Moriel Ministries Be Alert!
"Many will come in My name, saying, `I am He!'

August 28, 2010
Shalom in Christ Jesus,

Be Alert! - Be Aware

You may note that this alert marks a change in our general format. Actually, it has been a work-in-progress ever since the inception back in August of 2002 but we have tried to make adjustments based on what is most beneficial for transmitting important information for people in all different types of Internet capabilities. We have noticed that some ISP's are blocking emails of larger size. Also, with the continually changing complexity of rules and regulations within the digital realm we want to continue to be able to provide information and stay within what is deemed "fair use". I hope pray these alerts continue to inform and bless all.

 

May the Lord bless you and keep you,

BE/\LERT!

Scott Brisk


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In This Alert
1) Most Christians Cannot Explain their Faith, Says Apologist
2) The coming evangelical collapse
3) Methodist Boycott Call 'Ignores Arab Misdeeds'
4) My duty is to save the world: Prince Charles believes he was born for a purpose
5) Vatican Takes On Christian Fundamentalists
6) Benedict XVI's Turn Toward Mary
7) "Box Office Draw": Bulgaria Looks to John the Baptist to Resurrect Flagging Economy
8) Ted Haggard: "I over-repented"
9) Hillsong under Australian Taxation Office scrutiny: Tax office push for charity monitoring
10) Hinn & White: Why were they meeting with Vatican officials?
11) Outcome of False Liberation Theology: Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church sets up "fake fight"
12) BE ALERT! News Briefs

Most Christians Cannot Explain their Faith, Says Apologist

A Sign? Broken cross ready to "fall away" from church buildingTHE CHRISTIAN POST - By Edmond Chua - June 3, 2010
The faith of most Christians, even that of many pastors, will not stand up to intellectual scrutiny, according to renowned apologist Josh McDowell.
This is a concern because pastors' inability to present biblical truth comprehensibly and relevantly has led to children from Christian families leaving the church, research has shown.

In the United States, the age at which nearly all such children leave church has decreased to 18 years.
Not even the children of many successful ministers are spared.

McDowell made his comments at a recent networking dinner among various men's ministries organized recently by Men-in-Covenant. MiC is the men's ministry of Covenant Evangelical Free Church.
He recalled speaking with the pastor of one of the largest U.S. churches, a man known for his expository preaching. Confiding in him, the pastor said their church was losing its youth right after high school graduation.

In his 50 years of ministry, McDowell has asked several thousand pastors and leaders how they could be certain Jesus Christ said "I am the truth" and not one of many truths or a truth.
"Not one person has ever given me an intelligent, biblically-based answer," said the author of The New Evidence that Demands A Verdict.

During the past six years, he asked hundreds of Christians and leaders why they see themselves as Christians. Again no one gave him an "intelligent" answer.
In the past 17 years, he has asked over 4,000 pastors, leaders and parents why they believe the Bible is true.

A mere six "came close to giving an intelligent answer," McDowell noted.
"If anything is based upon truth, it's the Christian faith," he said. "Christians who do not know why they have faith or believe have a very difficult time expressing themselves to others.

"The saddest thing is people come to me and say, 'What's the answer?'"
"I say, 'There's no answer... There are hundreds of answers.'"

Most Christians, even some pastors, don't even know one. On the other hand, the apologist said he could give 50 reasons for his belief that the Bible is true.
Ninety-five percent of Christians gave disappointing responses when asked why they believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Asked why the Bible is true and historically reliable, Christians replied that it was what they had been taught by their church or parents.
A common response that most Christians gave to both questions was that it is "what I believe."

McDowell responded: "That's voodoo thinking. Where did we ever get that crazy idea that something is true just because we believe it?
"If that is true, then there will never be heresy. Everybody would be right."

On one occasion, 13 youth pastors at a large convention were unable to reasonably answer the apologist's question.
Finally one young person stood up, walked toward him and told him he knew the answer.

The young man promptly held up his Bible and said, "Because I believe it."
And to McDowell's dismay, all the youth pastors applauded him.

McDowell said, "Young man, do you know the difference between you, me and the majority of Christians in the world?
"To you, it is true because you believe it. For me, I believe it because it is true."

Another response the apologist received was: Because I have faith.
He commented, "Where did we ever get the crazy idea that faith makes something true? That's idiotic. That's so unbiblical you can call it heresy.

"God doesn't use faith to create truth. He uses truth through the Holy Spirit to create faith."
Christians, the apologist stressed, are called to explain their faith when asked. They are set free by the faith in the truth, he expressed, referring to John 8:32.

Yet others say Christianity is true because Jesus changed their lives.
Even this will not stand up to intellectual scrutiny, McDowell argued.

"Lies change lives; cults change lives," he said.
To make such an appeal is "not the essence of Christianity," the author emphasized.

