The list of America's 10 favorite books - and what it means

Let me alleviate the fears of Christians everywhere. The Bible is still ranked as America's Number 1 book. But now that we got that out of the way, what are the Top Ten, and what does this list say about our nation?

According to a Harris Poll, here they are:

1. The Bible
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
3. Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

My observations:

1. My first observation is that traditional religious belief remains high. Of course, this could be too simplistic by far - perhaps people feel the need to put forward the Bible as their first choice. This is a classic problem in polling: is a certain response what the man really thinks, what he wants you to think, or what he is supposed to think?

2. Americans are increasingly cut off from their past. With the exception of the Bible, of course, no book on the list was written before 1936. This is dangerous in the life of any people - to be so cut off from their past and so to be lacking in any understanding of themselves.

3. What kind of literature is this?

• Nine out of ten books are fiction.
• Two and maybe three are "coming of age" stories.
  
• Most are fiction of a particular kind: fiction that explores a quest for meaning, often through struggle.
• Many could be viewed as protests against (or escapes from) the historic Christian order and the traditional roles expected of people in Western society.
• Several are deliberately aimed at undermining or assume the irrelevance of Christian character. Among those aged 18-31, the Harry Potter series was the most popular work.

I'm not sure this list bodes well for our future. If books 2 through 10 are today's Secular Canon we will never have a confident society but one which will exhaust itself by seeking to reinvent itself with little reference to what has inspired our culture for 3500 years. And to cut ourselves off from what has ennobled our society seems truly foolish.

We still like reading about Atticus Finch, but I'm not sure our secular culture is capable of producing too many like him any more.

There is no Christianity without Christ

Earliest known icon of Christ as Pantocrator (Almighty)

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Col. 1:16-18)

Stirring words, pointing to the centrality of Christ. There can be no Christianity without Jesus Christ - not the Jesus-as-moral-teacher of the modern "progressives," but the one of Whom the Apostle Paul was speaking in the passage quoted above. Remove Him from the edifice and you remove every support. Remove the Cross and you have deprived yourself of God's remedy for what you are. Strip Him of His Deity and you have gutted His demand to obedience and His intrinsic authority to command, so forcefully, in that Sermon on the Mount which seems to be highly prized nowadays. As if that Sermon contained only Matthew 7:1 and not Matthew 7:13.

Or 7:23.

We are nearing the time - it's almost here - when society will drop the pretense of the name of Christian. If only they would do it today, simply call their churches and their selves by another name!

The latest window into apostasy is provided by Canada's National Post, in a story featuring the Rev. Gretta Vosper of West Hill United Church in Toronto.

There is a Bible on a pedestal in Gretta Vosper's West Hill United Church in Toronto. She would prefer it did not have a special place, she said, because it is just a book among other books. In a similar way, the cross that is high above the altar has no special meaning, but there are a few older congregants for whom the Bible and the cross are still nice symbols so there they remain.

Though an ordained minister, she does not like the title of reverend. It is one of those symbols that hold the church back from breaking into the future -- to a time "when the label Christian won't even exist" and the Church will be freed of the burdens of the past. To balance out those symbols of the past inside West Hill, there is a giant, non-religious rainbow tapestry just behind the altar and multi-coloured streamers hang from the ceiling.

"The central story of Christianity will fade away," she explained. "The story about Jesus as the symbol of everything that Christianity is will fade away...."

Ms. Vosper does not believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, the miracles and the sacrament of baptism. Nor does she believe in the creeds, the presence of Christ in communion or that Jesus was the Son of God.

In With or Without God, her book that was formally launched this week, she writes that Jesus was a "Middle Eastern peasant with a few charismatic gifts and a great posthumous marketing team."

What is striking is the blatancy and self-assuredness, the willingness to reach beyond and no longer even feel the need to appeal to Jesus for anything of substance. Typically, love is all that is said to matter:

The focus of her "spiritual" life is love. And since love is the common bond between all people, it is really the only thing worth believing in.

"Here in the context of seeking out harmony with all things, the purest understanding of those values that enhance and sanctify life becomes the foremost spiritual practice," she writes.

"We call it love, radically inclusive love. It is here, in the caring, challenging, prophetic role with which it is so familiar that the church can really shine."

If only love were the common bond between all people. But, the reality of this life is that Man is at enmity with himself, with others, and with God. The Christ of Christianity is the answer to this problem.

Read the whole thing here.

The demonstrable falsity of Mormonism

I've been having a reasonably civil discussion in a comment thread with a lady who is apparently a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). The recent Mitt Romney stories have threatened to bring what Mormons really believe to the forefront. But American society has so compartmentalized religious belief that it will no longer analyze it rationally. True to form, most Americans either don't care what a person's religious beliefs are (which can in a sense be a good thing) or else say that a thorough inspection of a person's religion is bigotry.

