Islam or Islamism...do you agree?

I think Cliff May is right. Apparently, he is getting a lot of mail with folks disagreeing vehemently with him...

"America is not fighting a war against Islam. America is fighting a war against Islamism.

"The difference between Islam and Islamism is straightforward: Islam is a religion, a faith, the basis of a great civilization and culture, one that once dominated the world.

"By contrast, Islamism is an “ism” – a theory, a doctrine, a political movement. Islamists believe that Muslims have a God-given right to dominate the world; or, as the Islamist theorist Abdullah Azzam phrased it, a duty to establish “Allah's rule on Earth.” " More

Frist disappoints...

WASHINGTON, July 29 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The following is a comprehensive list of press releases from groups disappointed in Frist for backing embryonic stem-cell research:

Here are the latest press releases:

Frist's Flip-Flop; CWA Severely Disappointed By Sen. Frist's Decision to Support Funding for Embryonic Stem-Cell Research

Clergy Denounce Frist on Stem Cell Research

Dr. Coburn Introduces Pro-Science and Pro-Life Stem Cell Research Legislation

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity Troubled by Frist Announcement Supporting Embryonic Stem Cell Research

NPLAC's Schenck Responds to Frist Sell-Out

Bauer Expresses 'Deep Disappointment' Over Frist's Fetal Stem Cell Support

News Conference in Front of Sen. Frist's Office; Additional National Pro-Life Leaders to Participate

CMA Doctors Lament Senator Frist's Support of Embryo-Destroying Research

Frist Can No Longer Consider Himself Pro-Life & Vote to Expand Funding for Embryonic Stem Cell Research says Christian Defense Coalition

Dobson Disappointed Frist Backing Embryonic Stem-Cell Research; Focus Action Founder says Senate Majority Leader's Position a 'Betrayal' of Values Voters

FRC Statement on Frist Support for Embryonic Stem Cell Research

National Pro-Life Leaders to Hold News Conference in Front of Frist's Office

Pennsylvania Catholic Bishops Issue Document on Stem Cell Research

Visit http://www.earnedmedia.org/abortion.htm for new press releases on this issue.

Matt's latest AgapePress column

The Political Left Gets Religion
And, Frankly, It Provides a Little Comedy to Watch the 'Bridge-Builders' Burn Them

The Party of the Left Wing, known best for its tax-increasing, huge-spending, pro-abortion sentiments, looked at the polls in the last election and noticed something big-time. First, seriously religious people vote. Two -- they didn't vote for the Left Wing.

"Fixable!" they thought. And then they schemed. Let's start praying at meetings, mentioning people of faith in our speeches, and allowing Democrats to be pro-life if they really want (insults of the last three decades now to be overlooked).

And a website. Oh, yes, a website is always needed. So, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has hoisted his religious sentiments onto the worldwide web in hopes that the faithful will come along and join God-appreciating Democrats in vote-harvesting prayer down at the altar.

Check it out. It's called "A Word to the Faithful." There you will see a hand-holding prayer circle, Reid standing by lots of clergy collars, liberal after liberal behind pulpits and that great man of faith -- John F. Kennedy -- looking over Reid's shoulder. More

The Pope has us figured out

Don't you think?

Benedict also touched on another his favorite themes: the state of the church in Europe. He said in contrast to the developing world, where there is a "springtime of faith," the West was "a world that is tired of its own culture, a world that has arrived at a time in which there's no more evidence of the need for God, much less Christ, and in which it seems that man alone can make himself.

"This is certainly a suffering linked, I'd say, to our time, in which generally one sees that the great churches appear to be dying," he said, mentioning Australia, Europe and the United States.

Things learned while reporting on Ms. Fonda

Dear Matt,

I'm listening to you now-Tuesday evening and you were mentioning something about Jane Fonda on a bus tour that ran on vegetable oil. Let tell me you about a very unique guy. You can check out his sight at www.drivenjoy.com His name is Royd. He is from St. Petersburg, FL. My son is an area director for K-Life ministries. It is an inner city youth ministry connected to Kanakuk Camps owned and operated by Dr. Joe White. Anyway Royd is one of his group leaders and he runs his old Mercedes on used vegetable oil. He goes to area restaurants and fills up on their used oil. Anyway,he bought a used school bus from somewhere in New York, they shipped it down, he fixed it up to live in and is going around the USA doing mission work. He converted it to run on vegetable oil also. I live in West, MS and he came by and stayed a couple of days on his way out and before he left I had to call the Fish house in Vaiden, MS and ask for used oil, so he stopped by and filled it up after he left here. He is such an interesting guy. Check out his website and you can email him about how he converted to vegetable oil.

