365, too, but it is known for its pancakes, including a signature breakfast specialty called “Rooty Tooty Fresh ’N Fruity.”

But the chain, which has 1,476 restaurants across the country, claims it has six registered trademarks with the IHOP acronym and that the religious group’s use of the same four-letter logo causes, according to the lawsuit, “great and irreparable injury and confuses the public.”

The lawsuit further accuses the church mission of adopting the name International House of Prayer knowing it would be abbreviated IHOP — the intent being to misappropriate fame and notoriety of the food chain.

On Tuesday, IHOP (pancake) spokesman Patrick Lenow said the suit was filed only after the church mission refused repeated requests to stop using the trademark.

“We are compelled to protect the 350 small-business owners who own IHOP franchises and the IHOP good name that’s been around for 52 years,” Lenow said.

Thus the question, why sue now? The church mission started calling itself IHOP a decade ago.

“They’ve expanded — and now some of the branches are serving food,” Lenow said.

Among the seven defendants, four are in California where the suit was filed, including the Pasadena International House of Prayer. Although the suit also seeks attorney fees and costs of litigation, it does not ask for monetary damages.

Calls to IHOP (prayer) chief operating officer Mark Schumacher were not returned.

Gary Cooper, a former Houston attorney who until recently served as the mission’s chief financial officer, said the lawsuit lacked legal basis.

“I don’t think it will go anywhere,” Cooper, who serves on an IHOP board, said Tuesday by telephone from Oklahoma.

But Gary Hecker, a well-known intellectual rights attorney in Los Angeles and founder of the Hecker Law Group, said the court would probably side with the restaurant chain.

“Because of that extremely famous name, IHOP may well have the right to protect itself even well outside the scope of selling pancakes,” Hecker said Tuesday.

One defense might be that the two sides are so different that no confusion could exist.

Even so, Hecker said, “I would take the pancakes.”

IHOP (prayer) was started by a man named Mike Bickle, who by his own admission grew up in a Waldo bar and claims to have traveled to heaven twice.

The ministry is now planning to build a $150 million world headquarters — including IHOP University and a 5,000-seat conference center — along U.S. 71 in Grandview.

Again, IHOP (pancakes) got there first. One of the restaurants is across the highway.

Persecution--Jakarta

2010-09-18T03:48:00.001-05:00

Christians in Indonesia defy police, past
By NINIEK KARMINI (AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A group of Christian worshippers said they would defy police and the threat of attack to hold Sunday prayers outside their now-boarded-up church near Indonesia's capital.

Religious tensions that had been growing for months in the industrial city of Bekasi came to a head last week when unidentified assailants stabbed a member of the Batak Christian Church in the stomach and hit its preacher on the head with a wooden plank. Neither injury was life-threatening.

Police arrested 10 suspects including the local leader of the hard-line Islamic Defender's Front, which has for months warned the Christians against holding prayers in the staunchly Muslim neighborhood.

The Islamic Defender's Front pressured local authorities early this year to shutter the Batak church, arguing the permit was granted without the required approval of residents.

But dozens of church members have gathered in the vacant lot in front of the church each Sunday for months.

Police said Saturday that to prevent more violence they would deploy 600 officers to block services on Sunday.

Bekasi Police Chief Col. Imam Sugianto warned them against returning Sunday, saying "if they don't listen, we will take them ourselves to a temporary place for worship offered by the government."

Travis Siagian, a member of the congregation, called it unfair to block their services.

"We're going back — not because we want to provoke anyone. We just want to enjoy the same rights to worship as any other religion in this country," Siagian said.

Indonesia, a secular country of 237 million people, has more Muslims than any other in the world. Though it has a long history of religious tolerance, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal — and violent — in recent years.

The Burning of the Koran

2010-09-10T04:41:00.002-05:00

Anyone who has the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in them, know that there is but one way to salvation. The way is narrow, and it is only through Jesus Christ. This church in Florida thinks its doing God a service, but I say its a disservice. Ironically, their antics will turn more Muslims off, rather them bring lost people to the Truth. We know that Jesus Christ is real, the Son of God, and is God. If I had books contrary to that Truth, I would deal with myself and get rid of them--yet these books would hypothetically be in my own personal possession. Regarding Pastor Terry Jone's logic of the Dove World Outreach Centre; they would next need to burn all books on evolution, on Buddhism, on agnostic ramblings and so forth. His approach is wrong (where is his heart on this?). How much is in opposition to the Word in this world? Tend to your own garden, burn what does not belong in it. Let others tend to their gardens, even if in error--we pray they find their way out of error into everlasting life through our Savior. Jones strategy will only foster hard feelings, hatred of those drowning in darkness, and turn Muslims off. Can an unbelieving world understand such behavior? NO. Below, an article on this situation from ABC news:

Pastor keeps changing mind on Koran burning

A Christian church leader in the United States has abandoned his weekend Koran-burning plans to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Pastor Terry Jones from the Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida had planned to mark the occasion by burning as many as 200 copies of the Koran.

But he received a strong rebuke from president Barack Obama, who urged him to give up on what he called a "stunt".

Mr Obama even warned it could help recruit suicide bombers to blow themselves up on American soil.

Pastor Jones has now sparked new controversy by claiming that he dropped his plan in exchange for a deal to move a proposed Islamic centre away from New York's Ground Zero.

The developers say there is no such deal.

Pastor Jones said: "The American people do not want the mosque there. And of course Muslims do not want us to burn the Koran.

"The imam has agreed to move the mosque. We have agreed to cancel our event on Saturday. And on Saturday I will be flying up there to meet with him."

But the imam leading the project for the Islamic cultural centre in New York, Feisal Abdul Rauf, quickly denied any such agreement.

However the imam from the Islamic Society of Central Florida, Muhammad Musri, says he has been negotiating a meeting with Pastor Jones and Imam Rauf.

"[I] got the commitment to fly up to New York and meet with [Imam Rauf] in the company of Pastor Jones to discuss and come to a decision on relocating the mosque in New York," he said.

Imam Rauf quickly denied any such meeting.

In a statement, he said: "I am glad Pastor Jones has decided not to burn any Korans. However I have not spoken with Pastor Jones or Imam Musri."

"I am surprised by their announcement. We are not going to toy with our religion or any other, nor are we here to barter."

It was enough to draw Pastor Jones back out from his church to address the media for a second time.

"I was told he cannot move it tomorrow. I said that is fine, but it cannot be in 10 years. These are the exact words that I said," he said.

"The man said that is fine. I said now he has agreed to move the mosque away from the Ground Zero area? Yes he has, that is what I was told."

So does Pastor Jones doubt what he has been told?

"I don't feel tricked. I was lied to of course. That is why at this time I am not prepared to believe that. I am not prepared to make that accusation," he said.

"I want to just wait and see. And right now I am believing his word. I find it very hard to believe that he would lie to me."

Pastor Jones says no matter what happens the Koran burning is definitely off.

*Continue to read the entire article here.

Black Churches-- After Katrina

2010-08-29T16:22:00.003-05:00

In New Orleans, Black Churches Face a Long, Slow Return
The New York Times, by Samuel G. Freedman

NEW ORLEANS — Five minutes past 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday this month, which is to say five minutes past the time the worship service was supposed to start, Shantell Henley pushed open the front door of her pastor’s house in the Lower Ninth Ward. She entered the living room to find a gospel song playing on the stereo, two ceiling fans stirring the sticky air and 25 folding chairs for the congregants waiting empty.

“Am I late?” she asked the pastor, the Rev. Charles W. Duplessis.

“No,” he replied, smiling. “We’re Baptists.”

His joke, though, could not dispel the truth. The problem at Mount Nebo Bible Baptist Church had nothing to do with any Baptist indifference to punctuality and everything to do with Hurricane Katrina, even as its fifth anniversary on Aug. 29 approached.

Having lost his house and his church to the broken levees in the Lower Ninth, Mr. Duplessis had managed by grit and will and fathomless faith to reopen in early 2009, using his rebuilt home to replace the sanctuary he couldn’t afford to replace, the sanctuary that had stood in some grim coincidence on Flood Street.

He installed an electric piano and a computer with a projector. He collected several dozen copies of the Baptist Hymnal. He put out weekly editions of the church bulletin; he put up a lawn sign declaring, “Our Church Is Back!”

What was not back was the bulk of his congregation. Of the 120 members before Hurricane Katrina, only 40 had returned. The rest were still strewn across the map — Alabama, California, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas. And Mr. Duplessis could not in-gather the exiles, as the Bible commands, because most of the Lower Ninth remained a ruin of buckled roads, cracked foundations and swamp grass six feet high.

“It’s church — it’s serving the Lord,” Mr. Duplessis, 59, said in an interview in his house. “If I linger on what I don’t have, I can’t see what I do have.” He paused. “But I know this isn’t where God wants us to be.”

In his plight and his persistence, Mr. Duplessis represents the experience of churches, ministers and congregations throughout the Lower Ninth. While the fifth anniversary of Katrina offers much reason to celebrate New Orleans’s revival, this neighborhood that once thrived with a black working-class of homeowners and churchgoers continues to stand as a desolated disgrace.

As every level of government has failed to restore more than a fraction of former residents to habitable homes, the black churches have tried desperately to return through a combination of sacrifice, insurance and charity. And anyone with an even cursory understanding of African-American life knows that without vibrant churches, the Lower Ninth can never truly rise again.

Where about 75 churches operated before Katrina, barely a dozen have been able to reopen, according to the Rev. Willie Calhoun, a local minister who has closely tracked the process. Even among those churches that have rebuilt, what were once congregations of 150 to 200 now number in the dozens. The monthly intake of tithes and offerings, previously $20,000 or more, has fallen to the low thousands.

“You got those that are still struggling to come back,” said Mr. Calhoun, the assistant pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, “and you got those that came back but the congregations are so small they’re struggling to keep their doors open. And without the churches, you got no community.”

East Jerusalem, for example, has only $55,000 of the $150,000 it needs to replace the church building that was destroyed when the floodwaters propelled a house into it. In an especially perverse touch, which several other congregations have faced, New Orleans officials are requiring the church to buy land for off-street parking, as if the pressing problem of the Lower Ninth is traffic gridlock.

“I remember that film — ‘build it and they will come,’ ” said the Rev. Hall Lanis Kelly Jr., 62, the pastor of East Jerusalem. “I believe in that. The Bible tells us, you plant the seed, God will do the watering. But we sure thought that in two, three years, we’d be back.”

The Rev. Michael Zacharie did get back, rebuilding Beulah Land Baptist Church for nearly $400,000 with a combination of savings, insurance money and a grant from Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief organization. On the Sunday in early 2009 when he rededicated the trim red-brick sanctuary, Mr. Zacharie preached to only 50 of the 400 pre-Katrina members. Etched in the church cornerstone were the names of four who had died in the flood.

“We were determined to come back so we could be the light shining in the darkness,” Mr. Zacharie, 54, said in a phone interview. “We want to be there for anyone that needs comfort, counseling, compassion.”

Such balm in Gilead has long been the mission of the Lower Ninth’s black churches. When Mr. Duplessis first inspected the wreckage of Mount Nebo’s building — pews tossed aside like toothpicks, chunks gone from the roof, the rear wall knocked loose — he also learned that several boats had been tied to the steeple. With 20 feet of water around, the second floor of Mount Nebo was, in more ways than one, a sanctuary.

And so he has persevered in his living room. On this particular Sunday, the faithful finally did arrive, a dozen by 10:15 a.m., nearly 25 by 10:35. Mr. Duplessis preached from the Book of Joshua, all about determination. He conducted a baby blessing. And he joined his people in singing lyrics that were almost unbearably freighted with double meaning:

“Storm clouds may rise

Strong winds may blow

But I’ll tell the world wherever I go

That I have found the Savior and he’s sweet, I know.”

Cult Leader Arrested In Utah

2010-08-24T13:24:00.001-05:00

*Story spotted on “Religion News Blog”

2nd Fromberg Sect Leader Arrested

FROMBERG — A leader of a transplanted Utah religious sect accused of raping a 15-year-old girl was arrested in Wyoming Thursday after peacefully surrendering to law enforcement officials, a day after a fellow church leader was arrested at their compound near here.

Terrill Dalton, 43, was arrested on a warrant issued by authorities in Salt Lake City on two counts of first-degree rape. Dalton is the president of the Holy Ghost of the Church of the Firstborn of the General Assembly of Heaven, a group of former Mormons who fled Utah last year after federal authorities raided their headquarters.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Marshals Service went to the church’s new headquarters near Fromberg looking for Dalton and Geody Harman, who describes himself as First Counsel of the church.

