Moriel Ministries Be Alert!
August 8, 2008
 
False Prophets, False Christs and the Falling Away
Tisha b'Av (fast of the ninth of Av) is on Sunday (Saturday night), 9 Av 5768 (August 10, 2008)
For more info see here
Be Alert Sheep
Deuteronomy 32:16
"They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.

Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange god.
Matthew 24:10-12  
"At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. "Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.

Blow a Trupet in Zion
Shalom in Christ Jesus, 
Alert! One of the big things the church has lost site of is the difference between evangelism and discipleship. The church building has become the foremost place of evangelism in the within recent times and therefore become the focus of many programs and gimmicks to draw in the unsaved. This was never the intention of the meeting of the saints as it was supposed to be a gathering set apart (sanctified) for worship and discipleship. Evangelism was supposed to take place as those from that gathering went out into the world. Much of the craziness we are seeing take place within the walls of church meeting locations is that the world has come into the church and the supposedly called out ones have turned to the world's methods to try to preach the gospel.
 
This alert is collection of recent reports covering the broad spectrum of the falling away, from the socialized and commercialized approach to doing church to those approving of blatant immorality and the eventual unity of all false religion under a false prophet.
 
Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Peter 1:13
 
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
Presumed Presidential Nominees McCain and Obama to Make First Joint Campaign Appearance on August 16 at Saddleback Church
Obama & McCain
PRESS RELEASE: SADDLEBACK CHURCH - July 21, 2008

To: POLITICAL EDITORS
Contact: A. Larry Ross or Whitney Kelley, +1-972-267-1111, [email protected], for Saddleback Church
LAKE FOREST, Calif., July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, respective presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will end the primary season by making their first joint appearance of the 2008 campaign at Saddleback Church on Saturday, Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Dr. Rick Warren, founding pastor of the 22,000-member Orange County, Calif. mega church and moderator for the event, made the announcement today upon confirmation by both campaigns.

"We're honored that the candidates chose The Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion for their first joint appearance, an unprecedented opportunity for America to hear both men back-to-back on the same platform," Warren said. "This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart -- without interruption -- in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan 'gotcha' questions that typically produce heat instead of light.

"The primaries proved that Americans care deeply about the faith, values, character and leadership convictions of candidates as much as they do about the issues. While I know both men as friends and they recognize I will be frank, but fair, they also know I will be raising questions in these four areas beyond what political reporters typically ask. This includes pressing issues that are bridging divides in our nation, such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate and human rights."

Warren confirmed that, at the candidates' request, this two-hour event from 5-7 p.m. (PDT) will be held in a non-debate format and open to all media. Both candidates also requested that questions be posed exclusively by Warren, instead of a panel or members of the audience. Each will converse separately with Warren for approximately one-hour, beginning with Sen. Obama as determined by a coin toss. This historic forum will be the only joint campaign event prior to each party's national convention.

"While debates typically focus primarily on the candidates' positions and only secondarily on how they'd lead and make decisions, this Saddleback Civil Forum will reverse that ratio," Warren continued. "Since the oath of the President is a commitment to protect the Constitution, it's critical to know how each candidate interprets the nature of its principles. Leadership involves far more than promoting programs and making speeches, and since no one can predict what crises will happen over the next four years, it is vital to know the decision capacity and process of each man."

Warren has known each candidate prior to their run for national office. Both men recorded video messages to attendees at Saddleback's annual Global Summit on AIDS and The Church last November. Along with other national and international leaders, each has also endorsed Warren's vision of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, a 50-year strategy to mobilize millions of local churches around the world to address five global problems: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. After four years of testing prototypes of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan in 68 countries, the P.E.A.C.E. Coalition, involving business, church and government partnerships, was launched in April.

In conjunction with the Civil Forum event, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting at the church for approximately 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to discuss cooperation in projects for the common good of all Americans. Members of the P.E.A.C.E. Coalition Leadership Council will also fly in for weekend events.

On Sunday, Aug. 17, Warren will deliver a special sermon entitled, "Making Up Your Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election," which will be streamed live on the church Web site, www.saddleback.com, and made available for use in small group discussions within churches across the country.

The Saddleback Civil Forum was established to promote civil discourse and the common good of all. The first forum, held during Passover week this year, featured five Jewish World War II Holocaust survivors sharing their stories. The next Saddleback Civil Forum in September will feature former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"In addition to my primary calling to proclaim the Gospel Truth of salvation in Jesus Christ, these Civil Forums further three other life goals: helping individuals accept responsibility, helping the Church regain credibility and encouraging our society to return to civility," Warren added.

Saddleback Church has invited Faith in Public Life, which hosted a Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Pennsylvania last April, to co-sponsor this special Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion. Approximately 6,500 tickets to the event will be allotted for seating in six different venues throughout the 120-acre Saddleback campus.
    
FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:
A. Larry Ross (972) 267-1111
Whitney Kelley (972) 267-1111
[email protected]

SOURCE Saddleback Church

Original Report Here
In This Issue
Presumed Presidential Nominees McCain and Obama to Make First Joint Campaign Appearance on August 16
Rick Warren, 'gay' advocate team up to host Obama-McCain
Rick Warren Says "great Spiritual Awakening" Coming
Heresy Among Evangelicals Who Have Abandoned Christ To Lead Others Astray
Religious Americans: My faith isn't the only way
Tony Blair on mission to unite religions
Tony Blair's Leap of Faith
Yale hosts high-level Christian-Muslim dialogue
Spain: Interfaith summit ends with 'Madrid declaration'
Video urges Saudi monarch's killing for dialogue with Pope
A New Obsession With Angels
An Open Letter To Wagner, Joyner
The Shack: Christian Novel Is Surprise Best Seller
THE SHACK, "Elousia," & the Black Madonna
God's quid pro quo?
Relatives of televangelist prosper
Television ministry challenges probe
Free Quran coming to your doorstep?
Church holds service over communion wafer desecration
In Harlem, Shock and Anger at Pastor's Removal
Hindu chants invocation in Colorado Senate
Presbyterian Assembly votes to drop homosexual clergy ban
Jewish-Presbyterian Ties at 'New Low'
Georgia church tempts worshippers with $500 gas raffle
Holt ministry celebrates its love of God - and beer
Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher
Uninvited, Gay Bishop Attends Conference Anyway
Conservative 'peacemaker' to lead Southern Baptists
Southern Baptists worried by decline in baptisms
Russia: Ex-Traffic Cop Says He's Jesus
Moriel Links
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Rick Warren, 'gay' advocate team up to host Obama-McCain
Rick Warren
Joint appearance at Saddleback Church co-sponsored by faith group challenging 'right'
WORLDNETDAILY - July 26, 2008
The upcoming joint appearance by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain at Rick Warren's evangelical Saddleback Church is co-sponsored by a left-leaning group led by a Unitarian-Universalist minister who once headed her denomination's homosexual advocacy office.

Meg Riley is the board president of Faith in Public Life, whose board members include other theological liberals, including a pro-abortion Muslim leader and a Jewish rabbi, reported OneNewsNow.

The group's stated vision hints at its challenge to the influence of the so-called religious right, saying it "envisions a country in which diverse religious voices for justice and the common good consistently impact public policy; and those who use religion as a tool of division and exclusion do not dominate public discourse."

The blog Watchers Lamp noted Faith in Public Life offers a list of faith-based groups on its website that promote the homosexual-rights agenda.

Warren told OneNewsNow, a Christian Internet site, he's not troubled by the association with a group at odds with his church's conservative evangelical theology. . . .

As WND reported, Obama's appearance in 2006 at Saddleback's Global Summit on AIDS and the Church stirred controversy when some evangelicals objected to a pro-choice Democrat being given the pulpit of a church that opposes abortion. At last year's AIDS summit, in November, Sen. Hillary Clinton gave a warmly received speech while Obama and McCain were among several candidates who presented taped messages via satellite.

In addition to the Civil Forum event, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting at the church for some 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to discuss "cooperation in projects for the common good of all Americans."