God bless!

P.J.

You can never really know?

Charles Colson, whom I love, says the following as he is interviewed about his recent book The Good Life.

JUBILEE: You start the book with Private Ryan asking his wife whether he has lived a good life. How do you answer that question for yourself?

COLSON: I don’t think you’re ever going to be sure. At least a Christian won’t be. Because one day you’ll face God and you’re going to account for yourself. But I know what I’ve asked to be put on my tombstone, and that is the apostle Paul’s words, that I’ve finished the course, I’ve kept the faith, I’ve fought the good fight. Yes, if God called me home tomorrow, I would believe I have finished the course and kept the faith and fought the good fight. That’s a good life.

Can you lead the good life and know for sure you are doing so? Read the whole interview.

Interesting stuff about the "orthodox"

"It's not easy to place thinkers as diverse as Walker Percy, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Martin Luther King Jr., G.K. Chesterton, and Northrop Frye into the same category. But Robert Inchausti, English professor at California State Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo, says they were all avant-garde orthodox Christians. No matter their different political, denominational, or literary positions, they all sought to be faithful to Jesus while engaging the world. In Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise, Inchausi discusses Christian thinkers, writers, and activists who challenged secular worldviews on their own turf, yet remained thoroughly Christian."

Who are the avant-garde Orthodox?

These were orthodox Christian thinkers and artists who were not theologians and made important and somewhat revolutionary contributions to various secular disciplines. They're interesting people because they're both subversive of the existing modern order, but they are not subversive of the church or subversive of the faith.

They have a unique status as people who model for us how it is possible for believing Christians to enter into dialogue with the secular culture in a way that revolutionizes and transforms the secular culture and doesn't just protest against it or isolate from it.

If you look at some of the major Christian artists and thinkers and social critics over the last hundred years, you find a variety of political, artistic, and intellectual schools within which they operate. Yet, they still share Christ as their major inspiration. You have somebody like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who from an American political perspective would be very conservative. He single-handedly did away with Marxism as an attractive philosophy for Paris intellectuals. And at the same time you have somebody like Dorothy Day, whose entire witness to the poor in the United States was to defend small families and small farms and collectives and indigenous poor against a social Darwinism that she thought was running away with American culture during the Cold War years.

Few people know these believers were Christians. E.F. Schumacher, the Small Is Beautiful fellow, is often recognized as the guy who wrote about Buddhist economics, because of a chapter in his book Small Is Beautiful. But he was a Christian, and he said he put in Buddhism because he didn't want it to seem like special pleading. He just wanted to make it clear that the economic systems had religious under pinning. In order to demonstrate that in a way that he could get a hearing, he used the example of Buddhism. But he himself was a Christian thinker. More

Christianity - marketing tool...

Hmmm. Is this good?

It is "Faith Night" at the ballpark. The Class A Hagerstown Suns are among the minor league teams, mostly in the South, that will bring in Christian entertainers, have players give their testimonies, conduct faith trivia quizzes for prizes and have giveaways that could include biblical bobble-head dolls.

The dozens of Faith Nights at ballparks this summer are the latest manifestation of Christianity's increasing involvement in sports. Players pray in the locker room and on the field. They praise God in interviews. And they organize groups including Athletes In Action and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Churches, like thousands of other organizations, had outings to ballparks before with discounts on group tickets. But Faith Nights go further: They have become a marketing tool, targeting churches with promotional campaigns. And they provide entertainment and specific activities geared to those fans.

