News & Comment - Fall 2004
"A Very Different Convention" by John Caldwell in the Christian Standard, 9-26-04.
John says:
When the North American Christian Convention began it was largely in response to the liberalism that had infected the Restoration Movement. The battles over open membership, higher criticism, and the authority of Scripture have long since been fought.
Kent comments:
Maybe I’m misreading this, but it sounds like John thinks these "battles" are over. I’m not sure what "Restoration Movement" he’s talking about, but the one I know is still filled with these kinds of battles.
Sometimes they are covert battles. Sometimes great effort is used to try to make it appear that these battles do not exist. But they’re still going on, and on, and on, at least in the places I watch and live.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/282004h.asp
...The Internal Revenue Service has informed churches that there are certain things for which they are not allowed to pray. The "Prayer for Life 2004 Rally" has been touring swing states this past week, conducting prayer services for the upcoming election. As a courtesy, rally organizers asked the IRS for clarification of free speech in churches. Yesterday, Pat Mahoney got an answer. "The IRS has ruled that churches may not pray that God grant the president four more years," he reports. Such a prayer, the federal agency says, would be a violation of the federal tax code. The ruling upset Mahoney, who heads the Christian Defense Coalition. "This is nothing more than censorship," he says. But Mahoney explains there is much more involved: "The IRS and the federal government are not only telling pastors what they can say behind the pulpit, but now they are dictating how pastors [and] congregations should pray." According to Mahoney, this development should scare every Evangelical in the nation. Churches, he says, should be allowed to pray "according to the teachings of scripture and the dictates of their conscience without government intimidation or harassment" -- regardless of the candidate for whom parishioners are praying.
Kent comments:
You had to know the time was coming when the government would try to tell how they can and can’t pray, not just at city hall, not just at the government’s school, but at church meetings. Here we are in 1984 but it’s the Year of Our Lord (am I allowed to say that now?) 2004. We’re just twenty years late, but better late than never.
So here’s my plan - the IRS has ruled that churches my not pray that God
grant the president four more years. Supposing you want a particular president
to serve longer, why not pray now that God grant the President TWO more years.
Then later, at mid-term - assuming you haven’t changed you mind - pray for two
more years. Everyone’s happy!
In an update to this story:
(http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/32004h.asp)
...There is some disagreement over whether the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has really decided that public church prayer for one candidate to win an election violates tax-exemption guidelines. Robert Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State says the claims that the IRS is telling churches how to pray are completely false. He says, "The report that the IRS had told churches not to pray for the victory of George Bush or John Kerry was erroneous. There's no such letter from the IRS. There's no such directive." Boston contends that when Christian activist Pat Mahoney announced the IRS response to his own letter, the religious leader "made some claims that later turned out not to really be accurate, and the IRS has denied that it has taken an action like this." Mahoney alleges he asked the IRS to clarify prayer in churches and did get a letter in response but found it unclear. So the Christian activist says his attorney, Jim Henderson of the American Center for Law and Justice, called the IRS for verbal clarification. Mahoney says the IRS told Henderson that "if Rev. Mahoney prayed that God grant George Bush four more years, that that would be considered electioneering and politicking, and [would] violate IRS code."
Kent comments:
I suppose we have to let the lawyers figure this one out. Should this accurately reflect the IRS position, I have something I want the IRS to clarify. If "Rev. Mahoney" now - after the election - prays that same prayer, would it still violate IRS code? I am assuming now that he is not praying for a third, and thus unconstitutional third term, but rather, just a post-facto prayer for the current "four more years."
From Associated Press via Agape Press, October 4, 2004
...Episcopalians who want to attend a church conference next week in Savannah, Georgia, will be asked to sign a statement of faith -- a requirement some find objectionable. Before entering the conference, participants will have to pledge that they accept "unchanging Biblical revelation," the sanctity of life "from conception to natural death" and abstinence except for the intimacy between a husband and wife. But some Episcopal clergymen say that's more than they can pledge. One Georgia pastor says he doesn't want "to tell other people how to live." The conference of Biblically orthodox Episcopalians is titled "Reclaiming the Faith, Rebuilding the House of God."
