Moriel Be Alert! 16 Aug 2007 The word of the LORD has become a reproach

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Be Alert! The word of the LORD has become a reproach

Published by Moriel Ministries

August 16, 2007



	Shalom in Christ Jesus, Jeremiah 6:10 To whom shall I speak and give warning That they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed And they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the LORD has become a reproach to them; They have no delight in it. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. Romans 16:17-18 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Revelation 17:3-6 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. 2 Corinthians 2:15 -17 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.



	1) Harry welcomed into church THE GUARDIAN [Guardian Media Group, UK] - By Michelle Pauli - August 2, 2007 It's been a couple of weeks since the record-breaking publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and while most of the familiar elements - midnight queues, speed-reading reviewers, claims that JK Rowling can't write for toffee - were present and correct, one thing seemed to be missing this time round. Where are the pictures of angry, book-burning Christians? Where are the denouncements of the books as pagan incitements to the occult, drawing the nation's children down the path of witchcraft? It has all been strangely quiet on the theological front. While the view from the lunatic fringe of American evangelism doubtless remains as rabid as ever, there are signs of a definite softening of attitudes in the UK. The clearest of these is the publication last month of a Church of England guidebook to the billion-selling series - Mixing It Up With Harry Potter by Kent youth worker Owen Smith. Aimed at 9-13 year olds, the book uses JK Rowling's magical novels as the basis of 12 lessons - or "sessions" - which provide the basis for an hour's discussion and activities, from film clips to prayers. The book draws parallels between events in the books and the real world to explore concepts such as sacrifice and mercy. Owen Smith has little time for claims that the books are dangerous: "The magic in the books is simply part of the magic that JK Rowling has created, in the same way that magic is part of the world of Christian writers such as CS Lewis. To say, as some have, that these books draw younger readers towards the occult seems to me both to malign JK Rowling and to vastly underestimate the ability of children and young people to separate the real from the imaginary." The Rt Revd John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford, agrees. "Although the fictional world of Harry Potter is very different from our own, Harry and his friends face struggles and dilemmas that are familiar to us all. Jesus used storytelling to engage and challenge his listeners. There's nothing better than a good story to make people think, and there's plenty in the Harry Potter books to make young people think about the choices they make in their everyday lives and their place in the world." In 2000, Warner Bros was refused permission by the church to use Canterbury Cathedral in the first Harry Potter. The studio wanted to turn the sacred monument into Harry's wizarding school, Hogwarts, but was turned down by cathedral authorities concerned about the story's "pagan" theme. The Roman Catholic church, meanwhile, made their position clear four years ago in a Vatican document which set out its views on the "new age". Father Peter Fleetwood, a member of the Vatican's council for culture said at the time, "I don't see any problems in the Harry Potter series." He went on to say that the good-versus-evil message of the books was consistent with Christian morality. - - - - Also Fans Flock to Stores for Harry Potter ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Jill Lawless - July 20, 2007 LONDON - The witching hour is almost here. Thousands of would-be warlocks, sorcerers and ordinary, non-magical Muggles lined up outside bookstores from Sydney to Seattle on Friday, eager to get their hands on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final volume in the boy wizard's saga. In a now-familiar ritual that is part sales frenzy and part Halloween party, bookstores across Britain were flinging open their doors at a minute past midnight Saturday. Shops as far afield as Singapore and Australia were putting the book on sale at the same time; the United States was to follow from midnight EDT. - - - "Deathly Hallows" has a print run of 12 million in the United States alone, and Internet retailer Amazon says it has taken 2.2 million orders for the book - 47 percent higher than the pre-order for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Britain's Royal Mail says it will deliver 600,000 copies on Saturday - one for every 43 households in the country. - - - - Read Full Report Author calls Potter 'Christian literature' Insists Rowling is believer who incorporates faith into books WORLDNETDAILY - By Jennifer Carden - July 12, 2007 Homeschooling mother and literature expert Nancy Brown once banned all "Harry Potter" books from her home, having heard witness after witness to the book's "evil" content. But when a trusted friend recommended she give the boy wizard a second chance, she did - with great trepidation. The results of her tests were a surprise to both the Catholic community, and to Brown herself, and are detailed in Brown's "The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide." "I began reading the first book, and immediately, I started absorbing the plotline, the characters. The fact that they were witches immediately fell to the background. First and foremost, they were people," Brown told WND. After she encountered the humanity of the characters, Brown found that the themes became infinitely relatable, and even spiritual. "This was a story about good and evil," she said. "The choices that Harry Potter had to make were important. His momentary despairs, his aching feelings for his parents - these things resonated with me." "I thought, 'Gee, these books really do have good themes, although they were couched a story about witches and wizards,'" she said. Brown's conclusions are in opposition to the positions adopted by others regarding the books. - - - - Read Full Report Believe it or not: the sceptics beat God in bestseller battle THE OBSERVER [Guardian Media Group, UK] - By David Smith - August 12, 2007 Struggling authors should keep the faith - literally. Sales of books that explore religion or spirituality have grown by more than 50 per cent in the past three years, according to online retailer Amazon. The boom surpasses the rise in sales of books in categories such as history, which have grown by 38 per cent, and politics, up by 30 per cent, confirming that religion has become a pivotal topic in the early 21st century. But the statistics may not make uplifting reading for believers. The most popular 'religious' book, says Amazon, is The God Delusion, an anti-faith polemic by Richard Dawkins, the academic who has been dubbed 'Darwin's rottweiler'. Second is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, another broadside at holy citadels, by the journalist Christopher Hitchens. Amazon said that the third most popular book in the category was Jesus of Nazareth by the Pope, followed by a perennial favourite among readers seeking spiritual fulfilment, Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist: A Fable about Following your Dream and a riposte to Dawkins entitled The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by Alister and Joanna McGrath. - - - - Read Full Report Related, as many somehow consider Oprah a Christian -- she certainly is not. Publisher Nan Talese's Remarks on Oprah Winfrey Doubleday Publisher Slams 'sanctimonious' Oprah See Video Read Full Report


