They Died for the Church---We Sign Commitment Cards and Manifestos

Here are some interesting and well thought out excerpts from Pastor Kevin Johnson at Prophezei about the True Woman '08 conference.

"The legitimate role of women in church and society is often something sneered at by men who seem envious of the legitimate role God has given them in being who they are. That’s one reason why I vigorously oppose the True Woman Manifesto (which you can actually read here). Pastorally, it’s dangerous to give men and pastors in the Christian community one more plank to abuse women with by providing them with a signed copy of a manifesto that could easily be interpreted and used in ways it was perhaps not originally intended. Additionally, it’s irresponsible to think that the whole of Christian womanhood is aptly summed up by this manifesto or that it ought to be used as a guide in understanding what role women ought to play in the life of the church, their families, and in society. Whatever happened to the Bible? Why do we need cue cards for everything?"

And this...

"Beyond all this, however, is the idea prevalent in conservative Christian circles that problems of our day can somehow be solved by signing a commitment card or having one more Christian conference about it. I wonder what the early Church and her martyrs would have thought about our busybody approach to the Kingdom of God. "

Why do we need so many conferences, books, man made manifestos and commitment cards? Could it be because we are not immersed in the Word and being taught by the ONE TRUE TEACHER? It is much easier to follow man made manifestos, rules, roles and formulas than it is to abide in Christ minute by minute and be guided by the Holy Spirit. Jiang Zongxiu did not need a True Woman Manifesto to serve her Savior, The Lord Jesus Christ.

When 34-year old Jiang Zongxiu went to her neighboring market last June in Guizhou Province, China. Along with her mother-in-law, Jiang went through the marketplace, taking opportunities to hand out Bibles and Christian literature and telling people about Jesus. Only this day they had an encounter with the Chinese police.

The two Christian women were handcuffed together and brought to the police station. They were interrogated throughout the evening of the 17th. The next morning they were sentenced by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) to 15 days incarceration for "suspected spreading of rumor and disturbing the social order."
Jiang and her mother-in-law knew the risk of spreading Christian literature in communist China. Both had been active in their church for more than 10 years and dared to go forth. Even when they were arrested, interrogated and sentenced to serve 15 days, they were willing to accept the consequences of their actions - all from a government that claims to have "freedom of religion."

But it was not enough for the PSB to arrest and beat these two Christian women for the crime of passing our Christian literature. In the afternoon of June 18th, Mrs. Jiang Zongziu was pronounced dead by the PSB office of Tongzi County. They claimed she died of "natural causes." The fact is she was beaten to death.
The Voice of the Martyrs has received video testimony from the surviving family, photos of Jiang's body showing her bruised body, and a copy of the actual arrest document. All of this had to be smuggled out of China as the authorities continue to attempt to hide their systematic persecution of Christians. An international campaign is now under way on behalf of the surviving family.

Much of the world would like you to believe Christians are no longer persecuted. Sister Jiang's family would disagree.

"Malicious" for Jesus?

Below is the response from the National Day of Prayer Task Force to the post on Slice of Laodicea about Ravi Zacherias' generic Jesus-less prayer. Incredible. This is Shirley Dobson's organization? Read through this and tell me if this sounds like something a real follower of Christ would say.

Keep in mind, Ingrid just reported the truth and copied the prayer on her website. This is a classic example of attacking the messenger because she tells a negative truth.

It’s been brought to our attention that Ingrid Schlueter, host of the national Crosstalk radio program and chief architect of the SliceofLaodicea.com Web site, has been spreading malicious reports about the National Day of Prayer, NDP Task Force Chairman Shirley Dobson, and Dr. Ravi Zacharias, our NDP 2008 Honorary Chairman. According to Ms. Schlueter, Dr. Zacharias is “refusing to pray in the name of Jesus Christ in his prayer posted on the official NDP Web site,” and is thus liable to the charge of being “ashamed” of Jesus and “capitulating to unscriptural, interfaith ecumenism.” Much as we regret the necessity of countenancing such comments with a response, Ms. Schlueter has left us without a choice. Her scurrilous accusations demand a reply.
There are three things that need to be said in answer to this unfortunate campaign of defamation. In the first place, no one who knows anything about Ravi Zacharias and his fearless defense of the Christian faith could possibly come to the conclusion that he is “ashamed of Jesus Christ.” Dr. Zacharias is one of the most respected, most effective, and most uncompromising Christian apologists in the world today. His love for the Lord is beyond question. His ministry speaks for itself. We can’t possibly add anything to the eloquent testimony of his dedicated service to the Savior.

Second, for those who are aware of the history of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, there can be no doubt about our evangelical perspective. Our Mission Statement and our Vision and Values Statement, as posted on the official NDP Web site (http://www.ndptf.org/about/index.cfm), state that the Task Force represents a Judeo-Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible. Calling ourselves a Judeo-Christian ministry does not mean that we see the Jewish and Christian faiths on equal footing. The Task Force was established to represent the Christian expression of the National Day of Prayer – standing firmly for Jesus and His salvation message. We believe in the values, traditions, and moral law of God’s Old Testament Bible – but we, unlike those of the Jewish faith – trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Messiah.