What to do then with a religion which seemingly has no basis at all in historical fact? Does it matter at all that Mormonism purports to reveal (or restore) a lost revelation about God and history for which there is no evidence? The history of North America put forward by Mormons is such a fabrication that it is actually painful to relate it. It is not worthy in this regard to be compared to the historical evidence, say, for Christianity, and for the trustworthiness of the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Witness this excerpt from the Baptist Press:

Hill Cumorah is located in New York, southeast of Rochester. Joseph Smith claimed that when Moroni appeared to him, he was told that Moroni's father, Mormon, buried the gold plates upon which the Book of Mormon was based on the hill Cumorah just before the great final battle there (Mormon 6:6). In the Pearl of Great Price, Smith writes that the day after his second vision, he went to a large hill outside of the village where his family lived (the hill Cumorah) and found the gold plates (endnote 26). This identifies the hill where Smith dug up the plates as the same hill where Mormon buried them and where the great battle took place. In Mormon 6:10-15, it is claimed that hundreds of thousands of people were killed on or near the hill Cumorah during that final battle. It says that "their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth, being left by the hands of those who slew them to molder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their mother earth" (Mormon 6:15). In other words, their bodies were left there, unburied.

To help you understand the magnitude of casualties at hill Cumorah, let us consider another major battle. During the Battle of Gettysburg of the American Civil War, 55,000 soldiers were wounded, including 6,000 of them killed on the battlefield and 4,000 more whose wounds were mortal. Eyewitnesses said that there was so much blood from the dead and injured that there were parts of the battlefield that seemed like streams of blood. So many men and horses died that all could not be buried at once and many corpses were left on the battlefield until a few days later when others were hired to do the task.

If 6,000 men died on the battlefield at Gettysburg, what would a battlefield look like with hundreds of thousands dead? Since they were left unburied at hill Cumorah, wouldn't there be some artifacts made of metal and stone? Bullets by the thousands are found at Gettysburg. Nothing, however, has been found at hill Cumorah.

University of Rochester paleontologist and stratigrapher Carl Brett has worked in the Palmyra, N.Y, area where hill Cumorah is located and is familiar with the hill and its geologic conditions. He says that if hundreds of thousands were slaughtered at the hill and not buried, there would still be skeletal remains on the surface today, even after 1,600 years. Scavengers and weather conditions would account for why much is gone, but there would still be quite enough left to look at. Metallic artifacts from weapons and armor would also be easily found (endnote 27). But nothing has ever been found at hill Cumorah.

This is just one of many things that could be cited. Is it wrong to discuss this type of information, or to discuss Mormon teachings about the spirit brotherhood of Jesus and Satan?

Not only is Mormonism not a Christian religion, it also is untrue as a matter of historical fact. We know there was a Pontius Pilate; we know that James the Lord's brother was killed in a certain manner; etc. But there was no battle at the hill Cumorah.

How can you make sure people leave your church this Christmas?

Sadly, this is an all-too-common example of the rhetoric that drives people from churches. The Rev. Dr. Gary A. Wilburn of New Canaan, Connecticut says:

“When I hear language like, ‘You can’t be saved unless you accept Christ as your personal savior,’ I know that it is usually sincere and heart-felt. But what it most likely means is ‘We are on the inside and you are on the outside. Ours is the only true faith. If you do it our way, you’ll have better access to God than the followers of Buddha or Mohammed, or Mary Baker Eddy, or Charles Darwin, or the ‘inner light,’ or whatever, We welcome everyone into God’s family as long as you’re willing to become like us,” he said.

“That kind of insular theology makes Christianity a religion of exclusion, not inclusion,” Dr. Wilburn added. “A far cry from the universality of which the Bible speaks when it claims, ‘There is one God who is father of all, over all, through all and within all,” and “God is love, and anyone who lives in love, lives in God and God in him [or her].’ As a progressive Christian, I see in Jesus the true image and likeness of God. For me, Jesus is the face of God, the heart of God, the way of God. Jesus shows me what a life full of God looks like. For Christians, Jesus is our access into the realm of God. But at that same time I recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for their access into God’s realm. Because at the end of day, I believe that God is bigger than any of our ideas about God.”

But what if there actually was a revelation from God that told us what God thinks about things and, particularly, about Himself, who He is and what He is like?

At the risk of sounding rude: Attention! People go to Christian churches because they want to worship God through Jesus Christ. When liberal Christian theologians stop castigating people for - well, for believing what it is that Christians believe, they may be able to reverse the trends of departure and demographic winter in their denominations.

Is Mormonism a Christian religion?

Utah has great mountains. But maybe not such great theology.

