Milford will participate in "World Tai Chi Day." Why?

From the Connecticut Post:

Saturday, the 10th anniversary of the World Tai Chi and Qigong Day, will be marked here by a demonstration on the Green of the centuries-old techniques.

"It is the third time that Milford has participated in the event, which is called 'One World, One Breath,' " said organizer Lamont Thomas. "Beginning in New Zealand, people will be gathering in parks at 10 a.m. local time to do tai chi and qigong and to teach it.

"I've been a practitioner and a teacher for four years and I started as a way to reduce stress," Thomas said. "It is a healing modality and a martial art that stresses balance."

Bruce Walker, like Thomas a local teacher of the Chinese technique, said tai chi acts on the body's hormonal and immune systems. "You deliberately squeeze, stretch and pull your internal organs around with your core muscles and that gets the enzymes and hormones out of the organs and into the bloodstream."

What's wrong with this picture? This is an essentially religious practice, but advocates of Eastern religious and meditative practices have for many years been adept at recasting such things as exercise. Christians in the West typically do not understand the religious roots and scientific flimsiness - or even dangers - of many of these "imports."

What's the basis of Tai Chi? Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D., writes at Quackwatch.com:

"Chinese medicine," often called "Oriental medicine" or "traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)," encompasses a vast array of folk medical practices based on mysticism. It holds that the body's vital energy (chi or qi) circulates through channels, called meridians, that have branches connected to bodily organs and functions. Illness is attributed to imbalance or interruption of chi.. Ancient practices such as acupuncture, Qigong, and the use of various herbs are claimed to restore balance....

In 1997, a Consensus Development Conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and several other agencies concluded that "there is sufficient evidence . . . of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value." The panelists also suggested that the federal government and insurance companies expand coverage of acupuncture so more people can have access to it. These conclusions were not based on research done after NCAHF's position paper was published. Rather, they reflected the bias of the panelists who were selected by a planning committee dominated by acupuncture proponents. NCAHF board chairman Wallace Sampson, M.D., has described the conference "a consensus of proponents, not a consensus of valid scientific opinion."

Although the report described some serious problems, it failed to place them into proper perspective. The panel acknowledged that "the vast majority of papers studying acupuncture consist of case reports, case series, or intervention studies with designs inadequate to assess efficacy" and that "relatively few" high-quality controlled trials have been published about acupuncture's effects. But it reported that "the World Health Organization has listed more than 40 [conditions] for which [acupuncture] may be indicated." This sentence should have been followed by a statement that the list was not valid.

Far more serious, although the consensus report touched on Chinese acupuncture theory, it failed to point out the danger and economic waste involved in going to practitioners who can't make appropriate diagnoses. The report noted:

• The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. The acupuncturist can correct imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin.
• Acupuncture focuses on a holistic, energy-based approach to the patient rather than a disease-oriented diagnostic and treatment model.
• Despite considerable efforts to understand the anatomy and physiology of the "acupuncture points," the definition and characterization of these points remains controversial. Even more elusive is the scientific basis of some of the key traditional Eastern medical concepts such as the circulation of Qi, the meridian system, and the five phases theory, which are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information but continue to play an important role in the evaluation of patients and the formulation of treatment in acupuncture.

Simply stated, this means that if you go to a practitioner who practices traditional Chinese medicine, you are unlikely to be properly diagnosed. Very few publications have mentioned this, which strikes me as very strange. Even Consumer Reports magazine has advised readers who want acupuncture treatment to consult a practitioner who is NCCAOM-certified. I advise people to avoid "certified" practitioners. Because the training needed for certification is based on nonsensical TCM theories, the safest way to obtain acupuncture is from a medical doctor who does research at a university-based medical school and does not expouse such theories. [Footnotes omitted.]

We owe it to ourselves to be better informed, not only for our health's sake but for our spiritual health's sake, too.

The Pope and the Pentecostals

No papal visit would be complete without the obligatory New York Times article about the challenge posed to the Catholic Church by Pentecostalism, complete with photos of frenetic worshippers:

As Pope Benedict XVI completes his visit to the United States on Sunday with a Mass at Yankee Stadium, in a borough that has been home to generations of Latinos, he does so facing something of a growing challenge to the church’s immigrant ranks.

For if Latinos are feeding the population of the church, many have also turned to Pentecostalism, a form of evangelical Christianity that stresses a personal, even visceral, connection with God.

Today, it has more Latino followers in the United States than any other denomination except Catholicism; they are drawn, they say, by the faith’s joyous worship, its use of Latino culture and the enveloping sense of community it offers to newcomers. As the Pew survey revealed, half of all Latinos who have joined Pentecostal denominations were raised as Catholics.

Of course, being the New York Times, all of this is chalked up to "populism." There is no reference at all to theology in the sense of anyone's actual beliefs, only the feelings of belonging that people have. The Times seems to give voice to the sentiment of some that more Mariachi masses will stem the exodus. Is this analysis?

Internet Evangelism Day 2008

The vast majority of Christian websites are made by Christians, for Christians. Is that a problem?

Internet Evangelism Day is coming up on Sunday, April 27 - a time for churches and people everywhere to think about how to use this cute little internet thing to reach people for Christ.

Note: this video refers to last year's date.

For more information, visit the Internet Evangelism Day website here.

Run Against Drugs in Danbury, April 26

Athletes of Christ and many others are sponsoring a 5K Race/Walk called "Danbury Running Against Drugs" on April 26 at Rogers Park in Danbury.

For more information, visit www.tri-n-run.com.

The pregnant man. Or, not.

I had heard of this in passing but frankly so much strangeness crosses one's eyes these days that I hadn't actually read about it.