	2) The Deadly Virus of Celebrity Christianity Anyone flipping through a copy of Charisma has seen the full-page ads for conferences with this "apostle" and that "prophet". Now even they must respond to the un-Christian acts that these false teachers but sadly don't name them to warn others as scripture does. It's a start that Charisma wants to address this problem but they need to deal with it biblically or their work is of no avail. Someone could literally read this column and be outraged and attend one of these false ministers meetings the next day. BE/\LERT CHARISMA - By J. Lee. Grady, editor - August 2007 Some bigheaded preachers demand rock star treatment. If the apostle Paul were around today he might throw rocks at them. Just when I thought we charismatics had finally taken enough abuse from the egomaniac ministers in our midst, I've learned that some of our leaders are taking things to a new extreme. We've moved beyond the red carpets, limousines and entourages of the 1990s. A new strain of the celebrity virus is spreading in large segments of the church. One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to see if a prominent preacher could speak at her conference. The minister's assistant faxed back a list of requirements that had to be met in order to book a speaking engagement. The demands included: a five-figure honorarium a $10,000 gasoline deposit for the private plane a manicurist and hairstylist for the speaker a suite in a five-star hotel a luxury car from the airport to the hotel (2004 model or newer) room-temperature Perrier This really makes me wonder how the apostle Paul, Timothy or Priscilla managed ministering to so many people in Ephesus, Corinth and Thessalonica. How did they survive without a manicurist if they broke a nail while laying hands on the sick? I was relieved to know that this celebrity preacher's requirements in 2007 did not include a set of armed bodyguards-because I just might want to jump uninvited into her Rolls-Royce and say a few words. It gets worse, if you can believe it. At a charismatic conference in an East Coast city recently, a pastor stood on a stage in front of a large crowd and smugly announced that the guest speaker was "more than an apostle." Then the host asked everyone to bow down to the person, claiming that this posture was necessary to release God's power. "This is the only way you can receive this kind of anointing!" the host declared, bowing in front of the speaker. Immediately, about 80 percent of the audience fell prostrate on the floor. The few who were uncomfortable with the weird spiritual control in the room either walked out or stood in silent protest. So today, I guess it's not enough to feed a celebrity preacher's ego by treating them like a rock star. We also are required to worship him. And apparently in some places you even have to pay big bucks to speak with him. In a city in the South, a well-known preacher is known to ask for money in order to secure a five- or 10-minute counseling session. The minister uses Proverbs 18:16, "A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men" (NASB), to support this bizarre practice. Some people are known to give more than $1,000 for a short meeting. People on fixed incomes need not apply. (That would include lepers, blind beggars, Samaritan women or any other social outcasts who were welcomed and healed by Jesus without payment.) What has become of the American church? What is this sickness spreading in the body of Christ? I don't know whom to blame more for it: The narcissistic minister who craves the attention, or the spiritually naive crowds who place these arrogant people on their shaky pedestals. All I know is that God is grieved by all of this shameful carnality. How far we have fallen from authentic New Testament faith. Paul, who carried the anointing of an apostle but often described himself as a bond slave, told the Thessalonians, "Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives" (1 Thess. 2:8) New Testament Christianity is humble, selfless and authentic. And those who carry the truth don't preach for selfish gain or to meet an emotional need for attention. May God help us root out the false apostles and false teachers who are making the American church sick with their man-centered, money-focused heresies. Read Full Report



	3) Laughing all the way to nirvana Jackie Alnor noted while passing this one on that this "Laughter Yoga" started in 1995, around the same time or just after the so-called Toronto Outporing and it's holy or drunken laughter and other related phenomena involving Rodney Howard Brown in both the US and Canada. What bothers me the most is that most fundamentalist yoga instructors (the serious ones who do not deny it's spiritual roots) will all tell you that one is opening themselves up to the occult when they practice any form of it. Yet, most Christians these days with their "compartmentalization" western worldview which is un-biblical and a masterpiece of Satan along with their desire to be positive (pop-psychology) and "balanced" (also unscriptural as they interpret it) dismiss this all to their own peril. Is there anything that can wake them from their stupor? BE/\LERT! THE JERUSALEM POST - By Carl Hoffman - July 17, 2007 It is twilight in the green, leafy suburb of Ra'anana - the end of a long, hot early-summer day. Lights are twinkling on in a large back room of the "Mishkan," Ra'anana's fancy new Center for Music and Arts. The big doors are thrown open, and an odd array of people begins to trickle in. - - - All of the adults appear to be blue-and-white "sabra" Israelis; they converse softly in Hebrew. A few minutes later, a tall, big-boned woman dramatically enters the room, with flying long, blond curly hair, a huge smile and a big voice that resonates loudly throughout the room. The others, aware of the big lady's arrival, perk up and begin to form a circle around the room - children and their doting adults - and wait for "the moment." When "the moment" comes, it is nothing less than extraordinary. The tall woman begins to laugh an almost incredible laugh, consisting of loud throaty inhaled gasps. The others begin to laugh along with her, each in his or her own style. The laughter seems tentative at first, somewhat self- conscious - almost forced. But as the tall lady's weird laugh grows louder, the others are soon laughing for real, happily and with increasing abandon. They stand there together in the circle in a back room of the "Mishkan," smack in the middle of Ra'anana, and they laugh. And laugh. And laugh. Whether they are aware of it or not, these laughing children and their parents are participating in one of the latest New Age fads to reach Israel, known as "Laughter Yoga." Among the world's newest varieties of India's ancient practice of meditative philosophy, Laughter Yoga is the creation of Dr. Madan Kataria, a family physician in Mumbai (Bombay), and his wife Madhuri, a yoga teacher. It all began in March 1995, when Dr. Kataria was writing an article called "Laughter: The Best Medicine" for a monthly health magazine. Fascinated by an overwhelmingly large body of scientific literature that described in great length the proven benefits of laughter on the human mind and body, he decided to get up from his desk and field-test the evidence on living subjects: himself and anyone else he could persuade to assist him. At 7 am the next morning, he went to his local public park and somehow managed to recruit four people to start a "laughter club" with him. Within a few days, this first fledgling group grew to more than 50 laughing participants. At first they stood in a circle and told jokes. But when the jokes began to run out and people started drifting away, Kataria hurriedly re-read the scientific literature and found exactly what he needed to know: that the human brain does not know how to distinguish between real and fake laughter. Whether spontaneous or forced, laughter makes the brain produce the same happy chemical. Katari thus realised that people can laugh for no reason - even when nothing "funny" is going on - and still feel better afterwards. When his yoga-teacher wife, Madhuri Katari, suggested that gentle breathing, stretching and rhythmic clapping would deepen the impact of the laughter, Laughter Yoga was born. Seveteen years after the formation of that first "laughter club" in a Mumbai park, there are more than 5,000 similar clubs in over 40 countries, most of them public and free of charge. Not just restricted to children and park-goers, Laughter Yoga is also finding its way into the agendas of many professional staff meetings, training sessions, corporate gatherings and executive staff retreats throughout the world. The tall lady with the big smile and peculiar laugh leading the group in Ra'anana is Mariela Netz-Kleist. Trained in Jerusalem and Majorca, Spain, by none other than "Laughter Yoga Master" Dr. Madan Katari himself, Mariela has been teaching Laughter Yoga for four years. In Ra'anana, she teaches this mixed class of children and adults, which often has as many as 40 participants, and an adult class with 20 students. "Laughter Yoga is about stress management, the health benefits of laughter, and using laughter in all areas of day-to-day life, to make us feel better and live better," she explains. "This is laughter for no reason. We don't use humor for the laughter. The humor comes after the laughter." - - - Netz-Kleist is a certified Laughter Yoga teacher, having first taken the standard two-day course to become a leader, enabling her to run groups like the one in Ra'anana, followed by a one-week course to become a teacher. Today, she spends much of her time teaching people to be Laughter Yoga group leaders. "When I and my colleagues do this here in Israel, we add an 'Israeli touch,'" she says. What is the Israeli touch? Netz-Kleist begins to produce her "trademark" laugh as she explains, "Oh, we are the craziest leaders. We were in Berlin last May for a Laugher Yoga leader conference. We were five Israelis. We laughed out loud, louder than anyone else, because we have very little manners. We brought a lot of energy and swept everyone away with our laughter and crazy exercises." Netz-Kleist notes that the "Laughter Yoga community here in Israel is relatively large, with more than 300 leaders. We have classical yoga teachers, doctors, even belly dancers. We try to meet at least twice a year. Everyone brings new ideas, new bits and pieces, and we learn from each other." While there is little doubt that Laughter Yoga is indeed "laughter," some purists and traditionalists question whether it is really "yoga." If we define yoga in its traditional, 5,000-year-old Indian concept of a unity of body, mind and cosmic spirit - of joining the body with the mind and then transcending both to connect with the universal energy - than Laughter Yoga clearly is something quite different. It not only lacks the ancient ideological principals of unity and transcendence, but also has none of the usual postures, or asanas, associated with other forms of yoga. Hatha yoga for example, the most popular type of yoga in the west, leads its practitioners through almost 200 postures, movements and breathing techniques. Laughter Yoga involves virtually none of these. Other authorities, however, find much of the essence of yoga in Laughter Yoga. Devon Dederich, highly acclaimed teacher of Iyengar Yoga in Austin Texas, points to Laughter Yoga's ability to break down emotional walls within oneself and lead the mind to greater stability and contentment. "Yoga acknowledges that an essential component of a stable mind is a sense of general contentment and happiness, if not joy in one's being. Further, in order to counter the bad things that the mind and body (but mostly the mind) do that obstruct the yoga process, one needs to focus on warming the heart and opening one's mind to the work ahead by benevolence, compassion, joy, and even joy amid intense suffering. Yoga expressly says that the way to enlightenment is the opposite of fear, anger, and negativity. One might well become enlightened by seeing through that fear." - - - - Read Full Report