Harman, 37, was arrested at the property on a Utah warrant charging him with the rape of the same 15-year-old girl. Dalton could not be found.

On Thursday at about 4:45 p.m., the Hot Springs County Sheriff’s Department arrested Dalton near Thermopolis, Wyo. Acting Montana U.S. Marshal Rod Ostermiller said he was picked up after calling authorities, telling them where he was and then surrendering.

The warrant out of Utah asked for a $250,007 bond. Dalton is being held at the Hot Springs County jail and an extradition hearing had not been set for him as of 9:30 p.m.

Harman remained Thursday in the Yellowstone County jail on a $250,007 bond. The reason for the unusual amount was not known. He has yet to make an initial appearance in court, and it is unclear if he has been assigned a public defender. Harman can challenge the warrant or agree to waive extradition proceedings and be returned voluntarily to Utah.

Dalton, who claims to be the Holy Ghost and the father of Jesus Christ, would have been arrested on the warrant if he remained in Montana, Ostermiller said.

A man came to the door Thursday at the church’s rental property at 605 Bridger-Fromberg Road surrounded by three young boys.

“We have no comment,” the man said as he ordered the boys back into the house. He declined to give his name.

A “for sale” sign has been placed on the property, which was the scene of a murder in May 2009 when a 66-year-old man shot his 43-year-old son in the back during a dispute. The sign lists Realtor Tera Reynolds as the agent.

Reynolds said Thursday that the house has been for sale for little more than a year and was placed back on the market about two months ago. The church members living on the property have a month-to-month rental agreement, Reynolds said. She declined to identify the property owners.

A neighbor, Valerie Wichman, said news of the arrest Wednesday traveled quickly. Wichman was interviewed by The Gazette in March and said then that she was concerned about her new neighbors.

“I knew eventually it was going to happen,” Wichman said Thursday of the police activity at the property the day before. “There are bad people in the world, and we have some right here.”

Wichman said she has seen numerous children and young girls on the property, and she is concerned for their welfare in light of the allegations against the church leaders.

“It’s pretty unreal that this is allowed to go on,” she said.

According to the arrest warrants, the girl told Utah authorities that sometime in 2005 or 2006 she was told by Harman and Dalton that she would be “blessed” for having sex with them.

Members of the church fled from Utah to Idaho last year after their large home was raided by federal authorities. The raid was conducted to investigate claims of child sexual abuse and assassination threats against President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and Thomas S. Monson, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Church members began moving from Idaho to the Fromberg property last September. Harman told The Gazette in March that he did not know how many people lived on the property but said the number was about 16, including his wife and nine children.

Update

2010-08-15T10:10:00.002-05:00

Just updating to say I will soon be undergoing a medical treatment which may involve some difficult side effects. I will not likely post for the next couple of weeks.

Update II: I canceled my medical procedure for now, and made an appointment with my doctor to discuss other options.

Teen Participation In Youth Groups

2010-08-13T04:40:00.002-05:00

Forget the pizza parties,' Teens tell churches
By Cathy Lynn Grossman and Stephanie Steinberg, USA TODAY

"Bye-bye church. We're busy." That's the message teens are giving churches today.

Only about one in four teens now participate in church youth groups, considered the hallmark of involvement; numbers have been flat since 1999. Other measures of religiosity — prayer, Bible reading and going to church — lag as well, according to Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., evangelical research company. This all has churches canceling their summer teen camps and youth pastors looking worriedly toward the fall, when school-year youth groups kick in.

"Talking to God may be losing out to Facebook," says Barna president David Kinnaman.

"Sweet 16 is not a sweet spot for churches. It's the age teens typically drop out," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources in Nashville, which found the turning point in a study of church dropouts. "A decade ago teens were coming to church youth group to play, coming for the entertainment, coming for the pizza. They're not even coming for the pizza anymore. They say, 'We don't see the church as relevant, as meeting our needs or where we need to be today.' "

"I blame the parents,"who didn't grow up in a church culture, says Jeremy Johnston, executive pastor at First Family Church in Overland Park, Kan.

His megachurch would routinely take 600 teens to summer church camp, he says, "and many would be forever changed by that experience. But this summer we don't even have a camp.

"Remember, 80% of kids don't have cars. Their parents could be lazy or the opposite — overstressed and overcommitted. If parents don't go to church, kids don't, either."

Don't forget the overcommitted teens themselves, the recession and growing competition from summer mission trips, says Rick Gage of Go-Tell Youth Camps, based in Duluth, Ga.

Registration fell 22% in 2009 but stabilized this summer with 2,000 middle- and high-school teens at five camps in four states. Attendance peaked in the late 1990s at 5,000 teens, Gage says.

Chris Palmer, youth pastor at Ironbridge Baptist Church in Chester, Va., says its youth group enrollment slid from 125 teens in 2008 to 35 last winter.

He pulled participation back up to 70 this year by letting teens know "real church, centered on Jesus Christ, is hard work," Palmer says. "This involves the Marine Corps of Christianity. Once we communicate that, we see kids say, 'Hey, I want to be involved in something that's a little radical and exciting.' "

Rainer agrees. He says teens today want Scripture, they "don't want superficiality. We need to tell them that if you are part of church life, you are part of something bigger. The church needs you, too."

But first, they have to find the kids.

Sam Atkeson of Falls Church, Va., left his Episcopal church youth group not long after leaving middle school.

"I started to question if it was something I always wanted to do or if I just went because my friends did," says Atkeson, now 18. "It just wasn't really something I wanted to continue to do. My beliefs changed. I wouldn't consider myself a Christian anymore."

Elephants--Trunks of Discernment?

2010-08-08T05:22:00.004-05:00

Video of Jessica Bentley (Todd Bentley's wife and former mistress) discussing a dream in which Oral Roberts appears along with wild elephants (chorus please). Key to the dream is discernment--huh? And with enough head shaking to give elephants a run to the hills. Where was the wild dodo bird? Perhaps it could symbolize abundance and prosperity will try to take flight into your life soon. Watch the video if you can stomach it.

More Greed & Error On The Horizon

2010-08-05T07:30:00.002-05:00

*Watch out for the launch of the Horizons Television Network, and keep your money in your pockets!

Cash for Eastside church spent on luxuries
The son of one-time prominent pastor faces charges of wire fraud
By Jon Murray

Five years after Wayne Taft Harris Jr. borrowed nearly $500,000 from a religious group to build a church, weeds and brush still cover the land on a secluded block on Indianapolis' Eastside.

Federal authorities say Harris, the son of a prominent late Indianapolis pastor, skipped out on the loan and moved to Texas after spending about $145,000 on a Mercedes-Benz, a mink coat and a Christian bookstore and its inventory.

A federal grand jury in Indianapolis indicted Harris, 36, this month on two counts of wire fraud. Convictions could bring a maximum 40-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine, prosecutors said.

Harris lives in the Houston area, where he has been working to start up an online Christian TV network, but he will have to return to Indianapolis to face the charges.

He missed his initial court date Tuesday after what court officials described as a miscommunication. The hearing was reset for next Tuesday.

Public defender Michael Donahoe said Harris will enter a plea of not guilty at next week's hearing.

Attempts to reach Harris on Tuesday were not successful.

Harris' father, the Rev. Wayne T. Harris Sr., was the well-known and sometimes controversial pastor of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He died of heart disease in 2000 at age 46.

The younger Harris received the $482,000 loan in 2005 from Third World Missions of Merritt Island, Fla., according to the indictment.

The group handles financial matters for associated Christian organizations that run Bible schools and mission trips outside the country and provide assistance for AIDS orphans in Africa. One revenue-generating program makes loans for church facility construction and then plows the interest into its other missions.

Without a dime repaid, Third World's founder says, Harris has directly affected the cash-tight missions' ability to help people.

"He just took off and just kind of disappeared," Bob Bland said. Bland's efforts to visit Indianapolis and track Harris down were unfruitful. "We should not have given him the money."

The grand jury indicted Harris on July 7, and he posted a $25,000 bond July 16 after surrendering in Houston, records show.

A close friend of Harris' father expressed dismay at the news.

"When I saw that, it kind of hit me like a bolt of lightning," said Elder Lionel T. Rush of Greater Anointing Fellowship Church of God in Christ. "I was devastated. . . . I still have an affinity for the father. You always want your friends' children to do well."

Rush said he had not kept in touch with the younger Harris. He recalled that Harris served as interim leader at his father's church after the elder's death.

A few years later, in 2003, Harris and his wife, Verlisia, filed incorporation papers for Kingdom Builders Faith Church.

Verlisia Harris, who also could not be reached for comment, is not accused of wrongdoing in the indictment.

The indictment says that just two days after the loan money came through in August 2005, Wayne Harris used $39,000 to purchase the Mercedes in the name of Ever Increasing Kingdom Christian Center, listing himself as the CEO.

In September 2005, Harris dissolved Kingdom Builders and registered Ever Increasing Kingdom Christian Center as a nonprofit religious corporation, the indictment says.

That name has been displayed for years on a sign posted at the proposed church site at 29th Street and Euclid Avenue.

Federal court records show that in October 2005, Harris and his wife filed for personal bankruptcy.

In the following weeks, the indictment says, Harris spent $105,000 of the loan money to buy a Christian bookstore in Carmel under another name, KingdomComm Ministry Resources. The store has since closed.

He also is accused of using $500 of the loan money toward a man's mink coat with Versace buttons costing $2,000.

The indictment does not say what happened to the rest of the loan money, estimated at $337,000, but Bland was growing suspicious.

Harris sent a fax meant to falsely reassure the mission group in early 2006, the indictment says. The fax blamed an unnamed staff member for misspending the money and said church members had raised more than $70,000 toward payments.

Since then, Harris has moved to Texas. Known in Houston as W. Taft Harris, he has been working to launch Horizons Television Network, which its website says will broadcast inclusive Christian programming online.

It's unclear whether his wife joined him in Houston. The Rev. Mark Downs said Tuesday that Harris took a leadership position last year in a fledgling Pentecostal Christian church group geared toward gays and lesbians; Harris has lived with a male partner, he said.

Downs, a pastor at Heights Presbyterian Church in Houston, said his church allowed Harris' church group and media startup to use its facility until a dispute arose over rent and other issues.

Downs said he had the facility's locks changed after Harris refused to move his operations out of the building.

"He had a lot of good skills," Downs said, calling Harris media-savvy and a powerful speaker. "The problem is that he used them to take advantage of people."

Pastor Targeted In Dagestan

2010-08-02T05:04:00.001-05:00

Slain Pastor Brings New Ministry Questions In Dagestan
Mission Network News

Dagestan (MNN) ― Thursday's public murder of a pastor in Dagestan has distressing overtones.

North Caucasus Network confirmed that gunmen opened fire on the 49-year-old senior pastor of an evangelical church in central Dagestan, Russia, around 6:30 pm local time on July 15. He died a short time later from his wounds.

This is the latest in a series of incidents causing growing concern over the government's increasing scrutiny on believers and church activity.

Reports on the deteriorating situation are scarce. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs explains that Dagestan appears to have "slipped under the radar." "Because it's a Federal Republic of Russia, we group it in with Russia, and we don't think of Russia as being 'restricted,' so we kind of overlook the level of persecution that happens in some parts of Russia."

The immediate impact of the pastor's death may be severe. Nettleton says, "You can imagine the 'chilling effect' of having your pastor shot in the head outside of the church building. This is also a church group that has had a very effective ministry with drug addicts, the social work, the work in the prisons."

Dagestan, 98% Muslim, is situated on the Caspian Sea in the North Caucasus region. The country remains one of the economically poorest republics of Russia.

NCN reports that Dagestan continues to suffer under the competing factions of a complex global jihadi movement. Collaborative efforts of the global Church have a long-standing history of blessing families in Dagestan.

It's not surprising that the church faced threats and increasing pressure. The pastor was a convert from Islam. In such a high Muslim population, he would have been considered an apostate.

Nettleton says in many strict Muslim cultures, an apostate can be punished by death. However, the pastor's example was clear. Despite threats, he lived and died as a Christ follower.

"Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them courage and boldness even in the midst of this loss--that they will boldly go forth and represent Christ in their communities."

Part Two: Kudalini Infiltration

2010-07-29T13:53:00.002-05:00

This is part II of a very good video series from Andrew Strom's ministry discussing the infiltration of Kudalini spirits within the Church. Strom notes towards the end of the video that the top leadership lacks true discernment. I say it lacks true apostles and prophets as well.