Thomas may be a man in the eyes of the law, but she remains physically a woman, with a woman's reproductive system, a woman's genitals, and a woman's chromosomes. So when she and Nancy decided to have a baby, she had little trouble conceiving through artificial insemination. The result is the spectacle that has drawn so much attention: a bearded pregnant woman named Thomas, who identifies herself as a man, and has a lawfully wedded wife.

More here from Jeff Jacoby, if you can stand it.

Dave Pettigrew coming to House of Grace Coffee House

Christian recording artist Dave Pettigrew

The "House of Grace" Community Coffee House will be hosting Dave Pettigrew for an uplifting program of Christian music. This concert event will be held on May 10, 2008 at Grace Baptist Church, 400 Burnt Plains Road, Milford, CT. Join us for food & fellowship at 6:00 PM, with music following afterwards at 7:00 PM.

For more information call (203) 874-8928 or visit www.houseofgracecc.com. Free admission, food & drink.

Why America is falling apart

Well, one reason anyway. I came across this interesting piece about education. Here's an 8th-grade final exam from a Kansas school in the year 1895.

“Grammar. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications. Define verse, stanza and paragraph. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of ‘lie’, ‘play’ and ‘run’. Define case; Illustrate each case. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.

“Arithmetic. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare? District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals? Find the cost of 6720 lbs. of coal at $6.00 per ton. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

“U.S. History. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. Show the territorial growth of the United States. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

“Orthography. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication? What are elementary sounds? How classified? What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u’. (Huh?). Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

“Geography. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? Describe the mountains of North America. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

Hmmm. How did you do? Hat tip: Assist News.

Watch your roofs!

Now it's not just copper; church thieves are after the lead in your roofs as well:

“Whenever I get an early morning phone call these days, I think, ‘Oh no, they’ve taken the roof again,’ ” said John Deave, 80, a retired barrister and a churchwarden at St. Guthlac’s church in Stathern, another Leicestershire village, where the church was vandalized in January.

Part of the problem is that no one is going to church in some of these places.

Thursday's Rally in Hartford a big success

From the FIC:

"They converged in big numbers at the state Capitol today to rally against same-sex marriage and for the right to homeschool their children." That was how Channel 3's Al Terzi began a 5:30 pm Eyewitness News report about FIC Action's Pro-Family Rally and Lobby Day yesterday. You can see the report that ran on the 12:00 pm edition of Eyewitness News by clicking here.

A "crowd of about 125" attended our Rally, according to today's Courant. That number appears on page B3, in a caption beneath a beautiful Shana Sureck photo of FIC Action president Peter Wolfgang's daughter Elizabeth, age 7. You can view the Courant's "Family Institute of Connecticut rally" photo gallery by clicking here. The Rally was also covered by Fox 61's News at Ten show, the Archdiocese of Hartford's "Crossroads" television program and airmaria.com.

Christian divorce rates confirmed to be as high as anyone else's

From The Christian Post comes more disturbing evidence of the disintegration of society:

After months of revived debate over divorce and its increasing acceptance among Americans, a new study affirmed born again Christians are just as likely as the average American couple to divorce.

The Barna Group found in its latest study that born again Christians who are not evangelical were indistinguishable from the national average on the matter of divorce with 33 percent having married and divorced at least once. Among all born again Christians, which includes evangelicals, the divorce figure is 32 percent, which is statistically identical to the 33 percent figure among non-born again adults, the research group noted.

"There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage," George Barna, who directed the study, stated in the study, which was released Monday.

More here.

Pro-Family Rally this Thursday at Capitol

From the Family Institute of Connecticut comes this notice - be sure to visit their site for complete details:

Join Connecticut families from around the state to take a stand for protecting marriage, parental rights and the innocence of our children this Thursday, April 3rd on the east grounds of the state Capitol in Hartford at 10:00 am. More and more Connecticut residents like you who want to do something to stop our state's movement to redefine marriage, impose "transgendered" special rights and force "sex ed" on our children have committed to taking a day off from work to attend the rally.

FIC Action is also working to pass laws to protect the right of parents to homeschool their children, raise the age at which a minor girl must be counseled before obtaining an abortion and establish a task force to study fatherlessness in our state. But to pass the good bills and stop the bad bills, it is critical that we show our support for pro-family values on a weekday while the legislature is in session.

We will begin the day with the Pro-Family Rally on the east grounds of the state capitol and then move over to the Legislative Office Building (Room 1D) to meet with our legislators. We will have some basic training on how to talk to your legislators, so don't worry if you've never done this sort of thing before! Also, it is fine to simply come and attend the Rally and not the Lobby Day. We are asking you to do whatever you can to protect marriage and the family!

Beth Moore's "New England Nights" tour coming to Bloomfield this October

Popular author and Bible teacher Beth Moore will be in New England for a series of meetings this October, including a stop at Bloomfield's First Cathedral on the evening of October 17. Appearing with Beth will be worship leader Travis Cottrell.

Each "New England Nights" event is scheduled for 7:00 - 9:15 p.m., with doors opening at 6:00 p.m. All seats are general admission, $35.00 per person.

For more information, visit Beth Moore's website at Lifeway.com.

For more Christian events near you, visit our Connecticut Christian Events Calendar.

The fruit of the sexual revolution

U. S. News & World Report lays it out in black and white:

"What we found is alarming," Dr. Sara Forhan, from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a teleconference Tuesday. "One in four female adolescents in the U.S. has at least one of the four most common STDs that affects women."

"These numbers translate into 3.2 million young women nationwide who are infected with an STD," Forhan said. "This means that far too many young women are at risk of the serious health effects of untreated STDs, including infertility and cervical cancer."

These common STDs include human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus and trichomoniasis, Forhan said.

Forhan announced the results as part of the CDC's 2008 National STD Prevention Conference, in Chicago.

"These findings are really giving us a lot of pause about how we provide care to adolescent girls who are sexually active," said Dr. Elizabeth Alderman, an adolescent medicine specialist at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City and chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Section of Adolescent Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics. "The numbers are really astonishing."