	4) Emergent Christians finding a new path "We feel the path of Christ is not in upward mobility; it's in downward," Gideon Tsang said. Austin American-Statesman - By Eileen E. Flynn - August 12, 2007 - - - Vox members have now bought or are renting six homes in the predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhood, driven by a desire to share their resources by living among people who have less. Vox members hope to set up computer training classes, teach kids to build bikes and work as mentors in nearby public schools. "It's all grace," Tsang said. "What we receive, we now have to give back." The Tsangs and their friends are among thousands of young Christians around the country and abroad who are re-examining what it means to follow Jesus and changing not only how they worship, but also how they live. They say they are paring down the Gospel message to what they see as essential and challenging the definition of church. Following Christ, they say, is not about building bricks-and-mortar sanctuaries but seeing the world outside church walls as God's sanctuary. "It's not that the church meeting on Sunday isn't sacred," said Evan Wilson, a 20-year-old Vox Veniae member, "but that everything we do is sacred." - - - Some scholars who have watched the movement see young people rejecting the consumerism and individualism of the previous generation by simplifying their lives, paying more attention to environmental and social concerns and building stronger connections with other people. They say it is gaining steam and could be Christianity's next reformation; others dismiss it as one of the faith's fleeting fads, like the hippie-driven Jesus People movement in the 1960s and '70s. The movement has taken on a variety of labels - it's called emergent, emerging, postmodern and missional, among other things - although these Christians resist being defined. Their numbers are difficult to estimate because they don't focus on attendance, and their ideas about what church should be cover a wide spectrum: - - - - Read Full Report



	5) 'Jesus' deflowers virgin s-xpot in new comedy Some Christians outraged as Hollywood's hottest spoof Ten Commandments WARNING: This has to be one of the sickest things I have yet to see. The link to the Full Report has some pictures from the show that I find very offensive and suggestive and could even cause one to stumble so I suggest that one be prayerful before proceeding. BE/\LERT! WORLDNETDAILY - By Joe Kovacs - July 29, 2007 A new comedy spoof on the Ten Commandments portrays Jesus Christ deflowering a virgin librarian, and is raising some eyebrows in the Christian community. "The Ten," rated R for pervasive strong, crude sexual content, language and some drug material, stars Jessica Alba, Winona Ryder, Gretchen Mol and Liev Schrieber among others. The movie which opens Friday features ten separate stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments from the Holy Bible. - - - - Read Full Report



	6) Authorities find a lot wrong with Buddhist reptile rite Serpents in The River? More fruit of a post-Christian, neo-pagan society HERALD NEWS [North Jersey Media Group] (Passaic County, NJ) - By Samantha Henry - August 14, 2007 PATERSON - Ancient ritual met with modern consequence Monday, as state environmental authorities said they were searching for a religious group that released hundreds of live reptiles into the Passaic River on Sunday as part of a Buddhist rite. Members from a New York sect of Amitabha Buddhists -- devout vegetarians who believe in the sanctity of all living creatures -- said Sunday they had purchased the creatures in New York's Chinatown for the purpose of setting them free. Ann Chin, a member of the group, said on Sunday they chose the Passaic River because it was the nearest body of freshwater to New York City, where the eels, frogs and turtles they let go had the best chance of surviving and realizing their full karmic potential. State officials said Monday that the practice was illegal and that they were working with New York authorities to track down the group. Jim Cussen, a captain in the law enforcement arm of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish & Wildlife, said Monday there were no permits on file for the group and that the illegal stocking of fish or other species was a civil offense punishable by fines of up to $1,000. - - - - Read Full Report



	7) In America? Islamic prayers finally dropped WORLDNETDAILY - August 1, 2007 Officials at a public elementary school in San Diego are dropping special times for Islamic prayers and classes segregated by sex, changes they had made when students from a failing Arabic-language charter school joined them a year ago. An investigation was launched into what was done at San Diego's Carver Elementary after a substitute teacher, Mary-Frances Stevens, filled in there. She reported a teacher's aide was leading children in an Islamic prayer and that she was given a lesson plan allowing an hour of class time for Islamic prayers. - - - - Also California: Islamic group calls for hate-crime investigation in mosque arson ASSOCIATED PRESS - August 13, 2007 ANTIOCH, Calif.-An Islamic group called on authorities Monday to launch a hate-crime investigation into a fire that caused $200,000 in damage to an Antioch mosque. Investigators with the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District said they are treating the fire that broke out early Sunday morning at the Islamic Center of the East Bay as possible arson, but have found no evidence it was motivated by religion. Safaa Ibrahim, executive director of the San Francisco Bay area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the fire was part of an ongoing campaign to "terrorize" members of the local Muslim community. - - - Ibrahim said the blaze was apparently started by the burning of religious texts and is the latest attempt to frighten local Muslims. "It's an act of terror, it's an act of violence against this community and this mosque," she said. "They targeted this as an Islamic mosque. They didn't go to just any other building." - - - - Read Full Report Read Full Report



	8) Doctors give in to Muslims DAILY EXPRESS [Express Newspprs/Northern-Shell plc.] (LONDON) - By Tom Fullerton - August 13, 2007 Doctors and health workers have been banned from eating lunch at their desks - in case it offends their Muslim colleagues. Health chiefs believe the sight of food will upset Muslim workers when they are celebrating the religious festival Ramadan. The lunch trolley is also to be wheeled out of bounds as the 30-day fast begins next month. But staff and politicians branded the move political correctness gone mad and warned that it was a step too far. Bill Aitken, the Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: "This advice, well-meaning as it may be, is total nonsense. "It is the sort of thing that can stir up resentment rather than result in good relations." The new guidance comes in the wake of the failed terror attacks on Glasgow and the death of suspect Kafeel Ahmed, 27. - - - - Read Full Report