Third and last, it is worth adding that, from a scriptural perspective, there is a great deal more to the idea of “praying in Jesus’ name” than Ms. Schlueter seems to recognize. In the culture of the Bible, a person’s “name” was regarded as shorthand for everything the person embodied and represented. To make a request or issue a command “in the name of” a particular individual was to speak with the full backing of that individual’s power, authority, virtue, and integrity. “Praying in Jesus’ name,” then, is not a question of tacking on a few particular words at the end of a prayer, as if they constituted some kind of “magic formula.” It’s a matter of heart orientation. To “pray in Jesus’ name” is to profess that we are authorized to come boldly before the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) not on the basis of our own merits, but solely because of His righteousness, His goodness, and the efficacy of His sacrifice on the cross. You can be absolutely sure that when Dr. Zacharias prays, he prays on the basis of this confidence alone. In closing, we’d like to say that we deeply regret that this unfounded attack by fellow believers might in any way detract from the importance of Christians praying for their nation on May 1st.

Does anyone find the last paragraph confusing? Ingrid has some great commentary on this statement at Slice of Laodicea.

My question now becomes: Is the National Day of Prayer 'promoting' prayers to all 'gods'?

Jesus Christ: MIA with Some Conservative Christians

The Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force is Dr. Ravi Zacharias. Below, is his 2008 Prayer for Our Nation. If you are a Christian, do you see anything missing from this prayer?

Holy Father,

in a world where so many are hungry,

You have given us food in abundance;

In a world where so many are hurting,

You offer to bind up our wounds;

In a world where so many are lonely,

You offer friendship to every heart;

In a world longing for peace,

You offer hope.

Yet, we are so stubborn and resistant.

Have mercy upon us, Lord.

Our nation is at a crossroads this year;

we look to you to be our strength and shield.

Please give us the guidance to elect one who will honor you

and to respond to the wisdom from above

so that our hope may be renewed

and our blessings be treasured.

In God's holy name.

I am becoming increasingly aware that the Name of our ONLY HOPE, The Lord Jesus Christ, for salvation is mysteriously missing or being surprisingly 'decreased' in some 'conservative' Christian circles. What would be the point of this prayer from a Christian without acknowledging Christ? Was it even heard?

Ingrid over at Slice has some great commentary about this sad state of affairs.

When You Speak About Christ

WHEN YOU SPEAK ABOUT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, DON'T SPEAK LIKE THIS:

"Roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a dumpy, rural, hick town, not unlike those today where guys change their own oil, think pro wrestling is real, find women who chew tobacco sexy, and eat a lot of Hot Pockets with their uncle-daddy. Jesus' mom was a poor, unwed teenage girl who was often mocked for claiming she conceived via the Holy Spirit. Most people thought she concocted the crazy story to cover the fact she was knocking boots with some guy in the backseat of a car at the prom." --MARK DRISCOLL

SPEAK LIKE THIS:

"We know that it is our good, our joy and rest to be united with the Son of God. As He is our Head, we are His body, so also from Him we hold our life and our salvation and all good. In fact, we see how miserable our condition would be unless we had our refuge in Him, to be maintained under His keeping. However, we could not reach so high (seeing that scarcely can we crawl upon the earth), unless from His side He approached us, and already He had approached in His birth, when He clothed Himself in our flesh and He made Himself our brother. We could not now have our refuge in our Lord Jesus Christ’s being seated at the right hand of God His Father in heavenly glory, unless He were abased as far as being made mortal man and having a condition common with us. That is also why, when He is called “Mediator between God and men,” this title “man” is especially attributed to Him. As also for the same reason He is called “Emanuel,” that is, “God with us.” --JOHN CALVIN

http://www.thinkerup.blogspot.com/

Evan Almighty

Does one have to actually go see Evan Almighty to know that it blasphemes our Holy God? That is the argument many are making on blogs. One church even called off Sunday Services so the entire congregation could attend the movie together and invite their friends as an outreach. To read about this church go to: throughtheveil.

But we know many churches are using clips from movies for sermon illustrations so I visited http://www.wingclips.com to see some clips from Evan Almighty. Yes, it is just as inane as I feared...as I knew it would be. Even Cecil B. DeMille did not try to 'humanize' our Holy God as a cool dude making physical appearances.

"Relevance Is A Cruel Mistress"

So says our friend over at a little leaven. I mean just how 'relevant' is this 1980's Heavy Metal Christian Band? Seems rather silly now, huh?

Evan Almighty

Hollywood has found a new market niche for movies: Christians. If they can get your pastor to promote it from the pulpit, they have a blockbuster and the money will follow. Evan Almighty is just such a film. Did you know there are PR Groups out there that specialize in marketing movies like this to Christians?



Take Evan Almighty and all the hoopla surrounding this film. The PR people have outdone themselves this time. Planting trees, random acts of kindness, the environment. Well, this is fun...and good...what could possibly be wrong with this? Hollywood is not stupid. But you have to wonder about 'Christians'.

Check out the watcherslamp blog for how Willow Creek is jumping on the bandwagon. Then check out http://getonboardnow.org/.

Where is the gospel? Are we entertaining ourselves right into hell?