September 17, 2008
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We will begin with this past year’s 2008 Zondervan National Pastors Conference (NPC) where the NPC 2008 website at the time informed us that pastors who attended were encouraged to avail themselves of a “special overnight retreat” where, with the help of “The Transforming Center leaders,” they could “experience God’s transforming presence.” You see apparently this is something we as lower-tier Christians are just simply unable to do without the help of these enlightened spiritual gurus like Ruth Haley Barton.
Barton was again the “featured speaker” and teacher among these Transforming Center swamis at Zondervan’s NPC as she has been for the past couple of years. And it’s really little wonder because these NPC presentations are essentially extensions of The Transforming Center’s own “National Pastor’s Retreats” where you’re invited:
into rhythms of solitude, prayer and community in the relaxed environment of a beautiful retreat center!…
A safe place to be honest about the challenges of spiritual leadership
An experience of solitude, prayer and community
A deepened understanding of leadership that flows from your authentic self
Guidance for cultivating spiritual rhythms in the context of your life and leadership (Online source)
For a Biblical refutation of the foolishness concerning “your authentic self” we refer you to The Real Truth About Your Evil “True Self”. According to The Transforming Center website Ruth Haley Barton is “Co-Founder & President” as well as:
a spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader trained through the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation(Bethesda, Maryland). Educated at Wheaton College (Wheaton, Illinois) and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (Lombard, Illinois), Ruth has served on the pastoral staff of several churches, including Willow Creek Community Church. A student of Family Systems Theory as it relates to congregational life (Lombard Mennonite Peace Center), Ruth consults with leadership teams in church and organizational settings. She provides teaching and guidance in the areas of spiritual formation and leadership development, community building and discernment. (Online source, emphasis mine)
In the Apprising Ministries article Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism As Methodology For Spiritual Formation I brought out that as a continuing series AM will be seeking to help the Body of Christ to “question” various teachers so often appealed to as “expert witnesses” for what I see as a counterfeit form of Christianity through their neo-pagan “spiritual disciplines” of corrupt Contemplative/Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) and its so-called “Christian” meditation of Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP)—which actually flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism.
With this in mind then we remind you that the bio of Ruth Haley Barton above has now introduced into evidence that fact that she was “trained through the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.” And therefore we can also “cross-examine” this information, as it were, by taking a quick look at TSI, which is the home of its own ”Founder and Senior Fellow” Tilden Edwards. In his book Spiritual Friend: Reclaiming the Gift of Spiritual Direction(SF) Edwards shares with us where this neo-gnostic CSM actually came from and while doing so reveals where it will eventually take those who continue in it long enough.
However first, as all mystics must do, Edwards criticizes and then attempts to undermine “scripturally informed faith” based in rational thought, which he laments “helped pave the way for the Reformation’s ‘justification by faith alone’ ” (18). O how terrible; the Reformation focused attention back onto the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But you see the real practioners of CSM know that the exclusivity of the genuine Gospel of Jesus Christ is one huge roadblock to their interspiritual meditation powwows.
Then SF in Edwards also enlightens us that his particular:
mystical stream is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality (and to that of Sufi Moslems and some Hassidic Jews in the West as well). The Zen warning not to confuse the pointing finger…for the moon to which it points is a saying that a Christian mystic easily understands. It is no accident that the most active frontier between Christian and Eastern religions today is between contemplative Christian monks and their Eastern equivalents. Some forms of Eastern meditation informally have been incorporated or adapted into the practice of many Christian monks, and increasingly by other Christians. (19, emphasis mine)
You need to understand that this form “of Eastern meditation” which has ”been incorporated or adapted into the practice” would be the CCP of those “contemplative Christian monks,” e.g. Thomas Merton. And in evangelicalism’s sordid lust affair with the neo-pietism of Spiritual Formation as promulgated by Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—with an able assist from his spiritual twin Dallas Willard—we’re now seeing this CCP practiced “increasingly by other Christians.” This is what your pastors are being taught at Zondervan NPCs by Roshi Ruth Haley Barton.