	9) Red Mosque Fueled Islamic Fire in Young Women NEW YORK TIMES - By Somini Sengupta - July 24, 2007 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 23 - Hameeda Sarfraz, 19, lively eyes sparkling out of a black burqa, was describing the boons of the afterlife. "In heaven you get everything without hardship," explained Miss Sarfraz, daughter of a bus driver. "In heaven, if a martyr feels hungry, food appears, the best quality food, and you won't even know where it came from." Miss Sarfraz, an alumna of the now bullet-ridden Jamia Hafsa Islamic school for girls, says she deeply regrets missing her chance to be a martyr. She fled through the back door of the school on July 3, just hours after a gun battle began between Pakistani special forces and militants holed up in the neighboring Red Mosque, the parent institution of Jamia Hafsa. Sentiments like hers are the fruits of a radical Islam that has blossomed in this country - not just in the lawless tribal areas that American intelligence officials described as an enduring sanctuary for Al Qaeda, but here in its capital, in a mosque-and- school compound that until recently enjoyed the blessings of the state. - - - - Also Woman raped before "honor killing": court REUTERS - July 19, 2007 LONDON - A Kurdish woman was brutally raped, stamped on and strangled by members of her family and their friends in an "honor killing" carried out at her London home because she had fallen in love with the wrong man. Banaz Mahmod, 20, was subjected to the 2-1/2 hour ordeal before she was garroted with a bootlace. Her body was stuffed into a suitcase and taken about 100 miles to Birmingham where it was buried in the back garden of a house. - - - Last month a jury found her father Mahmod Mahmod, 52, and his brother Ari Mahmod, 51, guilty of murder after a three-month trial. Their associate Mohamad Hama, 30, had earlier admitted killing her. - - - - Read Full Report Over 20,000 Russian Muslims to make pilgrimage this year INTERFAX - June 27, 2007 Moscow - Around 20,500 Russian Muslims are expected to make the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this year, member of the commission for religions at the Russian government Ahmed Bilalov said. "The year 2007 is a landmark in the history of pilgrimages from Russia. Firstly, the hajj will be made twice: in the beginning of January and in late December 2007. Secondly, Russia will use its quota of 20,500 pilgrims provided by international agreements in full for the first time," Bilalov said to Interfax after talks at the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Hajj. - - - Around 18,000 Russians Muslims made the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in late 2006. Read Full Report Read Full Report



	10) Egypt: 'We are Christian,' boys tell Muslims Told to take conversion test for Islam or lose education WORLDNETDAILY - July 31, 2007 Two young boys ordered to take a school test that would result in their conversion to Islam wrote, "I am Christian," on the exam papers, knowing in advance that could very well spell the end of their educations. Now a U.S.-based organization is lobbying for international pressure on Egypt to quit forcing Christians into such no-win situations. "What brought the case to the public attention is the categorical refusal of the two kids to pass the Islamic exams and convert to Islam, stating, 'they will not deny their Christianity and convert to Islam no matter what it would cost them,'" Sam Grace, a spokesman for Coptic News said. - - - Grace said Egypt's ministry of education ordered the boys to take the test that would result in their conversion to Islam because their father, who left the family about five years ago, had decided to convert from Christianity to Islam. The parents, Medhat Ramses and Camellia Medhat were a Christian couple when the boys were born, but the father then divorced the mother, leaving his sons behind, and converted to Islam to marry a Muslim. But Islamic religious law, which has been adopted by the civil government in Egypt, requires that children follow the faith of any parent who converts to Islam, "since Islam is the superior religion that abrogated all other religions," Grace said. And leaving the children "to follow the corrupted religions (Christianity and Judaism) of the other parent would be condemning the kids to the doom of hell fire where Christians, Jews and all other non-Muslims are destined," he said. - - - - Read Full Report



	11) Human rights activists arrested in Egypt Supporters fear torture because men held incommunicado WORLDNETDAILY - August 11, 2007 Egypt, which appears to be intensifying its crackdown on Christianity in recent months, now has arrested and detained two Egyptian Christian human rights activists who are connected to a Canadian ministry. According to Christian Solidarity International, members of Egypt's State Security Investigations took Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat Mounir into custody, and confiscated computers and documents from their homes. The prisoners were being held incommunicado at the Lazoghly Square headquarters of the federal agency, and while no formal charges were announced, security statements accuse the two of insulting Islam, preaching Christianity and maintaining an unlawful association with a foreign organization. Faltas heads the Egyptian branch of the Canadian- based Middle East Christians Association, a religious liberty group, and Mounir is believed to be an associate with the group. The group's corporate identity statement calls for secularism, equality and full citizenship for Christians in Egypt, as well as the rest of the Middle East. - - - - Read Full Report



	12) Afghan Police Find Body of Second South Korean Hostage ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 31, 2007 GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Police discovered the body of a second South Korean hostage slain by the Taliban in central Afghanistan while the group threatened Tuesday to kill more hostages if their demands were not met by Wednesday, the latest of several deadlines. South Korea, meanwhile, pleaded with the international community to set aside the normal practice of refusing to cave into hostage-takers' demands, as it urged a peaceful resolution to a standoff. Twenty-one South Koreans remain captive. "The (South Korean) government is well aware of how the international community deals with these kinds of abduction cases," said a statement from the president's office. "But it also believes that it would be worthwhile to use flexibility in the cause of saving the precious lives of those still in captivity and is appealing (to) the international community to do so." The comments came after Afghan officials found the body of Shim Sung-min, 29, a former information technology worker who was volunteering with the South Korean church group on an aid mission to Afghanistan. He was killed Monday after two deadlines given by the Taliban demanding the release of insurgent prisoners passed with no action. Last week the church group's leader, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was fatally shot in unclear circumstances. - - - - Read Full Report



	13) Preaching in public gets minister fined Police tell European pastor biblical message 'is not good' WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - August 10, 2007 The conviction and $1,500 fine for a street preacher who feels his calling is to share the gospel on the streets of Oslo, Norway, has been upheld by an intermediate court, and an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is likely, according to the International Human Rights Group. IHRG President Joel Thornton told WND in an e-mail from Norway that he'd been advised the court ruling, to be released soon, will affirm the discipline against Petar Keseljevic, who describes himself as the first street preacher in Norway. He was in the city's downtown area on June 29 and 30, and on the second day was arrested for delivering a gospel message, even though he'd been told by city officials he could exercise his free speech rights on the public sidewalks without a permit, Thornton told WND. He was released after a few hours, and fined 9,000 Kroners, about $1,500, then appealed, and the IHRG got involved. "He is a strong Christian brother who has a very definite calling to preach the gospel on the streets of Oslo - his hometown," Thornton said. "He preaches a very sound biblical message about the sin of man and the need to repent and turn to God through His Son, Jesus Christ. I found Petar's enthusiasm to be infectious." In a video on the IHRG website, Keseljevic describes his reason for preaching: "In these last days it is important that someone takes a stand and do what the message is meant for, share it," he said. Thornton reported he was able to walk the streets of Oslo where Keseljevic had been preaching in June. "One of his early stops was at a street corner where he began preaching to the passersby and a crowd that was gathered. While he was preaching someone threw a full bottle of beer that whizzed by his head, missing by inches, and burst open on the sidewalk beside Petar," Thornton said. The next day he was preaching during a local parade to people who had gathered to watch. "Soon the police arrived and told him that his amplification device was too loud. Petar immediately turned down the volume and continued to preach. The policemen moved across the street for a few minutes and called the precinct. Then they returned and told Petar that his message was not good for the parade and that he would have to move," Thornton said. The officers directed him to a remote corner along a busy street, away from any pedestrians, and he refused to go, stating he believed he had the right to preach on the public sidewalks. "That is a right that is guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, which Norway has agreed to uphold," Thornton said. He was then arrested. - - - - Read Full Report



