Survival Of The Fittest
I've just been reading the latest appeal letter in the mail from Barry Karr of the
Skeptical Inquirer. For those of you not familiar with it, they are pro-anything that isn't Christian. They are pro-evolution, pro-embryonic stem cell research, pro-morning after pill, etc. They write a very interesting letter, In part, they write:
Surely we have much to be optimistic about. I would like very much to tell you how pleased we are with our progress in efforts to help improve science education, protect the integrity of science, and promote and defend science and the rational life all across the United States....But I don't feel that I can. You see, I am in crisis mode. This week the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry had to borrow money from our Bank of America line of credit to make our payroll. It is an odd twist of fate that right now...we find our ability to carry out the mission extremely compromised. I don't believe in fate.
...We are sponsoring a viewing of the Flock of Dodos at Washington's Avalon Theatre here in the District for the larger community complete with a birthday cake for our Darwin Day celebration.
...In addition, the Office of Public Policiy has produced position papers on global warming, evolution vs. Intelligent Design, and stem cell research.
...But we still had to borrow money to make our payroll.
Barry Karr, the Executive Director, continued praising his Skeptical Inquirer for all the things they were doing, but continually inserting the phrase into the letter:
But we still had to borrow money to make our payroll.
Face it Barry! It's survival of the fittest, and YOU and Skeptical Inquirer are being weeded out!!!Labels: Atheism
Creflo Dollar Denies Jesus Came as God
The Mark of the Beast Has Arrived - Again!!!
Look out folks, once more society is trying to get us good, honest Christians to take on the mark of the beast!!! It's obviously either a conspiracy against us or an overly-active imagination. Excerpt from
St. Louis Today:
Is 'mark of the beast' in Real ID Act?
Derek Kravitz
POST-DISPATCHJEFFERSON CITY BUREAU
03/22/2007
JEFFERSON CITY — A dire, apocalyptic prophecy in the Bible's Book of Revelation is getting a new audience: state legislators.Several evangelical Christian groups say the federal Real ID Act, which will standardize state drivers licenses and link them to corresponding national ID numbers by 2009, represents the "mark of the beast," the devilish number 666 that is attached to the godless.The nearly 2,000-year-old passage is referenced along with the prophetic locusts, plagues, oceans of blood and rivers of fire found in the Bible. Soon after, according to scripture, the antichrist takes control of the world and Jesus Christ returns.In short, new national ID numbers could spell the beginning of the end, some Christians believe
"This is getting treacherously close to prophecy in the scripture," said Irvin Baxter Jr., founder and president of Endtime Ministries in Dallas.And some Missouri legislators are listening.
...Most religious scholars agree that this beast in Revelation is a metaphor for the Roman emperor Nero who persecuted Christians and Jews in horrific ways that were likely to be remembered only a couple of generations later when Revelation was written.
These stories are sure good for business if you're into the sensationalism of preachers like Irvin Baxter, Tim LaHaye, Grant Jeffrey, Jack Van Impe, John Hagee and Hal Lindsey!
Labels: Irvin Baxter
World's Lutherans Debate Homosexuality
From the
Christian Post this sad story:
While facing debates over ethical issues, including homosexuality, Lutherans from around the world were encouraged to stay in communion around their common
faith.
At the Lutheran World Federation's 60th anniversary service on Sunday, Church of Sweden Archbishop Anders Wejryd told hundreds of attendants that the different practices of the churches on several matters should not threaten the communion of Lutheran churches, according to an LWF press release.
...Although Jesus had shed light on Scriptures it was up to the members of the communion to interpret them, based on the hermeneutical principles and “looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith," he added.
...The archbishop’s comments come in the midst of an eight-day meeting of the LWF Council (the group's main governing body) where Lutheran churches were encouraged by LWF’s general secretary, the Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, to discuss issues of marriage, family and sexuality among other topics.
Church representatives from Africa were vocal in their opposition to same-sex “marriage.”
"If God had wanted people from the same sex to have relationships he would have created Adam and Adam, not Adam and Eve," said Satou Marthe, a woman delegate from Cameroon, according to Ecumenical News International.