In fact one of the better known books Barton has written would be Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence (ISS). By the way, click that link and you’ll see that you can purchase this book teaching CSM right from Lifeway Christian Stores of the “Protestant” Southern Baptist Convention. We’re told that in ISS:
Ruth Haley Barton invites you to meet God deeply and fully outside the demands and noise of daily life. She leads you on a journey toward freedom and authenticity, toward becoming the person God created you to be. (Online source)
In the “Sources” notes for “Chapter 7: Rest for the Soul” Barton tells us just where it is that she gained her understanding of this alleged “authentic self.” And wouldn’t you know it, her wisdom was actually gleaned from some of those neo-gnostic “contemplative Christian monks” Edwards was talking about above. Barton herself informs us:
The concept of the true self and the false self is a consistent theme not only in Scripiture [It is; where?] but also in the writings of the church fathers and mothers. Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen (particularly Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart) and Father Thomas Keating are contemporary authors who have shaped my understanding of this aspect of the spiritual life. (141\
Huh? Church “mothers”? And one final thing about Barton’s mentor Tilden Edwards; in the Winter 2000 Newsletterfrom TSI you’ll be able to see, to no real surprise, Edwards doesn’t hold to Sola Scriptura, and just like Marcus Borg he has great respect for Buddha:
For many years, I have kept in my office an ink drawing of two smiling figures with their arms around each other: Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, with the caption: “Jesus and Buddha must be very good friends.” They are not the same, but they are friends, not enemies, and they are not indifferent to one another. From the very beginning of Shalem, I have been moved to affirm that statement. In my recently revised first book, Living Simply through the Day, I tell the story of my experience with a Tibetan Buddhist lama in 1973 and how my time with him helped me understand Christian contemplative tradition in a more experiential way.
Many years ago, the Roman Catholic theologian John Dunne said that the spiritual adventure of our time is the passing over to the standpoint of another religion or culture and returning with new insight to one’s own. Indeed, many members of Roman Catholic religious orders have taken the lead in recent decades in “passing over” to Buddhist practices and standpoints and returning with a fresh perspective on Christian faith and practice. This venture also has been shared by many mainstream non-Catholic clergy and laity, as well as by many Jews. What has led so many to value such an exploration?
We live in a time of great renaissance for contemplative understanding and practice. Many people have discovered the contemplative strands of other traditions that contribute to Judaeo-Christian ones. I believe that the Holy Spirit is in these enrichments across faith lines, not only for individual deepening but also as a way of discovering an underlying human spiritual connectedness beyond our authentic differences-a sense of connectedness that is essential to the world’s peace. Rather than being competitors and finding grounds for holy wars, we can recognize that we share the same basic yearnings for truth, love, and wholeness, and that each tradition has received a unique treasure of grace that can enlarge the other’s understanding and response to these longings. (Online source)
We return now more specifically to “the former associate director of spiritual formation at Willow Creek Community Church,” Ruth Haley Barton, as Lighthouse Trails Research also brings out:
Here’s what she says about contemplative prayer: “Ask for a simple prayer to express your willingness to meet God in the silence … a simple statement …such as “Here I am.” … Help yourself return to your original intent by repeating the prayer that you have chosen.” —Ruth Haley Barton Quotes taken from Discipleship Journal Vol. 113 1999 (Online source)
In ISS one of the people Barton points us to in order to help us “meet God fully and deeply” is Richard Rohr who is another Living Spiritual Teacher along with Richard Foster. Rohr also happens to be author of a popular book which teaches the CCP of CSM called Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer. By the way it’s a book that’s also recommended by Emerging Church pastor Rob Bell and one which Spiritual Director Barton herself references in chapter 6 of her ISS.
To introduce you further to Guru Rohr we now turn to the website of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC). Under the section Our Founderwe are told that “Father Richard Rohr is a Franciscan [Roman Catholic priest] of the New Mexico Province” (Online source). Swami Barton opens chapter one of ISS with the following bit of mystic wisdom from Roshi Rohr, “A good journey begins with knowing where we are and being willing to go somewhere else” (25). Well, following is where the deceptive “journey” of the practice of Contemplative/Centering Prayerhas taken Roshi Rohr.