McDowell said: "We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our children, we owe it to our neighbors, we owe it to the lost, to tell them not just what we believe but why do we believe it."

Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100603/most-christians-cannot-explain-their-faith-says-apologist/index.html


The coming evangelical collapse
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - By Michael Spencer - March 10, 2009

Ed. Note: The author of this article articulates many of the problems in the church today but I warn that he still seems to get much wrong such as calling the failure of Christian education the failure to "produce a product" and that "money" is some how important to spreading the true gospel.


Oneida, Ky. - We are on the verge - within 10 years - of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close.

Why is this going to happen?
1. Evangelicals have identified their movement with the culture war and with political conservatism. This will prove to be a very costly mistake. Evangelicals will increasingly be seen as a threat to cultural progress. Public leaders will consider us bad for America, bad for education, bad for children, and bad for society.

The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can't articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

2. We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.

3. There are three kinds of evangelical churches today: consumer-driven megachurches, dying churches, and new churches whose future is fragile. Denominations will shrink, even vanish, while fewer and fewer evangelical churches will survive and thrive.

4. Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.

5. The confrontation between cultural secularism and the faith at the core of evangelical efforts to "do good" is rapidly approaching. We will soon see that the good Evangelicals want to do will be viewed as bad by so many, and much of that work will not be done. Look for ministries to take on a less and less distinctively Christian face in order to survive.

6. Even in areas where Evangelicals imagine themselves strong (like the Bible Belt), we will find a great inability to pass on to our children a vital evangelical confidence in the Bible and the importance of the faith.

7. The money will dry up. ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/243294
 
The Dilemma of The Dilemma of LaodiceaLaodicea


The first problem Laodicea had and has is its blindness
A NEW BOOK BY JAMES JACOB PRASCH

To preview and order the book click here:
http://thesevenchurchesofrevelation.com/


Methodist Boycott Call 'Ignores Arab Misdeeds'

anti-IsraelARUTZ SHEVA (Israeli National News) - By Hillel Fendel - July 4, 2010
Responses to the British Methodist Church call for a boycott of Israeli goods made in Judea and Samaria have been sharp.

The document "offers nary a word of criticism of the anti-Semitic ideologies used to justify violence against Israel and to deny its right to exist," writes CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). "The report also puts forth a narrative in which Israel can bring a unilateral end to the conflict through concessions and withdrawals - without acknowledging that such actions have not worked in the past."

Britain's Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sachs, said the list of resolutions "completely [fails] to present Israel's case in an even-handed manner, and represents a one-sided judgment of one of the most complex conflicts in the world." It will do "nothing to advance the cause of peace," he said.

Even Liberal Judaism's chief executive Rabbi Danny Rich came out against the report, urging the Methodist Conference to cancel it. "Whilst there are some aspects of the report which require a reflective response," he said, "the balance will not, in our view, meet its objective."

The Methodist Church became last week the first Christian Church in the UK to boycott all Israeli products from Judea and Samaria. It also called for an arms embargo on both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The 54-page report, with its 11 resolutions, was passed at a Methodist conference in Portsmouth, England in a five-day conference. It blames Israel's "occupation" of Judea and Samaria as "the key hindrance" to Middle East peace.

Britain's chief rabbi described the report as "unbalanced, factually and historically flawed," saying it offers "no genuine understanding of" the conflict.

Practically speaking, the rabbi warned that the decision would "reverberate across the hitherto harmonious relationship between the faith communities in the United Kingdom." The Methodist Church is the fourth largest Christian denomination in Britain, numbering some 330,000 adherents; there are around 70 million worldwide. ...

* Emphasis Added

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/SendMail.aspx?print=print&type=0&item=138410


My duty is to save the world: Prince Charles believes he was born for a purpose
Prince Charles
Prince Charles
LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated Newspapers/DMGT] - By Fay Schlesinger - July 30, 2010
The Prince of Wales says he believes he has been placed on Earth as future King 'for a purpose' - to save the world.
Giving a fascinating insight into his view of his inherited wealth and influence, he said: 'I can only somehow imagine that I find myself being born into this position for a purpose.
'I don't want my grandchildren or yours to come along and say to me, "Why the hell didn't you come and do something about this? You knew what the problem was". That is what motivates me.
'I wanted to express something in the outer world that I feel inside... We seem to have lost that understanding of the whole of nature and the universe as a living entity.'
His impassioned comments come during a film about his belief that unbridled commerce has led to the destruction of farmland and countryside.
The documentary, called Harmony, is due to be aired on the U.S. network NBC in November to coincide with the launch of a book of the same name by the prince.
Charles is understood to have waived his author's fee, and all royalties will go to his charity, the Prince's Trust.

