When 5 loaves and 2 fish aren't enough

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I recently went on a 2 week missions trip to The Republic of Benin in Africa. Even before I went, “I knew” that poverty and sickness were widespread in Africa. The life expectancy is 20 years shorter in Benin than in the US and the infant mortality rate is 10 times higher.

In 2007, our missions leader, had asked me to consider going to Benin. I attended the informational meetings, and asked The Lord if he wanted me to go. The cost of the trip was more than $3,000 and as a sign, I asked for The Lord to provide the money.

The power of God hurls mountains into the sea and can feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish. If you do not have the power of God guiding your steps, a missions trip to anywhere is as pointless as throwing rocks at the moon. When The Lord told Moses to lead the Israelites across the desert, Moses responded with a simple request.

Exodus 33:15-16

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Missions groups to Africa have reported generous outpourings of grace for healing and deliverance. I didn't want to be just another tourist; I wanted the power of God to go with us to heal the sick, raise the dead and set the captives free.

Some will say that I am expecting too much, but my wife suffered from infertility and was healed. She had miscarried several times, but during an intercessory prayer meeting, electricity began to go through her womb and she was healed. Two months later she was pregnant and she did not have any of the problems that had plagued earlier pregnancies.My wife had also suffered from carpal tunnel but The Lord healed that too. During a time of prayer, her wrist grew hot and she was healed. Margie, a lady who used to cut my hair, told me how she had been healed of Leukemia more than 40 years ago. She lay in a hospital, near death when The Lord impressed upon her to summon a Christian man she knew to pray. He prayed for several hours and she walked out of that hospital completely healed. I know many others who have been healed. I have been praying for years that The Lord will heal my wife of arthritis, primarily in her knees and I will continue to pray for it.

Even the homeless in America have better health care than the huddled masses of Africa. If The Lord would perform miracles, in America, a country that is turning it's back on God, then wouldn't he do more for the least and the lost in Africa, who are abandoning the animistic religions and idols of their ancestors, and turning to Jesus? Surely, God would do more in Africa.

The money I prayed for as a sign, did not come. Sometimes, The Lord wants us to step into a difficult place based on faith. Because of a dream, at the 11^th hour, I took a step of faith, put the $3,000 on a credit card, and went. We landed in Ghana, one of Benin's neighbors, and everywhere we saw the fruit of a revival that had swept across that nation in recent years. Gas stations, hair dressers and even semi trucks lovingly incorporated praise for God on their store fronts and in the names of their shops. We happened to overhear 2 men arguing and even the argument acknowledged God. One man shouted at the other that Jesus would certainly punish him because he was not speaking and dealing honestly. Having grown callous to hearing the name of Jesus being used as a curse, it was a welcome contrast. We were glad for the people of Ghana and we wanted The Lord to do the same thing in Benin.

When we finally reached Benin, we were taken by how far reaching the poverty was. The cities were filled with tin shacks and the rural villages were filled with thatched huts. Women balanced huge bowls on their heads, selling their wares, while carrying a baby strapped on their backs. The streets of Contonu, the capital city, were choked with traffic and thousands of people in booths lined the streets each day trying to etch out a life. Everywhere, there were signs that Benin's resources were spread thin and stretched to the point of breaking.

Thousands of mopeds clogged the streets serving as taxis, carrying huge sacks of grain or serving as a family mini van. Dad would drive with a large basket corralled between the handle bars, mom would be in back with bags in each hand and a toddler or two would be sandwiched between them. The air was oppressive and thick with the exhaust of poorly tuned engines making it difficult to breath. The driving was so aggressive that it's best described as a contact sport.

Our accommodations were a stark contrast to the huddled masses of Benin. Our hosts, graciously allowed our team to stay in their very lovely home. They had bedrooms to spare, but lacked furniture. When we arrived, we were humbled to learn that our hosts had purchased beds and furniture for each room. Every day, our missions leader served gourmet meals which we ate on a beautiful 3^rd floor balcony well above the tin shacks of Contonu. Our leader and our hosts were the picture of kindness and grace, so that we never lacked for anything.

At Christmas, Samaritan's Purse hosts “Operation Christmas Child” which collects shoe boxes packed with small gifts and ships them to needy children around the world. Each box has about $20 worth of very basic items: pencils, paper, soap, a tooth brush, a toy, and some hard candy. We were invited by a local pastor to help pass out mosquito nets (which help fight Malaria) and about 100 Samaritans Purse boxes. Word spread through the community and the host church was packed with hundreds of people. The church lacked any windows but had many open archways so that any breeze would bring relief from the heat and humidity. We sat on plain wooden benches, and the choir, dressed in robes, had few instruments, but they sang as beautifully as any songbird that America could boast of. And of course, the choir sang, danced and worshiped with a heaping measure of Africa in each song.

When we finally began distributing the boxes, the people, who had been waiting for hours, pressed in frantically on every side. We managed to hand out 2 boxes before the crowd surged forward, pushing, shouting and fighting with each other. I struggled to remain standing, not wanting to fall on top of some children fighting for a box at my feet. Our team squirmed through the shouting mob and made our way out of the building, feeling overwhelmed. Our illegitimate expectations of giving gifts to smiling, respectful, grateful, children in a neat and orderly way had been violently swept away. The local pastor helped us put it in perspective with grace and humor. He walked up to me, shook my hand, and said with great enthusiasm, “Welcome To Africa”. He is right, that's Africa. He was not demeaning his people as an unruly mob but was reminding us that they are poor and western etiquette is a luxury few can afford. Our mission leader's wife just laughed and said “They are my people”.

We visited a church in the village of Attiema that met in a thatched hut. The villagers got their water from wells but they often got sick because the wells were infected with a fungus. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the leading cause of death in the world is from water born diseases (1.8 million every year) and 90% of those deaths are children under the age of 5.

I like to study “backyard chemistry” and knew that a bio sand filter would kill the fungus and stop the sickness. This simple technology has no moving parts, requires no electricity and is used all over the world to purify water with excellent results. The materials cost about $30 per filter, but the time, tools and materials were not available, so I left Attiema with a knot in my stomach. I saw many needs that could be fixed with a little knowledge, a few tools, and a little money, but it had not been part of our mission. It became a splinter in my mind and at night I lay awake asking The Lord why he had brought me to Benin.

Ecclesiastes 1:18

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.

Our team had the opportunity to pray for the church in Attiema, where the local language is Fon. I usually “interview” people before praying for them but I had no interpreter, so I could not talk to the people. Too often, rather than listen for the still small voice of God I have merely prayed my best wishes and good intentions because it's easier than listening quietly. In a way, not having an interpreter was a blessing. Sounding artificially spiritual when praying was impossible in a foreign language. I was surprised how I unconsciously altered my prayer when I knew that God was not the only one listening. But now, I had to strain to hear that still small voice, more than I ever had before.

Over the years, I have been given prophetic words by different people indicating that the spirit of a father rests on me. That night I prayed for only 2 adults but about 40 children. I was not wanting to pray for that many children but for whatever reason, the finger of God brought them to me. I prayed for them as I would for my own children; blessing their health, their families, their work, their future marriages and faith. With the Holy Spirit pressing upon me, I wept and wept, crying out to God as I laid hands on and prayed for those children.

I wanted The Lord to heal the sick, raise the dead, and set the captives free, but no word has been received from the church in Attiema indicating that any healings took place. Only God knows the future to see what effect our prayers have had. Trying to rest on faith that something worthwhile happened, sucks. I confess to being a faith midget and for purely selfish motives I asked The Lord to let me see the fruit of the trip. But, He has been agonizingly silent.

