Moriel Ministries Be Alert!
June 18, 2009
 
God shall send them strong delusion
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.


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.

Prosperity Gospel
Proverbs 16:25
There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

Isaiah 5:20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!


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.

Falling Away in Progress

Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD,
Intoxicating all the earth.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
Therefore the nations are going mad.

Shalom in Christ Jesus, 
Yellow Alert Can you imagine under different circumstances Zedekiah holding a leadership summit featuring King Nebuchadnezzar? Certainly, Nebuchadnezzar was one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen and he would give excellent advice and tips on organization and methods of conquest. This sounds absurd knowing spiritually what was going on from the Word of God yet today much of the evangelical church goes to the "lost" to learn leadership for the church. Note article # 1 below concerning the Willow Creek Leadership Summit scheduled for this coming August. On the other hand, how about learning from one whom God calls a "fool"? That is, a person who says, "There is no God" to learn about theology. This is absolute absurdity, and yet this is a statement coming from the Archbishop of Canterbury covered in article # 5.
 
I would like to remind everyone reading before going further that even though this alert contains mostly "negative" articles concerning the church, the whole point is to show that what the Word of God prophesied concerning the last days is coming to pass before our very eyes. That is the great falling away, the apostasy is happening, and therefore now is the time more than ever to put on the full armor of God and look up, for our redemption draws near.
 
Bottom line: Although this on the surface may seem to be bad news and depressing, we should not be surprised or upset, for these things must happen, for they are written. Let us rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha Mochiach, and cast our bread (Gospel of the Kingdom) upon the waters, for there is still a harvest.

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

The media as a whole hates Jesus Christ, hates Christians and hates Israel so much that they look for every opportunity possible to trash and bash believers and the Scriptures. Case in point is the article below (# 27) from CNN, Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible. To begin with, the title of the article is an opinion and so is all the debunking of this former fundamentalist.

 
We find right away that he brings up the same old argument of the role of women in the church. I believe when the proper Judeo-Christian context of home fellowships vs. public gatherings is brought to light this clears up most if all of the confusion. However, what is most important is submission as Jesus submits Himself to the Father even though He Himself is God because They are One. That is a picture for how the wife is to submit to the husband even though they are one. The marriage relationship is a picture of the tri-unity of God. That is why homosexuality is an abomination.
 
Then he says there is no proof of the resurrection and it is based on his opinion, "I think some of the disciples had visions", he says. Yet is has been shown countless times there is enough evidence to prove the resurrection in a court of law.
 
Another of his problems is suffering in the world. I suppose this man whose reportedly memorized large portions of scripture never bothered to read the book of Job. If he had along with the full co-text of all scripture, he would have learned that there is suffering in the world because man sinned and fell, and that the whole creation groans, longing to be set free from this corruption and that when a believer suffers and stands it brings refinement to the believer and glory to God.
 
This is my short and simple response to this very sad story (and one the press loves and reports as fact rather than opinion) but one that is so common today as we see the great apostasy in full force and the haters of God and truth salivating for any tidbit they can find to try and discredit Jesus Christ and His brethren.
 
This is the latest alert on the number one sign of Christ's soon return the falling away in the church. More and more this falling away is happening in what was once the soundest of denominations and fellowships including the latest sad news from Calvary Chapel.
 
For a long time now, actually hundreds of years, sound preachers, teachers and watchman have been sounding the warning. As I began to look back at some of the sermons and warnings given back in the late 1700's and early 1800's I was amazed as they sounded as if written for today. Hence, the title of this alert:
 
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
- 2 Thessalonians 2:11

 
2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 gives us one of the clearest descriptions of the falling away in scripture and we see that God sends a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.
 
I am beginning to think that this delusion is not a sudden event, but one that has been developing over time and like an uncontrollable weed, it has worked its way into every nook and crevice of church and secular life as well. No matter where you go or who you talk to, unless a person is solidly grounded in The Word of God and are actively using their sword (The Word) to test everything that crosses their proverbial path, they are deceived and in desperate danger.
 
That is the honest, realistic, accurate state of affairs in the world today and we have to face that fact before we can move on.
 
I just like all other believers want to see people saved especially as we see the day drawing near, but we must realize that we are sending babes into the lion's den. How many baby Christians do we need to see torn to pieces by the enemy because the seeker churches teach nothing but psycho-fluff.
 
Please do not let this alert go to waste. Use it to try to wake those you can out of their stupor. Jesus Christ, The King of Kings is coming soon and many, many people need to hear the gospel. Maybe, just maybe there is time for one more outpouring of His Spirit before His wrath poured out on this wicked world.
 
May the Lord bless you and keep you,
BE/\LERT!
Scott Brisk
In This Alert
1- Willow Creek Leadership Summit - A virtual smorgasbord or false teachers
2- Calvary Chapel Termination Has Profound Implications
3- Emergent New Paradigm Pastor to Speak at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa
4- Church of England attempts to broaden appeal with songs by U2 and prayers for Google
5- Atheist Philip Pullman helps understanding of theology, says Archbishop of Canterbury
6- Abortion is a blessing and abortionists are doing holy work, says Anglican priest
7- Oprah tackles new issue: 'Gay is a gift from God'
8- Must See Videos: Billy Graham exposed/Newsweek: "Obama is sort of God"
9- Many Churchgoers, Pastors Struggle to Define Spiritual Maturity
10- Most U.S. Christians Don't Believe Satan, Holy Spirit Exist
11- U.S. Evangelicals Pessimistic about Christianity in America
12- Protestant groups use ads to lure members
13- Why are young people leaving the church?
14- Four out of five Britons repudiate creationism
15- Does Your Pastor Believe in God?
16- Study: Megachurch attenders tend to be younger, give less
17- Canadian Believers In A God Down To 71 Percent
18- Churches close throughout Germany as Islam explodes
19- Study finds attendance at churches still falling
20- US: Catholics, Southern Baptists, losing members
21- Obama's Christian Appointee to Faith-Based Program Denies New Testament Teaching on Homosexuality
22- More Bentley Fallout: Heal or heel?
23- Probe of preachers' finances is ongoing
24- The Ponzi Prosperity Gospel
25- Schuller's daughter to lead Crystal Cathedral
26- No answers: After scandal, pastor finds solace in preaching gay inclusion
27- Former fundamentalist never really Saved - Word of God still Stands
28- Christian Children's Fund Drops 'Christian' from Name
29- Cambridge students axe traditional grace as it is 'too religious'
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Willow Creek Leadership Summit - A virtual smorgasbord or false teachers
Willow Creek The Leadership Summit Aug 6-7

Including "eminent" speakers (Selections):

Rt. Hon Tony Blair,
Former Prime Minster of United Kingdom

Bono (Videocast)
Lead singer of U2 and
activist in the fight against
AIDS and poverty in Africa

Andrew Rugasira
Founder and CEO of Good
African Coffee and African
trade advocate

David Gergen
Political analyst for CNN and PBS
and former White House adviser to
four presidents

Bill Hybels
Founder and senior pastor of
Willow Creek Community Church,
South Barrington, IL

Willow Creek Leadership Summit website

Also:

The Purpose-Driven Website
Assuming your website is successful, what will it have accomplished?
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT [NY Daily News/Mortimer Zuckerman] - June 2, 2009

Ed. Note: Here is an article that borrows the title from Rick Warren's best seller yet does not mention one thing that has to do with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ or the Christian message. A salt-less church infecting society with an unbiblical message is pointless.