Quite a lot of this in the news this week. Here, Baptist apologist Mike Licona talks about his investigations into the truth of Mormonism:

My second discovery was that the Book of Abraham, which is counted among the Mormon scriptures, discredits founder Joseph Smith as a true prophet. In 1835, Smith purchased some mummies that were accompanied by some ancient Egyptian papyri. Smith claimed to be able to translate the papyri because they were written in Egyptian, very similar to the "Reformed Egyptian," which Smith claimed was the language of the Book of Mormon. As he translated the manuscripts, he asserted it contained the Book of Abraham, a book written by Abraham himself.

The papyri for the Book of Abraham contained some drawings with Egyptian writing that were subsequently published in Times and Seasons, a Mormon newspaper. The papyri were lost after Smith's death in 1844 but were rediscovered in 1967 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York who returned them to the Mormon church which in turn confirmed them to be the originals and published them for others to see. A Mormon academic journal named "Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought" asked three prominent Egyptologists to translate the papyri. If Joseph Smith was a true prophet, the contemporary translation would be very close to Smith's. The stakes were high, since the translations of the Egyptologists either could confirm Joseph Smith as a true prophet or expose him as a charlatan. For if Joseph Smith was terribly wrong in his translation of the Book of Abraham, it casts doubt on the Book of Mormon, too.

John Wilson and Klaus Baer, both professors of Egyptology at the University of Chicago, and Richard Parker, a professor of Egyptology at Brown University, were asked to do the task. The results were devastating. All concluded that the manuscript was a common Egyptian document buried with mummies for guidance in the afterlife and was not used until at least a thousand years after Abraham. They also concluded that Smith's translation did not bear the slightest resemblance to the actual translation. This is especially important when we consider that Smith claimed that the Book of Mormon was written in the same language. Since it can be demonstrated that Smith was gravely mistaken in his translation abilities when it came to the Book of Abraham, why should anything but the same conclusion be drawn pertaining to his ability allegedly to translate the Book of Mormon?

Read the rest here at Baptist Press.

Flickr photo by Katie; some rights reserved.

Update to Christian search engine site

Our friends at Kingdom Engine have revamped their Christian search engine site with a more pleasant appearance and some useful custom search engines available on a variety of topics such as:

• The Bible
• Apologetics
• Creeds and Confessions
• Spurgeon
• Worship Music
  

You can also add these searches to your own site or blog, if you have one.

As they note, the Web has grown so much that searching for "King David" on Google gives you 84,700,000 results. Custom search engines limit searches to just a few hand-selected sites that deal with the topic you're interested in. They're great for research.

Happy searching!

Top Christian Books for 2007 announced by the ECPA

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) has announced its Christian Book Award (formerly Gold Medallion) winners for 2007. Here they are:

Christian Book of the Year: Ever After (Even Now Series #2), by Karen Kingsbury

Bible: Archaeological Study Bible: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture, Edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Duane Garett

Bible Reference and Study: The IVP Atlas of Bible History, by Paul Lawrence

Children & Youth: Sexy Girls: How Hot Is Too Hot?, by Hayley DiMarco

Christian Life: What Jesus Demands from the World, by John Piper (Spanish version here)

Fiction: When Crickets Cry, by Charles Martin

Inspiration and Gift: Pearls of Great Price: 366 Daily Devotional Readings, by Joni Eareckson Tada

Bible upheld once again by archaeology

I knew it all along.

The sound of unbridled joy seldom breaks the quiet of the British Museum's great Arched Room, which holds its collection of 130,000 Assyrian cuneiform tablets, dating back 5,000 years.

But Michael Jursa, a visiting professor from Vienna, let out such a cry last Thursday. He had made what has been called the most important find in Biblical archaeology for 100 years, a discovery that supports the view that the historical books of the Old Testament are based on fact.

Searching for Babylonian financial accounts among the tablets, Prof Jursa suddenly came across a name he half remembered - Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, described there in a hand 2,500 years old, as "the chief eunuch" of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon.

Prof Jursa, an Assyriologist, checked the Old Testament and there in chapter 39 of the Book of Jeremiah, he found, spelled differently, the same name - Nebo-Sarsekim.

Nebo-Sarsekim, according to Jeremiah, was Nebuchadnezzar II's "chief officer" and was with him at the siege of Jerusalem in 587 BC, when the Babylonians overran the city.

The small tablet, the size of "a packet of 10 cigarettes" according to Irving Finkel, a British Museum expert, is a bill of receipt acknowledging Nabu-sharrussu-ukin's payment of 0.75 kg of gold to a temple in Babylon.

The tablet is dated to the 10th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, 595BC, 12 years before the siege of Jerusalem.

Evidence from non-Biblical sources of people named in the Bible is not unknown, but Nabu-sharrussu-ukin would have been a relatively insignificant figure.

"This is a fantastic discovery, a world-class find," Dr Finkel said yesterday. "If Nebo-Sarsekim existed, which other lesser figures in the Old Testament existed? A throwaway detail in the Old Testament turns out to be accurate and true. I think that it means that the whole of the narrative [of Jeremiah] takes on a new kind of power."