Global Day of Prayer to be celebrated May 11

On Sunday, May 11, 2008 Connecticut believers will once again come together for the Global Day of Prayer.

The Global Day of Prayer is a world-wide celebration centered around Pentecost Sunday. The mission of this celebration is to unite the global body of Christ, to seek God for revival, intercede on behalf of our world, and collaborate for the blessing and transformation of our cultures. It is preceded by ten days of prayer (Acts 1:14); celebrated in public venues on Pentecost (Acts 2:1) and followed by "90 Days of Blessing" on communities after Pentecost (Acts 2:42).

Please join us as hundreds of thousands of people from around the world join together in worship and intercession.

The local site for this year's meeting will be held at: Gateway Christian Fellowship, 129 Bull Hill Lane, West Haven, Connecticut. For more information, please contact the church at (203) 934-0880. The meeting will be held at 6:00 PM.

Flickr photo by Jorge Andrés Paparoni Bruzual; some rights reserved.

Street preachers rile up Mystic

Interesting issues here:

Last Saturday, one of the preachers, a polite young man from the Victory Bible Baptist Church in Ledyard, 18-year-old Jayson Hill, was issued a $103 ticket by Stonington police, accused of creating a public disturbance.

I was there when police wrote Hill the ticket, and it was a remarkably subdued and, yes, quiet confrontation. Hill and a companion preacher lingered afterwards, still holding big signs suggesting the GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.

Hill stopped preaching that afternoon, but he said he would plead not guilty to the ticket, hire a lawyer if necessary and return.

“We have the right to do what we are doing,” said Hill, who lives in Ledyard and works as a construction laborer. “This is America. We have the freedom to do this. We are spreading the Gospel. We are not going to whisper.”

More here at the Day, and here.

A Christian blog worth reading - from an unlikely source

Over the years many Christians have looked down their noses at Charisma magazine. Some complain that its too gossipy, others that it's simply one big advertisement. Although some may consider the magazine an unlikely source to generate a blog worth reading, I continue to be impressed and challenged by the "Fire In My Bones" blog written by author J. Lee Grady, Charisma's editor.

Grady is seemingly on a personal mission to grab the American church by the lapel and slap it. I think he's succeeding. His latest column shares a meeting the late Kenneth Hagin had in 2003 with various preachers in which he attempted to correct their overemphasis and outright false teachings on giving and propsperity:

4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate....

Hagin condemned other hairbrained gimmicks designed to trick audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over them there—if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,” Hagin wrote.

Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns and find a biblical balance.

Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to listen to his admonition?

In his previous post, Grady had discussed the call to holiness being put forth by noted pastor Larry Stockstill:

Stockstill became alarmed about the anemic condition of American churches in 2006, when he had to step in and help bring discipline to Ted Haggard, the Colorado pastor who was removed as senior leader of New Life Church because of a moral failure. Stockstill offered correction and oversight to Haggard and his family and helped the leaders of New Life pick up the pieces after the scandal. Many observers praised Stockstill for his level-headed leadership and compassionate but strict adherence to biblical principles during the crisis.

What Stockstill learned during that painful process became the basis of a new book, The Remnant: Restoring Integrity to American Ministry. He hopes the message will trigger a movement of holiness and integrity in the American church, which has suffered a long string of embarrassing sexual and financial failures since Haggard’s fall 15 months ago.

“We look like a sleaze bucket in the eyes of the nation,” says the 54-year-old pastor, who has avoided the national spotlight during most of his 33 years in ministry. Once a missionary in Africa, Stockstill has focused most of his ministry on church planting and missions. Bethany has helped start more than 17,000 churches worldwide since 2000.

Stockstill says the level of dysfunction among American ministers concerns him because their unhealthiness is then passed down to their congregations.

This is all a good corrective to some of what's flying at us over the Christian airwaves.

Obama and the Book of Romans

Barack Obama weighs in on the Scriptures:

I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in the hospital or transfer property to each other.

I don't think that it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state.

If people find that controversial, then I would refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think, you know, is in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.

That's my view.

But we can have a respectful disagreement on that.

Here's the obscure passage I think Sen. Obama is referring to:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:26-27.

Let us know about your Christian event or news quickly!

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How are Christians treated in Egypt?

The double-standard that allows for no minority religious rights in much of the Middle East is beyond belief. In fact, it's a tenet of Islam that non-Muslims should have second-class "dhimmi" status. Watch this video to see the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the recipient of billions of dollars in U. S. aid.

Why people can't tolerate the MSM

I'm not pulling for Gov. Romney, but here's why people have just had enough of the mainstream media, in this case an AP reporter.

Federal lawsuit seeks to overturn Massachusetts homosexual marriage

Rev. John Rankin of the Theological Education Institute has filed a lawsuit in a Federal District Court seeking to overturn the regime of homosexual marriage that was imposed on Massachusetts by its Supreme Judicial Court.

As someone who practiced law for nearly 15 years, I can tell you that his argument is extremely interesting and very fine. In essence, Rankin says that the Massachusetts Judicial Court has destroyed our concept of unalienable rights and thus our system of Constitutional Law by declaring that classes of people possess rights, not individuals. In American law, individuals possess unalienable rights for they have derived them from the Creator.

Goodridge violates the nature of personhood as defined in the Fourteenth Amendment, where the unalienable rights of life, liberty and property are ascribed equally to all persons, as individual persons, and not due to membership in any given group, whether objectively or subjectively defined, whether fixed or malleable in declared nature.

The class of people who would engage in same-sex "marriage" is not even a true class of people, as it is "malleable" or changeable. The result has actually been to destroy the rights of others and create "super rights" before which all others must yield. Thus, while claiming it was upholding rights, it has actually destroyed all rights by making them alienable. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did this without even considering what it was doing with respect to Federal Law and our Federal Constitution. The result is that courts or legislatures can create new rights according to the whims of the season.