The European Lutheran churches called for a "profound theological study on marriage, family and biblical hermeneutics," according to LWF. And the North American conference said there is a need to "identify social, political, cultural and interfaith factors” that shape perspectives on these issues.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America had issued a three-part series of studies on human sexuality in recent years out of a mandate by the 2001 Churchwide Assembly. Responses from congregants around the country are expected to help shape ELCA's statement on human sexuality, including such issues as same-sex marriage and the consecration of homosexuals.
...The Lutheran World Federation does not have a stand on the issue of homosexuality yet.
The Church of Sweden – the largest Lutheran church in the world – had announced last week that marriage should be reserved for heterosexual couples but that the church would give blessings to same-sex couples in committed, faithful relationships, according to Ecumenical News International.
In my opinion any Lutheran church that even thinks the matter of homosexuality is a matter of debate has no business calling itself Lutheran.
Labels: Lutheran
TBN Beams the Gospel?
The Tennessean reports that the Trinity Broadcasting Network is now beaming
the gospel into much of the non-Christian world.
Which gospel is another matter.
Excerpt:
Trinity beams gospel shows into non-Christian worldNetwork wants gentle tone in messages
By ANITA WADHWANI
Staff writer
The world's largest religious broadcasting network just got a whole lot bigger, striking a deal to beam nonstop Christian television shows into a wide global slice of the most populated — and least Christian — places on earth.
Billions of viewers in largely Hindu India, Muslim Indonesia, Buddhist/Confucian/Taoist China and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific Rim can now turn on their TVs to find Trinity Broadcasting Network's Christian cartoons and talk shows, Christian extreme sports shows and sermons, Christian music videos and variety shows. Many of the music programs are taped in TBN's Hendersonville studios.
...Evangelical Christians have already criticized TBN's suggestions that shows tone down their anti-Muslim rhetoric for overseas viewers.
Other critics say the militantly Christian discourse of some of the network's most prominent on-air personalities — Pat Robertson, for example — risks inflaming public sentiment against the United States.
...TBN will broadcast programs via satellite into the "10-40 window" whose latitude and longitude designations encompass a number of Asian nations, including Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia, as well as parts of Eastern Europe. Many areas in the window are difficult for Western missionaries to enter.
...Day, the TBN spokesman, said the network "in certain cases … had to remind programmers of Trinity Broadcasting Network that we want to present an accessible, loving Christian message. We do not want to be harsh or critical of other people or faiths to make sure we fulfill our mission. That can sometimes be a delicate matter but it's one that is certainly manageable and well worth undertaking."
...Other TBN critics cite its constant calls for viewer contributions. In its on-air fundraising drives, viewers are preached a "prosperity gospel" with promises they will reap riches in return for their contributions. In 2003, the tax-exempt public charity took in more than $184.2 million, according to IRS records.
That's the bottom line right there. If the rest of the non-Christian world starts getting the North American version of Christianity they will become, at best, a carbon-copy of a brand of Christianity that doesn't know their Scriptures, doesn't know what they believe and why, knows nothing about Law and Gospel, and that would probably quickly abandon Christianity once persecution arose - and you can be sure that it would in those particular countries! At worst, they would see that the Prosperity Gospel does not work and their hearts could be closed forever to receiving the true Gospel.
Labels: Paul Crouch, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Word Faith
Practicing What They Preach?
ABC News' 20/20 had a story on what happens to all that money donated to various "Christian" ministries. The focus was on the well-known usually-heretical Word of Faith teachers we're all familiar with who - as a matter of fact - DO practice what they preach - wealth.
Excerpt:
Anyone watching televangelists on television will hear plenty of pitches for money. Jan and Paul Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting say they need big bucks to keep their network on the air and to help the poor around the world.
Benny Hinn, of Benny Hinn Ministries, has made heartfelt pleas to help the people of Calcutta, while Rod Parsley of Breakthrough Ministries has asked for help to spread the gospel to the people of Nepal.