Read more here in the Telegraph (UK).

Can you be both a Muslim and a Christian?

No, of course not.

But a Seattle Episcopal priest, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, is now claiming to be both.

Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost demolishes this sort of nonsense by reminding us:

While she rejects such orthodox Christian beliefs as the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, she believes that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected. This belief is, as she readily admits, in conflict with the teachings of the Quran. When it is pointed out that she has violated the law of non-contradiction, Redding responds, "That's something I'll find a challenge the rest of my life."

Of course there is no "challenge" in reconciling the two views since they are completely incompatible. The matter is not one of challenge but of impossibility. The law of non-contradiction is non-negotiable. Just because one wants to feel that the two religions are ultimately compatible does not make them so.

It would be easy to dismiss Redding's unsophisticated beliefs as the confusions of a rather dim dhimmi. But this Episcopalian Muslim is representative of the muddled understanding of pluralism that pervades American culture....

Truth is incompatible with non-truth, which is why we must reject all self-contradictory claims made by others and root them out of our own belief systems. In rejecting contradictory thinking we accept an uncomfortable truth: true tolerance sometimes requires being intolerant of willful stupidity.

This is exactly so. When will people drop the pretense of calling themselves Christians when they refuse to acknowledge the core doctrines of the faith - and most especially who Jesus is?

What's in a headline?

As I was scanning the news this morning, I noticed this irony: right after the headline which said, "Falwell's Death Draws Mixed Editorials" was another one stating, "Gay Episcopal bishop to enter civil union with partner."

While Evangelicals would say that Jerry Falwell's church and university ministries have done much to advance the Kingdom of God, it's clear that his societal mission was a failure. When I was a younger man and there was a lot of noise about the Moral Majority, no one could have imagined that 25 years later there would be "gay weddings." (Not to mention gay bishops.)

Even our recent pro-life and pro-family victories (for which, lest I be misunderstood, we give thanks) are not victories in the true sense - they were holding actions in which some holes in the dike have been plugged.

Although there are hopeful signs in many places, for the most part the moral tide is still working against traditional Christian morality. Within the past one or two years a new and vociferous atheism has taken the field. Other powerful opponents such as militant Islam are vying for supremacy through political intimidation and skillful use of the language of rights and discrimination.

Let's continue to work and pray for the salvation of men and women and the transformation of society. I'm hopeful because I believe Christians have seen the limits of what political action per se can do in our nation.

Call for 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting for America

From the ministries of Francis Frangipane and Lou Engle comes this call to fasting and prayer for our nation. We urge you to read and act!



Lou Engle is a radical man of God, a man committed to seeing America transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Lou and Pastor Frangipane are good friends, and Francis serves as an advisor to Lou's ministry. Lou's message about prayer and fasting during this time is significant and appropriate. Francis also encourages Christians to individually hear from the Lord as they seek how the Lord would have them fast, that it would be with vision, grace and sacrifice, without opening the door to legalism. Pastor Francis will be participating with Lou Engle July 7, 2007 at The Call Nashville.


40 Days for 40 Years
Lou Engle

There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens, and great revolutions for good or evil spring up in the vacuum created by these openings. In these divine moments, key men and women and even entire generations risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing.

The rebellious generation of the 60’s seized its moment, and history crashed into the deep abyss of drug addiction, sexual immorality, hatred for authority, and a rejection of the law of God. 1967 was a culminating and defining moment in that rebellion. In 1967, 100,000 young people, aged 15 to 25, flocked to San Francisco to experience the hippie movement. This mass convergence was sparked by the hit song, "San Francisco" (Wear a Flower in your Hair). Once there, they experimented with LSD, pot, casual sex and Eastern mysticism in what became known as the “Summer of Love.”

When these newly recruited Flower Children returned home at the end of the summer, they brought with them new styles and ideas, flooding the cities of the US and Europe with a message that opposed authority and scorned conservative morals. This counterculture rebellion was fueled by music and art, and it rapidly shifted global culture.

For 40 years we have been falling headlong into a black moral morass in America and all through the West. We are reaping the waves of destruction in every sector of our post-Christian society. Can America survive another 40 years? We are declaring NO! A thousand times NO! Unless a massive spiritual shift occurs at this moment, our children will live under an antichrist system and Godless enculturation that will bring about the demise of America, as we know it.

But God has a prescription for such a massive shift, and it is revealed in the power of the great transitional 40-day fast. God in His sovereign control over the parade of history delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. Longing to release a moral code that would give foundations for righteousness, for time and eternity, God summoned Moses to a 40-day fast on Mount Sinai. In that fast all of history changed, and the law of God was delivered from heaven to earth. If America is going to return to God, it must recover that law again as its foundation for truth.

