Anglican Unscripted Episode 118

Aug 29, 2014
         

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate

Intelevator (intelligent voice activated Elevator)

May 3, 2014

Just to laugh!

Onward Christian Soliders? Not Likely

August 27, 2014
by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Excerpt:
See how it is assumed that the soldiers first of all, know what the Christian virtues are, and secondly, that they have an interest in pursuing them. They live in a moral universe. It is assumed that a man will be seeking to be the best man he can be–not just the richest man he can be. It is assumed that the soldiers will understand this moral quest, and even if they dismiss it, that they will at least know that they are dismissing something which is great and good.

Is such an awareness alive in our society today? I don’t see it.

Should the armies of the False Prophet Mohammed advance, and should we need to go into battle would we be able to summon the same Spirit of noble Christianity in our country today? I doubt it.

What strikes me about this artifact from the second world war is that this Bible was issued to the troops without question. It was seen to be part of their equipment and to be accepted by all with an open heart and mind.

This indicates that the whole population understood that the moral battles were also spiritual battles, and if there was a spiritual dimension to war, then there was also such a thing as spiritual warfare. Soldiers were expected to be equipped physically but they were also expected to be fit morally and spiritually.

Millions of young Americans went into battle across the world from a country that was truly Christian in its worldview and self understanding. They were not all knights in shining armor, they were a band of sinners, but they had a shared underlying faith and set of moral values. They understood that they were engaged in spiritual as well as physical warfare.

Furthermore, they were clear about their objectives. They were faced with an overwhelming and clearly evil force and they rallied to defeat it.

In the intervening seventy years our moral fiber has been so weakened by wealth, decadence and self indulgence that it seems unlikely not only that such a noble letter would be written from the White House, but that our own people would be able to respond with anything like the simple, noble spirit evidenced by this soldier’s Bible.  the rest image

Our country has suffered from a severe disintegration of our faith so that many no longer believe in the spiritual dimension of evil nor do they believe in the concept of good and evil at all. Instead “evil” is what does not work and “good” is what works. There is no need for virtue in utilitarianism.

The Episcopal Church’s Website’s Deafening Silence on the Persecuted Church

By Ryan Hunter
August 27, 2014

The Episcopal Church maintains a beautifully designed website which, as one might expect from the liberal denomination, devotes a whole section to “LGBT in the Church”. This page reads like a Democratic Party presidential candidate’s website; it is complete with links to affiliated LGBT political activist groups, lay and clergy LGBT lobbying organizations within the denomination, and a detailed history of the church’s support for “radical inclusion” of LGBT people since 1976. The LGBT page is, in fact, considerably longer than the page “Women in the Church”, while the page “Men in the Church” , with only four links and a short video, reads like an afterthought.

Given the amount of attention and space devoted to the particular issue of all non-heterosexual people in the shrinking mainline denomination, what comes as something of a surprise is the website’s total silence on the subject of the persecuted church. Considering that pages and pages are devoted to the evidently crucial topics of transgender rights and same-sex wedding blessings, the website’s silence on the global reality of Christians facing persecution for their faith is deafening.

The LGBT section appears under the front-and-center headline “Who We Are”, while the subject of Christians facing persecution is absent from that headline as well as from the “Ministries” and “What We Do” headlines. Commendably, there is a “Pray for Sudan” section under “What We Do”, and numerous other charitable endeavors listed throughout the website under easily-accessible sub-sections and pages. Yet, evidently, the issue of Christians being persecuted for their faith is not one of The Episcopal Church’s priorities, although the independent and non-partisan Pew Research Center found in January that Christians are the world’s most persecuted faith group. the rest image

What a denomination chooses to put on its official website says a lot about what its priorities are and what its vision is. Despite that the liberal mainline denomination is overwhelmingly white, it evidently sees outreach to Navajo Native Americans in the name of the “Divine Creator” and “Earth Mother” as a greater priority than giving voice to the ongoing suffering and martyrdoms of thousands of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. This is a rather strange set of priorities for the shrinking, cash-strapped denomination...

He alone is sovereign...

When we worship the Lord, let's remember that He is in control. Nothing alarms Him, or takes Him by surprise. Nothing is too big for Him to handle, or so small it escapes His attention. When the winds of my world begin to blow, He remains seated. When raging waves surround me, He governs their temper...I need not be moved...Because the Lord is seated and sovereign...He alone is sovereign. ...Ronald James image

The Wrong Kind of Christian

I thought a winsome faith would win Christians a place at Vanderbilt’s table. I was wrong.

Tish Harrison Warren

August 22, 2014

I thought I was an acceptable kind of evangelical.

I'm not a fundamentalist. My friends and I enjoy art, alcohol, and cultural engagement.

We avoid spiritual clichés and buzzwords. We value authenticity, study, racial reconciliation, and social and environmental justice.

Being a Christian made me somewhat weird in my urban, progressive context, but despite some clear differences, I held a lot in common with unbelieving friends. We could disagree about truth, spirituality, and morality, and remain on the best of terms. The failures of the church often made me more uncomfortable than those in the broader culture.

Then, two years ago, the student organization I worked for at Vanderbilt University got kicked off campus for being the wrong kind of Christians.

In May 2011, Vanderbilt's director of religious life told me that the group I'd helped lead for two years, Graduate Christian Fellowship—a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship—was on probation. We had to drop the requirement that student leaders affirm our doctrinal and purpose statement, or we would lose our status as a registered student organization.

I met with him to understand the change. During the previous school year, a Christian fraternity had expelled several students for violating their behavior policy. One student said he was ousted because he is gay. Vanderbilt responded by forbidding any belief standards for those wanting to join or lead any campus group... the rest image

'I Ain't Saying That Obama Is Jesus, But...'; “Allah make it easy” to behead; ISIS has ‘apocalyptic end-of-days vision’...more

Wesley J. Smith: Push to make suicides easier will never stop
Here’s the advocacy con advanced by suicide promoters in the UK to bludgeon Parliament into legalizing doctor-prescribed death.