I saw many needs in Benin, and knew of simple solutions to many of those needs. But we had not prepared for it. When I finally left Benin, I was distraught, and was reminded of Naomi:

Ruth 1:19-21

When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" "Don't call me Naomi, [which means pleasant] " she told them. "Call me Mara [which means bitter], because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

I had great hopes of what The Lord would do in Benin but I felt as though I brought my 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus only to leave empty handed. I am haunted by Benin and since then, like Habakkuk, I have been crying out to God, pouring out my complaint.

Habakkuk 1:2

How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?

In my life, I have seen The Lord turn tragedy into triumph, and in Naomi's time He eventually turned Naomi's bitterness to joy. My hope and prayer is that out of the sorrow I feel, The Lord will birth something better. Till then my spirit stands waiting for an answer:

Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

Creation vs Evolution; Part 1

An Unbalanced Debate

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Part 1 of a 3 part series discussing the evil fruit of evolution and the dangers of it's infiltration into the Christian church.

In our present evil age, there is a war over the minds, hearts, and souls of a very fallen humanity. The Lord desires to lure us out of a self imposed darkness into his light, but the world, guided by the evil one, seeks to extinguish that light. As believers in Christ we accept that the Bible is authoritative, that it is timeless, and that it is without error, because it is given by inspiration of God. One of the ways the evil one seeks to dim that light is by undermining the authority of the Bible with a toxic lie called evolution. This lie has brought death with it, on a scale that is difficult to grasp due to it's breadth.

Evolution (the belief that all life arose by chance without God) obviously contradicts the Genesis account of creation (also called Intelligent Design). No unbiased person reading Genesis would come to the conclusion that it was secretly hinting at evolution, yet some within the church in order to accommodate popular culture, have cast aside the obvious literal interpretation of Genesis in favor of an artificial “symbolic” interpretation. The Genesis account, they argue, is figurative, like a parable, and not literal, but this “interpretation” introduces several more toxic lies. Not only did Jesus speak of the creation account as factual history but if there was no “literal” Adam and Eve, then there was no literal original sin to be atoned for. This would mean that Jesus was crucified for a mere parable and not to atone for our sins.

Self determination:

“Sovereignty” is the right to rule, judge, reward and punish. The Bible teaches that God has sovereignty over the whole earth and that he will one day judge the living and the dead, punishing some and rewarding others. We like to imagine that we sustain ourselves but this is not true, as it is God, who causes the sun to shine, the to rain fall, and the food to grow. Referring to God, one of Job's friends said:

If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust. Job 34:14 – 15:

Just as parents gives birth to children, provide for them, and so have authority over them, so God's authority over humanity is based upon the fact that he both created and even now sustains us. Evolution denies God's supernatural creation, and therefore denies his claim to sovereignty over humanity. If God did not create us, then we owe him nothing, and we are free to do as we please, rather than as he wills.

Right and wrong:

If evolution is true, then there is no meaningful argument for “right and wrong” so your ethics can change according to your circumstances, or what is called “situational ethics”. Thomas Huxley, known as “Darwin's Bull Dog”, was an enthusiastic early champion of evolution. His grandchildren, Aldous and Julian, stated that one of the reasons they accepted evolution was because it liberated them from the commonly held beliefs of right and wrong:

"For myself, as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom."

(Aldous Huxley, noted author)

"I suppose the reason we leaped at the origin of species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores."

(Sir Julian Huxley, President of the United Nation's Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO).)

Hopelessness and Meaninglessness:

The flip side of this liberating coin is perhaps even more dangerous. We are made in God's image and God calls us his children. Evolution denies that divine spark in humanity and reduces us to only a more evolved “animal” with no special meaning or purpose.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Genesis 1:26

God made Adam and Eve ruler of the earth and gave them very simple instructions.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28

The earth and everything in it was created for our benefit and God intended for us to rule the earth as his children with the command “fill the earth and subdue it”. The Lord never gave any indication that we needed to stop at a certain number of people, nor did he suggest that we should play god and regulate the world population ourselves. The Lord plainly stated Israel's borders when they entered the promised land, in the same way, If the earth's population was something we were supposed to regulate then God would have said so. On the contrary, we know that The Lord is fully capable of controlling the world population himself and will regulate it as he sees fit.

Part 2: Environmentalism, Communism, Racism and Eugenics

Creation vs Evolution; Part 2

Environmentalism, Communism, Racism and Eugenics

Environmentalism:

While evolution diminishes the value of humanity to being no more than an animal, a new heresy is rising as a fruit of evolution that views humanity not as rulers, nor as equals, but as a “planetary cancer”. This highly toxic and radical ideology, is the environmentalist movement whose “environmentally friendly” advocacy has set the stage for the deaths of millions of people worldwide. This video clip called "The Cure for Planetary Cancer" from the 02/27/2009 broadcast of "The Hal Lindsey Report" does an excellent job of making this point very clear.

The earth's population is now about 6.5 Billion people, but environmental groups argue that the earth can only support 500 Million people and want to eliminate the “excess” 6 Billion (that's 12 out of every 13 people). Environment groups are advocating abortion, sterilization, and “environmental” regulations that lead to the deaths of thousands if not millions of people. Consider the following example.

Malaria is an infectious disease, transmitted to people by mosquitoes, and it is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 3 Million people each year who are mostly young children and pregnant women. Malaria costs the continent of Africa an estimated $12 Billion a year. In 1939 DDT was discovered to be a highly effective pesticide dramatically slashing the number of new cases of malaria. DDT is safe, effective and inexpensive and was so successful at controlling malaria that DDT is the only pesticide to have ever been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. But then in the 1970's, based upon bad science, the environmental movement successfully banned DDT.

As a result, world wide cases of malaria skyrocketed because alternative pesticides were not as cheap, safe or effective. A watch dog group called junkscience.com has a “malaria clock” showing the estimated number of new infections and deaths. Since it's ban, over 30 years ago, 14 Billion people have become infected with malaria, and of those, nearly 100 million have died (especially in Africa). Environmental groups argue that there are alternative pesticides but as many African's only earn $1 a day, they can not afford the far more expensive alternatives.

I saw a YouTube video showing how people in Africa had trained a species of very large African rats to sniff out landlines and mark the spot. The rats were not heavy enough to detonate the mines, but animal rights activists were cursing them for using trained rats:

I'd rather see some kid or better, a bunch of kids get ripped and blown to shreds than see an animal get killed.

OK, i dont like to see anything die, but i find humans worthless compared to the life of an animal. HUMANS put HUMANS's lives in danger, animals didnt. WHats the big deal, they skin dogs for fur, why not skin a human for fun, huh?

The animal rights activists showed the most chilling callousness to human suffering I can remember seeing.

Evolution has opened the door to unimaginable death, and destruction though it is not usually recognized as a contributing factor. Atheists like to cite war based upon religion (such as the crusades) but they seem completely ignorant of the death and destruction brought because dictators and governments were following the principles of evolution to their logical conclusions.

Communism:

The Chinese considered evolution so central to communism that religions and rival moralities were ruthlessly exterminated as being incompatible with communist ideologies and plans.

In 1947, Bishop O'Gara was imprisoned by the Chinese Communists and wrote from his prison cell. A number of them were "hopeless" to the new regime and were executed. Those considered "salvageable" had to attend a week-long class as the new "People's Republic" was born. His letter described the retraining classes. He does not refer to Marxist philosophy, redistribution of wealth, or even basic socialist principles, but rather Darwinian evolution. This was what was considered the first vital step towards a cooperative communist populace. Eliminate God the Creator, eliminate original sin, replace God with the State.... The Chinese relied upon Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to undermine the religious foundation of millions of faithful. Those too strong to crack were eliminated. (Terry Jackson, The Devolution of Evolution)

Evolution's evil fruit have cost the lives of millions. An estimated 50 million died under the Chinese Communism and an estimated 20 million more died in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.

