Posted in james whitmore, nancy davis, the next voice you hear

Movie review: "The Next Voice You Hear…"

Posted on by elizabethprata

I came across a mention of a movie a couple of weeks ago. It is called “The Next Voice You Hear…”. Always looking for wholesome movies or tv to watch (an increasingly difficult task) I googled the movie and found this from Wikipedia:

“The Next Voice You Hear… (1950) is a drama film in which a voice claiming to be that of God preempts all radio programs for days all over the world. It stars James Whitmore and Nancy Davis as Joe and Mary Smith, a typical American couple. It was based on a short story of the same name by George Sumner Albee. The voice is never heard by the (film) audience.”

Nancy Davis later became the better known Mrs Nancy Reagan.

The movie was interesting. The portrayal of a family during the time of the 1950s. Mrs Smith is pregnant, and they also have a son who looks to be about ten years old. Mr Smith works in an airplane factory, and Mrs Smith is a very pregnant stay at home mom. Their son has a paper route. They do not own a tv, because after all it is 1950, but they have a radio, in front of which Mr Smith sits each evening after family supper to have a beer and listen to his program. Mrs Smith helps her son Johnny with his homework. Occasionally Mr Smith goes bowling. Mary Smith has an aunt who sometimes visits, whom Joe Smith doesn’t care for and mocks behind her back.

Joe Smith is a loving husband and father, sometimes impatient and angry with his car or his boss. Finances are a concern, the parents are sad they cannot afford a bike for the  son, or a new starter for the car and they need a new fridge. The father of the family feels this financial pressure acutely. In addition, he doesn’t like his boss, believing him to be cruel and uncaring, and thinks he can do a better job himself. Joe’s anger is displayed early on, where Joe is running late for work and hurtles his car down the driveway and into the street. A policeman stops Joe and Joe is issued a ticket for reckless driving. Joe receives the ticket, rolls up his window and hurtled off again, screaming rubber. The policeman catches up to Joe and issues him another ticket. Joe’s latent anger boils and he continues to mutter all day long at work, grousing to the pals over lunch.

He comes home that night and has a relaxing family dinner and laughs with his son, and settles into his chair with the beer. In other words, a typical American family and really human people, living lives- never giving heed to the fact that there is a God who watches and is the standard by which human behavior is judged.

Until one night, at 8:30 PM, instead of the familiar radio show coming on, there is a voice who says He is God. The message is, “This is God. I’ll be with you for the next few days.” We do not hear the voice, the scene immediately prior to the voice having set us in the kitchen with Mary and Johnny. We only see Joe’s shaken face as he wanders into the kitchen to tell his wife about it. They discuss whether it really was God, or another of Mr Welles’s hoaxes (referring to the “War of the Worlds where Orson Welles pretended to interrupt a radio program to announce earth was being invaded.) They decide it was a hoax and try to shake off the feeling of confusion, dread, and fear.

The next day is typical, in that life went on but this time the lunch conversation is about the voice. It is revealed that the voice was heard on every radio station at the same time. The FCC is looking into it, as investigating whether there was a hacker.

The second night, the family is going about the business pretending all is normal but they are on tenterhooks as to whether this mystery will be solved or whether the mysterious voice will come on again.

‘God’ said He would send a rainstorm, and He did

And so it goes, for 6 nights, each time with a short message from God. Some people react with fear, and others with scorn, but Joe is struck by the intrusion of the supernatural into his life, and begins to examine himself.

One movie reviewer wrote of this B-movie, “Decidedly understated, and more concerned with inner growth than outer conflict, the story unfolds gradually and gracefully…”

Even though the movie is solidly set in a time over 60 years ago, it seems timeless. After all, who can’t relate to living live as you do, and suddenly being confronted with the fact that there is a holy God watching you, which forces an inner conflict and a good tussle with the conscience.

The one part I especially liked was Joe’s descent into confusion before emerging out the other side, and done with a charming 1950s flair. Joe decided to drink with a buddy after bowling one night, and got stinking drunk, and flirted with a less than wholesome lady at the bar, too. When he arrived home, stumbling and raving, his son was shocked, and later ran away. Joe was humiliated to have let his son down and ashamed to face his wife after the flirting. That was the big problem that precipitated the fastest character development. Today if the movie had been made they’d just as likely have had the dad become a serial killer and arrive home with a dripping knife and a pocket full of eyeballs. I liked the drunk scene because this reminds us that the “smaller sins” of yesteryear are still sins.

The messages from God are decidedly sanitized of doctrine. ‘God’ urged all to love one another, offer mercy to one another, and be forgiving, calling these ‘small miracles.’ Jesus is not mentioned, nor is sin, judgment or worship. However the movie is well done enough so these thoughts are evident in the reactions of the characters. There is a not-so-subtle reference to the nativity in choosing to name the mother’s character “Mary”, the father’s character “Joe” and then there was her delivery of a baby boy.

In the end Joe decided to respect his boss, love his aunt, work on his patience and anger, and attend church. Not a bad moral.

Though there were no big pyrotechnics, being more of a thoughtful, character driven movie, I believe it would be enjoyable for people of any age. It is black and white so the kids may need a little coaxing, lol. I liked watching the locales, sets, clothing, and cars. The film was shot on location at Culver City, California, USA and at Douglas Aircraft, in addition to MGM Studios. It was enjoyable watching a slice of Americana from times gone by, and the fact that the movie was profanity-free, lewdness-free, wholesome with an overlay of ‘what if the next voice you hear…is God?’ made a nice evening. I hope you like this quiet, charming movie too.

Netflix doesn’t have it, but I watched it on Youtube.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie trivia from IMDB:

This is apparently one of only three films in which the MGM lion is not shown roaring at the start of the opening credits, probably because of the religious theme of the film. The only other known incidence of a non-roaring lion is Ben-Hur, which also has a religious theme, and Westward the Women.

The voice of God is never actually heard in the movie. The screenplay is written in such a way that the consequences of each of God’s broadcasts are seen, but the broadcasts themselves are omitted.

Posted in doctrine, emergent church, false christians, focus on the family

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian; Part 3

Posted on by elizabethprata
Bono on his Co-Exist tour wearing his Co-Exist headband

Last week, President of the Christian organization Focus on the Family Jim Daly sat down with U2 rocker Bono. Mr Daly emerged from that interview trumpeting Mr Bono as a Christian, and write a glowing piece for Focus on the Family’s website and also published in the Washington Post called “Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“.