Elijah, at the height of Jezebel’s cultic dominion over Israel, fasted 40 days, broke the spell of Jezebel off of his own life and received a mandate to anoint the next generation. That fast unleashed a movement that toppled Jezebel’s regime of hell, which perpetrated the destruction of family, the killing of innocent children, the silencing of the voice of God’s people and the widespread culture of sexual immorality. The fruit of that fast culminated in the utter destruction of Baal worship in Israel.

Also, in the fullness of time, the glorious gospel era was born when Jesus fasted 40 days, and those who sat in darkness saw a great light. Clearly the 40-day fast is heaven’s great transitional prescription, moving nations from failure to fulfillment of promise. Is it any surprise that when Jesus was to enter into His great sacrifice where death would be swallowed up in victory, Elijah and Moses appear with Him on the Mount of Transfiguration? All three of them were together as the 40-day fasters. They presided over the great transitions of history.

When the Israelites were poised to move into the Promise Land, spies were sent out for 40 days. When they returned carrying an evil report, a whole generation was infected with unbelief, and they turned their backs on the Promise Land. God’s sentence on that generation was, “And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land 40 days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you shall know my rejection” (Numbers 14:33-34). It was 40 years of judgment for 40 days failure.

Conversely, the great prophet Ezekiel received a 40-day prayer assignment for a 40-year failure of Judah’s iniquity. “Lie again on your right side, then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, 40 days I have laid on you a day for each year” (Ezekiel 4:6). It was clearly 40 days prayer for 40 years of failure.

When Jesus fasted 40 days and was tempted of the devil, He quoted from the book of Deuteronomy saying, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” And again, “You shall not tempt the Lord thy God” and again, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you worship.” Jesus, in His victory over Satan, was quoting the book of Deuteronomy, the portion of Scripture delivered by Moses to the generation who failed in the desert. Jesus in His 40-day fast was clearly identifying with that passage of Scripture and that generation that came out of Egypt. As an intercessor, in His 40-day fast He was fulfilling what a generation had failed in for 40 years.

Forty years are up! Could the church of America in a 40-day fast deliver a nation out of a 40-year curse? We have scriptural precedent to believe for such a turning! Therefore, we are trumpeting a call to 40 days of fasting--like Moses, like Elijah, like Ezekiel, and like Jesus. We must bear the iniquity in 40 days of fasting and intercession for the past 40 years of divorcing God in America, embracing a culture of sexual immorality, hedonism, materialism, abortion, and the rejection of Christ in the public place. But we are also calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer for the greatest outbreak of kingdom power in signs and wonders, and a spiritual awakening in America that will collide with this present darkness and topple its cultural dominion over our people. Thousands went on 40-day fasts in 1946, and in 1947 the great healing revivals broke out. In 1948 the latter rain outpourings began. Bill Bright and Billy Graham’s ministries were born at the same time, and Israel became a nation. Could it be that the 40-day fast preceded this explosion of power by the Spirit? After Jesus’ 40-day fast, the Scripture says He returned in the power of the Spirit. Yes, the promise of Joel 2 is that after the fast, "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh."

Forty years ago, in 1967, the Jesus Movement broke out--a youth revival starting on the streets that swept across the country, exploding in college campuses and coffee houses. People were being saved everywhere. Now, 40 years later, we are crying, do it again God, way beyond the Jesus movement!

In 1967, in a war and obviously by the supernatural hand of God, Jerusalem was taken and once again brought under the control of the state of Israel. This was a monumental signpost in the shifting of eras. The dispensation of the times of the Gentiles was now beginning to shift to the times when Jerusalem will become the last days focus for God’s activity in the earth. For 40 days we are joining Israel in a 40-day fast, crying out to God that they would see their Messiah and begin to receive their greatest spiritual awakening since the days of the Apostles.

Brothers and sisters, moments like these come only once in a lifetime. To miss such a moment could be to miss the purpose of God for a generation. The generation that refused to cross over the Jordan did not know that they had only one day to make the decision, and missing that day meant 40 years in the desert.

Even now we are receiving reports that other countries are calling 40-day fasts. Could we, like Jesus, be in a global 40-day season of fasting to see a global outbreak of light when great darkness is covering the earth? Beginning the evening of May 28, we are calling two generations to 40 days of fasting and prayer culminating on 7-7-07, the perfection of time, in a massive national gathering of fasting, intercession, repentance and worship, declaring we want to remarry the Lord. We want to cross over into the promise land of national revival. We want to break this 40-year curse. May thousands seek God in water, juice and Daniel fasts from May 28 through 7-7-07, The Call Nashville.