Under current federal law (e.g. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act), civil rights, congruent with the Fourteenth Amendment, cannot, nor ever have otherwise been assigned to a malleable identity, to subjective choice. Goodridge thus rewrites federal law, and without examining the issue. If such malleability and subjectivity were consistently applied in this context, there would be no boundaries in place to restrict the possibility of consanguineous, polygamous or group marriage. And beyond this context, if applied consistently, malleability of individual and group identity for the sake of perceived government benefit opens up a Pandora’s Box which Balkanizes civil rights.

Notice what Rankin is saying: under the current regime, there is no brake or impediment to a government legalizing incest, polygamy or group marriage. I can't say what success Rev. Rankin will have - in this political climate, probably none apart from a Divine intervention - but I believe he has posed important questions, questions which no one seems to be articulating or which at any rate no one has dared to argue where it might count.

Pray CT site up again

Thanks for your patience!

Pray CT main site temporarily down

For some reason unknown to me, our main site at www.prayct.org is down. I've contacted the host and hopefully we'll be up and running soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to ask your prayers for Harvest Time Church in Greenwich, which is running an ambitious Alpha Course this winter and has over three dozen groups meeting both at the church and in other locations. Pray that people will find new life in God through this outreach.

Watertown Episcopal Church leaves denomination

In his 2007 Annual Report, Rev. Allyn Benedict ripped the modern Episcopal Church to shreds.

Significant news today in Connecticut's religion and culture wars: Christ Church in Watertown has left the Episcopal Church.

It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church.

One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the corner.

The Sunday service will be held at the bank, starting Jan. 6, until they find or build another house of worship.

"We need to celebrate today, but we need to recognize there is a dying," the Rev. Allyn Benedict said in his final homily at the church. Reading off an overhead projector, church members sang hymns enthusiastically, clapping and raising hands in acknowledging their faith. They hugged one another, wishing peace.

Read the rest here from the Courant. Channel 8 reports that they will give up the $7 million property.

Merry Christmas from Pray Connecticut

Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2008 from Pray Connecticut!

We will resume publishing in January.

Last minute Christmas gifts

One more week to go to get that special something for that special someone! If you're stuck, here are some suggestions.

BOOKS: The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Bestsellers List, December, 2007:

1. Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life, Tony Dungy

2. 3:16: The Numbers of Hope,Max Lucado

3. 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life, Don Piper with Cecil Murphey

4. Between Sundays, Karen Kingsbury

5. Get Out of That Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance, Beth Moore

6. Home to Holly Springs (Father Tim, Book 1), Jan Karon

7. Breaking Free Day by Day: A Year of Walking in Liberty, Beth Moore

8. Become a Better You, Joel Osteen

9. Jesus: 90 Days With the One and Only (Personal Reflections), Beth Moore

10. Facing Your Giants: The God Who Made a Miracle Out of David Stands Ready to Make One Out of You, Max Lucado


MUSIC: Praise and Worship Bestsellers, from Amazon's sales reporting

1. All That Is Within Me by MercyMe (Audio CD - 2007)

2. Remedyby David Crowder Band (Audio CD - 2007)

3. The Christmas Sessionsby Mercy Me (Audio CD - 2005)

4. See the Morningby Chris Tomlin (Audio CD - 2006)

5. Portable Soundsby Tobymac (Audio CD - 2007)

6. Coming Up to Breatheby MercyMe (Audio CD - 2006)

7. Open the Eyes of My Heartby Various Artists (Audio CD - 2005)

8. Thirstyby Marvin Sapp (Audio CD - 2007)

9. I Can Only Imagine: Ultimate Power Anthems of the Christian Faith

10. See the Morning (CD/DVD)by Chris Tomlin (Audio CD - 2007) - Special Edition

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.

Do you have your "Jesus glasses" on?

If a public high school teacher were to say to his students, "When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can see the truth," you can bet the American Civil Liberties Union and others would say that the teacher was promoting Christianity, that it was a violation of the separation of church and state. And the school administration would probably agree.

But what if a public high school teacher tells his students that "When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth"? Isn't that essentially the same thing? Isn't disparaging a certain religion in a public school classroom just as legally improper as promoting a certain religion?

Interesting stuff regarding a Federal lawsuit against a high school teacher.

Flickr photo by Ben Ostrowsky; some rights reserved.

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.

Colorado shooter allegedly heard voices, talked with them

Colorado shooter Matthew Murray was "troubled," in today's parlance. The reality of the situation is that he was not only emotionally disturbed but under spiritual influences he could not control and, indeed, seemed to welcome. From CNN:

I-Report contributor Richard Werner, 34, said Monday he was a worker at the center in Arvada, Colorado, in 2002, the same time as Murray.

Werner said five days before Murray was told in 2002 he could not make the Bosnia trip, Murray performed a pair of dark rock songs at a concert at the mission that made fellow workers "pretty scared."

The performance -- which included a song by rock band Linkin Park and another that had been recorded by controversial rocker Marilyn Manson -- followed months of strange behavior, Werner said.

Werner, of Balneario Camborius, Brazil, said he had a bunk near Murray's and that Murray would roll around in bed and make noises.

"He would say, 'Don't worry, I'm just talking to the voices,' " Werner said. "He'd say, 'Don't worry, Richard. You're a nice guy. The voices like you.' "

Werner said he instantly suspected Murray when he heard the news of Sunday's shootings.

"I turned to my wife and I said, 'I know who did it. It's Matthew,' " he said. "It was so obvious.

"For four months, he was sleeping right next to me. Those are the things you don't imagine, but when it happened it was so obvious."

I'm sure these things will be little reported, and understood even less. In North America even Christians have a difficult time coming to grips with the reality of demonic forces.

