Monday’s with Melito of Sardis
For more of Melito click here.
What more can I add here?
Components of the Mystery of the Passover (46-71)
1. The Passover (46-47a)
46. Now that you have heard the explanation of the type and of that which corresponds to it, hear also what goes into making up the mystery. What is the passover? Indeed its name is derived from that event–”to celebrate the passover” (to paschein) is derived from “to suffer” (tou pathein). Therefore, learn who the sufferer is and who he is who suffers along with the sufferer.
47. Why indeed was the Lord present upon the earth? In order that having clothed himself with the one who suffers, he might lift him up to the heights of heaven[1].
2. The Creation and Fall of Man (47b-48)
In the beginning, when God made heaven and earth, and everything in them through his word, he himself formed man from the earth and shared with that form his own breath, he himself placed him in paradise, which was eastward in Eden, and there they lived most luxuriously.
Then by way of command God gave them this law: For your food you may eat from any tree, but you are not to eat from the tree of the one who knows good and evil. For on the day you eat from it, you most certainly will die.
48. But man, who is by nature capable of receiving good and evil as soil of the earth is capable of receiving seeds from both sides, welcomed the hostile and greedy counselor, and by having touched that tree transgressed the command, and disobeyed God. As a consequence, he was cast out into this world as a condemned man is cast into prison.
3. Consequences of the Fall (49-56)
49. And when he had fathered many children, and had grown very old, and had returned to the earth through having tasted of the tree, an inheritance was left behind by him for his children. Indeed, he left his children an inheritance–not of chastity but of unchastity, not of immortality but of corruptibility, not of honor but of dishonor, not of freedom but of slavery, not of sovereignty but of tyranny, not of life but of death, not of salvation but of destruction.
50. Extraordinary and terrifying indeed was the destruction of men upon the earth. For the following things happened to them: They were carried off as slaves by sin, the tyrant, and were led away into the regions of desire where they were totally engulfed by insatiable sensual pleasures–by adultery, by unchastity, by debauchery, by inordinate desires, by avarice, by murders, by bloodshed, by the tyranny of wickedness, by the tyranny of lawlessness.
51. For even a father of his own accord lifted up a dagger against his son; and a son used his hands against his father; and the impious person smote the breasts that nourished him; and brother murdered brother; and host wronged his guest; and friend assassinated friend; and one man cut the throat of another with his tyrannous right hand.
52. Therefore all men on the earth became either murderers, or parricides, or killers of their children. And yet a thing still more dreadful and extraordinary was to be found: A mother attacked the flesh which she gave birth to, a mother attacked those whom her breasts had nourished; and she buried in her belly the fruit of her belly. Indeed, the ill-starred mother became a dreadful tomb, when she devoured the child which she bore in her womb.
53. But in addition to this there were to be found among men many things still more monstrous and terrifying and brutal: father cohabits with his child, and son and with his mother, and brother with sister, and male with male, and each man lusting after the wife of his neighbor.
54. Because of these things sin exulted, which, because it was death’s collaborator, entered first into the souls of men, and prepared as food for him the bodies of the dead. In every soul sin left its mark, and those in whom it placed its mark were destined to die.
55. Therefore, all flesh fell under the power of sin, and every body under the dominion of death, for every soul was driven out from its house of flesh. Indeed, that which had been taken from the earth was dissolved again into earth, and that which had been given from God was locked up in Hades. And that beautiful ordered arrangement was dissolved, when the beautiful body was separated (from the soul).
56. Yes, man was divided up into parts by death. Yes, an extraordinary misfortune and captivity enveloped him: he was dragged away captive under the shadow of death, and the image of the Father remained there desolate. For this reason, therefore, the mystery of the passover has been completed in the body of the Lord.
[1] Here is not a vision of the Trinity, but the Lord of the Passover, God our Father. See 56
Seeking the living among the dead…the new Outreach.
That’s right…the commission of the Church is to raise the dead…
What pit of hell do they pull this from?
Gregory Nazianzen on Doctrinal Development
Many of the readers of this blog know that I disagree with the idea that Doctrine has developed over time. My basis for this belief is that idea that many times the New Testament writers spoke about the Faith that was once for all delivered unto the Saints. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, we read that the new Christians continued steadfastly in the doctrine of the Apostles. If the Church is to continue in the Doctrine of the Apostles then that Doctrine must not change. You might call it Doctrinal Procession or Development, but I do not see a scriptural basis for it.
This week, while reading Early Christian Doctrines I came across a que to a thought by Gregory of Nazianzus. So, I went searching for it, in hopes of finding something biblical about it. This is the quote:
XXVI. To this I may compare the case of Theology3733 except that it proceeds the reverse way. For in the case by which I have illustrated it the change is made by successive subtractions; whereas here perfection is reached by additions. For the matter stands thus. The Old Testament proclaimed the Father openly, and the Son more obscurely. The New manifested the Son, and suggested the Deity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit Himself dwells among us, and supplies us with a clearer demonstration of Himself. For it was not safe, when the Godhead of the Father was not yet acknowledged, plainly to proclaim the Son; nor when that of the Son was not yet received to burden us further (if I may use so bold an expression) with the Holy Ghost; lest perhaps people might, like men loaded with food beyond their strength, and presenting eyes as yet too weak to bear it to the sun’s light, risk the loss even of that which was within the reach of their powers; but that by gradual additions, and, as David says, Goings up, and advances and progress from glory to glory,3734 the Light of the Trinity might shine upon the more illuminated. For this reason it was, I think, that He gradually came to dwell in the Disciples, measuring Himself out to them according to their capacity to receive Him, at the beginning of the Gospel, after the Passion, after the Ascension, making perfect their powers, being breathed upon them, and appearing in fiery tongues. And indeed it is by little and little that He is declared by Jesus, as you will learn for yourself if you will read more carefully. I will ask the Father, He says, and He will send you another Comforter, even the spirit of Truth.3735 This He said that He might not seem to be a rival God, or to make His discourses to them by another authority. Again, He shall send Him, but it is in My Name. He leaves out the I will ask, but He keeps the Shall send,3736 then again, I will send,—His own dignity. Then shall come,3737the authority of the Spirit.