What would happen in America if for 40 days we sealed the electronic cultural sewer that flows nightly into our living rooms and spent our strength seeking the Lord? What if tens of thousands of fathers and mothers across our nation fasted for 40 days repenting and cleansing themselves of inward toleration of sexual immorality, pornography, addiction to food and entertainment, and materialism? What if they prayed daily for their spiritual and physical children to see them converted to Christ and freed from rebellion, addictions, depression, and suicide? What if the young generation fasted for 40 days to be cleansed from lust, media addiction, and rebellion toward their parents, believing that a double portion of the Holy Spirit would come upon there lives?

Moses fasted 40 days and mentored a spiritual son named Joshua, which means "the Lord saves." Elijah fasted 40 days and threw his mantle on a double portion son, Elisha, which means "the Lord saves." And John the Baptist fasted in the desert and prepared the way for a double portion son named Jesus, which means "the Lord saves." Jesus fasted 40 days and unleashed the apostolic glory of the eternal Son of God into the earth. What If we are preparing a generation for the greatest day of salvation in history? And, what if tens of thousands of both generations fast together and gather on 7-7-07 for The Call Nashville in LP Field to cry out to God in a Joel 2 moment for a great national returning to the Lord?

The parade of history has brought us into a profound generational landmark, and a great vacuum has opened again. If the church does not seize this moment, Muslims will! Antichrist rage will! Sexual perversion will! Anarchy will! But now is the time for key men and women, even an entire generation to risk everything to become the hinge of history, the pivotal point which determines which way the door will swing in America and in the nations of the earth. It's 40 Days or 40 Years! Seize the Day!

We will be launching this fast with a worldwide simulcast on God TV on May 26. For all information on the 40-day fast and The Call Nashville please visit www.fastandpray.com and www.thecall.com.

(Republication courtesy Ministries of Francis Frangipane.)

The DaVinci Code is nonsense - mysterious carvings are probably musical notes

Mysterious church carvings in that spooky church in Rosslyn, Scotland? They must reveal the secret truth about the children of Jesus and Mary Magdalene! Or perhaps a medieval Scottish UFO crash!

Ummm, no... turns out it's probably just musical notes, actually. The wire services are buzzing today with the news that mysterious carvings in Rosslyn Chapel are actually musical notation. Britain's Sunday Mail says:

Music teacher Thomas Mitchell, 75, strived for 27 years before he and pianist son Stuart, 41, deciphered symbols in the chapel which featured in the Da Vinci Code book and film....

Thomas, of Edinburgh, said: "The music is the result of years of painstaking research, recreating secret notes hidden for almost 600 years in carvings on the arches within the chapel itself.

"We believe this is the Holy Grail of music and, unlike the Da Vinci Code, it is absolutely factual...."

Using skills learned as an RAF code-breaker during the Korean War and his lifetime knowledge of classical music, he finally realised they depicted the vibrations of musical notes. He said: "It was a Eureka moment to end all Eureka moments.

"Many angels were carrying musical instruments and some were even grouped as if they were a choir.

"But one angel gave me the biggest problem. He was carrying something and at first I thought it was musical instrument which had been lost in the mists of time.

"It was only when I realised that he was carrying a musical stave, the blueprint for all musical composition, that I knew I was looking at a secretly coded piece of music.

"By recreating the patterns on each of the carved cubes, with Stuart's help, we unlocked the notes to find a haunting piece of music had been hidden in the arches for centuries.

"For the choral sections, we've used the words from the hymns to St John the Baptist taken from Matthew in the Old Testament which is fitting because the chapel itself is dedicated to St Matthew."

Stuart, a classical composer and pianist, used computers to decipher the carvings' secret music.

He has named the mediaeval music the Rosslyn Motet.

He said: "I also used authentic mediaeval instruments to recreate the music exactly and it truly is a masterpiece.

You can hear a snippet of the music here. Interesting stuff, and quite haunting actually (mp3 file about 45 seconds long).

To me, the discovery of music hidden for many centuries is more interesting than the Da Vinci Code because the Da Vinci Code is fictional and this is quite possibly very real.

Hispanics Changing American Christianity

Here's an interesting profile piece on religious trends among Hispanics in the U.S., based on a recent survey of 4,600 people. A casual observer would probably have to say that these trends are at work in Connecticut as well:

'Evangelicalism as we know it in this country is fast disappearing in many places,'' said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which conducted 4,600 interviews for the survey with the Pew Hispanic Center. ``Not surprisingly, we're beginning to see some of that in the immigrants who are coming to this country. They're helping to transform American Christianity.''

In South Florida, Pentecostal and evangelical worship is growing among Hispanics as storefront churches multiply and megachurches draw thousands of Hispanic worshipers with lively worship and extensive social programs.

Calvary Chapel, a 20,000-member church in Fort Lauderdale, has about 4,000 Hispanic congregants, said Guillermo Novoa, Calvary's Spanish ministry assistant. The church's Hispanic outreach includes English classes, live Spanish translation of services and Bible study, discipleship and marriage counseling in Spanish.