Warren, author of the mega-best-seller "The Purpose Driven Life," told OneNewsNow he does not believe the biblical Gospel is compromised by working with non-Christians in efforts to promote the "common good."

"Now, I don't happen to agree with Muslims," Warren said, 'and I don't happen to agree with Jewish people, and I don't even agree with all of the things Catholics believe, but I ... can work with them on doing something like stopping AIDS, because we all believe sex is for marriage only." . . . .

A Warren critic, evangelical pastor Bob DeWaay, author of the book "Redefining Christianity: Understanding the Purpose Driven Movement" and founder of the apologetics ministry Critical Issues Commentary, says he believes Warren is operating under the mistaken notion that uniting all religions to fight problems like AIDS and poverty will "warm people up" to Christianity.

But he admits many evangelicals have a strong affinity for Warren.

"He's a very likeable guy on the surface, and I think pastors and Christians think, 'Well, look at this, if he can get all these people on board and he can build a big church and he's popular, and maybe if we get on board with that, some of that will rub off. Maybe we'll learn how to have a bigger church and how to be popular,'" DeWaay said in an audio report on his website.

But DeWaay often reminds people "Jesus told us that the world would hate us."

"Okay, so something's seriously wrong if we do achieve popularity with the world," he said.
Read Full Report
Rick Warren Says "great Spiritual Awakening" Coming

2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,...Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first,...


APPRISING MINISTRIES - Posted by Ken Silva - June 14, 2008

. . . . The latest PD Encyclical from Warren in "Ministry Toolbox" at his Pastors.com , The five stages of renewal in the local church, gives us the following prophecy: "A great spiritual awakening is on the horizon." The Purpose Driven Prophet then reminds us:

In the last three years, I've told you this several times: I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.
For too long we've separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we're called to be the body of Christ - the whole body. (Online source)

I have already shown you here at AM, e.g. in Rick Warren Reversing the Reformation, that Warren-in complete contradistinction to "what the church believed" in the Protestant Reformation-includes the apostate Roman Catholic Church in "the body of Christ" of which he is speaking above. And not only does Warren include apostate Roman Catholicism but as you can see in the AM piece Rick Warren and Jesus he also includes apostate mainline denominations long ago killed by what Southern Baptist Bible scholar Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) called The Cult of Liberal Theology.

In fact in a Christian Post story about Warren we read:

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren suggested Sunday that mainline churches need to reconcile with evangelicals to counter its mounting problem of membership decline. "The reconciliation is that in a pluralistic world... we (Christians) need to be on the same team because we share the same savior," Warren contended Sunday, as he spoke with the dean of the Washington National Cathedral, Samuel T. Lloyd III,... (Online source, emphasis mine)

There Is Never A Time For Unity With False Brethren

For a man who has an earned Doctor of Ministry Degree from Fuller Theological (Cesspool) Seminary (Onine source) Warren sure appears to be woefully ignorant of the issues which separate genuine Christians from apostates such as the Church of Rome and liberal mainline denominations. We "share the same savior." Is he really this misinformed? Rome's "savior" is still suffering and dying over and over again on its iniquitous crucifix.

Dr. John MacArthur brings out the heart of the matter for the Christian:

What was at stake is whether or not we evangelize Roman Catholics, that's what's at stake... Are Roman Catholics the mission field, or do we embrace them as fellow believers in Jesus Christ? The mood at evangelicalism today is to embrace them... Reclassifying the Pope, reclassifying the Roman Catholics as believers isn't that simple...

It has massive implications that overturn centuries, if not millennia of martyrdom. In the long war on the truth, the most formidable, relentless and deceptive enemy has been Roman Catholicism. It is an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity, it is a front for the kingdom of Satan. The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always understood this. (Online source)

But then Warren says that we also "need to be on the same team" with those who not only ordain practicing homosexuals like "Bishop" Gene Robinson-who recently married his sodomite partner-but also place them in leadership over multiple churches? Really? And Warren says we are to "reconcile" with apostate Progressive Christians like Marcus Borg, and heretics like John Dominic Crossan, who deny the glorious Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ and say His body was probably eaten by dogs? I think not.

And just what kind of "spiritual awakening" is Rick Warren talking about allegedly "on the horizon"? A move further back into the religious spiritual bondage of medieval Roman Catholicism through the corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism of spurious Spiritual Formation stealthily slithering deeper into the evangelical camp via The Cult of Guru Richard Foster, which Warren himself promotes? Frankly, from where I stand Rick Warren sounds more like a politician looking to get elected than he does a Charles Spurgeon.

Why do I mention Spurgeon? Is it because I idolize a man; because I look to follow him? Nope; I bring Spurgeon into this discussion because this is what Rick Warren himself does when his Saddleback apologist Richard Abanes enlightens us concerning an exhortation from Warren:

I am calling for a return to nineteenth-century evangelicalism. It's more muscle and less mouth. It was the evangelicalism of Charles Spurgeon,... (Online source)

But then out of the other side of his own mouth Warren is also calling for evangelical non-protesting "Protestants" to reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church and liberal "Christianity". For you see the highly ecumenical PD Pope has already instructed us, "I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody" (Online source). Does Dr. Warren really not know that Charles Spurgeon vehemently opposed and denounced both Roman Catholicism and liberal theology, in addition to properly separating his "fellowship from" each? - - - -
Read Full Report
Heresy Among Evangelicals Who Have Abandoned Christ To Lead Others Astray
KOENIG'S INTERNATIONAL NEWS - By Bill Wilson, KIN Senior Analyst - June 27, 2008
WASH- Beware of those who claim they are Christians and believe there are other ways to eternal life. If one says he is a Christian and yet he also says that there are other ways to eternal life, he is not a Christian, even though he thinks he is. Thanks to many preachers, presidents, presidential candidates and other public figures that say there are many ways to eternal life and also claim Christianity; the American public is seemingly confused and deceived. A Pew Research Poll of some 35,000 people indicated that 57 percent of American evangelicals believe many religions can lead to eternal life.

President George Bush, for example, won two elections with heavy favor from evangelical Christians. Bush, who claims to be a Christian, has said that Christians and Muslims worship the same god and that there are other ways to heaven.

Presidential candidate B. Hussein Obama raised a Muslim, now claims he is a Christian. Obama also believes in a universal approach to heaven. Recently, the India Times reported that Obama supporters were sending him a temple-sanctified gold-plated two-foot tall Lord Hanuman monkey idol. His spokesman said she would present the idol to Obama, who, the paper says, "is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms."

The Democratic Party has revamped its approach toward Christianity after being defeated in two presidential elections by Christian evangelical votes. The Democrats have distorted the Bible in order to say that God's love and compassion toward society, poverty and the environment is cause to overlook sins like homosexuality and abortion.

The Republican Party has virtually run away from God's tenants. These watered-down versions of Christianity seem to be taking root in America as poll numbers show that Americans no longer see the Bible as the inerrant infallible Word of God, but rather a book where scripture can be taken and used out of context depending on the situation.

Let there be no mistake, however. If one says he is a Christian, then he must believe in Christ and what He said and did. Jesus Christ said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me." This verse alone means that there are no other ways to eternal life except through Christ. Those who believe otherwise are either very confused or are not Christians. And for Christians to follow those deceivers as if they are Christians, these Christians have been deceived. Jesus also said in Matthew 24:11, "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." His warning, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Your eternal life is at stake.
Original Report Here
Religious Americans: My faith isn't the only way
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Eric Gorski - June 23, 2008
America remains a deeply religious nation, but a new survey finds most Americans don't believe their tradition is the only way to eternal life - even if the denomination's teachings say otherwise.

The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.

Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching.

In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion. . . .

The report argues that while relatively few people - 14 percent - cite religious beliefs as the main influence on their political thinking, religion still plays a powerful indirect role. . .

By many measures, Americans are strongly religious: 92 percent believe in God, 74 percent believe in life after death and 63 percent say their respective scriptures are the word of God. . .