Lest you think that what happen in China and the Soviet Union are are exceptions to the rule, consider this:

Fascism and Eugenics (also called Social Darwinism):

"The German Fuhrer, as I have consistently maintained, is an evolutionist; he has consistently sought to make the practices of Germany conform to the theory of evolution."

(Sir Arthur Keith, a militant anti-Christian physical anthropologist)

"If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such cases all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile" (Adolph Hitler, "Mein Kampf" 1924)

Long before WW II, Hitler openly promoted evolution and the idea that the Aryan (German) race was “the Master Race”. Hitler secretly created the T-4 “Eugenics” program which killed 275,000 “unfit” people and forcibly sterilized 400,000 more. Hitler even instituted the Lebensborn (Fount of Life) program which encouraged "racially pure" women to mate with "racially pure" men (often SS officers). The Nazi Eugenics poster featured here says:

"This person suffering from hereditary defects costs the community 60,000 Reichsmark during his lifetime. Fellow German, that is your money, too."

Racism:

Some have argued that this is an unfair application of Evolution and is not actually an underlying theme within evolution. But is it? Please consider these quotes by Darwin himself and his “bulldog” Thomas Huxley:

"The more civilized so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world." (Charles Darwin, 1881, 3 July, "Life and Letters of Darwin, vol. 1, 316")

"No rational man, cognizant of the facts, believes that the average Negro is the equal, still less the superior, of the white man.....it is simply incredible to think that.....he will be able to compete successfully with his bigger-brained and smaller-jawed rival, in a contest which is to be carried on by thoughts and not by bites." (Thomas Huxley, 1871, Lay Sermons, addresses and reviews)

Eugenics in America:

Some will feel insulated believing that these things could not have happen on American soil but that is not true. Hitlers eugenics of the 1930's were an expanded version of what the United States was doing since 1907. 33 states has compulsory sterilization laws and between 1907 and 1981, over 65,000 people were forcibly sterilized as part of state level “eugenics” programs.

The 1936 Nazi poster at right says "We do not stand alone": and shows the flags of other countries with, compulsory sterilization laws (including the USA). The woman is holding a baby and the man is holding a shield inscribed with the title of Nazi Germany's 1933 compulsory sterilization law.

The US Supreme Court in an 8 to 1 decision, declared that states had a right to sterilize a citizen they deemed unfit in the infamous “Buck v. Bell” case of 1927. in his court opinion, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote:

We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence. It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. (Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.)

He concluded with his infamous comment “Three generations of imbeciles are enough”. Evolution has only one commandment, survival of the fittest, anything less is blasphemy.

Part 3: Many Infallible Proofs:

Creation vs Evolution; Part 3

Many Infallible Proofs:

Creation and evolution can't both be true, at least one of them must be wrong. The Lord has left a trail of many infallible proofs that he created all life and there is a large body of scientific evidence that favors divine creation and that refutes evolution.

"To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree possible." (Charles Darwin, "The origin of species by means of natural selection")

"A growing number of respectable scientists are defecting from the evolutionist camp.....moreover, for the most part these "experts" have abandoned Darwinism, not on the basis of religious faith or biblical persuasions, but on strictly scientific grounds, and in some instances, regretfully." (Dr. Wolfgang Smith, physicist and mathematician)

"All of us who study the origin of life find that the more we look into it, the more we feel it is too complex to have evolved anywhere. We all believe as an article of faith that life evolved from dead matter on this planet. It is just that life's complexity is so great, it is hard for us to imagine that it did." (Dr. Harold Urey, Nobel Prize winner)

"The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualist accounts of evolution." (Stephen Jay Gould, Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Harvard University.)

The enemy within:

Churches should be leaders in defending the authority and historical accuracy of the Bible but unfortunately some churches are part of the problem.

One pastor of a large mega church told hundreds of teenagers to accept without question whatever the “reigning paradigm” of science was and mocked those who questioned evolution from the pulpit. The reckless nature of these statements become apparent when we remember that “Eugenics” was the reigning paradigm of science in it's day.

Another pastor went so far as to start a campaign “ADD YOUR VOICE TO THIS EVANGELICAL APOLOGY TO DARWIN”. This pastor, eulogized Darwin as a “hero” for “revealing the unity of all living things”, praising him as “a tender soul”, and suggesting the absurd portrayal of Darwin as a liberator of the oppressed.

The religious authorities of his day held great power in England. Anglican clergymen practiced “natural theology” as a hobby–the only real biology of his time. The doctrine of a static and special creation of each species independent of the others under-girded the social order: everything forever in its proper place, gender, race and class, right up to her majesty, the Queen. This doctrine supported the notion that slaves belonged in the fields and women in the parlor, serving tea. Darwin’s nerdy findings were going up against the powers and the principalities of his time. (Ken Wilson, apologies to the memory of Charles Darwin)

This knight-in-shining-armor portrayal of Darwin is disturbing and completely fictional. Darwin's comments about higher races eliminating lower races has already been stated but Darwin's writings also reveal his belief in the supremacy of one sex over the other as well.

"The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by mans attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than the woman. Whether deep thought, reason, or imagination or merely the use of the senses and hands.....We may also infer.....The average mental power in man must be above that of woman." (Charles Darwin, "The descent of Man, pg. 566")

Yet, in what seemed to be a choreographed effort to milk the reader for sympathy, this pastor lamented the death of 3 of Darwin's 8 children, describing him as “a broken heart”, who suffered “a crushing blow” by the “cruel and drawn out” death of a child.

Childhood death was quite common in that day (and still is in Africa), even Abraham Lincoln lost 3 of his 4 children before they reached adulthood. While the loss of a child is understandably tragic, it has nothing to do with “if” Darwin should get an apology from Christendom or not. This pastor even refused to allow any critical discussion of Darwin:

“I won’t post any comments that say anything nasty about Darwin–not on his birthday”.

His Birthday?... Rather than a genuine apology, the entire article seemed to be just a cattle prod to shame evangelicals into abandoning creation.

Going against the flow of popular culture is difficult and some shrink back from the battle, fearing the scorn or craving the acceptance of those considered wise in the eyes of the world.

Conclusion:

There is far too much evidence to discuss here and that is not the point of this article. Rather than point out specific evidence against evolution, I hope to bring to light the reasons WHY evolution is so toxic, not just to Christian faith but to humanity itself. It takes time to carefully weigh the evidence on the balance scales of our minds and it takes time to learn how to debate with others, speaking firmly but respectfully. If you are aware of the deadly fruit of evolution's evil seeds then the answers to the questions: should I research creationism, should I debate evolution, become self evident.

"Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may have not devoted myself to a fantasy." (Charles Darwin, Life and Letters, 1887, Vol. 2, p. 229)

I have included a list of resources for those who would like to research more into the scientific evidences supporting special Divine creation and refuting Darwinian Evolution.

There are numerous educational videos and books available on the ICR and AIG websites.

Resources:

The Institute for Creation Research (ICR): http://www.icr.org/

Answers in Genesis (AIG): http://www.answersingenesis.org/

ICR radio: http://www.icr.org/radio/stationfinder/

Creation Ministries International: http://creationontheweb.com/

Periodicals:

Creation: quarterly magazine, 56 pages (glossy) http://creationontheweb.com/

Answers Magazine: (AIG) published quarterly http://www.answersingenesis.org/

Videos:

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed: http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

Save the whales but damn the children

The 1st commandment is to love The Lord you God with all you heart, mind, soul and strength. The 2nd commandment is like the 1st: To love you neighbor as yourself. Jesus said that all the law and prophets hang on these 2 commandments. These commandments are pure, simple and perfect.