	14) Cambodia bans door-to-door evangelism Allows religious literature only inside church buildings WORLDNETDAILY - July 31, 2007 A new directive has been issued by the government in Cambodia that essentially eliminates Christian evangelism, according to a new report from Voice of the Martyrs. Sources told the Christian ministry that works to serve members of the persecuted church worldwide that the new directive from the state Ministry of Cults and Religions ordered that Christian groups no longer are allowed to visit door-to-door in Cambodia. That, the government concluded, "disrupts society." The directive also said the distribution of religious literature should be confined to church buildings, VOM said. And those church buildings, of course, can only be built with government approval. Government officials told VOM sources that the ruling was aimed at reducing Christian evangelism throughout Cambodia, a primarily Buddhist nation. "They can do any activity inside their institutions, but are not allowed to go door-to-door," Sun Kim Hun, a deputy minister of cult and religion, was quoted as saying. Authorities said the limit will be applied to all non- Buddhist groups, but its target is the Christian community, which the government accused of participating in campaigns such as offering clothing, food or language lessons, and then introducing people to Christianity. Reports said in addition to disrupting peoples' lives, such activities also "cause other insecurities." Reports estimate that more than 80 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people are Buddhist, and only about 1 percent are Christian. Mission outreaches estimate only about 2,000 of the 12,000 Christians in Cambodia during the Killing Fields slaughters of the 1970s survived. But the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia now estimates there are 130,000 Christians meeting in several thousand small churches around the country. - - - - Read Full Report



	15) India: Christians targeted in unprovoked attacks Gangs use guns, knives, sticks, stones to injure leaders WORLDNETDAILY - August 11, 2007 Another series of unprovoked attacks on Christian ministries in India have been documented by Voice of the Martyrs, the ministry to persecuted Christians around the world, raising concerns that the trend will continue to grow. In recent months, an increasing number of attacks by Hindus have been reported on Christian organizations or individuals. In Hindu-dominated parts of the world, such attacks often are violent and sometimes lethal, while in the United States they have remained verbal. According to VOM, one of the recent attacks was in Rajasthan, India, where five men launched an attack on Emmanuel Ministries. Voice of the Martyrs contacts in the region reported that the attackers carried handguns and a sword but also used a large stick and rocks and stones in the attack. "They started fighting Mr. Jetha, one of the ministry office staff. They shouted that they would kill 'M.A.' [a ministry member], and Samuel Thomas, the leader of Emmanuel Ministries, and continuously beat Mr. Jetha," the sources told VOM. "They threatened that they would 'kill and willingly go to prison for six years,'" the sources confirmed. In a second incident a few days later, members of Believers Assembly Church in Sri Ganga Nagar District were ordered to police headquarters after Hindu fundamentalists complained believers were converting local villagers, the sources said. "The new believers were threatened by police and pressured to leave Christianity and return to Hinduism. They were also warned that if they fail to return to Hinduism the provisions of the Anti- Conversion Act of Rajasthan, would be used to arrest them," the sources said. In still another attack about the same time as the two in Rajasthan, a mob in Karnataka that included about 15 Bajrang Dal extremists armed with clubs, bats and knives attacked another Believers Church. They beat the pastor mercilessly, the sources said. "The attackers barged into the church and abused the Christians, using filthy language and began hitting and stabbing them. They destroyed the pulpit, chairs, musical instruments, furniture, and window panes and damaged the church walls. The pastor was also severely beaten with a cricket bat and his body was swollen," the sources reported. - - - - Read Full Report



	16) Bishop urges Christians to call God 'Allah' Catholic leader believes it would help ease tensions between religions WORLDNETDAILY - August 15, 2007 Catholic churches in the Netherlands should use the name Allah for God to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians, says a Dutch bishop. Tiny Muskens, the bishop of Breda, told the Dutch TV program "Network" Monday night he believes God doesn't mind what he is called, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported. The Almighty is above such "discussion and bickering," he insisted. Muskens points to Indonesia, where he served 30 years ago, as an example for Dutch churches. Christians in the Middle East also use the term Allah for God. "Someone like me has prayed to Allah yang maha kuasa (Almighty God) for eight years in Indonesia and other priests for 20 or 30 years," Muskens said. "In the heart of the Eucharist, God is called Allah over there, so why can't we start doing that together?" Muskens thinks it could take another 100 years, but eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches, promoting rapprochement between the two religions, he said, according to Radio Netherlands. However, a survey published today in the Netherlands' largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, showed 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled oppose the bishop's view, the Associated Press reported. Some letters to the paper were filled with ridicule for the bishop. "Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun," wrote Welmoet Koppenhol. The chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Gerrit de Fijter, told the Dutch paper he welcomed any attempt to "create more dialogue," according to the AP. But he said, "Calling God 'Allah' does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it." A Muslim spokesman, for Amsterdam's union of Moroccan mosques, said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture from Christians, the AP reported. Tensions with the Netherlands' 1-million-strong Muslim community have been high since the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim avenging a film critical of Islam. Last week, politician Geert Wilders talked about banning the Quran, shortly after the head of a group of former Muslims, Ehsan Jami, compared Islam's prophet Muhammad with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Muskens made similar remarks several year ago about using the name of Allah, Radio Netherlands reported. He also suggested replacing the national Christian holiday Whit Monday - celebrated the day after Pentecost - with an Islamic religious day. The bishop also has offended Muslims, saying in 2005 Islam was a religion without a future because it has too many violent aspects. Read Full Report