First, get the media to publish pro-suicide stories of Brits flying to Switzerland for death at a clinic. The point: Make the one-way death trip socially acceptable and increase the numbers who so die...

Obama Administration Pushes High Fines for HHS Mandate Violators  ...“What remains an insulting accounting gimmick does not protect the rights of Americans with sincere conscientious objections. It is simply another clerical layer to an already existing accounting gimmick that does nothing to protect religious freedom because the employer still remains the legal gateway by which these drugs and services will be provided to their employees. It’s very disappointing that the Obama administration is doubling down on its plans to punish charities and non-profits that assist the poor and homeless, who in some cases have nowhere else to turn for assistance,” Grossu said...

A darker Iraq: Light of Christian faith going out fast
...Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians now live in tents, schools, and abandoned buildings. War weary and despondent, most now say they want to leave Iraq.

"Go to America, Christians go to America. No, stay in Iraq!" one refugee woman said of the enormous decision to leave the land of their ancestors.

 

When Islamic State fighters seized his city, this former police officer took his family, including his newborn daughter, to safety in Erbil.

 

"If we return to our village, they will kill us," he said...

Top U.S. military officer: ISIS has ‘apocalyptic end-of-days vision’ that must be defeated  “They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded,” Hagel added. “This is beyond anything that we’ve seen. So we must prepare for everything.”

British jihadis are threat to Christian heritage of tolerance and should be banished - former Archbishop of Canterbury

Catholic workers ordered to attend Jehovah’s Witness services
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling that workers at a home for the disabled must attend a Jehovah’s Witness worship service with patients who wish to attend.

In 2009, California instructed San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center to have staff escort a Jehovah's Witness patient to services, but two Catholic employees objected and sued on the grounds that their faith requires they only attend Catholic services.

Brad Dacus, founder of Pacific Justice Institute, says it's an interesting case...

“I’m ready to behead next enemy”: UK jihadist says “Allah make it easy” to behead; he is working to “establish Allah’s empire” ...A British jihadist feared to be one of The Beatles militants behind US journalist James Foley’s killing has claimed Allah makes beheading victims “easy”...

Sweden’s collapse: Every Swede pays month’s wages to finance immigration, 48 billion kroner still needed beyond budgeted amounts  ...Sweden imports at least a hundred thousand Muslims each year, and the country is already experiencing an extreme rise in crime. Every Swede pays one month’s wage per year to finance immigration, and the government has already warned that taxes will increase more than two percent the next four years...

MSNBC's Michael Eric Dyson: 'I Ain't Saying That Obama Is Jesus, But...'  MSNBC contributor Michael Eric Dyson is no stranger to effusive, over-the-top lobbying for Barack Obama. But on Saturday, he went so far that even fellow liberal host Melissa Harris Perry couldn't believe it. Dyson called on the President to speak out more about the rioting in Ferguson, Missouri, comparing, "I'm a Christian preacher and God finally said, 'look, I can't send nobody else. I got to go myself.'"

Dyson continued, "And I ain't saying that Obama is Jesus, but for many of his followers he is." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] This comment was too much for Perry. She started laughing and marveled, "I think we've got to go, Reverend Dyson, because you just made the sentence, "'I'm not saying Obama is Jesus' and I don't want to get written up for that."...

The Intensifying Attack on Christian Institutions

by Rick Plasterer
August 26, 2014

The next stage in the culture war over religion, fueled from the gains of recent years by social liberals in public opinion, a two term liberal Democratic presidency, and liberal judicial appointments, appears to be unfolding in the use of antidiscrimination doctrine to attack Christian institutions.

Although threats do exist to the primary religious institutions – houses of worship – it is those that provide social services as a religious activity, namely religiously affiliated schools, hospitals, and charities that are most directly threatened. These have been a refuge for Christians, or other believers, from the secularization of the twentieth, and now twenty-first, centuries. Service to the poor and suffering and the education of the young are both Biblical commands, and thus, in the American rights-oriented context, should be understood as an exercise of religion. Heretofore our legal system has permitted religious education and social service without seriously impinging on their religious character. Now we may be seeing the beginning of the end of educational and social services that are in any serious way religious rather than secular.

For educational institutions, there are three notable areas which could be subject to attack: state aid to education, tax exempt status, and accreditation. State aid involves most notably state financial assistance to students through work-study programs or other assistance, the threat to tax exempt status comes in tying tax exemption to agreement with fundamental public policy objectives, the threat to accreditation represents the ultimate threat short of making specifically Christian educational institutions illegal...  the rest

Same-Sex Blessings Arrive at Falls Church Episcopal

by Jeffrey Walton
August 25, 2014

A historic Episcopal parish that counts U.S. President George Washington among its past vestry members has hosted its first blessing of a same-sex union.

The Falls Church News Press reports that two men were joined in a “Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” in the historic sanctuary of the Falls Church Episcopal in Falls Church, Virginia on Friday, August 22. The church property was won from departing Anglicans in a lawsuit by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

The service, officiated under the direction of Rector John Ohmer, marks the first such celebration at the historic property. A court ruling awarded control of the property in 2012 to the Episcopal Diocese.

The couple is legally married in Maryland. The Commonwealth of Virginia does not recognize same-sex marriages, although a court challenge is making its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to the News Press, Ohmer affirmed the couple’s commitment to seek the blessing of their union, calling it “a relationship of mutual fidelity and steadfast love, forsaking all others, holding one another in tenderness and respect, in strength and bravery, as long as they live.”... the rest

Anglican Unscripted Episode 117

Aug 25, 2014
          

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate
00:00 Kevin and Allan Discuss San Joaquin, the Diocese of South Carolina and Ferguson

Boko Haram declares 'Islamic state' in northern Nigeria; Restaurant removes bacon sign after Muslim woman complains...more

Boko Haram declares 'Islamic state' in northern Nigeria
Militant group Boko Haram has said it has set up an Islamic state in the towns and villages it has seized in north-eastern Nigeria.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau was speaking in a video released to congratulate his fighters for seizing the town of Gwoza earlier this month...