Nearly across the board, the majority of religious Americans believe many religions can lead to eternal life: mainline Protestants (83 percent), members of historic black Protestant churches (59 percent), Roman Catholics (79 percent), Jews (82 percent) and Muslims (56 percent). . .

More than most groups, Catholics break with their church, and not just on issues like abortion and homosexuality. Only six in 10 Catholics described God as "a person with whom people can have a relationship" - which the church teaches - while three in 10 described God as an "impersonal force."

"The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their church," said Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput. "Being Catholic means believing what the Catholic church teaches. It is a communion of faith, not simply of ancestry and family tradition. It also means that the church ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members."
Original Report Here
Tony Blair on mission to unite religions
Tony Blair
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - May 30, 2008
Tony Blair has said he wants to spend the rest of his life bringing the religions of the world together. . . .

In an interview with Time magazine, Mr Blair said faith could be "a civilising force in globalisation", bringing different peoples together to solve the world's problems.

He argued: "Faith is part of our future, and faith and the values it brings with it are an essential part of making globalisation work." Mr Blair's foundation, which will be officially launched in New York today, will attempt to bring religions together to tackle major global issues such as the UN's eight millennium development goals, which range from eradicating extreme poverty to ensuring environmental sustainability.

One of its first priorities will be to fight the spread of malaria.

Mr Blair said: "If you got churches and mosques and those of the Jewish faith working together to provide the bed nets that are necessary to eliminate malaria, what a fantastic thing that would be.

"That would show faith in action, it would show the importance of co-operation between faiths, and it would show what faith can do for progress." . . .

Bono, the U2 singer and anti-poverty campaigner, told the magazine: "I think he wants to dedicate the rest of his life to decrying the concept of a clash of civilisations."

He disclosed that he had once been given a copy of the Koran by Mr Blair, who was reading a passage of it every night in an attempt to better understand Islam.

Mr Blair, who recently converted to Catholicism, said faith had helped him make tough decisions while in office. - - - -
Read Full Report

* Emphasis Added
Tony Blair's Leap of Faith
TIME [Time Warner] - By Michael Elliott - May 28, 2008
. . . On May 30 in New York, Blair, 55, formally unveils The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which, among other things, is dedicated to proving that collaboration among those of different religious faiths can help address some of the world's most pressing social problems. A quick look around the crowd at the Jacir Palace, and you might think that Blair's work was already done-here were Jews, Christians and Muslims working together to make life better for ordinary Palestinians. A more measured assessment would lead to a different, more depressing conclusion. The Jacir Palace is a few minutes' walk from a checkpoint at the looming security wall that Israel built after the second intifadeh, to physically separate the Jewish state from the West Bank. In Bethlehem, a long-established Arab Christian community is shrinking in the face of growing Islamic militancy. Even the Church of the Nativity (carved up by the Orthodox, Catholic, Assyrian, Coptic and Armenian denominations, a symbol of the divisions within Christianity) has not been immune to the clash of faiths. In 2002 Palestinian militants took refuge there, and together with civilians inside the church, were besieged by Israeli soldiers for 39 days. Blair understands very well that the Palestine-Israel conflict is about land, about culture, about competing narratives of history-but that it is also about faith. "Muslims often say of extremists," he says, "It's really got nothing to do with religion. And I say to them, These people say that they're doing it in the name of God, so we can't say that it doesn't matter. It does matter." - - - -
Read Full Report Posted on the Be Alert! Blog
Yale hosts high-level Christian-Muslim dialogue
REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor - July 27, 2008
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut - Senior Christian and Muslim scholars and leaders are meeting in the United States this week seeking common ground in their different faiths to foster better understanding between Islam and the West.

Hosted by Yale University Divinity School, the conference is the first public dialogue launched by Muslim intellectuals in the Common Word group that appealed to Christian leaders last year for discussions among theologians to promote peace.

Most U.S. participants are Protestant theologians and church leaders, including some prominent evangelicals, but some Catholics and Jews also are taking part. The Muslims, both Sunnis and Shi'ites, hail from around the world.

Their conference comes just more than a week after King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's strict Wahhabi sect, hosted an unprecedented meeting of Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists in Madrid and pledged to pursue interfaith dialogue. - - - -
Read Full Report
Spain: Interfaith summit ends with 'Madrid declaration'
King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz al-Saud
ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL (Italy) - July 18, 2008
Madrid - A three-day conference on inter-religious dialogue closed on Friday with the 'Madrid Declaration which cited terrorism as a major obstacle to mutual understanding.

"Terrorism is a universal phenomenon that requires unified international efforts to combat it in a serious, responsible and just way. This demands an international agreement on defining terrorism, addressing its root causes and achieving justice and stability in the world," said the declaration.

"The Conference noted that terrorism is one of the most serious obstacles confronting dialogue and coexistence," read another part of the document.

The World Conference on Dialogue brought together representatives from the three main monotheistic faiths, Islam, Christianity and Judaism as well as Buddhism.

It was held under the patronage of Saudi King Abdullah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz al-Saud (photo).

The declaration rejected 'clash of civilisations' theories and backed the spread tolerance and understanding via dialogue.

The declaration also called on United Nations General Assembly to support the recommendations reached by the conference.

Among those who attended the summit were the secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, Michael Schneider, and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who heads dialogue between the Vatican and Muslims.

No Israeli was part of the conference.

Saudi officials chose Spain to host the inter-faith summit due to its symbolism as a place where Muslims, Christians and Jews have lived peacefully for over 500 years.
Original Report Here
Video urges Saudi monarch's killing for dialogue with Pope
Benedict and King Abdullah
ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL [Italy] - July 28, 2008
Al-Qaeda Number 3, Abu Yahya al-Libi has issued a new video urging the killing of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah for his moves towards inter-faith dialogue with Pope Benedict XVI.

"They want to spawn a new religion on the Arabian Peninsula and that is bringing religions closer together," al-Libi warns in the video message posted to Islamist websites on Monday.

The video strongly criticises the inter-faith dialogue conference held earlier this month in the Spanish capital, Madrid, under King Abdullah's patronage and organised by the Muslim World League.

The three-day conference closed with a declaration that cited terrorism as a major obstacle to mutual understanding.

The conference brought together representatives from the three main monotheistic faiths, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, as well as Buddhism.

A photo of King Abdullah and Benedict XVI taken during Abdullah's historic visit to the Vatican last November has been posted with the video to publicise it on Islamist websites.

A caption beneath the photo repeats part of al-Libi's video message. It reads: "He (Abdullah) has made religion a joke and has done so in public with Jews, Christians and Muslims. . . .

"The Prophet ordered us to drive unbelievers from the Arabian Peninsula. Today, the Saudi royal family is destroying our Islamic tenets by showing Muslims it is possible to spread Christian principles." - - - -
Read Full Report
A New Obsession With Angels
Angel Type Statue

Colossians 2:18-19
Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.


APOSTASY ALERT - Reflections by Jackie Alnor - July 20, 2008

There are spirits in the material world and they're not all good ones. In fact, there's a recent obsession with angels in certain church circles, such as the emergent church and the apostolic/prophetic movement.

But before we accept any angelic manifestation as something from God, let us not forget the "angel" Moroni whose image decks the walls and graces the roofs of Mormon temples everywhere. Joseph Smith must have figured, if it's paranormal, it must be of God.

I was reminded of Moroni when I received an email recently from the "Elijah List" with the headline: "ANCIENT ANGELS OF 'FAITH' EMBEDDED in the Walls of Many Churches are being ACTIVATED!" (Emphasis in the original.)

Sounds like a trailer for a horror movie! But they are dead serious. Have you seen some of the depictions of "angels" in church architecture? Could they be talking about gargoyles implanted in both Catholic and Protestant cathedrals that can be seen peering through the corners of the beams in the ceilings? And when they're "activated" will they resemble a scene from the movie Ghost Busters?