Structural Decay In Churches

2010-07-24T09:16:00.000-05:00

Congregations Struggle In Aging, Decaying Churches
By Tom Breen, AP

RALEIGH, N.C. – About halfway through Sunday service at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, as worshipers passed around the collection plate, a chorus of screams pierced the air.

Chunks of the ceiling in the 52-year-old church near Hickory came crashing down on the crowd of 200 or so, striking about 14, who were later treated and released from nearby hospitals. A jagged piece of the ceiling, roughly 10 feet by 10 feet, dangled from exposed wires over the back pews as deacons struggled to guide panicking worshipers from the building.

"My jaw just dropped," the Rev. Antonio Logan said. "I thought, 'This can't be real.'"

Caring for old church facilities is an increasingly acute problem, particularly for mainline Protestant denominations. As membership declines and budgets shrink, the beautiful edifices of American Christianity can feel like weights dragging down churches that are forced to spend money on maintenance and repairs instead of ministry, charity and other Gospel-derived imperatives.

"It's hard times in paradise," said the Rev. William Quick, pastor emeritus at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Detroit.

Metropolitan's Gothic church was completed in 1926 at a cost of $1.6 million, at the time the most expensive Methodist house of worship ever built. By 1949, it had 10,300 members, more than any Methodist congregation in the world.

Today, membership is at 375, in a city where Methodist churches have fallen from 77 to 16. Its decline in fortune is mirrored among Protestant denominations like the Lutherans, Presbyterians and Episcopalians, which have seen membership drop in recent decades while the average age of remaining worshippers gets older.

A church can be an anchor for a whole neighborhood, and its loss can hurt beyond the borders of a single congregation, as a coalition of residents and preservationists in Charlotte discovered when they tried to save the old Garr Memorial Church from the wrecking ball.

The building had stood for nearly 70 years, with its iconic rooftop "Jesus Saves" sign a beacon that locals used as a landmark when giving directions.

On a Wednesday in July, the old building came down after its new owners, the New Bethel Church of God in Christ, couldn't justify refurbishing the building.

"It's regretful, but the economics, just the roof repair cost was just excessive," said Bobby Drakeford, a real estate developer and consultant for New Bethel.

New Bethel plans to develop the property, but for churches that try to stay in their old buildings, even necessary upkeep can become a burden.

The Rev. Phyllis Norman is the pastor of Prospect Congregational Church in Prospect, Conn., which is planning to add an elevator to its 59-year-old building. Churches are exempt from federal regulations requiring buildings to be accessible to people with disabilities, but many congregations with aging members are installing wheelchair ramps, elevators and other features.

Before that effort had really taken off, though, the Connecticut church's decades-old septic system failed, dumping a $30,000 repair bill in the congregation's lap.

"The timing was just pathetic," she said.

Making things harder is that many pastors are loathe to set aside money for maintenance that could be used on missionary work or charitable services like soup kitchens, said the Rev. Ken Carder, a retired Methodist bishop and professor at the Duke Divinity School.

"I was the same way about endowments when I started out. You know, 'Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon the earth, where moth and rust corrupt,'" he said, quoting the Gospel of Matthew.

But setting aside money for maintenance costs will enable future generations to pursue those ministries by freeing them from the burden of emergency repairs, Carder said.

A reluctance to spend money on upkeep has caught the attention of churches' insurers, who are making more maintenance recommendations since the start of the Great Recession, according to Rick Schaber, risk control manager for Church Mutual Insurance, a Wisconsin-based company that insures more than 100,000 religious institutions in the U.S.

"We're finding some things are starting to get a little bit worse," he said. "If our customers are forced to make cuts, we're finding that maintenance budgets are commonly the first place they look."

Norman's congregation, like many, does not want to reduce its commitment to efforts like the local food pantry and soup kitchen, it's getting creative: The church is seeking a tax status that would let them apply for grants to fund the elevator and is considering a loan from a United Church of Christ fund specifically designed for building needs.

The UCC's Cornerstone Fund typically has 200 or so low-interest loans outstanding at any given time, ranging anywhere from $15,000 to $3 million, according to Mary Seymour, vice president of the fund. Seymour has seen the number of loans rise as churches fund more emergency repairs.

"Many of our churches are 150 years old or older, and many others were built in the 1950s, when no one gave a thought to handicap accessibility," she said.

Most mainline denominations have similar funds, partly because local congregations can't pay for work they might have been able to afford in the past.

"A lot of these churches have shrunk from 500 members to 100 members, or from 800 members to 200 members," said Robert Jaeger, executive director of the Partnership for Sacred Places. "They look at the trend lines and they see the decline in membership and wonder, 'Gosh, in 10 or 15 years are we going to be gone?'"

Jaeger's group strives to prevent that, primarily through an intensive, yearlong training with smaller churches designed to show them how they can find new ways to pay for repairs and maintenance.

The partnership's main theme comes from research it conducted showing that roughly 80 percent of the people who use church facilities for things like after-school programs or Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are not members of the individual congregations.

"Our larger task is really to convince America's leaders that these sacred places are public assets, not just Presbyterian places of worship, or Methodist, or Jewish, or Catholic, but something for the entire community," he said.

The partnership has trained about 600 congregations, and does about eight or 10 training sessions a year, Jaeger said, working with several congregations at a time.

Larry Latter, 67, lived across the street from Garr Memorial for 17 years and did some remodeling work inside. As he watched the building pulled down recently, his reflections highlighted something Jaeger says churches need to remember: Vitality comes not from bricks and mortar, but from what happens inside.

"When I moved in, it was reassuring that Jesus is always with us, when I'd look out every morning and see the sign," Latter said. "But Jesus doesn't save through the building, he saves through our lives."

Alert--Global Spheres, Inc!

2010-07-20T09:42:00.002-05:00

Heads up! C. Peter Wagner and Chuck Peirce are reorganizing Global Harvest Ministries into a "different" (by that, I mean a new name) organization called, "Global Spheres, Inc. (GSI). In a letter dated July 19, 2010, Wagner urges followers to donate money to reconcile debt Global Harvest Ministries is in--around $200,000.

The usual apostolic prophetic mumbo jumbo accentuates this correspondence, "historic shift", "a changing wineskin", etc. Folks, I will continue to say this movement is in big time error. It is an idolatrous movement, filled with erroneous revelations nabbing loot here and there, and people glorifying themselves to the max! If anyone has followed this blog at length, knows by now I am a believer in miracles, tongues, divine healing, spiritual gifts and callings---by a Sovereign God who does not crank out by seed money or require help from self-ordained prophets and apostles. Extra-biblical revelations straight from the depths of Hell too often characterize the partakers of this movement. Beware!

An excerpt from the letter directly below:

"A CHANGING WINESKIN!"

"Celebrate with us. This week I have been working in Colorado Springs with Peter and Doris Wagner. We are fully making our transition from Global Harvest Ministries, ending this wineskin that has served the Body faithfully over the past 20 years, and shifting into Global Spheres for the future harvest of the earth. Please pray with us as we make this shift.

"This is a historical shift . . . few ministries make this transition. This will be a great testimony for the future as the mantle is passed and Peter and Doris begin their "Fourth Career" in a new wineskin based out of Denton. They will remain in their home in Colorado, but will work from this office at this time as they develop new networks, travel to nations, and communicate daily. I just bought a new computer so we can do teleconferencing weekly. Ruth Irons, their daughter who lives with them and assists them in their home, will serve us as our technical liaison."

One of our burning desires is to finish well. Statistics show that only 25% of Christian leaders have finished well, but we want to be in that number. When I say "finishing," I am not meaning that Doris and I are about to retire. Instead of retiring, we intend to reload! What we are finishing, however, is our Third Career and we are ready to launch energetically into our new and exciting Fourth Career. In fact, I have just written a short booklet entitled "The Fourth Career," which is going to be released soon. If you would like me to send you a copy, just drop me an email with a mailing address and I will send it to you at no charge.

Now here is the substance of my "urgent appeal," as I phrased it in the title of this communication. If you have followed this aspect of our ministry, you will know that Global Harvest has maintained an impeccable financial record. We have maintained open books and we have always done whatever has been necessary to pay our bills and to adjust our budget accordingly. Your prayers and faithful giving through the years have kept us moving and we thank you profusely.

However, as this transition to GSI approaches in just a few weeks, we have some obligations that might have been met over the long haul, but that are now pinching us severely due to time. We want to have our books cleared and in the black before we turn things over on August 31. To be specific, we need around $200,000 over and above normal income to make this happen, and we need you to help. It has been said that no one wants to give to help pay debts, and I agree that this is generally true. But really I believe that we are now looking at a special case. If you have been walking with us through the prayer movement and through the apostolic movement, if you have been with us and GHM for any part of the last 20 years, and if you believe we should have a clear springboard for our Fourth Career, please step up to the plate now and assist us by sowing the most generous amount possible into the abundant fruit that will be produced for years to come.

If you do this, we will be deeply grateful, and we will remember you for helping us to finish our Third Career well!

We love you,
Peter (and Doris) Wagner

Update: Carol Daniels Church Demolished

2010-07-16T06:33:00.003-05:00

*For those out there who have not heard of this gruesome murder, I have provided a link at the end of this article. Carol Daniels, a pastor, was viciously attacked within her church, with a mock crucifixion method. Stabbed repeatedly. Her murder remains unsolved.

------------------------------------------

ANADARKO, Okla. – Authorities have demolished the Oklahoma church where a pastor was killed last August, and they plan to build a memorial at the site.

The body of 61-year-old Carol Daniels of Oklahoma City was found Aug. 23 inside Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Anadarko. Her neck and throat had been slashed and she had been stabbed in the chest, back, stomach and hands.

No one has been arrested in her death.

The church has been closed since Daniels' killing.

The building's overseer, Ezra Randle, says investigators have turned it back over to church leaders, who decided to have it demolished so that a memorial to Daniels could be built in its place.

Randle says they are accepting donations to help pay for the memorial.

See previous article here.

The Parade

2010-07-12T06:08:00.002-05:00

*Received via email from the ministry of Andrew Strom
http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com

--------------------------

"The PARADE"
-Gary Bixler

We have been taught no gospel at all. Those of us who sit in the pews of our comfortable churches and live a life full of the fruits of self-indulgence and selfish goals and dreams. Those of us who name the Name of Christ as if we are His people, yet who bear none of the fruit of His Spirit, show none of His power, exhibit little of His love and holiness. We proclaim Christ and yet don't live Christ. We seek for Him and yet don't find Him. He is a foreigner to us, and a great mystery that we worship from afar, because we have been taught and followed no gospel at all.

This gospel that is no gospel requires nothing. It is an easy gospel, full of the desire for a good life, full of desire for happiness and security, and prosperity. It is a gospel that says we are fine. That gives us license to enjoy our affluence...

This gospel that is no gospel has led us down the wide way that leads to destruction. The vast crowd moves smoothly down the easy, wide boulevard, lined with trees, bright with sun, bands playing, kids holding balloons, clowns cavorting, drummers drumming and baton twirlers performing. This giant parade is self-propelled, well-orchestrated, and led by a charming group of men and women decked out in the finest uniforms.

Behind the scenes there are skilled technicians, making sure every good view reaches the cameras, and every performer in this spectacular event is doing his job, so that the onlookers at home and in person can be entertained. There are security forces in plain-clothes, ready to quietly deal with any strange behavior or
disruption, for the parade must go on, and uninterrupted by anything out of place or unseemly.

This gospel that is no gospel is a spectator sport. It is a parade that is carefully prepared each week, by the best paid minds in the churches. Those with the talent to put it all together, and create the best show possible. They were hired by the attendees, the crowds, to please them and to earn their salaries by making
sure that nothing goes wrong or is out of place. To create flow, and crowd dynamics, and to build everything around a theme that makes a great point. To achieve a synergy with music and word that works up to a climax that will bring the audience to its feet with new vitality and encouragement for the week ahead, so they can hold onto their gospel until the next parade.

There are smaller parades on television so that the faithful can get their needed vitality and strength to go on even during the week. These shows are designed to fill in the gaps between the parade dates in their own hometowns. They are brightly lit sets with smiling people, and scripts that are full of this gospel that is no gospel. The viewers can watch people worshiping, and hear the parade music, performed by some of the very people who sing and dance in the real parades. Once in a while somebody tries to air a show that has another gospel, with some ugly and distasteful things in it, and preaches a lesser faith without as much positive in it, but these shows are quickly extinguished because they don't attract the viewers like the others. The ratings take care of that problem for the producers.