Vermont restaurant removes bacon sign after Muslim woman complains  Call it a classic case of political correctness run amok. Citing safety concerns, Sneakers Bistro, a restaurant based in Winooski, Vermont, removed a sign that read, “Yield Sneakers Bacon,” Breitbart.com reported Saturday. According to Breitbart, the sign was taken down after a Muslim woman complained.

An online post by the woman said the sign was insensitive to those who do not consume pork. She also said that as a Muslim, she was personally offended...

Fallout from campus sexual assault hysteria: College men now suspicious of women ...Bloomberg reporters John Lauerman and Jennifer Surane interviewed multiple men from colleges like Harvard and Stanford who expressed concern over what was once known as a "hook-up culture" but is now labeled by feminists as "rape culture." The change in terminology ensures that all responsibility is placed on men, just because of their gender.

Take Malik Gill of Harvard University, who said he wouldn’t even give a female classmate a beer...

Governments across the world can track almost anybody who carries a cellphone ...It is unclear which governments have acquired these tracking systems, but one industry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive trade information, said that dozens of countries have bought or leased such technology in recent years. This rapid spread underscores how the burgeoning, multibillion-dollar surveillance industry makes advanced spying technology available worldwide...

Lawyer on Strategy to Retrieve Consecrated Host from Satanists: 'There's Beauty in Simplicity' ...To Caspino's knowledge, a suit based on property-rights' claims hasn't been used before to retrieve a Consecrated Host from people who have illicitly obtained one...

Government to Farmers: Host Same-Sex Wedding or Pay a $13,000 Fine

Leslie Ford
Ryan T. Anderson
August 19, 2014

Should the government be able to coerce a family farm into hosting a same-sex wedding?

In a free society, the answer is no. Family farms should be free to operate in accordance with the beliefs and values of their owners. Government shouldn’t be able to fine citizens for acting in the market according to their own—rather than the government’s—values, unless there is a compelling government interest being pursued in the least restrictive way possible.

But the New York State Division of Human Rights doesn’t see things this way. On August 8, it fined Cynthia and Robert Gifford $13,000 for acting on their belief that marriage is the union of a man and woman and thus declining to rent out their family farm for a same-sex wedding celebration. The Human Rights Commission ruled that “the nature and circumstances of the [Giffords’s] violation of the Human Rights Law also warrants a penalty.”

This is coercive big government run amok.  the rest

Anglican Unscripted-Archbishop Foley Beach Interview Part 2

Aug 20, 2014
         

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate

Story Index
00:00 Kevin and Archbishop Foley continue their interview from Episode 115.

Satanists Return Stolen Host; Are Feminists Correct About the Church?; We Need More Than Liturgy...more

Georgetown professor and son of terror conspirator compares Israel to ISIL  A Georgetown University professor whose father pled guilty to terrorism charges is facing criticism for comparing Israel to the terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS) on Twitter.

Georgetown University History Professor Abdullah Al-Arian, the son of Sami Al-Arian, a controversial Israel critic who pled guilty to conspiring with a terror group, tweeted out his take on a common nursery rhyme by comparing Israel to the terror group ISIL, which recently beheaded an American journalist on film...

Family refuses to host gay wedding on their farm-faces $13,000 fine   Owners of a family farm in Schaghticoke, New York, are being fined $13,000 for refusing to allow a gay wedding ceremony to take place on their property in 2012, just one year after the state legalized same-sex nuptials.

Cynthia and Robert Gifford, owners of Liberty Ridge Farm, a family-friendly farm and special events venue, told Jennifer McCarthy and Melisa Erwin, a lesbian couple from Newark, New Jersey, that they were welcome to hold their reception on the property, but not the actual wedding ceremony, according to Religion News Service.

Satanists Return Stolen Host
Oklahoma City's archbishop voiced relief that Satanists organizing a "black mass" in the city returned a stolen host that was to be desecrated, but restated his concern that the event should happen at all.

The host was given to a priest Aug. 21 by an attorney representing Adam Daniels, who organized the black mass.

“I am relieved that we have been able to secure the return of the sacred Host and that we have prevented its desecration as part of a planned Satanic ritual,” Archbishop Paul Coakley said Aug. 21.

“I remain concerned about the dark powers that this Satanic worship invites into our community and the spiritual danger that this poses to all who are involved in it, directly or indirectly.”...

Albert Mohler: Lead with Empathy, Love Your Neighbor, Let the Truth Come Out—A Response to Ferguson ...That doesn’t mean that we should suspend justice on these questions indefinitely. It means the time for judgment is after the facts are determined. And even if there are competing facts, at least the facts need to be set out as they are claimed in order that we can have an understanding—each to ourselves and commonly as citizens—of what this situation really is, how it happened, and what it means. Once we have those facts, we need to move to the kind of moral judgment that justice requires. But a part of the biblical worldview that is made abundantly clear even in the Old Testament law is that evidence (in other words, the determination of the facts) never ceases to be the first and foremost important question...

Alice C. Linsley: Are Feminists Correct About the Church?
I have never been a fan of feminist ideology or feminist theology. I was one of the few at my liberal eastern university who thought that the Equal Rights Amendment was bad news and bad legislation.

My first venture in 1978 into the Feminist arena was not positive. I was living in Greece and was invited by a friend to attend a gathering where a prominent American feminist was speaking in Athens. After the speech, there were breakout groups. In my group there were about 15 women, mostly disgruntled Americans or Brits who were married to Greek or Middle Eastern men. I was happily married and felt fulfilled in my life, so I found it difficult to identify with these angry and hurting women. I also was uncomfortable with the Marxist-atheist tones of the speech. I knew enough history to recognize that wherever Marxism has taken root, it has meant trouble for committed followers of Jesus Christ...