Theology, the translator tells us, is restrict to the Doctrine of the Deity of the Son. We can accept that. Gregory’s use of Father does not equal the use by the Jews, the Apostles, the Apostolic or the early Church Fathers. For them, Father was the principle, the source of Creation. The Son is proclaimed not as Son, but as Messiah, as the Hope of Israel.
The problem with Gregory’s analysis of the Old and the New and the Now (Father, Son, Spirit) is that it only provides Inspiration for the two. We are the base our doctrine on the Scriptures. If this is the case, then we have no real scriptures pointing to the deity of the Spirit and thus, no justification of the third person of the Trinity.
There is of course problem with the ‘gradual’ indwelling of the Apostles by the Spirit. There is no scriptural evidence for that. Christ did not give the Spirit measured in John 20.
Well, I don’t want to disect him too much, but I would rather stick with Chrysostom
Sirach 1.1-8 Wisdom’s Beginning
I have written several posts on Sirach, sections that I have found useful, interesting, and intriguing, and in doing so, I have come to a greater appreciation for the Inspiration of this book. Inspiration - the thought that the author penned it, but it was the Divine Author that actually wrote it. Surely, I am not the only one that has seen a measure of inspiration in the words of Sirach, as we know that the ancient Rabbi’s used it as well as many of the Church Fathers.
Beginning with this post, I am going to attempt a commentary on Sirach for examination and proof of Inspiration.
Below you will see the addition of several alternate verses which are found in a different Greek recension of Sirach that used by the KJV and RSV. I include these because they are highly valuable, and unfortunately, the level of Textual Criticism that is often applied to the rest of the Bible has not yet reached a sound scientific basis for many of the books of the Deuterocanon. I will discuss the alternate verse as a stand alone verse in the passage.
This is not designed as the final word on Sirach, but to open up doorways for thinking by Fundamentals on Sirach, and fellow Economists/Emanationists (oneness) believers on the Wisdom passages of the Old Testament and the Deuterocanon. I always encourage discussion on these posts, and indeed, all posts.
Sirach 1:1-8
(1) All Wisdom comes from the Lord and is with him for ever.
Ben Sira uses Wisdom not to encompass pure knowledge, but his view is clearly religious in nature, as would be natural for him. By itself, this verse is hardly impressive, however, by undertaking the rest of the passage first, we see that this Wisdom is an emanation from the Lord. (Wisdom 1.26, Hebrews 1.3).
(2) Who can count the sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity?
(3) Who can search them out the height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the abyss, and wisdom?
(4) Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity.
The verse is a prologue to John’s Logos passage, when in the beginning was the Word. It also looks back to Proverbs 8, the basis of understanding the Jewish view of Wisdom.
“I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding, I have strength. By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, All the judges of the earth. I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me, Enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, And my revenue than choice silver. I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth, That I may fill their treasuries. “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. (Proverbs 8:12-22 NKJV)
Sirach connects to the the Logos of John and the Wisdom of Proverbs as well as the Emanation of Wisdom 7.26. This is not difficult to justify from the Economist/Emanationist standpoint. The Divine is not without His Wisdom or His Word, and thus not alone; however, the Wisdom and Word are divine persons, but attributes and emanations. Wisdom is God Thinking whereas Word is God Active.
And alternate verse here, which is highly Christological, reads
(4a) Wisdom’s spring is God’s word in the highest, and her journeys are everlasting commandments.
This verse is attested to in the Syriac as well as the Latin,
Fons sapientiae verbum Dei in excelsis, et ingressus illius mandata aeterna. - Nova Vulgata
The Logos is seen here as the spring of Sophia, the source. In ancient times, Wisdom is associated with the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God is seen as emanating from the Son. In John 14 and 16, we read of the spirit of Truth that will come from the Father as well as coming from the Son. This is God speaking His wisdom to dwell among flesh as the gift of the holy Spirit.
This verse is important to the Church, as we cannot fail to be reminded that the Apostle called Christ the Wisdom of God. (cf Luke 7.35 and 1st Corinthians 1.24)
(5) To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed? Who knows her great deeds?
The Greek word ‘Sophia’ is feminine, causing most translators to make the pronoun feminine as well; however, this should not the reader’s mind nor single Wisdom as female. Many would assume that Wisdom is the the Jewish version of Isis, the Egyptian goddess; however, even in Proverbs, Wisdom is usually translated as feminine.
(6) There is One who is wise, greatly to be feared, sitting upon his throne.
This (6) verse is left out of some ancient MSS. One theory is that it was removed by the Jews sometime after the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135. The Rabbi’s, seeking to save Judaism, began removing certain passages from the LXX (cf Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho) in hopes of reducing the Christology of the Old Testament.
(7) The Lord himself created wisdom; he saw her and numbered her, he poured her out upon all his works.
(8) She dwells in the midst of all flesh according to his gift, and he supplied her to those who love him.
This calls to mind John 3.16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 NKJV)
And alternate verse here reads,
(8a) Loving the Lord is esteemed wisdom, but to whomever He appears, He apportions her as a vision of Himself.
Again we turn to Paul’s writing, when he calls Christ the Image of God.
Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. (2 Corinthians 4:4 NKJV)
And to John,
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:7-11 NKJV)
TIME: Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess
It is my, or does J. Lee Grady pop up in all manner of areas…politics, religion, economics…
via Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess - TIME.
Has the so-called Prosperity gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That’s what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of Pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California at Riverside, he realized that Prosperity’s central promise — that God will “make a way” for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, dangerous expression during the subprime-lending boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe “God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house.” The results, he says, “were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers.”
Others think he may be right. Says Anthea Butler, an expert in Pentecostalism at the University of Rochester in New York: “The pastor’s not gonna say, ‘Go down to Wachovia and get a loan,’ but I have heard, ‘Even if you have a poor credit rating, God can still bless you — if you put some faith out there [that is, make a big donation to the church], you’ll get that house or that car or that apartment.’ ” Adds J. Lee Grady, editor of the magazine Charisma: “It definitely goes on, that a preacher might say, ‘If you give this offering, God will give you a house.’ And if they did get the house, people did think that it was an answer to prayer, when in fact it was really bad banking policy.” If so, the situation offers a look at how a native-born faith built partially on American economic optimism entered into a toxic symbiosis with a pathological market.