Unfortunately, to their great future embarrassment, Jesus Christ, Lord of His Church, doesn't have time for parades. He also doesn't watch television. He's too busy for that.

For Jesus is on Narrow Road, not Broadway. He is out along the minor highways and small streets, busy healing the brokenhearted, the sick, the blind and the lame. He is busy taking care of the lonely and the afflicted. He is busy spending time with His small groups of disciples, who are in genuine need of Him. He is with those who suffer, and are in prison, and are in pain, and on their knees in their anguish and need for Him. He is with those who follow Him every moment, and rely on His love and strength and the power of His Spirit to get them through the day. He is close to those crushed in spirit, and who have no showmanship or loveliness of their own to parade around.

Christ is with those who need Him, not those who don't.

For the faithful are mostly poor, and insignificant in the eyes of the world. The parade goes by many blocks away in their cities. They can hear the distant drums, and once in a while one of them ventures toward the parade, but security blocks them before they can ever get a glimpse, because they are not dressed right, and are obviously not part of the target market. They might turn on the television, and see one of the smaller parade shows, but it only makes them feel worse, as they aren't participating in that wonderful life, so they turn it off.

The poor in spirit have only Jesus to be with them in this age of the parade. They hunger and thirst after righteousness, not after entertainment. They long for Christ, and to know the fellowship of His suffering, so they can know the joy and power of His resurrection in their lives. They carry a cross daily, which is the
sign of Jesus' life in them, but which makes them quite unacceptable and unattractive to the parade participants and crowds watching. That's why crosses were banned long ago from parades, though they are allowed as discreet display on buildings along the way.

Jesus talks to many who are in the crowd, and some of the performers in the parade, but it is so hard for them to hear above the din of the bands and the constant entertainment. Distractions keep them occupied, and they go back to their easy, comforting verses and their easy, comfortable gospel that is no gospel. Jesus gives up and goes back to His lowly people on Narrow Road.

The parade continues. Perhaps only when poverty, or sickness, or the terrors of war, or the tragedies of life strike, will the parade pause; and perhaps, if enough of these things occupy the crowds and the performers and the leaders of this parade, they will be spending too much time on their knees and crying out to God to
have the parade one week. And then, perhaps they will not have it the next week. And then, Jesus may come by again, and draw near to them in their affliction and loneliness, and they will listen, and hear His voice of love and mercy and He will take them out to Narrow Road to join with others who are on the Way of Love. And they will be joyful in tribulation, and find power to live through suffering. And they will experience the Resurrection Power in their own lives, together with the faithful, and give up their parade life.

Perhaps it is a choice to leave the parade, and to go it with Jesus. Few will find it, He said. Will you?

Video On Kudalini Infiltration

2010-07-08T13:34:00.002-05:00

I strongly advise watching this video presentation from John The Baptist Tv-- a ministry of Andrew Strom. It is nicely outlined, and demonstrates how Kudalini spirits are infiltrating the Church. These types of manifestations are increasingly riddling the charismatic churches, and regrettably such displays are often unquestioned, and sought after.

Christian Groups Targeted In Indonesia

2010-07-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

Indonesian Islamists open front against Christians
By NINIEK KARMINI (AP

BEKASI, Indonesia — Days after rumors spread across this industrial city that Christians were conducting a mass baptism, hard-line Islamic leaders called for local mosques to create a youth guard to act as moral police and put a quick stop to forced conversions.

They started training early Saturday morning, around 100 young men turning out in a field in Bekasi wearing martial arts uniforms. Leaders stressed that there was no plan to arm them, but they do not shy away from saying they'll act essentially as thugs.

"We're doing this because we want to strike fear in the hearts of Christians who behave in such a way," said Murhali Barda, who heads the local chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front, which pushes for the implementation of Islamic-based laws in Bekasi and other parts of the archipelagic nation. "If they refuse to stop what they're doing, we're ready to fight."

Although this secular country, with more Muslims than any other in the world, has a long history of religious tolerance, a small extremist fringe — of which the front is the vanguard — has become more vocal in recent years as it tries to root out everything it considers blasphemous.

Though big, vice-filled cities, like Jakarta, traditionally have been easy targets, changing demographics have put areas like Bekasi, on the outskirts of the capital, in the hard-liners' cross hairs. The shift reflects a greater problem in Indonesia, which is struggling to stamp out extremist movements without losing the support of moderates, who condemn violence but are sensitive to perceptions that the government is subservient to the West.

Outsiders have steadily poured into the Jakarta suburb in search of work, bringing with them their own religions, traditions and values. That has made conservative Islamic clerics nervous. Some have used sermons to warn their flock to be on the lookout for signs of proselytization.

The front, known for smashing bars, attacking transvestites and going after minority sects with bamboo clubs and stones, is now leading a charge against Christians in the area.

A spate of attacks has rocked Bekasi: Mobs have forced shut two churches this year. Last month, a statue of three women was torn down by authorities after hundreds of hard-liners wearing skull caps and white robes took to the streets, claiming the monument symbolized the Holy Trinity.

Weeks earlier, black-clad youths attacked a Catholic-run school over an anonymous blogger's "blasphemous" website.

In this context, it wasn't surprising that when 14 busloads of villagers arrived last week at the Bekasi home of Henry Sutanto, who heads the Christian-run Mahanaim Foundation, rumors quickly spread that he and one of his colleagues, Andreas Sanau, were planning a mass baptism.

A spokeswoman for the group, Marya Irawan, insisted the crowds were invited as part of efforts to reach out to the poor.

But the front was not convinced. Video footage provided by the group shows hundreds of people getting off buses and entering the residential complex, many of them women in headscarves holding babies in slings, and milling about the pool. When a questioner thrust the camera in their faces, demanding to know why they came, most just looked bewildered.

"Someone asked if I wanted to come," one woman said with a shrug. Others accepted a ride into the city because they were bored, and thought they would at least get a free lunch out of it.

When the questioner found Sanau, who had one ear to a phone, he asked if baptisms would be taking place. The 29-year-old Christian's brow furrowed. He shook his head, "No, no." Asked if he had an ID card, Sanau flashed it at the interviewer, who zoomed in on his home address. The house has since been abandoned. His bespectacled face now appears on a banner — draped in front of a mosque — with a fiery noose around his neck and the words, "This man deserves the death penalty!"

"He should be executed!" said Barda, the local front leader. "He tried to carry out mass baptisms!"

It was just days later that Barda's group joined nine others in taking the rare step of recommending at a local congress that Bekasi mosques help set up bands of youths to act as moral police and to intimidate Christians who are trying to convert Muslims.

A regional leader of the Indonesian Muslim Forum, Bernard Abdul Jabbar, said the young men were given physical training and taught about Islam. "They will guard the Islamic faith and preach the right path to the people," he said.

But if Christians don't want to listen, Barda warned, "we are ready to fight."

Christian groups said the youths will only create fear, nervousness and unrest in the nation.

"The government must protect all citizens from anarchist action as mandated by the constitution," said Priest Andreas Yewangoe, a chairman of the Communion of Indonesian Churches.

But the government so far is keeping mum. Though all these events occurred less than nine miles (15 kilometers) from Indonesia's bustling capital, making headlines in local papers and dominating chats on social networking sites such as Facebook, they've sparked little public debate in the halls of power....

Continue to read more here.

Ruling Against A Christian Student Group

2010-07-01T04:59:00.004-05:00

Supreme Court rules against Christian group that bars gays
By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A university can legally deny recognition to a Christian student group that bars gays and nonbelievers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a case that pitted anti-discrimination principles against religious freedom.

Such official recognition qualifies campus groups for funding and other benefits.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices upheld a U.S. appeals court ruling in favor of the University of California 's Hastings College of the Law . It denied recognition to the group because of a school policy that membership should be open to all.

The high court's ruling was a defeat for the Christian Legal Society . It argued the U.S. Constitution does not allow a school to deny recognition to a religious student group which insists its members agree with its core views.

The group requires members to sign a statement of faith that vows devotion to Jesus Christ . It bars those with what it defines as a "sexually immoral lifestyle," including gays and lesbians.

Founded in 1961, the Christian Legal Society has law student chapters across the country. Its members hold Bible study meetings and discuss ways to apply their religious faith to the practice of law .

The Hastings College of the Law chapter initially was open to all students, but in 2004 began requiring members to endorse a statement of faith and barred anyone who engaged in "unrepentant sexual conduct."

The state-run law school in San Francisco cited its anti-discrimination policy and withdrew official recognition, though it allowed the group to continue to meet on campus.

The school said official campus groups may not exclude people because of religious belief , sexual orientation or other reasons.

A federal judge and then a U.S. appeals court ruled for the law school, holding that its policy was reasonable and that it did not violate the rights of the Christian group.

The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , agreed.

Summarizing the ruling from the bench on the last day of the court's term, Ginsburg upheld the university' open-access policy and said other law schools have similar policies.

She said the university need not provide a religious-based exception to its policy that groups must open membership to all students who want to join.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia , Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The Supreme Court case is Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, 08-1371.

Domains May Have New Extension For Smut

2010-06-27T12:47:00.003-05:00

Now, I do not understand why some religious groups feel the proposal to siphon smut to domain extensions of .xxx is problematic! Note the quote below which I made bold in the article, "That did not satisfy religious groups that opposed the dot-xxx domains, fearing they would make pornography even more prevalent online." De-duh? Where have you been folks? Do you think someone puts in "Georgia peaches" and behold, a topless site comes up, or do you think their little (sometimes Christian fingers) type something more prevelant to their sinful intentions? (...well, come to think of it, various "chicken parts" present troubling sites at times...that's besides the point...) I say let these smut artists go to the xxx extension. When you see your computer's cookies loaded with xxx extensions; you know someone is missing it in your household! And don't let it be you. I hope it will spoil some people's plans out there. The article below:

For X-Rated, a Domain of Their Own

SAN FRANCISCO — What if the Web held a sex party and no one showed up?

That’s what could happen now that the agency governing the Internet address system all but approved the creation of a new red-light district on the Web. The problem is that some of the biggest names in online pornography prefer not to be in that neighborhood.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Friday agreed to move forward on a long-standing proposal from a Florida company to create a specialized dot-xxx suffix for adult entertainment Web sites. But the plan upset much of the adult entertainment industry. It joined hands with religious groups in lobbying against it, arguing that the new domains would lead to regulation and marginalization.

The alliance “made for strange bedfellows, for sure,” said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association representing more than 1,000 adult entertainment businesses. The company sponsoring the dot-xxx domain, the ICM Registry, said it had a vision of a red-light district in cyberspace that was a clean, well-lighted place, free of spam, viruses and credit card thieves. Content would be clearly labeled as adult and the whole neighborhood would be easy to block. Anyone offended by pornography could simply stay out.

“It is good for everybody,” said Stuart Lawley, the chairman and chief executive of ICM. “It is a win for the consumer of adult content. They will know that the dot-xxx sites will operate by certain standards.”

That did not satisfy religious groups that opposed the dot-xxx domains, fearing they would make pornography even more prevalent online. And Ms. Duke said that “there is no support from our community” for the plan.

Her organization’s members, which include big industry names like Hustler and Adam & Eve, were concerned that the board overseeing the dot-xxx domain could engage in censorship and that the entire industry could come under increased regulation. “If the board doesn’t like what a producer creates, there is the possibility that they could censor it,” Ms. Duke said. “This will ghettoize our industry and make us a target of regulation.”

Ms. Duke said most of her members planned to continue operating out of their dot-com domains.

But Mr. Lawley is not worried. Online sex is big business, and he expects his company will benefit. Each domain registration will cost $60 a year, with $10 going to a nonprofit organization promoting “responsible business practices” for the industry.

Mr. Lawley said more than 100,000 domains had preregistered. He said he expected that when the dot-xxx domains opened for business, nine to 12 months from now, some 500,000 domains would register, or roughly 10 percent of the five million to six million adult online sites.

But Ms. Duke said many of those were likely to be “defensive” registrations, from businesses that wanted to prevent their names from being hijacked. Mr. Lawley said businesses could ensure that their names were not misused in the dot-xxx world by paying a one-time fee, to be set from $50 to $250.

In giving ICM’s proposal the green light in a meeting in Brussels, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which governs Internet addresses, reversed a 2007 vote to reject the dot-xxx domains, saying the decision was purely based on technical grounds. Peter Dengate Thrush, the agency’s chairman, said it had no interest or stake in the content of Web sites.

“The applicants believe that this will allow people to filter pornography more effectively,” he said. “If they do that and it works, that’s great for them. But that’s not part of our issue.”