The announcement from Elijah List's leader, Steve Shultz promoted the latest revelation of one of their "prophets" Bill Yount, from Blowing the Shofar Ministries, dated June 22, 2008. This was written in the thick of the Lakeland Uprising where the "angel" Emma is hard at work assisting with lying signs and wonders. From decades of observing the false prophetic movers and shakers, it is their pattern to start one-upmanship when some "new wind of doctrine" takes hold in their circles. There's a whole lotta spiritual plagiarism going on. We're reminded of this trend by the true prophet Jeremiah:

"'Therefore,' declares the Lord, 'I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes,' declares the Lord, 'I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The Lord declares. 'Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,' declares the Lord. 'They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,' declares the Lord." (Jer. 23:30-32).

Yount, who touts himself as a prophet" wrote in his article "Ancient Angels of Faith":

"I saw ancient angels of faith embedded in the walls of many churches. They are now being awakened and activated... These walls were not hanging by nails and wood, but were hanging on the very Word of God... Angels who were summoned generations ago to many churches through tear-stained altars, but were stifled in their assignments through unbelief and strife, were now being called forth to complete their assignments - even in churches that people were thinking, 'This church will never see a move of God!' But God was now honoring the prayers of many generations and a mighty breakthrough for so called 'dead' churches was now inevitable!...As these ancient angels of faith began to awaken inside of these walls and began stretching their wings, generational walls of tradition and division began to crumble as religious spirits were being cast out by the presence of God!" . . . .

I don't know about you, but there some angels in the architecture that I wouldn't want to see come alive. We know that there are plenty of fallen angels who disguise themselves as angels of light - the devil being the big Kahuna. They appear to be manifesting all over the "Christian" landscape right now since the climate in the church for acceptance of anything supernatural is at an all time high - discernment at an all time low.

Someone captured one of these angels of light manifesting at an outdoors meeting of people chanting in Spanish that is very disturbing when some weird thing showed up and is said to be an angel. - - - -
Read Full Report
An Open Letter To Wagner, Joyner ...
I write this as a tongues-speaking, Spirit-filled, prophesying believer.

Dear Rick Joyner and C. Peter Wagner,

I will do my utmost to avoid disrespect in this letter. But I cannot avoid the hard questions which must be asked.

I hope my comments here are not construed as "arrogant". This is certainly not my intent. But I'm sure you have heard the news by now that the tide has turned in what you call your "Civil War".
I'm sure you have heard that the Lakeland meetings have dwindled, and the "big tent" has been abandoned in favor of the 700-seat Ignite church once again. I'm sure you have heard that your man Todd Bentley's meetings in England have been cancelled, and that respected leaders even within your own movements have found vast evidence of falsehoods, fraudulent claims, manipulation and hype of the most blatant kind. The news of it is worldwide. It is not just ABC Nightline. It is your own people saying these things.

I'm sure you have heard the news that has even shocked and saddened me - that the British press is calling Bentley "A US child sex offender turned church minister who tries to cure cancer victims by kicking them" - and that 79% of Britons polled want to keep him out of the country. Where is the glory to Jesus in this? How could Todd even set foot in England under such a cloud?

Sirs, if this really were a 'Civil War', aren't you living in Gettysburg?

Mr Wagner, I am sure you are aware that because of your open endorsement of Todd Bentley, numbers of your own ICA 'apostles' (some very well-known) are already planning an "alternative"
network without all your 'Dominionist' trappings or NAR hierarchies. Sir, they are leaving. Are you sure you were right to endorse the Lakeland movement in the very face of your own apostles like that? Wasn't this one of the most crucial tests of your leadership? Sir, if your discernment is such that you could get on a stage and openly endorse one of the most deceptive movements in the history of the church, then - with all due respect - should you really be heading up the apostles of the entire Charismatic world? Are you aware that you have greatly endangered God's precious sheep all around the globe?

And Mr Joyner, are you conscious of how terribly the Prophetic movement has deteriorated on your watch, sir? As the most influential 'father' in that movement, why have you stood by while the "New Mystics" have taken over - with their gold dust, their portals, their 'orbs', their drunken jerking, their strange "angel" encounters and 'visualization' techniques, etc? In fact, why have you actively encouraged and participated in these very things yourself?

Isn't it true that Bob Jones has been a big mentor for you in these things, just like he was for Todd Bentley? Wasn't it Bob Jones who taught you how to "visualize" your way into the 'Third Heaven', Mr Joyner? Isn't Bob Jones one of the major hidden influences behind your ministry? Where do you get your visions? How do you write your books? How can we ever again trust the "angels" that you see? Sir, what were you thinking - to openly endorse the "New Mystics" as you did with Todd Bentley? Did you not see that it could end so badly?

We all know what Bob Jones said when he stood on the stage with Todd Bentley in front of the whole world: BOB: "I released my angels to him... this man from Canada asked for my angels; this Wind of Change is most powerful. Except for the arch angels, this 'Winds of Change', this is the most powerful angel..."
BOB TO TODD BENTLEY: "As I watch you, you VIBRATE. You know there are two portals, clockwise and counter-clockwise. When you vibrate you close demonic vibration. Counter-clockwise vibration is demonic. The vibration is healing. Does it seem peculiar?" [He waves his hands]... "I'm releasing it to you."

A very basic question here: Is there anything even remotely biblical about any of this?

Mr Joyner, since Bob Jones is your major mentor, and since you stood on the stage and openly endorsed that whole movement, I guess we have to assume that this is the kind of "Prophetic" that you now represent? Isn't that fair to say, sir?

And now I need to ask some questions of my colleagues overseas: Isn't it true, my friends, that almost every deceptive fad or heresy of the last 25 years has come out of North America? (ie. The USA and Canada)? And hasn't it been growing worse and worse?

When I travel to Africa I find deadly "Prosperity" teaching rampant in the most poverty-stricken of nations. When I travel to Europe I find them bombarded with flakey 'prophets' from the States. When I travel to Australia I find them enthralled with 'Mega-church-Itis' imported from the USA. In every way, North America has become a source of utter pollution, sickness and compromise - both in the church and the world. And I believe God wants to put an end to it.

Personally I love Americans. I lived there for four years, and I have many dear friends in that part of the world. But I do not believe that God is going to allow this pollution to spread any longer.

Why do leaders in Australia or Europe think that their movements must be led by Americans? What nation is most of this pollution coming from? Why do African leaders allow sick money-grubbing telecasts from the USA to be beamed to their people via satellite? Why are any of us allowing any of this garbage? When are we going to stand up and cry, "ENOUGH"? When are we going to cut off this pollution - not just for ourselves - but for the sake of God's precious sheep? Why should we be led by America if they are leading us into deception?

Should North America even be allowed to lead the worldwide church any more?

And finally, let me return to Mr Joyner - who once intimated that it is time to "drive" out those who want to "test the spirits" in the church. Sir, let me say to you that indeed the time has come to drive a particular spirit out. It is the spirit of rampant "Charis-mania". And sir, I have to say with all due respect, that your very own movement strikes me as the primest of prime places in which to start.

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Andrew Strom.
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The Shack: Christian Novel Is Surprise Best Seller
The Shack
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Motoko Rich - June 24, 2008
Eckhart Tolle may have Oprah Winfrey, but "The Shack" has people like Caleb Nowak.

Mr. Nowak, a maintenance worker near Yakima, Wash., first bought a copy of "The Shack," a slim paperback novel by an unknown author about a grieving father who meets God in the form of a jolly African-American woman, at a Borders bookstore in March. He was so taken by the story of redemption and God's love that he promptly bought 10 more copies to give to family and friends.

"Everybody that I know has bought at least 10 copies," Mr. Nowak said. "There's definitely something about the book that makes people want to share it."

Thousands of readers like Mr. Nowak, a regular churchgoer, have helped propel "The Shack," written by William P. Young, a former office manager and hotel night clerk in Gresham, Ore., and privately published by a pair of former pastors near Los Angeles, into a surprise best seller. It is the most compelling recent example of how a word-of-mouth phenomenon can explode into a blockbuster when the momentum hits chain bookstores, and the marketing and distribution power of a major commercial publisher is thrown behind it.