We Need More Than Liturgy
The service was undeniably beautiful. Dedicated pastors and volunteers had planned it for weeks. There were banners, incense, and altar decorations. The sanctuary was packed: more than 1,000 folks overflowed the seats, latecomers standing along the sides and back. The congregation participated with gusto. But after receiving Communion, they marched out of the sanctuary. By the closing hymn, only a few folks dotted the pews that just five minutes before had been filled to bursting.

Some left to cram in work, but many in this particular group were on their way to that night’s parties. In another five hours, many would be passed out on the couches of friends or strangers, a few would be rushed by ambulance for alcohol poisoning treatment, and, most horrific, some would be sexually assaulting their peers or suffering such violence. It was the weekend, and the community in question was a Christian university. The school was by no means a place where only lip service was paid to Christian ideals: students eagerly participated in voluntary ministry, including planning that night’s service. So why were their late-night identities so disconnected from their church identities?...

Global South Statement regarding the Diocese of South Carolina

21 Aug 2014
Global South
Anglican Ink

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

The Global South of the Anglican Communion welcomes the unanimous request of The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, XIV Bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina, and the Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina to “accept the offer of the newly created Global South Primatial Oversight Council for pastoral oversight of our ministry as a diocese during the temporary period of our discernment of our final provincial affiliation.”

The decision of the Diocese of South Carolina was made in response to the meeting of the Global South Primates Steering Committee in Cairo, Egypt from 14-15 February 2014.[1] A recommendation from that meeting stated that, “we decided to establish a Primatial Oversight Council, in following-through the recommendations taken at Dar es Salam in 2007, to provide pastoral and primatial oversight to dissenting individuals, parishes, and dioceses in order to keep them within the Communion.”

Recognizing the faithfulness of Bishop Mark Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, and in appreciation for their contending for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, the Global South welcomes them as an active and faithful member within the Global South of the Anglican Communion, until such time as a permanent primatial affiliation can be found.

Yours in Christ,

+Mouneer
The Most Revd Dr. Mouneer Hanna Anis
Primate of Jerusalem & the Middle East
Bishop of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa
Chairman, Global South Primates Steering Committee

+Ian
The Most Revd Ian Ernest
Primate of the Indian Ocean
Bishop of Mauritius
Hon. General Secretary, Global South Primates Steering Committee

Local Anglicans receive new tie to the global church
Primates in the Global South of the Anglican Communion welcomed Bishop Mark Lawrence and area parishes that left the Episcopal Church in 2012 as active members until they find a permanent new connection to the worldwide church body.

Lawrence received a letter Thursday notifying him that the Global South Primatial Oversight Council will provide the group a connection to the global Anglican Communion.

"We're delighted to receive this affirmation of our membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion," Lawrence said. "It is a source of great comfort and joy that they have recognized the faithfulness of our diocese to our Lord and His word as Christians and Anglicans."...

How To Shrink Your Church In One Easy Step

Every major American church that has taken steps towards liberalization on sexual issues has seen a steep decline in membership
By Alexander Griswold
August 21, 2014

By now, we’ve all heard the refrain that U.S. churches need liberalize their teachings on sexuality and homosexuality or rapidly decline. The logic behind the argument is simple: more and more Americans are embracing homosexuality and same-sex marriage, including growing numbers of religious Millennials. So long as churches remain the face of opposition to gay marriage, those churches will shrink into irrelevancy when gay marriage (inevitably, we are told) becomes a settled political issue.

These arguments often see church acceptance of homosexuality as a carrot as well as a stick. It isn’t so much that denouncing homosexuality will drive people away from church, but that embracing it will also lead people into church. LGBT individuals and their supporters, many of whom hold a dim view of religion after a decades-long culture war, will reconsider church if denominations remove their restrictions on gay marriage and ordination.

But a number of Christian denominations have already taken significant steps towards liberalizing their stances on homosexuality and marriage, and the evidence so far seems to indicate that affirming homosexuality is hardly a cure for membership woes. On the contrary, every major American church that has taken steps towards liberalization of sexual issues has seen a steep decline in membership.

The Episcopal Church

In 2003, Gene Robinson became the first openly gay, noncelibate man to be consecrated as a bishop of the Episcopal Church. In the wake of his consecration, entire dioceses severed ties with the Episcopal Church, eventually creating the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). But the Episcopal Church continued to liberalize its sexual teachings, lifting a moratorium on any more gay bishops in 2006 and creating a “blessing ceremony” for gay couples in 2009.
 

In 2002, the number of baptized U.S. members of the Episcopal Church stood at 2.32 million. By 2012, that number had fallen to 1.89 million, a decline of 18.4 percent. Meanwhile, attendance has fallen even more steeply. Average Sunday attendance in its U.S. churches was 846,000 in 2002, but had fallen 24.4 percent by 2012 to only 640,000. Other signs of congregational liveliness have fallen even further. Baptisms have fallen by 39.6 percent, and marriages have fallen by 44.9 percent.
 

As for the ACNA? It’s seen its membership rise by 13 percent and its Sunday attendance rise by 16 percent in the past five years. Since 2009, the ACNA has planted 488 new congregations. In 2012, the entire Episcopal Church managed to plant four new churches...

the rest

Canon Andrew White interviewed on BBC Radio

August 18, 2014

Here

Anglican Unscripted-Update With Archbishop Foley Beach

Aug 19, 2014 
         

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate

Story Index
00:00 Update with Kevin and George
07:57 Update with Archbishop Foley Beach

Boko Haram on course to create an Islamic state in Nigeria; Christian Bridal Shop Forced Out Of Business; Marriage acc. to 'The Giver'...more

Boko Haram on course to create an Islamic state in Nigeria, destroying Christian towns  Boko Haram's attacks in northern Nigeria have been well documented in the past year, but now its aim of forming an Islamic caliphate in the region is becoming a reality in the predominantly Christian Yobe and Borno States.