Latest from Rasmussen

July 21, 2005--When applying the separation of Church and State principle, 52% of Americans say that it is more important to protect the Church from the government. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 35% take the opposite view and believe it is more important to protect the government from the Church. More

Important read from CT

How Discipline Died
The church should stop taking its cues from the state.
by Marlin Jeschke

The Protestant reformers named three "marks by which the true church is known": the preaching of the pure doctrine of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the exercise of church discipline to correct faults. Today, church discipline is feared as the mark of a false church, bringing to mind images of witch trials, scarlet letters, public humiliations, and damning excommunications. Does discipline itself need correction and redemption in order to be readmitted into the body of Christ? We have asked several experts from different (and sometimes contrasting) professional and theological backgrounds to explain how church discipline fell into disrepair and how it can be revived, so that the true church can fully embody the pure doctrine of the gospel once again.

Culturally sensitive...or downright trivial.

Alright, folks. Help me out here...is this...like...OK? Or are we trivializing something not to be trivialized? Is there a step when we cross over the line? Tell me.

Comic book loving pastors work superheroes into sermons (Fort Wayne New Sentinel)

Southern Baptists have a congregation for every interest, from golfers to bikers (Ledger)

Author says Potter can teach biblical messages: Pastor has Wizard Book Club, Bible Study (NBC4)

Bart Simpson lends a hand: Church finds show helps teach lessons (Pasadena Star News)

Is Your Jesus Homogenous?

Update: My AgapePress article here.

I remember taking a casket up some stairs at a black church and noticing that the scene painted on the wall - Jesus getting baptized by John the Baptist - had everyone in the picture looking pretty African. "How historically inaccurate," I thought to myself. Then...I had to wonder if the Jesus on my wall wasn't a bit more "white" and less ethnically Jewish than he probably was. Which is why this article caught my eye:

Depending on the culture, its distinctives, and its artists' leanings, Jesus is portrayed in various ways. Careful examination of the different representations of Jesus can be a catalyst to clarifying thinking about Jesus Christ and His mission in the world.

~~"By embracing many visual representations of Christ, we acknowledge that it is not just one era, one culture or certain socioeconomic classes or educational ranks that have meaningful connections with the divine."~~

Christians around the world differ in literacy, tradition, and station in life. Regardless, all Christians are capable of showing spiritual depth and wisdom. The Bible confirms that ethnic and cultural diversity is normative. Unfortunately, as noted by Sri Lankan theologian D. T. Niles, the imagery of Christ created and celebrated in the West would not be acceptable to the thinking in many nonwestern settings.

Christ was neither white European nor black African nor native North American, and it may be difficult for Christians who are North American or European to realize how Africans, Asians, Latin Americans, and Native North Americans portray Jesus' relationships with others--"His nonattachment to possessions and personal power and His utterly practical type of ministry."

• Latin American images of Christ range from "dark, earthy, and intensely engaged.... His cross is rough-hewn...." He is portrayed variously as "a peasant...homeless evangelist...and revolutionary warrior. But always, He is a man of the people...."

• African representations of Christ vary from one locale to another. Africans show Christ as sovereign ruler, calm and controlled in all circumstances. He is shown as black, and as the "source of safety, wellbeing, healing, provision, and knowledge" for all in the kingdom.

• Native Americans often show Christ as "suffering,,,defending...in spiritual distress or spiritual ecstacy."

• Asians may depict Christ as exemplary, dutiful, benevolent, obedient, and actively contributing to the good of His society. "He is the cosmic totality of all."

• Eastern Orthodox peoples show Christ as approachable, relational, and as the "mediator of God's Word to man."

It is a false assumption to suggest that a homogenous Christ is known throughout the world. "Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?" by Joanne Pepper. ChristianWeek, May 11, 2004 (Vol 18, No 4). Pages 6-7.

Bethany Christian Adoption Services

OK - Bethany sort of blew it. They told a Catholic couple that they didn't work with Catholics.

But - Bethany has a statement of faith and they shouldn't have to fold it up. And an ardent Catholic called the radio show the other day and I asked him whether he could agree with that statement and he said "Pretty much." Pretty much?

Does a strong Catholic want a Pentecostal raising his kid? Probably not. Is that OK? Yes. Does a Southern Baptist want someone who lives and dies by the Eucharist, Mother Mary and the Pope raising her child. No. Is that OK? Yes.

This morning's Letters to the Editor to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger were beyond the pale - saying that Bethany was like the KKK. C'mon.