In parts one and two of the series of three parts, I looked at–

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian

And now in part 3 we’ll look at the lack of discernment in Christians today. Not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian and it is important to understand that. I’ll tell you why.

–Accepting unquestioningly all people who claim Christianity but who obviously are not, blurs the lines of the faith.
–We are supposed to share truth to a lost and dying world. Non-Christians, including false Christians we accept as genuine, do not have that truth to share.

As GotQuestions states, “The evidence of a true Christian is displayed in both faith and action. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). James says, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Jesus put it this way: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). A true Christian will show his faith by how he lives. Despite the wide variety of beliefs that fall under the general “Christian” label today, the Bible defines a true Christian as one who has personally received Jesus Christ as Savior, who trusts in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, who has the Holy Spirit residing within, and whose life evinces change consistent with faith in Jesus.”

We are supposed to care who says they are a Christian because Christians are supposed to have the truth of Jesus in us and abide by the Spirit. If we do then we’re brethren, and we build each other up, pray for each other, and help each other. If they are not, we know to evangelize them with our words, witness to them with our lives, and separate from them in our spirit. Mindlessly accepting everyone who utters “Jesus” like a magic password, blurs those lines and foils the notion that we are supposed to be separate, holding onto the only truth in a dying world of relativism. This unwillingness to engage in what is at root a problem of discernment is the number one problem in the church.

John MacArthur said,  “People ask me this all the time, “… What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity? The biggest problem in the church? It’s simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It’s a lack of discernment. It’s the biggest problem with Christian people, they make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. The are prone to the wrong teaching. They’re unwise in who they follow, what they listen to and what they read.”

He continues, “I’m afraid that is pretty typical of the contemporary evangelical scene. There is a lack of precision in thinking, there’s a lack of consistency, there’s a lack of integrity. It’s just a hodgepodge, listening to anybody and everybody, reading anything, making no particular judgments. In fact, to make a judgment may be seen as unchristian. Boundless, endless credulity, anything and everything except there’s got to be good in all of it, how dare you question anybody’s view on anything. And I really believe that because of this pervasive attitude, evangelical Christianity, biblical Christianity as we know it is fighting for its life. Amazing to think about.”

Bertrand Russell had a lot to say about our lack of consistency and lack of integrity to the truth, as we’ll see below.

The reason biblical Christianity is fighting for its life is related to something that Martyn Lloyd Jones predicted 40 years ago. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote in his 1970 book ‘Romans: An Exposition of Chapters’:

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Disapproval of polemics in the Christian Church is a very serious matter. But that is the attitude of the age in which we live. The prevailing idea today in many circles is not to bother about these things. As long as we are all Christians, anyhow, somehow, all is well. Do not let us argue about doctrine, let us all be Christians together and talk about the love of God. That is really the whole basis of ecumenicity. Unfortunately, that same attitude is creeping into evangelical circles also and many say that we must not be too precise about these things. If you hold that view, you are criticizing the Apostle Paul, you are saying that he was wrong, and at the same time you are criticizing the Scriptures. The Scriptures argue and debate and dispute; they are full of polemics.”

Polemics defined is: contentious arguments that are intended to establish the truth of a specific understanding and the falsity of the contrary position. (source). That is Christianity in a nutshell, isn’t it! Jesus is the only way to heaven…you must repent or die…Jesus is God and there is no other… These are polemical arguments.  A polemic is one definite controversial thesis. Debate is the second cousin to polemics. Debate is not so definite, debate allows for common ground between the two disputants. A polemic is intended to establish the truth of a point of view while refuting the opposing point of view. In polemics, there is one truth only. In debate, there is compromise and common ground. That is why we cannot debate and compromise in Christianity.

The problem today is that people debate. They don’t engage in polemics. A polemicist says, “There is only one truth and here it is, there is no other name by which you many be saved than that of Jesus. If you do not claim that name in repentance, you will go to hell.” (Acts 4:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Saying that truth today is becoming increasingly radical. Also radical is marking the boundaries of Christianity and claiming that such and such a person is outside of it.

Christianity is itself a polemic. The book of John establishes right and wrong, good and evil, light and

Source

dark. There is either or. Jesus is either God or He isn’t. You are of this world or you are not. Yet today there is a refusal to state the one truth, polemically, and this has allowed all manner of untruths to creep in. For example,

“But there are some things in the Word of God that are very clear and those are the things that are at the heart of our faith. And one of them is to understand who is a true Christian. And it’s astonishing to me how confused people are. I talked to one of the students at the college who went to Amsterdam 2000 this summer, this convocation of thousands of evangelists. And he is a college student, he said to me, “I couldn’t believe what I heard. The thing was opened by a Roman Catholic priest, and there was a man there who denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ and they all received applause and a standing ovation.” By evangelicals? And when somebody steps in and says, “Stop this charade, this pretense of Christianity, let’s get down to who’s really a Christian,” you get vilified and marginalized and alienated. But that’s okay because what matters is the truth. So we’re trying to deal with the truth.” (source)

Christianity by nature of its polemical stance, is divisive. It is supposed to be. I am not saying that people are supposed to be divisive on purpose by being disagreeable for the sake of being disagreeable. However, stating the truth divides. Didn’t Jesus say,

Source

“The Sword of the Gospel”
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36).

So no, Bono by believing in other religions is not a Christian. It is important to say these things. So how do you tell who a Christian is, here is MacArthur again:

“And the way to understand who a Christian is, I’ve concluded after a long time trying to get to this point, is to understand deliverance, the theology of deliverance. You can tell a Christian because they’re delivered. That’s what the Bible teaches.”

“The first category of deliverance is those who are really Christians have been delivered out of error into truth. Now listen to what I say. No one is a Christian who does not understand, believe, embrace and love the truth. What truth? The truth that we call the gospel. …When the Spirit of truth regenerates, He moves people from error to truth. He brings the sinner the understanding of, belief in, embracing of, and total commitment to the truth.”

You can tell a Christian because they know the truth and a non-Christian doesn’t. Simple.

It is important if we are a Christian be clear about any interlopers in our midst. Look at poor Bertrand Russell. The philosopher Bertrand Russell gave a lecture in 1927 in London, called “Why I am Not a Christian.” In it, he bemoans the watering down of what the definition of Christianity is, and mocks those of us who are holding the hose.