In January of 2008 he was a featured “presenter” at Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (Online source)—sponsored by his own CAC—where in true contemplative messed up mystic theology he taught the equality of Buddha with Christ and the indwelling of God in all things:
The Four Noble Truths are the distilled essence of the Buddhist teaching. In this retreat, each of the Four Noble Truths will be introduced and explored, with emphasis given to the presence of each Noble Truth at the heart of Jesus’ call to awaken to God’s presence in every detail of our daily lives…
The teachings of both Jesus and Buddha call us to transformational honesty. They are both teaching us how to see, and how to see all the way through! They both knew that if you see God for yourself, you will see the Divine in all things. (Online source)
So add Rohr to the growing society of “Christians” who hold this unregenerate teacher of pagan religion in high esteem. The wasted life of the aforementioned Thomas Merton, a highly revered Golden Buddha of CSM, is further proof as to where this type of spirituality will eventually take you if you choose to join these mystic fools in seeking to approach God in ways He has not sanctioned. By the time of his accidental electrocution in Bangkok Merton had all but become a Buddhist himself, which is painfully obvious as I show in Thomas Merton And The Buddhas.
Merton wrote in his journal of the time just before his death when he stepped onto ”holy ground” as he observed the huge Buddha statues at Polonnaruwa:
I am able to approach the Buddhas barefoot and undisturbed, my feet in wet grass, wet sand. Then the silence of the extraordinary faces… I was knocked over with a rush of relief and thankfulness at the obvious clarity of the figures, the clarity and fluidity of shape and line, the design of the monumental bodies composed into the rock shape… The thing about all this is that there is no puzzle, no problem and really no “mystery.” All problems are resolved and everything is clear, simply because what matters is clear…
I don’t know when in my life I have ever had such a sense of beauty and spiritual validity running together in one aesthetic illumination. Surely, with Mahabalipuram and Polonnaruwa my Asian pilgrimage had become clear and had purified itself. I mean, I know and have seen what I was obscurely looking for.
Rather than seeking to walk the same ground as men like Thomas Merton the question evangelicals ought to be asking themselves is why are we turning to deceived dreamers like Ruth Haley Barton to bring this kind of heretical CSM skubalon into our churches?
September 17, 2008
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September 17, 2008
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I heard part of a sermon on the radio in my pickup this afternoon that pierced my heart. I have learned to pay attention when this happens. The preacher was Dr. Richard Land and he was expounding on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son. I began listening just as he read Luke 15:25-30. Then he gave a couple of illustrations that God used to direct my path to this post. The first illustration concerned a friend of Dr. Land who was dying. He had terminal cancer. This man was a Pastor of a church in a small town. His daughter had returned home after living a sinful debauched lifestyle. She was pregnant out of wedlock. Her intent had been to privately abort the baby, tell no one, and remain in her sinful lifestyle. However, God entered in to her heart, brought her to repentance, and sent her back home. She arrived at home as her father was dealing with his cancer.
(click here to read this post)
September 17, 2008
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September 17, 2008
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Are these two men below actually describing the same God? Apprising Ministries would have to believe you will see it becomes quite obvious that they are not. The following is from a 1991 debate Islam And Christianity on The John Ankerberg Show.
The first quote comes from a Muslim by the name of Dr. Jamal Badawi, Chairman of the Islamic Information Foundation in Halifax, Nova Scotia:
First, God is one in essence and in person. This excludes the presence of equal divine persons in the same Godhead. Neither tritheism not trinity, however, explained, is compatible with the pure Islamic monotheism.
Two, God alone is worthy of worship and unqualified devotion. None is to be worshiped instead of Him or along side with Him as “co-equal,” nor is God to be worshiped through any creature whether religious institution, clergy or even the greatest of the prophets.
The third condition in Islam for monotheism is that any shortcoming, man-like weakness and limitation is not befitting to the glory of God. This excludes any notion of God incarnate and any other quality or action which is ungod-like of unsuitable for the majesty of God.
This next quote is from Dr. Gleason Archer, professor of Semitic Languages and Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois:
Now, the God who is presented in the Holy Scripture is not simply a sterile monad. He is a Trinitarian God who is observable immediately in Genesis, the first book, the first chapter and the first three verses, because in the first verse we are told that God, Elohim, created the heavens and the earth. And then in the second verse, we are told that the Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God, brooded over the waters in the initial stage of the earth’s development. And then in the third verse we are told that God said, “Let there be light”. And this, of course, evokes the creative Word of God, which is explained in the Gospel of John, the first chapter in the first verses: “In the beginning was the Word [the Logos], and the Logos was with God and the Logos was God. All things came into being through the Logos.”