But this is the environment in which we live. If it smacks of religious right, get ready for the smack-down. Read the letters to the editor. Yeesh.

Know that we are all God's children
Bethany shouldn't exclude Catholics
Don't exclude due to religious beliefs
Bethany should change its policy
'C-L' spotlights bigotry, prejudice
Many Catholics warm, loving parents
Cut 'Choose Life' funding for Bethany
Do many of the KKK's ideals live on?
Bethany Christian Services adoption rules not 'Christlike'

Christ's Church-Growth Strategy: Love

Too simplistic? Or right on?

Since Jesus said love was so important (the way nonbelievers recognize that we are His followers), why don't many seminaries conduct classes on how to love? It's hard to build a loving community in the midst of a skeptical pluralistic society.

Notwithstanding the plethora of church-growth methodologies, each with its seminars, conferences, videos and how-to manuals, the church in North America is hardly growing. Despite the visible success of the evangelical subculture, Christianity is having negligible impact on the culture at large. That's because we have given up on Jesus' radical ideal of love. The proliferation of denominations, the widening of the racial gap, the seemingly inevitable church splits have all convinced us over the years that "love one another" just doesn't work.

"There's nothing sweet and easy about community." Henri Nouwen

The John 13 foot-washing kind of love Jesus was talking about is, in fact, unworkable. It is impossible for us to love that way as a human strategy. It is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit--a miracle that nonbelievers can't help but notice. This kind of love is inherently attractive. The first-century church didn't have a detailed program for evangelizing the world--just lots of love for each other. The growing church could have split over the Jew/Gentile issue (Acts 15) but decided they were all in this together.

By the fourth century, love had been relegated to a place of lesser importance in favor of programs, buildings, and outreach efforts.

Church-growth strategies must be subjugated to investing sufficient time in building relationships. Individuals must struggle to learn to love each other. There is no simple one-size-fits-all answer.

What could happen if we put the priority on Jesus' command instead of our worship wars, denominational distinctives, and homogeneous congregations? Hopefully, everyone would know that we are Jesus' disciples by our love. "All You Need Is Love" by J. Kevin Butcher. The Covenant Companion, May 2004 (Vol 93, No 5). Pages 18-21

Want astonishing growth rates? Try this...

This is the gist of holy growth - unwavering convictions + love

Constantine's legalization of Christianity in 313 did not so much aid its spread as recognize its success. By 350, over half the population of the empire were followers of Jesus. After nearly three centuries of persecution, these were not nominal believers. Whether they became martyrs or not, these early Christians gave their lives for the faith. Yet the early church grew by 40% every ten years.

"What Stark found in his study of the first Christian centuries was an astonishing growth rate of 40% per decade."

Living conditions at that time were horrid. Overcrowded cities were unsanitary, dangerous, unpleasant places to live. Life expectancy was around 30 years for males, and infanticide (especially of girls) was common. Marriage was typically an abusive relationship, and abortion and adultery were rampant.

Christian marriage and child-rearing practices were in stark contrast. The Christian home was the primary means of evangelism in the early centuries of church history. Pagan women found Christian homes to be highly attractive and as a result, a disproportionate number of the converts during this time were women. In turn, the presence of these women drew pagan men who were looking for wives.

Devastating epidemics regularly swept across the Mediterranean world in those days. It was common for pagans to abandon the cities and even their own family members because they had no way to avoid catching the disease. Christians, however, not only took care of their own relatives and each other, they would care for pagan neighbors. This work was carried on by families in their homes, not through institutions. This compassion gradually began to transform the entire society as more and more people converted to Christianity.

We would do well to imitate the Christian charity of our forebears. Instead of thinking of the church in terms of special buildings and programs, we should view the places we live as places of worship, fellowship, service, and outreach. Love must begin at home. We should be as loath to desecrate our "domestic churches" with harsh words to each other as we would be to profane the sanctuary. We should discipline ourselves as families to have regular times of corporate prayer and Bible study at home. We should always seek opportunities to serve the poor, elderly, or lonely in our communities--whether by making meals, offering hospitality, or simply sharing our children's artwork.