The agency now has to negotiate a final contract with ICM. Ms. Duke’s organization plans to continue its fight against the dot-xxx domains.

Asians Feel Neglected In Some Churches

2010-06-25T06:01:00.001-05:00

Asian Christians 'feel neglected by Church'
By Dil Neiyyar, BBC Asian Network

Mainstream churches in England are failing Asian Christian worshippers, according to the South Asian Forum.

The organisation was formed in March 2010 in order to better represent the views and needs of Asian Christians and to campaign on their behalf.

It claims many of Britain's estimated 75,000 Asian Christians do not feel welcome in the big churches.

Jagdish Singh from Wolverhampton is one of those who unsuccessfully tried to join his local church.

"They were all staring at me," he told BBC Asian Network. "They seemed to be wondering: 'Where has this coloured man come from?'

"Afterwards, nobody spoke to me except for the vicar. He was standing at the door, shook my hand and asked me who I was but nobody in the congregation spoke to me.

"I went there for a few weeks but felt that I didn't belong there.

"I can speak English perfectly and I went to an English school but, although I had become a Christian, I didn't feel a part of them. To me they didn't look as if they wanted me there."

'Divided faith'

The South Asian Forum says Asian Christians are setting up more of their own churches in response to this feeling of rejection - a trend mirroring the growth and breakaway of the Afro-Caribbean community.

Ram Gidoomal, chairman of the South Asian Forum, said: "Asian Christians want to join mainstream churches but if they are not welcome they will then form their own fellowship.

"[It will be like] a phenomenon which happened with the Afro-Caribbean community when they came to the country in the 1940s and 1950s with Windrush.

"They found they weren't welcome and they then set up their own thriving churches.

"It is sad and it is a pity that those who are meant to be united by one faith appear then to be divided, that really is a tragedy."

The Asian Calvary Church in Wolverhampton is typical of the sort of Asian churches that have sprung up in response to the difficulties with mainstream churches.

Its meetings were held in cramped living rooms when it started up and now more than 50 people regularly attend a fortnightly service at a redbrick community church, which worshippers hire.

Most of the Asian Calvary Church's service is in Punjabi, along with many of the hymns sung to music played on traditional Indian instruments like the dhol and harmonium.

National conference

Harjeet Singh, a taxi driver from Wolverhampton, is one of the worshippers.

"To the mainstream churches, I would say they should support us so that Asian Christians will have more freedom to worship," he said.

Robin Thomson, of Asian worshipper support group South Asian Concern, said: "There are no official figures for the number of Asian Christian churches in Britain.

"But what we do know is that there are definitely 90 Tamil churches or groups here, so I would say there are at least 200 Asian Christian churches."

Ahead of a national conference of Asian Christians from across Britain in Derbyshire this weekend, the Church of England acknowledges the problem and says it must improve relations with them.

Simon Pothen, Canon Precentor at Chelmsford Cathedral, said: "I think that [being made to feel] welcome is a problem for the Church generally.

"I think probably being Asian and coming to an all-white church heightens the problems of being welcomed."

Victory To Distribute The Message

2010-06-20T06:35:00.001-05:00

Christian pastor allowed to distribute literature at Arab festival in Dearborn
By Niraj Warikoo

A Christian pastor is free to distribute literature on the streets at the Arab-American festival this weekend in Dearborn, a federal court has ruled.

A three-judge panel on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion that allows Pastor George Saieg, a Christian minister from California, to hand out literature aimed at converting Muslims on the perimeter of the three-day festival that starts tonight.

The court’s ruling on Thursday overturns, for now, a June 7th decision by U.S. District Court Judge Paul Borman that supported the city of Dearborn’s policy, which maintained that Saieg and anyone else must only hand out literature around their booths because of crowd control concerns. The festival is one of the largest Arab-American gatherings in the U.S. and organizers have safety concerns. And so such rules are needed and apply to every one, organizers said. There are other Christian groups that hand out literature from booths at the festival, as do other religious and ethnic groups, they note.

But Saieg wanted to hand out literature in other parts of the festival as well.

The court’s decision is the latest in ongoing tensions between some Christian missionary groups and some Arab Americans. One Christian group said they were bothered last year at the festival by security. And some Arab-Americans say they are harassed by some of the missionary groups.

“This is a victory for the First Amendment and the free speech rights of Christians,” said Robert Muise, an attorney for the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, which filed suit on behalf of the Christian pastor.

The center announced today the court’s ruling in a press release.

Article: Wells Without Water

2010-06-16T15:14:00.002-05:00

Received via newsletter from Andrew Strom/revivalschool.com

WELLS Without WATER
-by Darren Smith.

Western Christianity has become a well with no water! What could be worse to someone dying of thirst, than to finally come upon a well and then discover that it has no water. I think this is a good example of what modern religion does. It puts up a front that looks like it has the answer to life's problems and even offers that to the people. Yet in reality, what they get is a show designed to entertain and get their money. The shame is that the world is thirsty and we are supposed to have Living Water, but when they come to drink they find only an empty well leaving them worse off than before.

2 Peter 2:15-18 addresses this very issue. By abandoning the straight path, they have gone the way of Balaam. Is not the same true today? The way of Balaam is the wide path. Not speaking the Word of God but rather speaking words that profit themselves, not giving the Living Water, but giving out something that tastes good to the carnal Adam.

On a recent preaching trip every church I ministered at people came forward confessing sexual sin, and not just a few but many. Some were even in leadership positions and were counseling people with the very same issues. The thing that brought this out was the Word of God preached without fear and the fact that I am very transparent about the struggles in my own life. This happens every time that I minister, even though I don't go out with the intent - it is just God opening up the chance for Living Water to come and fill the people once they confess their sins and repent.

We have a myth that's been put before the church for so long that people are numb to the Spirit. We have been told that we can make revival happen and that's not true. Revival only comes when the people are broken and they get clean before God. This means exposing the hidden sin in their life and being willing to suffer the consequences of that sin. You can pray for revival for years, but unless the people are willing to get clean it will not come.

So why is this such a problem? For one thing, many of the people in leadership are bound up in this very sin. It's estimated that 70% of pastors struggle with Pornography and the sad thing is they feel like they can never confess, therefore, they never come clean and Living Water cannot flow from the well that they tend. This must be exposed so people can get free. This sin is so easy to conceal that before long the person that is bound up in it can justify their bad behavior. I know I have been bound by this sin and only found freedom with deep repentance and confession.

It is the same in marriage. Many have sin in their marriage and will not come clean so grace can heal. Instead they move into coexistence that brings no glory to God and eventually they end up in affairs and broken marriages are the result. The divorce rate is the same in the church as it is in the world for this very reason. Trust me, sexual sin is just as bad in the church as it is in the
world. Everywhere I go, this is a huge problem and I get many emails dealing with the same thing from all over the world.

We must address this now and very publicly so people can get free and we can see God move in His Body. 2 Peter 2:17 says these people are springs without water. It's time we become a well of Living Water for a thirsty world to drink from to become whole. To do this we need to go through a purification process by the Holy Spirit!!

Can you think of anything worse than dying of thirst and coming upon a well and finding out that even though it looks like a well and has the bucket to draw with, there is no water there to drink.

If you are clean, start praying that a wave of repentance comes upon the church. If you are not clean, repent and confess and get clean. We need the Living Water to flow through this world and it is not God who is holding it back, it is us.

Racist Arsonist Agrees To Plead Guilty

2010-06-13T03:45:00.000-05:00

Guilty Plea Expected in Mass. Black Church Arson
By MARK PRATT, Associated Press

BOSTON – One of the three white men who allegedly torched a predominantly black church in western Massachusetts because they were angry with President Barack Obama 's election has agreed to plead guilty, a person familiar with the investigation says.

Benjamin Haskell is scheduled to appear in federal court in Springfield on Wednesday for a change of plea hearing, according to federal court documents filed Friday.

Haskell , 23, of Springfield, had previously pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. A person informed of the plea change told The Associated Press that Haskell will plead guilty . The person asked not to be named ahead of the hearing.

Haskell's attorney and the U.S. Attorney's Office did not immediately return calls Friday.

Haskell was one of three men charged in connection with the fire that destroyed the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2008, just hours after the presidential election . The church was under construction at the time, but almost complete. It had about 300 members, 90 percent of whom were black, according to federal authorities.

Thomas Gleason Jr., 22, and Michael Jacques, 25, have pleaded not guilty to charges of violating civil rights , damaging religious property because of race, color or ethnic characteristics, and using fire to commit a felony.

According to an FBI affidavit, investigators were led to the suspects by an informant they allegedly told they set the fire. They were arrested in mid-January.

When the informant asked Haskell why they did it, Haskell said "because it was a black church," according to the affidavit. Haskell also allegedly said he thought Obama would be assassinated.

The defendants allegedly told investigators they walked through the woods behind the church, got in through a side window and doused the inside and outside with about five gallons of gasoline. The fire left little more than a metal frame and resulted in minor injuries to three firefighters.

Lawyers for Jacques and Gleason tried to get their confessions thrown out as evidence, claiming they were scared and made false statements because law enforcement officials yelled at them and threatened them over several hours.

A federal judge denied that motion late last month.

Haggard Starts A New Church

2010-06-09T05:33:00.001-05:00

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

*This new church's theology is bound to be linked in some way to the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) crowd. Ted Haggard has been a part of this movement for some time. Watch out folks and head into another direction...Last time I checked my bible, the mediator was Jesus Christ...not an super apostle. Article seen from Religion News Blog posted directly below concerning Haggard's latest church.

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Ted Haggard To Start New Church in Colo. Springs
By DAN ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard said Wednesday that he will launch a new church from his Colorado Springs home, 3 1/2 years after he resigned from his ministry amid an embarrassing and devastating sex scandal.

"This is my resurrection day," he declared.

Haggard said his new venture would not be a megachurch like New Life Church, the congregation he founded in 1985 and then left in 2006 after a male prostitute said Haggard paid him for sex.

Haggard said he doesn't know how many people will attend his new church, but he said the ordeal he and his wife, Gayle, went through has prepared them to help others.

"I have an incredible heart for broken people," he said. "I think we're qualified to hold people's hands" in times of trouble.

Haggard made his announcement outside his home, a two-story, brick-fronted structure with a large barn, a swimming pool and white-fenced corrals on Colorado Springs' north side, not far from New Life Church. Wearing an open-neck shirt and jeans, Haggard sounded both optimistic and chastened, calling himself a repentant sinner and a broken man who believes he can still help others.

"When the crash came in my personal life, it was so incredibly embarrassing and heartbreaking," he said. "It broke me. And I'm still broken, some."

Haggard said a television documentary on the birth of his new church was a possibility but nothing was certain.

At his new church, Haggard said he will teach that God intended marriage to be a monogamous union of a man and a woman. But he said heterosexual marriage was just one ideal in a long list of things God wants people to do, including pray, be healthy and stay monogamous.

He also said the biblical ideals are sometimes hard to live up to.

"Earth is not heaven. And here on Earth, sexuality is very complex and very confusing," he said.

"There is a complex process people have to go through between their personal beliefs and their own ideals that they themselves fail at, and I am a glaring example of that," he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press after his announcement, Haggard said he was in counseling from the time of his 2006 downfall until recently, dealing with both his sexual identity and the feelings of shame and embarrassment that followed the scandal.

Without offering any specifics on the allegations against him, Haggard said his counselors told him he is heterosexual but that his behavior was influenced by a childhood incident when he molested by an adult male.

Haggard said he takes responsibility for his actions as an adult and does not mean to use the molestation as an excuse. He also said he did not want to imply that homosexuality was caused by childhood trauma.

"I don't know what goes on with the homosexual and what makes a homosexual a homosexual. I don't know dynamics there and I don't judge it," he said.

He said counseling helped him reduce the emotional impact of the childhood encounter.

"I remember all of that. I just don't have compulsive thoughts or actions because of it," he said.

Haggard told the AP that after his downfall, he doesn't feel qualified or entitled to return to the ministry, but that he feels compelled to do so by love for others. He cited conversations he had this week with a woman fighting drugs and with an unmarried couple expecting their second child.

"I'm certainly not going to say no to people (who need help) because of my personal shame. I've got to overcome my personal shame and be willing to help somebody that knocks on our door," he said.

Haggard said the new church won't compete with others in Colorado Springs, noting that many people in the city of 375,000 don't attend any church.

Enmity With The World

2010-06-06T08:43:00.002-05:00

James 4:4
O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God.