When a car tire is out of balance, it literally destroys itself. When our priorities are out of balance, we can destroy not just ourselves but others as well. Fame, wealth and beauty are highly esteemed in our culture but the sparkle is merely fools gold. Like cotton candy, these things have has an appearance of substance but they do not satisfy. The list of celebrities with self destructive lifestyles continues to grow. Heath Ledger's recent death is but one example in a long list of lives claimed by the emptiness promises of this world.

It is one thing when an unbalanced life destroys itself but it is entirely another matter when an unbalanced life destroys others. I have watched with growing grief and alarm as animal rights environmentalists, viciously malign, destitute and starving peoples around the world, to prevent them from hunting food to sustain their families or to use to barter for clothes, comfort or medicine. Environmentalists, far from the destitution of Africa, indoctrinate our young in an ideology that will forcibly deny food to needy children in the name of environmentalism.

I viewed a YouTube video recently showing how people in Africa were using trained rats to seek out land mines in mine fields. Using their keen sense of smell, and tethered on a very short leash between 2 men, the rats could safely locate the mines without detonating them. I wished them well in their quest to reclaim their land from the horrors of war. but was grieved and angered to see environmentalists curse them, with profanity drenched tirades objecting to using the rats in a dangerous situation. Here is a few brief samples:

I'd rather see some kid or better, a bunch of kids get ripped and blown to shreds than see an animal get killed. But yes, they are definatly to light to trigger the mines.

Whether or not they're 'saving people' I find it disgusting that they choose to use animals to do this.

i find humans worthless compared to the life of an animal. HUMANS put HUMANS's lives in danger, animals didnt. WHats the big deal, they skin dogs for fur, why not skin a human for fun, huh? Yeah, you can report me as spam as you are the higher class scum who thinks your better than everyone else.

Save the whales but damn the children. The godless nature of modern environmental places the value of mere animals on par with the value of the humans whom Jesus died to save. How have we come to tolerate such wickedness? The environmentalists are at a very safe distance from the horrors of war and I wonder how long they would cling to those ideologies if they had to locate the mines themselves. With an estimated 80 million land mines and scant medical care available, I suspect they would quickly be of another opinion.

Matthew 18: 1 - 6:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Despite the clear biblical commandment to love thy neighbor, this diseased ideology has even infested the church under the name "Creation Care". Seasoned pastors who should know better, have turned their back on Biblical truth and upon people created in the image of God, to bow the knee to modern environmentalism. Lazarus has been laid at their doorstep, only to be turned away. Churches have been caught up in a heresy that has sought to save all manner of creatures at the expense of human beings created in the image of God. Jesus died to save humanity, not the whales.

A Word Regarding the United States when President Obama takes office

This is a word from The Lord I received on 1/19/2009 from a trusted and respected friend, who asked me to post this and pass it on. I believe it is worth reading, pondering and passing on.

A Word Regarding the United States when President Obama takes office. Given on 1/19/2009

Once when the oath of office has been taken, by the assuming one, then at that very second the hand of God will be removed from this nation. The people have chosen their king. They have turned to the arm of Man to be their savior and not the Lord Jesus. Turned to man, the assumed one who believes he is savior of this country. He who exalts himself as someone special.

Turned to man this man states that only the government will solve the problems of this nation. That the government brings in the Jubilee. The Lord speaks that this is idol worship. This nation has toppled from the heights of blessings because this man is looked on as a savior.

The remnant will not be able to stay the Lord’s judgment any longer. This country was a lamp set on a lamp stand, a city of light on a great hill. No longer. This light of the United States is now a darkness, and Jesus said if the light becomes dark how great is that darkness.

Therefore, the Lord speaks to us to repent and return to the light, the one true well of life and living water.

Colen Poeppelmeyer

1/19/2009

Sojourning Socialists: an INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY editorial

Election '08: Barack Obama has joined forces with a white socialist he calls a "good friend" — the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of "Sojourners." He too believes in "liberation theology," sans the black nationalism. In fact, Wallis is the white version of Jeremiah Wright, sans the black rage.

In addition to publishing "Sojourners" magazine, Wallis runs Call to Renewal — a network of liberal churches and activist groups "committed to ending poverty and racism."

Wright once joined Wallis at the U.S. Capitol in an anti-poverty "preach-in" sponsored by Call to Renewal.

Jim Wallis is more eloquent than Obama's former mentor, Jeremiah Wright, but preaches the same anti-American message.

Wallis and his Washington-based operation have essentially replaced Wright and his militantly Afrocentric Chicago church, which Obama expediently dumped in the heat of the primary race after videos surfaced of his fire-breathing preacher damning America.

The avuncular, noncombative Wallis offers Obama a voting bloc that Wright could never help deliver: white Christian evangelicals, if in Birkenstocks.

At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Obama tapped Wallis to oversee the drafting of the faith-based plank of the party platform (which, by the way, champions outreach programs for "ex-offenders").

"This is a very faith-friendly convention," Wallis said. "I think Democrats have really gone through an important change." But their newfound faith is not one most mainline Christians would even recognize, let alone embrace.

Like Wright and Obama, Wallis believes that biblical faith compels radical social action. Their political ministry is called the "social gospel," but it's really just socialism dressed up in a cheap tunic. They refuse to separate personal faith from political activism, whether at home or abroad.

In the '80s, for example, Wallis and Wright rallied to the cause of the communist regime in Nicaragua, and protested the U.S. arming of the Contra rebels. Wallis, in fact, marshaled thousands of "Witnesses for Peace" and joined them in Nicaragua, making it known they were willing to take a bullet to stop the anti-communist insurgency.

Wallis is more eloquent than Wright, but he preaches the same anti-American message. According to discoverthenetworks.org, he once called the U.S. "the great power, the great seducer, the great captor and destroyer of human life, the great master of humanity and history in its totalitarian claims and designs."

Like Obama, Wallis got his start in Chicago, where he too was involved in community organizing. He forged ties with black gang leaders, including at least one known cop-killer.

While agitating in Chicago, Wallis published a newspaper called the "Post-American," which was printed by the same radicals who put out the Black Panther paper. Now in D.C., he presides at funerals of gangbangers and runs a commune in the ghetto that romanticizes blight and mocks efforts at urban renewal.

"I don't know which is the worst evil," he said in a 1994 interview with the Los Angeles Times magazine, "the crackhouse or the gentrified house."

Wallis agrees with Obama that American racism and capitalism are to blame for inner-city poverty, and echoes his oft-repeated call for "economic justice." They share a spread-the-wealth vision, including subsidizing the working poor beyond expanded tax credits and minimum-wage hikes.

"The Bible says prosperity has to be shared," Wallis said in a January 2000 interview with IBD. "It's very simple."

"So far the rising tide is lifting all the yachts, but not the boats the poor inner-city kids are in," he said, adding that the stock market has created a "casino economy."

Wallis likes to think of himself and his sojourners as "progressives." But "they're really just socialists," said David Kelley, director of the Objectivist Center in New York.

Wallis may couch his Bolshevist views today. But in 1979, he was quoted in the journal "Mission Tracks" saying he hoped that "more Christians will come to view the world through Marxist eyes."

Obama is one who's seen the light. While delivering the keynote address for Wallis at his Call to Renewal 2006 conference in Washington, he condemned the "idolatry of the free market" and professed: "I believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."

Wallis says Obama is the kind of leader he's been searching for, one who's "responsive to social movements." "Barack Obama talks about 'being our brother's keeper' and how he finds a faith that does justice to be compelling to him," he said in a recent interview.

But it's not just "movements" that Wallis has in mind. He recently wrote the foreword to a leftist book titled, "The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Our World."

Wallis is also an anti-military pacifist who fasted for 47 days to protest last decade's popular Gulf War.