Attendance in the Spanish-language services has grown to 300 people, up from 40 people when the church launched its Hispanic outreach seven years ago.

''The majority of them are Latin American immigrants who are Roman Catholic when they come here,'' Novoa said. ``They see it's a huge difference to be a Christian in this country.''

At El Rey Jesus, a 7,000-member church in West Kendall, worship services are punctuated with Pentecostal practices such as casting out demons and hands-on healing.

Some Spanish-speaking Pentecostal megachurches -- such as Alpha and Omega Church in south Miami-Dade County -- are offering live English translations of their services for second-generation Hispanics who prefer English.

What's the best outreach and evangelism resource for churches?

We're not sure... it depends on the DNA of your church and your location, among other things.



However, Outreach Magazine has named Bill Hybels' book Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith as the "Best Outreach Resource of 2006."

With more than 100,000 copies sold since its August 2006 debut, Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith by popular Christian author and megachurch pastor Bill Hybels continues to affect its readers and transform the way churches approach evangelism.

The book, and its related resources, center on the power of Christians to fulfill the Great Commission through intentional friendships, faithful prayer and the ability to share the Gospel by telling their own spiritual stories. Hybels writes: “When you communicate your personal faith story with sincerity, you will see supernatural sparks fly as God uses it for His glory and your listener’s good....”

Building off the book’s foundation, Hybels and co-author Ashley Wiersma created a four-week churchwide evangelism campaign by the same name, which more than 1,000 churches have already completed. The “Just Walk Across the Room Experience” has allowed church members to learn and respond to Hybels’ teaching through a small group DVD curriculum or through 90-minute satellite broadcast events held in October 2006 and January 2007—with more simulcast events planned for this fall.

Hat tip: Christian Post.

Catholic Church abandons the concept of limbo

An interesting religion story today as the Roman Catholic Church abandons the idea of limbo. The Catholic News Service reports that "[a]fter several years of study, the Vatican's International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven."

In a document published April 20, the commission said the traditional concept of limbo -- as a place where unbaptized infants spend eternity but without communion with God -- seemed to reflect an "unduly restrictive view of salvation."

The church continues to teach that, because of original sin, baptism is the ordinary way of salvation for all people and urges parents to baptize infants, the document said.

But there is greater theological awareness today that God is merciful and "wants all human beings to be saved," it said. Grace has priority over sin, and the exclusion of innocent babies from heaven does not seem to reflect Christ's special love for "the little ones," it said.

"Our conclusion is that the many factors that we have considered ... give serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and enjoy the beatific vision," the document said.

"We emphasize that these are reasons for prayerful hope, rather than grounds for sure knowledge," it added.

The 41-page document, titled "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptized," was published in Origins, the documentary service of Catholic News Service. Pope Benedict XVI authorized its publication earlier this year.

The 30-member International Theological Commission acts as an advisory panel to the Vatican, in particular to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Its documents are not considered expressions of authoritative church teaching, but they sometimes set the stage for official Vatican pronouncements.

The commission's document said salvation for unbaptized babies who die was becoming an urgent pastoral question, in part because their number is greatly increasing. Many infants today are born to parents who are not practicing Catholics, and many others are the unborn victims of abortion, it said.

Limbo has never been defined as church dogma and is not mentioned in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states simply that unbaptized infants are entrusted to God's mercy.

But limbo has long been regarded as the common teaching of the church. In the modern age, "people find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness," the new document said.

Read more here.

Tags: Connecticut, Christian, Christianity, Catholic, Evangelical, religion, faith, spirituality, God, Bible, Jesus, limbo, Vatican, Pope

12 Keys for Excellence in the Prophetic Ministry, from the Life of Samuel

In order to provide some inspiration as well as information and prayer points, we plan to begin posting teaching articles and other devotional material from time to time. While we do look, out of necessity, at issues which are political, we also want to help strengthen the Church in our region. With that in mind, we hope you'll enjoy some teachings every now and then. When articles are final, they'll be posted on the Pray Connecticut website in the Articles section.

This teaching is from an ongoing class I've been helping to teach on the prophetic ministry in today's Church. We pray it will bless you.

12 Keys for Excellence in Prophetic Ministry from Samuel’s Life

And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. (1 Sam. 3:19)

(To prepare for this teaching, please read 1 Samuel 3.)

I am always impressed by Samuel, not just by his prophetic ministry but by the impact of his life on his nation. What he accomplished was astounding – he was an anchor of stability in his nation for many years, and kept the people tied to the Lord and the Lord’s ways.