Although a type of Pentecostalism, Prosperity theology adds a distinctive layer of supernatural positive thinking. Adherents will reap rewards if they prove their faith to God by contributing heavily to their churches, remaining mentally and verbally upbeat and concentrating on divine promises of worldly bounty supposedly strewn throughout the Bible. Critics call it a thinly disguised pastor-enrichment scam. Other experts, like Walton, note that for all its faults, the theology can empower people who have been taught to see themselves as financially or even culturally useless to feel they are “worthy of having more and doing more and being more.” In some cases the philosophy has matured with its practitioners, encouraging good financial habits and entrepreneurship.
But Walton suggests that a decade’s worth of ever easier credit acted like a drug in Prosperity’s bloodstream. “The economic boom ’90s and financial overextensions of the new millennium contributed to the success of the Prosperity message,” he wrote recently on his personal blog as well as on the website Religion Dispatches. And not positively. “Narratives of how ‘God blessed me with my first house despite my credit’ were common. Sermons declaring ‘It’s your season to overflow’ supplanted messages of economic sobriety,” and “little attention was paid to … the dangers of using one’s home equity as an ATM to subsidize cars, clothes and vacations.”
With the bubble burst, Walton and Butler assume that Prosperity congregants have taken a disproportionate hit, and they are curious as to how their churches will respond. Butler thinks some of the flashier ministries will shrink along with their congregants’ fortunes. Says Walton: “You would think that the current economic conditions would undercut their theology.” But he predicts they will persevere, since God’s earthly largesse is just as attractive when one is behind the economic eight ball.
A recent publicly posted testimony by a congregant at the Brownsville Assembly of God, near Pensacola, Fla., seems to confirm his intuition. Brownsville is not even a classic Prosperity congregation — it relies more on the anointing of its pastors than on Scriptural promises of God. But the believer’s note to his minister illustrates how magical thinking can prevail even after the mortgage blade has dropped. “Last Sunday,” it read, “You said if anyone needed a miracle to come up. So I did. I was receiving foreclosure papers, so I asked you to anoint a picture of my home and you did and your wife joined with you in prayer as I cried. I went home feeling something good was going to happen. On Friday the 5th of September I got a phone call from my mortgage company and they came up with a new payment for the next 3 months of only $200. My mortgage is usually $1,020. Praise God for his Mercy & Grace.”
And pray that the credit market doesn’t tighten any further.
It’s that day before Monday
Is that what today is? Is it the last day of the weekend for you? That dreaded day fore the start of a new work week?
I hope not.
Today is Sunday. Today is the day that has historically been recognized as the day when the Church meets to worship her Lord and God.
Hope to see you there.
I was unable to post some of the articles that I wanted to last week, so I will try again this week. I will complete Cyprian’s treatise on Church unity. Why? I guess I could just post a link or two, but frankly, I read it as I post it and even make some annotations. I would like to move into posting some of Tertullian’s work on modesty, but I have a feeling that that will not be until next week. Of course, Monday is Melito of Sardis’s day. And I still have a post from the Bible that is rarely read.
And of course posting information that I am sure will no doubt get me some nasty comments.
Seems that Joel’s Army is a big deal to many people. I grant them that it is found in the Bible, but not in the way that they see it.
So, what are you doing today? Sleeping in? Thinking about skipping service this morning? Why? Look, honestly speaking, we go to service somethign like 2 times a week for one day. Will these services actually kill you? Do they take up you time too much? Nah, not really. I mean, afterall, if your priorities are in order, God comes before you and the things of His house before yours. Right?
Well, I hope that you spend this day in true praise of the Living God.
5 new temples planned, LDS conference reveals (And in Rome of All Places)
Do you think that Monson will also announce that Mormonism has no historical basis and the temples are as empty as the high places of the Canaanites? I wonder how the Catholics are going to handle the Roman Temple? I might just be cheering the Pope on, on this one. Let’s pray for those that are lost under the spirit of Mormonism that they may come to stand on the firm foundation that is the Church.
via 5 new temples planned, LDS conference reveals - Los Angeles Times.
SALT LAKE CITY — Mormon church president Thomas S. Monson said today the church has plans to build five new temples worldwide, three abroad and two in the United States.The temples are planned for Calgary, Canada; Cordoba, Argentina; Rome, Italy; Philadelphia and in the greater Kansas City, Mo. area.
Monson’s announcement came as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opened its two-day semiannual General Conference. The event draws more than 100,000 to the faith’s downtown campus which includes the Salt Lake City Temple and the Salt Lake City Tabernacle, home of the renowned Tabernacle Choir.The 13 million-member Utah-based church currently has 128 operating temples worldwide. Construction or plans for another 12 was already in the works before Saturday’s announcement.
Monson has dedicated three temples — in Curitiba, Brazil; Panama City, Panama; and Twin Falls, Idaho — since he was named the 16th church president in February.
Temples play an important role in the lives of Latter-day Saints. Only members in good standing may enter the towering white buildings, where members perform sacred religious ceremonies, including proxy baptisms and wedding ceremonies known as sealings.Worldwide temple building is a legacy from 15th church president Gordon B. Hinckley, who began the effort so that members of the church outside the United States could more easily access the buildings to perform their religious rituals.
The locations selected for new temples reflect the growth of the church.
The Rome temple will be the church’s first in Italy and the twelfth in Europe. The Calgary temple will increase the number of temples in Canada to eight. The Cordoba temple will be the second Argentina and bring the total number of temples in Latin America to 34. There are 51 temples in the United States, according to a data on a church Web site.
Architecturally, temples are towering white buildings with tall steeples. Many are topped with a trumpet-blowing golden angel draped in flowing robes. The figure represents the angel Moroni, whom Mormons believe led church founder Joseph Smith to a set of buried golden plates that, when translated, became known as the Book of Mormon, the faith’s central text.
Messianic Jews promote Ethiopian aliya
Messianic Jews promote Ethiopian aliya.
Under Operation Tikva, through which thousands of people in Ethiopia are provided with clean water, money for food and educational services, they are also reminded often that they are Jews and that the people of Israel are waiting for them.
Earliest Reference to Christ Found: Discovery News
Earliest Reference to Christ Found: Discovery News.