	17) If it isn't Roman Catholic then it's not a proper Church, Pope tells Christians THE TIMES of LONDON [News Corporation/Murdoch] - By Richard Owen and Ruth Gledhill - July 11, 2007 The Vatican has described the Protestant and Orthodox faiths as "not proper Churches" in a document issued with the full authority of the Pope. Anglican leaders reacted with dismay, accusing the Roman Catholic Church of paradoxical behaviour. They said that the new 16-page document outling the "defects" of non-Catholic churches constituted a major obstacle to ecumenism. The document said that the Orthodox church suffered from a "wound" because it did not recognise the primacy of the Pope. The wound was "still more profound" in Protestant denominations, it added. It was "difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them", said the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Roman Catholicism was "the one true Church of Christ". The language echoes earlier statements by the same body, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger until he became Pope. The statement appears to be at odds with attempts to soften Pope Benedict's image as a doctrinal hardliner and to present him as a more human figure reaching out to other faiths. And it risks undermining his own efforts for Christian unity. Protestants at the extreme evangelical end of the Anglican spectrum accused Rome of a "lust for power", while welcoming the honesty of the document. Lambeth Palace, the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was more diplomatic. A spokesman issued a statement that lacked any formal welcome, describing the document as "significant". Vatican sources said that the document was an attempt to resolve "confusion" caused by the apparent conflict between the Pope's assertion on his election two years ago that Christian unity was a priority and his insistence in "Dominus Iesus", issued in 2000 when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - that Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox Christians did not belong to "proper" churches. Father Augustine Di Noia, a senior doctrinal official at the Vatican, insisted that the Catholic Church was not "backtracking on ecumenical commitment. But it is fundamental to any kind of dialogue that the participants are clear about their own identity. That is, dialogue cannot be an occasion to accommodate or soften what you understand yourself to be." Vatican officials insist that the Pope's attachment to bedrock traditional values is compatible with dialogue with other Christians. Yesterday's document said that such dialogue remained "one of the priorities of the Catholic Church". The document said that the Second Vatican Council's opening to other faiths - including "ecclesial communities originating with the Reformation" - had recognised there were "many elements of sanctification and truth" in other Christian denominations, but had also emphasised that only Catholicism was fully Christ's Church. The document said that other Christian faiths "lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church". The disappointment of the Anglicans was evident in the response of Canon Gregory Cameron, Dr Williams's former chaplain in Wales and a leading canonical lawyer and scholar who is now ecumenical officer of the Anglican Communion. Canon Cameron said: "In the commentary of this document we are told that 'Catholic ecumenism' appears 'somewhat paradoxical'. It is paradoxical for leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to indicate to its ecumenical partners that it no longer expects all other Christians merely to return to the true (Roman Catholic) Church, but then for Rome to say that it alone has 'full identity' with the Church of Christ, and that all others of us are lacking." He said Anglican bishops had indicated in 1997 that such a position constituted "a major ecumenical obstacle". The Rev David Phillips, General Secretary of the Church Society, said: "Nothing new is said, but it does clarify the way in which the Vatican has torn apart Christianity because of its lust for power. They remind us that in their view that to be a true church one has to accept the ludicrous idea that the Pope is in some special way the successor of the apostle Peter and the supreme earthly leader of the Church. "These claims cannot be justified, biblically, or historically, yet they have been used not only to divide Christians but to persecute them and put them to death. "We are grateful that the Vatican has once again been honest in declaring their view that the Church of England is not a proper Church. Too much dialogue proceeds without such honesty. Therefore, we would wish to be equally open; unity will only be possible when the papacy renounces its errors and pretensions." Read Full Report



	18) Pope: So, you're not Catholic? Then you're not in true Church Benedict ignites holy war of words by stating other groups 'defective' WORLDNETDAILY - July 11, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI has ignited controversy across the world by approving a document saying non-Catholic Christian communities are either defective or not true churches, and the Roman Catholic Church provides the only true path to salvation. "Christ 'established here on earth' only one church," said the document, reasserting the primacy of Catholicism. It said other Christian communities such as Protestants "cannot be called 'churches' in the proper sense" since they don't have what's known as apostolic succession - that is, the ability to trace their bishops back to the original 12 apostles of Jesus. The document said the Orthodox church suffered from a "wound" because it did not recognize the primacy of the pope, adding the wound was "still more profound" among Protestant denominations. It was "difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them," said the statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, purporting Roman Catholicism was "the one true Church of Christ." "These separated churches and communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation," the document read. "In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church." The document, formulated as five questions and answers, repeated sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which angered Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches and did not have the "means of salvation." The Vatican's statement, signed by American Cardinal William Levada, was approved by Benedict June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in the Catholic faith. Protestant leaders wasted no time attacking the statement. "It makes us question whether we are indeed praying together for Christian unity," said the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, a group of 75 million Protestants in more than 100 countries. "It makes us question the seriousness with which the Roman Catholic Church takes its dialogues with the reformed family and other families of the church." Today's edition of the London Times gave the story prominence with a headline reading: "If it isn't Roman Catholic then it's not a proper Church, pope tells Christians." Its online edition also features a messageboard where readers from all over the world are reacting to the pronouncement, including: The pope is being honest in saying what all right thinking Catholics believe. (Brian O Cinneide, Durban, South Africa) The Roman Catholic Church IS the true Church, all others are "off shoots," "break away" or denominations. (Connie, Billings, Montana) I guess the crux of it is that if you don't accept the pope as your leader, then the church you are in is illegitimate. This is most offensive and insincere considering the Roman Catholic Church keeps telling us that it wants to reach out to other Christian and non- Christian faiths. I would say that the Catholic Church is "not proper" for issuing this provocative article not the Christian churches. (Niki Saliba, Melbourne, Australia) I am embarrassed to be Catholic. I feel as if a major part of my ongoing and increasingly difficult decision to remain in the Church has been excised. The pope is going to take the Church back to a time when it was populated by only a hard-core, self-congratulatory few. I guess that will mean fewer parishes to keep open and more donations per capita. (Janet, Ohio) Just shows why it is almost impossible to remain a practicing Catholic. The medium is more important than the message. Do you really think Christ would think it was more important to belong to one brand of Christianity than to live by his teachings? (Maria, Sydney, Australia) - - - - Also Vatican text angers Protestants BBC NEWS - By David Willey - July 11, 2007 ROME - Pope Benedict has approved a new text asserting that Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism are not true Churches in the full sense of the word. The document, issued by a Vatican watchdog, has been criticised as offensive by some Protestants. The text was written by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Pope Benedict before his election as Pope. It states that Christ established only one Church here on earth. Other Christian denominations, it argues, cannot be called Churches in the proper sense because they cannot trace their bishops back to Christ's original apostles. The new text is basically a re-statement of another document known as Domine Jesus, published in the year 2000 under the signature of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope. That document set off a storm of criticism from Protestant and Anglican leaders who felt that the Vatican was failing to take into account progress made towards re-establishing Christian unity in talks with Rome over a period of many years. - - - - Read Full Report Related Considering how many of these new wonders are in the Catholic countries of the south, one being the abomination in Rio de Janeiro. In pictures: New Seven Wonders of the World Read Full Report



	19) L.A. Archdiocese to Pay $600M to Victims ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Gillian Flaccus - July 14, 2007 LOS ANGELES - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will settle its clergy abuse cases for at least $600 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal, The Associated Press learned Saturday. Attorneys for the archdiocese and alleged victims are expected to announce the deal Monday, the day the first of more than 500 clergy abuse cases was scheduled for jury selection, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been made public. The archdiocese and its insurers will pay between $600 million and $650 million to about 500 plaintiffs- an average of $1.2 to $1.3 million per person. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, the sources said. It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split between the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement, and final details were being ironed out over the weekend. Tod Tamberg, an archdiocese spokesman, did not immediately return a call for comment. The settlement would be the largest ever by a Roman Catholic archdiocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. Among the largest total payouts was $100 million in 2004 by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., to settle 90 claims. The Diocese of Covington, Ky., last year agreed to pay $84 million for 552 cases. Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses-Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego-sought bankruptcy protection. - - - - Read Full Report



	20) Catholics to harvest virtual souls in Second Life LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - By Patrick Phelvin - July 31, 2007 Missionaries have been urged to scour the virtual world of online computer games in an attempt to convert cyber souls. The instruction has been made by Father Antonio Spadaro, writing in the Vatican-approved journal La Civilt� Cattolica. He wants Catholics to go online and take part in the simulation game Second Life in an effort to convert some of its eight million participants. Second Life players create virtual versions of themselves, known as Avatars, and can buy, sell and interact with other users in a vast computer-generated world accessed by the internet. - - - - Read Full Report