Connecticut's crime rate low

Statistics from the FBI show Connecticut ranks among the dozen safest states in the U.S., with a below-average number of all types of crime except robberies, according to a new report compiled by state officials.

It is unclear how the report will influence the current debate on criminal justice reforms triggered by July's triple-murder in Cheshire. Gov. M. Jodi Rell's task force on parole, which requested the report, is scheduled to recommend changes by the end of the year.

The legislature's Judiciary Committee will hold a special session to debate several proposals, including a so-called three strikes law, before the regular session starts in February.

Thank God for this, although many sore spots remain. More here.

Breakup of the Episcopal Church begins in earnest

Ridley and Latimer meet their end.


And so it begins, although it won't happen in our Cute Little State.

A California diocese overwhelmingly voted on Saturday to sever ties with The Episcopal Church, becoming the first diocese in the church's history to do so.

Despite warning from the head of the national church, delegates of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted 173-22 to secede and realign with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

"This is the first time, I believe, that a diocese has finally said 'enough' in terms of the liberal theology of The Episcopal Church," said Bishop John David Schofield of the San Joaquin diocese before the vote.

Can you shake the hand of a Jew?

I received this commentary from Glory of Zion:

"So they served him [Joseph] by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians" (Genesis 43:32; emphases ours).

The verse above was included in the Torah Reading for this week, and released in us a corresponding note to a bizarre happening at the recent "Annapolis" conference. Referring to her childhood as an African American girl in the segregated American South, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying, "I know what it is like to hear that you cannot go on a road or through a checkpoint because you are a Palestinian. I understand the feeling of humiliation and powerlessness." Yet at the conference, bowing to Saudi demands, the Americans refused to allow the Israeli delegation to enter the hall through the same door as the Arabs. The Israeli Foreign Secretary Tzipi Livni was reportedly required by Rice to instead enter the conference hall through the service entrance. At a meeting of foreign ministers, Livni was driven to explain, "Why doesn't anyone want to shake my hand? Why doesn't anyone want to be seen speaking to me?" This at a conference to which Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries had been invited for "contributions" they might have towards furthering peace between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

In fairness, I'm aware from other reports that Ms. Rice also drew parallels between her childhood sense of terror and the Israelis' fears of terrorism, but why should the U. S. government bend over backwards to legitimize the hatred of Jews?

Speaking of atheists...

Dinesh D'Souza writes forcefully today about why atheists are so angry:

One reason I think is that they are God-haters. Atheists often like to portray themselves as "unbelievers" but this is not strictly accurate. If they were mere unbelievers they would simply live their lives as if God did not exist. I don't believe in unicorns, but then I haven't written any books called The End of Unicorns, Unicorns are Not Great, or The Unicorn Delusion. Clearly the atheists go beyond disbelief; they are on the warpath against God. And you can hear their bitterness not only in their book titles but also in their mean-spirited invective.

Atheists in Vernon

From Channel 8:

A sign posted by Atheists in the Rockville's Central Park has people talking, prompting calls to the town hall and the local clergy.

The Connecticut Valley Atheists posted the three-sided sign, which some call a billboard, and it was the only sign in the town center marking the Holiday season. Two sides of the display feature the Twin Towers, framed by the words "Imagine No Religion."

Yawn. What is interesting here is the equation of all religions here, as if religion in the abstract, or the religious impulse in human beings knocked down the Twin Towers. What atheists and others of a liberal bent are afraid to do is point out that the impulse of some religionists is to kill all who disagree with them, and intimidate others from speaking. That religion is not Christianity.

The Colorado shootings

Dan Wooding at Assist News wonders if persecution has finally come to the American Church and, if so, are we ready?

Fox News reports: "The police chief in Arvada, a suburb about 15 miles west of Denver where the mission workers were shot, said the shootings may be related to those at the Colorado Springs church but declined to elaborate."

Trench coats, high-powered rifles and an armed female security guard taking down the shooter. What a nightmare. We pray for all involved.

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.

The number of same-sex civil unions in Connecticut plummets

Why have civil unions dropped almost in half from 2006 to 2007?

Is it because people are waiting for full marriage rights or is it because there really isn't that much demand for it?

I suspect the latter.

Behold The Lamb concert comes to New Milford

St. Paul's Church in Brookfield is sponsoring a concert called Behold the Lamb: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ on December 8 at New Milford High. It will feature Andrew Peterson, Bebo Norman, Sara Groves, Jill Phillips, and many more.

For tickets, visit: www.rockthesoundtickets.com

Watch this documentary about the making of Behold the Lamb:

Cohabitation in Connecticut

Peter Wolfgang at FIC has a noteworthy piece here about cohabitation and child violence. I suppose it would be too much for people to acknowledge that the twin evils of easy divorce and cohabitation are actually evil, but perhaps crimes of violence against children will cause some people to think.

Modesty and purity dances get publicity

A look from a major U. S. paper into the modesty trend:

It was an evening for couples—girls in formal gowns, tiaras and curly updos, escorted by their dads, in tuxedos or dressy suits and ties.

They dined on roast beef and waltzed to classical music in a ballroom decorated with draped crosses and a mannequin in a white wedding gown. They listened as a guest speaker warned of the dangers of premarital sex. Then they stood at their tables, looked each other in the eye and vowed that they would remain pure.

He signed a pledge to be the protector of her purity and to live his own life with integrity. She gave her father a gold key to her heart, and asked him to hold on to it until her wedding day, when he would hand it over to her husband. They walked down the aisle with locked arms and she laid a white rose beside a cross, sealing her commitment....

For abstinence-only advocates such as Dannah Gresh, author of "And the Bride Wore White," there is no middle ground in the eyes of God. She brushes off criticism that her message is closed-minded and ineffective.