Like his fellow traveler Obama, he believes 21st Century America is guilty of "structural injustice and social oppression" aimed at blacks. His Sojourners magazine features radical professor Cornel West as a contributing editor. West, a black Marxist, is working as an adviser to Obama's campaign.

Wallis put another radical professor, James Cone, on his Sojourners editorial board. Cone is Wright's mentor and the father of black liberation theology, a Marxist version of Christianity that worships a white-hating black Jesus.

"Together," Cone said, "black religion and Marxist philosophy may show us a way to build a completely new society."

Wallis, who once regularly attended black liberation churches in his hometown of Detroit, has no problem with that. He says his mission is to "sojourn with others in different faith and traditions" toward a common goal of "social justice."

Now he's hoping to sojourn his way into the White House with Obama, whose favorite scripture happens to be a verse from Chronicles referencing sojourners: "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers." (He quotes from it in his first memoir; in fact, it sits strangely alone on what should be his dedication page.)

Such foes of capitalism and apologists for communism belong in communes, not national leadership. Better they sojourn their way completely out of American politics.

Vineyard Columbus, Sojourners and paganism

Vineyard Columbus hosted a 3 day "Justice Revival" in April 2008 featuring Jim Wallis of Sojourners as the featured speaker. Some were highly concerned that Vineyard Columbus should allow Jim Wallis, a far left political figure to be the featured speaker at a "revival". Jim Wallis; founder of Sojourners also hosts the controversial and far left "God's Politics" blog site. The far left political nature of Jim Wallis is abundantly clear in his "God's Politics" blogs. Mr Wallis writes love letter blogs for even the most pro-abortion liberals and blistering attacks for conservatives. Mr Wallis continued to stump for liberal politics at the Justice Revival. The politics were slightly more veiled but it was still political stumping.

Competing with the concerns over Jim Wallis's politics were the Sojourners magazines being passed out at the "revival". Many valid Christian organizations have periodicals but no "Christian" magazines I know of carry ads for retreats that teach Buddhism or workshops for pagan idol worship. Additionally, the Sojourners magazine itself is a laundry list of far left political politics including articles like "The Green Gospel" which argued that the essential moral assignment of our time was caring for the environment.

The September 2007 issue of Sojourners Magazine we obtained from the Sojourners table at the revival had a large 1/2 page ad for the "Mandela Center" (www.mandalacenter.org)

The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines "Mandela" as:

a Hindu or Buddhist graphic symbol of the universe; specifically : a circle enclosing a square with a deity on each side that is used chiefly as an aid to meditation

An excerpt from the The Mandala Center's mission statement:

The Mandala Center has an inclusive view on how each person may experience God. There are many pathways, many understandings of God. God is far more expansive than one person can understand, and we are not limited to one interpretation of the Divine.

The ads for a Buddhist retreat and a "Divine Feminine" workshop were among the retreats on the large 1/2 page ad.

• What is Buddhism? An exploration of Buddhist teachings and practice. (Oct 5 - 7); Introduction to Buddhism for those who want to understand this spiritual tradition. Teaching, discussion, instruction and experience in Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. Taught by Don Handrick, Buddhist practitioner and teacher.

• Ancient images/Modern Icons: art making and the Divine Feminine (Oct 10 - 14); Hands on workshop combines interactive pictorial lectures with studio art making as participants develop their understanding of the Sacred Feminine (taught by Mary Saracino).

If you do not know what "the Divine Feminine" is, please review this additional information from the teacher's (Mary Saracino) website:(http://www.marysaracino.com/index.html)

Divine Feminine Workshops

Mary’s been an independent scholar of the Divine Feminine for over 30 years.

In addition to self-study and research, she has participated in two Dark Mother study tours (Sicily in 2001 & Sardegna in 2004) guided by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Ph.D., author of Black Madonnas and Dark Mother.

Mary’s Divine Feminine workshops are an interactive, pictorial adventure. Full of 100s of images of the feminine face of God, the information she presents arises from experiential research, on-site visits to archaeological ruins, museums, and churches as well as her insatiable appetite for reading scholarly works on all aspects of women’s spirituality.

Reclaiming Our Mother:
A three-part workshop on the Feminine Divine

Join Mary in a pictorial exploration of Paleolithic cave art and goddess figurines, Neolithic icons and modern-day Black Madonna images. Trace the multi-millennial memory of the Sacred Feminine and uncover the roots of the primordial “Mother of Us All.”

Humankind’s first deity was dark, female, and African. Who is this Feminine Face of the Divine? And what can contemporary society glean from her values of justice with compassion, mercy, equality and transformation?

To Jim Wallis and Sojourners I must ask: Why is Sojourners, a supposedly Christian ministry, accepting advertising for Buddhism retreats and Divine Feminine workshops featuring "100s of images of the feminine face of God"?

A number of people were very grieved when they discovered that materials including pagan ads had been passed out at the Justice Revival, by Sojourners. Consequently, some (including myself) brought it to the attention of senior Columbus Vineyard pastors. What was very disturbing was how quickly Vineyard pastors dismissed materials they had not even seen. On June 5th I asked Rich Nathan and another senior Vineyard pastor if they had read any of Jim Wallis extremely partisan "God's Politics" blogs and they both said no. I asked them if they would be interested in being given a copy of the Sojourners magazine with the pagan ads but they declined. Rich Nathan brushed aside the pagan ads saying that because it was an ad and not an article that it was not really a problem. Rich Nathan continued to maintain that Jim Wallis was a model Christian and was fully open to bringing him back.

Several people (including 2 or 3 Vineyard pastors) tried to warn Rich Nathan about Jim Wallis before the Justice Revival but he continues to defended the Justice Revival citing the 150 people that came forward as evidence of good fruit. In response, I must point out that an unspecified number of people including kinship leaders and long time members permanently left Vineyard Columbus because they were distressed by the politicization of the church. One kinship leader said that he noticed that attendance was down by several hundred people immediately following the revival. What value should we place on those people who consciences were so wounded as to compel them to leave?

And how do we measure the influence (good or bad) that mixing paganism with Jesus will have? Will the Holy Spirit of God be pleased or offended and what will the consequences be? What value should we place on that? I must ask: Was there no one available to speak who would not open a door to demonic realms with ads for pagan worship? Was there no one available who was not deeply embroiled in partisan politics?

Finally, when Jesus told told the disciples to let down their nets for a catch the results were nothing short of miraculous. When Billy Graham came to speak at Cooper stadium thousands of people came forward. Just last month, a small church just down the road from my house had 300 people come forward during their 3 day outdoor tent revival. While we rejoice with every salvation; 150 people coming forward at a 7000 member mega church does not seem like feasting, it seems more like famine.

Jim Wallis, Sojourners and abortion

One of the Sojourners buzz words is "A consistent ethic of life". This quirky sounding phrase is the latest catch phrase for opposing capital punishment. Knowing that the Bible lists about 30 capital crimes (for crimes such as rape and murder) one wonders why Sojourners (supposedly Christian) would advocate something clearly contrary to Biblical law which we know to be Pure, Holy, Righteous and given by inspiration of God.

Knowing that Jim Wallis is a far left liberal, I was tempted (at first) to take consolation in the thought that he would at least protect the lives of unborn children (part of a "consistent ethic of life") but that hope was short lived.

If you don't want to end abortion, then you don't really think it's murder in the 1st place. Jim Wallis claims to be pro-life but considering his writings and actions, it's hard to put any stock in that claim.

Consider this book excerpt:

If the Democrats could take the opportunity of a political defeat to really reassess their language and style, the way they morally frame public policy issues, and their cultural disconnect with too many Americans including many people of faith, they could transform the political discourse. But it will require a serious re-assessment. And if they are further willing to re-examine their positions on some of the cultural/moral issues the Republicans beat them with in 2004, they could virtually change the political landscape. If the Democrats could be persuaded by both good political sense and sound moral values to moderate some of their positions by becoming anti-abortion without criminalizing an agonizing and desperate choice, and being pro-family without being anti-gay, they would change politics in America by giving permission to millions of voters who would naturally vote for them except for the cultural and moral divide they feel with Democratic language and policies.