	21) Vatican Expands Use of Prayer for Conversion of the Jews ARUTZ SHEVA - By Hillel Fendel - July 11, 2007 International Jewish bodies have called upon the Vatican to "clarify" a new Papal edict expanding use of an old prayer that asks Divine help for Jews to overcome their blindness. Pope Benedict XVI issued a directive last week, authorizing expanded use of a prayer service known as the Tridentine Mass. The phrase "perfidious Jews" was removed from the liturgy in question by Pope John XXIII in 1959, such that the anti-Semitism that accompanied it for centuries is not self-evident. However, the prayer, recited on Good Friday, still includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, asking Divine help in removing "the veil from their hearts" and overcoming their "blindness." Jews have responded with great disappointment. The leadership of IJCIC (International Jewish Committee for Inter-Religious Consultations) has sent an urgent letter to the Cardinal responsible for Catholic-Jewish relations, asking for "clarification" regarding the decision. The letter noted the "profound concern within Jewish circles" that have greeted this decision, adding that it can be construed to have turned back the clock on the improvements made in Jewish- Catholic relations since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960's. French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard said on Saturday that the prayer could be changed if it caused difficulties with Jews. The head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said the Papal decision was a "body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations." He told the Catholic News Service, "They understand that 'perfidious' was offensive, but how is this any less offensive?" Foxman noted that the previous pope, John Paul II, had been "very courageous to bring about reconciliation and repair 2,000 years of terrible history in terms of understanding Jews, calling Jews the elder brothers of Christianity... How do we now sit and dialogue when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?" Read Full Report



	22) Papal Promotion of Collective Ownership and Theft BEREAN BEACON - By Richard Bennett and Robert J. Nicholson The present pope, Benedict XVI, and his Vatican system teach that private property is not personal as such, but belongs to all people. His predecessor, Pope John Paul II stated, "Private property, in fact, is under a 'social mortgage,' which means that it has an intrinsi-cally social function, based upon and justified precisely by the principle of the universal des-tination of goods."1 The principle of "the universal destination of goods" is clearly observed in what the present pope endorses in the second part of his encyclical entitled "God is Love."2 Benedict wholly sanctions the principle of the universal ownership of all goods embalmed in the writings of popes Leo XIII, Pius XI, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II.3 The phrase, "all goods," includes not only the goods found in nature but manufactured goods as well. As John Paul II stated, "The vast majority of people can have access to those goods which are intended for common use: both the goods of nature and manufactured goods.''4 Another Vatican Council II document upholds the same principle of the "universal ownership of all goods" and emphatically teaches, "If one is in extreme necessity, he has the right to procure for himself what he needs out of the riches of others."5 Full Article PDF Doc See Full Article



	23) Parish Falls Out of Step, and Favor, With Diocese The dragon and the serpent Another example of how bad things have become. On the plus side this Episcopal congregation is rightly standing against homosexuality and are facing the wrath of the dragon for doing so. However, they are also growing more deceived by the serpent beyond their long held unbiblical positions as you will see with his quote of Rick Warren. There is a truth in this quote but that truth becomes a lie because it is not held in proper context with The Truth, Jesus Christ. Sadly in Warren's case when he says it's "the people, not the steeple", he verifies his focus is all about numbers. BE/\LERT! NEW YORK TIMES - By Alison Leigh Cowan - July 7, 2007 - - - Last month, Connecticut's Episcopal bishop, Andrew D. Smith, defrocked the Rev. Donald L. Helmandollar and ordered the congregation's lay leaders "to vacate the property of Trinity Church, Bristol, and release every claim on the assets of this parish by July 8, 2007." The parishioners had objected to the church's position regarding homosexuals in the clergy. But Father Helmandollar, 68, who joined the clergy late in life, has no plans to go quietly. He said he was confident that parishioners would persevere even if they lost the right to the church, rectory and burial grounds they had held for generations in a fight that seems headed for court. "It's the people, not the steeple," he said, quoting Rick Warren, a popular evangelical author. The courtroom is increasingly familiar territory these days for Episcopal congregations. Growing dissatisfaction within the church over its acceptance and promotion of homosexuals in the clergy has led several dozen congregations to affiliate with more conservative Anglican groups overseas, including the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which reports to the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion. Father Helmandollar and Trinity Church took that step this spring. - - - - Read Full Report