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. - Matthew 5:13

Read Full Report
Calvary Chapel Termination Has Profound Implications
Calvary Chapel Paul Smith, brother of Chuck Smith, fired from position in Calvary Chapel
LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH PROJECT - A Lighthouse Trails Special Report - May 15, 2009
Lighthouse Trails regrets to report that on May 5th, Paul Smith, brother of Chuck Smith (the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement), was fired from his position in the Calvary Chapel (CCOF) organization during an unscheduled meeting that day. The motion to fire Paul Smith was made by board member Roger Wing and seconded by Chuck Smith's son-in-law, Brian Broderson. Other board members affirmed the motion, and Paul Smith was dismissed.

For some time now Paul Smith, who has been in full-time ministry since 1951, has been putting forth tireless efforts to help keep contemplative and emerging spirituality out of the Calvary Chapel movement. At times, this caused conflict with other Calvary Chapel figures who did not resonate with these efforts. This Lighthouse Trails report is being presented because of recent statements such as the following that give a biased view of Paul Smith's role at Calvary Chapel:

Smith's desire to codify and enforce not only the "Distinctives," but positions on such matters as "The Shack" and secondary doctrinal issues was at odds with other people in leadership and that eventually cost him his job. Smith was working out of a deep desire to see his brothers legacy remain intact and define what was and wasn't "Calvary Chapel." While I think his motives were pure they also brought a sense of restriction and censorship to many in the movement. (from a Reformed Calvinist pastor, formerly a Calvary Chapel pastor, who runs a blog called Phoenix Preacher)

Comments made on that site suggesting that Paul Smith's firing was warranted have prompted this Lighthouse Trails report. This is the story behind the story. ...
Read Full Report
Emergent New Paradigm Pastor to Speak at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa
FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE - The Blog of Lighthouse Trails Research - May 25, 2009
Emerging/emergent spirituality is making serious inroads into Christianity. Churches and Christian colleges, unaware of the subtle undermining of such spirituality, are embracing teachers and leaders of this movement and pointing others to them. Often they are unaware of what these teachers really believe and teach. In light of an event (Movement 2009) scheduled to take place on May 29th at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, the Calvary Chapel mother church, with RockHarbor pastor, Mike Erre (and a similar event (Pure Worship) that took place earlier this month), Lighthouse Trails is posting this special report. ...

The kingdom of God theology that Erre presents is broad--in fact, very broad. That is why he turns to Brian McLaren, Alan Hirsch, and a number of other broad-minded thinkers to make his case. Erre is not merely quoting these figures in a benign manner--he clearly resonates with them and admits many of them have been "highly influential" in his life.1 He fondly and favorably tells his readers what they think and what they believe. Quoting Alan Hirsch, Erre says that "the major threat to the viability of our faith is that of consumerism" (p. 31). He eventually defines "consumerism" as individualism, saying that there has been too much emphasis within Christianity on individual salvation and nothing on corporate salvation (ie., all of the world and creation being saved).

As with most emerging authors, Erre exalts uncertainty and doubt (always searching, never finding). He states: "Jesus brings mystery, paradox, and tension--rarely did someone get a straight answer out of Him" (p. 36), which is not true about Jesus at all. To help build Erre's case, he turns a number of times to two Fuller Seminary professors, Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger. Interestingly, in Faith Undone, Roger Oakland's expose of the emerging church, Oakland discusses Gibbs and Bolger. He states: "They found that emerging church leaders are not impressed with Christians who defend the faith by offering ve answers to those who doubt the faith (p. 182)." Doubt and uncertainty are vital to the emerging church thinking--and to their mission--and without this foundation, the emerging church cannot reach its goal of an all-inclusive kingdom (that Erre seeks to present in Death by Church). ...
Read Full Report
Church of England attempts to broaden appeal with songs by U2 and prayers for Google
Dr. Rowen Williams LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent - June 13, 2009
Christian services that feature DJs, songs of the Irish band U2 and prayers for the chief executives of Google and Wal-Mart are being promoted by the Church of England.

The ideas for alternative-style worship are part of an initiative launched by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appeal to the younger generation.

They are set out in a new book compiled by the Church's Fresh Expressions programme, which aims to boost church attendance with more relevant and exciting services.

However, traditionalists have criticised the unorthodox services as "pointless" and "shallow", and have warned that experimenting with Church tradition would do more harm than good.

One Holy Communion service promoted in the book, called Ancient Faith, Future Mission, begins with the congregation being shown a video clip from the YouTube website about a United Nations anti-poverty campaign.

Worshippers are told that "our planet is messed up" and that "things are not right".

They are then asked to approach the altar and rub sea salt on their fingers to represent tears, before walking around and meditating at eight "prayer stations" representing themes such as "gender equality" and "environmental sustainability".

A psalm is recited in "beat poetry" style to the accompaniment of African Djembe drums, and prayers are said "for the corporate world, for influential CEOs who oversee billion-dollar industries".

The prayers continue: "We pray for John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Dr Eric Schmidt of Google Inc, H Lee Scott Jr of Wal-Mart Stores and others who have already made commitments to justice."

Among the alternative services explored in the book, which is co-edited by the Rt Rev Steven Croft, the new Bishop of Sheffield, are so-called "U2charists", services in which the congregation receives communion but sings the songs of the Irish rock band U2 instead of traditional hymns.

The services, which include such songs as "Mysterious Ways", "One", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", have been pioneered at St Swithin's church in Lincoln.

The book also features Transcendence, an event held in York Minister in which traditional Latin chant is set by DJs to hip hop or ambient dance music and video images are projected onto the walls.

The Rev Sue Wallace, who has pioneered the event by blending modern technology with ancient prayers, says that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Many of the services promoted in the book feature physical activity and symbols alongside traditional sermons.

In chapter of the book, Archbishop Williams says: "The Bible is full of stories about God communicating through act and sign as well as language ... Far from being bound to communication through clear information economically expressed in words, our society is still deeply sensitive to symbols and inclined to express important feelings and perceptions in this way."

The Fresh Expressions initiative was launched by the Archbishop in 2004 to combat the significant drop in churchgoing that has been seen in Britian over recent decades. In the past few years the decline appears to have steadied.

Church leaders are particularly concerned about the loss of younger people, who are abandoning the pews at a greater rate than their older counterparts.