"becoming anti-abortion without criminalizing an agonizing and desperate choice". Wallis pro-life "stance" is a gutless, hand wringing, retreat, compared to the rage filled, blistering personal attacks he has launched against various political enemies. Jim Wallis began frothing at the mouth in February when some local Cincinnati DJ kept referring to Barack Obama as Barack "Hussein" Obama. Why could not Jim Wallis save some of that rage in an effort to save millions babies from "an agonizing and desperate choice".

Not to make too fine of a point but Obama is so staunchly pro-abortion that he even voted against the Illinois Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Bill which would have protected babies who managed to survive botched abortions. Live babies were left to die after surviving botched abortions, yet Wallis has continually come out swinging hard and fast against Obama's political opponents. In contrast, even NARLA did not oppose the bill.

Save the serial killers but unborn babies are little more than mud to be scrapped off on the unwelcome mat. I console myself with the thought that the Lord Jesus will carry those little ones to a place so wonderful that the horror of their premeditated murder will be but a memory too faded to remember. As for Jim Wallis, I guess whatever political candy Wallis thinks Obama will be handing out is more valuable than the lives of the 1,000,000 + babies who will die this year in the name of convenience.

Holy Father how did we come to this? Our nation is not fit to live, please either remove this murder of infants from us or in mercy, end our lives that we not continue in this shame and wickedness.

Social Justice, Vineyard Columbus and "gay rights"

The Vineyard Church of Columbus, a the 7000 member mega-church pastored by Rich Nathan hosted a 3 day “Justice Revival” back in April. On the 2nd night attendees were scolded by Shane Claiborne because he said the church was perceived as being "anti-gay". Mr Claiborne ended in a high spirited proclamation that the Vineyard was going to show that they weren't “anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical”. Mr Claiborne is one of several "friends” who writes blogs for Jim Wallis “God's Politics” blog (as does Rich Nathan). It should be noted that Jim Wallis, the featured speaker at the “Justice Revival” openly promotes homosexual rights as a “Social Justice” issue. Considering that only homosexuals were mentioned in Mr Claiborne's generous proclamation (and not generically extended to all the lost and fallen) serious Christians rightly question if Mr Claiborne was merely advancing a shared goal from the Vineyard Columbus pulpit.

During the”Justice Revival” Mr Wallis, who founded Sojourners repeatedly referred to evangelist Charles Finney who signed people up at his revivals to end slavery. About 3 weeks after the Justice Revival, Sojourners sent a “survey” to revival attendees which included an invitation for volunteers to work on a bounty of liberal political issues including “GLBTQ rights” (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer "rights"). Will Vineyard members be helping homosexuals fight for same-sex-marriage and adoption "rights" during this election year cycle?

Several comments by Rich Nathan have made it into several openly gay news and blog sites including an Associated Press story is also being quoted in gay news sites. 365gay.com had an article “Evangelical Group Seeks To Move Away From Anti-Gay Focus”:

An evangelical group that wants to reshape the movement's political reputation for being focused on opposing abortion and same-sex marriage is hoping that a series of meetings stressing its roots in women's suffrage and abolition will help it break out of the mold.

"Lots of people feel that the evangelical label has been taken captive by a very narrow political program," said the Rev. Rich Nathan, senior pastor at The Vineyard Church of Columbus, which is hosting the revival. "Folks don't feel that that represents them. Many of the so-called evangelical leaders are saying, we didn't elect these people, they don't represent us. How did they become our spokespeople? How did this narrow agenda become our agenda?"

The Bible is very clear about what is sin and what is not. Rich Nathan may argue that he does not support gay rights or marriage but when he says such things and allows such things to happen in his church at a so called “Justice Revival” mature Christians may rightly raise questions.

Rich Nathan's hand is on the tiller of the Columbus Vineyard and he is responsible not only for what his guest speakers say but also where his guest speakers lead the sheep under his charge.

The Desperate Need To Learn Wisdom

In his May congregational email entitled “The Desperate Need To Learn Civility As A Church And As A Culture” Rich Nathan, a gifted public speaker, expressed dismay and scolded the uncivil language a number of people used when expressing how upset they were about the Justice Revival. But just last month Mr Nathan threw civility under the bus taking potshots at creationists and global warming skeptics from the pulpit. Nathan performed impersonations of creationists and global warming skeptics as 2 dimensional, Archie Bunker stereotypes at a service for teenagers and 20 somethings. Using creationists and global warming skeptics as object lessons of people who “were not the brightest or sharpest knife in the drawer” Nathan went so far as to imply that they were waging a “culture war against science”. The teenagers roared with laughter at Nathan's uncivil remarks but those of us with gray hair know that you have to watch what you say to the young-uns as they are not known for their discernment and will learn to mimic his contempt and unchrist like treatment of others (especially creationists).

As Paul's letters to Timothy point out; church leaders need to be held accountable to a high standard of conduct but when that involves a popular speaker like Nathan, bringing accountability becomes not only more difficult but also more important. Hero worship of a charismatic leader can lead to a feeling of invincibility in a pastor and the feeling that the pastor can say or do no wrong in the congregation. When combined with a Jesus as pacifist mentality in the congregation, holding a pastor accountable becomes even harder.

I hope that the parents of all those teenagers are merely unaware of Mr Nathan's bad behavior and not condoning it by their silence.

Peeling back the veil of Social Justice

Rich Nathan and Jim Wallis hosted a so called “Social Justice” revival back in April of 08 and Nathan continues to advocate "Social Justice" from the pulpit. Not being a biblical term, "Social Justice" is little more than a fuzzy buzz word to most people. If you asked 10 people what “Social Justice” was you would likely get 11 different answers (yes, I meant to say 11). What exactly is Social Justice?

Ever heard of Barack Obama's friend and political fund raiser (**) William (Bill) Ayers? Bill Ayers is a leading Social Justice advocate. He has written books on Social Justice including “Teaching for Social Justice” and as a tenured professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago is teaching “social justice” to your children's future teachers. Here us a link to one of his many “Social Justice” books:

William [ Bill ] Ayers - Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader

Did you hear the joke... what do Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden have in common??? They both have friends who bombed the nation's capitol. A few may recall that Bill Ayers is a 70's era domestic terrorist from a group called the "weathermen". The weathermen bombed about 2 dozen buildings across America (police stations, the Capitol and the Pentagon) to aid the Vietnamese communists during the Vietnam war. Bill Ayers published his book "Fugitive Days" on 9/11, 2001 and on this dark day in American history, as America was reeling from it's deadliest terrorist attack on American soil was quoted as saying "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough". Mr. Ayers, published a memoir celebrating his exploits, and once described himself as ''guilty as hell, free as a bird.''

You don't have to dig too deep to discover that Social Justice is just the modern buzz word for Marxism (which Ayers advocates). Here are a few quotes from Bill Ayers:

“We need to look beyond our isolated situations, to define our problems globally. We cannot be child advocates . . . in Chicago or New York and ignore the web that links us with the children of India or Palestine.”

“In a truly just society there would be a greater sharing of the burden, a fairer distribution of material and human resources.”

For another course, titled “Improving Learning Environments,” Ayers proposes that teachers “be aware of the social and moral universe we inhabit and . . . be a teacher capable of hope and struggle, outrage and action, a teacher teaching for social justice and liberation.”

Here are 2 articles revealing some of the very disturbing things Ayers and friends are teaching our children's teachers about “Social Justice” such as "Math for Social Justice".