Even as early Christians refused to fit in with the loose morals of the Roman empire, we must not compromise with the divorce, abortion, or homosexuality prevalent in our own day. Yet we Christian families must passionately love the sinners who inhabit our neighborhoods. "Salt of the Empire: The Role of the Christian Family in Evangelization" by Mike Aquilina. Touchstone, May 2004 (Vol 17, No 4).

Succored, or slapped?

“The paradox of the Bible is this:

At the same time it is the most comforting and the most discomforting book in the world. It lifts up the lowly and casts down the proud. The Word succors the suffering as a mother hugs a weeping child; but it also slaps us in the face. It says those who are alive are dead, but those who are dead “in Christ” are alive. This Wonder Book repels men, yet it draws men. It offers men hope, yet it casts them into despair. It says men who have everything have nothing, yet those who have nothing (but Christ) have everything. It declares that men who say they “know” do not know, and the men who the world says know nothing can triumphantly say, “We know that we have passed from death unto life.”” Meat for Men by Leonard Ravenhill

Will it work for the liberals?

Will it, could it work?

God doesn't belong to conservatives.

So sayeth more than 1,000 clergy members, scholars and activists convening upon the University of California, Berkeley this week for a four-day conference on "Reviving the American Spiritual Left."

Just as Mohandas Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Aung San Suu Kyi have made faith part and parcel of their causes, so too must American liberals embrace faith in fighting for their ideals, organizers say.

They hope to emerge from this conference and another scheduled for February in Washington, D.C., having laid groundwork for a "Network of Spiritual Progressives" with chapters nationwide to challenge what they see as the religious right's misappropriation of God, religion and spirituality.

WorldCom's Ebbers Gets 25 Years ... Is There a More Christian Way?

Yes, there is a more Christian way...

Update: Restorative justice and restitution are a big part of Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship. He derives his principles biblically and you might be interested. There is a better way.

Greatest theologian of all time?

Do you agree?

Is this guy right?

From World Mag:

Todd Wilken, the Lutheran talk-show host, has identified another kind of liberal conservative. In an article titled "Bible-believing Liberals" in Issues, Etc. Journal, he observes that many Christians are conservative politically, economically, culturally, and in every other way except one: They are liberal/progressives when it comes to church.

"While they believe that the culture needs to return to its historic traditions, they think the church needs to abandon hers," Mr. Wilken writes. "While they believe men and women have defined roles in marriage and family, they don't see why a woman can't replace a man in the pulpit. . . . They want the Ten Commandments in the public square, but are unconcerned when those commandments are replaced with ‘principles for living' from the pulpit. To the Bible-believing liberal, ceremonies of a presidential inauguration are meaningful and inspiring, but the Sunday morning liturgy is boring. For the Bible-believing liberal, the differences between political parties are serious, but the differences between Christian denominations are petty. While they insist on a strict literal interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, they play fast and loose with the Bible and its theology, even while maintaining its inerrancy and inspiration. These are the Bible-believing liberals."

In other words, many Christians reject the dogmas of progressivism—the old is bad, what's new is good, we should change along with the cultural trends—in the culture wars, while embracing them in church.

"By definition, Bible-believing liberals consider themselves conservative," Mr. Wilken told WORLD. "They are completely unaware that they have started thinking and speaking like old-line liberals. When it is pointed out to them, they are incredulous and usually offended. They fail to see that, just like the old-line liberals, they have allowed the culture to call the shots in their church's teaching and practice. Most evangelicals consider themselves loyal footsoldiers in the culture war. However, while they have fought the culture's influence in society, they have surrendered to it in their churches."

Christians who want to conserve traditional values might start by conserving their churches.

The Supreme Court nominations come down to...

...this!

Using "Christian"

These guys do some awful good late-night ads using the word "Christian." Alas, using is all they do, apparently. Pity.

Provocative question

But is it so hard to answer biblically?

Researchers at the Boston University (BU) School of Theology have launched a new survey in hopes of finding an answer to the old question: What makes a “good” Christian? More

Update: You can participate in the online project by going here

Want a more compassionate view of Africa? Here 'tis...

Nice to hear from some sensible voices from within instead of just the G8 from without:

CATHOLIC Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie has described the debt relief granted Nigeria by the Paris Club of creditors as unnecessary, adding that proceeds arising from the relief will enrich those at the helm of affairs in the country....