Just over a year after it was originally published as a paperback, "The Shack" had its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times trade paperback fiction best-seller list on June 8 and has stayed there ever since. It is No. 1 on Borders Group's trade paperback fiction list, and at Barnes & Noble it has been No. 1 on the trade paperback list since the end of May, outselling even Mr. Tolle's spiritual guide "A New Earth," selected by Ms. Winfrey's book club in January.

Its publisher, Windblown Media, a company that was formed expressly to publish "The Shack" in May of last year, estimates that the book has sold more than one million copies. According to Nielsen Bookscan, which usually tracks about 70 percent of sales, the book has sold about 350,000 copies, although those numbers do not include sales at stores like Wal-Mart or direct sales from the publisher's Web site, theshackbook.com, which may have accounted for an unusually large percentage of the book's sales.

Early in the novel the young daughter of the protagonist, Mack, is abducted. Four years later he visits the shack where evidence of the girl's murder was discovered. He spends a weekend there in a kind of spiritual therapy session with God, who calls herself "Papa"; Jesus, who appears as a Jewish workman; and Sarayu, an indeterminately Asian woman who incarnates the Holy Spirit.

Sales have been fueled partly by a whiff of controversy. Some conservative Christian leaders and bloggers have attacked "The Shack" as heresy. The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, devoted most of a radio show to the book, calling it "deeply troubling" and asserting that it undermined orthodox Christianity. Others have said the book's approach to theology is too breezy to be taken seriously. . . .

Even people initially put off by the book's characterization of God as a black woman were won over. "I was so stunned by the presentation of Papa that I couldn't deal with it," said Bill Ritchie, senior pastor of an 8,000-member nondenominational church in Vancouver, Wash., who recalled putting the book down at first. He eventually finished it and told his congregation that it was "one of the most remarkable books I've read in years." Since early this year, his church has been buying copies to sell to members by the caseload. - - - -
Read Full Report
THE SHACK, "Elousia," & the Black Madonna
Imagination, Image, and Idolatry
HERESCOPE [Discernment Ministries/Discernment Research Group] - By Pastor Larry DeBruyn - July 2, 2008
. . . . God is Truth. That He is Truth distinguishes Him from idols which are false. Of the Lord, the prophet declared, "There is none like Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and great is Thy name in might," and explained of those who create idols, "But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion-their idol is wood!" The prophetic commentary which follows then states, "Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Violet and purple are their clothing; They are all the work of skilled men. But the Lord is the true God . . ." (Jeremiah 10:6-10, NASB).[1] In this vein, A.W. Tozer once wrote: "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."[2]

But idols arise out of human imagination. Humanoids make god however they want him/her/it to be. In the description of the declension into idolatry, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man" (Emphasis mine, Romans 1:21-23a, KJV). Imagination creates images - even idolatrous images - and the images can either be material or mental, actual or verbal.[3]

Words can create mental pictures. Someone once said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In an image-oriented age where people watch more and read less, this statement makes its point. But words can also create images. Through the mind's eye, we see. Someone once defined idolatry as thinking wrong thoughts about God. So the question becomes, with the stroke of his verbal brush and in his bestselling novel The Shack, what picture of God does William P. Young create? I am fearful that the book's painting of God, even though fictional, might promote the wrong image of Him.

The novel tugs at the emotional strings of its readers, and for just that reason the book has become a bestseller in the fiction category. I am therefore aware that I am about to tread where angels might not dare. This pastor realizes he is about to enter the personal and emotional space of the human heart. People feel very deeply about this book and its author. I ask only, as you read Young's book with an open heart, that you might also read this theological review of the book with an open mind.

We now proceed to look at the theology of The Shack.[4] We turn to the ideas presented in the book about God. The god of The Shack (In this reference, I refuse to spell God with an upper case "G.") is an imagined hermaphroditic trinity, consisting of a retreat center owner and hostess who goes by the name of "Elousia," a carpenter-handyman by the name of "Jesus," and a gardener who goes by the name of "Sarayu." In order, we consider the three main characters, and another omniscient and sensual lady who goes by the name of "Sophia," or Wisdom.

THE FIRST PERSON - At first mention, and according to Mack's wife Nan's understanding, the first person of the godhead goes by the name of "Papa" (perhaps alluding to the Apostle Paul's designation of Him as "Abba," Romans 8:15). But upon Mack's arrival at The Shack, "Papa" morphs into a large and loving African-American woman named "Elousia" (i.e., a combination of the Hebrew name for God the Creator, "El," and the Greek word "ousia" suggesting a Platonic meaning of "being" or "existence").[5] Among other characteristics, "Elousia" describes herself as, "the Creator God who is truly real and the ground of all being."(The Shack, 111).  . . . .

Having finished reading The Shack, and while surfing the Internet, I was quite smitten when inadvertently, I ran across an internet article by Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox, The Return of the Black Madonna: A Sign of Our Times or How the Black Madonna is Shaking Us Up for the Twenty-First Century. Fox's description of the Black Madonna (or the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis as she is alternately understood) included her supposed leading of distressed people to find emotional healing within themselves. This description seemed to possess, at first glance, an eerie parallel to the black goddess character ("Elousia") created by William Young. The comparison upon further reading, study and thought, revealed that their similarity was more than just color. In both writings, two similar personages emerge. I proceed to note a few of the analogies between Fox's Black Madonna and Young's "Elousia." - - - -
Read Full Report

See Also: From LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

The Seductive and Subversive "Shack"

The Shack and Its New Age Leaven - God IN Everything?
God's quid pro quo?
Paul & Jan Crouch of TBN
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER [Freedom Communications/Providence Equity Partners LLC.] > OC Watchdog Blog - Posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer - August 6, 2008
If it is, indeed, easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, the Crouches may have their work cut out for them.

A new report shows that Orange County's first family of Christian broadcasting earned scads of silver leading the Trinity Broadcasting Network empire:
  • Paul F. Crouch, the pop (and president), makes $419,500 a year.
  • Janice W. Crouch, the mom (and vice president), makes $361,000 a year.
  • Paul F. Crouch Jr., the son (and vice president) makes $130,082.
The family salaries are highlighted in nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator's latest CEOsalary report, which was released this week and tells us how much nonprofit leaders are making. (Generally speaking, not this much. The Crouches are among the highest-paid chief executives of religious nonprofits, the Chronicle of Philanthropy says.)

Trinity is the world's largest religious broadcasting company. Its twinkling white headquarters - something of a cross between a Disneyland palace and an inspired recreation of the White House - is just off Interstate 405 in Costa Mesa.

TBN preaches "prosperity televangelism," and preachers have urged the poor and debt-ridden to give, because God gives back most generously to those who can least afford it.

This inspired us to spend some more time with Trinity's actual tax returns , which are posted at www.guidestar.com. Clearly, millions of people are listening, and digging deep into their pockets. In 2006, the most recent year reported, TBN:
  • took in $200.7 million,
  • spent $141.1 million,
  • and socked away the extra $59.6 million.
The stellar year pushes TBN's net assets ever closer to the $1 billion mark - hovering now at $839 million. (Stay tuned; TBN had $327 million in mortgage-backed securities, so we'll see how those investments fare down the road.)

PALTRY IN COMPARISON

"TBN stands out and is different from other nonprofits in that we're a broadcasting entity," said spokesman John Casoria (whose law office is one of TBN's highest-paid independent contractors, getting $164,200 a year). "Though we consider ourselves a church, we're a 501 c-3 and have been so for the last 35 years. Clearly we work in a different arena than most other charitable organizations.

"TBN is the 8th largest owner-operator of TV stations in the world," he continued. "The salaries of these three individuals pales in comparison with people in the secular world doing similar work. This has not been not a job for them, but a life endeavor, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. - - - -
Read Full Report

* [Emphasis Original]
Relatives of televangelist prosper
Kenneth Copeland
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Eric Gorski - July 26, 2008
Here in the gentle hills of north Texas, televangelist Kenneth Copeland has built a religious empire teaching that God wants his followers to prosper.