The Rt Rev Graham Cray, who heads the Fresh Expressions initiative, said that it was vital that the Church explored new ways of engaging with modern culture. ...
Read Full Report
Atheist Philip Pullman helps understanding of theology, says Archbishop of Canterbury
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent - May 28, 2009
Reading Philip Pullman can help people to understand theology, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said, despite criticism of the atheist author's novels as a veiled attack on Christianity.
Citing Pullman as one of his favourite modern writers, Dr Rowan Williams said he liked his work because it took the church "seriously" at a time when theology was "drifting out" of mainstream thought.
Pullman has been castigated by parts of the Roman Catholic church, particularly in North America, as many consider the trilogy His Dark Materials to be a veiled attack on it.
But, speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dr Williams defended Pullman.
He said: "First of all he takes the Christian myth, or a version of it, seriously enough to want to disagree passionately with it.
"It's not just dull or remote, it's dangerous. You've got to tussle with it. It's still alive."
Although he stressed he disagreed with Pullman's atheistic view, he commended his "search for some way of talking about human value, human depth and three-dimensionality, that doesn't depend on God." ...
Read Full Report
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil
Abortion is a blessing and abortionists are doing holy work, says Anglican priest
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] > Holy Smoke Blog - Posted By Damian Thompson - April 2, 2009
The new Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massacusetts, has given a sermon describing abortions as a "blessing" for the women who undergo them. The Rev Katherine Hancock Ragsdale also thinks that the people who run abortion clinics are "heroes" and even "saints".
Ms Ragsdale, speaking in Birmingham, Alabama, said that "when a woman becomes pregnant within a loving, supportive, respectful relationship; has every option open to her; decides she does not wish to bear a child; and has access to a safe, affordable abortion - there is not a tragedy in sight - only blessing."
Here is the full text of her sermon. Do not, please, make the mistake of assuming that she is an unrepresentative extremist: liberal Anglicans in America are among the most fervent supporters of abortion in the world, outstripping even atheists in their enthusiasm for this gruesome procedure.
See her sermon here
Oprah tackles new issue: 'Gay is a gift from God'
Pastor claims Almighty made all people, saying, 'You are good' - no exceptions
WORLDNETDAILY - By Drew Zahn - January 19, 2009
On the third day of her televised "Best Life" week-long series, even Oprah Winfrey was stunned to hear one of her pastor panelists, Rev. Ed Bacon, declare, "Being gay is a gift from God."
With wide eyes, Winfrey responded, "Well, you are the first minister I've ever heard say, 'Being gay is a gift from God,' I can tell you that."
The comment was made earlier this month on the "Your Spiritual Journey" segment of Winfrey's "Best Life Week" by Rev. Bacon of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., a church described by Pasadena Weekly as "one of the most socially progressive religious institutions in America."
The comment was so controversial that Winfrey invited Bacon back four days later via video link to explain himself.
"Tell us, what did you mean by that comment?" Winfrey asked.
"I meant exactly what I said," Bacon responded with a wide smile. "It is so important for every human being to understand that he or she is a gift from God, and particularly people who are marginalized and victimized in our culture. Gay and lesbian people are clearly outcasts in many areas of our life, and it is so important for them to understand that when God made them, God said, 'You are good.'" ...
Read Full Report
Must See Videos
Wider-mercy salvation - Billy Graham exposed
This is just NOT the Billy Graham we thought of...
John Macarthur talks about how Billy Graham and the late Pope affirm salvation is possible without Jesus Christ.

Excerpt:
Transcript from Interview on the Hour of Power
  • Dr. Robert H. Schuller:  Tell me, what is the future of Christianity?
  • Dr. Billy Graham: I think there's the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world, or outside the Christian groups. I think everybody that loves Christ or knows Christ, whether their conscience of or not, their members of the body of Christ....
See Video Here

Also:

Video: Newsweek Editor Evan Thomas: Obama Is "Sort Of God"
Newsweek editor Evan Thomas said President Obama is "sort of God" in a way that's "standing above the country." Transcript below.
CHRIS MATTHEWS (HOST):Evan Thomas is editor at large for Newsweek magazine. Evan, you remember 1984. It wasn't 100 years ago. Reagan and World War II and the sense of us as the good guys in the world, how are we doing?
EVAN THOMAS: Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama's had, really, a different task We're seen too often as the bad guys. And he, he has a very different job from ... Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is - we are above that now. We're not just parochial, we're not just chauvinistic, we're not just provincial. We stand for something, I mean in a way Obama's standing above the country, above above the world, he's sort of God.
See Video Here
Many Churchgoers, Pastors Struggle to Define Spiritual Maturity
THE CHRISTIAN POST - By Jennifer Riley - May 11, 2009
Though many of Christians would like to grow and develop on their path of faith, most are unsure what a "healthy, spiritually mature follower of Jesus" looks like, let alone how to become one.

A new Barna survey revealed on Monday that half of churchgoers cannot describe how their church defines a "healthy, spiritually mature follower of Jesus."

Even among born again Christians - a smaller subset group whose members say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ as their savior and confessed their sin - a significant portion was unable to say how their church defines spiritual maturity. Two out of five born again Christians could not answer the open-ended survey question.

When Christians did offer their personal description of spiritual maturity, the views were mostly one-dimensional, according to the survey.

Some defined it as having a relationship with Jesus (21 percent), following rules and being obedient (15 percent), living a moral lifestyle (14 percent), possessing concern about others (13 percent), being involved in spiritual disciplines (13 percent), applying the Bible (12 percent), being spiritual or having belief (8 percent), sharing their faith with others (6 percent), and being involved in church activities (5 percent).

About one-fifth of self-described Christians did not offer an opinion.

In comparison, born again Christians had similar responses to self-described Christians except they were more likely to see having a relationship with Jesus (30 percent) as a sign of spiritual maturity.

The survey also suggested that most pastors struggle with defining spiritual maturity.

Surveyed pastors offered a range of ways to measure someone's spiritual maturity, including the practice of spiritual disciplines (19 percent), involvement in church activities (15 percent), witnessing to others (15 percent), having a relationship with Jesus (14 percent), having concern for others (14 percent), applying the Bible to life (12 percent), being willing to grow spiritually (12 percent), and having knowledge of Scripture (9 percent).

Most of the pastors who participated in the survey were also vague in offering biblical passages that address spiritual maturity.

About one-third of pastors gave the generic response that the "the whole Bible" described spiritual maturity. Pastors were asked to identify the most important portions of the Bible that gave a definition of spiritual maturity.

Other pastors gave general answers such as "the gospels" (17 percent), the New Testament (15 percent), and Paul's letters (10 percent). Overall, about three-quarters of pastors gave some type of generic answer. Another one out of five pastors gave a "semi-generic" response, such as "Romans" or the "life of Christ."

Only one-fifth of pastors offered specific passages that included Galatians 5, John 3:16, Ephesians 4, Matthew 28, and Romans 12:1-2. Just two percent of pastors specifically identified the Galatians 5 passage that describes the "fruits of the Spirit," which includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.

Seven percent of pastor respondents gave "theme specific" responses, most commonly the Sermon on the Mount, the Great Commission, the Great Commandment, and the Beatitudes.

David Kinnaman, president of the research firm Barna Group and who directed the project, partly blamed the faith community not being able to offer a "robust" definition of its spiritual goals for contributing to the spiritual problems in America. Kinnaman calls on faith leaders, in light of the study, to develop new spiritual metrics to measure spiritual growth.

"As people begin to realize that the concepts and practices of spiritual maturity have been underdeveloped, the Christian community is likely to enter a time of renewed emphasis on discipleship, soul care, the tensions of truth and grace, the so-called 'fruits' of the spiritual life, and the practices of spiritual disciplines," Kinnaman said.

The study is based on nationwide telephone interviews with 1,005 adults, age 18 and older in August 2008. The survey among pastors included 611 clergy.
Original Report
Most U.S. Christians Don't Believe Satan, Holy Spirit Exist
THE CHRISTIAN POST - By Jennifer Riley - April 13, 2009
The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, the latest Barna survey found.

Nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found.

Forty percent strongly agreed with the statement while 19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed.

In contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians believe Satan is real. Twenty-six percent strongly disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely symbolic and about one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat disagreed.

The remaining eight percent of American Christians responded they were unsure what to believe about the existence of Satan.

Interestingly, the majority of Christians believe a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits, even though many of these same people believe Satan is merely a symbol of evil. Two out of three Christians agreed that such forces are real (39 percent agreed strongly, 25 percent agreed somewhat).

Likewise, most Christians in the United States do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force. Fifty-eight percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is "a symbol of God's power or presence but is not a living entity."

Only one-third of Christians disagreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is not just symbolic (9 percent disagreed somewhat, 25 percent disagreed strongly). Nine percent expressed they were unsure.