I am sure that we will soon see another documentary from those great folks who brought us the ‘Tomb of Jesus’. Seems that the one thing that the Discovery Channel has not yet discovered is decency.
A team of scientists led by renowned French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio recently announced that they have found a bowl, dating to between the late 2nd century B.C. and the early 1st century A.D., that, according to an expert epigrapher, could be engraved with the world’s first known reference to Christ.
If the word “Christ” refers to the Biblical Jesus Christ, as is speculated, then the discovery may provide evidence that Christianity and paganism at times intertwined in the ancient world.
The full engraving on the bowl reads, “DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS,” which has been interpreted by French epigrapher and professor emeritus Andre Bernand as meaning either, “by Christ the magician” or “the magician by Christ.”
“It could very well be a reference to Jesus Christ, in that he was once the primary exponent of white magic,” Goddio, co-founder of the Oxford Center of Maritime Archaeology, said.
Here is the main problem - THIS IS NOT THE EARLIEST REFERENCE TO JESUS CHRIST. The Earliest reference is found in the Gospels. This is not a reference to Jesus Christ, not of the bible. Well, I guess I put the Discovery Channel up there with FoxNews now, on the do not watch list.
The ultimate conspiracy theory « woman on the edge of reality
via The ultimate conspiracy theory « woman on the edge of reality.
Let’s see if we can bring this nice lady back from the edge, shall we? She writes,
The conversation began with a question about how much of the bible is true and of course I replied that the Christian bible as we know it, was ‘created’ (for want of a better term) by the council of Rome in AD 382, when it was determined which of the available books of the Jewish Old Testament and those of the possible New Testament were to be included as the final version of the ‘written word of God’ …. see what I mean by conspiracy? Remember the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Although the Council of Rome did set out a canonical list, those lists have been long established and modified since at least the late 2nd Century, at least in writing. We know that the early Christian writers employed a set core of books, even back to Ignatius. 1st Clement will give you an essential canonical usage list if you are willing to look. As a matter of fact the Pauline Corpus provides us a pretty firm hold on the OT canon that he would have used.
The idea that at some point the Catholic Church ‘invented’ the bible is absurd and far from reality. Granted, Ignatius and blessed Polycarp did not have the fine editions that we have now, but they had the core books, including some of the the Deuterocanon. (Tobit, Sirach, and Wisdom come to mind). This is the problem with conspiracy theories - rarely are they based on complete facts.
She comments,
We then moved onto why Christianity …. and of course, I had yet another answer! Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire when Constantine decided that a good way to unify a disparate grouping of people would be to have a single religion that all were to believe in. At the time, another potential rival to Christianity for this honour was Mithraism, a cult that was widespread throughout the Roman empire because of it’s links to the legions.
From Wikipedia,
Evaluation of the relationship of early Christianity with Mithraism has traditionally been based on the polemical testimonies of the 2nd century Church fathers, such as Justin’s accusations that the Mithraists were diabolically imitating the Christians. This led to a picture of rivalry between the two religions, which Ernest Renan set forth in his 1882 The Origins of Christianity by saying “if the growth of Christianity had been arrested by some mortal malady, the world would have been Mithraic,” Although as remarked above, little was actually known about Mithras in 1882.
The Prophet Haggai speaks to us from across the centuries when he calls Christ the ‘desire of the nations’.
And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. (Haggai 2:7 KJVA)
There is no need to dismiss the constant similarities between Christianity and Paganism, as we know that from time memorial, the adversary has used a little Truth and leavened it to great poison. Mithraism does bare some similiar traits to Christianity because, as Justin Martyr said, they borrowed and abused the Faith. Only the mind that sees tok destroy Christianity would first assume that Christianity is the ‘borrowed’ religion.
Concerning Constantine, the author is correct. He did institutionalize Christianity, but by then it had grown across the Empire. Of course, I would rather debate whether or not the Christianity that he put in place was the Christianity of the Bible.
She then comments,
Of course, the easiest way to spread a religious doctrine is to incorporate the ‘local traditions’ and so we end up with such things as 25th December being the date of birth of Jesus Christ - when it was originally the date of ‘birth’ of Mithras, close to the winter solstice (a powerful time in the pagan calendar), and also close to the Saturnalia and the date of the Deus Sol Invictus - both ancient Roman/pagan celebrations.
She should first discover the controversy over Nisen 14. The idea that Christianity as a whole set this date (December 25th) as the date of celebration is misguided at best, intellectually dishonest at worse. She mentions these grand conspiracy theories and yet is herself a product of one. Sin is the greatest conspiracy to darken the mind.
The U.S. is not now and never has been a “Christian” nation
I am sure that this might anger some of my readers, however, it is the truth. While the many of the men and women who fought for this country belonged to groups that professed Christianity, it does not make this a Christian nation. Revisionist History is popular, and powerful, however, it must be avoided for the facts. People have made an idol out of this country, her flag, her government, and her history, finding in it some sort of extra-biblical status. I personally do not see an error in viewing one’s country favorably; however, when you stand and proclaim that the very country that began as a rebellion against a God appointed King (Romans 13) and has continued to export her drugs (Revelations 17/18) as being the people of God, then you stand in error of idolatry.
There are many zealous evangelical leaders in the U.S. who proclaim America was founded on Christianity and that their faith alone should determine the way the government runs — on “Christian principles.”
But these high-profile evangelical Christian leaders are wrong, even though many of their followers don’t know it. Last year the First Amendment Center released a poll showing 55 per cent of Americans believe the U.S. was founded as a Christian Nation and that Christianity is embedded in the U.S. constitution. During election campaigns, such people get riled about Muslims (especially), as well as Jews, Buddhists and atheists, and act as if they should just be uncomplaining guests in the country.
This U.S. attitude, thankfully, only rises up occasionally in Canada.
First reality check. Americans who claim the United States’ “Founding Fathers” were all devout Christians are incorrect.
The actual history is spelled out in a thoughtful book,The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. It’s written by historian of American religion David L. Holmes, who teaches at College of William and Mary.
The main thesis of Holmes book is that the U.S. Founding Fathers fell into three religious categories.
The smallest group of founders who had left their Judeo-Christian heritages and become advocates of the Enlightenment religion of nature and reason called “Deism“. These figures included Thomas Paine (above) and Ethan Allen. Deists believe in God, but not in salvation through Jesus.