The Ed Schools’ Latest—and Worst—Humbug by Sol Stern

Obama's Little Red Schoolhouse

One of Ayers' descriptions for a course called "Improving Learning Environments" says a prospective K-12 teacher needs to "be aware of the social and moral universe we inhabit and . . . be a teacher capable of hope and struggle, outrage and action, teaching for social justice and liberation."

Rich Nathan may object saying that he is not advocating bombings (and he is not) but the very real and dangerous point, is the meaning of this very fuzzy, un-biblical term "Social Justice". As Bill Ayers is writing the leading educational text books on Social Justice. And he is teaching the teachers who will be in our classrooms and on our school boards, about Social Justice, I would say that Ayers has the last say on what "Social Justice" will or will not mean to the millions of school children who will be indoctrinated into what this unrepentant domestic terrorist has to say.

** Ayers and Obama served on the woods board together and Ayers hosted fund raiser parties for Obama at his house.

Understanding Jim Wallis

In April of 2008 I attended what was called a “Justice Revival.” With my wife, we attended all three nights, plus the special workshop on justice on Friday. Before attending, I read Wallis’s book, “The Great Awakening” twice. I then began reading Wallis’s blog, as well as his other books. The following is my response to the “Revival” and Wallis’s theology.

There are a lot of us evangelicals who have found ourselves increasingly uncomfortable with the media’s selection of a few people of decidedly conservative politics who are regularly called our spokespeople. Whenever I hear this handful of people talk, I think: This person doesn’t speak for me…Don’t you hate it when someone’s views are 180 degrees out of sync with yours and yet they are called your spokesperson? You say, “When did I vote for them?” (The Great Awakening, Rich Nathan, Sr. Pastor of the Vineyard Church of Columbus)

I could not agree with him more. Yet, in April of 2008, The Columbus Vineyard, sponsored a conference called a, “Justice Revival”. The main speaker was Jim Wallis of the Sojourners Community. During the “Revival”, Bishop Timothy Clark is quoted as saying on two separate nights that Jim Wallis was a prophet.

The first night: “A theologian and I think the outspoken and I would even dare to say, the most powerful prophet for Justice in this nation.”

The third night: Bishop was comparing Wallis with John the Baptist in regards to Jesus’ word concerning John. Clark then said, “I don’t know what you came to this Justice Revival expecting, but there is no doubt in my mind we are in the presence of a prophet, a man of God, with a word from God.”

Who is Jim Wallis? What are his ideologies, and theologies? This writing will explore these questions. Then, you decide for yourself if Jim Wallis speaks for you? Is he a true prophetic voice for the church or does he speak just for himself?

This is the first installment regarding Jim Wallis and his theology. I do this due to the length of the theological questions involved as to get a better understanding of Wallis’s theology, and ideologies. I resourced quotes from Wallis’ recent book, “The Great Awakening”, his other books, his writings, and from “The Red Letter Christians”, by Tony Campolo. Other research will be quoted from additional sources in order to get a better understanding of Jim Wallis.

Who is Jim Wallis?

Jim Wallis’s bio as it appears on the Sojourners web site sates:

Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, preacher, and international commentator on religion and public life, faith and politics. His latest book is The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post–Religious Right America (HarperOne, 2008). His previous book, God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It (Harper Collins, 2005), was on the New York Times bestseller list for 4 months. He is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sojourners; where he is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, whose combined print and electronic media have a readership of more than 250,000 people. Wallis speaks at more than 200 events a year and his columns appear in major newspapers, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and both Time and Newsweek online. He regularly appears on radio and television, including shows like Meet the Press, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the O'Reilly Factor, and is a frequent guest on the news programs of CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and National Public Radio. He has taught at Harvard's Divinity School and Kennedy School of Government on "Faith, Politics, and Society." He has written eight books, including: Faith Works, The Soul of Politics, Who Speaks for God? and The Call to Conversion.

Jim Wallis was raised in a Midwest evangelical family. As a teenager, his questioning of the racial segregation in his church and community led him to the black churches and neighborhoods of inner-city Detroit. He spent his student years involved in the civil rights and antiwar movements at Michigan State University. While at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, Jim and several other students started a small magazine and community with a Christian commitment to social justice, which has now grown into a national faith-based organization. In 1979, Time magazine named Wallis one of the "50 Faces for America's Future."

Jim lives in inner-city Washington, D.C. with his wife, Joy Carroll, one of the first women ordained in the Church of England and author of Beneath the Cassock: The Real-life Vicar of Dibley; and their sons, Luke (9) and Jack (4). He is a Little League baseball coach.

There is additional information regarding Wallis’ life that his bio failed to mention. Wallis protested the Vietnam War (no big deal, a lot of us baby boomers did, even me), but he did a lot more than just protest. In my opinion, Wallis became the “Jane Fonda” of the Christian Left.

After South Vietnam fell to the communist Wallis “criticized” those who were fleeing the country. He believed that those fleeing the new regime were “to support their consumer habits in other lands.” (www.traditionalvalues.org/print.php?sid=2664)

In addition, Traditional Values Coalition states:

In 1983, Joan Harris with Accuracy in Media published a lengthy book on the far-left policies of Sojourners and Jim Wallis.

In The Sojourners File, Harris took 53 political positions of Sojourners on such issues as the right of Israel to exist, human rights, terrorism, socialism, capitalism, etc., and compared those positions to the official positions of the Soviet Union.

In all 53 position statements, Sojourners’ views were in line with the positions of the Soviet Union.

This is an amazing discovery. Yet, it is not so surprising given Jim Wallis’ consistent support for socialism and against capitalism or the American way of life throughout his writings. In fact, in 1979, the journal Mission Tracks published an interview with Wallis. He told the reporter it was his hope that “more Christians will come to view the world through Marxist eyes.” (www.traditionalvalues.org/print.php?sid=2664)

Jan Harris, who wrote “The Sojourners File,” writes on page 43:

“Sojourners never criticizes a Marxist state. … The United States and the West are the only violators of human rights to Sojourners because they are the capitalists. Marxists, by Sojourners definition, cannot violate human rights.”

Discover the Networks web site reports that Wallis backed the Sandinista regime in Central America:

Wallis published bitter denunciations of the American government’s sponsorship of anti-Communist Contra rebels against Nicaragua’s Sandinista dictatorship. After visiting Nicaragua in 1983, in the company of the pro-Sandinista group Witness for Peace, Wallis and then-Sojourners associate editor Joyce Hollyday co-authored several articles in which they whitewashed the brutality of the Sandinista government while condemning the United States for waging an “undeclared war” against “the people of Nicaragua.” One representative issue of Sojourners from the time condemned the “suffering created by U.S. policy against Nicaragua,” and urged the “U.S. government to re-examine and change its policy toward Nicaragua, and establish a relationship of trust and friendship between the people of Nicaragua and the people of the United States.”

In keeping with his enthusiasm for Nicaragua’s Communist regime, Wallis also criticized conservative evangelical leaders such as Pat Robertson for siding with the rebel opposition. “To allow political ideology to overshadow human needs and fundamental issues of life and death is to go seriously astray,” Wallis self-righteously remarked in one such attack. (http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/articles/jimwallisexpanded.html)

Wallis was also influenced by the writings of Karl Marx, the author of the Communist Manifesto, Che Guevara, Castro right hand man who went into the Congo and Bolivia to spread communism into these countries, and Ho Chi Minh, the communist leader of North Vietnam. These men influenced Wallis’s philosophies and beliefs for his life’s work as a social activist.

Additional information that his bio did not address:

He is the co-founder of the Red Letter Christians, along with Tony Campolo, a political action group who is dedicated to social activism to bring God’s Kingdom to the earth by influencing political action and social justice.