Bertrand Russell

“As your chairman has told you, the subject about which I am going to speak to you tonight is “Why I Am Not a Christian.” Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word “Christian.” It is used in these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians in all sects and creeds; but I do not think that that is the proper sense of the word, if only because it would imply that all the people who are not Christians — all the Buddhists, Confucians, Mohammedans, and so on — are not trying to live a good life. I do not mean by a Christian any person who tries to live decently according to his lights. I think that you must have a certain amount of definite belief before you have a right to call yourself a Christian. The word does not have quite such a full-blooded meaning now as it had in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In those days, if a man said that he was a Christian it was known what he meant. You accepted a whole collection of creeds which were set out with great precision, and every single syllable of those creeds you believed with the whole strength of your convictions.”

Having certainty and conviction of clear doctrines was something that atheist Russell could respect, even get behind. Ultimately, so can Jesus.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16).

Russell says our definition of Christian is too elastic, and he is right to wonder about the whole shebang of Christianity when we let so precious a truth become elasticised and stretched beyond recognition! It is his way of saying, “If they don’t care what Christianity is, why should I?” And when the false professors we have allowed into our midst fall away, and they always do, then what?

Phil Johnson

Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church and Executive Director, Grace to You, was assigned the task of explaining and critiquing the emerging church movement in one of the 75-minute sessions at the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference The resulting paper is titled, “Exposing the Postmodern Errors of the Emerging Church”. (a .pdf).

Pastor Johnson said the emerging church movement is an “irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas”, and of Bono, Johnson said he is one of the prime leaders of it. “This may help you more than anything I have said so far to understand the flavor of the “emerging church movement”: Bono—the Irish rocker and politico of U2 fame—seems to be the unofficial icon of the movement. If you’ve been tuned into pop-culture at any time over the past two decades and know anything about Bono, that might help you to grasp something about the look and feel of the movement”. … emergent types seem to quote Bono all the time. I would say that he sometimes seems to be the chief theologian of the “emerging church movement,” but in all fairness, that honor belongs more to John R. Franke and Stan Grenz. .. But he and Franke are the two academic theologians who have done more than anyone else to blend postmodernism and theology into a kind of quasi-evangelical doctrine”.

And that is what we have today. We have a long-standing organization such as Focus on the Family promoting an icon in Bono who represents a false movement which is bringing quasi-evangelical doctrine to quasi-evangelical Christians. On the other side we have an elder of the faith in Pr. Johnson who says that movement Bono represents is full of irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas, has contempt for biblical authority, breeds doubt about the perspicuity of Scripture, and sows confusion about the mission of the church.

At the January 2013 Convocation of the Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, Rev. Steven Lewis noted that there are indicators that the religious landscape of North America has radically changed. “That landscape change includes a spiritual revival and renewal afoot but it is not religious, the Rev. Steven Lewis, academic dean of Bangor Theological Seminary, said in January in the opening session of Convocation. He called it “humanitarian spirituality.”

Who wouldn’t be confused about who’s really a Christian when seminaries are graduating theologians who are told these terrible things? It is exactly this ‘humanitarian spirituality’ which Bono exemplifies-that Jesus will vomit out His mouth. As blogger Elliott Nesch said of the Daly-Bono meeting and the resulting version of Christianity which was unfortunately validated through it, “Philanthropy is no substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! … Bono is embraced and given the upper-hand in both religious and political spheres of influence. Many are following Bono in social justice but throwing the Gospel out the window. Bono’s hip Christianity will inspire many Christians to embrace ecumenism and apostasy in the cloak of philanthropy. This is a politicized social Gospel which is contrary to the doctrine of Christ.”

And THAT’S why we care about who is a Christian.

————————–
Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian Part 1

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian? Part 2

Posted in foxe's book of martyrs, goose, john huss, martin luther, martyr

Sunday Martyr Moment: John Huss, "The goose is cooked"

Posted on by elizabethprata

A day early with this because today is the anniversary of the burning of martyr John Huss. July 6, 1415. Excerpted from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. John Huss was killed by the Roman Catholic Church for the ‘heresy’ of proclaiming that Christ is the Head of the church and that salvation is in Christ alone. The martyrs died proclaiming Jesus is the head of the church and so many foolish people today have wantonly substituted idols for Him instead.

The day will come in His millennium Kingdom when
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
~Isaiah 11:9

The earth will be FULL of the knowledge of the Lord! Full…all will know and all will bow.