Over the years, a circle of Copeland's relatives and friends have done just that, The Associated Press has found. They include the brother-in-law with a lucrative deal to broker Copeland's television time, the son who acquired church-owned land for his ranching business and saw it more than quadruple in value, and board members who together have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for speaking at church events.

Church officials say no one improperly benefits through ties to Copeland's vast evangelical ministry, which claims more than 600,000 subscribers in 134 countries to its flagship "Believer's Voice of Victory" magazine. The board of directors signs off on important matters, they say. Yet church bylaws give Copeland veto power over board decisions.

While Copeland insists that his ministry complies with the law, independent tax experts who reviewed information obtained by the AP through interviews, church documents and public records have their doubts. The web of companies and non-profits tied to the televangelist calls the ministry's integrity into question, they say.

"There are far too many relatives here," said Frances Hill, a University of Miami law professor who specializes in nonprofit tax law. "There's too much money sloshing around and too much of it sloshing around with people with overlapping affiliations and allegiances by either blood or friendship or just ties over the years. There are red flags all over these relationships."

Copeland, 71, is a pioneer of the prosperity gospel, which holds that believers are destined to flourish spiritually, physically and financially - and share the wealth with others.

His ministry's 1,500-acre campus, behind an iron gate a half-hour drive from Forth Worth, is testament to his success. It includes a church, a private airstrip, a hangar for the ministry's $17.5 million jet and other aircraft, and a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion.

Already a well-known figure, Copeland has come under greater scrutiny in recent months. He is one target of a Senate Finance Committee investigation into allegations of questionable spending and lax financial accountability at six large televangelist organizations that preach health-and-wealth theology.

All have denied wrongdoing. But Copeland has fought back the hardest, refusing to answer most questions from the inquiry's architect, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. - - - -
Read Full Report Posted on the Be Alert! Blog
Television ministry challenges probe
DES MOINES REGISTER [Gannett] - By Jane Norman - July 15, 2008
Washington, D.C. - A statement Monday from televangelist Kenneth Copeland's ministry says it is "simply untrue" that the church has not cooperated with an ongoing investigation by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries, based in Newark, Texas, also said in a lengthy response to the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee that he should go through the Internal Revenue Service to get information on the media ministry's financial operations.

Any government inquiry into the affairs of a church "raises serious constitutional issues," and the church "firmly believes that it must be given the protections from disclosure afforded by the federal tax laws" and the IRS, the ministry added.

Grassley sent letters in November to six ministries active on radio, television and the Internet. He was seeking information about possible misuse of donations, based on information from news reports, whistle-blowers and critics.

All the ministries are tax-exempt.

The strongest reaction has come from Copeland, who has vowed he would go to prison before he would comply with a congressional subpoena, should one be issued.

Grassley has asked Copeland for detailed information on cash, housing allowances and loans given to members of the Copeland family; monthly expenses for maintenance of the Copeland residence; credit card statements for expenses by the Copeland family paid by the ministry; and the structure of for-profit companies formed by the church. - - - -
Read Full Report

Kenneth Copeland Miistries has released a statement which can be viewd here:
PRESS RELEASE: Kenneth Copeland Ministries / Eagle Mountain International Church Responds to Senator Grassley

* Emphasis Added
Free Quran coming to your doorstep?
Free Quran
Foundation: 'Just trying to be honest brokers of information. You make your own judgment'
WORLDNETDAILY - May 17, 2008
... Their mission? To place a copy of the Quran in every home in the United States.

"We're just trying to be honest brokers of information," Wajahat Sayeed, founder and director of Book of Signs, which is also known as the Al-Furqaan Foundation, told the Chicago Tribune. "You make your own judgment."

Al-Furqaan is distributing its 378-page paperback English translation of Islam's holy book using teams of paid walkers who descend on neighborhoods, going door-to-door, much like other deliverers of newpapers and advertisements. They don't hand them directly to residents but, instead, leave them at the front door - but never on the ground. That would be disrespectful. . . .

The Addison, Ill.-based organization says it has distributed more than 30,000 free copies of the Quran to homes around Houston, Texas, and another 70,000 in the Chicago area, including the evangelical stronghold of Wheaton.

Al-Furqaan's horizons go far beyond those two urban areas. The foundation aims to deliver copies of the Quran to every U.S. household. On its website, those interested can order copies by paying a shipping and handling charge. Sayeed is not concerned his American readers might be unable to understand the text.

"The general sense will be clear," he said, noting the foundation had chosen a translation Americans can easily read. "Islam teaches peace."

Al-Furqaan is not the only Muslim group distributing free Qurans.

WND reported in 2005, the Council on American-Islamic Relations came under fire for distributing a free English-language edition of the Quran that had been banned by the Los Angeles school district because commentary notes accompanying the text were regarded as anti-Semitic. - - - -
Read Full Report
Church holds service over communion wafer desecration
Rome worships the Eucharist
A leading Roman Catholic church is holding a special service after one of its Holy Communion wafers was stolen, in a film posted on YouTube, and then desecrated.
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay - PA: Conservative/centre-right] - By Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent - August 5, 2008
A film uploaded to the popular video-sharing website, apparently shot on a mobile phone during High Mass at the London Oratory, shows a young man kneeling to the receive the wafer, which Catholics regard as the body of Christ once it has been blessed, from a priest.

The video then shows the wafer, known as a Host, being later placed next to a condom in protest at the Vatican's stance on contraception.

It was then apparently sent to Dr Paul Z. Myers, an atheist academic in American who claims he stuck a nail through it and threw it in his rubbish bin.

He has received hundreds of complaints on his website, while the London Oratory - linked to the school that Tony Blair's children attended - has called the incident "very disturbing" and is calling worshippers to pray for the conversion of those responsible.

It is holding a special "evening of reparation" with Mass, prayers and meditation on Wednesday, an event to which churchgoers are being invited on the social networking website Facebook. . . .

"We encourage everyone to make personal acts of reparation during the next days, for all of the outrages against the Blessed Sacrament around the world - Rosaries, visits to Catholic churches, and any sacrifices we can offer, are all suitable. - - - -
Read Full Report
In Harlem, Shock and Anger at Pastor's Removal
NEW YORK TIMES [NYTimes Group/Sulzberger] - By Paul Vitello - August 5, 2008
It may not be the most heavily attended church in the area, but the imposing Roman Catholic church on 141st Street, St. Charles Borromeo, known locally as Harlem's Cathedral, has become known in recent years for such stirring triumphs and humbling lows that some people see it as a kind of tragic, if not bipolar, character residing in the neighborhood.

Pope John Paul II visited the church in 1979, and people still remember the pomp and pageantry it brought to the block. But the man most responsible for that visitation - the church's pastor at the time, Msgr. Emerson J. Moore, a rising star who in just a few years would become the first black bishop in the Archdiocese of New York - died in a Minnesota AIDS hospice in 1995 after a long battle with cocaine and alcohol addiction.

And now, with another rising star at the helm - Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, who gave an invocation at Gov. David A. Paterson's inauguration and like his predecessor, Bishop Moore, took a leading role in organizing the most recent papal visit to New York - the pendulum has swung once again.

On Sunday, parishioners at Mass were told that the archdiocese had removed Monsignor Harris from his parish and priestly duties while it looked into complaints by two people that he had sexually abused them about 20 years ago.

Neither the archdiocese nor the Manhattan district attorney's office would provide more details. But people familiar with the district attorney's investigation said the complaints involved the fondling of two boys, about 13 or 14 years old, when they were students at the Cathedral School in Manhattan, where Monsignor Harris was assigned before becoming pastor at St. Charles Borromeo. - - - -
Read Full Report
Hindu chants invocation in Colorado Senate
Rajan Zed at US Senate
Now lawmaker suggests 'om' opens door for prayers 'in Jesus name'
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh -  January 31, 2008
A Nevada Hindu who has opened the U.S. Senate with a faith-specific chant now has provided the invocation to open the state senate in Colorado, and a senator is suggesting since "om" has been cited, perhaps prayers "in Jesus name" again should be allowed.