"Everyone has the right to promote their position. It seems contradictory to say you're open-minded by handing these girls condoms and not giving me the right to encourage them not to reach for them," said Gresh, the guest speaker at the Peoria purity ball. "These girls already know about condoms. We are telling them there is an alternative."

Read the rest here from the Chicago Tribune.

Shortage of priests affects Connecticut

The shortage of priests is hitting West Hartford

Despite an influx of Hispanics, the decline in the number of priests is making an impact even in heavily Catholic Connecticut:

Father Henry Cody has served at St. Timothy's Church in West Hartford for 19 years. He said that in that time, he's seen priests come and go, but lately priests have mostly been going.

"We need priests. We need them badly," he said. "People are concerned because they love their parishes -- they want them to remain whole."

Cody is the only priest at the parish, and serves more than 900 families. He said that he, like several other priests in the town, is considering retirement.

More here from Channel 3.

Flickr photo by Sage Ross; some rights reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone - and here are some thoughts appropriate to the day from our first President:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint committee requested me to commend to the people of United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness, now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next, to be devoted to the service of that great and glorious Being, Who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or will be."

Washington's First Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789.

Thanks to Patriot Post.

Ousted Portland Selectman speaks out

Back in October we wrote about the case of one of the selectmen in Portland, CT, a Mr. Scott Adamsons, who had dared to say he was acting not just as a responsible public official but as a Christian when fighting so-called "adult entertainment." Mr. Adamsons has just left a very thoughtful comment and I wanted to run his remarks in the posts so that more of you could see his reply.

I am Scott Adamsons and I am a member of the Colchester Bible Baptist Church in Colchester, CT. Being a Christian is more than a choice, it is a lifestyle. While I do not push this lifestyle on anybody else, I do recommend it. On the flip side, I do not wish to have others (the world) push their way of life on me or my family. It is not unrealistic for a community that is comprised primarily by Christians, Jews, and some Muslims to fight against a developer opening an adult-entertainment establishment in their town. In fact, one would expect a fight if their faith is true. If a reader is caught off guard by this position, then they should consider why they have the beliefs that they do and how their daily decisions and actions are impacted by them. Most of us fall short of our beliefs in our daily walk (just being honest here), but where our hearts are directs the path that we go in. It’s a sobering picture some days. Other days are laced with victory.

Those who would use the first amendment of the US Constitution to claim a right to lewd conduct should know that Christians and those people of other faiths have a first amendment right to freedom of religion. How do lewd conduct and explicit images violate my rights? The mere presence of those types of establishments in the public arena assaults my senses, and undermines the values that I am trying to raise my children under. The advertizing of those establishments in public places accomplishes the same result.

If a vast majority of a town's population has beliefs against such behavior, then perhaps the will of the majority should prevail (for once). There are towns where such establishments are allowed. They are nearby and therefore people who have a strong desire to exercise their “right” of expression have existing outlets that they can use. Given this, for a town that has no such businesses, preventing their influx is not a violation of a developer’s first amendment rights.

Another thought: Over the past 200 years our small community has developed with business districts that are essentially integrated into the residential areas/uses of the town. There just isn’t a “good” place for such an establishment to operate in our community, not one that is far away from children anyway.

In conclusion, the comment in the article of being a "career threatening" move was more accurate than you'd think. I was not re-elected last week. As a close friend of mine has said many times over, “It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” It is my hope that this position will encourage people in their own communities and on a personal level. What makes you a Christian and why do you have the beliefs that you do? Do your actions reflect those beliefs? It ain’t easy, but it is rewarding.

Respectfully Submitted,
Hon. Scott A. Adamsons
Selectman (out-going), Town of Portland, CT

Pray for our vets

This Veterans' Day, please remember to pray for all our veterans, young and old.

Flickr photo courtesy of Soldiers' Media Center. Some rights reserved.

Photo information: U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Kaman helps secure an area along the Pech River during a meeting between key leaders in the Kunar province of Afghanistan on Feb. 4, 2007. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss local development projects that are a combined effort of the Coalition led Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team and local contractors. Kaman is attached to the 1st Battalion, 102nd Infantry Regiment, Connecticut National Guard. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Gipe, U.S. Army. (Released)

National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church this Sunday

Come Brother Andrew speak this Sunday at 7:00 pm at Wintonbury Baptist Church in Bloomfield about secret believers on the National Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

Brother Andrew is the founder of Open Doors International and author of the international best-seller, God's Smuggler.

This event is free of charge.

The biggest story no one's talking about...

It would be smart to pray about this and what it can mean for our future:

The dollar fell to a record versus the euro and the lowest since 1981 against the pound after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation's $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.

The U.S. dollar also declined to the cheapest versus the Canadian dollar since the end of a fixed exchange rate in 1950 and a 23-year low against the Australian dollar. The New York Board of Trade's dollar index dropped to 75.077, the lowest since the gauge started in March 1973.

``The dollar is suffering a confidence crisis,'' said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon in New York, the world's largest custodian bank with more than $20 trillion in assets under administration. ``The dollar is on the ropes. Comments from China about diversification and surging oil prices pushed the dollar to new lows.''

Read the rest here. And then check out this chart showing the strength of the Euro against the dollar.

Garage bands for Jesus

...but with high production values.

Dressed in a faded black T-shirt, jeans and skateboard sneakers, he bent his shaved head. “God,” he said, “I hope these songs we sing will be much more than the music. I know it’s so difficult at times when we’re thinking about chords and lyrics and when to hit the right effect patch, but would you just help that to become second nature, so that we can truly worship you from our hearts?...”

The house bands that play every weekend in High Desert Church — there are a dozen or so — scavenge some of their musical style from the radio and television. They reflect popular taste, though with lyrics about the power of God, not teenage turmoil.