As he was taken to his death, Huss refused to recant and was heard to say, ‘You are now going to burn a goose, but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.’ A hundred years later Martin Luther arose, challenged the church, and was known as The Swan.

~~~~~~~~~~~Foxe’s Book: John Huss~~~~~~~~~~~

When he was brought before the Council, the articles exhibited against him were read: they were upwards of forty in number, and chiefly extracted from his writings. John Huss’s answer was this:

“I did appeal unto the pope; who being dead, and the cause of my matter remaining undetermined, I appealed likewise unto his successor John XXIII: before whom when, by the space of two years, I could not be admitted by my advocates to defend my cause, I appealed unto the high judge Christ.”

When John Huss had spoken these words, it was demanded of him whether he had received absolution of the pope or no? He answered, “No.” Then again, whether it was lawful for him to appeal unto Christ or no? Whereunto John Huss answered: “Verily I do affirm here before you all, that there is no more just or effectual appeal, than that appeal which is made unto Christ, forasmuch as the law doth determine, that to appeal is no other thing than in a cause of grief or wrong done by an inferior judge, to implore and require aid at a higher Judge’s hand. Who is then a higher Judge than Christ? Who, I say, can know or judge the matter more justly, or with more equity? when in Him there is found no deceit, neither can He be deceived; or, who can better help the miserable and oppressed than He?” While John Huss, with a devout and sober countenance, was speaking and pronouncing those words, he was derided and mocked by all the whole Council.

“His vestments were removed from him, one by one, and each bishop present pronouncing a curse on him as part of the ceremony. They put a cap on his head; on which were painted frightful pictures of demons, and on the front of it the words “Archheretic.” Jan Hus said, “Most joyfully will I wear this crown of shame for Thy sake, O Jesus, who for me didst wear a crown of thorns.” ‘ (source) .

These excellent sentences were esteemed as so many expressions of treason, and tended to inflame his adversaries. Accordingly, the bishops appointed by the Council stripped him of his priestly garments, degraded him, put a paper miter on his head, on which was painted devils, with this inscription, “A ringleader of heretics.” Which when he saw, he said: “My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, did wear a crown of thorns; why should not I then, for His sake, again wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly.” When it was set upon his head, the bishop said: “Now we commit thy soul unto the devil.” “But I,” said John Huss, lifting his eyes towards the heaven, “do commend into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ! my spirit which Thou has redeemed.”

When the chain was put about him at the stake, he said, with a smiling countenance, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?”

When the wood was piled up to his very neck, the duke of Bavaria was so officious as to desire him to abjure. “No, (said Huss;) I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” He then said to the executioner, “You are now going to burn a goose, (Huss signifying goose in the Bohemian language:) but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.” If he were prophetic, he must have meant Martin Luther, who shone about a hundred years after, and who had a swan for his arms.

Jan Hus burning.
Drawing after Ulrich von Richental’s illustrated
chronicle of the Council of Constance

The flames were now applied to the wood when our martyr sung a hymn with so loud and cheerful a voice that he was heard through all the cracklings of the combustibles, and the noise of the multitude. At length his voice was interrupted by the severity of the flames, which soon closed his existence.

Then, with great diligence, gathering the ashes together, they cast them into the river Rhine, that the least remnant of that man should not be left upon the earth, whose memory, notwithstanding, cannot be abolished out of the minds of the godly, neither by fire, neither by water, neither by any kind of torment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John MacArthur has a tremendous sermon about John Huss and Martin Luther, and their resistance to the RCC’s popery. It’s called Undermining the Headship of Christ. It is well worth a listen.

Posted in divisive, Hermeneutics of Humility, homosexuality, rachel held evans

Rachel Held Evans asks "What if my son or daughter were gay…" and gets a response from Dr Joel McDurmon

Posted on by elizabethprata

Nine months ago, I wrote about popular Christian author and blogger Rachel Held Evans. I mentioned her in this blog entry here which speaks of the Christian feminist agenda, and also I listed her in an essay about the new Christian feminism.

Evans had written the book of late, “A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband Master.”

Her book was thoughtfully and instructively critiqued here (negatively), and sternly here (very negatively).

Today I read an essay which is a response to Evans’ piece called “If my son or daughter were gay…” The piece is written by Dr. Joel McDurmon and it’s called “To Rachel Held Evans, RE: “If my son or daughter were gay…”

Sometimes when we write about someone who has a new book which illustrates a slide toward apostasy, it’s good to catch back up with that person later on to see if they have corrected course, indicating a momentary inattention and a repentant drift, or if they have continued that slide (are they are still going out from us?) Is Rachel Held Evans still sliding? Yes. That is the first point of this essay. Examples to come and warning duly given.

Example 1: Over the last year Mrs Evans has been presenting a series of ask and answer questions on her blog. The series is called “Ask A…” in which she asks a prominent person a question and explores all the biblical responses to it. As Kevin Miller says at Patheos, “she’s allowing readers to throw their questions at people who hold to various positions on hell. First up was Edward Fudge, well known advocate of Conditional Immortality and author of The Fire that Consumes. Next up is Robin Parry, author of The Evangelical Universalist.”

Enough said.

In the essay response to Mrs Evans’ ‘If my son or daughter were gay’ piece, Dr McDurmon wrote, “There is a stream of tears dripping from the end of Rachel Held Evans’s recent blog, “If my son or daughter were gay…”. I have to admit: I am crying, too. – … Yes, I am crying, too, but for a different reason. I am weeping over the disgrace to God, the neutered theology, the tortured application of “unconditional love.” – See more here.

I think it is clear that to read Mrs Evans’s blog or her books would not be profitable for the Christian and her works do not honor Jesus.

The second point of my essay here today is to examine the tactic Mrs Evans uses, in the hopes that how satan slyly comes in will be made more apparent to you and you can then be aware in future.

She asks questions.

I am not against questions. Christianity is a thinking religion, demanding in its intellectual and spiritual proposals. After all, the Holy Spirit endeavors to transform our mind. (Romans 12:2). That is one of the ministries He is performs inside us- renewing our mind away from the default of saturated sin and evil toward light and Christlike. (Colossians 3:10). Honest questioning is a good thing. “What did that verse mean? How can I apply that to my life? Is there a biblical example of that I can learn? Where is a parallel verse? What is the context here? What does Jesus mean when He says ‘meek’?” and so on.

Those are honest questions. When a disciple of Jesus comes to the word and honestly seeks to know, and asks the Spirit to answer, this is honest work.

Satan asks dishonest questions.

Let’s look at the dramatic moment in Genesis 3. I keep going back to that moment in many of my blog essays because it is important. Also, we are given insight into not just what the apostles said about satan, but in the very few times satan himself is recorded interacting with man (or Jesus or God) it behooves us to pay attention and learn from it.

We meet satan for the first time in Genesis 3:1. The introduction to him is “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” That is how the Spirit chose to introduce satan to us. So pay attention.