But while the British and American forces support the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in northern Iraq, the Nigerian Army struggles to combat the surprisingly sophisticated militant group with limited international support.

"The possible dangers for Nigeria and the region if this insurgency is not contained may have been underestimated, as has Boko Haram's military capacity," says Dr Khataza Gondwe, team leader for Africa and the Middle East at Christian Solidarity Worldwide...

Iraqis, U.S. recapture Mosul Dam from militants  Iraqi and Kurdish troops, backed by heavy U.S. air support, Monday recaptured Iraq’s largest dam, the most significant victory over the Islamic State since the militants overran almost half of Iraq in mid-June... ‘Islam Does Not Say That All Men Are Equal’

Professor who assaulted pro-lifers sentenced to three years probation and anger management

Navy reverses decision to remove Bibles from rooms, reviews policy  ..."That decision and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review," Navy spokesman Lt. Chika Onyekanne said in a statement. "While that review is underway, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned."

The Navy's decision to put Bibles back in its lodge and guest rooms came on Thursday, Navy Times reported. The reversal follows backlash from religious groups who had asked why the Navy is giving in to demands from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which filed a complaint against the Bibles earlier this year.

"A Bible in a hotel room is no more illegal than a chaplain in the military. They are there for those who want them," Chaplain Col. Ron Crews, USAR retired, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, said in a statement earlier this week...

Emerging solar plants scorch birds in mid-air
Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays — "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair....

Challies: The Spasmodic Hercules
I have been thinking about this one a lot, lately. I was thinking about it long before I read Manage Your Day-to-Day, but that book helpfully distilled it to a single sentence: “We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period, and underestimate what we can do over a long period, provided we work slowly and consistently.”

This is our temptation in all areas of life: to look for the quick fix, to look for the one or the few great moments that will accomplish more than the hundreds or thousands of smaller moments. “Anthony Trollope, the nineteenth-century writer who managed to be a prolific novelist while also revolutionizing the British postal system, observed, ‘A small daily task, if it be daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules’. Over the long run, the unglamorous habit of frequency fosters both productivity and creativity.”...

Persecution: W.W. Bridal Shop forced out of business because the owners are faithful Christians  W.W. Bridal Boutique in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania is being forced out of business because its owners are faithful Christians who believe that marriage is solely between one man and one woman. They have been intimidated to the point that their web site is now blank.

There are some indications that they might be trying to continue their work by appointment only, However, they have been forced out of the marketplace, precisely because they are Christians.

That is not the "spin" you read concerning this entire incident in the main stream media.

That is because the matter has been recast through the lens of the increasingly intolerant wing of the homosexual equivalency movement which is engaged in using every means available to ensure that homosexual and lesbian relationships are given a moral and legal equivalency as a marriage between one man and one woman...

The Future of Marriage and Family, According to The Giver
...No need for diversity. No need for emotion. No need for love. Just plain, passionless people whose sole purpose is to protect a community of sameness disguised as perfection.

This is the glimpse of what such a society could look like in the movie The Giver, now playing in theaters. It’s a society that, for the sake of avoiding conflict and all that comes with it, everything is decided for you.

•Spouses are assigned to each other, and babies are separated from their birth parents and assigned to “family units.”
•These “family units” live together in identical “dwellings,” in perfectly planned “communities.”
•Sexual urges or “stirrings” are controlled by pills.
•And “love” is an antiquated term with no meaning...

Archbishop of Mosul: "I have lost my Diocese to Islam - You in the West will also become the victims of Muslims"

August 18, 2014

The exiled Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, Iraq, is warning westerners about welcoming an increasing number of Muslims into their countries, naively believing that they too believe in democratic principles. “Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future,” said Archbishop Amel Shimoun Nona in an interview by Corriere della Sera. “I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. But my community is still alive.”

The archbishop’s interview was reported by the blog Rorate Caeli.

Nona, whose Eastern Rite church is under the authority of Pope Francis, now lives in Erbil, in Kurdistan, Iraq.

The archbishop warned:

Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles. You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.

the rest

A great many think because they have been filled once...

A great many think because they have been filled once, they are going to be full for all time after; but O, my friends, we are leaky vessels, and have to be kept right under the fountain all the time in order to keep full. If we are going to be used by God we have to be very humble. A man that lives close to God will be the humblest of men. I heard a man say that God always chooses the vessel that is close at hand. Let us keep near Him.
...Dwight Lyman Moody image

Wikipedia religion: A chance to enshrine your faith; Americans Aren’t Honest About Church Attendance; Islamic State: "We Will Take Spain Back"...more

Wikipedia religion: A chance to enshrine your faith, and bash others   The biggest strength of Wikipedia is also its biggest weakness: What one person writes, another can change or delete. This issue is writ large in religion, as a recent article in the Religion News Service says.

"Religious topics are one of the top 100 most frequently vandalized on Wikipedia," says the writer, GR alumna Sarah Pulliam Bailey. In a briskly paced story, she explains not only the why of religious edits, but the difficulties of how to keep things straight -- and, in a field as subjective as belief, what it even means to keep things straight.

She starts with Mormons, surely one of the more scrutinized faiths, especially since Mitt Romney's presidential bid in 2012. In three years, Anthony Willey, a Mormon and a Wikipedia administrator, has done more than 8,000 changes, mostly on his own faith...

Whose Lie Is It Anyway? Americans Aren’t Honest About Church Attendance  ...As has been the case for at least a decade, the number of Americans who say they attend church weekly, occasionally, seldom, or never has remained fairly static.

This is despite the “rise of the Nones,” where the religiously unaffiliated account for some 20 percent of the U.S. population.

A recent survey from Public Religion Research Institute, however, found that those numbers change dramatically when respondents answer online instead of over the the phone...