The second largest group consisted of the founders who remained practicing Christians. They believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ and adhered to the teachings of their denomination. These founders included Samuel Adams.
The largest group, Holmes declares, consisted of founders who retained Christian loyalties and practice but were influenced by Deism. They believed in little or none of the miracles and supernaturalism inherent in the Christian tradition. Holmes finds a spectrum of such Deistic Christians among the founders, ranging from John Adams and George Washington on the conservative right to Benjamin Franklin (below) and James Monroe on the skeptical left.
Which brings us to the present, where traditionalist Christian commitment remains strong in the U.S. But it’s hardly dominant.
Polling by the respected Pew Forum has found 78 per cent of Americans are, indeed, affiliated with Christianity. But one out of four of these “Christians” say they never attend church. The Americans who say they’re not Christians are people such as Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, the unaffiliated and atheists.
In addition, a whopping 70 per cent of Americans told Pew that they agree that many religions can lead to eternal life. This figure even holds up strongly among white evangelicals, whose leaders are the most likely to say Jesus is the only route to salvation, that the U.S. is a “Christian nation” and that it should be run as such. Despite what American evangelicals are told, 57 per cent of U.S. evangelicals agree “many religions can lead to eternal life.” That’s a major disconnect between preacher and pew.
Altogether this is enough evidence for me that it’s time for these power-seeking U.S. evangelical leaders to put an end to their misleading cries for the nation to be run as if Christianity, particularly their version of Christianity, should reign supreme in the land.
Praying for Sarah Palin - Making of an American Idol
Let me start off by saying that I admire Steve Hickey’s tough stance on abortion and indeed, he has provided me with some really great insight on the fight in South Dakota as well as solidified my own pro-life views; however, we have disagree before. His undying support of the sanctity of life is mired by his equal support of false prophets like Todd Bentley and Lou Engle.
Now he has taken up the mantle of Sarah Palin, and like most on the Christian Wrong, has made her into a modern day Esther or Deborah. (I find it ironic that Deborah’s general was named Barack.) He relates to us a statement from Lou Engle,
As you know, for years we have stood in prayer for the ending of abortion. Tuesday night a key friend of mine received this dream:
I had a very short dream, yet it is an exhortation to pray for the vice presidential debate this Thursday evening. In the dream, I was reading Friday’s paper (the day after the debate). There were two papers. One said, “Palin hits a home run,” while the second said, “Palin strikes out.” As I was looking at those two papers, I found myself back at the debate and saw the darkness and powers surrounding the event. Great darkness had been assigned to the debate, and the church was not seeing it nor taking it soberly.Would you pray with thousands of others today and during the debate tonight for God’s supernatural hand to attend this profound Esther moment? Thank you!
The issue here is that Lou Engle, the founder of ‘The Call’ and leader of ‘Joel’s Army’ is a false prophet, attempting to establish the Kingdom of God on earth bu taking over the churches. He leads people like the adulterous drunkard Todd Bentley, the ‘Third Heaven’ Patricia King and the new mystic, John Crowder. These are all false prophets, attempting to lead, and in many cases, succeeding, souls into open rebellion against God.
An Esther moment? You do realize the reality that this statement produces, right? First, Esther and Deborah led God’s people and delivered them through a tough time. They did not lead those that knew not God, but only served God’s people. Now, if we apply this ‘mantle’ to Sarah Palin, then we have to apply the mantle of God’s people to the entire country. Is that logic biblical? And where was this language when Geraldine Ferraro ran in 1984 and Hillary Clinton this Election cycle? And isn’t this the same type of language that was used on George W. Bush in 2000? And exactly how has that worked out for us?
Seriously, people need to wake up and realize that the United States of America is not the Church - not Israel. Sarah Palin is closer to the Anti-christ than she is to Deborah or Esther.
Again, I like Pastor Steve’s undying fight against Abortion and he should be applauded for that fight. He brings the fight home and demands that we stand with the children, a sure Christian position; yet, Pastor Steve, please leave the politics out of it.
UPDATE - In a move sure to keep more people in the dark about the false prophets, he has limited my ability to respond. I guess he likes the idea of suppressing the Truth.
Students Protest Rejection of Christian Books on Homosexuality
via Students Protest Rejection of Christian Books on Homosexuality - News Story - WRC | Washington.
The students said they are asking that their viewpoint gets the chance to sit on bookshelves and be read.Dozens of students from throughout Fairfax County gathered at West Springfield High School. They said that they tried to donate books that promote an evangelical Christian perspective on homosexuality to their schools but were turned away.A schools spokesman said the books were rejected because of school system regulations. Among other things, the books were not age appropriate and there were no reviews of the books.”We collected reviews for all of the books, multiple reviews, presented them to the librarian, and honestly, she didn’t even look at them,” said South County Secondary School student Ashley Traficant.
Most of the students at the demonstration admitted to News4 they had never read any of the books.”I don’t need to read every book that is on the shelf,” said Tom Bognanno, the father of one of the protesting students. “That isn’t the point. I’m not objecting to those books being on the shelf. I’m objecting to the fact that librarians who didn’t read our books looked at them on the counter and said, ‘No, thank you. This is Christian. We’re not going to accept it.’”As a result of this and other recent disputes, there are discussions about ending book donations at all Fairfax County public schools, according to the school system.
From CBN:
CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - Christian students and their parents protested at a Fairfax County, Virginia high school Thursday.
Their main point: during the very week of the year that schools highlight how many great books have been banned, those same schools are banning books that present a Christian viewpoint on homosexuality.
“These students last year and again today have tried to donate books and have been told that their books are inappropriate, that they express a religious viewpoint and that they do not meet the criteria and will not be accepted,” parent Tom Bognanno said
Student Lauren King added, “They told us our books were too biased to be on the bookshelves.”
Fairfax County is located in a mostly liberal area of northern Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington D.C.
Many of the 40 or so students at the protest wore black t-shirts that said “Closing books shuts out ideas.”
Parent Cheryl King said the Christian books show there’s an alternative to living out a homosexual life.
“There’s hope, there’s redemption, and you could live a heterosexual lifestyle,” King said. “That you don’t have to live that lifestyle.”