Interestingly, about half (49 percent) of those who agreed that the Holy Spirit is only a symbol but not a living entity, agreed that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. The Bible states that the Holy Spirit is God's power or presence, not just symbolic.

"Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world," commented George Barna, founder of The Barna Group and author of books analyzing research concerning America's faith.

"Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are," he said. "It's hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces."

But a large majority of American Christians agree that a person must choose to side with either good or evil. More than six out of ten American Christians strongly agreed (61 percent) with the idea that a person must either side with God or with the devil - that there is no in-between position. Another 15 percent somewhat agreed.

Just one out of ten adults disagreed somewhat (10 percent) and a similar proportion (11 percent) strongly disagreed. Only a few adults (3 percent) did not have an opinion on the issue.

Barna explained that because of the "sheer force of repetition" many Americans "intellectually" accept the idea that you either side with God or Satan and there's no in-between, even though this idea does "not get translated into practice."

Other survey findings include a significant number of self-described Christians believing that Jesus sinned when he lived on earth, contrary to the core teaching of Christianity that teaches the divinity and perfection of Jesus.

More than one-fifth (22 percent) strongly agreed that Jesus Christ sinned when He lived on earth, with an additional 17 percent agreeing somewhat.

However, nearly half of American Christians (46 percent) strongly disagreed with the idea that Jesus sinned, and 9 percent disagreed somewhat. Six percent did not have an opinion on the statement.

The Barna report is based on telephone interviews for two surveys among people who described themselves as Christians. A total of 1,871 adults were randomly selected from across the 48 continental states, with the first 873 interviews conducted in January and February 2008, and the remaining 998 interviews conducted in November 2008.
Original Report
U.S. Evangelicals Pessimistic about Christianity in America
THE CHRISTIAN POST - By Michelle A. Vu - June 3, 2009
A survey of some of the top evangelical leaders in the nation found that while there is overwhelming optimism on the growth of Christianity in the world, there is mostly pessimism when it comes to the future of the faith in America.

"Evangelical leaders are very bullish on the future growth of Christianity, except in America," said Leith Anderson, president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).

In the latest Evangelical Leaders Survey, released Tuesday, respondents said they overwhelmingly (94 percent) believe the number of Christians worldwide will increase in the next ten years. A mere four percent of respondents said the number of Christians will stay the same, while two percent said they are unsure.

No one predicted the number of Christians will decrease.

The expectations for Christianity's growth, however, focused on the global south where the religion is currently blossoming.

Gary Benedict, president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., predicted an "increase in South America, Africa and Asia but continued decrease in North America and Europe," the NAE reported.

When it came to the United States, most of the U.S. evangelical respondents said they believe the number of Christians will stay the same at best, but will more likely decline. However, they expressed hope for a national spiritual awakening spurred by the current economic difficulties and political uncertainties.

NAE's president further noted that while respondents are optimistic about the number of Christians in the next ten years, they held more reserved expectations on the influence of the religion. Anderson said many of the leaders believe that even though there will be more Christians, the group will have less influence because of secularization, Islam and persecution.

The influence of Christianity in America is already seen to be on the decline as Christians themselves are revealing confusion with their faith.

Last year, a major study on religion in America discovered that the majority of American Christians believe there is more than one way to eternal life. Even 57 of evangelical church attendees said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, according to the survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

American Christian leaders, in response to the report, called the survey results troubling and an indication of a theological crisis among the country's Christian population as well as the growing pluralism in America.

"They (survey results) represent at best a misunderstanding of the Gospel and at worst a repudiation of the Gospel," commented Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The NAE survey results are based off a monthly poll of 100 members of the group's board of directors. They include heads of 60 denominations and executives of evangelical organizations including missions, universities, publishers and churches. The survey questions the leaders on current events and issues of interest to gage the evangelical response on a particular topic. Past surveys have include topics on Muslim Americans, megachurches, and politics.
Original Report
Protestant groups use ads to lure members
Denominations are branding their beliefs
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Rose French - June 2, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Shrinking mainline Protestant denominations are turning to marketing to help stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat.

The United Methodist Church recently released a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant sect. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination's "Rethink Church" campaign.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has invested nearly $1.2 million in the past two years launching a similar branding effort based on the theme "God's Work, Our Hands."

The denominations are trying to bounce back from losses that began in the mid-1960s.

From 1990 to 2008 alone, mainline Protestants dropped from 18.7 percent to 12.9 percent of the population, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

The United Methodist Church has just under 8 million members in the U.S., with about 3.5 million additional adherents overseas. The median age for a United Methodist is 57, according to the Rev. Larry Hollon, the denomination's chief communications executive.

The new ads highlight the opportunities for involvement within Methodist churches - from helping feed the poor to volunteering with youth basketball leagues in low-income neighborhoods, reflecting research that found that young people are especially interested in service projects.

"We need to refocus on young people and provide them an opportunity to be a part of the church," Mr. Hollon said. "What we're hearing is, they say, 'Belief connects to how I live my daily life.' If I say, 'I value people because I'm a religious person,' then I have to demonstrate that in concrete ways. It's walking the walk, not just talking the talk."

One of the 30-second ads, posted at www.10thousanddoors.org, asks, "What if church wasn't just a building, but thousands of doors, each of them opening up to a journey that could actually change the world? Would you come?"

Another ad shows children reading books and asks, "What if church was a literacy program for homeless children? Would you come?" ...
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Why are young people leaving the church?
Groundbreaking study says Sunday School makes exit more likely
WORLDNETDAILY - June 14, 2009

Ed. Note: This article doubles as an advertisement for a book as a number of WorldNet Daily articles do these days. However, Answers in Genesis is a good ministry, this is a worthwhile article to read, and the reasoning is all to well known.
BE/\LERT!

What does the age of the Earth have to do with the exodus of young people from American churches?

Ken Ham, known for his Answers in Genesis creation-science ministry, says a major study he commissioned by a respected researcher unveils for the first time in a scientific fashion the startling reasons behind statistics that show two-thirds of young people in evangelical churches will leave when they move into their 20s.

The study, highlighted in Ham's new book with researcher Britt Beemer, "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it," finds church youth already are "lost" in their hearts and minds in elementary, middle and high school - not in college as many assume.

"A lot of the research already done has been to find out how many believe, how many support abortion, believe in the resurrection, say they're born again," Ham told WND. "But nobody has really ever delved into why two-thirds of young people will walk away from the church."

The first-of-its-kind study by Beemer - a former senior research analyst for the Heritage Foundation and founder in 1979 of the American Research Group - included 20,000 phone calls and detailed surveys of 1,000 20 to 29 year olds who used to attend evangelical churches on a regular basis.

The survey found, much to Ham's surprise, a "Sunday School syndrome," indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.

"This is a brutal wake-up call for the church, showing how our programs and our approaches to Christian education are failing dismally," Ham writes in the book.

Among the survey findings, regular participants in Sunday School are more likely to:
  • Leave the church
  • Believe that the Bible is less true
  • Defend the legality of abortion and same-sex marriage
  • Defend premarital sex
The book explores a number of reasons for the findings, but Ham sees one overarching problem that is related to how churches and parents have taught youth to understand the Genesis account of creation. ...
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LIVING IN A LAND OF CONFUSION
Four out of five Britons repudiate creationism
Darwinism THE GUARDIAN [Guardian Media Group, UK] - By Ian Sample, science correspondent - March 2, 2009
The east of England may be the most godless region of the UK, according to a "belief map" published by a theology thinktank today. Almost half of adults there believe the theory of evolution makes God obsolete, and more than 80% disagree with creationism and intelligent design, which propose that humans were created by God in the past 10,000 years, and that life owes its complexity to divine intervention.