When you make an introduction to someone you state their name. You say one or two of the best things you can think of to commend that person, to make a good first impression. In the bible’s introduction of satan, his name is left off and the only commendation of him to us is negative. Not one good thing.

In the very next sentence we read, “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

This is dishonest questioning. Satan had an agenda. He did not approach the woman in earnest, seeking to know what God hath said. He already knew what God hath said. He is all ears. He sees all that God does and with constant and persistent action, seeks to undermine God and accuse humans. (Revelation 12:10). If satan had really wanted to know what God had said, he could have gone to God and asked. No, satan knew the answer but had a different reason for asking. This is dishonesty.

He asked this question of Eve not because he didn’t know the answer. He asked it because he had an agenda. That agenda is to subvert the word of God and to introduce doubt into the recipient.

Rob Bell perfected this art of subversive questioning in his book denying hell’s existence, “Love Wins.”

Dr John MacArthur noted this in his review of Rob Bell’s book, “Rob Bell: “Evangelical and orthodox to the bone? Hardly.”, first quoting a passage from Bell and then making his statement-

Bell: “What if that spring [the virgin birth] were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart? . . . If the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?” (26-27)

So on the one hand, in a single sentence, he professes to affirm the virgin birth. On the other hand (and on the very same page), he spends multiple paragraphs calling the truthfulness and importance of that doctrine into question.

Back to Mrs. Evans.

Even Charisma Magazine asked a couple of days ago if Mrs Evans has caved to the culture.
“Evans, who states that she “grew up in a religious environment that vilified LGBT people,” still identifies as an evangelical Christian but has had a change of heart in her viewpoint on homosexuality, just as she had a change of heart on “the age of the Earth, the reality of climate change, the value of women in church leadership, [and] the equal failings of both the Republican and Democratic platforms to embody the teachings of Jesus.” And so, when Exodus International announced it was closing its doors and when the Supreme Court made its momentous, pro-gay activist decisions, she “celebrated” along with her many LGBT friends. …The title of her article is “Not All Religious Convictions Are Written in Stone,” but Evans leaves us wondering if any religious convictions are written in stone.”

Yes, they are written in stone. It is the job of satan to make you believe that they aren’t.

This questioning-seemingly-humble tactic is what John MacArthur called the “Hermeneutics of Humility” in his sermon on 1 John 1:1-4, “The Certainties of the Word of Life, part 2“, writing, ” There’s a new hermeneutics, a new science of interpretation called the Hermeneutics of Humility, and this is serious to the people who espoused this and their Hermeneutics of Humility say, “I’m too humble to think that I could ever know what the Bible really means and so I can only offer my opinion and I certainly can’t say that this is in fact the truth.” They pat themselves on the back congratulating themselves for such intellectual openness.”

It does seem to fool people when we come across someone who seems to be struggling with the larger questions of Christianity, and they are seemingly innocently asking questions in order to resolve their doubt. Who wouldn’t want to come alongside such a person and help them with biblical answers? But we are in the midst of wolves. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16). This calls for discernment. Is a person a wolf who will devour me with their questions, or are they an immature lamb seeking their Shepherd?

As for being a ‘humble seeker,’ you can know. You should know. You will know with certainty. In the sermon on the 1John verses, MacArthur said “I mentioned to you before that 36 times you’re going to find some form of the word “know” here. I know, we know, you know…there is an absoluteness in that.”

I wondered about hell when I was first saved. I studied the bible, read what Jesus had to say about it. The answer became clear. So then I stopped asking. Question asked and answered. To continue to ask questions about a subject once you have learned what the bible says on it is blasphemy because by then you’re not genuinely wondering about your understanding of the topic, you are directly questioning God. To fail to gain clarity on a topic that the bible presents clearly in the first place is also blasphemy. It is all dishonest questioning.

The bible is also clear on the disposition of the unrepentant sinner, including unrepentant homosexuals. It is also clear on the definition of love. A person is not being humble by continuing to ask, they are simply using their blog to introduce doubt and giving a platform to others who are wolves. (I.E. “Ask A… series”).

The bible speaks to these foolish ‘what if’ questions. The bible has the first word and the last word on the questioning tactic, dishonest questioning, that is, ‘If anyone has a morbid interest in controversial questions…’

“If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that religion is a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3-5).

Pulpit Commentary says
“In this morbid love of questionings and disputes of words, they lose sight of all wholesome words and all godly doctrine… surmisings, here in the-New Testament, In classical Greek it means “suspicion,” or any under-thought. The verb occurs three times in the Acts – “to deem, think, or suppose.” Here the “surmisings” are those uncharitable insinuations in which angry controversialists indulge towards one another.”

Be wise, be strong, and study hard. Know what you know, and proclaim it! Satan is coming on like a flood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further reading:

More on gays, and Rachel Held Evans –
Everyone’s literal about sin until you bring up homosexuality

Can we ever know doctrine for certain?

Can we know what the scripture means?

What is doctrine?

Thank you everyone. Comments are CLOSED.

Posted in 4th of july, america, bicentennial, celebration, tall ships

Tall Ships Bicentennial memory, 1976

Posted on by elizabethprata

I’ve been reminiscing this morning about the 4th of July in 1976. It was our nation’s 200th anniversary, and I lived in Rhode Island then. I was 15 1/2 and massively excited about the Tall Ships.

My grandparents had bought a beach house in 1938. The thing to do back then was buy a seasonal cottage by the bay or ocean, and the family goes to the cottage all summer while the men commuted to work. The state’s nickname is The Ocean State because of so much ocean coastline everywhere.

So in 1938 my grandparents bought a cottage on a small hill overlooking Narragansett Bay, which led to the Atlantic Ocean. It was unfortunate/fortunate…the 1938 hurricane wiped out RI as far inland as Providence, and destroyed huge swathes of coastline and many hundreds died. It wrecked the cottage pretty bad. It was unfortunate that they had the beach house only a few months before the state’s worst hurricane hit, but fortunate because they could rebuild it to their liking. Over the years they added on and enlarged it, slowly.

The Bay was great. It was a giant playground for us kids and cousins. Back in the 60s and 70s kids did stuff and we didn’t die, lol. Every kid had a ramshackle boat of some kind or another. My dad used to tell us when he was a kid they’d come to the beach house for the summer and he’d find a boat with holes in it abandoned on some mudflat, and he and the cousins would fix it, and they scraped up a motor from somewhere and fix that, and then they’d go out onto the Bay and get quahogs and fish for bass. (Quahogs are a clam you dig out of the mud flats at low tide, but way out far and low tide only).

In my day we had a new Boston Whaler to go around in. Can you imagine sending your ten and twelve year old kids out onto the bay in a boat for the afternoon and say ‘come back for dinner,’ LOL! But that’s what we did, mess around in boats, and mess around in the water and jump off the dock all day until our hands were pruny and our lips were blue.

On the 4th of July it was great because you could see all the towns’ fireworks from across the bay. Us kids would be running up and down the beach in the dark holding sparklers and whooping with joy as kids do. We were barefoot of course and I remember stepping on a sparkler that had just gone out and someone had thrown to the sand. It really hurt and the shock of the fiery pain was too much for old sensitive me, so forever after that I was not such a huge fan of sparklers. But I do think they are pretty.