High school student Elizabeth Bognanno added, “We believe there’s another option, another way. And we’re not discriminating against.it really has nothing to do with that topic. What it has to do with is we can’t donate books in our own library.”
These protestors say Christians are caricatured as censors and book-banners, but that’s certainly not the case in Fairfax County.
Elizabeth Bognanno’s father Tom insisted, “We’re not asking anybody to take any book off the shelf.”
Lauren King added, “We’re not trying to ban books. We’re just trying to put books into our library.”
Focus on the Family sponsored the initiative by the students to get more than a hundred books into some dozen high school libraries.
The Colorado-based pro-family group was represented at the protest by the organization’s education analyst, Candi Cushman.
She told CBN News, “What’s happening is we’re seeing more and more promotion of homosexuality happening in public schools. And often in the name of tolerance, Christian students are finding that their viewpoints and their beliefs are being belittled and often even ridiculed.”
Tom Bognanno read out one example of anti-Christian discrimination from a book found on the shelf of a Fairfax County school library.
Quoting the book, he read, “‘Recent studies illustrate that Americans hate gays and lesbians in direct proportion to the number of times they attend their local church.’ That’s insulting to me as a Christian. I don’t feel that way, the students here don’t feel that way, most Christians I know don’t feel that way. Why is that book on the shelf and not another book that would say that as a Christian, as a parent or as a student, the dialogue I want to have is one of respect, true tolerance and a message that we can work together and talk together in a civil dialogue, not polarized?”
Librarians have told the students that the books they want to donate aren’t well-researched and some might make homosexual students “feel inferior.”
Intimate thoughts with Mormons
This is the last of the series of posts on Mormonism for this week. (It does not mean that I will not revisit the topic from time to time.) The Mormon religion was founded by a con man with very little on his mind but money, power, and control over women. He and his disciples essentially created ritualized adultery and corrupted the traditional view of marriage. If the roots are corrupt, how can the tree not be poisonous? I have not included all of the quotes, as some of them are more lewd that I would want on this blog. I advise you that although these sayings are the Truth of Mormonism, they are not easy to digest. They are filled with allowances of incest, pedophilia, adultery, and polygamy.
From Rethinking Mormonism:
The Restoration Means God Leads the Mormon Church
“Through living prophets, Christ is leading this church today. The greatest security of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from learning to listen to and obey the words and commandments that the Lord has given through living prophets. I would hope that the world would understand the importance of having a living prophet on earth today… Their purpose is to bring us the will of the Lord for our times.“
” I give my testimony that the prophets of this day have the qualities of the prophets of old and the other prophets of this dispensation. Each of these prophets has humbly and prayerfully sought to know and follow God’s will in his personal ministry. We declare with soberness, and yet with the authority of God in us vested, we have a prophet today. The President of the Church, as a prophet, is God’s representative on earth and is appointed to lead His church. Christ is the head of his Church today, just as he was in ancient times. The Lord has said that this is ‘the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased‘ (D&C 1:30).”
-Apostle Robert D. Hales, “Hear the Prophet’s Voice and Obey,” Ensign, May 1995, Page 15
Now look what those leaders have done over the last 150 years…
The following historical events regarding sex and marriage in the church have been compiled from the extensive historical church chronology from D. Michael Quinn’s book “The Mormon Hierarchy : Extensions of Power” For references, refer to the book.
Bob McCue: When will the Mormons come clean?
By Bob McCue
My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, wash, and be clean?
2 Kings 5:10
Introduction
This essay is written as part of my ongoing attempt to understand my religious experience as a faithful member of the Mormon Church, and in the hope that it will shorten the learning curve of others who will come behind me along the same path.
The leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the “Church”, the “Mormon Church” or the “LDS Church”) are aware of a great deal of persuasive evidence that is relevant to the evaluation of the Church’s foundational claims. The questions to which this evidence relates include things like whether Joseph Smith translated, as that term is ordinarily understood, physical golden plates into the Book of Mormon, or did he have some kind of mystic experience that gave rise to that book? And what was the nature of the experience Mormons know as the “First Vision”? Did Joseph see God the Father and the Jesus Christ and receive a certain clearly defined mandate from them, as he indicated in an account given near the end of his life, or did any of the other various conflicting things he said about that experience occur instead of, or in addition to, what is now contained in the official account?
And how about the chapters in Mormon history euphemistically labelled “Lying for the Lord”? These chronicle the fact that Joseph Smith lied for almost ten years over the pulpit, in private, in the news papers etc. by saying that he did not participate in polygamy and the fact that for close to 15 years between 1890 and 1905 many other Church leaders did the same thing while pretending to obey U.S. federal authority respecting the requirement that Mormons not practise polygamy while almost all of the Twelve Apostles and First Presidency were authorizing or participating in polygamous marriage sealings.
Mormons Against the Love of God
From Rethinking Mormonsim:
“Jesus ’so loved the world that he gave his own life, that as many as would believe might become the sons of God.’ Indeed, the Father and the Son are one-in purpose and love.“
“Divine love is also conditional. While divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional. The word does not appear in the scriptures. On the other hand, many verses affirm that the higher levels of love the Father and the Son feel for each of us-and certain divine blessings stemming from that love-are conditional.“
“Understanding that divine love and blessings are not truly ‘unconditional’ can defend us against common fallacies such as these: ‘Since God’s love is unconditional, He will love me regardless …’; or ‘Since ‘God is love,’ He will love me unconditionally, regardless …’ These arguments are used by anti-Christs to woo people with deception.“
Where is the DNA evidence of the Mormons?
Tip to the hat to Jessica for posting this video first.
This might not be CSI, but if you have no DNA evidence, then you don’t have a case for Mormonism.
Minnesota Report issues short guide to Sarah Palin’s connection with Joel’s Army
Media coverage of Sarah Palin during the run-up to her debate with Democratic counterpart Joe Biden has focused increasingly on her apparent ignorance in matters of policy and public affairs, and understandably so. But it’s an open question whether all the things Sarah Palin doesn’t know are really more disturbing than the things Palin believes she does know as a function of her religious faith — a militant (and, where real-world politics are concerned, militaristic) evangelical creed that sees it as the task of committed Christians to ready the way for Jesus’s earthly return and subsequent thousand-year reign.