----------------------

Enmity With The World
A.W. Tozer

Christian Aid Groups Face Trouble In Afghanistan

2010-06-02T03:51:00.002-05:00

2 Christian aid groups suspended in Afghanistan
By ROHAN SULLIVAN (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan authorities suspended two Christian foreign aid groups on suspicion of proselytizing in the strictly Islamic nation and said a follow-up investigation would include whether other groups were trying to convert Muslims.

U.S.-based Church World Service and Norwegian Church Aid will not be allowed to operate while the allegations, aired Sunday on Afghan television, are investigated, said Mohammad Hashim Mayar, the deputy director of the Afghan government office that oversees nongovernment organizations.

An investigation commission including officers from the National Security and Interior Ministries had been appointed, he said.

Both organizations denied the allegation, and Mayar said officials did not have any evidence of proselytizing beyond the television report.

"They are investigating whether the groups were proselytizing or not," Mayar said. "They will report back and also assess what is the impact of closing these NGOs. The investigation will include whether other groups or individuals are involved."

Norwegian Church Aid Secretary-General Atle Sommerfeldt said in a statement that his organization has a firm policy of not attempting "to convert people to another religion" in all countries where it operates.

Maurice Bloem, deputy director of programs for Church World Service, said in a statement his organization does not proselytize, in accordance with the code of conduct for NGOs.

Bloem said Church World Service has worked inside Afghanistan since 1979, always in partnership with local Afghan organizations, and has been serving half a million people of different faiths there. He said its mission is to assist the Afghan people.

Proselytizing is illegal in Afghanistan, as it is in many Muslim countries. It is a hot-button issue for many Afghans sensitive to the influence of the scores of foreign aid groups operating in the country to help it recover from decades of war.

The television report, which interviewed local police saying they had heard rumors of the charities' proselytizing, triggered a demonstration by several hundred students at Kabul University on Monday.

The group shouted death threats toward foreigners who seek to convert Muslims and demanded the government expel anyone who tried, said Mohammad Najib, a professor at the school who witnessed the protest.

The group blocked the road outside the university's main gate for more than an hour before the demonstrators moved off peacefully, Najib said. Police stood by but did not intervene.

Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of more than 30 Protestant and Orthodox denominations in the United States and works in more than 80 countries. It is headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana.

Norwegian Church Aid, which is tied to Norway's Lutheran state church and receives financial support from the Norwegian government, operates in about 125 countries, providing long-term development and emergency response aid, according to its website. It said it has been working in Afghanistan since 1979.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerslund said the ministry had scheduled a meeting Monday between Norway's ambassador to Afghanistan and Afghanistan's minister of economic affairs to determine the nature of the allegations.

Unplugged and Recruiting

2010-05-29T07:01:00.003-05:00

*Sounds like a cult to me

Unplugged Christians living off the grid

Summer Lake, Oregon (CNN) -- As the sun rises, cool blues and grays begin their slow transition to glowing golds and ambers. Like a child's pop-up book, dimension is added and a valley is transformed.

To look upon this beauty in the western U.S. state of Oregon is to understand what people mean when they say this is God's country, and that's exactly why Brother Gregory lives here.

He is part of a wider movement of conservative Christians who are choosing to live their lives on the edge of society, unplugged from civilization as much as they can, living under basic biblical principles.

Brother Gregory -- the "Brother" is more of a nickname than an occupational title -- ministers from the Oregon desert where he lives with his wife, some of his grown children and grandchildren.

Like other conservative Christians in this growing movement, Brother Gregory believes that Christianity has strayed too far from its roots, and has given its role in people's lives over to the government -- as with welfare programs or health care.

"We are not living off the grid as much as we are creating a new grid, a more wholesome grid," he said.

"We are following a different path that we think is healthier, promotes better families, and better communities."

He doesn't believe a church needs four walls and a roof. Rather, a church is people who believe in taking care of each other -- living under the biblical principles of faith, hope and charity.
Making the government an idol is the problem.

"Christians should be looking for a way to take care of one another without forcing their neighbor to contribute to their welfare. In essence that's coveting your neighbor's goods through the agency of the governments you create."

And that is a sin.

Brother Gregory runs the web site for "His Holy Church," and he explains that he is not what you would typically think of as a minister. He doesn't regularly get up and speak before a congregation, for example.

"'His Holy Church' is a phrase. It's 'His', meaning Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ established the Church 2,000 years ago. It's 'Holy' because it's separate. It's separate from the world. It's in the world but not of the world. And it's a 'Church', which actually comes from the Greek 'ekklesia', meaning 'called out'. They're called out to do the will of Jesus Christ and the Father in Heaven."

Brother Gregory, a shepherd in the literal sense at his ranch in Summer Lake, Oregon, sees echoes of that in his religious life as a minister.

"Sheep teach the shepherd to be a good shepherd," he says, "and in that sense, that's what people need. They need a good shepherd who's not going to rule over them but guide them in the good ways, the ways of life."

There are others with similar views to Brother Gregory. But while Brother Gregory is content spreading his gospel over the internet and simply living out his life on his ranch in Oregon, these Christians take things a step further.

There is a group called Christian Exodus, and while they too believe modern Christianity is corrupt, they are a little more fired up about the role government plays. Mainly, that it shouldn't have any role at all.

Keith Humphrey is the executive director of Christian Exodus. His long Amish-style beard gives a very visible clue to his beliefs. He would love to live in simpler times, when government was virtually non-existent.

"Making the government an idol is the problem. That's what stands in the way of Christian sanctification," Humphrey says. "It's hands off mainly things like our family, our children, our bodies, our health, and even our money, the fruits of our labor. These don't belong to government."

Christian Exodus considers itself a movement. In 2004, it tried to get its members -- some 1,500 or so who have signed up online -- to move together to South Carolina, form a community and secede from the United States.

"We originally anticipated thousands and thousands of people overwhelming these smaller counties," Humphrey says. "We had people moving, that were moving, but they were kind of putting the cart before the horse, because they weren't living independently. They were just showing up and saying 'Okay, where's my house and where's my job?' We're like, 'Uh, no, it doesn't work like that. '"

When the idea didn't work out, Christian Exodus then started trying to pull members together into micro-communities, through social networking, and encouraging its members to live through what it calls 'personal secession'.

"Personal secession are things like homeschooling, house churches, home gardening, home-based economics, just regaining privacy and a sense of community rather than worrying about what's going on in Washington, D.C... What's the latest thing from the Supreme Court?

"You know, who cares? I don't care about what they're saying in D.C. because they don't represent me hardly more than Pyongyang."

His Holy Church and Christian Exodus each say it is hard to track how many followers they may have, because many people who believe in their movements also don't like to be tracked.

They live "off the grid" in every aspect. But each group has thousands of members signed up online, and each says many more could be unregistered followers. They exist on the edge of society, living as they believe Christians did in the beginning.

Worldwide Death Rates Drop For Children

2010-05-25T06:33:00.002-05:00

Global Death Rates Drop for Children 5 or Younger
The New York Times
By Denise Grady

Death rates in children under 5 are dropping in many countries at a surprisingly fast pace, according to a new report based on data from 187 countries from 1970 to 2010.

Worldwide, 7.7 million children are expected to die this year — still an enormous number, but a vast improvement over the 1990 figure of 11.9 million.

On average, death rates have dropped by about 2 percent a year from 1990 to 2010, and in many regions, even some of the poorest in Africa, the declines have started to accelerate, according to the report, which is being published online Sunday by The Lancet, a medical journal. Some parts of Latin America, north Africa and the Middle East have had declines as steep as 6 percent a year.

Other reports in recent years have found similar trends, but the new article, based on more detailed information and what its authors say are improved statistical methods, paints the most optimistic picture yet. Health experts say the figures mean that global efforts to save children’s lives have started working, better and faster than expected.

Vaccines, AIDS medicines, vitamin A supplements, better treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia, insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria and more education for women are among the factors that have helped lower death rates, said Dr. Christopher J. L. Murray, an author of the report and the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, in Seattle. He said the improvements in Africa were especially encouraging. “The very slow progress in Africa has led some people in global health to argue there should be more emphasis on tackling child mortality outside of Africa, especially India,” Dr. Murray said in an interview. “We think it’s important to call out this accelerated progress. The last thing we’d like to see, when at last something is happening, is to pull the plug and move elsewhere.”

The United Nations has set a goal of reducing death rates in children under 5 by two-thirds from 1990 to 2015, but not many countries seem to be on track to reach it.

A third of all deaths in children occur in south Asia, and half in sub-Saharan Africa. Newborns account for 41 percent of those who die. The lowest death rates, per 1,000 births, are in Singapore (2.5) and Iceland (2.6); the highest are in Equatorial Guinea (180.1) and Chad (168.7). In rich countries, some of the worst rates are in the United States (6.7) and Britain (5.3).

Dr. Mickey Chopra, the chief of health for Unicef, said countries with governments that had “fully supported child survival and primary care” had improved quickly, and he cited Malawi, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Rwanda. In addition, he said Botswana had scaled up treatment for H.I.V. and for preventing mother-to-child transmission, and was seeing child mortality rates decline as a result. Zambia also had significant declines, he said, because 75 percent of families had received bed nets to prevent malaria.

But he said the improvements could easily be reversed, because the underlying poverty in many countries had not changed. “If we don’t continue to do these interventions and fund these interventions, we’ll start to see an increase again,” Dr. Chopra warned.

In addition, he said, “There are places where we’re very worried because of conflict, such as Chad, where the immunization rates are too low, less than 20 percent, and also parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Dr. Flavia Bustreo, director of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, a group administered by the World Health Organization, said that an important factor in the improvements was “reduced fertility” — women having fewer children, and leaving more than two years between pregnancies, which both increase their children’s odds for survival. Dr. Bustreo noted that nearly a million babies a year died from asphyxia at birth, for lack of simple, routine resuscitation measures. Focusing on those techniques could save many lives, she said.

Dr. Murray’s report was based on official birth and death records, census data and information from detailed surveys in many countries. The research was paid for by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ministry Stashes Weapons

2010-05-22T07:02:00.000-05:00

*Article below was first spotted on Religion News Blog

Police hunt religious leaders over weapon stash
ABC News/AU
By Jason Om

Police are hunting three leaders of an international religious group after raids in Adelaide uncovered a stash of guns, detonators and ammunition.

South Australian fraud investigators are also examining payments from members who gave money to Agape Ministries International.

Police say there is no evidence the group is a doomsday cult but allege the group was amassing weapons and planning to move to a Pacific island.

Twelve properties linked to the group have been raided, including one at Mount Magnificent south of Adelaide.

Four men from South Australia have been charged with firearms offences and will appear in court at a later date.

Detective Superintendent Jim Jeffery from the South Australia Police's Commercial and Electronic Crime Branch says it is unknown why the group was stockpiling weapons.

"We know that there's suggestions and by the looks of the shipping container they were having plans to relocate overseas, but of course we don't know the reasons for stockpiling weapons or why they were secreting ammunition inside those containers," he said.

"Located within a shipping container on that property was prohibited weapons - extendable batons, slow burning fuses, detonators and detonator cords.

"There was also about 20,000 rounds of ammunition, some of which is high-powered and that ammunition was hidden within the steel frames of some bed heads."

Police say the group was also amassing money, collected from more than 50 of its members.

"The ministry's built up a substantial amount of funds and those funds have been obviously provided by its membership or by its followers by selling up their properties or by pledging funds to that church," Detective Superintendent Jeffery said.

"Obviously the aspect of the inquiry now is to ascertain whether those funds have been used by the ministry as per the expectations of the people who have given them the money."

George Kruszewski runs a student hostel opposite the Agape headquarters and has watched people gathering for regular Sunday services over the past nine years.

He says he used to talk to the group's leader, Rocco Leo, and has attended one of Mr Leo's services.

"He was putting himself up as being a person who's a great healer and a person who's got authority and all that sort of thing," he said.

"It didn't attract me. It was all sort of getting people in there and making them feel like as if this guy's got all the answers."

There has been strong speculation about the nature of the group. At a media conference this afternoon, Detective Superintendent Jeffery was asked if the group was a cult preparing for the end of the world.

"That would be more speculative. As I said, we've got no concrete evidence of that," he said.

"Yes, we've located the ammunition, we've located some breaches of the firearms act with some of the firearms that were in existence, we're still looking for some other firearms.

"But there's no direct proof or direct links to say that they are going along the lines [of world domination]."

Police are now looking for the group's key leadership group, which they say could be interstate or overseas.

Agape Ministries International is listed on the Australian Business Register as a charitable institution.