I’m impressed by what he did to lay a foundation for prophetic ministry in Israel. When Samuel was a boy, it says that the word of the LORD was precious or rare – there was no open vision. And yet, without probably having the benefit of what we nowadays think of as prophetic training, Samuel came to a place where his words did not fall to the ground. Not only this, we believe that Samuel founded what became known as the schools of the prophets in Israel. How did he do this when he most likely had no mentors? I think the answer was found in his heart, as well as his giftings. We know it’s God who gives gifts, but there is the human side of the equation in which we cooperate with God’s grace. If we study his life we see that he wasn’t perfect, but this I think makes him more appealing. Let's see what we can find from the Word concerning Samuel’s life which can propel us into excellence in the prophetic.

This passage, 1 Samuel 3, gives us a great capsule summary of Samuel’s commission and also sets forth our goals as prophetic people:

Display excellence in both your character and your ministry: “And Samuel grew…”

Become a person of impact: “…and the LORD was with him…”

Speak words that have an impact: “…and did let none of his word fall to the ground.”

Notice that it is the Lord who lets none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground.

What are the keys in Samuel's life that made him a person of impact?


1. Take time to minister to the Lord, both personally and with others.

And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. (1 Sam. 3:1)

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:1-2)

Samuel ministered to the Lord individually. He did this as part of his ceremonial duties, but we are sure he had devotional times or worship and intercession before the Lord. The Word speaks of him passing the night in prayer to God. The Antioch example is a great example of how leaders must minister to the Lord together. If you are in leadership, even the leadership of a ministry if not the leadership of your whole church, I challenge you to take times where you simply wait on God together, even with fasting. When you do, the Spirit will come alongside with words of direction and even commissioning, as happened in Acts 13.


2. Be quick to respond to authorities and to obey .

…the LORD called, “Samuel;” and he answered, “Here am I.” And he ran unto Eli, and said, “Here am I; for you called me.” And he said, “I called not; lie down again.” And he went and lay down. (1 Sam. 3:4-5)

We know that Samuel probably did not learn this type of obedience from serving Eli the priest, because Eli did not discipline his own sons. Notice the instant obedience of Samuel’s heart. How many children or young people come literally running the first time they are called?


3. Put yourself in a position to listen to the Lord’s Voice.

Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, “Go, lie down: and it shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD; for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel, Samuel.” Then Samuel answered, “Speak; for your servant hears.” (1 Sam. 3:9-10)

Do we have our own times of solitude and reflection? Are we training our senses? I bet Samuel was fully ready, his ears fully open when the Lord came by again. So let it be with us!


4. Carry on with the normal responsibilities of life in this world.

And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. (1 Sam. 3:15a)

Some of us, if we’d had this type of revelation, would get on the phone and tell our friends. It doesn’t say he slept, he was probably too excited to sleep. But notice that he got up and performed his duties. Be careful that when we begin to have experiences in the Spirit that we leave off doing the normal things of life. We still have responsibilities in this life if we are to function and to maintain a good testimony.


5. Learn to deal well with rejection, and don’t become overly sensitive.

[The elders of Israel] said unto him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto you: for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Sam. 8:5-7)

It seems that Samuel took this personally. Many prophetic people have to deal with a lot of rejection in life and we need to bring that to the Lord and let it be crucified. The Lord pulled out of Samuel’s heart the real issue – it had become about Samuel a little bit!


6. Walk with integrity – even in the smallest of matters.

“Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose donkey have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes with? and I will restore it to you.” And they said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man's hand.” (1 Sam. 12:3-4)


7. Love and pray for those to whom you minister.

…God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way. (1 Sam. 12:23)


8. Learn to speak difficult truths to others in love, as your position may require it.

And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” (1 Sam. 15:22)

Notice I say as your position requires it. If your position does not require you to speak a corrective word, you may enter into great presumption by delivering it. Samuel was the senior prophetic figure in the nation. However, this word still cost him something. By the next chapter, he tells God he can’t go anoint David because if he does, Saul will kill him!


9. Love the whole body and mourn over sin.

Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul… (1 Sam. 15:34-35a)


10. Don’t “turn your eyes and ears off” – your own wisdom and experience can fail you.

And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, “Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him.” But the LORD said unto Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:6-7)


11. Have a correctable spirit – and then take heed to the correction.

Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” (1 Sam. 16:8)


12. Prepare the next generation – individuals, prophetic people, and other leaders.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. (1 Sam. 16:13)

And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. (1 Sam. 19:20)

All these who were chosen to be gatekeepers in the gates were two hundred and twelve. These were recorded by their genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their office of trust. (1 Chron. 9:22)

Let's pursue excellence in the prophetic!

Notes from home and beyond

A great piece on changed lives at the Bridgeport Rescue Mission from the Connecticut Post...

With help from TIME magazine, Bible classes are springing up all over the place. Who'd have guessed?

Race and risk-taking among Connecticut teens...

While many Connecticut school enrollments are soaring (Greenwich, Danbury), The New York Times says one district is shrinking and shrinking...

Why do people change churches anyway? Here's why...

Can't handle YouTube or Google Video? Now there's God Tube!