From her stance on abortion and her inquiries about book-banning to her appearances as governor of Alaska at religious events and her earmarks for faith-based projects in Alaska, Palin has clearly injected religion into her view of governance, much to the excitement of religious conservatives. But what are her beliefs, exactly? What do the words used to describe Palin’s background mean?
The Minnesota Independent offers the following glossary of key terms and people to attempt to get a picture of Palin’s religious background. Asterisks in the text identify terms that appear elsewhere in this mini-glossary.
First, though, this Bruce Wilson video from last month is the best available introduction to religion Sarah Palin-style, though it will probably make more sense to the uninitiated after reading the glossary.
Palin’s Churches, Thomas Muthee, Witchcraft and The Third Wave.
Assemblies of God: The world’s largest Pentecostal* denomination with over 60 million adherents, AoG follows four central tenets: salvation through Jesus Christ, baptism in the Holy Spirit, divine healing and the second coming of Christ. Followers believe that speaking in tongues is an integral part of the baptism in the Holy Spirit process and is considered a gift from God. Historically, AoG was a pacifist denomination, though over time it has become one of the most avidly militaristic strands of Protestantism.
PALIN CONNECTION: Palin attended Wasilla Assembly of God from the time when she was 10 until six years ago, a total of 28 years.
Character Cities: According to In These Times, the “Character Training Institute is working to build evangelist Bill Gothard’s vision of a First-Century Kingdom of God — one city, one state, one school board, one police force and one mind at a time.” The movement is based on a reconstructionist view of Christianity, which holds, among other views, that the separation of church and state are the cause of social ills. CTI hosts conferences and encourages cities to adopt “character resolutions” through the CTI-affiliated International Association of Character Cities (IACC).
PALIN CONNECTION: As mayor, Palin reportedly attended at least two IACC conferences and took that information to the Wasilla City Council.
Dominionism: A school of thought, prevalent within Pentecostalism, premised on the belief that Christians must take control of the world’s governments and its resources to set the proper stage for Jesus’s return to reign over the Earth.
PALIN CONNECTION: While Palin was speaking at her former church, the Wasilla Assemblies of God, the pastor encouraged believers to pray for an Alaska that could be a home to Christians during the End Times: “I believe Alaska’s one of the refuge states, come on, you guys, in the last days. And hundreds and thousands are gonna come to the state to seek refuge.”
End Times: Many Christian sects are waiting for the return of Jesus, or for an apocalypse in which faithful Christians are saved and everyone else burns. Many, including Pentecostals generally and the Assemblies of God in particular, believe the End Times are occurring in the current generation–and have maintained as much for over 100 years. For purposes of most discussions, it’s closely akin to Millennialism*.
PALIN CONNECTION: Palin has been a part of End Times discussions both on stage and off with the pastors of her churches. A longtime associate of Palin’s told Salon that she believes that the end is coming soon. “She looked in my eyes and said, ‘Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.’”
Joel’s Army: A movement that uses militaristic rhetoric to encourage youth to establish a wholly Christian world–to convert all people in preparation for the return of Jesus. In the words of Pastor Todd Bentley, its leading figure, “An end-time army has one common purpose — to aggressively take ground for the kingdom of God under the authority of Jesus Christ, the Dread Champion. The trumpet is sounding, calling on-fire, revolutionary believers to enlist in Joel’s Army. … Many are now ready to be mobilized to establish and advance God’s kingdom on earth.” Adds John Crowder, author of The New Mystics: How to Become Part of the Supernatural Generation, “Everyone born after abortion’s legalization can consider their birth a personal invitation to take part in this great army.” The movement’s name is taken from the Book of Joel, in which a plague of locusts–God’s metaphorical army–descended upon and destroyed a sinful nation.
PALIN CONNECTION: Her occasional church, the Church on the Rock in Wasilla, sent its youth group to “The Call,” a training movement for Joel’s Army.
The Juneau Christian Church youth center called the “Hub” that Palin attempted to secure grants from the state of Alaska to fund describes itself in many of the terms used by the members of the Joel’s Army movement:
“Our name speaks our purpose. At ground zero we have a vision to develop youth that are marked by purity, passion, and the presence of God. This vision exists to create young people that will carry groundzero as a movement, not just a meeting. ground//zero is not a place, it’s not a time, but it is a movement transported by people that will impact this generation with a message that instills hope and a purpose. The movement meets Wednesday nights.”Several pastors at churches that Palin has attended have connections to prominent pastors that advocate the Joel’s Army movement, especially the Church on the Rock.
Master’s Commission: A replacement for college studies for young Christian adults. The program is international in scope and focuses on prophetic gifts, prayer, evangelism and scripture reading. Its emphasis is one- to two-year “discipleship-training program dedicated to making Disciples of Christ that will usher in the last day’s revival.” Example: the Master’s Commission in St. Cloud, Minnesota, says “There’s a prophetic voice calling out for the Army of God to arise in signs, wonders, and power. Isn’t it time to see what you and your God are made of?” The Master’s Commission programs are often led by prominent pastors in the Joel’s Army* movement.
PALIN CONNECTION: As governor, Palin spoke at the Master’s Commission graduation ceremony at Wasilla Assembly of God. It was the speech made famous by her statements about God’s plan with Iraq. The Master’s Commission of Wasilla has five components: Berean School of the Bible (work toward being credentialed with Assemblies of God), Scripture Memory (hiding God’s word in our hearts), John Bevere Curriculum (Under Cover and Bait of Satan), Francis Frangipane (In Christ’s Image Training), Steve Thompson (developing and operating in prophetic ministry).
Millennialism: The belief that some great transformation of the world and of history is drawing near. In a Christian context, it refers to the belief, per the Book of Revelation, that Jesus will return from the dead and, with his faithful flock, rule the earth for a thousand years. Christian millennialists vary in their attitude toward politics and wordly engagement; see Pre-millennialism/Post-millennialism entry below.
PALIN CONNECTION: See End Times entry above.