They are not aiming for commercial success. Church-based Christian rock — often referred to as C.C.M., for contemporary Christian music — does not exist primarily to compete in mainstream culture; it exists first to bring together a community.

“When you start a church,” said Tom Mercer, 52, the senior pastor, “you don’t decide who you’re going to reach and then pick a music style. You pick a music style, and that determines who’s going to come.”

Interesting look at modern worship from the New York Times.

U. S. Senate to investigate televangelists

A. W. Tozer said we needed a "baptism of clear seeing." Many will see this as persecution; many others will see it as God having to judge his house because his own people would not.

CBS News has learned Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating six prominent televangelist ministries for possible financial misconduct.

Letters were sent Monday to the ministries demanding that financial statements and records be turned over to the committee by December 6th.

According to Grassley's office, the Iowa Republican is trying to determine whether or not these ministries are improperly using their tax-exempt status as churches to shield lavish lifestyles.

The six ministries identified as being under investigation by the committee are led by: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Three of the six - Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar - also sit on the Board of Regents for the Oral Roberts University.

The implications are disturbing, both in terms of what we have already heard about lavish lifestyles, and in terms of increasing government supervision of churches as a result. If things go on as they are, I fully expect churches to lose the tax-exempt status they have enjoyed in the U.S.

Read the full story here at CBS News.

Follow-up story here, and video here.

Episcopal Church seeks to intervene in lawsuit against Bristol church

The saga continues:

The national church has filed papers in court seeking intervenor status in a lawsuit against Trinity Episcopal Church brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut. It accuses the Rev. Donald Helmandollar and church leaders of trespassing on church property.


Members of the Trinity parish voted to leave the Episcopal Church last May because of disagreement over the 2003 election of an openly gay New Hampshire bishop and the church's blessing of same-sex unions. Around the same time, Trinity members voted to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a self-described mission of the conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria.

Read the rest here in the Courant.

Family Fun Fest returns to Plantsville

Faith Living Church in Plantsville invites you and your family to an exciting event, The Family Fun Fest '07. This safe, exciting and fun-filled family evening will be Friday, October 26th from 6pm to 9pm. Hundreds of people attend the Family Fun Fest each year!

A 40x100 foot tent will be packed with carnival games, an inflatable moonwalk, and the back parking lot will have an awesome paintball range. Everyone wins, play a game, shoot a target or Dunk the Pastor and you'll get a prize. Guarantee you go home with a bag full of bounty! Not to mention the whole event is absolutely free, including free cotton candy, popcorn, hot chocolate, & hot apple cider.

For more information or directions call 860.621.6452 or visit the church website.

End-times message in Bristol tonight

Bethel Christian Church in Bristol, Connecticut will host Evangelist Rev. Cecil Peasley of Living Ministries International from South Africa on Wednesday, October 17, at 6:30 pm. Rev. Peasley will be speaking on the world's Midnight Hour. The event is free and all are welcome.

For directions, please visit the church website here.

New churches added to the Connecticut Church Map

We're happy to announce the following churches have been added to the Connecticut Church Map:

Church On The Move, East Haddam, and

Faith Living Church, Plantsville.

Know of other good churches? Write us at info@prayct.org!

Radio ministry profiled

The Day has an interesting profile today of the ongoing strength and growth of shortwave radio ministry around the world:

He wound the little plastic handle round and round, charging the radio like winding a watch, and soon a preacher's voice boomed across a courtyard filled with goats and turkeys. Twenty miles from the nearest paved road, Matsimbe smiled as he listened to a Texas preacher's sermons about Jesus and Saint Paul, translated into a local language spoken only in the southern African backcountry.

“I love that this person has brought us this message,” said Matsimbe, 59, a farmer with 24 grandchildren, whose native language, Xitshwa, is spoken by only a million or so people. “It makes us feel like there is somebody who cares for us.”

Read the rest here.

Regional Prayer Conference with Jackson Senyonga, October 25-26

Jackson Senyonga, Pastor of Christian Life Church in Kampala, Uganda is coming to Connecticut for 2 days of transforming prayer and impartation.

Meetings will be held at The Westin Hotel, 1 Stamford Place, in Stamford, CT, each night at 7:00 pm.

Pastor Senyonga is the leader of the Ugandan prayer movement featured on the widely acclaimed Transformation 2 Video produced by the Sentinel Group.

Christian Life Church in Kampala has a membership of more than 40,000 people, with an average Sunday attendance of 22,000. The Church has also planted more than 600 new churches and is building homes for widows and orphans.

More information about Jackson Senyonga is available at www.christianlifeministries.org.

A Night To Honor Israel, October 21

On Sunday evening, October 21, Gateway Christian Fellowship in West Haven will host Connecticut's first annual "A Night To Honor Israel." The Christian community in Connecticut is invited to come and demonstrate our love and support for the State of Israel.

A Night To Honor Israel is a non-conversionary tribute to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people of the world. Its purpose is to promote esteem and understanding between Christians and Jews and to emphasize that the beliefs we hold in common are greater than the differences we have allowed to separate us.

Among the guests will be: Ambassador Asaf Shariv, the Consul general of Israel in New York; Roz Rothstein, the National Director of Stand With Us; David Brog, the Executive Director of Christians United For Israel; and Robert Stearns, Northeast Director of Christians United For Israel and Founder and Director of Eagles' Wings Ministries.

More information can be obtained from Christians United For Israel's Connecticut chapter (click here.)

New church added to Connecticut Church Map

We're happy to announce that we've added the Branford Evangelical Free Church to the Connecticut Church Map.

Got a church you'd like us to add? Write us at info@prayct.org.

Litchfield County prayer meetings make an impact

Good news from the northwest corner:

For the past 18 months, many local churches have been working together to bring another awakening to Litchfield County.