Muhammed Is Britain's Most Popular Boys Name
As a result of the way the statistics are put together, the name does not appear to have won, as the ONS classifies each of the different spellings as a different entry on the list. This means that "Muhammad" came in 15th with 3,499 children but "Mohammed" was 23rd with 2,887 and "Mohammad" was 57th with 1059 given the name.

As a result the top three spellings alone accounted for the names of 7,445 boys, easily beating the second most popular name Oliver which got just 6,949. Also the statistics are only published for the top 100 names, so the even more obscure spellings of Mohammed are likely to push the total even higher...

Archbishop Okoh: Ebola will be defeated by science and prayer

Islamic State: "We Will Take Spain Back"
Radical Muslims in Spain have launched a social media campaign aimed at generating support for the jihadist group Islamic State[IS]...

Damian Thompson: Islamic extremism and the hypocrisy of the Church of England
...But where is the Church of England’s apology for failing to acknowledge the existence of a worldwide Islamist campaign against Christianity until virtually the other day? And will it ever acknowledge that its ‘meaningful dialogue’ with Muslim hardliners has been interpreted by them as a sign of Christian weakness?

Of course not. The C of E is quick to say sorry for colonialism, sexism, homophobia etc. Not once has it apologised for a naïve liberalism that has endangered the lives of Christians in Muslim countries.

Stung by Suicide: 20 Service-Members a Day Kill Themselves

Aug 14, 2014

Bill Whittle points out that Robin Williams wasn't the only suicide on August 11; we have an epidemic of military service-member suicides. 20 a day is not ok!

NYC to Jewish schools: Get smaller Stars of David; IRS and atheists form unholy alliance; Obamacare: text and intention...more

Immigrant Students Flood Georgia School Registration Office
...The report comes as the Department of Education has made it clear that illegal immigrant students are “entitled to” public eduction and the southern border is in crisis with tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors entering the country illegally — many of whom are later placed with a sponsor in the U.S. as they await immigration hearings.

School districts are not permitted to inquire about students’ immigration status...

Obamacare: text and intention
Confronted with its legislative weaknesses, defenders of Obamacare are appealing to the law’s intent instead of its text. This is a dangerous approach that the founders clearly rejected...

Where Obamacare Is Going
The government single-payer model that liberals aspire to for the U.S. is increasingly in trouble around the world...

Contemporary Christian music’s sinking witness
...Contemporary Christian music has a tremendous ministry opportunity that expands beyond the borders of the local church. Christians cannot present half-truths for the sake easy listening and broader audiences. As followers of Christ, we can do better. Or at least turn off the radio...

NYC to Jewish schools: Get smaller Stars of David
What is happening in New York City preschools is either a form of American-style religious syncretism or a tightening church-state death grip on theology. It’s hard to tell which (and it could be both), but it’s all bad...

Christian group demands release of secret deal IRS made with atheists that threatens to censor houses of worship 

IRS and atheists form unholy alliance to target Christian churches  ...As a result of the Freedom From Religion Foundation filing a lawsuit against the IRS for its failure to enforce restrictions against political advocacy from the church pulpits, in an effort to placate the atheist group the IRS is going to do a “high priority examination” to about 99 churches being accused of “illegal electioneering”...

Anglican Unscripted Episode 114

Aug 13, 2014
         

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. 

 Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate

An Interview with Anglican Archbishop Foley Beach

Jacob Stubbs IRD
August 12, 2014

Transitioning into his new role, the recently elected Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) kindly shared some of his time to explain his vision for the ACNA’s social engagement in an interview with Jacob Stubbs for IRD.

1. Jacob: “Can you tell us a brief version of your testimony? How did the situation in which you grew up shape your call to pastoral ministry? How has it shaped your social vision for the Anglican Church?”

o   Abp. Beach: “Well, I think the simplest way is, I was raised in a broken home. Out of that brokenness, I got involved in the Baptist church where I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I then went off to high school and got involved in the ministry of Young Life, which really helped shape me and get my relationship with the Lord on track. This influenced me in many different ways. Because I was in and out of so many different schools, I learned how to relate to many people. So, when people are walking in a crowd or seeing people come into our church that I don’t know, it’s not difficult for me to meet them. I think another aspect is that it has given me a sensitivity to the brokenness in our families and the need of the church, in the name of Jesus, try to minister and care for the broken people in our midst. Of course, in the culture, that brokenness exists as well. And so, trying to have a heart for people in pain and bringing God’s healing touch through Jesus, I think that’s a big part of how the situation in which I grew up shaped me.” 
the rest

ISIS selling Christian women as sex slaves; Sexual mores in Iran; Navy Removes Bibles From Guest Rooms...more

String of same-sex marriage rulings broken
For the first time in nearly fourteen months, a state’s ban on same-sex marriage has withstood a constitutional challenge in court.  A state judge in Tennessee ruled last week that “neither the Federal Government nor another state should be allowed to dictate to Tennessee what has traditionally been a state’s responsibility.”  The decision, issued last Tuesday, has just become available in electronic format...

Islamic militants 'buried alive Yazidi women and children in attack that killed 500'  ...The bodies were reportedly found in a mass grave in the wake of Isis’s push towards the Sinjar mountain range, where tens of thousands of Kurdish-speaking refugees have been trapped to the point of starvation.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said his government had evidence that 500 Yazidi civilians had been killed so far, and that some of the victims had been buried alive. A further 300 Yazidi women have been kidnapped as slaves, he added...

Priest from Nineveh: ‘Christianity is finished in Iraq’

Militants execute hundreds of minorities in Iraq, official says

ISIS selling Christian women as sex slaves
...At least 500 Christian women were reportedly abducted from Mosul and marked to be sold as sex slaves by ISIS militants who stretched their dominance over Christians in Iraq further last week when they overran Qaraqosh, the nation's largest Christian city where believers had been flocking to after being chased out of Mosul...

Sexual mores in Iran
IT IS the last thing Iran’s religious rulers want to talk about, but they may just have to. An official report has documented the nation’s worst-kept secret: sex of every kind is taking place outside the marital bed in the Islamic Republic. Something, in the ruling ayatollahs’ view, must be done.