The map was drawn up by the thinktank Theos following a survey of 2,060 people across the country who were chosen to be representative of the adult population.

The survey, which was conducted to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, found that nearly half of the British adult population could not name the country's greatest naturalist as the author of On the Origin of Species, the 1859 book that introduced evolution through natural selection to a sceptical Victorian society.

The poll also revealed some extraordinary views on more recent writings, with 5% of adults thinking Darwin wrote A Brief History of Time, a bestseller on the science of spacetime, which was written by the Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking and is widely regarded as the most popular science book never to be completed by its readers.

A further 3% of those surveyed thought Darwin wrote The God Delusion, by the arch-atheist and Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins, while 1% thought Darwin was the author of The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver.

The study found only 15% of people knew that Darwin was a self-described agnostic towards the end of his life, with a fifth believing he was an atheist. Nearly half thought evolution challenged Christianity but said it was possible to believe in both.

The survey suggests there is a widespread lack of religious sentiment across Britain. National average figures revealed that less than a third of adults see evolution as part of God's plan, 89% dismiss intelligent design and 83% reject creationism as plausible explanations for the existence of human life.

The survey reveals a relatively high proportion of people in London who believe in creationism. "Whereas the national average is 17% who believe that human beings were created by God in the last 10,000 years ... in London, that figure is 20%. That may well be due to the growth of Pentecostal churches in London, which are growing at an extraordinary rate," said Paul Woolley, director of Theos.

According to the survey, Northern Ireland has the highest proportion of people who believe in intelligent design (16%) and creationism (25%).

"The research clearly indicates there is a great deal of confusion about what people believe and why they believe it," said Woolley.

"There are two lessons in particular that we can learn from Darwin. The first is that belief in God and evolution are compatible. Secondly, in a time when debates about evolution and religious belief can be aggressive and polarised, Charles Darwin remains an example of how to disagree without being disagreeable," he added.
Original Report
Does Your Pastor Believe in God?
Does Your Pastor Believe? ALBERT MOHLER.com - By Albert Mohler - March 31, 2009
A news report from the Netherlands points to a form of theological insanity that is spreading far beyond the Dutch.  Ecumenical News International reports that church authorities in the Netherlands have decided not to take action against a Dutch pastor who openly declares himself to be an atheist.

The pastor, Klaas Hendrikse, serves a congregation of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.  In 2007 he published a book described as a "manifesto of an atheist pastor."  In the book Hendrikse argues for the non-existence of God, but he insists that he does believe in God as a concept.

As Ecumenical News International reports:

In his book, Hendrikse recounts how his conviction that God does not exist has become stronger over the years.

"The non-existence of God is for me not an obstacle but a precondition to believing in God. I am an atheist believer," Hendrikse writes in the book. "God is for me not a being but a word for what can happen between people. Someone says to you, for example, 'I will not abandon you', and then makes those words come true. It would be perfectly alright to call that [relationship] God."

While this kind of theological language may be shocking, it is not all that uncommon.  For years, many theologians have been moving away from realist conceptions of theology to various forms of non-realism.  In classical terms, anti-realist theologians can actually be atheists, for they do not believe that God actually or necessarily exists.  They do, however, find "God" to be a useful concept. ...
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Study: Megachurch attenders tend to be younger
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By Eric Gorski - June 9, 2009
Despite their reputation as symbols of baby-boomer America, Protestant megachurches attract a younger crowd and more singles than the average Protestant church, according to large-scale study released Tuesday.

The survey also found distressing news for a movement that took off in the 1980s and remains influential in evangelical Christianity: megachurch-goers volunteer less and give less money than other churchgoers.

Conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary and Leadership Network, the survey of nearly 25,000 people who attend 12 U.S. megachurches was conducted from January through August 2008. It is billed as the largest representative national study of that religious demographic to date.

An estimated 5 million Americans a week attend roughly 1,300 U.S. megachurches, defined in the study as Protestant churches with attendance of 2,000 or more.

To compare the megachurch data to Protestant churches of all sizes, the study relied on the U.S. Congregational Life Study of 2001.

Among the megachurch report's highlights:

  • The average age of megachurch attenders is 40, compared to nearly 53 at a typical Protestant church. Nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under 45, double the numbers in Protestant congregations of all sizes. The vast majority are between 18 and 44.
  • Nearly a third of megachurch attenders are single, compared to 10 percent in a typical Protestant church. They also tend to be wealthier and better educated.
  • Nearly all those surveyed - 98 percent, including visitors - described themselves as a "committed follower of Jesus Christ." Nearly a quarter hadn't been in any church for a long time before coming to the megachurch.
  • Sixty-two percent of megachurch attendees said they had experienced much spiritual growth in the past year. But that does not always translate to behavior churches expect of members: nearly 45 percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church and 32 percent give little or no money to the congregation.

"The ethos of the megachurch is to say 'You can't just sit there and spectate, that's not enough, you've got to do this or do that,'" said study co-director Scott Thumma, a sociologist at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. "But a lot of people said 'I'm perfectly happy coming here and doing that.'"

Divided loyalties also might play a role: just three-quarters described the megachurch they were attending as their "home" church, and many said they were attending more than one church.

Thumma said the findings don't necessarily mean that megachurches fail to foster involvement. The study found that significant numbers of even the least involved participants still give generously, have invited others to church and attend services weekly.
Original Report
Canadian Believers In A God Down To 71 Percent
AHN [All Headline News/AHN Media Corp.] - April 10, 2009
Toronto, Ontario - A new survey conducted by pollster Ipsos Reid showed a drop in the number of Canadian believers in God to 71 percent from 84 percent in 2000.
The results, which are yet to be officially released by the pollster, was reported by Canwest News Service, which together with Global National, commissioned the survey that covered 1,000 respondents.
The difference between male and female perception of a God was sharp since the percentage of men who believed dropped to 63 percent from 86 percent, while among women the decrease was just to 79 percent from 82 percent. By age group the largest declines were registered by middle-aged and senior Canadians.
Ipsos vice president John Wright, quoted by Canwest, said, "One wants to say that faith is constant... But I think it is transient for the majority of people."
The survey, made from March 31 to April 2 said 34 percent of Canadians resort to praying more frequently because of the bad state of the economy. An earlier Ipsos Reid study made also for the two Canadian news agencies from March 24 to 26, showed 86 percent of Canadians are still optimistic about the future despite the growing number of bad news that hit the headlines in recent months.
Another Ipsos Reid poll made in December said 67 percent of Canadians believe in angels. The latest survey said 21 percent believe in the existence of heaven and hell, and 20 percent in an afterlife.
Original Report
Churches close throughout Germany as Islam explodes
The Rise of Islam In Germany, Churches Still Central, but Slipping
DEUTSCHE WELLE [Federal Republic of Germany] - By Klaus Dahmann - May 2, 2009
According to recent polls, around 70 percent of Germans consider themselves to be religious. However, the country's two major denominations -- Protestant and Catholic -- are seeing a drop in attendance.

Recent marketing slogans such as "You are the Church" are meant to attract new members into German houses of worship. But fewer and fewer Germans are responding to the calls to join.

The official membership rolls of both of Germany's major denominations are dropping slowly but surely. The Archbishop of Munich, Reinhard Marx, candidly admits that for years, the number of people leaving the church has exceeded the number of those joining. It's a problem that can't be avoided, he says.

In 2006, some 85,000 people left the Catholic Church, while only 15,000 new members joined. The numbers are similar for the Protestants. Indeed, less than two-thirds of all Germans are still members of a Christian religious community. Some 25 million people belong to the Catholic Church, about even with Protestants.