Kent comments:
So the "Georgia pastor" doesn’t want to "tell people how to live." What does he want to tell them? Let’s see - he’s a "some Episcopal clergymen." Perhaps he wants to tell people that they should all pair up for some same-sex "marriages." Or maybe he just wants to tell them to start buying that "fair trade" chocolate.
Perhaps you remember back when good old Howard Dean was still running for the presidential nomination. I miss Howard the candidate, because he was fun. At one point he "got religion" - as most political candidates seem to do. The following was reported in Christianity Today. It picks up with Howard Dean speaking:
"If you know much about the Bible—which I do—to see and be in the place where Christ was and understand the intimate history of what was going on 2,000 years ago is an exceptional experience," he said.
Responding to this comment, along with earlier statements that Dean has read the Bible cover to cover, a reporter asked the candidate what his favorite book from the New Testament is. He answered by citing Job, a book from the Old Testament.
"But I don't like the way it ends," he said. "Some would argue, you know, in some of the books of the New Testament, the ending of the Book of Job is different. … I think, if I'm not mistaken, there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later.
If you know much about the Bible - which Howard Dean definitely does . . .
I have a whole sermon which purports to convince the listener that it is proper and necessary to mix politics and religion. But here we see utterly convincing evidence that we should never, never, never mix politicians with religion. Do you suppose any politicians in the Middle East work this kind of "magic" on the Koran?
from the Community Free Press
TAYLOR: Death is result of debate about God
October 28, 2004
BY JOEL THURTELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A Taylor police dispatcher took the call at precisely 12:44 p.m. on Oct. 18. A 49-year-old man said he'd just blasted a man with a revolver and a shotgun because the man said he didn't believe in God.
The dispatcher said the alleged shooter told him he'd just shot "the devil himself" and was still armed and standing over the body of the 62-year-old victim "in case he moved." "I want to make sure he's gone," the alleged shooter told the dispatcher.
The dispatcher asked the suspect how many times he shot the victim. "Hopefully enough," was the suspect's chilling reply, according to the dispatcher.
When police arrived in the 15600 block of McGuire, they could see the victim seated on a living room couch with major trauma to his head, officers said.
On the way to the police station, the suspect told police "he did not want to deal with anyone that did not believe in God," according to the report.
The suspect said the victim had told him there was nothing he could say that would convince the 62-year-old to believe in God. Following this discussion, the suspect said, he went into another room and removed his shirt. Then he shaved his face. He tried once more to convince the victim to believe in God, but this time, he had the shotgun.
"How long would it take you to believe in God?" the suspect said he asked the victim. "Not until I hear Gabriel blow his horn," the victim allegedly replied, while tipping his hat. That's when the suspect shot him.
"I did it because he is evil; he was not a believer," the suspect told police.
At the police station, the suspect commented that he believed there is a God. Then, looking at the floor, he seemed to have second thoughts: "Maybe there's not," he said.
Kent comments:
While it didn't quite work in this particular case, "shotgun evangelism" could be a whole new approach to making disciples - and getting them quickly into the presence of God before they can "fall away." It could be the only way to get through to some of the more reluctant postmodernists!
The Holy Observer Newsletter: September 15, 2004
In this issue [go there now]:
CBS News
Claims Documents Disprove Christ's Resurrection
Authenticity of Purported Memoirs
of Thomas the Disciple Under Fierce Attack
NEW YORK – In yet another bold display of investigative journalism, CBS News has
used anchorman Dan Rather and its 60 Minutes program to break a story about a
document discovery they say disproves the Biblical account of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Kent comments:
This publication has a very irregular schedule, but it makes up for that by being loads of fun. I especially liked this article. I wanted to introduce it to Club members. And, believe it or not, that's all I have to say about it!