But the Prince has previously come under fire for hypocrisy over his eco-values.
Last year he commandeered a jet belonging to the Queen's Flight to attend the Copenhagen climate change summit, generating an estimated 6.4 tons of carbon dioxide - 5.2 tons more than if he had used a commercial plane.
Critics condemned his words as 'delusional'.
Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy group Republic, said: 'He is under the impression he has been sent to save the world and deliver us from our sins. It's quite delusional. ...

In a trailer to the film, the prince spoke passionately about his decades-long quest for what he described in a statement as 'a sacred duty of stewardship of the natural order of things'.
He said: 'I started 22 years ago on something that nobody really wanted to know about except a few people who thought it was pretty crazy.
'The way nature presents itself - we've turned it into merely a mechanical process.
'What is happening to the small farmers around the world is simply appalling, as a result of globalisation. Is that really the intention behind it all, just to sweep all these people off the land?'
An Asian woman, who is not named in the documentary, piled praise on the royal, saying: 'Princes Charles has been a very courageous man because he has never thought through the throne he will occupy - he has thought through the planet he lives on.'

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1299099/Prince-Charles-My-duty-save-world.html?printingPage=true
 

Ed Note: The Prince of Whales is one the more popular candidates for "the antichrist" mentioned by many who study the Scriptural end times. However, many scholars including our own Jacob Prasch disagree with that assessment for a number of reasons, one being the lack of proof of any Jewish lineage (although some have sought to show the possibility through the Saxon-Coburg family line). I was sent a link to an interesting "pro" antichrist viewpoint that you can see here. However, this is not an endorsement, just an argument I consider worthy to be aware of and understand why some are so adamant in this view.

BE/\LERT!


Also:

'Follow the Islamic way to save the world,' Prince Charles urges environmentalists
LONDON DAILY MAIL [Associated Newspapers/DMGT] - By Rebecca English - June 10, 2010
Prince Charles yesterday urged the world to follow Islamic 'spiritual principles' in order to protect the environment.
In an hour-long speech, the heir to the throne argued that man's destruction of the world was contrary to the scriptures of all religions - but particularly those of Islam.
He said the current 'division' between man and nature had been caused not just by industrialisation, but also by our attitude to the environment - which goes against the grain of 'sacred traditions'.
Charles, who is a practising Christian and will become the head of the Church of England when he succeeds to the throne, spoke in depth about his own study of the Koran which, he said, tells its followers that there is 'no separation between man and nature' and says we must always live within our environment's limits.
The prince was speaking to an audience of scholars at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies - which attempts to encourage a better understanding of the culture and civilisation of the religion.
His speech, merging religion with his other favourite subject, the environment, marked the 25th anniversary of the organisation, of which he is patron.
He added: 'The inconvenient truth is that we share this planet with the rest of creation for a very good reason - and that is, we cannot exist on our own without the intricately balanced web of life around us.
'Islam has always taught this and to ignore that lesson is to default on our contract with creation.'

Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1285332/Follow-Islamic-way-save-world-Charles-urges-environmentalists.html?printingPage=true

Obama White House loved the magazine cover of him walking on water
Ever since the Obama White House got rid of that British colonial era bust of Sir Winston Churchill on-loan from Great Britain, they've been on the lookout for new less offensive art.
Now we learn, thanks to Howard Kurtz on CNN, that Obama adviser David Axelrod made a call to the editor of the New Yorker magazine requesting a copy of the Feb. 1 cover of the magazine showing No. 44 walking on water. (No, not the newly-resurfaced Gulf of Mexico.)
The only stipulation: The cover art had to be autographed by artist Barry Blitt.
Read Full Report: LOS ANGELES TIMES [Tribune Company] > TOP OF THE TICKET blog - By Andrew Malcolm - June 21, 2010


Vatican Takes On Christian Fundamentalists
The Vatican, Rome
The Vatican, Rome
FOX NEWS [News Corporation/Murdoch] > Live Shots blog -  By Greg Burke - June 6, 2010
It's not easy walking through the minefield called Middle Eastern politics, and a Vatican document released Sunday managed to criticize Israel, Egypt, Islam and even Christian fundamentalists.
The 46-page text, "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness," will serve as a working document for an October meeting at the Vatican about the Mideast.
The document was made public Sunday, the final day of Pope Benedict's visit to the island of Cyprus, and reflected the Church's concern about the flight of Christians from the Holy Land as they leave to look for more opportunities and fewer problems elsewhere.
"The Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories is creating difficulties in everyday life, inhibiting freedom of movement, the economy and religious life," the document said. "Moreover, certain Christian fundamentalist theologies use Sacred Scripture to justify Israel's occupation of Palestine."
Many Evangelical Christians, especially Americans, have thrown their total and unwavering support behind the Jewish state in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"In Egypt, the rise of political Islam, on the one hand, and the disengagement of Christians (forcefully at times) from civil society on the other, lead to severe difficulties," the document said, adding that there is also an Islamic push taking place in Egypt through the media and through schools.
The Vatican has tried to improve relations with the Muslim world in recent years, with Pope Benedict visiting mosques on trips to both Turkey and Jordan. But Sunday's document said the dialogue between Christianity and Islam is never easy.
"Oftentimes, relations between Christians and Muslim are difficult," it said, "because Muslims make no distinction between religion and politics, thereby relegating Christians to the precarious position of being considered non-citizens, despite the fact they were citizens of their countries long before the rise of Islam."