Christian ministries and charities promise to do all kinds of good things with your money, and that makes donors feel great about sending in their checks. The problem is, they can't always find out exactly how their donation is being spent.
...The popular Kenneth Copeland of Kenneth Copeland Ministries lives in a large mansion in Texas. He recently asked his audience to help him spread the gospel by giving him $20 million to buy a new jet. Copeland promised that the plane "will never, ever be used as long as it is in our care, for anything other than what is becoming to you, Lord Jesus."
Labels: Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland, Word Faith
Meet God's Minister of Finance
Did you know that God has a Minister of Finance who wants to make you wealthy? I can't believe people actually fall for this garbage. From, of course, the
Elijah List, an ad for the book "Keys to God's Heavenly Economy":
The Lord's audible voice filled the room, introducing the angel standing before me: "Welcome the Minister of Finance for the Kingdom."
So begins the unfolding of Shawn Bolz's visitations from God's heavenly messenger, His Minister of Finance.
Heavenly resources have only one purpose - that Jesus Christ would receive His full reward and inheritance in our age. Just as God held nothing back from Solomon, who longed to build a tabernacle for God on earth, God will hold nothing back from a generation of people who long to bring Jesus everything that belongs to Him!
God is about to release finances and resources to reshape the Body of Christ on the earth.
God is looking for those who desire an open - door experience with the One who is the Mater of all keys, Jesus.
Labels: Elijah List
What a Phony!!!
CBS4 in Miami reports that not even Jose de Jesus Miranda's brother believes he is Jesus Christ or the antichrist. Excerpt:
First he called himself Jesus Christ, then he said he was the anti-christ. Now his own brother is calling the controversial head of a South Florida church something else -- a cult leader.
Carlos de Jesus Miranda says his brother, Jose de Jesus Miranda, is a phoney, and that his followers are being brainwashed into tattooing themselves and giving money to a slick salesman, who has become a very wealthy man.
According to most churchgoers, the number 666 represents the “mark of the beast” or the “devils number”, but according to preacher Jose de Jesus Miranda, it’s his number because he's the anti-christ, even though six months ago he called himself Christ.
De Jesus preaches that there is no devil and no sin, therefore his followers can indulge in all they want.
"He's not a Christian church or a Christian pastor,” says Carlos de Jesus Miranda. “He doesn't adhere to any of the fundamentals of the Christian church."
Carlos de Jesus Miranda, Jose's brother, is also a pastor. He told CBS-4’s Eliott Rodriguez during a taping of 4 Sunday Morning that Jose is nothing more than a salesman and cult leader with a less than stellar background.
"He was addicted to heroin and the lord saved him and then we all became Christians,” said Carlos.
When asked by CBS-4’s Eliott Rodriguez if he thinks his brother is a phony, Carlos responded “I would say so.”
I can just hear Jose's answer - "James thought Jesus was a phony too!"
I don't know - I wouldn't totally rule out Jose's antichrist claim! 1 John 2:18 "Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now
many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour."
Labels: Jose de Jesus Miranda
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today...
A story in the
Des Moines Register reminds us that it was twenty years ago today (thus the Sgt. Pepper cover) that Jim Bakker's empire fell. Here is an excerpt. For the whole story, click the Register link, above:
After PTL Scandal, Evangelists Water Down Message
By STEPHEN WINZENBURG
It was 20 years ago - March 19, 1987 - that television evangelist Jim Bakker's PTL scandal shook the religious world.
It became a turning point for American Christianity and inadvertently made Bakker one of the most influential spiritual leaders of the 20th century.
....Newspapers won major awards for their coverage of the resulting scandals. ABC's "Nightline" scored its highest ratings in history when Ted Koppel did the first Bakker interview three months after the story broke.
Polls showed the public ranked media ministers at the bottom of the trustworthiness scale, alongside lawyers and politicians.
Critics said it was the end of television evangelism. But here's a startling reality check: 20 years later, nearly every one of those TV ministries is still on the air.
Labels: Jim Bakker, PTL
Dreams From God - The New Scriptures
The Elijah List is promoting a new book on dream interpretation by Jim Goll.