The ABC has tried to call the Agape Ministries centres listed in South Australia, New South Wales and Western Australia but was unable to contact anyone.

Persecution

2010-05-18T08:13:00.004-05:00

2 Timothy 2:1-4
1) Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2) And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses,
the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3) Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4) No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this
life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

Persecution comes in many forms. It could be happening in your work place right now. You may be a preacher in a hostile political environment, perhaps in a place where Christians are a minority--and you fear for your very life. Some people into the occult will deliberately target Christians and harass them--it happens more often than a lot of people think. Persecution can arise even from members of your on family.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The scripture above is such a good verse to dwell on and remember. God can withstand any foe, any enemy which comes our way. But He will allow persecution to come against us, and it will come in different forms. Take comfort that the Greater One is on our side, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Ephesians 6:10-18
10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11) Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13) 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;
16) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

You know, at times it seems some of us lose the war, and we see the brethren fall from a particular battle. We will not always get what we desire; and things may not turn out in a way which makes sense to our natural minds. But if you have received salvation through Jesus Christ, you will never truly lose.

Minister Resigns In The Midst of Controversy

2010-05-14T05:13:00.002-05:00

Anti-gay activist, Christian minister George Rekers caught in gay escort scandal resigns from NARTH

By Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A Baptist minister who campaigned against gay rights, only to be snared in a scandal after taking a trip through Europe with a gay hooker, has resigned from a group dedicated to helping those "who struggle with unwanted homosexuality."

George Rekers announced his resignation with a statement posted to the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality's Web site.

"I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me," the statement said. "I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever. I am not gay and never have been."

NARTH, a group which suggests on its Web site that homosexuality is directly associated with pedophilia and can offer a cure for homosexuals, has also removed the minister's writings from its site.

Rekers was spotted leaving Miami International Airport on April 13 with a 20-year-old he allegedly met on a gay escort Web site, the Miami New Times reported.

Contacted by the newspaper, Rekers claimed he was ignorant of his traveling companion's profession when he hired him for a 10-day European vacation.

"I had surgery," Rekers told the newspaper, "and I can't lift luggage. That's why I hired him."

Rekers has slammed the Miami New Times' reporting as "slanderous," and full of "misleading innuendo."

Last week, the newspaper featured an interview with Rekers' escort, "Lucien," in which he claimed the minister liked daily nude body rubs.

The Family Research Council, which Rekers helped co-found in 1983, has also distanced itself from the beleaguered minister.

"FRC has had no contact with Dr. Rekers or knowledge of his activities in over a decade," the organization stated on its Web site.

Evangelist Murdered In India

2010-05-10T05:53:00.001-05:00

Evangelist brutally murdered in India's Bihar state

An evangelist who helped screen the "JESUS" film in eastern India's Bihar state was brutally murdered May 2, reports Baptist Press.

Reported details of the murder vary. The International Christian Concern human rights group reported May 5 that Ravi Murmu and members of his team had completed the screening and started their journeys home. Along the way, the evangelist separated from the rest of the team to take a shortcut home. When he failed to arrive by late evening, a search was organized and his body was found with his right hand severed and deep cuts on his neck and other parts of his body.

The All India Christian Council, however, reported that the team's generator developed problems during the screening and the evangelist went to fix the problem but did not return.

Robbery apparently was not the motive because the attackers in the incident, which occurred in Laxmanpur, didn't take any of the evangelist's belongings, including his motor bike, cell phone and watch.

Police took the body to a hospital for a post mortem exam, after which the family was able to take the body, ICC reported.

Murmu (listed as age 28 by ICC, 30 by the Indian council) is survived by his wife Rinku, an 8-year-old daughter Celesty and his widowed mother.

Murmu's brother Shailendra, who also is an evangelist, was asked how the family is coping with the murder and answered, "The peace of God still reigns in this house and in this family," ICC reported.

Ravi Murmu was an evangelist working with Brethren Church, according to the All India Christian Council's indianchristians.in website. Two people reportedly have been detained by police in connection with the murder.

India's censusindia.gov.in website says Bihar's 83 million people are 84 percent Hindu, 16.5 percent Muslim and .06 percent Christian. Religious violence, which often is connected to Hinduism's traditional caste system, is a chronic problem in the state.

Baptist Preacher Arrested For Preaching

2010-05-07T06:24:00.005-05:00

*This article was published on the Religion News Blog recently. Clicking on the link will bring you to the article, which also offers a video (I have not seen as I am on dialup.)

Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.
Christian campaigners have expressed alarm that the Public Order Act, introduced in 1986 to tackle violent rioters and football hooligans, is being used to curb religious free speech.
[...]

Mr McAlpine was handing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a “ticket to heaven” with a church colleague on April 20, when a woman came up and engaged him in a debate about his faith.

During the exchange, he says he quietly listed homosexuality among a number of sins referred to in 1 Corinthians, including blasphemy, fornication, adultery and drunkenness.

After the woman walked away, she was approached by a PCSO who spoke with her briefly and then walked over to Mr McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made, and that he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language.

The street preacher said he told the PCSO: “I am not homophobic but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator”.

He claims that the PCSO then said he was homosexual and identified himself as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for Cumbria police. Mr McAlpine replied: “It’s still a sin.”

The preacher then began a 20 minute sermon, in which he says he mentioned drunkenness and adultery, but not homosexuality. Three regular uniformed police officers arrived during the address, arrested Mr McAlpine and put him in the back of a police van.
[...]

He was later interviewed, charged under Sections 5 (1) and (6) of the Public Order Act and released on bail on the condition that he did not preach in public.

Mr McAlpine pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing on Friday at Wokingham magistrates court and is now awaiting a trial date.

The Public Order Act, which outlaws the unreasonable use of abusive language likely to cause distress, has been used to arrest religious people in a number of similar cases.

*Click here to read more:

Survey On Young People & Faith

2010-05-03T04:38:00.003-05:00

Survey: 72% of Millennials 'More Spiritual Than Religious'
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.

If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."

Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."

Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:

•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.

•65% rarely or never attend worship services.

•67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.

Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.

"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church," Rainer says.

The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.

The new survey has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.

Even among those in the survey who "believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus Christ as savior":

•68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was "really important in life."

•50% do not attend church at least weekly.

•36% rarely or never read the Bible.

Neither are these young Christians evangelical in the original meaning of the term — eager to share the Gospel. Just 40% say this is their responsibility.

Even so, Rainer is encouraged by the roughly 15% who, he says, appear to be "deeply committed" Christians in study, prayer, worship and action.

Collin Hansen, 29, author of Young, Restless, Reformed, about a thriving minority of traditionalist Christians, agrees. "I'm not going to say these numbers aren't true and aren't grim, but they also drive people like me to build new, passionately Christian dynamic churches," says Hansen, who is studying for the ministry. He sees many in his generation veering to "moralistic therapeutic deism — 'God wants you to be happy and do good things.' ... I would not call that Christianity, however."

The 2007 LifeWay study found seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30, both evangelical and mainline, who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23. And 34% of those had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30.

The Pew survey found young people today were significantly more likely than those in earlier generations to say they didn't identify with any religious group. Neither are Millennials any more likely than earlier generations to turn toward a faith affiliation as they grow older.

Turning From Someone In Crisis

2010-04-29T07:36:00.002-05:00

*This young man had a pool of blood come out from under him, I do not think people just assumed he was sleeping there on the sidewalk. He probably made sounds in pain too. Just sad.

Getting Involved is Not a Bad Thing

The Lake Wales News
Palmer Wood, Managing Editor
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A dying man in one of New York City’s boroughs lay unattended on a sidewalk for one hour and 40 minutes before a rescue team from a fire department arrived to find the man dead.

A homeless 31-year-old man from Guatemala went to the rescue of a woman being mugged and was successful in running off the attacker. The woman, apparently in her fear and confusion, turned and fatally stabbed the Good Samaritan who staggered off and collapsed on the sidewalk.

A security camera captured the entire event including a number of people who walked by and ignored the dying man. One man stopped and took a cell phone photo and walked off. Another stopped and lifted the dying man and dropped him, apparently when he saw a pool of blood under him.

The fact that a man was dying and no one came to help, or even called for help, reminds me of a similar incident in New York City that happened in 1964. A 28-year-old woman was brutally attacked by a knife-wielding assailant who had been stalking her, and in spite of her pleading for help, failed to convince anyone to intervene or even call the police.

It happened at night in a residential neighborhood and less than 58 people heard screaming and witnessed the attack.

Later, all admitted they “didn’t want to get involved.”

Finally one man from a window in an apartment yelled, “Get away from her.” The assailant then walked away, but when no one came to her rescue, returned and stabbed her again until she collapsed.

Several witnesses said they heard the victim call out to a man she apparently knew and saw looking out a window in a nearby apartment, but he responded by quickly ducking from the window and turning off his light.

Records revealed that eventually there was a phone call; a half-hour after the victim lay motionless and the attacker had driven off. Police then were dispatched only to find the victim dead.

When the 58 witnesses were interviewed by the police, the most common answer for their not going out to help her was simply not wanting to get involved and subsequently having to spend time in court.

The attacker later was identified when his license number was reported: That resulted in his arrest. He later admitted he continued to attack her knowing that no one would come to her aid.

The least effort on our part when we encounter a similar situation as described in any of the above situations is to call 911.

A witness from the incident confessed he still is haunted by nightmares, especially when he looks out the same window from which he observed the tragic incident.

When he decided to try and help the girl, he said, his wife blocked the door and said, “We don’t want to get involved.”

The horror stories don’t end there. A woman was observed on a security camera for an hour in a public after-hours-clinic waiting room where she collapsed and rolled off a bench. Medical personal came and went into the waiting room several times without approaching and helping the woman, who lay face down on the floor. She died there on the floor.

Security personnel were on duty at a teenage function and did not intervene when a male teenager began repeatedly beating a teenage girl on the ground.

Again, video cameras recorded the incident and the security men, who stood and observed but did nothing to stop the attack.

Psychologists claim people in a crowd are more reluctant to become involved but I’m sure there have been numerous tragic deaths where people chose to ignore helping someone when there were no witnesses, simply because they didn’t want to be bothered or to get dirty.

We have to mentally indoctrinate ourselves to act in all emergencies, not stand silent while deciding what to do when someone’s in dire need. A few seconds of hesitation can at times mean the difference between life and death.

Years ago I almost let a stranger choke to death in a restaurant because I hesitated to see if she really needed help. Forget about the embarrassment – even if it turns out to be a false alarm.

You never will be criticized for making an effort to help someone who appears to be in need – You may end up saving a life.

But thank goodness there are people who selflessly care, like the foreign tourist who recently jumped off a dock to save a 2-year-old child, and disappeared before anyone got his name.

The Gospel of Prayer

2010-04-25T08:50:00.003-05:00

From Sermonindex.net

Prayer: The Gospel of Prayer
By Leonard Ravenhill

There's nothing more transfiguring than prayer. People often ask, "Why do you insist on prayer so much?" The answer is very simple - because Jesus did. You could change the title of the Gospel according to St. Luke to the Gospel of Prayer. It's the prayer life of Jesus. The other evangelists say that Jesus was in the Jordan and the Spirit descended on Him as a dove - Luke says it was while He was praying that the Spirit descended on Him. The other evangelists say that Jesus chose 12 disciples - Luke says it was after He spent a night in prayer that He chose 12 disciples. The other evangelists say that Jesus died on a cross - Luke says that even when He was dying Jesus was praying for those who persecuted Him. The other evangelists say Jesus went on a mount and He was transfigured - Luke says it was while He was praying that He was transfigured. There's nothing more transfiguring than prayer.

The Scriptures say that the disciples went to bed, but Jesus went to pray - as was His custom. It was His custom to pray. Now Jesus was the Son of God - He was definitely anointed for His ministry. If Jesus needed all that time in prayer, don't you and I need time in prayer? If Jesus needed it in every crisis, don't you and I need it in every crisis?

The story goes that a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village saw an old man sitting by a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one of the visitors asked, "Were any great men born in this village?" Without looking up the old man replied, "No, only babies." The greatest men were once babies. The greatest saints were once toddlers in the things of the Spirit.

C. H. Spurgeon was converted at the age of 16 and began preaching in London at the age of 19. When he was 27, they built him a tabernacle seating 6,000 which he packed twice on Sundays - that's 12,000 - and once on Thursday nights. How? He waited on God. He got alone with God. He studied...and he prayed.