Unedited :: Link to Original Posting
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/06/vatican-takes-on-christian-fundamentalists/?test=latestnews
 

"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me.
- Jeremiah 7:18

Benedict XVI's Turn Toward Mary
ZENIT NEWS AGENCY [Innovative Media] - By Mark Miravalle - June 6, 2010
STUBENVILLE, Ohio - "Immaculate Mother, in this place of grace, called together by the love of your Son Jesus the Eternal High Priest, we, sons in the Son and his priests, consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart, in order to carry out faithfully the Father's Will" (Benedict XVI, Fatima, May 12, 2012).

What is the "heart" of Mary? St. John Eudes, master of the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, explains that the heart designates the entirely of the person: his will, his intellect, his soul, his passions, and even incorporates his body in so far as it includes reference to the physical organ. Scripturally, "heart" signifies person, much more than "head" signifies person.

Consider, in pondering the mystery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the perspective of three Persons.

The Father looks down upon the heart of his immaculate daughter and sees his greatest created masterpiece, second only to the sacred humanity of his incarnate son. Far beyond the seven natural wonders of the world or even the heavenly cosmos, the Immaculate Heart represents the greatest craftsmanship of the Creator. Full of grace beyond all other creatures both quantitatively and qualitatively, the heart of Mary exceeds the ark of the covenant as a dwelling place of God the Father, who has the greatest paternal predilection for his daughter's heart -- a filial heart who returns his divine love with a perfect and perennial human "yes" of love and abandonment to her Abba.

The Son gazes at the Immaculate Heart and his heart leaps with infinite joy, reverence, and gratitude for his all-loving mother. If sons instinctively honor and defend their mother by some embedded code of natural law, how much infinitely more does a divine son love his tender, compassionate human mother? Jesus also sees in the mystery of the Immaculate Heart the means by which he received his own human heart, as blood pumped from that stainless maternal heart flowed into her spotless womb to form the human heart of the divine Redeemer.

This is why the saints never separate the Hearts of Jesus and Mary in their spirituality. Eudes will add that their hearts are so inexplicably united in perfect conformity to the Father's will that it is most accurate to speak about the one, single "Heart of Jesus and Mary." ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.zenit.org/article-29573?l=english
 
Also:

Cerebral palsy sufferer broke both legs on 'healing pilgrimage'
A cerebral palsy sufferer took a pilgrimage to Lourdes in the hope it would help her condition returned home with two broken legs after falling from a hoist.
The family of wheelchair-bound Patricia Mitchell are taking legal action against the organisers of the trip.
Ms Mitchell survived the 4ft fall, but her family claim, she never fully recovered and died earlier this year aged 63. ...
Read Full Report: LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH [Barclay] - July 27, 2010


"For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality."
- Revelation 18:3

"Box Office Draw": Bulgaria Looks to John the Baptist to Resurrect Flagging Economy

Archeological Find Promises Fame, Tourists; Questions Remain Over Relics' Authenticity
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL [Dow Jones & Co - NewsCorporation/Murdoch] - By Joe Parkinson - August 13, 2010
SOZOPOL, Bulgaria-Archaeologists and clerics here say they have unearthed bones belonging to John the Baptist, an itinerant preacher revered by many Christians as the last of the Old Testament prophets.

Bulgaria's government is looking to the discovery for salvation-of a financial sort.

The remains, including a skull fragment and a tooth, were uncovered last month during the excavation of a fourth-century monastery on St. Ivan Island, off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. They were in a sealed reliquary buried next to a tiny urn inscribed with St. John's name and his birth date.

Officials of this recession-scarred country think the purported relics will give a big boost to tourism, drawing believers from neighboring Orthodox Christian countries to this nearby resort town, Tens of millions of dollars have already been earmarked to prepare for an anticipated surge in visitors. Construction crews are enlarging the port and building a big new parking lot. Tour guides are being rewritten and new signs are going up to direct people to the relics. ...

Bulgaria's Orthodox church hierarchy has declared that the bones are authentic. "This is a holy find. It doesn't matter about the science," says Metropolitan Bishop Joanikii of Sliven, who oversees church affairs in Sozopol. "The holy relics of St. John radiate miraculous force. I cannot explain it by using words."