Reacting to the $18 billion or 60 per cent debt relief granted Nigeria by the Paris Club, Cardinal Okogie said "the government is not sincere with the populace because the clauses embedded in the debt relief were not disclosed.

"Paris Club can not give 60 per cent debt relief just like that. There must be certain conditions tied to it," the Bishop added.

According to him, bribery and corruption have eaten deep into the nation's fabric, pointing out that the only way the debt relief was got would be through lobby....

"How are they going to spend the 60 per cent debt relief and what have they done with surplus oil revenue?

"Nigerians do not ask questions about how their money is managed. It is a pity that Nigerians don't ask questions. They allow people to deceive them," he further stated.

Cardinal Okogie called on the government to take serious the statement made by the United States of America (USA) that Nigeria will disintegrate in 15 years, rather than condemning it, pointing out that they should take stock of what is happening in the country.

He advised government officials to repent and amend their ways otherwise they will face the wrath of God.

"God is very merciful. He gives each of us time and chance to amend, if you don't amend, he takes you off."

He said the acquisitive nature of the country's leaders had made them not only to perpetuate themselves in office, but also to hand over leadership to their children.

The respected clergyman said that if he were not a priest, he would have joined other Nigerians leaving the country in search of greener pasture outside because of the prevailing bad governance and economy.

"If I am not what I am, I would have left the country like others," he said.

Write to the persecuted today...now...in the next few moments

This is a great tool for writing letters to the persecuted from your terminal. Write today to Shabaz Kaka. Those imprisoned for their faith and ready to die for the glory of God - my...these are the seeds of the Church Triumphant and they deserve our prayers and sanctified attention.

They remind me of my favorite hymn:

 1.  For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
    Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
    Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
    Alleluia, Alleluia!

2.  Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
    Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
    Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
    Alleluia, Alleluia!

3.  O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
    Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
    And win with them the victor's crown of gold.
    Alleluia, Alleluia!

4.  And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
    Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
    And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
    Alleluia, Alleluia!

5.  But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
    The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
    The King of glory passes on His way.
    Alleluia, Alleluia! 

PBS on the "emerging church"

Emerging, or just this decade's fad?

Holiness and Social Cleansing

Great article in Christian History. Would that we could recover this kind of holiness movement:

For some critics, the term "holiness movement" has conjured images of navel-gazing holy rollers too interested in getting a spiritual thrill or (at most) saving souls to care about alleviating social distress. This caricature is simply not accurate. The movement's most enduring legacy is a nationwide network of missions to the socially and economically disadvantaged—primarily in inner-city neighborhoods.

Holiness leaders, like their eighteenth-century Methodist forebears, taught that sanctification does not stop in the individual heart, but must overflow into "social holiness." Just as cleansing from all sin could occur in this life (against the traditional view that it occurred after the soul left the body, to prepare the believer to stand before a holy God), the ideal of the perfect community was also for today—not to be pushed off into the hereafter...

(Phoebe) Palmer followed through on the social implications of holiness. For example, she was greatly moved by the poverty she encountered in New York. Believing that with wealth came social responsibility, Palmer dedicated a portion of her considerable family fortune to relief work. In the early 1840s, she began visiting and distributing tracts among the city's poor and ministering to the prisoners at the notorious jail known as the Tombs. From 1847 to 1858, Palmer served as corresponding secretary of the New York Female Assistance Society for the Relief and Instruction of the Sick Poor....

B. T. Roberts, founder of the Free Methodist Church, believed that the two most pressing reasons for making the mission to the poor central to the mission of the church were the teaching of Scripture and the example of Jesus. As Roberts noted, when John the Baptist inquired if Jesus were the Messiah, the Savior responded, "The blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them."

If Roberts turned to the example of Jesus to justify ministry to the poor, others looked to the logic of the Wesleyan doctrine of "holiness" or "perfect love." As Phoebe Palmer insisted, holiness made one a servant. A servant was one who was "entirely unselfish" and shared in Jesus' great work of suffering service to humanity. Catherine Booth, who shared Palmer's views, argued that the question of holiness—"how much like God can we can be?"—was the central question facing the church.

Evangelism - not!

Stupid, stupid, stupid:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A pastor says he was "just kidding" when he told airport security he had a bomb, reached into his luggage and pulled out a Bible, declaring, "This is my bomb."