Desperate Prayer

God makes all His best people in loneliness. Do you know what the secret of praying is? Praying in secret. "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door..." (Matt. 6:6). You can't show off when the door's shut and nobody's there. You can't display your gifts. You can impress others, but you can't impress God.

I Samuel 1:1-15 gives an account of the yearly trip Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, made to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. During this time, Hannah had been distressed that she was not able to bear a son for her husband. This passage of Scripture gives quite a descriptive account of her time in prayer concerning the barrenness of her womb. It says that Hannah wept. More than this, she wept until she was sore. She poured out her soul before the Lord. Her heart was grieving; she was bitter of soul, provoked, and of a sorrowful spirit.

Now that's a pretty good list of afflictions - sorrow, hardship, and everything else that came upon this woman. But the key to the whole situation is that she was a praying woman. In verse 20 it says that she reaped her reward. "And it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, 'Because I have asked him of the Lord.'"

Now I say very often - and people don't like it - that God doesn't answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer! Your prayer life denotes how much you depend on your own ability, and how much you really believe in your heart when you sing, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling...." The more self- confidence you have, the less you pray. The less self-confidence you have, the more you have to pray.

What does the Scripture say? It says that God takes the lowly, the things that are not. Paul says in I Corinthians 1:28 that God takes the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. We need a bunch of "are nots" today.

The Language of the Poor

Prayer is the language of the poor. Over and over again David, the King of Israel, says, "Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and answer me; for I am afflicted and needy" (Psalm 86:1). And do you remember that one of the greatest psalms he wrote says, "This poor man cried and the Lord heard him..." (Psalm 34:6).

The apostle Paul overwhelms me with his spirituality, his pedigree, his colossal intellect. Yet he says that he's very conscious that when he's weak, he is strong. He was always trying to prove to himself and to others that he was a nobody.

True prayer is a two-way communication. I speak to God and God speaks to me. I don't know how the Spirit makes communication - or why God needs me to pray - but that's how God works.

"Get Up And Pray!"

One day I was at a conference with Dr. V. Raymond Edman of Wheaton College, one of the greatest Christian educators in this country. He told us of an experience he had while he was in Ecuador as a missionary. He hadn't been there long before he was sick and dying. He was so near death that they had already dug his grave. He had great beads of sweat on his brow and there was a death rattle in his throat. But suddenly he sat straight up in bed and said to his wife, "Bring me my clothes!" Nobody knew what had happened.

Many years later he was retelling the story in Boston. Afterward, a little old lady with a small, dog-eared, beaten-up book, approached him and asked, "What day did you say you were dying? What time was it in Ecuador? What time would it be in Boston?" When he answered her, her wrinkled face lit up. Pointing to her book, she said. "There it is, you see? At 2 a.m. God said to get up and pray - the devil's trying to kill Raymond Edman in Ecuador." And she'd gotten up and prayed.

Duncan Campbell told the story of hearing a farmer in his field who was praying. He was praying about Greece. Afterward, he asked him why he was praying. The man said, "I don't know. I had a burden in the spirit and God said, 'You pray; there's someone in Greece that is in a bad situation.' I prayed until I got a release." Two or three years later the farmer was in a meeting listening to a missionary. The man described a time when he was working in Greece. He had been in serious trouble. The time? Two or three years ago. The men compared notes and discovered that it was the very same day that God had burdened a farmer, on a little island off the coast of Scotland, to pray for a man in Greece whose name he didn't even know.

It may seem the Lord gives you strange things. I don't care. If the Lord tells you something, carry on with what the Lord tells you.

Who Shall Ascend to the Hill of the Lord?"

There's another experience Duncan Campbell told about when he was working in Scotland.

"I couldn't preach," he said. "I couldn't get through to God. The heavens were solid. It was as though there was a 10 ft. ceiling of steel." So he quit trying to preach. He asked a young man named John Cameron to pray. The boy stood up and said, "What's the use of praying if we're not right with God?" He quoted the 24th Psalm, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?"

You can't approach God unless your hands are clean, which means your relationships with others are clean and your heart is clean. "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart..." (Psalm 24.3-4).

After the boy recited Psalm 24 he began to pray. He prayed 10, 15, 20 minutes. Then he suddenly said, "Excuse me, Lord, while I resist the devil." He turned around and began to tell the devil where to go and how to get there. He fought for all he was worth. You talk about having on the armor of God and resisting the devil! When he finished resisting the devil, he finished his prayer. He prayed for 45 minutes! When he finished praying it was just as though God had pulled a little switch in heaven. The Spirit of God came down on that church, that community, on the dance hall at the other end of town, and the tavern on this end of town. Revival was born in that prayer!

At the end of Malachi it says, "And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly (that's the word I like, suddenly) come to his temple" (Malachi 3:1). Remember what it says about the shepherds? They were watching their flocks by night when suddenly there was the sound of the heavenly host. Do you remember a bunch of men that had been waiting in the upper room? Suddenly the Holy Spirit came on them in that room.

There's a date in history that I love very much. It was Wednesday, August 13, 1737. A little group of people in Moravia were waiting in a prayer meeting. At 11:00 suddenly the Holy Spirit came. Do you know what happened? The prayer meeting that began at 11:00 lasted 100 years! That's right. That prayer room was not empty for a century! It's the longest prayer among men and women that I know of. Even children six and seven years old travailed in prayer for countries the names of which they couldn't even spell.

Why We Don't Have Revival

In an old town in Ireland they'll show you with reverence a place where four young men met night after night after night praying for revival. In Wales, there's a place in the hills where three or four young men only 18 or 19 years old met and prayed night after night. They wouldn't let God go; they would not take no for an answer. As far as humanly possible they prayed a revival into birth. If you're thinking of revival at your church without any inconvenience, forget it. Revival costs a lot.

I can give you one simple reason why we don't have revival in America. Because we're content to live without it. We're not seeking God - we're seeking miracles, we're seeking big crusades, we're seeking blessings. In Numbers 11, Moses said to God, "You're asking me to carry a burden I can't handle. Do something or kill me!" Do you love America enough to say, "God, send revival or kill me"? Do you think it's time we changed Patrick Henry's prayer from, "Give me liberty or give me death," to "Give me revival or let me die"?

In the 30th chapter of Genesis, Rachael goes to Jacob and throws herself down in despair. She says, "Give me children or else I die." Are you willing to throw yourself down before God to seek the spiritual birth of spiritual children in our country?

People say, "I'm filled with the Holy Spirit." If the coming of the Spirit didn't revolutionize your prayer life, you'd better check on it. I'm not so sure you got what God wanted you to get.

We've said that prayer changes things. No! Prayer doesn't change things. Prayer changes people and they change things. We all want Gabriel to do the job. God says do it yourself - with My sufficiency and My strength.

We need to get like this woman, Hannah. What did she do? She wept, she was grieved, she said she had a complaint, she fasted - and she prayed.

Jesus, the anointed of God, made prayer His custom. Paul, with his background and intellect, depended on prayer because he said he was weak. David, the king, called himself a poor man and cried to the Lord. Hannah prayed for a son and gave birth to a prophet. The prayers of a handful of young men sparked revival.

There's nothing more transfiguring than prayer.

Judge Strikes Down National Prayer Day

2010-04-21T05:35:00.002-05:00

Federal Judge Strikes Down National Day of Prayer Statute
By Dan Gilgoff, CNN

(CNN) -- A federal judge on Thursday struck down the federal statute that established the National Day of Prayer, ruling that it violates the constitutional ban on government-backed religion.

"[I]ts sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function," a Wisconsin judge wrote in the ruling, referring to the 1952 law that created the National Day of Prayer.

"In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience," wrote the judge, Barbara B. Crabb.

The injunction against the National Day of Prayer will not take effect until the defendants in the case, President Obama and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, have exhausted their appeals, the decision said.

The Obama administration said in a Twitter message on Thursday that Obama intends to recognize this year's National Day of Prayer, which is May 6.

The White House press office referred a question about whether the administration would appeal the ruling to the Justice Department, where a press officer was unavailable for comment.

Conservative religious groups called on the White House to appeal the decision.

"The National Day of Prayer provides an opportunity for all Americans to pray voluntarily according to their own faith and does not promote any particular religion or form of religious observance," said Joel Oster, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund.

Church-state separation groups, meanwhile, applauded the ruling.

"This decision is a tremendous victory for religious liberty," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "Congress has no business telling Americans when or how to pray."

The Interfaith Alliance also welcomed the ruling. "Maintaining clear boundaries between religion and government only serves to strengthen both," said the group's president, the Rev. Welton Gaddy.

One constitutional scholar doubted the case would survive an appeal to a federal circuit court.

"Judges have never been absolutists in these establishment clause cases," said Douglas Laycock, a University of Michigan Law School professor specializing in religious liberties issues. "If they were they would to tell the president to stop issuing Thanksgiving proclamations and tell the Treasury Department to take 'In God We Trust' off our money."

The lawsuit against the Obama administration was brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a group based in Madison, Wisconsin.

The statute that established the National Day of Prayer calls on the president to annually designate one day, other than a Sunday, "on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups and as individuals."

The law was amended in 1988 to designate the first Thursday in May as the annual National Day of Prayer.

The event has been celebrated more ostentatiously by Republican than Democratic White Houses, partly because it has become aligned with religious conservatives. Since 1991, the National Day of Prayer Task Force has been led by Shirley Dobson, wife of conservative evangelical broadcaster and activist James Dobson.

Shirley Dobson criticized the Obama administration last year for forgoing the White House celebrations that marked the National Day of Prayer under President George W. Bush. But Obama did issue an official proclamation designating a National Day of Prayer.

"Throughout our nation's history," Obama's proclamation read, "Americans have come together in moments of great challenge and uncertainty to humble themselves in prayer."

Mixture In Africa's Religions

2010-04-17T04:30:00.003-05:00

*The article below was recently presented on Religion News Blog:

US Study Sheds Light on Africa's Unique Religious Mix

WASHINGTON (AFP) - In the space of a century, Africa has morphed from a continent dominated by traditional beliefs to one where the majority of people are Christian or Muslim, a US study showed Thursday.

The vast majority of people in sub-Saharan Africa are deeply committed to the world's two largest religions, making the region one of the most religious places in the world, according to the study by the Pew Research Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Traditional African beliefs have been incorporated into Africans' Christian or Muslim belief sets, according to the study, for which Pew researchers surveyed 25,000 people in 19 sub-Saharan African countries between December 2008 and April 2009.

"It doesn't seem to be an either-or for many people. They can describe themselves primarily as Muslim or Christian and continue to practice many of the traditions that are characteristic of African traditional religion," Luis Lugo, executive director of the Pew Forum, told AFP.

In around half the countries involved in the study, everyone interviewed said they were Christian or Muslim. In most of the other countries, the vast majority -- nine out of 10 interviewees -- said the same.

And yet Africans still practice sacrifices, believe in the protective powers of charms and amulets, believe in the 'evil eye', that there are people who can cast curses on others, and consult traditional religious healers.

The number of Muslims living between the Sahara desert and South Africa's Cape of Good Hope has increased more than 20-fold since 1900, from around 11 million to some 234 million this year, but the number of Christians in Africa has grown even faster.

Around seven million Africans said they were Christian in 1900 compared with 470 million today.

Northern Africa, which was not included in the study, is predominantly Muslim, while countries in southern Africa are mainly Christian, with a "great meeting place in the middle" of the continent, stretching from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west.

"To some outside observers, this is a volatile religious fault line - the site, for example, of Al-Qaeda's first major terrorist strike, the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and more recently of ethnic and sectarian bloodshed in Nigeria," the study said.

Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous nation, has the largest number of Christians and the largest number of Muslims of any place in sub-Saharan Africa, and six out of 10 Nigerians said religious conflict was "a very big problem in their country," Lugo said.

"Sometimes conflict is directly related to religion, like the imposition of sharia law in the north of Nigeria, but oftentimes there are other factors -- political, economic, tribal -- and religion gets implicated," said Lugo.

He quoted acting president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan, who said at a conference in Washington this week: "Conflicts in Africa are not sparked by religion, but religion is the wind that can spread the wildfire."

Overall, however, Africa's Christians and Muslims are highly tolerant of each other. But Christians are more likely to identify Muslims with violence than the other way around.

"In Chad, for instance, 70 percent of Christians view Muslims as violent, while only 16 percent of Muslims saw Christians as violent," said Lugo.

The central African country, which has a roughly even mix of Christians and Muslims, shares a border with Sudan's Darfur region, where some 300,000 people have died in seven-year war between militias allied to the Arab government in Khartoum and ethnic minority rebels in Darfur.