They write:
After centuries of neglect, the church is rediscovering the realm of dreams and visions as a legitimate avenue for receiving divine revelation. In Dream Language, James W. Goll provides an insightful and helpful handbook to this fascinating and little-known world. Based on extensive study and filled with personal insights from his years of walking in this realm, the author builds a solid framework for how Christians today can receive, understand, interpret and apply dream revelation from the Holy Spirit. This book also contains a section on interpreting basic symbols, so whether you are beginning to walk in this realm already or simply want to understand more about it, Dream Language is the perfect guide. In this book you will learn how to:
- Receive and understand your dreams.
- Interpret and apply your dream revelations.
- Tune your spiritual antenna.
- Detect Dream Snatchers and Dream Drainers.
- Recognize the difference between Holy Spirit, natural, and demonic dreams.
- Eliminate obstacles keeping you from receiving God's revelations.
Dream snatchers? I usually call that an alarm clock! I've been having this recurring dream about fire coming down from heaven and consuming false prophets. I must get this book and find out what it means!
Labels: Elijah List, Jim Goll
Another Dent in the Jesus Tomb Theory
Letter From Michael Heiser:
--------------------------
I sent this out to some profs and bloggers this AM; you may want to circulate this.
Dear Professors and other Bloggers
I’d like to report something of potentially great interest with respect to assessing the Jesus tomb theory offered by Simcha Jacobovici and Charles Pellegrino (and, by extension, James Tabor).
Many scholars have demonstrated the glaring weaknesses of this theory with respect to the inscriptions, the names themselves, the shaky logic, etc. And despite the clear, coherent response to the statistical framework and analysis (click
Jesus Family Tomb) offered by my friend Randy Ingermanson, the public continues to be bludgeoned with the “improbability” of it all. Well, it appears that having the names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Matthew, and Martha (“Mara”) on ossuaries at one location isn’t as improbable as Jacobovici, Pellegrino, and Tabor would have the world believe.
I want to draw your attention—and the attention of scholars and interested parties who read your blog—to a SECOND site that has all those names. In 1953-1955, Bellarmino Bagatti excavated the site of Dominus Flevit (“The Lord wept”) on the Mount of Olives. The excavation uncovered a necropolis and over 40 inscribed ossuaries – including the names of Mary, Martha, Matthew, Joseph, Jesus. These ossuaries are not, as far as I can tell, in Rahmani’s catalogue. I’m guessing the reason is that they are not the property of the Israel Antiquities Authority (see Rahmani’s Preface). The necropolis was apparently used ca. 136 BC to 300 AD. Here is a link (
Dominus Flevit) that discusses the site. A few scanned pages of Bagatti’s excavation report (written in Italian) can be found here (
Saint Peter's Jerusalem Tomb) as well.
I’ll be tracking down this report (and perhaps buying an Italian dictionary). I found this information last night (actually 2:00am) while working on my portion of a lengthy response to the Jesus tomb theory (to be co-authored with Randy Ingermanson). I didn’t want to wait until that was done to alert scholars to this so we can collectively look at this data. It appears that the statistical odds touted in such assured terms have taken a sound beating – fifty years ago.
There’s one more really intriguing thing about the Dominus Flevit site. It is referenced by Jacobovici with respect to his argument about the cross symbol’s antiquity, and Bagatti’s book is in his bibliography. And yet he and Charlie Pellegrino somehow overlooked the fact that ossuaries were found at that site with all the names accounted for. One can only guess whether the omission was due to careless scholarship or an effort to deceive the public.
Mike Heiser, PhD
Academic Editor, Logos Bible Software
Michael S. Heiser, Ph.D.
Academic Editor
Logos Research Systems
(360) 685-4404
www.logos.com
Labels: Jesus Tomb
What's So Secretive About The Secret?
The Secret DVD Teachings:- The Secret is the Law of Attraction. Everything coming into your life you are attracting into your life. It is attracted to you by virtue of the images you are holding in your mind.
- Mike Dowley: Thoughts become things.
