Dives sum, si non reddo eis quibus debeo.
Titus Maccius Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus
Buddhism Buds in Church
Buddhism, mysticism, spirit guides; meditation, silence, contemplation; mind silencers, prayer walkers, faith builders; educational programs, Christian schools, Christian education; Christian churches, Bible institutes, religious colleges — do any of those not belong together?
Last month the Denver Post had this article: Buddhism strengthens ties to church. I’ll quote extensively from it below.
I want to know: Is this alarming to you if you’re a Christian? Should it be alarming to me since I’m a Christian?
Steven Anderson: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
So Pastor Steven Anderson prays for President Obama’s death, huh?
Here’s an excerpt of the above story. What Biblical commands and injunctions is this guy violating anyway?!
Pastor Steven Anderson said he and his congregation have received death threats after a controversial sermon earlier this month.
“Guns are a great deterrent,” said Anderson. “We haven’t had any violence because people know if they come down here swinging a baseball bat, we’re ready to protect ourselves.”
On August 16th, Anderson delivered a sermon titled “Why I Hate Barack Obama.”
In it, Anderson admitted he prays for the president’s death.
It is a position he reiterated Sunday.
“If you want to know how I’d like to see Obama die, I’d like him to die of natural causes,” said Anderson. “I don’t want him to be a martyr, we don’t need another holiday. I’d like to see him die, like Ted Kennedy, of brain cancer.”
Then there’s this from Fox News:
He called his message “spiritual warfare” and said he does not condone killing.
[…]
In Anderson’s controversial sermon, delivered at his Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe before Obama arrived for a speech in Phoenix earlier in the month, the pastor said he wants the president to “melt like a snail” with salt on it.
“I’m gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight. That’s what I’m gonna pray,” he told his congregation.
So, what do you say? Which New Testament rules for Christian living is Mr. Steven Anderson disobeying?
Let’s compile a Christianity 101 lesson outline for him (and for us) on this subject. Maybe after we get something together here, I’ll post it as a separate post called “A Biblical Sermon Outline for Steven Anderson” — or something like that. And link to it at some free sermon outlines web site.
Meanwhile, I call on God’s people to pray for the President. Pray for God’s protection over President Obama and his family. Not only that, pray for God’s blessing on them.
(Just so you know, right now I can’t think of any part of President Obama’s agenda as I know it that I would call righteous. But that’s not what this post is about!)
Scenic Views
I used to call this blog Mark’s Views, Perhaps (which should explain the mvp in the URL).
So let me show you three views I held less than an hour ago (I think) this morning, albeit not for very long.
au natural — that is, flash-free
Flashed pampas grass — did I spell that correctly?
volunteer sunflowers towering over my eight feet
I know, I know — I appear to be off beam in that last photo. My unipod wasn’t level.
What are your views on those views?
Ireland Blasphemy Law
One of my friends from Hopewell Mennonite Church recently moved to Ireland. So this story caught my attention this morning:
Ireland’s new blasphemy law labeled return to Middle Ages
The Irish government plans to bring into force a new law in October that critics say is a return to medieval justice.
The legislation, aimed at providing judges with clear direction on the 1937 Constitution’s blasphemy prohibition, imposes a fine of up to 25,000 euros – about $39,000 – for anyone who “publishes or utters matter that is intentionally meant to be grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”
Police with a search warrant will be able to enter private premises and use “reasonable force” to obtain incriminating evidence.
Military Internment Camps
In the USA???
American concentration camps…for American citizens???
In his piece More On Internment Camps, Chuck Baldwin (whoever he is), quotes some other guy:
“When I first heard the FEMA Prison Camp conspiracy story, it seemed ridiculous and paranoid at face value. But when I finally dug in to research it, I started by searching for the origins of the rumors, and found to my surprise that nearly all of the legal foundation and precedent for such a plan does in fact exist.”
That other guy (as I recall) had this to say at the end of his own piece on the subject of FEMA concentration camps:
We choose to elect politicians who don’t want us to bring water bottles onto planes, because (for better or for worse) that’s what’s important to our society right now. I don’t remember anyone electing a politician who wants to throw millions of Americans into prison camps. To make effective electoral decisions, you need to maintain a healthy skepticism, and not go off the deep end and suppose that every Halliburton contract is a slippery slope leading to Americans being gassed in military concentration camps. If you see barbed wire around a train yard, consider the possibility of other explanations (like the train company doesn’t need stuff being stolen) before you conclude that the Illuminati are out to kill you.
So what’s the truth?
How should I know?!
But, if nothing else, it’s an interesting story that includes a conspiracy theory, American concentration camps, and the Illuminati.
We report; you deride. 😆