An 82-page document recently issued by Iran’s parliamentary research department is stark in its findings. Not only are young adults sexually active, with 80% of unmarried females having boyfriends, but secondary-school pupils are, too. Illicit unions are not just between girls and boys; 17% of the 142,000 students who were surveyed said that they were homosexual.

In Tehran, the capital, long known for its underground sex scene, chastity is plainly becoming less common. The scope and pace of change are challenging the government and posing a headache for the clerics who dispense guidance at Friday prayers... The Economist

Soldier forced out of Army for serving Chick-fil-A, reading Hannity book
A member of the U.S. Army Band said he was forced out of the U.S. Army for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his personal car, serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at a party and reading books written by conservative authors like Sean Hannity, a federal lawsuit alleges.

Master Sergeant Nathan Sommers, a 25-year veteran of the military and a decorated soloist in the U.S. Army Band Chorus, claims he was forcibly retired from the Army due to his religious and conservative political beliefs...

Navy Removes Bibles From Guest Rooms
There is growing outrage among sailors and religious liberty advocates over a directive that calls for the removal of Bibles from lodges and hotels run on U.S. Navy bases. The directive comes after an atheist group filed a formal complaint earlier this year over the placement of Bibles in the rooms.

"The current direction is to remove all religious material from Navy Lodge guest rooms," read an email to a Navy chaplain from The Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). "For those Navy Lodges with religious materials currently in guest rooms, the Navy Lodge General Manager will contact the Installation Chaplain's office who will provide guidance on the removal procedure disposition of these materials."...

Lift up your heart to Him...

Lift up your heart to Him, sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company; the least little remembrance will always be acceptable to Him. You need not cry very loud; he is nearer to us than we are aware of. ...Brother Lawrence image

Bp. Michael Nazir-Ali: The West must face the evil that has revealed itself in the Iraq genocide

August 10th, 2014

A beautiful mosaic of ancient religions, cultures and languages in the Middle East is being systematically destroyed. Until now, the world has watched mutely. When Muslims were threatened with genocide in Bosnia, the international community acted in concert to prevent the campaign against them developing into a full-scale pogrom. I went there myself, as part of an effort to bring relief supplies to all those who were affected. I was also present when millions of Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan after the Soviet invasion of that country. Once again, Western countries, Christian, Islamic and secular organisations were at the forefront of bringing relief to these people.

For years now the Christian, Mandaean, Yazidi and other ancient communities of Iraq, have been harried, bombed, exiled and massacred without anyone batting so much as an eyelid. Churches have been bombed, clergy kidnapped and murdered, shops and homes attacked and destroyed. This persecution has now been elevated to genocide by the advent of Isis. People are being beheaded, crucified, shot in cold blood and exiled to a waterless desert simply because of their religious beliefs...  the rest

We cannot go on as before. The evil, with which we have been living for so long, has once again revealed its full face in Iraq. It is not a pretty sight and the international community must ensure that it has no place in the coming world order.

Anglican Unscripted Episode 113

Aug 11, 2014 
         

Anglican Unscripted is the only video newscast in the Anglican Church. Every Week Kevin, George, Allan and Peter bring you news and prospective from around the globe. Please donate at http://anglican.tv/donate

Story Index:
00:00:00 Christian Persecution

Exodus from the mountain; Gaza's tiny Christian community; Christian sexual morality in ssm...more

Exodus from the mountain: Yazidis flood into Iraq following U.S. airstrikes ...How many are left behind also is difficult to say. The United Nations estimated that 50,000 Yazidis had fled Sinjar. But there also are villages in the mountains, an arid, 100-mile-long stretch of peaks spanning the Iraqi-Syrian border. Thousands of those living on the southern edge remain trapped by the extremists, some of them still under threat of death, said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International...

20,000 Yazidis Taken to Safety as US Launches More Airstrikes in Iraq; Lebanese Patriarch Calls for Protection of Christians ..."We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic States have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar," Sudani said. "Some of the victims, including women and children were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar."...

Gaza's tiny Christian community under siege
...Their number has declined by nearly a fifth in under two decades, according to the first ever survey of the small embattled population. More than half are "refugees", a third of these have no income and many are suffering chronic illness...

Alice C. Linsley: The Feminization of Anglican Orders
The decision of the Synod of the Church of England to consecrate women bishops has widened the gap between those who hold to historic Anglican orders and those who seek “adventure” - to employ the Archbishop of Canterbury’s apt term. Consider the meaning: “ad” – facing or toward, and “venture” – to move into dangerous territory...

Tracking Christian Sexual Morality in a Same-Sex Marriage Future
Churchgoing Christians who support same-sex marriage are more likely to think pornography, cohabitation, hook-ups, adultery, polyamory, and abortion are acceptable. And it’s reasonable to expect continued change in more permissive directions...

Super Moon August 2014

Raymond took this picture last evening from the Woodlawn Reservoir near our house. (Click to enlarge)

Links to other pictures:

A 'Super Moon' Rises WSJ

Supermoon: Incredible images captured of the biggest moon of 2014   The Independent

Supermoon: Best photos from around the world USA Today

 

Supermoon of the Year: 20 Photos From Around the World Mashable

The West’s Prostration to Islam; Mohler: Are Christian Missionaries Narcissistic Idiots?...more

ISIS: 'We will raise the flag of Allah in the White House'
A fascinating video recorded by a reporter for Vice who was embedded with the Islamic State for three weeks...

The black flag of ISIS is flying in London

ISIS claims gains, takes control of Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam

The West’s Prostration to Islam
...Again, one need only turn to history, followed by doctrine, to see that mainstream Islam has always been about power. Its founder and prophet, Muhammad, was a warlord, who went on caravan raids and incited his followers to attack and plunder other tribes that rejected his “prophecy,” seizing their property and women and children—and all in the context of “God told me so.” After his death, his followers did the same, giving people three choices: be part of their “team” by converting, or else keep their religious beliefs, but pay tribute and live as third class subjects, or else die. In this context, and over the course of several centuries of jihadi conquest, the Islamic world was forged.