Kazimir Popkonstantinov, the archaeologist responsible for the finding in Sozopol and now hailed as a national hero, insists his discovery is in the same league as the Shroud of Turin. "This kind of discovery happens perhaps once every two hundred years," he says. "We have very strong proof that this is genuine. I know this is very important for the whole Christian world."

Some experts, however, are skeptical about the origin of the bones-as well as their earnings potential. Michael Hesemann, a religious historian who helps the Vatican date relics, says the bone fragments "appear to be authentic." But he thinks they lack the "box-office draw" of better-known religious attractions such as the Shroud, which believers say is Christ's burial cloth. ...

News of the find, meanwhile, is already drawing visitors. At the local church of St. George, where the presumed relics are now on temporary display in a silver chest donated by Bulgaria's prime minister, hundreds of faithful line up for a chance to view the bones, mouthing prayers and making the sign of the cross.

The church says attendance at daily mass has jumped from about 100 to more than 3,000. Church officials say they are selling more votive candles in a day now than they used to sell in a year, and have just ordered another two tons of them to meet projected demand. ...

Religious pilgrimages are big business globally, according to the World Tourism Organization, which estimates that up to 330 million faithful visit the world's key religious sites every year. Lourdes, the French town where worshippers believe the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858, draws about 5 million visitors annually. ...

*Emphasis Added

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704216804575423673016971944.html
 

Ted Haggard: "I over-repented"

Humbled Haggard Climbs Back in Pulpit
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL [Dow Jones & Co - NewsCorporation/Murdoch] - By Stephanie Simon - July 24, 2009
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.- The Rev. Ted Haggard stood at a pulpit made from stacked buckets one recent Sunday and announced his resurrection.

Mr. Haggard was forced to resign nearly four years ago as president of the politically powerful National Association of Evangelicals and to step down from the megachurch he founded, after admitting that he had bought methamphetamine from, and had a sexual encounter with, a gay prostitute.

Once one of the most prominent church leaders in the U.S., Mr. Haggard confessed in a tortured letter, calling himself "a deceiver and a liar" who had long wrestled with desires he described as "repulsive and dark." He signed a contract promising to follow a path laid out by fellow clergy: to find a new career in a new state and to stay away from pastoral work.

Then, his wife at his side, Mr. Haggard left town.

He is back now. In a move that thrilled some of his former flock-and alarmed some of his fellow evangelical Christians-Mr. Haggard and his wife Gayle recently launched a new church in their backyard barn, a few miles from the enormous campus of his old congregation.

In two months of preaching with sacks of fence-post concrete at his feet, Mr. Haggard, who is 54 years old, has built a congregation of nearly 200 people. His church, St. James, has outgrown the barn and this Sunday moves to a rented community center.

Ebullient as ever, bouncing with energy, Mr. Haggard said he is back doing what he was born to do.

"Tiger Woods needs to golf. Michael Vick needs to be playing football," Mr. Haggard said as his new congregation joined him and Gayle in their backyard for a post-worship picnic. Little kids, shrieking with joy, splashed in the pool. Men grilled burgers. Women set out chicken salad.

"Ted Haggard," Mr. Haggard said, "needs to be leading a church."

He acknowledged grave lapses of judgment in the episode he refers to as "my crisis." But Mr. Haggard also said that in his sorrow and shame, he accepted too much guilt after the scandal broke.

"I over-repented," he said.

In February 2008, Mr. Haggard asked to be released from supervision by other clergy. His former church, New Life, consented, though officials there put out a pointed statement calling Mr. Haggard's recovery incomplete.

The four pastors who supervised Mr. Haggard wouldn't comment on his new church. New Life pointed to an earlier statement, released in November 2008, that said, "we cannot endorse his return to vocational ministry." ...

* Emphasis Added

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704249004575385170843908594.html
 

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money ... - 2 Timothy 3:1-2
Hillsong under Australian Taxation Office scrutiny:
Tax office push for charity monitoring
SUNDAY HERALD SUN [News Corporation/Murdoch] - By Adam Shand - July 25, 2010
THE tax office wants a special national body set up to monitor "not for profit" charities, admitting that churches - such as the multi-million-dollar phenomenon Hillsong - are literally "invisible" to it.

And the sector is expanding so rapidly that $31 billion a year is now being drawn out of the federal Budget in tax exemptions to the ever-growing list of groups claiming church and charity status.

The push to put not-for-profit groups under greater fiscal scrutiny comes amid revelations that senior pastors of the Hillsong mega-church and their families are enjoying lavish lifestyles virtually tax-free.