Now, it is true that in Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, verse 4, we have that fine statement which is basic to the faith of Israel, and I think basic also to Islam and Christianity: “Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh echad—Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One.” The term used for one, by the way, is echad, which is like the Arabic ahab, meaning one. But it is interestingly used in Genesis 2:24 of what happens with man and wife because married. They, too, shall become one flesh, [basar echad]. Well, of course, this does not mean that there is just a husband or just a wife, but the two of them are one. In verse 26 of Genesis 1, we read in connection with God’s creation of man, “Let us make man in our image.”
Now, this could not possibly refer to angels joining with God in the matter of furnishing a model for man. It does seem to imply a plurality on the part of the one God. Now, of course, it is true that in later times, certainly in Koranic times, the first person plural pronoun “we” was frequently used in a majestic way. Allah is quoted very often in this fashion. But the thing that is important to observe is that in no ancient language in the B.C. period do you find such a usage. If a person means “I,” he says “I,” he does not say “we.” Therefore, on historic linguistic grounds we are forced to say that there is an implication of plurality in the Godhead in this account of man’s creation.
(Islam And Christianity, DVD, Program One)
See also:
KEEPING YOU APPRISED OF: ISLAM
What Does Islam Teach About God and is He Like the God of the Bible?
RICK WARREN: PURPOSE DRIVEN TO ASK FOR ALLAH’S FORGIVENESS
September 17, 2008
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Steve Camp has a disconcerting post PAUL TRIPP-PING – HE REALLY LIKES TO SAY THE “S” WORD…has Piper lost his mind or just forgotten his Bible? which begins:
Paul Tripp has discovered the “s” word. He likes to say it; he giggles like a red-faced school girl when he does; he thinks its cool; he thinks he’s cutting edge and culturally relevant; he thinks he’s being radical; he thinks he’s being profound; he thinks he’s being biblical, but yet never quotes one verse of Scripture; and Piper has produced this wasteful intestinal discharge (pun intended) and condones what Tripp is saying. Who has spiked the water in Minnesota?…
FYI: this is one of the promo videos for Piper’s upcoming DG Conference “The Power of Words and the Wonder of God” at the end of September produced by his ministry.
(Online source)
Over at Slice of Laodicea Ingrid Schlueter adds:
Steve Camp has a good post up about yet another Christian speaker who thinks that filthy language is chic. Thank you, Mark Driscoll, for your example. We really appreciate it. What is it with evangelicals and toilet language these days? When men like John Piper give credence to this kind of thing, is it any wonder we’re seeing a trend?
Maybe it made Paul Tripp feel manly to use the s-word. With the effeminization of men these days, that’s about all that’s left in many of their arsenals. What the real issue seems to be is maturity. Back in 4th grade, the attention seekers would do just about anything to stand out from the crowd… (Online source)
From my comment at Camp On This:
Such is the state of evangelicalism: *tee hee* Paul said a swear.” *tee hee* Mighty fine preaching. Any of the kids I used to coach in football could have “shared” that.
It is as I said to a couple of friends today, stagnating readership and funding have me seriously considering closing AM.
O what a dolt I am writing about actual issues facing the Body of Christ as apostasy sweeps through the American Christian Church like an Oklahoma wildfire.
If I want to keep AM I guess I’ll have to revert back to my Junior High days where I was voted Class Clown. Then I’ll really rock dawg…
September 17, 2008
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Recently Lighthouse Trails reported that Greg Laurie was involved in and sponsoring a leadership event with Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Ken Blanchard, Bob Buford, etc. Lighthouse Trails has been castigated on various blogs and also by Harvest Crusades (Laurie’s ministry) for spreading “lies”. Well, those “lies” are the bald-face truth.
On this page of the New York City Leadership Center, Greg Laurie is listed as an Event Sponsor (scroll down on the page). And which event are we referring to? The “Spiritual Leadership in the Global City” event slated for Saturday, September 20th.
Read the rest at the Apostasy of Rick Warren website.
September 17, 2008
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Thomas Nelson has just released its most important book all year. At a time of national economic apocalypse, theological anarchy, moral meltdown in the West and the ever present threats of terrorism, Nelson has released what promises to be the seminal book of the hour: the memoirs of Britney Spears mother. ABC News has this powerful quote this morning in a review of the book, Through the Storm:
Spears presented herself as a loving and selfless parent who gave up her job as a school teacher for Britney’s sake, but who became an increasingly powerless figure in her daughter’s life. She wrote that she realized she was losing control when Rolling Stone featured a racy cover of the budding pop star in…(edited for Slice readers)
Yes, I suppose that would be a wake-up call all right. That this kind of tripe is being published by the truckload is not news. That Thomas Nelson, once the premier publisher of serious Christian materials, is the purveyor of this spiritual and intellectual wealth is news. Unfortunately.