The grownups had all sorts of amazing and highly dangerous fireworks. Before they were banned by the US government in 1966, they set off cherry bombs, and there were bottle rockets and lots of other things they spent hundreds of dollars on to have a blast creating their own fireworks show. Then we’d watch everybody else’s show.

In 1976, for the first time in history all the Tall Ships from around the world were going to gather at Newport RI. It was a huge, huge event. We’d eagerly read the paper every day for months before the time, watching to see which new Tall Ship was responding to the invitation. The list was growing longer and longer. Tall Ships from Russia, Argentina, England, all over, were going to sail up Narragansett Bay from Newport in a parade. The Newport Bridge was lined with people, thousands upon thousands lined the shorelines, and the Forts on all the islands dotting the bay. We piled in boat, and got into the mix of the thousands of boats crowding the bay to see this historical event.

Part of the event was a tall ships race from Bermuda to Newport. Wow, that must have been something to be in Bermuda’s Hamilton Harbor and hear the cannon and see them unfurl sail and take off across the bounding main!

There is something so elegant and majestic about a Tall Ship under full sail. The Secretary of the Navy came to RI for the ceremonies, and after the ships parade they docked at Newport and you could tour them. Prince Harold of Norway came over on one of them and also attended the ceremonies. It was so much fun. Eighteen tall ships from 14 nations came to RI for the 1976 4th of July. The boats were actually heading to NYC for the actual 4th where there would be a massive fireworks celebration and another parade up the Hudson River.

From Newport RI Archives. See the men on the spars?!

source

This is a picture of Operation Sail Bicentennial 1976 in NYC from the South’s Grit Magazine! The ship is the Coast Guard Tall Ship USS Eagle. What a great ship!

source

Here is a write up,

“Operation Sail 1976 provided a centerpiece for the U.S. Bicentennial celebration. The event took five years to plan, featured more tall ships … including the Soviet Union’s czarina of the sea, the Kruzenshtern, which Frank Braynard had won over against all political odds on a trip to Moscow. … They proceeded “in company” to New York, where they were met by a vast spectator fleet. In partnership with the Navy, Operation Sail 1976 also resurrected the tradition of holding an International Naval Review, which brought together a peacetime armada of 50 warships under as many flags. From the deck of the USS Forrestal, President Gerald Ford reviewed the parade of sail, complete with a 21-gun salute. In Frank Braynard’s estimation, it was “the biggest assemblage of ships since the Battle of Navarino in 1827.”

That was a day you just never forget, the elegance of the ships and the pride in our nation and the celebrations all over. It felt great to be a part of it and just to be alive and young in America.

So cut to 1994 or so. My husband and I were living aboard our 37 foot yacht and had sailed far up the James River in VA and anchored at a kid of watery cul de sac. Not many cruising sailboats went up this far, it was a long way up and a long way back. But the high green hills and the peace were what we sought, and even better was knowing the William and Mary College was a short distance away and adjoining that, a park. It would be quiet and far from the cruising hubbub that sometime got to us as we cruised south to the Bahamas with a fleet of other like-minded live-aboard cruisers. It was the equivalent of taking a turn onto a dirt road as you drove south on the highway from GA to FL.

We got settled, anchoring the boat and buttoning up the sails etc. We were thinking about what to make for dinner when we heard a ‘whoosh’ and turned to look at the river entrance. It was a tall ship! The HMS Rose (right) was making a slicing sound in the river and the whoosh was the wind in their sails. Our boat was the only boat in the river and immediately the Rose aimed for us. They lowered the US flag and put up the Jolly Roger, lol, a bunch of sailors being trained were now having a bit of marine fun. They circled around us under full, billowing sail. It was thrilling to see a tall ship this close, just 50 feet away. As they tacked around us and sailed a bit further away, they let off the cannon! A boom and a puff of smoke and cheers from the sailors broke the stillness of the quiet waters and woke the sleeping geese along the shore.

We laughed in joy and just like that, the ship swapped the Jolly Roger for the US Flag again and sailed out of the cul de sac and back down the James River. We felt honored to have been given this treat. If we hadn’t seen it ourselves we would not have believed it. It all happened so fast!

The collegiality of the sailors on the ocean is universal, irrespective of nationality or type of ship or anything. It hits us hard when a ship sinks and even worse a stalwart old workhorse is lost to us. In Hurricane Sandy last October, the replica of the HMS Bounty sank off NC. This Bounty was the very same used in the 1960 s film Mutiny on the Bounty and the same ship what was used in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Still from coast guard helicopter video

This was a shocking photo to many people-and a sad one. Not only the majestic ship of the sea is gone but two people lost their lives, including the captain- who was never found. The crew says he said he’d go down with the ship. The Coast Guard concluded that he did. He had snatched a photo of his wife from his captain’s desk first and clung to that as he went down. He died with honor. Captain, I salute you.

For us mariners, when a ship goes down it’s like losing one of our own.

Growing up in Rhode Island we were on the water constantly, it was part of us. The wind, the tides, the fog, the lighthouses, the buoys…all part of our language. Boston’s harbor, Narragansett Bay in RI, Nantucket’s whalers, Gloucester’s fishermen, Plymouth’s Mayflower which we would go see on school field trips. The sea is in my blood. I’ve lived aboard my own boat, sailing almost 12,000 nautical miles. I’ve been on ferries, skiffs, cruise ships, ice breakers, barges and schooners, and my knees instinctively know how to bend and blend with the waves and the motion of the boat.

I have been through mighty storms and anchored in quiet waters. I’ve seen the rainbow over the harbor and the moon rising above the phosphorescent waters. I have lived this verse from Psalms, and it made me see the greatness of my Lord and the smallness of myself, a human not worth even His notice as an unsaved sailor, but later saved by His grace. Looking back I see how tremendous is the earth and the seas and all their secrets. He brought us safely to our desired havens of safe ports again and again, and later, as a soul lost in the sea of sin, He brought me out of the miry ocean to the haven of His bosom, justified and righteous, dry and warm, forever.

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry to the LORD in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he brings them to their desired haven.” ~Psalm 107:23-30

Rainbow over Marsh Harbour, Abacos, Bahamas
Posted in focus on the family, genuine faith

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian? Part 2

Posted on by elizabethprata

This series of posts will look at one issue divided into three parts:

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian
3. Lack of discernment in Christians today/ not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian

Part 1: looked at Focus on the Family. In that part, I’d mentioned that the Christian organization Focus on the Family (FOTF) interviewed the Irish rock singer Bono this week, and was impressed with Bono’s Christian walk. Interviewer and FOTF President Jim Daly had written an opinion-editorial response to the show which was published in the Washington Post and also on FOTF blog.

I’d also mentioned that previously FOTF had displayed less than discerning attitudes when hosting occultist Roman Catholic Anne Rice on their show and refusing to call Roman Catholic apostate. They had also partnered with Catholic Mystic Roma Downey and New Age husband Mark Burnett to oversee the theology and then promote the History Channel miniseries The Bible. All these comments with links and bible verses can be seen at part 1.