Critics say Hillsong - which makes millions by routinely demanding its followers hand over at least 10 per cent of their salaries for the church coffers - exploits tax exemptions designed to help small, struggling churches.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that Hillsong founder Brian Houston uses a not-for-profit company - Leadership Ministries Inc (LMI) - to fund a burgeoning, tax-free global preaching empire. ...

And since LMI was set up in 2001, the Houston family's relationship with the company has included:
  • Property deals that have earned Brian Houston and his wife Bobbie $1.4 million. The Houstons are still tenants of waterfront properties at Sydney's Bondi Beach and the Hawkesbury River that they sold to LMI.
  • A $1 million, fringe benefits tax-free expense account each year for five people, including the Houstons.
  • The use of vehicles worth more than $120,000.
  • Fully funded overseas tours where Brian Houston can earn $US20,000 a speech in "love offerings" on the preaching circuit.
  • The refund of all goods and services tax paid by the Houstons in their pastoral duties back to LMI.
  • The creation of a network of Hillsong subsidiaries in South Africa, Britain, Sweden and Ukraine.

The Sunday Herald Sun has also learnt that the Australian Taxation Office reviewed LMI's tax-free status this year and has re-affirmed it, despite growing concerns about a lack of accountability in the not-for-profit sector.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Michael Hardy told a recent Senate inquiry he lacked the staff to monitor religious organisations.

Once tax-free status was granted, churches were "technically invisible to the tax office", Mr Hardy said.

On the push for a special national body to oversee charities, Mr Houston said: "I would welcome a charities commission . . . to avoid continued speculation surrounding charities doing legitimate work in the community."

Mr Houston said his total salary was "just over $300 000". ...

Pentecostal preacher Philip Powell, a critic and former Assemblies of God national secretary, said Hillsong, which has a congregation of more than 20,000, should be stripped of its tax-exempt status.

"It should be recognised for what it is: a corporation, not a church," Mr Powell said. "Hillsong is really just a sales and marketing operation.

"If you took out the religious aspect, a company like that would have to pay thousands of dollars in fringe-benefits tax each year."

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/money/money-matters/tax-office-push-for-charity-monitoring/story-fn3hwldr-1225896551630


Televangelist denies affair
The real story: Why were they meeting with Vatican officials?
THE TAMPA TRIBUNE [Media General] - By Michelle Bearden - July 27, 2010

Ed. Note: Concerning the source of this story, the alleged "affair" report should be dismissed unless further evidence from a reliable and named reference comes fourth. Photos such as these can easily be faked with today's technology. However, the bottom line is that these are two proven false teachers who hold no credibility among the secular world and Scripturally should not be in the ministry. This is another ominous sign of the great falling away when the world judges the church - i.e. things have gone too far for too long. As the sub-title added states, the big story here for the discerning believer is, what were they doing meeting with Vatican Officials? This is truly going from bad to worse.

BE/\LERT!

Without Walls International Church senior pastor Paula White and worldwide televangelist and faith healer Benny Hinn posted statements on their websites recently denying a National Enquirer report that they are romantically involved.
White, who could not be reached for comment at her Tampa church, called the article "misguided and untruthful" in the statement.
"The publication, which is known for its bias and slanting of the truth, tries to mislead readers regarding the ministerial relationship and friendship I have had with Pastor Benny for over 20 years," she wrote.
The article appears in the Aug. 2 issue of the tabloid, now on newsstands. It includes photos identified as Hinn and White holding hands on a supposed "romantic trip to Rome."
White, host of "Paula White Today," seen on several Christian networks, is twice divorced. Hinn's wife of 30 years, Suzanne, filed for divorce in February. ...
Both Hinn and White said they were in Italy to meet with Vatican officials, traveling independently for respective ministry duties. However, White said, "We were never alone and were in the constant company of staff and other associates."
Hinn's and White's organizations, along with four others, remain under investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican whose Senate finance committee is trying to determine whether they've complied with rules set by the Internal Revenue Service for nonprofit organizations.

* Emphasis Added

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jul/27/na-televangelist-denies-affair/

Also:

Televangelist Benny Hinn asks for $2M in donations
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Televangelist Benny Hinn has posted a plea for $2 million in donations on his website.
Hinn says he accumulated the deficit in the past few months because offerings at some international appearances did not cover expenses.
Hinn's reputation as an advocate of prosperity gospel has attracted millions of followers but has also drawn criticism from lawmakers and watchdog groups.
He is one of six televangelists who have been targeted by federal lawmakers investigating compliance with IRS rules for nonprofits.
Hinn has said on his website that external auditors ensure his compliance with IRS regulations and that in 2008, 88 percent of the money he collected was spent on ministry.
Benny Hinn Ministries is based in Texas and operates a church and television studio in Southern California.
Original Report: ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 28, 2010