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September 17, 2008
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Steve Camp has a disconcerting post PAUL TRIPP-PING – HE REALLY LIKES TO SAY THE “S” WORD…has Piper lost his mind or just forgotten his Bible? which begins:
Paul Tripp has discovered the “s” word. He likes to say it; he giggles like a red-faced school girl when he does; he thinks its cool; he thinks he’s cutting edge and culturally relevant; he thinks he’s being radical; he thinks he’s being profound; he thinks he’s being biblical, but yet never quotes one verse of Scripture; and Piper has produced this wasteful intestinal discharge (pun intended) and condones what Tripp is saying. Who has spiked the water in Minnesota?…
FYI: this is one of the promo videos for Piper’s upcoming DG Conference “The Power of Words and the Wonder of God” at the end of September produced by his ministry.
Over at Slice of Laodicea Ingrid Schlueter adds:
Steve Camp has a good post up about yet another Christian speaker who thinks that filthy language is chic. Thank you, Mark Driscoll, for your example. We really appreciate it. What is it with evangelicals and toilet language these days? When men like John Piper give credence to this kind of thing, is it any wonder we’re seeing a trend?
Maybe it made Paul Tripp feel manly to use the s-word. With the effeminization of men these days, that’s about all that’s left in many of their arsenals. What the real issue seems to be is maturity. Back in 4th grade, the attention seekers would do just about anything to stand out from the crowd…
Such is the state of postevangelical Christianity: *tee hee* “Paul just said a swear.” *tee hee*
September 17, 2008
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Gives Sharia Courts Full Power to Rule on Civil Cases – FOX NEWS
The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.
Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through county courts or the country’s High Court, a part of its Supreme Court system.
September 17, 2008
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I’ve been getting press releases for the last few weeks about the latest whiz bang apologetics conference at Southern Theological Seminary. The world’s “leading” apologists are there this week and “apologists” will be talking about how to defend a “Christian worldview”. Maybe they should just apologize and go home. These “apologists” are talking about advancing traditional marriage, fighting abortion, defending God in the public square and so forth. But keynoter, James Dobson, who is called an “apologist”, is really a cultural activist in a battle that we’re losing, big time. Why? Christians are largely lampooned today, not because of Jesus Christ, but because of the garbage done in His name. With months long freak shows like the one Todd Bentley just completed, with televangelists jetting around at donor expense so the Senate has to investigate, with men like John Avanzini handing out lucky rubbing stones so people can get rich, with cussing pastors and churches handing out cards with ideas to jazz up your sex life, with pastors getting arrested for trying to hook up with 13-year-old girls online, and so forth and so on, maybe they shouldn’t call this a National Apologetics Conference. I think it should be called a National Apology Conference. They could line up Christian “leaders” who could spend hours apologizing.
1. We’re sorry for treating Jesus Christ as a life-enhancement product.
2. We’re sorry for funding and listening to crooks and liars on TV and sending them money.
3. We’re sorry for attending churches where live motorcycle stunts are performed onstage.
4. We’re sorry for having 3rd rate ethics while claiming to follow Christ.
5. We’re sorry that neighbors had to call the police because our church sound system blew out their windows.
6. We’re sorry for supporting a deranged “evangelist” who kicks people in the stomach to cure their cancer.
7. We’re sorry for wearing/selling/buying stupid T-shirts that blaspheme God and thinking that would impress non-Christians.
8. We’re sorry for spending billions of dollars on music downloads and CD’s of our favorite Christian pop star and funding their demise.
9. We’re sorry for blowing off Sola Scriptura and returning to medieval mysticism.
10. We’re sorry for buying books from heretical wolves like Brian McLaren who deny hell, the substitutionary atonement and the Second Coming.
11. We’re sorry for adopting hindu worship practices as a Christian means of encountering God.
12. We’re sorry for buying trash like The Shack that redefines the Trinity and introduces goddess theology to evangelicals.
13. We’re sorry for following the Rupert Murdoch-sponsored pied piper into his latest church campaign because we refuse to think biblically.