Part 2: Is Bono a Christian?

The title of Mr Daly’s op-ed piece about Bono is called ““Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“. This is not to be taken lightly. A mature male elder of my faith is telling me, a fellow Christian, to pay attention to the faith and works of a certain person. Therefore I do two things: I pay attention, and I test all things by comparing what this recommended person says, against the word of God.

The test came up short. Bono is not a Christian.

But what if I had not tested against the word of God? And, why is a mature elder of the faith not exhibiting more discernment? That is the problem.

Let’s go to the beginning. Bono is a multi-million dollar rock star who says he is a Christian, and has for many years been involved in good causes, particularly ending poverty and bringing awareness to preventable diseases such as AIDS and malaria. The current campaign that Bono and his associates are involved in is an organization Bono started called ONE and it aims to end extreme poverty, especially in Africa, in this generation.Here is the link to the interview between FOTF and singer Bono.

U2’s Bono Discusses Faith, Helping Others With Focus on the Family’s Jim Daly
“Bono told Daly that he has chosen to put so much time and energy into the ONE Campaign because to him, “love is to realize the potential of others.”

I’m sorry, but love is not to realize potential, because the only potential we have is to do evil. As unsaved sinners all that we do is filthy rags in the sight of God. (Isaiah 64:6). Augustine said, “Good works, as they are called, in sinners, are nothing but splendid sins.” Spurgeon said, “good works come from a real conversion, brought about by the Spirit of God. Until our conversion, there is not the shadow of goodness about us. In the eye of the world we may be reputable and respectable, but in the eye of God we are nothing of the sort.” (source)

Even saved sinners must do righteous works in the Spirit and not of our own motivations. The works of saved will be tested at the Bema seat. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10). So even as saved people, we have potential to do works that are in the flesh! As a Christian, Bono should know about our potential. It is utter depravity. (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9).

Love is telling people the truth about sin and the salvation from wrath for those sins through Jesus.

The article continues, “In an op-ed for The Washington Post following his broadcasted interview with Bono, Daly wrote that although many Christians may find the musician unorthodox, he believes Bono truly lives his Christian values through his love for others. Bono “chooses to go out and serve alongside other people consumed by the desire to help others” instead of “easily [enjoying] the spoils of his fame and fortune,” Daly wrote.”

I’m thrilled that someone who by sweat of his brow and long years of work has amassed a fortune and is willing to use it to advance causes in philanthropy. But that cannot be confused with saving faith. But I am reminded of the rich young ruler, found in Matthew 16:19-23 and explained here.

Daly is impressed with Bono’s use of a verse from Luke which Bono says is the foundation of why he does what he does, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).”

That verse in context is Jesus reading the Messianic prophecy from Isaiah, and it refers to Himself. It is Messiah’s four-fold mission, not ours. Jesus isn’t even talking about the economically poor in that passage, but the spiritually poor. The oppressed are the sinners, captured in sin, not the politically oppressed. The blind means Jesus will be a light to the nations to open blind eyes. Yet Bono says,

“If you’re not actively embracing this theology – “in little or large ways, you’re simply not catching the vision of how Jesus wants us to engage our world.”

How Jesus wants us to engage the world is through Matthew 28:16-20,

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That is the theology we are told to cling to.

Here are more specifics on what Bono believes. Bono said in an interview with his unbelieving friend Michka Assayas:

“It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

It sounds Christian, and it almost is. I understand that Bono is referring to the law of what you reap, you will sow (Galatians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 9:6). Sowing and reaping is a law of the spiritual world, but it is not karma. It confuses people to use a Buddhist & Hindu term for the sowing and reaping. If Bono wanted to discuss sowing and reaping, he should have used the bible verse and explained it.

Equating this law to all religions is unwise. Other religions have nothing to commend themselves to God. Other religions in the bible are spoken of by God as false, gangrenous, pagan, adultery, spiritual prostitution, and a whore. (Ezekiel 16:28, Revelation 19:22 Timothy 2:17, Lamentations 1:10, Hosea 4:12 Ezekiel 43:9). Christians strive to be different and peculiar, not to spread Christianese laws like butter over other religions’ philosophies to blend them together. The Christian religion is distinct from and different than all other religions.

Jesus is the center of the Universe. (Colossians 1:16-17). Not karma.

“Interviewer: “I was wondering if you said all of that to the Pope the day you met him.”

“Bono: Let’s not get too *** the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows.”

“Assayas: So you won’t be critical.”

“Bono: No, I can be critical, especially on the topic of contraception. But when I meet someone like Sister Benedicta and see her work with AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, or Sister Ann doing the same in Malawi, or Father Jack Fenukan and his group Concern all over Africa, when I meet priests and nuns tending to the sick and the poor and giving up much easier lives to do so, I surrender a little easier.”

Bono equates Catholic good works with salvation. This is incorrect. Catholicism adheres to a works-doctrine of salvation. Seeing others’ works is not the basis upon which we should surrender our lives to Jesus. Belief and faith in Him is the reason we surrender.

Bono describes himself as a “half-Catholic”, and in visiting the Pope (in 2002) he said “I was very glad to be in his presence”, and “I felt he has very sincere beliefs. And even if they’re not popular, at least they’re sincere.”

At one of his concerts, Bono called out the name of the Pope , – “John Paul” to the crowd and described him as “an Italian who knew the right person to get into heaven.”

“Bono said in his NAACP award acceptance speech, “God is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them…we can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.” He founded ONE, and advocacy organization to end extreme poverty, and says ONE is “proud to work alongside incredible allies in the faith community – NGOs like World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, American Jewish World Service and Bread for the World; churches like Willow Creek, and leaders like Rick and Kay Warren and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”

All those that Bono mentioned are not in the faith community because they are not Christian. A Christian with discernment should see that.

What is confusing about Bono is that he claims Jesus as Savior and then mixes familiar Christian-ese language into his statement of faith. Like this: In his book-length conversation with friend and unbeliever Michka Assayas, Bono said, “I wish to begin again on a daily basis. To be born again every day is something that I try to do. And I’m deadly serious about that.”

I can’t “try” to be born again. Being born again is a one-time event which the Savior performs after the Spirit drew the person to the Father. (John 3:3-7). It is also known as justification, where God declares a certain sinner righteous, and sees them as so through the imputed righteousness of Jesus. (Romans 5:1). It has nothing to do with my efforts. After the one time justification enacted by Jesus (born again) we spend our lives in Holy Spirit empowered sanctification, seeking it fervently. (1 Peter 1:15; Hebrews 12:14). Perhaps this is what Bono meant. But we cannot be born again more than once.

Bono freely talks about Jesus’s death on the cross was to atone for His sins and that without that atonement Bono would reap an obvious death, and that he believes Jesus is the Son of God. He quotes the bible, then says “But the one thing we can all agree — all faiths, all ideologies — is that God is with the vulnerable and poor” and then he quotes the Quran.