Jose L. Gonzalez, a citizen of Spain living in Deltona, Fla., was arrested and charged Sunday with making a false statement.

The incident occurred as security screeners at the Nashville International Airport were searching his carry-on bag.

Interesting list

MinistryWatch.com Shining Lights "Top 30" List of Exemplary Ministries Released

Matt's latest AgapePress column

African aid? Let's not. It is hardly compassionate.

Let's not give any more money to Africa -- regardless of what our Live8 rock stars are saying and the guilt they are trying to lay on us at the current G8 summit. We will look scrooges in the eyes of the government-drunk of the world, but it will be the right thing to do.

The Message and the Messenger

“The message and the messenger cannot be separated. The proclamation and the proclaimer intertwine. There is a sense in which true preaching requires the message to be incarnated in the man. The great violinist, Yehudi Menuhin, was once asked the reason behind his genius. He offered a one-word explanation—surrender. The violinist surrenders to the violin. Thus, the preacher surrenders to the message. The delivery becomes the only thing in the world for him at that time. This sort of preaching, though prepared in the head, has, on delivery, to flow from the heart.” –from The Sacred Anointing: The Preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (p.121). Hat tip: LearntheBible.org

The Celebrity Gospel

Mark Creech says what needs to be said. And while it is a bit uncomfortable to see him going after Billy Graham and Joel Olsteen it needs to be said.

For instance, talk-show host Larry King, on CNN's Larry King Live, recently interviewed both men separately and in so many words asked them if they believed people of faith outside of Christ would go to heaven. Graham's answer: "That's in God's hands. I can't be the judge." Osteen responded: "Here's my thing .... I think it's wrong when you go around saying, you're saying you're not going, you're not going, you're not going, because it's not exactly my way." Both acknowledged their own faith in Christ, but wouldn't clearly delineate that there is only one mediator of salvation between God and man -- Jesus Christ (I Timothy. 2:5).

When King asked Graham and Osteen about involvement by preachers in politics, both expressed their own reluctance to do it. Graham said, "I'm trying to stay out of politics. And I've been queried quite a bit lately, why I don't take a stand on certain issues." Later in the same interview, King asked Graham whether he believed people were born homosexuals or not. Graham would only say, "Well, that's a big debate." King then pressed the issue and asked, "But if it's not a choice, it can't be a sin. Right?" To which Graham replied, "Well maybe. God will make that judgment, not me. I'm not deciding who's a sinner and who is not." When Osteen was asked by King about issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, he said he believed same-sex marriage was not what God intended, neither was abortion the best, but he wasn't going to call anyone a sinner. He added he doesn't even use the word "sinner."

Compassion is necessary

Compassion is necessary, we can all admit. But what if giving money actually hurt someone. Or hurt a country. Or hurt a continent.

The Kenyan economics expert James Shikwati, 35, says that aid to Africa does more harm than good. The avid proponent of globalization spoke with SPIEGEL about the disastrous effects of Western development policy in Africa, corrupt rulers, and the tendency to overstate the AIDS problem.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Shikwati, the G8 summit at Gleneagles is about to beef up the development aid for Africa...

Shikwati: ... for God's sake, please just stop.

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor. More

Read the whole article. My, is it enlightening. And, of course, it is also what we all know in our heart of hearts.

Matt's latest AgapePress column

What if they muddying of the waters is the fault of (gasp) the Church? What if the Supreme Court and the constitutional scholars and the various levels of government and the business community and law enforcement and the educational establishment and the arts community and ... well, every institution, culture and people group that make up a collective "culture" ... lack moral clarity because of an anemic, inward-bound, self-aggrandizing Church that is confused about the verity of its Scripture, the tenets of its faith, the purpose of its existence, the priestly service it is called to exercise and the impact it is to have on contemporary life?

If Murchison is right and the culture is to blame, then who is at fault for the culture?

A Church that wants the Ten Commandments freely displayed on public grounds should perhaps also be a Church that has those imperatives written across her heart and memory and, more to the point, her practice.

My hunch? Not ten percent of those who think the Ten Commandments belong in the public square could name all ten. Could we be contending for something we do not know and which we hardly apply? More