Explosion of Muslims
In contrast, the number of Muslims in the country has grown steadily over the past years, making Islam the third-largest religion in Germany. In the 1960s, there were around 2 million Muslims; today there are more than 3 million. The Coordination Council of Muslims in Germany was formed in 2007, and acts as an advocacy group for Muslims in Germany. It fights for rights such as Islamic religion classes in schools.

Churches are concerned about the fact that shrinking membership means fewer people paying church tax (which is deducted directly from peoples' paychecks in Germany). The Catholic Church currently receives some 4.2 billion euros ($5.6 billion) per year in church taxes, while the Protestant Church receives around 3.9 billion euros a year.

As a result, churches are closing, and the buildings being rented out or sold. Church buildings and rectories are even going up for sale on the Internet. They are being turned into concert venues, offices or restaurants, among other things.

The Catholic Church in Germany got a burst of new energy in 2005 when a German, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) was named to succeed the deceased Pope John Paul II. That year, the World Catholic Youth Day took place in Cologne, which boosted the number of young people interested in Catholicism -- at least temporarily. However, there are still concerns about long-term drops in church membership.

Grassroots movements
In religion as elsewhere, like seems to stick with like. Every year, some 20,000 to 30,000 people attend either the German Protestant Kirchentag (Protestant Church Day) or the Catholicism Day. These colorful, multicultural festivals take place in alternating years around Pentecost.

The events grew out of grassroots movements and are not run by the churches themselves. They focus on intercultural and inter-religious understanding, and often have a political bent, offering a platform for discussion mixed with music and cultural events.

The rock festival atmosphere is a far cry from the image of staid, old-fashioned church services. The events take an ecumenical standpoint, and try and open direct dialog with smaller churches or with Muslims. Meeting over a film panel discussion or political debate -- say on religion and environmentalism -- appeals to young people more than attending church services, which many see as an old-fashioned way of practicing religion.
Original Report
Study finds attendance at churches still falling
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE [Advance/Newhouse] - By G. Jeffrey MacDonald - February 28, 2009

Ed. Note: There is some truth in what David T. Olsen states, however, I am not talking about changing the gospel message as so many modern day preachers wrongly do, but reaching people in the places where they are at which is not always the places we or are families were at. I call this the modern day Areopagus, the places where you find people who are interested in spiritual things and where "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few".

Booming megachurches might grab headlines, but the bigger story of American congregations is one of accelerating decline, according to David T. Olson, the director of the American Church Research Project. Based on data collected from more than 200,000 churches, he projects that by 2050, only 10 percent of Americans will be in church on any given Sunday.

Olson, who is also the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church, analyzes the situation in his 2008 book, The American Church in Crisis. Some answers have been edited for length.

Q. Why do you say the American church is in crisis?
A. The big problem is America continues to grow in terms of population, but the percentage of Americans attending church on any given weekend keeps declining. In 1990, it was 20.4 percent. In 2000, it was 18.7. In 2007, it was 17. ...

Q. Are certain types of churches faring better than others?
A. Yes. Since 2001 especially, mainline and Catholic churches have been experiencing severe decline. They are declining much faster than they were in the 1990s. Evangelicals are still growing numerically, but that numeric growth is not keeping up with population growth. ...

Q. Are churches not reaching the unchurched? Or are they losing people who've just drifted away?
A. It's some of both. Christians are increasingly cocooned and live in environments where they may not know many people who are not Christians. And there are plenty of people who grew up in a church environment and now say, "You know, this just isn't working for me anymore."

Q. What needs to happen for this crisis to be abated?
A. We have to understand how our culture is changing and what that means for communicating the Gospel. We also need a lot of new churches. Just as in the business world, new businesses fuel innovation and new ideas and help the whole economy, the same thing is true with new churches being good for Christianity. And we need to recover the message of Jesus, particularly as his words and actions lived it out in the Gospels. We've had a tendency to make that pretty narrow and not really understand how big and powerful it is. ...
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US: Catholics, Southern Baptists, losing members
THE WASHINGTON TIMES [News World Communications/Moon-Unification Church] - By Julia Duin - February 25, 2009
Church demographers have been saying for awhile that Catholics are in big trouble if you take away growth from immigration and sure enough, the 2009 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, which just came out, showed the Catholic Church declined .59 percent or 398,000 members in 2007. They still have some 67 million adherents, though.

The Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, have been seeing faltering numbers for years in their own head counts. Their downward shift is finally being registered by the Yearbook, a bible of sorts for religion writers and scholars. They lost .24 percent or 40,000 members. Which is a drop in the bucket compared to their reported 16.2-million-member total but no one likes a shrinking membership base, no matter how slight.

Just in case you wondered, membership of America's top 25 churches equals 146 million souls or just under half of the population. Churches listed in the Yearbook with the highest rate of membership loss are the United Church of Christ (down 6.01 percent), the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (down 3.01 percent), the Presbyterian Church (USA) (down 2.79 percent), the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (down 1.44 percent) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (down 1.35 percent). The Missouri Synod loss is a surprise in that conservative groups generally do not decline in American churchdom.

The churches that are growing are: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (up 1.63 percent to 5,873,408; the Assemblies of God (up 0.96 percent to 2,863,265); Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2.12 percent to 1,092,169); and the Church of God of Cleveland, Tenn. (up 2.04 percent to 1,053,642). The Mormons are now America's fourth-largest church group, having surpassed nearly every mainline Protestant denomination.

Keep in mind that many of the groups listed below that say "no change reported" never send in their membership totals, so what the Yearbook lists them as is just a guess. Also note the biggest percentage loss happened in President Barack Obama's denomination: The United Church of Christ, down 6 percent.

Here are the totals for the top 25, cut and pasted from the Yearbook's press release:

The Roman Catholic Church, 67,117,06 members, down 0.59 percent. (Ranked 1)
The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,266,920 members, down 0.24 percent. (Ranked 2)
The United Methodist Church, 7,931,733 members, down 0.80 percent. (Ranked 3)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,873,408 members, up 1.63 percent .(Ranked 4)
The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no change reported. (Ranked 5)
National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 5,000,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 6)
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,709,956 members, down 1.35 percent. (Ranked 7)
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 8)
Presbyterian Church (USA), 2,941,412 members, down 2.79 percent (Ranked 9)
Assemblies of God, 2,863,265 members, up 0.96 percent. (Ranked 10)
African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 2,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 11)
The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,383,084 members, down 1.44 percent. (Ranked 14)
The Episcopal Church, 2,116,749 members, down 1.76 percent. (Ranked 15)
Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no change reported. (Ranked 16)
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 17)
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no change reported. (Ranked 17)
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,400,000 members, down 3.01 percent. (Ranked 19)
American Baptist Churches in the USA, 1,358,351, down 0.94 percent. (Ranked 20)
Baptist Bible Fellowship International, 1,200,000, no change reported. (Ranked 21)
United Church of Christ, 1,145,281 members, down 6.01 percent. (Ranked 22)
Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,092,169 members, up 2.12 percent (Ranked 23)
Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, 1,071,616 members, no change reported. (Ranked 24)
Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), 1,053,642 members, up 2.04 percent. (Ranked 25)

Original Report
Obama's Christian Appointee to Faith-Based Program Says New Testament Teaching on Homosexuality Is 'Not True'
CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE (CNSN.com) [Media Research Center] - By Fred Lucas - April 8, 2009
President Obama has named to his faith-based advisory council a self-professed Christian who holds that the New Testament's teaching that homosexual behavior is unnatural and wrong--which is found in St. Paul's letter to the Romans--"is not true."