Outcome of False Liberation Theology
Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church sets up "fake fight" between two black men to test a white officer's reaction
Police: Officer Baited In Altercation That Injured Him
Public Safety Director: Staged Fight 'Totally Inappropriate'
WRTV-TV ABC 25/6 INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA [McGraw-Hill] - July 30, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS -- Relations between the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and some members of the African-American community are still a sore spot in the weeks since the Brandon Johnson incident.
Case in point -- an altercation in which an officer was injured during a presentation to a youth symposium last weekend that officials said was staged, leading to the suspension of a parks manager and animosity among officers, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported.
Sgt. Matthew Grimes was asked to give a presentation to a church audience on July 24 at Municipal Gardens, in the 1800 block of Lafayette Road.
During the presentation, an altercation broke out in the crowd, and Grimes intervened. The officer was thrown to the ground and drew his Taser, ready to stun one of the people involved, police said.
At that point, someone stepped in and told the officer that the incident had been concocted to test the reaction of the officer to the situation, police said. Grimes suffered severe back spasms after the incident and was taken to Methodist Hospital for treatment.
James Harrington, pastor of the Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, said he set up the scenario to test a white officer's reaction to a fight between two black men.
"Their job is to protect and serve, and even though they have families and children, that they don't put any regard to their safety," Harrington said. "I don't think it was dangerous because it was in a controlled environment."
Harrington denied that the officer was injured.
"We are trying to do anything that we can to save the lives of our children," he said. "We have to have live demonstrations of violence carried on by professional actors who are trained to do what they do."
Willard Gupton, a park manager who police said had advance knowledge of the plan, was suspended in the wake of the incident.
"I can basically say we didn't do anything wrong," Gupton said Friday evening. "It was simply just trying to make a teachable moment, to try and teach young people about violence." ...

Edited :: See Original Report Here
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/24453132/detail.html
 

BE ALERT! Briefs

EU to hold atheist and freemason summit
BRUSSELS - Brussels is to hold an EU summit with atheists and freemasons in the autumn, inviting them to a political dialogue parallel to the annual summit the bloc holds with Europe's religious leaders.
While the EU is a secular body, the three European presidents, of the commission, parliament and EU Council, alongside two commissioners, on Monday met with 24 bishops, chief rabbis, and muftis as well as leaders from the Hindu and Sikh communities. The annual dialogue, which has taken place since 2005, is for the first time this year made legally obligatory under Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Under pressure from Belgium, which constitutionally protects and financially supports humanist organisations as well as churches, the EU has been forced to hold a mirror-image summit, but of atheists, scheduled for 15 October. ...
Read Full Report: EU OBSERVER - By Leigh Phillips - July 19, 2010

Wallis Admits to Soros Funding
Jim Wallis has admitted that Sojourners has received funding in the past from liberal billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute. ...
Read Full Report: CHRISTIANITY TODAY [CTI Publications] - Sarah Pulliam Bailey - August 20, 2010

'The Shack' bringing 'another gospel' to the big screen - Critic warns, 'Script will lead people away from God of the Bible'
One of the best-selling - and most controversial - Christian novels of the last decade may be coming to a movie theater near you.
Author William Paul Young confirmed in an e-mail to WND that he is writing a screenplay to make his publishing phenomenon, "The Shack," into a motion picture.
"The Shack," a story of a man who meets God in the woods following the kidnapping and death of his daughter, has sold over 12 million copies and has spent 111 weeks - and counting - on the New York Times best-seller list, including more than a year in the No. 1 spot.
"The Shack," however, has generated not only revenue but also harsh criticism for its portrayal of God and messages on salvation. Some have even blasted the book as "heresy." ...
Read Full Report: WORLDNETDAILY - By Drew Zahn - August 22, 2010

Dog receives communion wafer from priest during service
An Anglican priest in Toronto has become the center of controversy after she gave a communion wafer to a dog during a religious service.
The Rev. Marguerite Rea apologized to congregants on Sunday for giving the wafer last month to Trapper, a 4-year-old German Shepherd-Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, the Toronto Star reported.
Trapper was attending the service at St. Peter's Anglican Church with his owner, a truck driver whom Rea had invited to come to services after she met him and the dog visiting the downtown church on a previous day.
When Trapper's owner came forward to receive communion, the dog came forward as well. Rea extended her hand with a wafer to Trapper, who ate it. The dog did not drink any wine. ...
Read Full Report: THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH [Dispatch Printing Company (Wolfe family)] - July 28, 2010