Bono is not a Christian.

God is God on one faith. All other ‘gods’ are false.But that is not what Bono believes.

Vertigo Tour, U2/Bono, Source

Bono/U2’s Vertigo Tour was built on the theme of CoExist, the people in the ‘three Abrahamic faiths’, that is. Kevin Hutchinson wrote in 2005, “The stringing together of three religious icons to spell out the word “coexist” has been a crucial part of the Vertigo Tour since its opening night. …The sign is a crucial element of one of the most emotional and memorable portions of the Vertigo show: U2 concludes the heart-wrenching “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own,” and with the show’s mood growing increasingly intense, a white headband appears on Bono’s forehead for the opening chords of “Love and Peace or Else.” The headband bears the handwritten message “COEXIST” with the Muslim crescent symbol representing the “C;” the Jewish Star of David, the “X;” and the Christian cross, the “T.” As the next few songs progress, Bono kneels down, wrists crossed above his head, conjuring images of a hostage, now blindfolded with the CoeXisT band covering his eyes. In the European shows, the CoeXisT sign dominates the giant screen behind the band. And in the midst of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (which, according to Bono, doesn’t just belong to Ireland anymore) Bono points to each religious icon and declares:

“Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it’s true…All sons of Abraham. Father Abraham, speak to your sons. Tell them, No more!”

Wikipedia notes,  “He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger.”

And Mr Jim Daly of Focus on the Family is promoting Bono as a Christian? Where is the discernment?

The thing that mixes people up in the case of Bono is that most folks acknowledge God but live lives devoid of fruit. Those are easy to tell are not Christian. (Matthew 7:16). Some people mention sin. A very few talk about Jesus. So when they do mention Jesus people get all excited, thinking that this must mean the person is a believer! Jesus is so marginalized in culture by now and excluded from church so often (Revelation 3:20) that when someone says they believe in Him, their discernment goes out the window and they cling to their statement as if it is a mantra or an abracadabra magic word and they are welcomed with open arms.

Bono’s ONE organization believes in social justice for the poor, and later on down the page on their website, likens social justice with equality. This is socialistic wealth redistribution, and communism at its root, and it shows a flawed attitude toward Jesus. The poor will always be among us, He said. (“Mark 14:7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”)

Worse, Bono’s ONE organization admits that ONE is not about charity. It’s not charity, it’s justice, their website says. Jesus said to be charitable but focus on Him, as stated in Mark. He said to be charitable and leave the justice to Him.

Source

Social justice for the poor makes a flawed secular assumption. It assumes the poor got that way because the wealthy oppressed them. Not so in every case. Our energies are to share the gospel so that when this vapor of a poor life is over, they will enjoy an eternal inheritance.

Did you know that the ONE organization only sent one percent of its total donations to intended destinations? (also reported here). Imagine if the amount donated to ONE in 2010 (£9.6m/$8M) went to support missions!!! Gideons!!!! Bible translation efforts for unreached peoples!!!

Can a man who claims to be half-Catholic, lauds the pope, substitutes Karma for Jesus as the heart of the universe, quotes the Koran, says that all religions are a faith community, wants to eradicate extreme poverty in this lifetime by redistributing wealth in a carnal act of self-proclaimed justice, and builds his life on a misunderstood piece of scripture, be a Christian? No.

How can this be so?

Many, many believe by mental assent, not heart-repentance and faith in the invisible God. Their works stem from an intellectual acceptance of and agreement with some scriptures.

Jesus said that many who do works in His name are not believers. Matthew 7:22 says, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’”

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19).

The blending of Christianese into people’s faith statements is increasingly difficult to parse. It did throw me for a loop to read in an interview that Bono believes Jesus died for his sins…but then I read that he believes Jesus’s sacrificial act broke the karma on his life and we share the same root of faith as Muslims. It will only get harder from here on out, as the one world religion blends itself into a amorphous ball of clay that hides the corrupt center.

The lesson for us … will be discussed in part 3.

Posted in coup, egypt

UPDATED: Morsi OUT. Military coup looming in Egypt, NOW

Posted on by elizabethprata

Update- Morsi OUT.

Gehad El-Haddad Gehad El-Haddad, @gelhaddad, is “media spokesman for Muslim Brotherhood & Senior Adviser to Freedom & Justice Party | Exec Director at Nahda Project | Media Entrepreneur | [Opinions are personal]”

He tweeted this a bit earlier today:

UK Telegraph posted 3 minutes ago:
“Egypt heads for further bloody clashes as President Mohamed Morsi refuses to step down and the army vows to die in “final hours”

“17.46 The military has yet to issue its much-anticipated statement on what it thinks should happen next in Egypt, but President Morsi’s national security advisor has already made it pretty clear what he thinks is going on behind the scenes.

“For the sake of Egypt and for historical accuracy, let’s call what is happening by its real name: Military coup,” said Essam al-Haddad in comments posted on Facebook. “As I write these lines I am fully aware that these may be the last lines I get to post on this page.”

USA Today posted a few minutes ago-

Marines poised for mission in Egypt
“A contingent of the Marines’ new fast reaction force for rescue missions in Africa has been moved to Sigonella, Italy, for possible action in Egypt. “This is certainly one of the possibilities of the (task force),” Marine Capt. Eric Flanagan, a spokesman based at the Pentagon, said in an email. “The unit is always on standby with a short tether.” With Egypt teetering on anarchy, the 500-member Marine unit could be called on to swoop in and help secure the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.”

God says of Egypt: in Isaiah 19, He has plans for them!

1An oracle concerning Egypt.

Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
and they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confounda their counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and the mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.

5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who work for pay will be grieved.

11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of Memphis are deluded;
those who are the cornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

16In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

18In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.b

19In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. 20It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Posted in abortion, demonstrate, hail, pro-life, satan

I am not making this up…pro-abortion activists chant "Hail Satan!"

Posted on by elizabethprata

“Pro-choice protesters shouted, “Hail Satan!” as an attempt to drown out pro-lifers’ rendition of “Amazing Grace.” ” Read more from The Washington Times

This is a good blog post:

“Ever found yourself looking for a way to initiate a conversation about God, but not sure exactly how to start? The Best Question to Ask When Starting a Conversation About God”

Crisis in Arab world gives Israel strategic breathing room, says Amos Harel.

The Middle East Is on Fire: An Unsettling Wrap-Up of the Death, Destruction and Chaos From Around the Globe

The global fiscal has not gone away, Portugal may re-ignite Europe crisis
“Having won praise for taking tough measures to restore the financial health of the eurozone state, Portugal’s government has been rocked this week by the resignation of two ministers who quit because of waning public support for its program of austerity. … anxious investors sold stocks and bonds heavily Wednesday on fears that the government may collapse.”

Belgium’s king may abdicate. All Belgium awaits his speech

Church Curmudgeon said, “”Hymnals make you look down during worship.” said guy who spends 70% of the time staring at his phone during the service.” @ChrchCurmudgeon