The appointee, Harry Knox, has also said that Obama's decision to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to say a prayer at the Inauguration "tainted" the ceremony and that Pope Benedict XVI is a "discredited leader."

Harry Knox, a professed gay Christian who is director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual rights group, was named to President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships on Monday. The advisory council gives federal grants to faith-based organizations.
 
The appointment came after Knox criticized Obama prior to the Inauguration for selecting Warren, a California megachurch pastor and best-selling author, to deliver the invocation. Writing in The Huffington Post blog, Knox said to Obama, "We don't feel hopeful anticipation of a new day in our country, and we don't feel optimism. We feel betrayed."

Knox said in the December article that Warren's invocation would make the Jan. 20 Inauguration a "tainted" event because Warren supported the ballot initiative in California to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. ...
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More Bentley Fallout
Heal or heel? [Excerpts]
Todd Bentley BEREAN CALL - See Source info below
Christopher Fogle, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, loved to fish. It was a break from his fast-paced, 25-year career with the Perkins Restaurant chain.

But when Fogle got severe cancer, his relaxing fishing trips, which he sometimes took with his children, ended. It was a devastating blow for the active 45-year-old. But for Todd Bentley, television preacher and self-proclaimed healer, the cancer represented an opportunity to "proclaim the glory of God."

Indeed, last year Bentley began his "Lakeland Outpouring," a months-long series of "healing services" that Bentley and his Fresh Fire ministry started April 2 and ended under a cloud of controversy Aug. 11.... In between, the meetings attracted hundreds of thousands of people to a huge tent in Lakeland, Fla.

At the height of what many called a revival, Bentley [was asked to tell] about the healings, like Fogle's, and asked for a list of people who had been healed at the services. [Six] weeks and more than a dozen requests later, the ministry eventually sent a list of 13 names. Fogle was No. 12 on the list, along with this note: "Healed through the Outpouring and is back to fishing."

That was on Aug. 8, 2008. There was just one problem. Two weeks earlier, on July 22, Christopher A. Fogle-according to his obituary in the Keokuk (Iowa) Daily Gate City, "left this life . . . after a courageous battle with cancer."

A review of the list nearly one year later reveals that Fogle is not the only person "healed" who is now dead. When I called Phyllis Mills, of Trinity, N.C., on April 22, to hear the testimony of her healing, a polite family member said, "Phyllis passed away a few days ago. In fact, we're on our way to her funeral now."

Mills, 66 at the time of her death, had lung cancer and was undergoing aggressive treatments when she was, according to the list, "healed at the revival." Mills "was taking radiation, but was sent home," according to notes on Bentley's list, with "no trace of cancer in her body."

(Smith, "Heal or Heel," World magazine, May 23, 2009, p. 61).

Original Report
Probe of preachers' finances is ongoing
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION [Cox Enterprises] - By Christopher Quinn - April 23, 2009
An investigation by a U.S. senator of the Rev. Creflo Dollar, Bishop Eddie Long of metro Atlanta and four other televangelists, has been quiet but is not going away.
Dan Busby, head of the nonprofit group the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, met with Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) last month. Grassley said it might be time to subpoena documents that he requested from Dollar, Long and the others.
"There will be a conclusion," Busby predicted, but he can't say when it will come.
Busby was in Atlanta, teaching nonprofit law at the Christian Leadership Alliance's annual meeting.
Jill Gerber, a Grassley spokeswoman, said Monday, "We don't put deadlines on investigations. We finish them when we finish them."
Grassley began the inquiry 17 months ago after reports of ministers' extravagant lifestyles while running tax-exempt organizations. He is a member of the Senate committee that oversees nonprofit regulation. He requested records from six ministers and put a deadline of March 2008 to receive the documents.
Dollar turned him down. Long sent a limited amount, along with the Rev. Kenneth Copeland and Randy and Paula White. The Rev. Benny Hinn and Joyce Meyer have complied.
Mac Hunter, an attorney for Long, said he has heard nothing from Grassley recently. Calls to Dollar's attorney and public relations agency were not returned.
Original Report
The Ponzi Prosperity Gospel
RELIGION DISPATCHES - By Pen Itent - May 4, 2009
Today we shriek as we hear of financial scams, corporate greed, and virtually anything money-related that isn't entirely on the up-and-up. While religion has generally been a help in these economically difficult times, there is one segment of Christianity that is scamming as many as they can. Those who have ears (and debt) let them hear.
The Prosperity Gospel, also known as a facet of the Word of Faith movement (a louder voice in Pentecostalism), has been writing checks with its lips that's its theology can't cash. Last year's Pew Foundation mega-poll, which surveyed nearly 35,000 people (one of the largest religion polls ever accomplished), revealed a few interesting facts about Christians in the Pentecostal tradition, among them:

� Pentecostals have the lowest incomes of any other Christian denomination.
� Pentecostals have the least education of any other Christian denomination.

The results show that Pentecostals have the most high school dropouts, the fewest college graduates, and the fewest post-graduates. But the most interesting thing is that they earn the least annual income of any other Christian tradition polled. This is shocking, considering that a main feature in popular Pentecostalism is the Prosperity Gospel, where church members are promised that God will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams if they tithe generously and believe that they will receive the money. ...
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Schuller's daughter to lead Crystal Cathedral
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER [Freedom Communications/Providence Equity Partners LLC.] - By Deepa Bharath - June 10, 2009
GARDEN GROVE - Sheila Schuller Coleman still can't believe that she was chosen to lead the megachurch her father founded.

During Sunday's service at the Crystal Cathedral, Coleman's father and Crystal Cathedral founder, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller announced that his eldest daughter will take over leadership of the entire ministry at the cathedral and help implement his vision.

Coleman said she never thought she'd head this church, particularly because she is a woman and the Crystal Cathedral is a rather conservative Christian church.

"Our church didn't even start ordaining women until 1973," she said today. "I'm proud of my dad for doing this and I hope I can serve as a role model for younger women who want to get things accomplished in this church."

Her mother, Arvella Schuller, was a force behind the cathedral, but she worked mostly in the background, Coleman said.

"There was just no place for women in a church and that's the way it's been for a long time."

The older Schuller told his congregation Sunday that the cathedral is going in a new direction toward a brighter future under his daughter's watchful eyes, according to transcripts of the service.

"(Sheila) has earned a doctorate degree in administration and leadership and that's the kind of power leadership this church is going to need today and tomorrow," he said.

Coleman will be his "co-leader," Schuller said.

"I will motive and clarify the vision," he explained to his congregants. "Sheila will be standing next to me and lead this ministry in a more strategic and unified church."

Coleman will take the place of interim senior pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz, a position that was left vacant after her brother the Rev. Robert Anthony Schuller resigned. Dissension in the family was said to have caused that split. The younger Schuller has since moved on and partnered with his son-in-law and GodTube founder, Chris Wyatt, to acquire AmericanLife TV, which they will use to broadcast "family-friendly" programs. ...
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Chapel Hill Harvester Church - Bishop Earl Paulk
No answers: After scandal, pastor finds solace in preaching gay inclusion
SOUTHERN VOICE/SoVo of Atlanta, Georgia [Window Media - Publisher of multiple LGBT newspapers] - By Matt Schafer - March 6, 2009
As a series of scandals stripped away everything Rev. D.E. Paulk had - his church, his financial resources, even his father - he found the courage to speak his truth.