Megachurches
Three of the ten largest megachurches in America are located here in the Houston metro: Lakewood (#1), Second Baptist (#6) and Fellowship of the Woodlands (#10).
Between 60 million and 120 million people in the U.S. attend church on a weekly basis. More than five million people attend weekly religious services at a megachurch.
According to Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research (http://hirr.hartsem.edu/), which partnered with Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org) to conduct the largest national representative study of megachurch attendees to date, "The term megachurch generally refers to any Protestant congregation with a sustained average weekly attendance of 2000 persons or more in its worship services."
Megachurches are typically located in suburban areas of rapidly growing sprawl cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix and Seattle.  These churches are often prominently situated on large properties near major highways. The weekly attendance average for megachurches is more than 3,800 individuals; Lakewood averages more than 45,000 weekly. ...
Read Full Report: HOUSTON CHRONICLE [Hearst Corporation] > Factistics Houston by the numbers with Susan Saurage-Altenloh - July 30, 2010

Thousands flock to Mich. church for healing powers
[...] Since the church opened its healing room in November 2006, volunteers have conducted more than 2,900 prayer sessions and claim to have healed more than 1,000 people, said the Rev. Ginny Defoe, the director. ...
Read Full Report:  THE OKLAHOMAN of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma [Oklahoma Publishing Company] - By Eric Joyce - June 2, 2010

Ancient labyrinths enjoying a resurgence
A labyrinth is a narrow, circuitous, complicated, highly structured and unchanging pathway that is nevertheless said to be uncannily relaxing and profoundly playful.
Advocates say walking a labyrinth will quiet the mind, feed spiritual hunger, heal suffering, release the ego, bring order to chaos, amuse, amaze, transform the psyche and give firsthand experience of the divine.
It seems a tall order for a pattern on a floor.
Unlike a maze, designed to confuse, a labyrinth has no dead ends, or even choices. The path, though not obvious in all its twists and turns, leads only to the center. ...
During the late medieval period, the labyrinth design was adapted and reproduced in cathedrals, parks and gardens to represent the Christian belief in the true path to salvation.
The labyrinth was fashionable again in the 19th century, Saward said, and its use has exploded in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. ...
Read Full Report: THE DENVER POST [MediaNews Group] - By Electa Draper - January 9, 2010

Christian TV's All-Time Worst Fundraising Gimmicks
[...] Here are five of my least favorite fundraising tactics. I wish all of them could be banned from the airwaves.
Read Full Report: CHARISMA [Strang Communications/Stephen Strang] > 'Fire In My Bones' Newsletter - By J. Lee Grady - August 10, 2010

'Hurt' drives many out of church
A new survey shows that many adults identify themselves as Christians, but no longer attend church because they've been wronged by fellow believers.
According to the survey conducted by the Barna Group, 28 percent of the adult population (roughly 65 million people) has not attended any church activities in the past six months. Also, the survey discovered a large majority of the country's un-churched population consider themselves to be Christian.
George Barna, president of the Barna Group, says the study found that many of those who no longer attend church dropped out because they were hurt by someone in the congregation. ...
Read Full Report: ONE NEWS NOW [American Family News Network] - By Allie Martin - April 16, 2010

Claremont seminary reaches beyond Christianity
In a bow to the growing diversity of America's religious landscape, the Claremont School of Theology, a Christian institution with long ties to the Methodist Church, will add clerical training for Muslims and Jews to its curriculum this fall, to become, in a sense, the first truly multi-faith American seminary.
The transition, which is being formally announced Wednesday, upends centuries of tradition in which seminaries have hewn not just to single faiths but often to single denominations within those faiths. Eventually, Claremont hopes to add clerical programs for Buddhists and Hindus. ...
Read Full Report: LOS ANGELES TIMES [Tribune Company] - By Mitchell Landsberg - June 9, 2010

Julia Roberts is Hindu: Is America ready for a Hindu sweetheart?
Julia Roberts has long been called America's sweetheart.
But is America ready for a Hindu sweetheart?
The star of the upcoming movie Eat, Pray, Love revealed in an interview in Elle magazine that she, along with her family, is a practicing Hindu.
Read Full Report: NEWSWEEK [Wash Post Group/Graham] - By Elizabeth Tenety - August 6, 2010

Six city councils in USA opening with ancient Hindu prayers
Nevada -- Five city councils in California and one in Nevada are opening their meetings with Hindu prayers containing ancient Sanskrit mantras in the coming weeks.
Nevada based Hindu leader Rajan Zed is reciting these prayers before city councils of Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Lincoln and Yuba City in California and Henderson in Nevada. ...
Read Full Report: ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL (ANI) - April 26, 2010

Want to appear more attractive? Tell people you're spiritual
I've finally figured out why so many Canadians now tell anyone who'll listen that they're "spiritual, but not religious."
They're looking for a date, or at least to have people desire them.
A sweeping new psychological survey has come to the conclusion that North Americans tell others they have spiritual beliefs to appear more attractive, especially to prospective mates.
Read Full Report: CANWEST NEWS SERVICE [Asper-CanWest Global] - By Douglas Todd - July 24, 2010

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