"When Greater Litchfield County Prays - A United Celebration" was the culmination of three weeks of prayers at every town green in the county, Pastor Ron Boratko of Torrington Foursquare Church said. The celebration was held at Coe Memorial Park late Sunday afternoon.

"This is the result of 18 months of churches getting together," Boratko said.

Boratko lamented that many churches have stuck to their denominations and prayers and have not worked with other churches in spreading the word of God. He said that people have been stuck in their own worlds, only concerned with themselves.

"No one church will bring an awakening to a city," Boratko said.

Another great awakening will come when the church gets on its knees and repents its sins and when churches come together to preach live and love Jesus Christ, Boratko said.

Amen. More here from the Torrington Register-Citizen.

America: Christian or Secular?

Michael Medved, who is no shrinking violet, is out with an op-ed piece claiming that the Founders intended a Christian America, not a secular one. Although this would have been obvious to anyone born prior to 1900, his historical review is instructive for us who live in this benighted latter day:

In fact, the same Congress that approved the First Amendment gave a clear indication of the way they understood its language when, less than 24 hours after adopting the fateful wording, they passed the following Resolution: “Resolved, that a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States, to request that he would recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceable to establish a Constitution of government for their safety and happiness.” It never occurred to this first Congress in 1789 that their call for a government sponsored day of “thanksgiving and prayer” would conflict with the prohibition they had just adopted prohibiting “an establishment of religion.” Not until the infamous Everson decision of 1947 did the Supreme Court create the doctrine of a “wall of separation between church and state,” quoting (out of context) from an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association. President Jefferson created the image of the wall in order to reassure the Baptists that government would never interfere with their religious life, but he never suggested that religion would have no role in government. In 1803, in fact, Jefferson recommended to Congress the approval of a treaty that provided government funds to support a Catholic priest in ministering to the Kaskaskia Indians.

Three times he signed extensions of another measure described as “An Act regulating the grants of land appropriated for Military services and for the Society of the United Brethren for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen.” Jefferson also participated every week in Christian church services in the Capitol Building in Washington DC; until 1866, in fact, the Capitol hosted worship every Sunday and, intermittently, conducted a Sunday school. No one challenged these 71 years of Christian prayer at the very seat of federal power: given the founders' endorsement of the positive role of organized faith, it hardly inspired controversy to convene worship at the Capitol. In fact, at the time of the first Continental Congress, nine of the thirteen original colonies had “established churches” – meaning that they each supported an official denomination, even to the point of using public money for church construction and maintenance. These religious establishments – clearly in contradiction to the idea of a “secular government” – continued in three states long after the adoption of the First Amendment. Connecticut disestablished its favored Congregational Church only in 1818, New Hampshire in 1819, and Massachusetts in 1833.

Amazingly enough, these established churches flourished for nearly fifty years under the constitution despite the First Amendment’s famous insistence that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

Read the whole thing (and comments if you can tolerate it) here.

Photo by Joey Gannon; some rights reserved.

A Christian hangs a bullseye on his back to fight adult entertainment

But Portland First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield
Expresses First Amendment Concerns

A professing Christian in Portland, Connecticut has taken the career-threatening step of using the "C word" - "Christian" - in his role as a public official. In a Middletown Press article about the possibility of adult entertainment in that small town (pop. 10,000 approx.) we learn that:

The town presently has no adult entertainment venues. However, there have been persistent rumors that one may be in the offing.

The town restricts adult entertainment from being established closer than 500 feet from schools, churches, public parks, etc.

Deanna L. Rhodes, the town's planning and land use administrator, has proposed increasing the boundary to 750 feet.

But Selectman Scott A. Adamsons is pressing for a wider boundary.

When the selectmen discussed the issue earlier this week, Adamsons initially proposed a 3,000-foot barrier; however, he was persuaded to reduce that to 1,000 feet. But in a subsequent written communication, Adamsons said his real intent to is "take a stand on principle and ask for a three-mile buffer."

"As a responsible Christian and public official, it is my duty to bring this concept before the board and the community," Adamsons said.

First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield cautioned Adamsons that an effort to enact more stringent regulations could run afoul of court rulings that have designated adult entertainment as "protected free speech."

Adamsons was unmoved, however, saying that is a fight he would welcome. He said he wanted to "protect kids from doing things they probably shouldn't be doing." And, he said, adult entertainment is one of three of what he called "the fatal vices," the other two being gambling and alcohol.

We don't know Mr. Adamsons, what church he attends, or anything else about him. But we do applaud his willingness to revive the antiquated idea that there are things probably "shouldn't be doing." To some, this sort of rhetoric makes Christians look like the Taliban. To others, it just marks a call for a return to sanity.

Read the whole thing here.

Religious people are the happiest

Despite the recent disclosures about Mother Teresa's spiritual struggles, the data suggest that religious people are happier than the somewhat religious and the nonreligious alike:

Americans can be divided into three groups when it comes to religious practice. Surveys indicate that about 30% attend houses of worship at least once per week (I will call them "religious"), while about 20% are "secular"--never attending. The rest attend sometimes, but irregularly. These population dimensions have changed relatively little over the decades: Since the early 1970s, the religious group has not shrunk by more than two or three percentage points.

How do religious Americans compare to the secular when it comes to happiness? In 2004, the General Social Survey asked a sample of Americans, "Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?" Religious people were more than twice as likely as the secular to say they were "very happy" (43% to 21%). Meanwhile, secular people were nearly three times as likely as the religious to say they were not too happy (21% to 8%). In the same survey, religious people were more than a third more likely than the secular to say they were optimistic about the future (34% to 24%).

The happiness gap between religious and secular people is not because of money or other personal characteristics. Imagine two people who are identical in every important way--income, education, age, sex, family status, race and political views. The only difference is that the first person is religious; the second is secular. The religious person will still be 21 percentage points more likely than the secular person to say that he or she is very happy.

More here from the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com.