You get the idea. Maybe the National Apology Conference idea will catch on. I won’t hold my breath.
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September 17, 2008
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I read another story this week about how a lot of Christians are leaving church altogether. They’re just walking away and not coming back. When I see what “churches” are serving up these days, it’s little wonder why. If you value your children’s safety and innocence, you may want to run, not walk from the new, hip churches. With s-word spewing Christian pastors and church sex campaigns, indoor motorcycle stunts gone bad, and church floors collapsing under the onslaught of moshing teenagers, church has become a dicey proposition.
I give to you an example of why America looks like it does today. We’re not running armories for Christian soldiers these days, we’re running Playboy mansions. Christians can’t take up their armor because they can’t manage to get their pants zipped. Here is a sampling of postcards and promotional materials from various churches in the last few months.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Exhibit C
Exhibit D
Exhibit E
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September 17, 2008
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Steve Camp has a good post up about yet another Christian speaker who thinks that filthy language is chic. Thank you, Mark Driscoll, for your example. We really appreciate it. What is it with evangelicals and toilet language these days? When men like John Piper give credence to this kind of thing, is it any wonder we’re seeing a trend?
Maybe it made Paul Tripp feel manly to use the s-word. With the effeminization of men these days, that’s about all that’s left in many of their arsenals. What the real issue seems to be is maturity. Back in 4th grade, the attention seekers would do just about anything to stand out from the crowd. Belch talking, armpit noises and bad words might get a big “ewwww” from the girls, but at least it was a few seconds of escape from obscurity. But, then, that was 4th grade. Shouldn’t men of Paul Tripp’s age have found another way to stand out from the endless parade of conference speakers by now? Apparently not. It’s gotten him a video clip on YouTube, so it must be good.
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September 17, 2008
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KARNATAKA, INDIA (ANS) — “India is in a scary situation,” says Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan. “While violence continues in Orissa, on India’s east coast, anti-Christian extremists have unleashed another wave of attacks on Christians in Karnataka, a state on India’s west coast.
“At the same time, churches are under attack in Jharkand and other states, and Muslim extremists have set off bombs in Delhi.
On Sunday, Hindu mobs rushed into churches and prayer centers of many different denominations in Karnataka, attacking Christians during their times of worship. The extremists then destroyed the church buildings and their properties. At least 11 churches were destroyed, including at least one led by Gospel for Asia missionaries.
September 17, 2008
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Vatican Announces Academic Conference on Darwin from Ekklesia
The Vatican has announced an upcoming international conference on “Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after ‘The Origin of Species’”, to mark the Darwin celebrations and build the science-theology dialogue.
The conference is due to be take place in Rome from 3 to 7 March 2009. Along with other major churches, the Catholic Church proclaims the compatibility of evolutionary biology and Christian faith in the world process as God’s creative purpose.
The Vatican opposes creationism, which misconstrues ancient texts to deny the findings of the natural sciences and oppose them to divine fiat. However, a few Catholic academics have joined those toying with ‘Intelligent Design’, a close cousin.
HT: Watcher’s Lamp
September 17, 2008
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Of course I cannot tell what has been the history of all of you, but I may be addressing someone this morning whose life of late has been a series of sorrows. You have plunged from one calamity to another. You have sailed over every known sea of affliction. You know what sickness means—there are in your body the scars of old diseases. You have known what perils mean on the waters and perils on land. Perhaps you have been brought down from competence to poverty. Perhaps you have been deserted, too, by those who should have comforted you—you know almost all the pangs which wring the human heart with anguish.
Don’t you know that all these are sent to wean you from the world? Will you still cling to it? All these are calls from Heaven, like the voice of hunger in the prodigal when he could not fill his belly with the husks and therefore said, “I will arise and go to my father.” Will you never say the same? How shall God afflict you, now? Is your wife dead? Would you like to lose your child? Is one child gone? Shall death take away the other? Shall the last darling be taken from you?
What stroke would touch your hard heart? Must the Lord strike again and again, and again and again before you will hear Him? If He is resolved to save you, depend upon it, He will not spare you! He will bring you, somehow or other, to Himself if He means to bless you. Be you not as the horse and the mule which have no understanding—whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle—but yield now to the afflictions you have already suffered, or else you will certainly enhance your guilt by despising the chastening of the Lord!
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