Pentecostalism: The fastest-growing strand of Protestantism in the US and around the world, Pentecostals are now thought to number over 500 million–roughly one in every four of the planet’s two billion or so Christians. (There’s a 2006 Pew Forum study about its growth in 10 select countries around the world here.) Pentecostalism is also the only major Protestant movement born in the United States. Though its theological roots are complicated, it arose in part from Calvinism, and specifically the Methodists’ 19th-century Holiness Movement. Two key founding figures were Charles Parham of Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas, who in 1901 hosted a prayer meeting at which one follower began “speaking in tongues,” the first recognized instance of that phenomenon, and a minister named William Seymour who founded the first major Pentecostal outpost in Los Angeles in 1906, the so-called Azusa Street Revivial.
Early Pentecostalism was remarkable in part for its against-the-grain egalitarianism in matters of race and gender. Seymour and many of his early Azusa Street followers were black, and women also featured prominently in its prayer meetings and its evangelizing. It was a poor people’s movement, and tended toward left-populism in its view of the world. As the movement grew, it became markedly less inclusive, and the period of Pentecostalism’s explosive growth around the world in the past generation-plus has been marked by a very conservative turn on the part of American Pentecostalism.
Doctrinally, Pentecostals believe that biblical truth is literal and inerrant. They also believe that Christians who have experienced the salvation of Jesus Christ contain the Holy Spirit, and that speaking in tongues, faith healing and prophecy are manifestations of the spirit. Organizationally, Pentecostal denominations are much less hierarchical than more conventional Protestant denominations, and many theologians believe the resulting flexibility to tailor appeals to local populations has been a factor in their success.
PALIN CONNECTION: Four of the churches that Palin has attended in Alaska–Wasilla Assembly of God, to which she belonged for 28 years; Juneau Christian Church, which she has attended as governor; Wasilla’s Church on the Rock, which she attended for about one year before becoming governor of Alaska; and Wasilla Bible Church, her regular church since leaving Wasilla AoG in 2002–have roots in Pentecostalism.
Pre-millennialism/post-millennialism: A theological distinction that has great importance to the intersection of religion and politics. Author and American religious historian Jeff Sharlet offered this straight-to-the-point definition in a Minnesota Independent interview about his book on elite American fundamentalism, The Family, back in June: “What pre-millennial means is that you believe in the Rapture. If you believe in the Rapture, you believe that Christ is coming back any day. Maybe tomorrow. And once he’s back, he’s going to rule for a thousand years. If you’re post-millennial, you think that Christ’s not going to come back until you’ve established a worldwide Christianized government for a thousand years. A thousand-year Reich of fundamentalist Christianity.”
PALIN CONNECTION: Jeff Sharlet again, this time from a second MnIndy interview: “I think her instincts are theocratic. We saw that in the book [banning effort]. That’s essentially an authoritarian thing, especially if you look at the books she wanted to ban, one of which was called Pastor, I Am Gay, which was written by a local Christian conservative pastor who took a gentler approach to this. So there’s another level to this. It’s one thing to censor a book; that’s frightening enough. It’s an even more frightening thing to try and censor your neighbor, to try to put tape over the mouth of someone who lives right next to you and is a conservative Christian himself. That shows a real attention to detail that one finds in figures such as Stalin. I think there is a Stalinesque streak to her personality.”
In addition, several witnesses attest that Palin, then mayor, tried to have books removed from the Wasilla library. In addition, her church at the time, the Wasilla Assembly of God, was engaged in a movement to ban LGBT-oriented books from the library. The Assemblies of God have a long history of attempting to ban books, stealing books so they remain out of circulation or hosting ritual book burnings of materials that they find offensive.
Third Wave of the Holy Spirit: One of numerous terms used to describe a large and growing militant evangelical movement to which even theological scholars have paid little attention. (Other terms commonly used: New Apostolic Reformation, Joel’s Army*, Manifest Sons of Destiny.) As a scholar at the Talk To Action website writes in an invaluable survey, “The Apostles of the Third Wave believe that they hear directly from God, and have a divine mandate to form a new worldwide global church for the end times. The Third Wave leadership’s greatest vitriol is directed toward those church-going Christians who are not open to the new visions and prophecies.”
Third Wave devotees believe, along with many other End Times* enthusiasts, that Jews must rebuild the Temple in Israel as a condition of end-times prophecy, and some further believe that Jews must be converted to Christianity to realize God’s plan. (The pastor of one of the churches Palin has attended–Larry Kroon of Wasilla Bible Church–has endorsed Jews for Jesus, and the head of Jews for Jesus has spoken at his church.) The Third Wave stresses an “active God” who works through Christians in the form of supernatural “gifts” and miracles such as speaking in tongues, faith healing and prophecy. The First and Second waves dealt mainly with speaking in tongues only. It has been condemned by the General Council of the Assemblies of God since 1949.
PALIN CONNECTION: Three of Palin’s churches have at least some involvement with Third Wave through regular guest pastors or pastor associations. Wasilla Assembly of God, Palin’s church for most of her life, has very strong connections to the movement.
Thomas Muthee: A self-proclaimed evangelical “bishop” from Kenya, Muthee is the minister who in 2005 bestowed upon Palin the now-notorious anti-witchcraft blessing that has made it into heavy rotation on YouTube (video’s here). An exemplar of one of the many Pentecostal strains to take hold in Africa, Muthee was previously best known for claiming to have rooted out the cause of crime and hardship in a village called Kiambu: a witch named “Mama Jane.” Muthee assisted townspeople in ousting the woman from Kiambu.
PALIN CONNECTION: Muthee laid hands on Palin when she announced her run for governor of Alaska at the Wasilla Assembly of God. He asked God to protect her from witchcraft. He also said, “Come on, talk to God about this woman. We declare, save her from Satan. Make her way my God. Bring finances her way even for the campaign in the name of Jesus. … Use her to turn this nation the other way around.”
“Young Earth” Creationism: A belief that God directly created the Earth in a period of seven days at some point between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Among the many contradictions of geological fact involved in this belief is the conviction that humans and dinosaurs once coexisted on earth.
PALIN CONNECTION: Associates of Palin say they heard her confess her belief in young earth creationism. According to their account, Palin said not only that dinosaurs and humans had walked the Earth at the same time, but further claimed that “she had seen pictures of human footprints inside the tracks.”
Steve Perry contributed research to this story.
Guilt and Grief
I work in the Coal Industry, in the safety aspect of it, and I have seen instances of those in a position of authority who through inaction or misaction cause the death of someone, even several someones. The grief that they experience will generally lead them to suicide.