The comments came after Rajan Zed, a Hindu from Reno who is making a series of appearances at state legislatures to promote Hinduism, was allowed to open the Colorado Senate, under the leadership of Senate President Peter Groff, with a Hindu chant of the "om" syllable that, according to his belief system, contains the universe.

Zed also recited the Gayatri Mantra from Rig-Veda, a prayer asking for help to "lead me from the unreal to the real."

Zed was the Hindu who last year was invited by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to offer the first Hindu prayer in the U.S. Senate. . . .

YouTube shows Zed preparing to pray when a clear, loud voice came from the U.S. Senate gallery.

"Lord Jesus, forgive us, Father, for allowing the prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," said a protester. . . .

Zed also has led Hindu prayers in the California and New Mexico senates, and already is preparing for visits in Utah, Washington and Arizona, officials said.

"We talk about pluralism in this country and tolerating differences," Ved P. Nanda, an official at the University of Denver's law college, told the Denver Post. "Hindus don't 'tolerate' differences, we celebrate them."

The Associated Press reported Zed read both in Sanskrit and English.

"We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of heaven," he read. "May he stimulate and illuminate our minds."

He also sprinkled "holy water" from India's Ganges River around the podium, and finished with, "Om shanti shanti shanti," which he translated as, "Peace, peace, peace be unto all," the AP said.

There were no interruptions during his Colorado appearance, and Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, offered a special invitation to half a dozen members of the Hindu religion to be on the Senate floor.

The AP reported Zed confirmed he hopes to "spread awareness" about his religion. - - - -
Read Full Report
Presbyterian Assembly votes to drop homosexual clergy ban
Presbyterian Church USA
ASSOCIATED PRESS - Eric Gorski - Associated Press Religion Editor - June 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), bitterly divided over sexuality and the Bible, set up another confrontation Friday over its ban on ordaining non-celibate gays and lesbians.

The denomination's General Assembly, meeting in San Jose, Calif., voted 54 percent to 46 percent Friday to drop the requirement that would-be ministers, deacons and elders live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." . . .

Of equal importance to advocates on both side of the debate, the assembly also voted to allow gay and lesbian candidates for ordination to conscientiously object to the existing standard. Local presbyteries and church councils that approve ordinations would consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.

That vote was an "an authoritative interpretation" of the church constitution rather than a change to it, so it goes into effect immediately. . . .

The denomination allows ministers to bless same-sex unions, but the ceremonies can't mimic marriage ceremonies. - - - -
Read Full Report
Jewish-Presbyterian Ties at 'New Low'
FORWARD - By Nathan Guttman - June 17, 2008
Washington - Jewish outreach efforts to one of the major Protestant churches suffered a blow this month, as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) backtracked on language providing assurances against anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric within the denomination.

Earlier this month, after a period of intense dialogue with Jewish groups, the church published a document that it defined as a "resource" on "Vigilance Against Anti-Jewish Ideas and Bias."

But according to Jewish communal officials, language that the church had assured would be included in the publication was omitted from the final version, a turnaround described in a letter by leaders of Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements as a "new low-point in Presbyterian-Jewish relations." Indeed, while pledging to continue reaching out to mainline Protestants, those involved in interfaith dialogue were quite explicit in their criticism of the Presbyterians.

"They are particularly problematic to the Jewish people and the Jewish state," said Ethan Felson, associate executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which brings together 13 national Jewish agencies and 125 local Jewish community relations councils.

A spokesman at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) headquarters in Louisville, Ky., did not return calls for comment.

Since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in 2000, mainline Protestant churches, including the United Methodists, the Presbyterians and others, have taken a critical stand that is viewed by many American Jewish groups as biased. Several resolutions passed by the churches have called for divestment of church assets from companies they consider to be complicit in Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. The resolutions prompted efforts at interfaith dialogue between Jewish groups and the churches, but the outreach has yielded uneven results. - - - -
Original Report Here
Georgia church tempts worshippers with $500 gas raffle
ASSOCIATED PRESS - May 14, 2008
So much for spaghetti suppers: The First Baptist Church of Snellville is fueling its membership drive with a sign in front of its sprawling campus proclaiming "Free Gasoline."

There's a catch, of course. The offer is a not a giveaway. Instead, each time newcomers or members attend a church event during a Sunday-to-Wednesday revival they get a pink raffle ticket for a chance to win one of two $500 gas cards. . . .

Newman's congregation boasts roughly 9,000 members, but only about 2,500 regularly attend Sunday services.

The church, like others, has long relied on special dinners and giveaways to draw in members, but elders wanted something a little more timely for this latest pitch. . . .

"How can we capture those people?" asked James Lee, the church's minister to seniors, who came up with the idea. "We're strong in door-to-door evangelism, but there's no way to reach them all."

Soon the calls came flooding in. Church staffer Lisa Gauthier said she's handled dozens of them each day, some from as far afield as Seattle. Radio show hosts in Oregon caught wind of the idea and invited Newman on air. . . .

Newman views it as a service to the community, and he's looked to the Bible for his endorsement. One passage he mentions to support his idea involves Jesus feeding 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.

"Some pastors have questioned our motives," Newman said. "If it was just to get people in the building, it would be wrong. But we want to meet someone's physical need and eternal spiritual needs."
Read Full Report
Holt ministry celebrates its love of God - and beer
LANSING STATE JOURNAL - By Matthew Miller -  February 29, 2008
Once a month, Brett Maxwell gets together with a group of guys, or mostly guys, from his church to talk about God and beer.

And, where the beer is concerned, it's not all talk.

The church in question is Riverview Community Church in Holt.

The group, one of the church's many ministries, is RiverBrew, a place where believers can come "to worship God through appreciation of his creation" and "to resume the Church's historical role as making the finest beer in town," as the group's Web site puts it.

"The goal of it is really to be an entry point to the church," said Maxwell, a 23-year-old ministry leader at the church, a homebrewer and a fan, lately, of stouts and India pale ales.

"It's intimidating for someone to walk into a church having never been there," he said. "But if a friend invites them to go hang out, have a brew or two, and hang out with some of the guys from church, that's a much less intimidating environment."

The group, started in May, also serves "a secondary function of making a statement about what we believe the Bible says about alcohol consumption," he said.

And what they believe, in a nutshell, is that drinking alcohol is OK, even something to be celebrated, but getting drunk is not. - - - -
Original Report Here
Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - March 4, 2008
High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.
Original Report Here
Uninvited, Gay Bishop Attends Conference Anyway
THE WASHINGTON POST [Wash Post Group/Graham] - By Mary Jordan - July 26, 2008

Ed. Note: In this article, you can clearly catch the pro-homosexual slant of the author by the tone directed at Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria in not 'welcoming' gays.

. . .  Since Robinson, 61, was consecrated as bishop in New Hampshire five years ago, his presence has threatened to split the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, the world's third-largest church. A traditionalist wing of the church whose leaders include Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who condemns homosexuality as an abomination against God's teaching, has been so at odds with welcoming gay people and women that it held its own breakaway meeting in Jerusalem last month.

Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the Communion, did not invite Robinson to the church's gathering in Canterbury, known as the Lambeth Conference, in an attempt to calm any move toward formal schism. Even so, Akinola and more than 200 bishops, many from Africa, have boycotted the conference, held once every 10 years.

But 650 of the 880 bishops invited did come. Robinson, with no invitation, showed up, too, though he cannot go to the official meetings. On Monday, he worked the sidelines as his fellow bishops -- nearly all wearing shirts of the same deep purple -- quietly strode across the campus of the University of Kent toward discussion and prayer meetings.

"I would rather be on the inside. It's never okay to be relegated to the fringe by someone," said Robinson, a charismatic man with short graying hair and rimless glasses. If he succeeds in explaining how he can be "unabashedly gay and unabashedly Christian" to even one more person who cannot fathom it, he said, "it will have been worth it."