- John Assaraf: Every thought has a frequency. See yourself living in abundance and you will attract it.
- John Hagelin: We can be positive in our orientation and attract positive things or we can be negative in our orientation and attract negative things.
- Lisa Nichols: Your thoughts and feelings will always create your life.
Lisa Nichols: There is a three-step process that has been around for 2,000 years:
- Let the universe know what you want.
- Believe that it’s already yours, without wavering. The universe will rearrange itself to make it happen for you.
- Feel now how you will feel when it arrives.
- When you visualize, then you materialize. Visualize having what you want. Picture yourself in your new car.
- Jack Canfield: The anti-war movement creates more war; the anti-drug movement creates more drugs, because we’re focusing on what we don’t want. Instead of anti-war, be pro-peace.
- Lisa Nichols: You are God manifested in human form, made to perfection.
All of this seems strangely familiar.Word-Faith proponent Creflo Dollar
says:
- Your life is framed by the words you speak. When you speak words that oppose the Word of God, you turn on the law of sin and death. When you speak words that agree with the Word of God, you turn on the law of life in Christ Jesus In many places in the Bible, words and things are used interchangeably. Words don't produce things, they are things. God's laws are always strong, but if your faith is weak they can not operate in your life. You must have confidence in God's words and the words that you speak.
- All spiritual laws are activated by words.
- Things are heard before they are seen.
- Spiritual laws will also work in the negative. For example, if you speak negative words about yourself, that law is working for you until you replace them with positive words and do not change your stance.
- You must call things not as they are, but how you want them to be.
- We must have confidence in what we say, and only speak what we want and not what we don't want.
Labels: The Secret; Word Faith
Blame Hollywood!!
Further to the last post on Christians not knowing their Bible, this story from the
Christian News Wire:
Hollywood is the Main Reason Why Americans Get an F For Religion Cites Christian Filmmaker
George Lucas, producer of the Star Wars movies, once said, “the church, which used to be all powerful, has been usurped by film”. Christian Producer Dave Christiano agrees. Hollywood rules! And it rules without the Lord.
“You can’t find one drama on television produced by Hollywood that presents Jesus Christ in an honorable way,” said Christiano. “They won’t mention the holy name of Jesus in a way that glorifies Him. It just isn’t there.”
Christiano turned on television recently and flipped to every channel. He could not find one dramatic program mention the name of Jesus Christ (in an non-slanderous way) or find any character quoting the Bible. And this is one main reason why Christiano produced, “7th Street Theater”, which bills itself as the first prime time Christian drama series (now airing on TBN, Saturday night at 11pm est, 10pm cst, 9pm mst, 8pm pst). The half hour drama has characters freely talk about Jesus Christ and presents strong Christian content.
"Hollywood is basically Christ-less and it ignores that about 90 million people go to church every week in America and even more claim to be 'Christian'. That’s a large segment of the population and yet as the article on USA Today by Cathy Lynn Grossman stated, most people would get an 'F' if asked about their faith." said Christiano.
...“I’m convinced most people who say they are Christians could not tell you the gospel or what it means to be born again,” said Christiano. “And the main reason, to me, is Hollywood. The entertainment industry is a dominant force in people's lives and almost all of it is godless.
Seems to me that instead of pointing the finger at Hollywood and saying they're to blame, Christians should be blaming themselves. No one is forcing them to watch Hollywood productions. For that matter, I would wonder why Dave Christiano is marketing his program to a network that regularly preaches heresy. Does he know
his Bible?
Biblically Illiterate Christians???
Here's a shocker, coming from the Boston Globe:
Holy Book Learning Americans are shockingly illiterate when it comes to religions -- including their own.
Stephen Prothero, a professor of religious studies and chair of the religion department at Boston University, thinks he may have found something that conservative Christians and liberal secularists can agree on: It's not a good thing if students, whether religious or not, think Joan of Arc was Noah's wife -- or stare blankly when a teacher (or President Bush or Hillary Clinton) refers to a "Good Samaritan."