He is a follower of the Social Gospel based in Liberation Theology ideology. On liberationtheology.org web site, Sojourners has a direct link and is listed under Organizations and Advocates.

Wallis is also quoted as saying:

“As more Christians become influenced by liberation theology, finding themselves increasingly rejecting the values and institutions of capitalism, they will also be drawn to the Marxist analysis and praxis that is so central to the movement. That more Christians will come to view the world through Marist eyes is therefore predictable.” (Mission Trends No. 4, 1979, “Liberation Theologies in North America,” pp.54-55)

What movement is Wallis speaking about? Social Justice.

This list is far from being exhaustive. As you read this paper you will begin to understand that his values and beliefs are not only in conflict to Biblical concepts, but they are in direct conflict to the values and beliefs of the Vineyard Church.

The next part of this paper is exploring Wallis’s theologies. I will look at four areas, but this may expand to additional ones if needed. The first is the Kingdom of God. Second: Jubilee Year, the third: Christ’s Mission, and the fourth: Justice.

The Kingdom of God

The very first area I want to write about is the Kingdom of God. It is the very heart of the message of Christ. Plus, the Vineyard Church bases its foundation on the Kingdom of God theology as espoused by George Ladd.

What is definition of the Kingdom of God? It basically means the rule or reign of God. Jesus inaugurated it at His first coming, and will bring the kingdom to its fullness when He returns.

As Ladd and others have defined it is that Jesus is the king, and His kingdom is now here in Jesus. It is present with Him, but not fully realized, “The here but not yet,” kingdom. God’s kingdom is demonstrated in Jesus by His words and His power. In fact Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with careful observation, nor will people say ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within (or among, or in your midst) you.” (Lk 17:20-21).

We will see the fullness of God’s Kingdom when Jesus comes again. In Revelation 11:15, “The kingdom of this world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ…”.

This kingdom is a kingdom that is not of this world. We can only experience God’s kingdom when He breaks into this world and reveals what His kingdom is, no sickness, pain, sorrow, and oppression of any kind. Until then we are to preach and demonstrate God’s kingdom with Jesus’ words and His power. This is not a political or social kingdom.

According to the New Dictionary of Theology,

“The kingdom proclaimed by Jesus is not an ideal moral order”

Wallis' view of the Kingdom of God is different.

“Jesus’ kingdom is not like the other kingdoms of the world, and that’s the point. It’s a different kind of kingdom than the worldly kingdoms based on money, power, violence, and sex. The Kingdom of God, which Jesus came to inaugurate, is meant to create an alternative reality in this world and, ultimately, to transform the kingdoms of this world.” (Page 56)

Also,

Wallis believes that Jesus had various political options to follow, but decided to inaugurate a political one himself.

“Jesus clearly rejected all the main political options of his time and inaugurated one that was completely new-called the kingdom of God, which brings a different kind of revolution, one of both love and justice.” (Great Awakening, page 58)

“In Mathew 5,6, and 7, Jesus offers the Sermon on the Mount, which serves as the manifesto of his new order, the Magna Carta of the new age, the constitution of the kingdom. It utterly reverses the logic of this world, all its earthly kingdoms, and its political options.” (Page 62)

Wallis continues:

“In the end, Jesus clearly rejected all the main political options of his time and inaugurated one that was completely new – called the kingdom of God, which brings a different kind of revolution, one of both love and justice.” (Page 58)

Campolo’s agrees with Wallis. From the “Red Letter Christians”:

“First-century Jews, to whom Jesus initially addressed His message of the Kingdom, had a firm grasp on what He was talking about…(Then he went into a quote from Isaiah), The Jews knew that it was not about some ‘”pie in the sky by and by”’ escape from the bad old world. Instead, the Kingdom was to be a new kind of society, wherein the effects of poverty and physical suffering would be no more.” (Pages 31-32) and

“The Kingdom of God is transformed people living in a transformed society, and when we preach this message to people in our day, we are preaching the gospel, the Good News. This hope for God’s Kingdom on earth has been, since Christ, in the process of being actualized.” (Page 33, emphasis mine)

God’s kingdom is not of this world. Jesus Himself proclaimed this at His trial:

Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36)

If Jesus were trying to establish an earthly kingdom, as Wallis and Campolo state, why would Jesus say His kingdom is not from or of this world? After all the Jews were expecting a political kingdom. This is seen even after Jesus’ resurrection:

“… but we hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel…” (Luke 24:21a)

“So when they met together, they asked him, ‘”Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”’ (Acts 1:6)

The IVP Bible Background Commentary states,

“The idea that Jesus’ kingdom is not based on military or political force is repeated throughout the Gospel, but Jesus’ Jewish hearers never grasp the meaning in his words (after all, why call it a ‘”kingdom”’ if it was nonpolitical?).” (Page 309)

Then in New Testament Theology, by Donald Guthrie states:

“…it is advisable before considering the evidence to bear in mind that the term does not refer to the establishment of a messianic political kingdom on earth.” (Page 410)

Whatever Wallis, Campolo and Sojourners are preaching is not the true Gospel of Christ’s Kingdom, but the social gospel, and the social gospel is not what Jesus presented. It is all through his book, as well as Campolo’s book. But what is the social gospel?

“This is one point at which the social gospel differs from the traditional gospel of the New Testament. The social gospel concentrates not so much on individual salvation of one’s own soul, but rather on the “evangelization” and “conversion” of social structures and institutions to a “Christian” form, culminating in the promised kingdom of God.” (A Brief History of the Social Gospel, Dr. John Battle, Professor of NT and Theology, Western Reform Seminary)

“…Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918), whose major work was A Theology for the Social Gospel (1919). He claimed that all theology must stem from the central idea of the kingdom of God, believing that when Jesus spoke about the kingdom this meant, not the community of the redeemed, but the transformation of society on earth. It meant social and political action.” (Page 594, Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity)

Historically, the social gospel is a much-weakened movement. Those churches and/or denominations that embrace this theology have seen a marked decline in membership.

“Since the 1930s the Social Gospel has disappeared as a movement in its own right, but its influence remains, both in the more liberal, mainline denominations and in the renewed social concern displayed by American evangelicals since the 1960s.” (New Dictionary of Theology, Page 647, 2^nd column)

Finally, pastor, preacher, and theologian D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from his study, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, which is Jim Wallis motivation for social justice.

There was once the so-called ‘social gospel’ view of the Sermon on the Mount. What it comes to is this, that the Sermon is in reality the only thing that matters in the New Testament, that there, in it, is the basis of the so-called social gospel. The principles, it was said, were there laid down as to how life should be lived by men, and all we have to do is to apply the Sermon on the Mount. We can thereby produce the kingdom of God on earth, war will be banished and all our troubles will be ended. That is the typical social gospel view, but we do not need to waste time with it. It has already become outmoded; it is found only amongst certain people whom I can describe as remnants and relics of the mentality of thirty years ago (that would be around 1929 when this was written). The two world wars have shaken that view to its very foundation. Critical as we may be in many respects of the Barthian movement in theology, let us pay it this tribute: it has once and for ever made the social gospel look utterly ridiculous. (Page 9)

In summary, the Kingdom of God according to Jim Wallis is a social/political kingdom. Wallis’s view of God kingdom, is a new order or “an alternative reality in this world and, ultimately, to transform the kingdoms of this world.” Wallis believes that Jesus rejected all other political options and set up a new political force of His own, God’s Kingdom. The scriptures fully demonstrate that God’s Kingdom is not a political kingdom, but a spiritual one. It is the here and not yet, to be fully entered into when Jesus comes again. According to the scriptures God’s kingdom is not of this world, but one-day God’s Kingdom will be manifested when God’s proclaims it so, not man.

Submitted by Colen