"I don't know how to say this, the scandal didn't make me inclusive, it took away my fear," Paulk says. "Before that I was saying that I'll preach about gay inclusion and just sort of mention it here or there. When you lose everything, you have nothing to lose. I looked at my wife one day and said all I have left is me, and what God is speaking to me."

In 2006, Paulk moved from a church he started in Stone Mountain to become the senior pastor at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, located in South Decatur. Built by his father, Don Paulk, and his uncle, Bishop Earl Paulk, the 4,000-member church was one of the largest independent, racially diverse churches in the nation.

Soon after D.E. Paulk took over as senior pastor, he faced what he now collectively calls "the scandal." A number of women came forward alleging Earl Paulk used his influence as bishop to coerce them into sexual relationships. As part of the legal proceedings, Earl Paulk was forced to undergo a paternity test to see if he had fathered several children in the church.

The paternity test revealed that Earl Paulk, the man D.E. Paulk grew up believing was his uncle, was actually his biological father. Yet it was as these scandals rocked the church that D.E Paulk found the strength to say what was in his heart.

"The thing that really hurt me the most, during the time that I was coming back here and beginning to speak about gay inclusion, we were going through, my goodness, a scandal of epic proportion. I think there was in all 36 stories - and there was still one last week - but the majority of our church stayed," he says.

"They stayed through the adultery allegations, the racketeering charges, there's been all sorts of things they've accused us of, some true, some not true, but the majority of the people stayed," he adds. "It wasn't really until I started teaching gay inclusion and other religious thought [that people began to leave]." ...
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Former fundamentalist never really Saved - Word of God still Stands
Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible
CNN [Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner] - By John Blake - May 15, 2009
Just so you know, Bart Ehrman says he's not the anti-Christ.
He says he's not trying to destroy your faith. He's not trying to bash the Bible. And, though his mother no longer talks to him about religion, Ehrman says some of his best friends are Christian.
Ehrman, a best-selling author and a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a biblical sleuth whose investigations make some people very angry. Like the fictional Robert Langdon character played by actor Tom Hanks in the movie "Angels & Demons," he delves into the past to challenge some of Christianity's central claims.
In Ehrman's latest book, "Jesus, Interrupted," he concludes:
Doctrines such as the divinity of Jesus and heaven and hell are not based on anything Jesus or his earlier followers said.
At least 19 of the 27 books in the New Testament are forgeries.
Believing the Bible is infallible is not a condition for being a Christian.
"Christianity has never been about the Bible being the inerrant word of God," Ehrman says. "Christianity is about the belief in Christ."

Critic: 'There's a touch of arrogance' about him
Ehrman's claims have found an audience, and controversy. He's a fixture on History Channel and Discovery Channel documentaries on Christianity. He's appeared on National Public Radio, CNN and the BBC and talked about scribes misquoting Jesus on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
Yet Ehrman's popularity also may be due to a larger trend. The books of people like Elaine Pagels, author of "The Gnostic Gospels," and Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons," resonate with people who believe there are parts of the Bible that the church left on history's editing floor.
Some scholarly critics say Ehrman is saying nothing new.
Bishop William H. Willimon, an author and United Methodist Church bishop based in Alabama, says he doesn't like the "breathless tone" of Ehrman's work.
"He keeps presenting this stuff as if this is wonderful new knowledge that has been kept from you backward lay people and this is the stuff your preachers don't have the guts to tell, and I have," Willimon says. "There's a touch of arrogance in it." ...

Ehrman: There was no resurrection
Ehrman says that no one accepts everything in the Bible. Everyone picks and chooses . He cites some New Testament's references to the role of women in church as an example.
In the first book of Corinthians, Ehrman says, the Apostle Paul insists that women should remain silent in church (1 Corinthians 14:35-36).
In the 16th chapter of the book of Romans, Paul's attitude is that women could and should be church leaders -- and he cites women who were serving as deacons and apostles in the early church, Ehrman says.
Ehrman backs his arguments with a deep knowledge of the culture and history of the New Testament world. He's written 20 books on early Christianity and is an authority on ancient manuscripts used to translate the Bible.
His claims, though, take on some of Christianity's most sacred tenets, like the resurrection of Jesus. Ehrman says he doesn't think the resurrection took place. There's no proof Jesus physically rose from the dead, and the resurrection stories contradict one another, he says.
He says he doesn't believe the followers of Jesus saw their master bodily rise from the dead, but something else.
"My best guess is that what happened is what commonly happens today when someone has a loved one die -- they sometimes think they see them in a vision," Ehrman says. "I think some of the disciples had visions." ...

The fundamentalist turns agnostic
Ehrman once had a different attitude toward the Bible.
He was raised in the Episcopal Church in Lawrence, Kansas, and became a fundamentalist Christian at age 15 when he met a charismatic Christian youth group leader who reached out to him. Ehrman says he later persuaded his parents to embrace a more conservative brand of Christianity.
He says he became so devoted to the Bible that he memorized entire sections. He was convinced the Bible was "God's words."
But Ehrman says he began to develop doubts about the infallibility of the Bible after attending Princeton Theological Seminary to become a college Bible professor.
He even began to change his opinion of the Christian youth group leader who helped convert him. The youth leader visited Ehrman's father when he was dying of cancer in a hospital.
The youth leader used a bottle of hotel shampoo to "anoint" his father, and tried to persuade his father to confess specific sins, Ehrman says. Ehrman says he was angry at the minister for acting "self-righteous" and "hypocritical." ...
Ehrman says he later became an agnostic because he couldn't find the answer to another question: How could there be a God when there is so much suffering in the world? An agnostic is one who disclaims any knowledge of God, but does not deny the possibility of God's existence. ...
His family, however, feels no obligation to talk to Ehrman about his ideas on the Bible, Ehrman says. His mother, brother and sister remain conservative Christians. ...
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Christian Children's Fund Drops 'Christian' from Name
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE [Advance/Newhouse] - By Adelle M. Banks - May 15, 2009
Christian Children's Fund, an organization that helps needy children across the globe, has decided to change its name to ChildFund International as part of its plan to broaden its outreach.
"We are now part of an alliance of 12 organizations around the world who have the same goal of working to help deprived children in developing countries," said Anne Lynam Goddard, president and CEO of the Richmond, Va.-based charity. "All members of the alliance are taking on the same name, ChildFund."
Goddard acknowledged that "some people are concerned about the name change." But she said some supporters who have phoned and e-mailed the charity have welcomed the new name, saying it is more inclusive.
The charity was founded in 1938 by a Presbyterian minister and originally called China's Children Fund. One of the first organizations to offer "sponsorships" of individual children, it changed its name to Christian Children's Fund when it broadened its work beyond China. The new name change will take effect on July 1. ...
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Thank God for our dinner? Cambridge students axe traditional grace as it is 'too religious'
LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated Newspapers/DMGT] - May 14, 2009
Students lucky enough to have won a place at Cambridge have plenty to be thankful for.
So it is not surprising that grace is said before formal dinners at the university's Newnham College.
However, the Christian content of the prayer has proved too much for some students and they have brought in a secular version.
Their only concession is that the new speech will, like the old, be read in Latin.
The traditional version addressed thanks to Jesum Christum dominum nostrum  -  Jesus Christ our Lord.
The new grace reads: 'Pro cibo inter esurientes, pro comitate inter desolatos, pro pace inter bellantes, gratias agimus.'
For those not well-versed in Latin, that's: 'For food in a hungry world, for companionship in a world of loneliness, for peace in an age of violence, we give thanks.'
The non-religious grace, approved at a college meeting last week, is supposed to reflect the diversity of the women-only college. ...
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