In his new book, "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't," Prothero lays out the evidence of what he considers Americans' paradoxical, and troubling, religious ignorance. According to various surveys conducted since 1990, half of all Americans can't name even one of the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), the cornerstone of the New Testament. A majority can't name the first book of the Bible (Genesis). This suggests a curious unfamiliarity with a text that two-thirds of Americans believe contains the answers to all of life's questions.
This ignorance about basic religious and Biblical matters crosses all sorts of sectarian lines. In a survey from 2000, 60 percent of evangelicals, but only 51 percent of Jews, answered yes when asked whether Jesus was born in Jerusalem (the New Testament says he was born, as we're reminded by all those Christmas carols, in Bethlehem). Less surprising, students do even worse when asked almost anything about religions besides Christianity. Prothero has replicated these findings in surveys of his own students at BU.
If Christians ever became familiar with their own Scriptures I might have to shut down this blog, since the Word-Faith and Prophetic proponents, among others, would be out of business. In fact, everyone would undoubtedly turn Lutheran!
Labels: Scriptural Illiteracy
Anna Nicole Smith Was Cursed!!
Nothing like capitalizing on the dead! Exorcist Bob Larson's February 27 e-mail warns us about "generational curses":
Don’t let you and your family, and those you care about, suffer needlessly because Satan has the right to inflict pain and suffering through generational curses. Remove the legal right of Satan to your life. Let me teach you the right kind of prayers and renunciations that will once and for all break Satan’s hold on you and your family.
The death of the buxom blonde Anna Nicole Smith was no shock.
... The autopsy will only tell what physically killed her, not the spiritual reason behind her death. Anna Nicole was set up by Satan. Generational and family curses were hanging over her head from the day she was born. These curses grew stronger the longer she lived.
How can I so positively say I know what killed her? After three decades of confronting the forces of darkness and performing more exorcisms than anyone on the planet, I have learned valuable lessons about the destructive way that demons operate through curses.
...On my DVD HOW TO BREAK GENERATIONAL CURSES I explain in detail how Satan continues his evil through the family bloodline, generation to generation. You must see this DVD to prevent Satan’s attacks on your children and grandchildren. You may not live a wild and immoral life like Ms. Smith, but you may still be cursed by your ancestors.
...For your gift of $50 or more, I’ll send both DVDs, plus one of the most important documents you’ll ever hold in your hands: THE LAWSUIT AGAINST SATAN. This spiritually legal transaction will teach you how to legally confront the devil and file a lawsuit against him in the courts of heaven.
Well, guess we shouldn't argue with someone who claims (see above) to have performed more exorcisms than anyone on the planet (he didn't say which planet, though).
Labels: Bob Larson
So THIS Is What Jesus Meant By Our Daily Bread!!!
The following testimonial is currently on the
prophetic Elijah List website:
Just letting you know I love this website. This is my daily bread. The Lord has led me in the prophetic for years but I did not know there were many others like me. I have felt isolated until a friend at church introduced me to this website. I pull it up every morning before I get started with my day and reading it makes the difference in my day. This is the good stuff! Thanks.
Yep, rather than being fed by the Word of God every morning, it's the Elijah List that makes the difference in her life!
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." 2 Tim. 4:3
Labels: ; False Doctrine, Elijah List
Dr. Seuss - Prophet
Did you know Dr. Seuss was a prophet? I doubt he knew that either, but the prophet has spoken and it apparently is so, according to
Elijah List's Lou Engle:
New! - "Horton Gets a Clue (with Book 'Horton Hears a Who')" by Lou Engle $19.99 Book and 2 Audio CDs
This offer includes a copy for adults and little children of Horton Hears a Who -- an "accidental," yet highly prophetic book for this MOMENT in history, yet penned in 1954 by Dr. Seuss.
God is CALLING YOU to be a part of one of the most significant prophetic moments of the ages!
Put on your crash helmet and buckle up -- these messages by Lou Engle will "wreck" you for good! You'll hear some of the most amazing prophetic testimony and insight that is sure to impact your life (and possibly the lives of many others) forever.
Labels: Elijah List, Lou Engle