All this is well justified by the Koran and Islamic Sharia. Compare and contrast this with Christianity’s founder, Jesus Christ: far from a warlord, he preached mercy, peace, and spirituality. And that’s one of the problems: Westerners are so well acquainted with Christianity that they tend to project its approach to Islam—naively thinking that all religions must be the same, primarily spiritual, not concerned with the temporal. But Islam is immensely concerned with the temporal—with power...

Mohler: Are Christian Missionaries Narcissistic Idiots?—A Response to Ann Coulter
...But that is hardly the point. On moral terms, Nicholas Kristof’s essay is infinitely superior to the column by Ann Coulter, but it also falls short of the true Christian reality. These two missionaries and all the others who have gone as authentic missionaries in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ have not been driven by a mere humanitarian impulse. They have not just gone to help those who are victims and patients. They have gone because they believe that every single human being on the planet is an individual made in God’s image. And they also believe that every single individual on the planet is a sinner in desperate need of salvation. They believe that every single human being on the planet, whether in West Africa or in the advanced Western nations including the US, are in great need of the gospel of Jesus Christ–and that what hangs in the balance is not just the outbreak of a contagion or the future of health but indeed the eternal realities of heaven and hell.

What is missing from both of these analyses are the final words of the gospel of Matthew. We know these words as the Great Commission. In Matthew 28:18-20 — “And Jesus came up and spoke to them saying, ‘all authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always even to the end of the age.’” Those words may have escaped the attention of both Nicholas Kristof and Ann Coulter, but they had better be at the forefront of our minds and on our hearts at all times...

Aborting in the name of Jesus; Defending the freedom of religious conscience...more

Fathers irreplaceable, says Bishop Nazir-Ali
“The role of fathers in the nurture of their children is unique and cannot be replaced”, says Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali.

Writing in the Mail On Sunday, Bishop Nazir-Ali said: “Research shows that children are best brought up in families where a mum and dad are present...

A time for heroism
If we hope to protect the unborn, promote sexual integrity, preserve the truth about marriage, and defend the freedom of religious conscience in our country, we cannot simply live good lives—we must live heroic ones...

Aborting in the name of Jesus
It is one of the most disturbing articles I’ve ever read. The current issue of Esquire magazine profiles the “abortion ministry” of Willie Parker, a doctor who flies in and out of my home state of Mississippi to perform abortions at the state’s only abortion clinic. The word “ministry” isn’t incidental. Dr. Parker says he aborts unborn children because Jesus wants him to.

Parker, the article says, preached in Baptist churches as a young man, before going into medicine. He had, he says, a “come to Jesus” moment where he became convinced that he ought to do abortions. “The protesters say they’re opposed to abortion because they’re Christian,” he says. “It’s hard for them to accept that I do abortions because I’m a Christian.”...

Pot growers illegally divert water in California
...The scene has been repeated across Northern California. Amid the state’s crippling drought, many communities are fighting not the mere cultivation of cannabis — which is legal in the state, though subject to myriad restrictions — but the growers’ use of water. Marijuana is a thirsty plant, and cultivating it at a time when California residents are subject to water restrictions has become a sticky issue...

Act Like Men: What It Means to Fight Like a Man
...This is the first article in a series called "Act Like Men." In this post, I'm going to talk about the spiritual life of a man. The next three will deal with the three basic life stages most men experience: singleness, married life, and being a father. Let's build a foundation for thoughts on those areas of life by talking about what makes a man.

I'm not saying this is not often applicable to women. I am a man writing to men in a world where manhood is often confused. I lead a mentoring group for women leaders and regularly seek to elevate women leaders. But, for this brief series, I want to talk to men about being godly, gracious, and discerning...

Affordable Housing Draws Middle Class to Inland Cities
...The country’s fastest-growing cities are now those where housing is more affordable than average, a decisive reversal from the early years of the millennium, when easy credit allowed cities to grow without regard to housing cost and when the fastest-growing cities had housing that was less affordable than the national average. Among people who have moved long distances, the number of those who cite housing as their primary motivation for doing so has more than doubled since 2007...[graphic lists Syracuse as one of the more affordable]

Thousands of Iraqi Christians Stranded on Isolated Mountaintop Begin to Die of Thirst

By Loveday Morris
Washington Post
2014-08-06

BAGHDAD -- Stranded on a barren mountaintop, thousands of minority Iraqis are faced with a bleak choice: descend and risk slaughter at the hands of the encircled Sunni extremists or sit tight and risk dying of thirst.

Humanitarian agencies said Tuesday that between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians remain trapped on Mount Sinjar since being driven out of surrounding villages and the town of Sinjar two days earlier. But the mountain that had looked like a refuge is becoming a graveyard for their children.

Unable to dig deep into the rocky mountainside, displaced families said they have buried young and elderly victims of the harsh conditions in shallow graves, their bodies covered with stones. Iraqi government planes attempted to airdrop bottled water to the mountain on Monday night but reached few of those marooned.

"There are children dying on the mountain, on the roads," said Marzio Babille, the Iraq representative for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "There is no water, there is no vegetation, they are completely cut off and surrounded by Islamic State. It's a disaster, a total disaster."... the rest

Chaos in Iraq’s north as Yazidi refugees starve and Islamic State presses Kurds  ...An estimated 10,000 to 40,000 of them sought refuge on the craggy peaks of Mount Sinjar — largely members of the minority Yazidi sect. They fear death if they descend into areas controlled by the extremist rebels, who consider them apostates. Kurdish forces have so far failed to break through the militants’ lines to reach them, despite launching a counteroffensive early this week...

Non-Muslim Minority Facing ISIS Genocide in Iraq Beg Obama for Water