The last Lambeth conference, in 1998, produced a resolution that declared active homosexuality to be incompatible with the teachings of the Bible. Robinson's elevation to bishop five years later by the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, the Episcopal Church, accelerated the clash. More than a dozen Episcopal congregations in Virginia voted in late 2006 and early 2007 to break with the U.S. church, including the influential Falls Church in Falls Church and Truro Church in Fairfax. Most of these are now aligned with Akinola, the archbishop in Nigeria.

Moreover, the Episcopal Church is now led by a woman, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Many conservative members of the faith continue to oppose appointment of women priests and bishops, but no issue has stirred division globally as much as treatment of gays and lesbians in the church. In some countries, homosexual acts are a crime, several Lambeth participants pointed out, noting that Robinson brought his longtime partner, Mark Andrew, to the conference. - - - -
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Conservative 'peacemaker' to lead Southern Baptists
Southern Baptist Convention
Conservative 'peacemaker' to lead Southern Baptists
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Eric Gorski - June 11, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - Within an hour of being elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Rev. Johnny Hunt was talking about "turning the tide," acknowledging the reality that a denomination that cares so much about winning souls is losing too many.

By choosing the 55-year-old megachurch pastor from Woodstock, Ga., Southern Baptists picked the best-known name in an unusually large field of six candidates.

Hunt is described as a theological conservative more concerned about revival than fighting about doctrine. His goals likely will be welcomed as a growing number of Baptists acknowledge that steps must be taken to halt disturbing trends in membership and baptisms.

"Southern Baptists wanted a peacemaker," said Malcolm Yarnell, a professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth. "Johnny is not going to be the type that brings divisions. He tends to avoid big theological controversies. He's not the type to point a finger at somebody. He's more likely to point a finger at himself and exhort the rest of us."

After five decades of declining growth, the SBC reported a membership decrease of about 40,000 people from 2006 to 2007. Seven out of the last eight years, baptisms have decreased - a more important statistic to many Southern Baptists than membership. . . .

At a news conference, Hunt called for radical change and leadership to "turn the tide in our denomination."

He said he would try to unite Baptist around common causes, get younger pastors more involved and hear from a wider range of leaders. . . .

While acknowledging the challenges ahead, Hunt also pointed out that the denomination has grown over the past five decades and stands 16.2 million strong.

"We have a larger army," he said. "We ought to be taking more territory."

Ed Note: Maybe he ought to re-read Judges chapter 7 as it is not the quantity but the quality the Lord wants.
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On the Net: http://www.sbc.net

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* Emphasis Added
Southern Baptists worried by decline in baptisms
REUTERS [Thomson-Reuters] - By Ed Stoddard - June 11, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS - Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.

The number of people baptized in Southern Baptist churches and ceremonies, an important indicator of conversions and denominational growth, fell in 2007 for the third year in a row by 5 percent to 345,941.

That was the lowest number since 1987, a trend on the minds of many of the 7,000 delegates known as "messengers" attending the SBC's annual meeting in Indianapolis. . . .

For Southern Baptists, a decline in baptisms is a worry because a major tenet of their faith is to spread it. Many believe the "unchurched" are doomed to an eternity in hell. . . .

Twenty-five percent of U.S. adults now count themselves as "born-again" or evangelical Christians, making the movement one of the fastest growing and most influential in America. A slowdown in its growth could have a ripple effect on politics and other areas of American life.

Several Southern Baptists interviewed took it as an unhealthy sign of "weakness" or misguided attempts to find accommodation with the broader secular culture that some regard as corrupting and even satanic.

"We are using corporate-style marketing and worship services. It's a performance orientation that lacks authenticity," said J.D. Perry, also from Baton Rouge.

For SBC evangelist Jim McNiel of St. Louis, the drop in baptism numbers was a sign that the biblical "end times" described in the Book of Revelation were drawing near. . . .

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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* Emphasis Added
Russia: Ex-Traffic Cop Says He's Jesus
Remote Russian Sect Revolves Around Self-Proclaimed Messiah
ABC NEWS (US) [Disney] - By CLARISSA WARD - June 23, 2008

Siberia, RUSSIA

"Two white robed men were standing there among them and said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing here staring the sky? Jesus has gone away to heaven. And some day, just as He went, He will return!'" New Testament, Acts 1:10-11

Deep in the heart of Siberia's birch forests lies one of the largest and most remote religious communes of the planet. More than 5,000 people have left their families and their homes to move here and join the Church of the Last Testament, which has more than 10,000 followers worldwide. The church centers on one man. He is known simply as Vissarion, meaning "he who gives new life," or simply as the teacher, and he claims that he is Jesus Christ. . .

The Church of the Last Testament has abolished Christmas and replaced it with a new celebration on Vissarion's birthday. The biggest holiday of the year is Aug. 18, the anniversary of the teacher's first sermon. And a new calendar has been introduced which dates from the year of his birth, making this year 48.

Vissarion was born Sergei Torop in 1961 and worked as a traffic cop up until his revelation. He started the Church of the Last Testament in 1991, the same year as the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was a desperate and chaotic time for people. And after decades of religious oppression, suddenly thousands of new religions and sects burst onto the scene, all claiming to have the answers that people were so hungrily craving.

. . . Many of Vissarion's followers are educated people from different European countries. Some of them used to work as doctors, teachers and engineers. One was even the former Belorussian deputy railway minister.

Werner explained to me, "It's all about Vissarion. I had an experience when I went from Italy, he embraced me very warmly. He took my hands and then my heart spoke and that was the time when I never doubted again that he was the Christ." . . .

The followers here were even more zealous when talking about their teacher. I sat down with a group of women and asked about their first time meeting Vissarion.

"When I saw him the first time my soul recognized him. I could not cope with my emotions and my soul cried, 'It's him, it's him. He is on earth!"' Galina told me.

"It was as if a flood came down from the sky and my body was shivering nonstop!" Tatyana added.

Every day the women pore over his 10 volumes of teachings and five times a day a bell rings whereupon the followers turn to pray towards the mountaintop where Vissarion lives. . .

A Man of Few Words

On Sunday the community congregates early to begin the rituals of the holy day. Followers from Petropavlovka and other villages make the journey to see their teacher for the day. People dress up for the occasion.

The day begins with a steep walk up the mountain to where Vissarion lives. At the top of the mountain, the followers gather at an altar and sing songs and pray. Standing amongst them, the intensity of their fervour was palpable.

As the liturgy drew to a close I felt excited. We were getting closer to meeting Vissarion. It was finally time.

My first impression seeing the teacher was that he did actually look how one might imagine Jesus. With his long hair, flowing white robes and kind smile, he looked the part. But as the interview began, my feelings soon changed.

I asked him to tell me some of the principals of his religion. After a good 20 second pause, he replied, "The same as all other religions have. People should learn how to love each other." I asked him what he enjoyed to do every day and what he thought the most important philosophy to live by was. Each question provoked the same long pause followed by a monosyllabic reply.

Finally I asked him the question I had traveled all this way to ask: "Are you Jesus Christ?"

"It's not necessary to answer this," he told me.

I asked whether he believed in Judgment Day,

"There is a time, a certain period of time, during which the destiny of the whole human society will be decided. This period is going on already."

He would not elaborate on what will happen at the end of the period of judgment, nor on when that would be.

The next few questions I asked provoked the same truculent answer, "That doesn't interest me." So I finished by asking if he had anything that did interest him that he would like to communicate to our viewers and to Americans.

His reply, "I am not interested to tell them anything. Their time has not yet come."

It seemed that the interview was over before it began. I hadn't expected Jesus to be a man of so few words. Leaving, I noticed a quad bike parked in front of his house. It seemed ironic that he was zipping around while his followers trekked up and down the mountain. Traveling back to civilization, I marvelled at the zeal of Vissarion's followers. What did they see that I did not? Or what did I see that they did not? I felt inexplicably disappointed.

Yet the numbers of Vissarion's followers continues to grow as more and more people abandon their lives and flock to this remote corner of the world, and to this chameleon of a man. Vissarion? The Teacher? Jesus Christ? Or perhaps just Sergei Torop, the self-proclaimed messiah of Siberia.
Original Report Here
 
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