	24) Church won't hold funeral for gay man More serpent and dragon THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS - By Jeffrey Weiss - August 16, 2007 An Arlington church volunteered to host a funeral Thursday, then reneged on the invitation when it became clear the dead man's homosexuality would be identified in the service. The event placed High Point Church in the cross hairs of an issue many conservative Christian organizations are discussing: how to take a hard-line theological position on homosexuality while showing compassion toward gay people and their families. - - - Mr. Sinclair, 46, died Monday. He was a native of Fort Worth, a Navy veteran who served in Desert Storm helping rescuers find downed pilots, and a singer in the Turtle Creek Chorale, said his mother, Eva Bowers. He did not belong to a church. His brother, Lee, is an employee and member of High Point, a nondenominational mega-congregation led by the Rev. Gary Simons. Mr. Simons is the brother-in- law of Joel Osteen, nationally known pastor of Houston's Lakewood Church. When Cecil Sinclair became ill with a heart condition six years ago, church members started praying for him out of love for his brother, Mr. Simons said Thursday. And when Mr. Sinclair died of an infection, a side effect of surgery intended to keep him alive long enough for a heart transplant, a member of the church staff was immediately sent to minister to the family, he said. Both the family and church officials agree that the church volunteered to host a memorial service, feed 100 guests and create a multimedia presentation of photos from Mr. Sinclair's life. But the photos that the family selected alerted church officials that there might be a problem with the service, Mr. Simons said. "Some of those photos had very strong homosexual images of kissing and hugging," he said. "My ministry associates were taken aback." And then, he said, the family asked to have its own people officiate the service. "We had no control over the format of the memorial," Mr. Simons said. Family and friends discovered the church had withdrawn its invitation Wednesday evening, when Lee Sinclair called to tell his mother, she said. Ms. Bowers said that her older son is developmentally disabled, with hearing and vision problems. Nobody from the church called her or Mr. Sinclair's partner, Paul Wagner, to discuss possible changes to the service, Ms. Bowers said. "We could have reached a compromise," she said. "That was never attempted." At least some theological questions could have been worked out, she said. For instance, the family was willing to allow the church to issue an "altar call" asking people to accept Jesus at the end of the service. But it's not clear where the two sides could have found common ground on the central issue. High Point Church opposes homosexuality, and there was no way the church could host a service that appeared to endorse it, Mr. Simons said. "Can you hold the event and condone the sin and compromise our principles?" he said. "We can't." The issue was not so much that Mr. Sinclair was, from the church's perspective, an unrepentant sinner, he said. It's that it was clear from the photos that his friends and family wanted that part of his life to be a significant part of the service. The pastor said that he could imagine a similar situation involving a different sin. Perhaps a mother who is a member of the church loses a son who is a thief or murderer, Mr. Simons said. The church would surely volunteer to hold a service, he said. "But I don't think the mother would submit photos of her son murdering someone," he said. "That's a red light going off." Mr. Sinclair's family and friends reject any such comparison between homosexuality and criminal behavior. Mr. Sinclair came out officially to his family shortly after his service in the Gulf War, his mother said. "We all knew it," she said. "We knew it and accepted it." After the church decided it would not host the funeral service, it offered to pay for another facility, Mr. Simons said. The family declined and found a local funeral home to hold the event Thursday night. - - - - Also Statement by High Point Church in Dallas, Texas Mr. Cecil Sinclair was not a member of High Point Church. Neither was anyone in his family except for the deceased's brother, Lee Sinclair who is an employee of the church. Lee recently requested the church to pray for his brother who was ill. The church prayed for Mr. Sinclair both enthusiastically and faithfully. Lee called an employee of the church to inform him that his brother was in the hospital in critical condition. When the High Point Church employee arrived at the hospital, Mr. Sinclair had already passed. The church employee reached out to the family and tried to comfort them the best he could. The church did offer the family, free of charge, the use of its facility for the memorial service. It was not clear at this time that the family desired a memorial service that would openly celebrate the homosexual lifestyle of Mr. Sinclair. The family requested that the church produce a video of Mr. Sinclair's life for the memorial service. When the photos were presented to the church the day before the scheduled memorial service, there were some inappropriate images that alerted the church to the homosexuality of Mr. Sinclair. One photo showed a man with his hand touching another man's genitalia. The phrase "like hugs and kisses" used by a staff member to describe to the pastor the blatant homosexual reference was mild at best. The family desired an associate of an openly homosexual choir to officiate the service and for the choir to sing. They also desired an open microphone format to allow anyone in attendance to speak. High Point Church ministers would not be directing or have control over what was said or emphasized. It became clear to the church staff that the family was requesting an openly homosexual service at High Point Church - which is not our policy to allow. The decision was made to retract the offer to host the memorial service based on the fact that the service requested would be an openly homosexual service celebrating the homosexual lifestyle. It is important to emphasize that this was not a funeral service with a body to be buried, but a memorial service. The family was informed of the decision. The decision had nothing to do with the fact that Mr. Sinclair was a veteran. High Point does now, and has always, supported our men and women in the military. This decision was not based on hate, or discrimination, but upon principle and policy. Allowing an openly homosexual service in our facility would condone homosexuality as a lifestyle. We could not allow the homosexual lifestyle to be celebrated, flaunted or glorified in our church facility. We could not put inappropriate images on our screens or subject our members and possibly even our children to an openly homosexual service. We cannot condone what the Word of God condemns. The issue was not whether we would hold a memorial service for someone in a lifestyle of sin. We have assisted many families in this regard. The issue was whether we would allow an openly homosexual service that celebrated and emphasized homosexuality in our church. We love the homosexual, but cannot condone the homosexual lifestyle. We could not allow homosexuality to be glorified in this house of worship. - - - - More Read Full Report



	25) Obituaries, Personal Reflection and Tribute DR. MICHAEL HARRY Our dear friend and brother Michael Harry was a British born Anglo-Danish medical missionary, served as Chef of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the Christian Hospital in Nazareth in Galilee, Israel. In his tenure as a Christian medical professional Michael saved the lives of hundreds, (if not thousands) of babies and mothers, but there was much more to Michael than a Christian medical doctor. As an ardent Christian Zionist and supporter of Israel who believed in Jewish evangelism Michael proved himself a friend of Israel and The Jews, just as he proved himself a friend of Arabs & Druses as a Christian physician. Michael was a man of integrity and supreme doctrinal conviction who withstood certain 'pro Israel' Christian organizations with which he had previously been involved after they departed from scriptural standards and biblical ethics. On this common ground he stood shoulder to shoulder with Moriel & Jacob Prasch and first introduced our ministry into Scandinavia. As Moriel administrator, Michael firmly opposed the Toronto Deception when unscrupulous theocrats imported that counterfeit revival into Scandinavia via The UK. Because of his staunch pro-life position, Michael was forced into an early retirement from the medical profession as he vehemently opposed non therapeutic abortion on both medical and theological grounds: Michael entered the medical profession as a Christian OB-GYN to save the lives of the unborn, not to kill them. He devoted the rest of his days to full time Christian service representing Moriel in Denmark until frail health compounded by a serious household accident made his withdrawal from ministry a necessity. Michael was a good Christian, a good friend & brother, and a good physician. Until we are reunited with him in glory we shall miss him sadly. We express our profound condolences to Michael's family in Denmark, Britain, and New Zealand. JENNY NICHOLSON Jenny was a precious sister in faith and beloved wife and helpmate of Moriel's New Zealand administrator Nigel Nicholson, as well as the devoted mother of her daughters Debbie, Jackie, & Chrissie. In recent years Jenny struggled against a recurrent cancer that seemed to go into remission only to resurface. We all remember Jenny as a friendly warm-hearted kind of lady who was motherly by nature and who managed to remain up beat and even jovial during the ordeal incurred by her battles with bad health. It was a testimony to Jenny's commitment to The Lord and to her husband she unselfishly insisted that Nigel remain active in his work with Moriel, even while she herself was battling a cruel cancer that invaded her. The stress of the last two years particularly was not easy for Jenny or for her family, but her focus and faith were always centered on Jesus. We share Nigel's grief at this time as he and his daughters face a future where Jenny is no longer suffering but awaiting them with Jesus. PERSONAL REFLECTIONS AND TRIBUTE Moriel is a pre-Millennial Ministry. We are confident not only in the resurrection but that beloved brethren like Michael and Jenny are not dead, but their bodies are merely asleep in Jesus; they are in the conscious presence of The Lord as their earthly remains are temporarily closed for repairs before they move in again. Michael, Jenny and all of those who like Jenny & Michael fell asleep in The Lord will awake and once again walk the earth with Jesus and with us for 1,000 years and then together we shall spend all of eternity together in Christ. For those who know Jesus, no matter what disappointments beset us in this fallen world that is passing away - the best is always yet to come. The temporal suffering of Michael is over, and the temporal suffering of Jenny is over. While the earthly bodies in which they once resided are for a season closed for renovation, they themselves away on a well deserved vacation with Jesus for the holiday of an eternal lifetime. It is with confidence in Jesus we assert our firm conviction of being with them again in Christ. Having said that, this temporary separation, while only a necessary interruption in the greater scheme of the blessings to come that await us in Jesus, does entail a temporary sense of loss during this period of temporary separation and bereavement. To that end our prayers and our sincere most condolences in Christ are extended to Michael's family and to Jenny's family - Nigel, Debbie, Jackie, and Chrissie. As St. Paul assured us all: "TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS GAIN". Michael and Jenny knew that truth by faith in The Word of God. Now however they know it by living experience. They now see Jesus face to face. Moriel has branches in a number of countries in Britain, America, The Middle East, Africa, Europe, The South Pacific, and Austral Asia. Along with Mervyn Dodd, John Zari, and Ross Godwin, yesterday Michael Harry and Jenny Nicholson were promoted to new positions at our main branch. Anybody who works with Jacob Prasch & Moriel deserves a promotion and a transfer. Now they can serve the real boss. We thank The Lord Jesus for these precious ones and for the promise of the resurrection. (Jacob Prasch)



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